By Sean Claes



One of the most widely known independent Austin-based bands has been brought to you by three brothers. No, we're not talking about Los Lonely Boys. BEFORE those three brothers (who are incidentally not an Austin band... but we still love them as our own) there was A.J, Alejandro, and Omar - The Vallejo Brothers.

Vallejo has a pretty amazing story... back when Austin was overrun with amazing original music on Sixth Street (check Red River these days) Vallejo held a long-standing residency at The Steamboat. They realeased a handful of albums in the last 10 years, were signed to Sony, left the label, fought contracts, had disputes, are probably equally hated and loved in Austin (kinda like Bob Schneider... which for the record INsite loves) and have come out in one piece.

The current line-up of Vallejo includes A.J. Vallejo (Vocals/Guitar), Omar Vallejo(Bass), Alejandro "Alex" Vallejo (Drums), Bruce Castleberry (Guitar), and Jeff Hartsough (Percussion).

On Leap Day, Vallejo released their newest album, Thicker Than Water. Guests on the album include Austin favorites Del Castillo, Rockstar Supernova's Zayra Alvarez & the award-winning Grooveline Horns. INsite had a chance to talk with the brothers Vallejo in last February.

Claes: Tell me about the name of your album - Thicker Than Water.
A.J. VALLEJO: The album title comes from the family saying 'blood is Thicker Than Water,' but for us personally, it signifies that we're still going strong after everything we've been through over the years. Record labels, managers, lawyers, booking agents, roadies, accidents, marriages, divorces, babies, etc. Other bands would have either broken up ten times over or died by now. Our skins are as thick as ever.

Claes: The video for "Move On" is great. Who's concept was it? Where was that shot?
OMAR VALLEJO: The Ray brothers from Suited Productions shot our video in Austin and did a great job with it. The concept was all theirs and we learned through messing it up with our 'metal' video ideas, to just let them do their thing. We shot the band performance in an Austin airport hangar and the models were shot in an old abandoned hotel in Manor, Texas.

Claes: What are some of the band's new favorite tracks?
ALEJANDRO VALLEJO: "Let It Go" is a personal favorite of mine musically & lyrically. The music came together very naturally and A.J. really sang great on that one. There's also a song called "Temporary Thing" that I wrote about being married, but I think it relates to all types of relationships.
OMAR: I dig "Move On. That song came out of nowhere at the last possible minute and became the first single. That goes to show that you should never stop writing.

Claes: Tell me about ""Tu Corazon Es Para Mi."
OMAR: "Tu Corazon" was a collaboration with the Del Castillo brothers that we wrote in the studio but didn't feel like the rhythm was right the first time around. The Del Castillo brothers also wanted to give it a more traditional feel, so we re-recorded the basic tracks at their studio, Smilin' Castle. After that, AJ took it to Dallas to record the vocals with Zayra Alvarez and we brought it back to our VMG Studios in Austin to put everything together and mix it.

Claes: You also had the Grooveline Horns as guests on "Sonata Del Toro." What can you tell me about that song?
ALEJANDRO: The Grooveline Horns used to always get up on stage with us at the Steamboat on 6th back in the days. After the shows, we would always talk about having them record a song on one of our albums and it finally happened. We totally went for the Santana meets Miles Davis type of instrumental since no one does instrumentals anymore. We definitely made this record more for us and musicians instead of trying to make another album with a bunch of pop/rock songs on it.

Claes: "Thicker Than Water" is your first album in 5 years. Why so long between releases?
A.J.: A lot of it was contractual hold ups that we got caught in the middle of for 4 years. In the meantime we just kept touring and writing until everything worked itself out. After five years we had about 40 songs to choose from. Looking back it was probably all for the better because it taught us so much about ourselves as a band and we set up a mini label in the process. We just never gave up because we knew that if we kept going, all those years of blood, sweat and tears would finally pay off..

Claes: I see you've chosen Austin's CDFuse.com for electronic distribution of the CD, how was this decision made?
ALEJANDRO: Gigi Greco at Art Attack Promotions introduced us to Sal Silva at CD Fuse and his distributing operation just made perfect sense after selling 100,000 copies on TVT & Epic and not ever seeing a dime. After ten years we're finally seeing more money from our albums than we ever have. I can only hope for the label's sake, that they can find something that makes sense for them, the artist AND the consumer.

Claes: From looking at the "studio diary" when you were recording it looks like AJ's voice was going through some major strain. How are the vocal chords now?
OMAR: The vocal chords are okay. It's part of rock n' roll and it's bound to catch up with everyone at one point or another. Especially when you're in the studio!

Claes: Tell me about the "Vallejo Trilogy." Three releases that you released in rapid succession on 2003. Why release them so closely together?
ALEJANDRO: They were pretty much three records of unreleased tracks and B-sides that we put out in one year for a few reasons. One reason was because we now had our own label and could pretty much do whatever we wanted and the second reason was that it kept our fan base alive while the contractual fiascos worked themselves out. They're all out of print now, so whatever is out there is it.

Claes: On Leftovers you have a pretty big dig on local one-hit-wonder Dynamite Hack as a "bonus track." Why?
A.J.: They did a Vallejo 'diss' song on their album first, so we decided to bounce back with a slightly better version that stirred up a lot of 'rivalry' attention. It was all in fun, although I guess we got the last laugh since they're not even around anymore. Burn...

Claes: I heard the some members of Vallejo formed the rap group Dirty Wormz? How did that begin?
ALEJANDRO: Smackola & DJ Crash approached us after a show and said they wanted to do some heavy shit like Black Sabbath & Body Count, so we started writing what eventually became "The Infektion". 101X picked up "Top Of The Food Chain" and the album became a local hit. We eventually helped them put a band together and they still play shows and do very well around Austin. We've always been very proud of those guys.

Claes: Are there any other side projects I somehow missed in the last few years?
A.J.: We did a pretty heavy side project called 'Unified' that was great and never got released. Alex was in The Scabs back in the Steamboat days. We also had a little Prince side-project called Juice and Zach Baker & I do an acoustic thing called Glow Lounge.

Claes: Who are some of the bands the Vallejo Brothers have produced in the last few years?
OMAR: Dirty Wormz, Ill Camino, MC Overlord, Derrick Davis, Tyrone Vaughn, Krum Bums, Haydn Vitera, Angel Ferrer & Vallejo.

Claes: What was the scene like in 1995 when you moved to Austin?
A.J.: It was a lot different. When we moved here, the music scene was very rich with really great music. The musicians also seemed to jam and help each other more. Now it seems more shot bar and restaurant driven.

Claes: How do you think it relates to the scene today?
ALEJANDRO: I think the scene is trying to flourish again because I've seen a lot of great new bands lately. But I still think there needs to be a club like the old Steamboat that brings the musicians and city together again.

Sean Claes (http://www.seanclaes.com) is a freelance entertainment writer in Central Texas.

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