0:15

Pushkin. Hermano

0:20

Scutierrez may be an instrumental guitar

0:22

band, but they have zero interest

0:25

in shredding. Instead, the Swiss

0:27

Ecuadorian brothers Estevan and Alejandro

0:29

Gutierrez take a minimalist approach

0:31

to playing. They create hypnotic,

0:34

sweeping compositions inspired

0:36

by classical Latin guitar, and also

0:38

film scores from old spaghetti westerns.

0:41

In twenty twenty two, after releasing three

0:43

albums independently, Hermano Scutier is

0:45

signed to Easy I Sound, a label

0:48

owned and operated by Dan Aarbach, guitarist

0:50

and vocalist of The Black Keys. Last

0:53

October, they released the album Albueno

0:56

e el Malo to critical acclaim.

0:58

The album features the song trace Hermanos,

1:01

where Arbach joins the brothers on guitar.

1:04

Today we'll hear Estevan and Alijandro played

1:06

that song, along with a couple other songs,

1:08

live from our Bach studio in Nashville,

1:11

Tennessee. I also talked to Hermano

1:13

scutierres about how their brotherly spats

1:15

sometimes fuel their plane. Then

1:18

they recall a recent performance in Mexico City

1:20

where they played during a volcanic eruption

1:24

and how Dan Aarbach knew he wanted

1:26

to meet with Hermano scutierres after seeing

1:28

them play for just fifteen seconds.

1:33

This is broken record liner notes

1:35

for the digital age. I'm justin Mitchman.

1:38

Before we jump into my interview with Hermano Scutierrez,

1:40

let's hear them play Thunderbird live from

1:43

Easy I Sound Studio in Nashville.

2:09

At

2:38

a.

3:32

Day and.

4:06

At

4:20

every.

4:33

County and

4:37

again

4:46

at

4:51

fun.

4:52

About the.

5:17

So beautiful listening to you guys, thank you so much.

5:20

Yeah, those are sweet guitars. Those are beautiful,

5:23

thank you man, you man. Those both gretches.

5:25

I have a gretch, yes, sir.

5:27

I have a silver Tone fourteen forty

5:29

six.

5:31

Yeah.

5:32

Have you guys always played those guitars?

5:34

No, not always.

5:35

I played a Fender Mexican Series

5:38

when I started straight. Yeah, yeah,

5:40

that's the guitar I started with.

5:41

And I played a Gibson

5:44

I think it was a three thirty nine

5:46

or thirty five, like the small

5:48

one and so cool.

5:49

I want to gratch. I really want to gratch. That's like

5:51

my dream.

5:52

Yeah, these are cool. I mean I should just do it.

5:54

I don't know why I don't just yeah, but sometimes I

5:56

like to have these dreams that are kind of it's

5:59

not so hard, bro.

6:03

Go buy what.

6:06

Did you guys program? The the

6:08

play us on your Spotify. There's a few

6:10

artists playlists on there. You won't

6:13

call the Sounds of the World that's us, that's from

6:15

Yeah we did that. Yeah, I was I was loving.

6:17

I was loving the Volume. I was loving all of them. The

6:19

Volume ones in particular.

6:21

Always the first ones, they're the best.

6:24

Obviously, being part Ecuadorian,

6:26

part Swiss growing up in Europe, did

6:29

you have access to a lot of music

6:31

from Latin America?

6:32

Man, not really.

6:33

I think when we could listen

6:35

to this music was every time. Then we went

6:37

to Ecuador to visit the family, you know, and

6:40

so our grandfather was the one who showed

6:42

us like a lot of stuff.

6:43

I remember that.

6:44

I have a little tape of

6:47

Julio Haramo that he bought me on the corner

6:49

of our town and I still have it, and

6:51

it's like it's like my first

6:53

memory of having like the access

6:55

to Latin Latin music.

6:57

I remember I bought

7:00

one of those copies in Ecuador,

7:02

you know, the black copies, not the original

7:04

ones from Fania, and they

7:06

had those compilations from Fanya

7:09

with a lot of salsa. That was the first time,

7:11

but not until I was maybe

7:14

fifteen sixteen years old. So

7:16

I got back to Switzerland, I was listening

7:19

to those kind of tracks,

7:21

and I think they were not so available

7:23

here in Switzerland.

7:25

I was lucky enough to grow up in La where you know, there's

7:27

like lots of Spanish music, but you know, it's

7:29

always just whatever it's programmed on the radio,

7:32

you know, and so like there is

7:34

a radio station though, called k Jazz. I was at

7:36

a long beach and they used to have a show

7:38

called Jazz on the Latin side on like on Saturday

7:40

night. So we would always whenever, you

7:42

know, we'd always jam like late and then turn

7:45

on like around midnight or one am Jazz on the Latin

7:47

side, and it would be like Ray Burretto and like

7:50

all these rare like they called them, like rare

7:52

groove. At the time, it sounded like the coolest

7:54

thing. It sounded inaccessible, you know, like

7:56

it was like, I don't know what this music is. I don't

7:59

really speak Spanish. I don't know what they're saying. It

8:01

sounds like rock music and like jazz, but it's

8:03

coming from like you know, Ecuador or

8:05

Peru, and it just was like, it felt like it

8:08

was a whole.

8:08

New world of things to discover and that's amazing.

8:10

It was such a cool thing to have as a music

8:13

fan.

8:13

I like the name rare grooves. That's

8:15

cool.

8:16

Yeah, that's that's what I don't know why I

8:18

was called that at the time, but at the time I think it was a lot of DJs

8:20

would spend it and call it rare groups. Cool man,

8:23

What were you guys listening to when you first started playing

8:25

guitar? What were your guitar inspirations?

8:27

Who were your guitar heroes.

8:29

I started to play the guitar when I was

8:31

in second grade and I started

8:34

to play.

8:34

The Argentinian folk music.

