Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Alvarado, Julian Combong, and Ryan Rodriguez.
Hi Jacob, Julian, and Ryan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
The Chevy Bois were formed from the remains of a hardcore band, bringing together musicians who wanted to explore new sounds beyond our previous projects. Our influences are quite diverse in terms of genres, we literally listen to everything spanning from jazz, jazz fusion, blues, funk, punk, rock, hard rock, metal, indie, rap, R&B, pop & so much more. At our first rehearsal, we were all on the same wavelength & meshed together quite well. The music just flowed after that.
Our process of making music doesn’t start off with any plans or for the most part direction. Most of our songs start off with random on the spot melody or drum line, if it hits our ears just right, everything else follows. The whole recipe for our sound is to not be limited to a specific genre. Its about whatever sound moves us at that moment. Often times we’ll include multiple genres into a single song. Notably our song “Montes Carlos” has elements of funk, jazz fusion & punk all in one song. For fun we like to challenge ourselves & make things hard because why not? WS6 is song that screwed with us for a bit due to the constant changing time signatures. It goes from 7/4, 6/4, 5/4 then to 6/8, then back to 7/4. While this song may not be remembered as our most catchy song, its always fun to have someone try to dissect that song.
Our song naming is a bit unconventional, since we are an instrumental band, its not about words, its about how the music makes you feel. Since we’re all car guys, we associate each song to what it feels like to drive a certain car. Our song Catfish (Camaro) has a energetic & fun feeling to it, just like the car, so the name stuck.
The journey so far has been great, we have been blessed to play & meet with such talented artist in Houston & abroad. Being in a band has allowed us to meet some of our influences like “The Jazz Bois” & “Takaat”. It’s also a great way to hang out with friends, meet new ones, experience our city, explore new music & decompress from life’s everyday stresses. Over the past three years, it has grown into something much more than just a hobby.
We’re finally preparing to record at a studio & release an official EP or maybe some singles. We’ll see how far we get. Currently, we have some content on spotify, apple music & youtube, mostly live recordings. If you’re hearing about us for the first time, thanks for taking the time to read/listen — we’re excited to share what’s next.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Our journey together has been relatively smooth. It really helps when you’re really good friends. Our biggest obstacle is time. We all have quite a bit going on in our lives which is why we haven’t recorded all of our music yet & put out a full album. We have enough tracks to do so, it’s just that recording is so involved, so we finally booked a single day with a recording studio to get out as many songs as we can.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Julian is a email marketing coordinator
Ryan works in audio & visual
I (Jacob) work in website management
For the most part, we don’t have any exciting jobs.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The best gear for the most part really doesn’t matter. Most amps can be plugged in with a cable or miked up at most venues. So you don’t need the biggest & baddest amp to be heard. For instruments, guitars sound like guitars & basses sound like basses. Don’t buy the most expensive instrument thinking it will get you that much more of a better sound. Instruments tend to have diminishing returns, especially as you buy more expensive ones. Our bassist has used knockoff basses with a change of strings to get the sound he likes. When it comes to instruments, buy with intention. Is there a desired sound you want to achieve, convenience (size), perhaps ergonomics, build quality or maybe even a look?
Plan ahead, for the most part we kinda go with the flow. Of course we make time for shows when we get invited out, that’s a given, but there are a bunch of small things that kinda go with this. Like shirts, always have to stay stock with all sorts of sizes.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechevybois/
- LinkedIn: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-chevy-bois/1769124101
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChevyBois
- Yelp: https://thechevybois.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-moores-opera-house
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thechevybois
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7FywN3gLrYCLG9mmlSeeC7