8:37

There's a special type of it's called milonga

8:40

and this is like this fingerpicking style and

8:42

I fell in love with that music. And I just

8:45

played this kind of style because my teacher also

8:47

just showed me that. Yeah, so that was

8:49

my first access to guitar music. Was

8:52

classical guitar? You had a classical

8:54

Yeah, I still have the one that I got it from

8:56

my father, and that's the one when I learned

8:59

to play the guitar.

9:00

Yeah.

9:00

Wow, how did you fall in love with that.

9:02

What made you?

9:02

I think you could like hear the the

9:05

sadness and like the melancholy

9:08

melan Coleah, I say, melancho

9:10

melankly in the sounds, even

9:13

without somebody to sing it, you know. And

9:15

that impressed me because I was also able

9:17

to put my feelings into

9:21

the way how I played the guitar, because that

9:23

was my teacher told me, Hey, you

9:25

can play a tone different. You can

9:27

play just to play it, but

9:29

you can also put feelings into it. And

9:32

that's what I really learned. And yeah, I'm

9:35

grateful for that that I learned.

9:37

That was that in Switzerland, Yes,

9:39

where you took lessons, Yes, yes, were you in

9:41

the music before you discovered Milano.

9:44

It's called Milonga. Yeah.

9:45

I think that was actually the first thing that I

9:48

really learned of music. Yeah,

9:50

because I didn't know. Our father didn't listen to

9:53

rock music or all the cool stuff.

9:55

He listened to classical orchestra

9:59

music Sunday mornings.

10:00

I remember that.

10:02

I think I got to know the cool sound

10:04

when I was like around fifteen

10:07

to twenty years old. So then I I

10:09

discovered, oh, there's way more cool

10:11

music, you know, like rock music and all this stuff.

10:13

Were you into the music your dad played, like the classical

10:16

stuff.

10:16

Not really, it was like, okay, it's Sunday morning,

10:19

you know, but it was like also kind of interesting

10:22

to know that there exists

10:24

music that is just instrumental and

10:27

you can feel all the passion and all the feelings

10:30

in that music.

10:30

What's the age difference between you two.

10:33

It's eight years older that guy.

10:36

So was Alejandro was a

10:39

Sunday morning classical sessions. Was that so happening

10:41

when you were young to.

10:42

Yeah, it was just about going to tell you it was my

10:45

brother Esteban who inspired me to pick

10:47

up the guitar because I grew up

10:49

with this sound every time he was playing

10:51

the guitar. It was just a big

10:53

inspiration. So when he left for one

10:56

period, like for one year he went to Ecuador,

10:59

there was just an absence of that kind of music in our

11:01

place.

11:02

So what I did.

11:03

I picked the guitar and I was like, I want to learn how

11:05

to play the guitar, and I watched

11:07

a lot of YouTube tutorial and back

11:10

in that time it was the time of Jack Johnson

11:12

sing a songwriter, the surf tool, you know, and

11:16

I really tried to learn those courts but I never

11:18

like to play covers, so I really tried

11:20

to have my own style from the beginning. And

11:23

one guy which inspired me

11:25

a lot was Gone Silence, like the Swedish

11:28

argentineing guy with his guitar and the

11:30

first record that he played like Crosses, that's

11:33

such a good track and such a good album. And

11:35

there's the other side, which is more

11:38

coming from film and cinema,

11:42

like the movies from Alejandrinati

11:44

to the Mexican director with the collaboration

11:46

with Gustavo Santolaya, which

11:49

you know, so I think it was just a

11:51

mix of a lot of things happening around

11:53

that time.

11:55

Gustavo's yeah, he's

11:58

the king all around.

11:59

Yeah, even like on the last series with the Last

12:01

of Us, you know, like he's he's

12:04

so present and gives so much depth

12:07

to movies and it's incredible.

12:09

Yeah, he's a bit of a magine, it seems like to me.

12:12

Of course, So you didn't have guitar

12:14

lessons, you kind of lead it on your own.

12:16

Ever, it's just on my own.

12:18

And the funny thing is when he told me, hey, I'm

12:21

learning the guitar, because I knew that he kind

12:23

of started to play a bit when before

12:25

I left, But then he like told

12:29

me, hey, I learned in that year.

12:31

To play the guitar.

12:31

And I was like, okay, cool, he can play chords

12:33

a bit.

12:34

And then I came back.

12:36

Yeah, I was so impressed, you know, like fingerpicking,

12:38

and also he came up with stuff that I was

12:41

like wow, and so yeah,

12:44

I'm really grateful that he

12:46

started to do that. And then the first time

12:48

that we played together was just magical, you know,

12:50

which just connected and we

12:53

felt like, hey, that's it's it's really cool

12:55

what we have.

12:56

Before he even started playing guitar as

12:58

the Bomb, were you playing music with other

13:00

people?

13:00

No?

13:01

Not really no No.

13:02

I was always like playing by myself

13:04

sometimes jamming with friends, you know, but it

13:07

I also never liked to play covers. It

13:09

felt always like I don't know. And

13:12

then when we started to play, he came up

13:14

and he said, hey, why

13:16

don't you visit me. I have like an idea on the guitar,

13:19

bring your guitar. Then he showed me a

13:21

song and he said, hey, something is missing. Why

13:23

don't you play over it? And I

13:25

came up with a melody and he

13:27

was like, that's exactly what I was missing. And

13:31

that's like how we write songs, you know, it's

13:33

always one of us comes up with an idea and then

13:36

something is missing and the other fills it up

13:38

without telling or asking the other one.

13:40

Hey what do you need and you know, like a melody or

13:43

something. It's really we have

13:45

a gift and they were very grateful for that.

13:47

Aleander, do you remember what that idea was that you

13:49

played on that first idea?

13:50

Yeah, it was the first track Elmar.

13:54

That was the first song we ever written together.

13:56

Do you do you mind playing some of the playing some of the chords,

13:59

Yeah, of course, without Askteban first, just

14:01

maybe just like just the chords as he brought.

14:03

It to them.

14:21

Yeah, that's it.

14:22

And actually we played it the other way, so he

14:24

had the melody and I had the courts. But

14:27

now with the set and trying to blid like a

14:29

certain dynamic, we changed it so I applied

14:31

the melody now. But that was the first

14:34

melody ever from their mannos,

14:37

So cool.

14:38

Was there ever a thought early on, like in those initial

14:41

times you guys have those first ideas to

14:43

put words or well do you guys singers

14:45

and you feel like.

14:46

Luckily, no, no, no, no,

14:49

never we never thought about

14:51

it, and since we're huge fans of just

14:53

soundtracks and film scores, and

14:57

within our limitations, we were like,

14:59

no, it's it's.

15:00

Not going to work with vocals.

15:01

And to be honest, it was not like

15:04

a conceptional thing like Okay, if

15:06

we don't have vocals, we have like the potential

15:09

to maybe travel more, you know,

15:11

around the world because there's no boundaries because

15:13

no vocals, like everyone can understand. So

15:16

yeah, it was just very clear from the beginning

15:18

on it just got to be instrumental.

15:20

Were you guys growing up before

15:23

music, did you guys get along very

15:25

well? Or were you guys like combatitive as siblings?

15:28

No, what you guys, we always

15:30

had a close connection. I think we're battling now

15:32

more than when we did when we grew up.

15:34

You know.

15:35

Yeah, yeah, maybe is keeping us together

15:37

right now. It's really that way.

15:39

Yeah.

15:39

But then I'm the oldest,

15:41

he's the youngest. We're in total four and

15:44

we always had this connection, you know, and then

15:46

when he got older, we kind

15:48

of start to have like the same interest,

15:51

you know, like in.

15:52

Fashion, jewelry.

15:54

We love vintage stuff, and

15:57

yeah, it's everything that we produce

15:59

by ourselves. Was always so

16:01

natural and so much fun, you know, to do

16:04

artwork songs like all

16:07

these merge that we produce by ourselves.

16:09

It was always very cool and it still

16:12

is.

16:12

Yeah, are you guys designing it by yourselves too?

16:15

Yeah, we did.

16:15

For the first four records, we did all the

16:17

artwork and stuff.

16:19

At what point after those ideas started percolating,

16:22

did you guys realize you wanted to record stuff.

16:24

It was actually that night because we were jamming.

16:27

We had like three four songs

16:30

of that that song that we played you, and

16:32

so his roommate came into the in

16:35

our room and he was like, wow, that's amazing

16:37

from which band is that?

16:39

And we were like, that's our music.

16:41

And then he was the one that said, hey, you guys should

16:44

record, play concerts and then put

16:46

out an LP and whatever.

16:48

And we were like, all right, yeah,

16:50

let's do it.

16:51

Where were your first shows?

16:52

We played in Zurich.

16:54

We started to play in Zurich like small venues,

16:57

and then we decided

16:59

to record our first album, which

17:01

is called Ochuanius because

17:03

of our age difference in Berlin.

17:06

We went to a friend, we did a road trip. We

17:08

packed all our amps and stuff, and

17:10

we didn't know what we're going to do. You know, we just

17:13

wanted to record and then yeah,

17:15

it happened and it got

17:18

how do you say words around? Like friends

17:21

were passing our music, and we

17:24

never had like the the

17:26

idea of yeah,

17:28

getting more known by our music.

17:31

We always like to do it and to have

17:33

it as a memory for ourselves because it's

17:36

beautiful what we do.

17:37

And I

17:39

never heard my brother talking. So I feel

17:41

good, man, I feel good. Yeah.

17:44

Usually he's the shy guy and he's like, yeah,

17:46

I'm in the back, But I don't know.

17:48

There's a connection between you.

17:50

It's just between you and me, you know, all right,

17:52

because otherwise when there's some people, I

17:54

don't like to talk that much.

17:55

And I'll feel good right now.

17:57

So, yeah, were

18:01

you guys exploring other like

18:03

career paths or anything? Like? What were you guys up

18:05

to at the time beside music? Was there

18:07

any man?

18:08

I was working in the coffee place and I

18:10

did those flat whites with the

18:13

swans and the hearts and all

18:15

that shit. But

18:18

I'm glad I left that place and just this

18:20

whole career and now

18:22

we're into art and it's much more

18:25

meaningful and important to us.

18:27

What's the music scene in Zurich, like what's

18:30

going on over there?

18:31

To be honest, I never I was never

18:33

really into the music scene in Zurich. But there

18:35

are some venues which they're

18:38

popular to invite like international artists.

18:41

But the local scene I

18:44

would live. I would tell you a naymore like

18:46

even tell you it looks like it's

18:48

hard, it's hard to capture. Maybe there's

18:51

not a big music scene. That's why it's not so present.

18:55

It's not like here in Nashville, where you

18:57

know, like you come to the airport

18:59

and you see like Gibson guitars and

19:02

they look like they're in a museum.

19:03

That's so unique.

19:05

You don't have that culture in Zurich, not

19:07

at all.

19:08

What's it like being in a place like Tennessee

19:11

just as a musician just kind of soaking that stuff in because

19:14

so much of the music did

19:16

you guys play, at least to my ear, it sounds like

19:19

coming a lot of it coming from America as whether it's Latin

19:21

America or you know, the States of course.

19:23

What's it like to soak in the music

19:26

culture around Tennessee?

19:27

I mean, it's an honor

19:30

to be here. You know, it's

19:32

incredible. You can feel that music is

19:34

like number one in the city and there's

19:38

so much history. Also, yeah,

19:40

it's like coming home. We have friends

19:42

here, we have our studio here, and yeah,

19:45

it's a lot of fun.

19:46

You know, it's really cool.

19:48

Being so international as you guys are.

19:51

How do you guys organize your home lives?

19:54

Like where you guys live in?

19:55

I mean, we always go back to Switzerland because

19:58

our family is there, so it's like

20:00

the safe heaven, the safe place because

20:02

everything is just working there so nasty,

20:05

so you can just lay back and like rest

20:07

a little bit. But we're traveling a

20:09

lot in this year and even the last year it's been

20:12

a lobbying on the road, so it's a mixture

20:14

between being in hotels

20:16

and being back with the family.

20:19

But it's nice. I really enjoy it.

20:21

It's also very inspiring to be on the road

20:24

and meet new people and connect

20:26

with different parts of the world.

20:29

We have to take a quick break and then we'll come back with more

20:31

from Hermano's Gutiers. We're

20:37

back with more from Hermano's Gutiers. Do

20:40

you guys mind playing.

20:41

Course, So let's

20:43

start with the Windard Malone. That was the first

20:45

track that we actually recorded

20:48

in the studio and it was here in this room,

20:50

so it feels special to be back.

20:53

All right, man, we're.

20:53

Ready anything

21:48

AKA.

22:57

The Sometime

23:27

Sime

23:56

way.

24:13

Such such a great energy than

24:15

oh man, thank you so much. How did

24:18

you guys get connected with Dan Ourbrock in

24:20

the studio out there?

24:21

Our management, which is also based

24:23

in Los Angeles, knows the management

24:26

of Easy I Sound, so the

24:29

management of Easy tom Osborne. He

24:31

showed Dan on a weekly meeting.

24:34

Before the meeting started, actually he said,

24:36

hey, Dan, check out these these two brothers. And

24:39

so Dan watch it on the laptop, like ten

24:41

fifteen seconds of our first video, and

24:44

then he closed the laptop and said, yeah, let's have a call

24:47

with the boys.

24:48

So that's it.

24:48

It's pretty pretty short, pretty

24:50

cool.

24:51

And then we had a call for like fifteen twenty

24:53

minutes with Dan and and Alan

24:55

the sound engineer, and it

24:58

was clear that we wanted to do something

25:00

together and it felt like that's it.

25:02

I get why it only took fifteen seconds, man, because

25:05

like the sound is pretty immediate, like it's

25:07

it's like it doesn't take very

25:09

long to realize what you're listening to. It's

25:11

like, oh, this is a sound you know.

25:13

I think it's harder for us to realize what's happening.

25:16

Yeah, sometimes we're on stage and we're like, what

25:18

are we doing here? You know, like are

25:20

people gonna get it? And it's

25:23

just yeah, apparently it's happening. It's

25:26

working.

25:26

You know.

25:27

If you're on stage with the band and like a lead

25:29

vocalist or something like that, there's stuff you can kind

25:31

of hide behind where it's just you two

25:33

on stage and you're seated with your guitars

25:36

and you're playing, like you can't kind

25:38

of hide behind a ton of theatrics or behind

25:40

other people, and it's like, you guys are kind

25:42

of really exposed as I'm thinking about

25:45

it.

25:45

Yeah, And funny thing

25:47

is also every time still feels

25:49

like the first time that we've kind

25:51

of played in his room, you know, so

25:54

it's always like we're in front of

25:56

a lot of people, but it still feels like it's

25:59

just the two of us playing, And

26:01

it's really cool because sometimes I forget

26:03

about it, you know, and it just feels

26:06

good to play with my brother.

26:08

How much you guys just

26:10

in your day to day lives trying to come up with ideas

26:12

to bring to one.

26:12

Another always, man, I

26:15

think it's part of my

26:18

daily routine just to pick up the guitar. And

26:21

sometimes it's just like even like ten minutes,

26:24

maybe five minutes. Maybe it's an hour, maybe

26:26

it's two hours. But I try to do to

26:29

play the guitar every day and

26:31

just like create something. Yeah,

26:33

it always depends because sometimes I play

26:35

like every.

26:36

Day, but sometimes I also

26:38

feel like that my body and my mind kind

26:40

of need to take like a distance

26:42

from the guitar because it's also very personal,

26:44

you know. I try to put

26:47

my feelings into songs, you know, and sometimes

26:50

it's just I don't know, I'm not in the mood or

26:52

I'm not I don't

26:55

feel any inspiration, and then

26:57

I kind of give it the space,

26:59

you know, to be like, hey, it's okay not to.

27:00

Touch the guitar.

27:02

And then it's always cool because when I kind of play

27:04

again, I always come up with something

27:07

small, something new, or something different, and

27:09

so I think sometimes the space between

27:12

you and the instrument is important.

27:14

Yeah, that's true.

27:15

Are you able to realize what inspires

27:17

you or are you unaware? Is it

27:19

just sort of coming through and you don't even know what it is? It's

27:21

activated the creative response.

27:24

Well, I don't think if something happens,

27:27

I'm not sure this is going to be a song, but

27:29

for sure it's going to be there and it's going to

27:32

be an inspiration. I think traveling

27:35

and meeting people it's a big

27:37

inspiration, or even

27:39

like touring. We went to Texas two

27:41

months ago, and I remember I came back

27:44

and it was just such a great tour that

27:47

I felt so inspired just because I loved

27:49

what we were doing. So I said, like, Okay,

27:51

if we're going to put out more music,

27:54

I'm going to be able to do more of that kind of stuff,

27:56

you know, stuff which is fun. So that

27:58

was interesting. But I think in general, it's

28:01

life, life, which is an inspiration

28:03

to come up with new ideas. So

28:06

even the fights that we're having as brothers, it's

28:09

always like we're growing on this

28:11

path together. Sometimes we're

28:13

more apart from each other, but it always brings

28:15

us back. So I think like this relationship

28:19

is maybe the main source for the

28:21

inspiration they were having.

28:23

Yeah, it's an interesting point about the

28:26

live show inspiring things like because

28:28

you guys just started in your bedrooms and because

28:30

you guys are like just so familiar

28:33

with one another, it's so comfortable in another I

28:35

mean, you know, there must be such a huge

28:37

difference between this is a song we

28:39

came up with in our room

28:42

by ourselves, and all of a sudden, now it's the same

28:44

song we're playing on stage, and again it's just the two of

28:46

us. But adding that live element really obviously

28:49

must feel like oh shit, like we're actually

28:51

no, we're showing like we need to

28:54

we need to like move an audience some sort

28:56

of way. Like do you guys think about crafting

28:58

a record in a way that, oh, we

29:00

could go out and do this live.

29:01

Or is it?

29:02

No?

29:02

No, No, it's never like, hey, we

29:04

need to be able to play

29:07

that live.

29:07

No.

29:07

No, it's always like something that we that

29:10

we feed at that moment. You know, it's like I have this

29:13

idea, let's check this out. And

29:15

of course if it, I mean, almost

29:18

all songs that we wrote we

29:21

are able to play in life. That's also something

29:23

cool because we sound

29:25

the same on the record or almost

29:27

the same as in life and

29:30

it's just the two of us.

29:31

You know.

29:32

Yeah, we're not trying to overproduce it, because

29:34

that would not be us. We were always

29:37

just very restricted to two

29:40

instruments, which are a representation

29:42

of two souls, and I

29:45

think we just want to keep it that way.

29:47

It doesn't sound like you guys are trying to necessarily

29:49

impress anyone with fancy guitar playing,

29:51

like with tricks.

29:52

You know, I don't even know how to do that.

29:55

I can't shread like I

29:58

mean, today we were at the do you know the

30:00

Carter Vintage Guitar store that's

30:02

like one of the coolest stars here in Nashville,

30:05

and we were checking out some guitars and there were

30:07

some guys there like, you

30:10

know, like, I'm like, I could.

30:12

Never do that.

30:12

We could never do that.

30:13

But it's like what we do is like honest

30:16

and real. Yeah, the thing

30:18

that that what we feel. So that's I don't

30:20

know, it's kind of a mystery as well.

30:22

Do you guys have any desire to be able to do

30:24

that or not so much?

30:26

No, not really, No, it's

30:28

okay. I just want to sound

30:31

authentic, authentic and different.

30:34

I think that's the main inspiration, and maybe

30:37

that's always the point that

30:40

we inspire to. We're not trying to

30:42

copy someone. It's really about that.

30:44

Yeah, that's the coolest thing, man, because it gets so easy,

30:46

especially when you're a guitar player and like, you

30:48

know, like just to copy other people or

30:51

like to get caught up and showing off. To

30:54

be able to actually articulate who you are

30:56

as an individual on the instrument is

30:59

like it's a last art. It feels like, you know,

31:02

have you guys played with the vocalists before, like

31:05

a third person? Has anyone ever tried

31:08

to in certain things? I mean you guys,

31:10

yeah.

31:10

I mean the next song that we're gonna play is called Dressermanos

31:13

because we wrote that song with Dan.

31:16

You know, that was also kind of a

31:18

cool story.

31:19

We were at the studio, we almost

31:21

recorded the song, and then he came and

31:23

he said, hey, he's hearing like a melody

31:26

on on on a part of the song, and

31:28

he sang, us, just what he he heard,

31:31

you know, and we tried to play

31:33

his melody, but we couldn't play it like he

31:35

wanted to play them. And we just handed

31:37

him over the guitar and said, why don't you play

31:40

over it? And he just did a one

31:42

taker and and that's then when we just call

31:44

it that. The song is called Dressermanos

31:46

because we also kind of became

31:48

friends with him. We have same interests

31:51

and it was so cool, you know, you. At the beginning,

31:53

it was oow, it's Dan Ourbuck

31:55

and it's still Dan our Buck. We had we

31:57

have the biggest respect for him, but we kind

32:00

of became friends and we kind

32:02

of got to know him as a as a person

32:05

and he's beautiful, he's so nice

32:08

and he's he has a good and yeah, that's

32:10

that's cool that we have like this in common.

32:12

Did you guys play live together or did he play

32:14

over?

32:15

Yeah, I mean he came to shows. Sometimes

32:17

We tell him, hey, do you want to come to a show

32:19

in Los Angeles or we might

32:21

be there, and he said, yeah, I want to go with you, and

32:24

then he flies in and we have an after

32:26

party and it's always cool.

32:28

Yeah, you guys play together so much. Is

32:30

that energy feel a little different when you have someone else

32:32

come in to play?

32:34

Yeah?

32:35

Oh yeah. Playing

32:37

with Dan on stage was really and

32:40

even he said that like because

32:42

he's aware of that tide space that we're having,

32:44

Like he doesn't want to come and like

32:47

destroy that energy. But with

32:49

him and even with Adrian Casana from

32:51

the Black Pumas, he's sometimes also

32:54

like joining the stage with us, it

32:56

always felt like an enrichment. It's

32:58

not like what is that guy doing

33:00

here, So we're aware,

33:03

aware of that, and we're just trying to play

33:05

with the right people and it's one

33:07

more time. It's like it's the feet that were

33:10

trusting and we know, Okay, this is gonna

33:12

be a fit.

33:13

How do you guys know Adrian?

33:14

We know Adrian. It's a funny story.

33:16

I met him in Los Angeles in a

33:18

store in mister Freedom and

33:21

I saw him and we recognized each

33:23

other and I was like, you're He was

33:25

like you're just like. Since

33:28

then we kept in touch

33:31

and then we saw each other in when

33:34

was the second time, I think in Austin.

33:36

First time we played together in Austin

33:39

at the Onton's Anton's and

33:41

he came with us to play on stage.

33:43

And since then we just we're in touch. And he's

33:45

such a cool guy as well.

33:47

And he even flew out to We had a big

33:49

concert in Mexico City last month and

33:52

he flew in and we had time to hang out

33:54

together. And yeah, he's another brother

33:57

and and it's really cool. We have a cool

33:59

connection with him as well.

34:01

He's a great d he knows so much

34:03

about music.

34:04

He's an amazing guitar player. He's

34:07

so talented.

34:07

Yeah, how was a Mexico City show?

34:09

What was that like?

34:11

It was a chaotic experience in

34:14

so many ways because we had

34:16

a show in an open air space. It

34:18

was a beautiful venue. I remember

34:20

when we told our friend that was living there,

34:22

we're going to have a show made in Mexico and he was

34:25

like, it's the rain season.

34:26

What are you guys doing? You know, Like we're like, I don't

34:28

know.

34:30

So we had soundcheck and everything

34:32

was prepared, and I got back to the hotel

34:34

room, I had a shower, I was ready,

34:37

like ready, ready, and I heard the first

34:39

thunder and I was like, no, bro, you're

34:41

kidding. So I was like,

34:44

no, this is really happening. So we went back and

34:46

it started rating so much so we had to cancel

34:48

the show and a lot of people were

34:51

annoyed and like how can you do

34:53

that, Like we just came for this

34:55

show. And then on

34:57

Saturday there was another nature

35:00

thing happening. A big volcano which is close

35:02

to Mexico City started to be active, so

35:06

a lot of people who tried to

35:08

go back I had to stay

35:10

again in Mexico City.

35:11

They were stuck.

35:12

So they were able to come through the show, which we postponed

35:15

to Sunday and there was an

35:17

indoor place and in

35:19

the end it was an amazing show with Dan

35:22

and Adrian Cassana on the stage. But

35:24

we got back home and we're so tired.

35:26

In the active volcano in the back.

35:29

Things very easy, but it's funny.

35:31

I like to talk about it.

35:33

It's it's a nice experience.

35:35

We have to pause for another quick break and then we'll

35:38

come back with more from Harmono Scutierres.

35:45

Before we jump back into my conversation with Hermano

35:47

Scutierres, let's hear them play their song

35:50

Trace Harmano's Live.

36:54

Over the ha

37:18

ha ha

38:09

mm hm m

38:46

le h

40:13

m hm.

40:20

Hm.

40:37

Wow, man, I get lost. Listen

40:39

to you guys, Thank you man. How

40:42

long have you been playing a lap steel?

40:45

Four years now?

40:46

And uh it happened on the on

40:48

the journey that we had through California

40:51

and death welly and we did like a commercial

40:53

for this Swiss airline and it

40:56

was such a cool thing. And

40:58

then we got back to l A and there's

41:01

a store in Santa Monica, Santa

41:03

Monica True to Music, and

41:05

we got oh yeah, we we visited that

41:08

store and I just saw this lapstill

41:10

on the wall hanging.

41:12

So I bought it.

41:13

It was actually my brother said, yeah, get it, man, you should

41:16

should just buy it. And it

41:18

just opened a new dimension for us because

41:20

it's like more western now and it

41:23

has this desert sound. So yeah,

41:25

I'm happy that I'm able to play that instrument.

41:27

How long did it take for you to feel comfortable playing?

41:30

I felt comfortable since the first moment was

41:32

really like wow, from the

41:34

first string that I was sliding.

41:38

I just realized that I helped

41:40

him to play the guitar and the slide guitar.

41:42

So it was me.

41:44

I remember he was standing there. I mean he

41:46

had this white what was it, Pearla

41:50

slide guitar and it was so beautiful and the

41:52

price was okay, and he was thinking, hey, should

41:54

I buy the And I'm

41:56

so happy that he did it, you know, and he's

41:58

so talented because sometimes he came up with ideas

42:01

on the slide.

42:02

It's crazy, that's his instrument.

42:05

By the way, Like, no matter what arguments

42:07

you guys have now you know, it's like brotherly arguments

42:10

typing. It's like you have to credit your

42:12

whole career.

42:15

I was about to say, I love how my brother credits

42:17

himself.

42:18

Sometimes do

42:20

you gravitate more towards one or the other in terms of like

42:22

when you're gonna just pick something up to play.

42:24

It's easier for me to play the lamp steel, for

42:26

sure. It's less like pressure

42:29

and it's very smooth, it's very light. But

42:32

with the guitar, I usually play

42:34

first the guitar and I come up with a

42:37

melody and I try to play something with the lap

42:39

steel. So this is actually the guidance for

42:42

a song. So I need both of them.

42:44

It's like I can't decide.

42:47

And you'll and you'll come up with a melody on

42:49

the lap Still.

42:51

Yeah, sometimes I do. I mean, for

42:53

this song, my brother came up

42:55

with the melody and it was clear

42:57

from the beginning that it just needs a

43:00

lap still, I don't have to play the guitar.

43:02

And yeah, it really depends what

43:05

was the.

43:05

Reception in Switzerland,

43:08

Like, I mean, I guess, at what point

43:10

did you realize you're going to be able to take this outside of

43:12

Switzerland.

43:14

I think it was the first concert that we had in Mexico

43:16

City. It was before the pandemic,

43:19

and that was the first show

43:21

overseas, and there was a friend

43:24

inviting us and just seeing

43:26

that kind of attention and the

43:28

presence and that people can get it in

43:30

a different country. That was amazing to see.

43:33

And oh wow, there's so much

43:35

more that we could discover with our music there,

43:37

like there are no boundaries.

43:40

What was it like growing up Latino in

43:42

Switzerland? Was that a weird experience?

43:45

No, not weird.

43:46

It was always I realized,

43:48

like when I was around twelve,

43:51

that it's like gift that had I have like

43:54

both sides in me, you know, because we had like in

43:56

Switzerland, you had like the Swiss

43:58

boys and then you have like

44:00

the how you say, the

44:03

foreigners, no like but the immigrants.

44:05

Yeah, And so I was always part of both,

44:07

you know. I could be with this with with friends,

44:09

and I could be with the like with my soccer

44:12

friends. And it was always like I'm

44:15

both and also like to talk

44:17

Spanish in Ecuador and to

44:19

come home and to understand yeah

44:22

German.

44:22

It was it was really a gift.

44:24

Yeah, in a way.

44:25

It's also there's a feeling of feeling

44:27

lost sometimes of course that's not part

44:29

of either this culture or the other,

44:33

which is I think a refreshing feeling

44:35

sometimes and sometimes you just want to

44:37

have that thing. Okay, I belong to this

44:39

kind of culture, but I think it was the coolest

44:42

thing to grow up with, the with

44:45

the Latin part, you know, even

44:47

like the possibility to go to Ecuador and visit

44:50

our grandfather and grandmother

44:52

all the cousin. I

44:54

think that was an inspiration for us as

44:56

well, and we try to transmit

44:59

that through music. I mean, we have two songs

45:01

in the set it's especially dedication

45:04

to the Latin culture, and whenever

45:06

we play those tracks, it reminds of us abuela

45:10

and just the primos and just being there

45:12

with the whole family. So

45:15

and that's something I think. The family, the

45:17

meaning of family, it's not so present.

45:20

Maybe in Switzerland it's different.

45:22

What is it like, I don't know.

45:24

I think Swiss people are more

45:27

They're holding back their emotions a little bit. It's

45:29

not so easy to share emotions or

45:31

even like tell someone I love you, I care

45:34

for you. It's I'm not saying like it's

45:36

not happening. It's just like different in

45:39

Ecuador. We went there when we were

45:41

like you were sixteen, maybe I was

45:43

eight.

45:43

I don't know.

45:44

It was like after a lot of a few years.

45:46

Maybe I got it wrong, but It was a trip

45:48

that we haven't been in an Ecuador for a long time.

45:51

And I saw my aunt and

45:53

I didn't see her for like, I don't know, ten years,

45:56

and she cried and she was so emotional,

45:58

and I was like overwhelmed by so many

46:00

emotions. And I don't think that's

46:02

something you see in Switzerland. Like whereat

46:04

people are able to express theirselves

46:07

through emotions, it's

46:09

different.

46:11

Yeah, that really is a gift. Then to be able

46:13

to get both of those, I mean, to be able to operate

46:15

on both those two cultures

46:17

that are distinctly different. In those emotional

46:19

ranges, you know, you can kind of be more reserved

46:22

and also to be able to express yourself completely

46:25

and full.

46:26

The thing is also about Switzerland, which

46:28

I get now, is like in Switzerland

46:31

everything looks perfect, and in

46:33

almost every sense it is perfect. You know, you

46:35

have everything there, and so it's

46:38

kind of difficult to act or

46:40

to tell something that something is not perfect.

46:42

You know, for example, in a relationship, if

46:45

you have issues with your family, and I think

46:47

in Latin America and especially Ecuador,

46:49

it is common. You know that you

46:52

know that you have fights and you get loud

46:54

and you scream at each other and in Switzerland

46:57

everything is more reserved, which is also

46:59

good because the culture is different. But that's

47:02

something that I got to know now when

47:05

I'm older.

47:06

How did your parents meet?

47:08

That's the funniest.

47:09

Sorry, my father was maybe thirty

47:11

years old and then he worked for

47:13

a European company but in Ecuador for

47:16

the pharmacy, pharmacy business, and

47:19

then our mother was his secretary.

47:21

So yeah,

47:23

it's a perfect story.

47:25

And so he had to go back or he wanted

47:27

to go back, and then our mother showed

47:29

us the letters, and then our father wrote her a

47:31

letter.

47:32

Do you remember that?

47:33

Yeah, the most honest letter, like selling

47:36

there's like a fifty to fifty chance that you're

47:38

gonna make it because of this this, and he just

47:41

told her all the factors that are different

47:43

from being in Ecuador, just

47:46

like a very Swiss approach, you know, like she's

47:49

hate it. She was, she was all

47:51

in and like she left Ecuador forever.

47:54

How old was she at that time?

47:55

Like she was twenty she was twenty five,

47:58

twenty six, Yeah, she

48:00

was young.

48:01

Wow.

48:01

And also like German, like the

48:03

language that's so hard to learn.

48:06

But our mother big respect

48:08

for her that she did it, and she I

48:10

mean nowadays, she's more Swiss.

48:12

Than we are.

48:13

You know.

48:14

It's funny in my opinion, but

48:16

yeah, big respect that she she left

48:18

her parents in Ecuador, her sisters,

48:22

brothers, and she just moved to Switzerland

48:24

without knowing anybody.

48:26

She told me that she always gotta marry

48:29

a foreigner. She always worked, that's

48:31

through she had that vision.

48:33

Was her family upset, No, I think they

48:35

got it.

48:36

I think they were like, yeah, if

48:38

you have to do it, you leave, but

48:40

you can always come back. This is your place, don't

48:43

worry about it.

48:44

It was also a chance, you know, in the late

48:46

seventies, you know, to go to Europe from

48:49

Ecuador and our grandparents

48:51

there were middle class, middle

48:53

class, lower class a bit also like.

48:57

How do you say humble

48:59

people?

48:59

You know?

49:00

And so.

49:02

I remember that her grandfather talked to my father

49:04

and also like he just said, yeah, just treated

49:07

with respect and she can us

49:09

come back.

49:10

Did you guys speak German primarily at

49:13

home?

49:14

Yeah?

49:14

It was German. When I speak Spanish, it's

49:17

always it's always, it's.

49:21

Always the same thing, man, the

49:23

big brother being mean to the little brother.

49:26

No, I am it's it

49:29

was mostly German with my father, but our

49:31

father left they

49:34

got separated when I was seven, so

49:36

I mostly spoke Spanish to my mom.

49:39

That's why he speaks better Spanish.

49:40

Than my brother's

49:45

that's the reason.

49:48

So so, and when they got separated, your mom

49:50

just decided to stay out there still.

49:52

Yeah, I mean they lived pretty close

49:54

to each other, so yeah, yeah, it

49:56

was clear that she's kind of stay in Switzerland.

49:59

It feels even more brave in a way.

50:01

I don't know why she's super brave.

50:03

The first few records, you guys recorded, no

50:06

label on anyone until the most recent records.

50:08

Yes, it's correct. What was it

50:10

like putting now records all by yourself? Did

50:13

you guys have a vision or a strategy

50:15

or is it sort of just like let's make some stuff,

50:18

put it up, see what happens.

50:20

No strategy.

50:21

We just wanted to have our own collection

50:24

of vinyl because it's just such a

50:26

strong thing to have in

50:28

your mind, just to pass it on. So it

50:31

was important that we create something which

50:34

is honest. And then it was

50:36

also very organic, like creating

50:39

new music was easy. It was

50:41

just like, yeah, happening so fast,

50:44

and looking back, it's crazy, like every

50:46

year we had a new record coming. But

50:49

it was at the same time so much fun. It was

50:51

because it was a side thing for us. It

50:54

was like the thing which kept us

50:56

alive in a way, you know, from maybe

50:59

the routines and all that stuff, which

51:01

is not so inspiring. But

51:03

we're happy now that we're having this label

51:06

in the back of us. It's a beautiful feeling

51:09

to have people around you.

51:11

Now, how did you guys record

51:13

the first few records? Is that? Did you guys do it

51:16

on your own or did you do it?

51:17

We had a studio.

51:18

The first two records were

51:20

recorded in Berlin at the friends

51:22

place. He had his studio

51:26

and he offered us, hey, if you ever want

51:28

to record something, this is

51:30

your studio. And then we did this twice

51:32

like this journey road trip,

51:34

you know. And after

51:37

that we found a cool studio

51:39

and the cool recording engineer in Zurich,

51:42

and so the last two albums

51:45

we recorded in Zurich because we also didn't

51:47

have the time to do another road

51:49

trip.

51:49

You know.

51:50

It was like, we want to record now and we

51:52

have everything here, and so in

51:55

total we did like four albums

51:57

and one single, two

52:00

singles.

52:01

So yeah, when you guys realized you were

52:03

going to record with Easy,

52:05

I did you have the songs for

52:08

the new record ready or did you have to?

52:10

I mean, we knew, like in December

52:14

we're going to record in March, and

52:17

we had ideas, you know, we were always playing.

52:20

But then we had like, okay, let's write this

52:22

album. And it was a very

52:25

intense and special two

52:27

months because we wanted to we

52:29

wanted to impress then, you know, and

52:32

he was impressed by the way that

52:34

we were because after two days

52:36

we were done with recording the bass, you

52:38

know, like we did eight songs in

52:41

two days, and he was like, so,

52:43

what should we do now, and we were like, let's do start

52:46

with overdubs and everything, and then we came

52:48

well prepared. But it was like also two

52:51

months before every day playing

52:53

together, writing songs and looking

52:55

for new melodies, and it

52:57

was not always that easy, you know, but it was cool

53:00

to come to the studio, pluck

53:02

the guitar in, and to be ready.

53:04

Dang, So you guys record. You guys wrote

53:07

the record in two months and

53:09

then basically recorded the majority of it, like

53:11

the vast majority of it, in two days.

53:13

Yes, the base of it.

53:14

Yeah, we recorded in two days.

53:17

But there were overdubs of course,

53:19

happening in the next days, but the

53:22

base of the record was done.

53:24

I love how quickly you got I mean, that's just it. It

53:27

feels like I mean we had

53:29

to work that, we had to in a way.

53:31

Yeah, there was I don't think you get this always

53:34

in your life's one lifetime

53:37

experience. So we took it very

53:39

seriously and we felt a little bit of pressure,

53:41

of course. Yeah. From the first moment,

53:44

we felt like, Okay, this is going to be okay, this is going

53:46

to be great because the connection with Dan was so

53:49

on the same level, which

53:51

made it so easy to perform here

53:53

in the studio, which this energy because

53:55

it's an amazing and unique place. So

53:58

that pressure that we felt before going

54:01

to Nashville just disappeared. From

54:03

the first moment that we got here. There

54:06

was not such a thing like hey, you

54:08

have to It's like about creating something

54:10

beautiful together. That

54:13

was nice to see how it works

54:15

and how he approaches a record.

54:18

I didn't feel the pressure.

54:19

I'm kidding. Are

54:24

you guys gonna record another record out there? Yeah?

54:26

Yes, this year we're gonna come back.

54:28

Do you have some material already?

54:30

Yeah, we have ideas.

54:31

After this tour, we're gonna go home and we're gonna

54:33

start like working, but

54:35

we have new stuff ready

54:38

and we just have to check it out to be

54:40

together and play together.

54:42

I know you're talking about Gestavo and film

54:45

as an inspiration. Do you guys want

54:47

to do soundtracks ever?

54:49

Yeah?

54:49

Yeah, yeah, We're waiting for

54:51

the right director with the perfect

54:54

story which fits in, just

54:56

like to create an experience. But there's no rush,

54:59

I mean, and also right

55:01

now there's no time. I mean, we're

55:03

busy with own things, own projects,

55:05

and this next record we want to

55:07

take it as series as possible, and that's just be

55:10

lazy about it.

55:11

Then.

55:11

I think it's just all very natural and we

55:13

trust in the process and things are coming

55:16

they've not It's okay.

55:18

Oh man, Thank you guys of course, man, the pleasure.

55:20

Glad we got to talk and thanks for coming on.

55:23

Man, it was an amazing conversation, really

55:25

cool. Thank you so much for your time.

55:30

Thanks to Estevan and Alejandro Ramana

55:32

Scutierrez for playing for us and

55:34

chatting through their origin story. We

55:36

can hear all of our favorite songs from them on a playlist

55:39

at Broken Record podcast dot com. Subscribe

55:42

to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash

55:44

Broken Record podcast, where we can find all

55:46

of our new episodes. You can

55:49

follow us on Twitter at broken Record.

55:51

Broken Record is produced with help from Lea Rose

55:54

and Eric Sandler. Our show is engineered

55:56

by Echo Mountain. Broken

55:58

Record is a production of Pushkin Industries.

56:01

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56:20

Are theme musics by Kenny Beats. I'm

56:23

Justin rich Man.