\u201cWhen Alejandro and I play together, it\u2019s like we are driving a car,\u201d says Estevan Guti\u00e9rrez, one half of the guitar duo Hermanos Guti\u00e9rrez. \u201cIt\u2019s like we are taking a road trip. Sometimes we\u2019re driving through a desert. Sometimes we\u2019re traveling up the coast. But always we are in nature, and we see the most beautiful landscapes, sunrises, sunsets.\u201d The music these two brothers make evokes expansive plains and rough wildernesses, saguaros and surfs, spaghetti westerns and Morricone soundtracks, Lynch and Jarmusch. With their guitars they travel through landscapes haunted by vaqueros, cancioneros, wanderers, fugitives, lovers, family\u2014and whatever ghosts their listeners bring to the music. \u201cEach album is a journey on its own,\u201d says Alejandro Guti\u00e9rrez. \u201cWe just have to go with the music, trust in ourselves, and see where it takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n
El Bueno Y El Malo is their most epic journey yet: Working with the Black Keys\u2019 Dan Auerbach at his Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville, they\u2019ve crafted ten vivid compositions that highlight their intimate guitar playing, where one brother\u2019s rhythms and the other brother\u2019s melodies twine around each other so that they become inextricable. Together, they generate what Estevan calls a \u201cdeeper, darker energy\u201d defined by complex arrangements, sophisticated playing, and most of all their very close relationship. \u201cWe have such different personalities and such different approaches,\u201d says Alejandro,\u201d but in the end we have a strong balance. Because we\u2019re brothers and because we love each other, there\u2019s always this connection.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sons of a Swiss father and an Ecuadorian mother, Hermanos Guti\u00e9rrez have only been playing together for a few years, but music has always been a point of connection for them. \u201cI started playing guitar because of my brother,\u201d Alejandro says. \u201cHe was always playing, and I loved the sound of it. Then he went to Ecuador for a year, and as an expression of missing him, I started playing the guitar as well. I learned by trying to imitate other songs, but soon realized that I didn\u2019t like playing covers. I wanted to play my own music.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the mid 2010s Alejandro moved to Zurich, not too far from the small village where his brother lived. One night he invited Estevan over and told him to bring his guitar. Together, they worked out a few melodies that quickly turned into fully realized songs. They didn\u2019t intend to start a band together, but soon decided to record an album. They booked time in a studio and soon emerged with their full-length debut, 8 A\u00f1os, named for the age difference between them. Their only ambition was to make a keepsake for themselves and their families: \u201cWe love collecting old vinyl, so we thought we should make our own,\u201d says Alejandro. \u201cBut it was also a moment for us to reconnect. Music helped us to be together in the same moment and create something new. So let\u2019s just do a record for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their success is proof that unique and imaginative music will find its audience. \u201cMy brother and I,\u201d says Estevan, \u201cwe did everything by ourselves\u2014 all the music, even the artwork. But during Covid, our music was streamed all over the world,\u201d especially their 2020 album, Hijos del Sol. Perhaps because people were looking for an escape from their worries or were traveling to new landscapes without leaving their homes, the music of Hermanos Guti\u00e9rrez spread by word of mouth, eventually finding its way to Auerbach. After a twenty-minute conversation, they signed with Auerbach\u2019s Easy Eye Sound Records and started writing songs for their forthcoming album.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know what it would be like working with someone else,\u201d says Alejandro. \u201cBut sometimes those moments can be crucial. They can bring new energy into a project. That can be very inspiring, but still, how is it going to work?\u201d<\/p>\n
Their misgivings were quelled as soon as they arrived at Easy Eye Sound Studio, and within twenty minutes they were already recording\u2014not that they were even aware that the sessions had started. As Estevan recalls, \u201cWe just plugged our guitars in and started playing, just to present the music to the whole team. When we stopped, Dan says, Okay, from the top. We didn\u2019t even realize that he was recording. Alejandro and I looked at each other and said, \u201che really feels the music. He\u2019s not looking for perfection. He\u2019s looking for feelings. He\u2019s looking for a moment. We\u2019re the same.\u2019\u201d That first song was the title track, with Alejandro\u2019s delicate fretwork like a mirage on the horizon and Estevan\u2019s chords rumbling like thunder in the distance. Together, the brothers evoke a landscape that\u2019s all the more beautiful for being slightly forbidding.<\/p>\n
That initial take set the tone for the sessions: They worked on the fly, hewing closely to the songs they had brought over from Switzerland while remaining open to any and all new ideas. \u201cWe came to Nashville with a clear sense of what we wanted to do,\u201d says Alejandro. \u201cThe more structure you have, the more you can improvise. You can feel prepared, but also open to changes. Nobody tried to impose an idea or change our essence. It was all about adding subtle things and enriching the whole\u2014expanding this universe we had created.\u201d El Bueno Y El Malo gently expands their sound, retaining the foundation while adding drums, castanets, strings, and congas. The additions are more than subtle; they\u2019re subliminal. They focus the attention on the two main figures and the intricate, almost telepathic interplay of their instruments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey move so quickly when they\u2019re working in the studio,\u201d says Auerbach. \u201cThey have such a vision for what they\u2019re doing and a good sense of what belongs and what doesn\u2019t.\u201d In perhaps the most significant addition to their two-guitar sound, their producer even played on one song. As the brothers struggled with an arrangement, Auerbach suggested an idea for a melody, even plugging in and playing it for them. They loved it so much they invited him to record it for them, even retitling that song \u201cTres Hermanos.\u201d He settles into the band easily, as they all trade lead back and forth among each other, each guitar with its own tone, its own personality, its own motivation and mission. \u201cI was just hearing something in the song and was flattered that they invited me to play and even renamed it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was definitely an honor to be brought into that very tight circle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The title of the album is, of course, a reference to Sergio Leone\u2019s legendary 1966 spaghetti western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and especially its score by Ennio Morricone. But the phrase has a deeper meaning: \u201cWe think that everybody has a good side and a bad side,\u201d says Estevan. \u201cIt\u2019s every person, every moment, every situation. Everybody has these two faces.\u201d It\u2019s not a cynical idea, but one that celebrates the depths and dualities of humanity, and music\u2014even music that does not include vocals or lyrics\u2014is the perfect vehicle to explore such big ideas. \u201cInstrumental music is so powerful,\u201d says Alejandro. \u201cIt\u2019s there, but it\u2019s not there. You can immerse yourself in it, or it can just be in the background. We love the idea of taking up however much space the listener wants. There\u2019s potential for everyone putting a little of themselves into the music.\u201d<\/p>","excerpt":"","slug":"hermanos-gutierrez","image":{"url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hermanos-pdx-24-square.jpg","id":3846,"extension":"jpg","width":1080,"height":1080,"filesize":233798,"sizes":{"medium":{"width":350,"height":350,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":41704,"url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hermanos-pdx-24-square-350x350.jpg"},"large":{"width":1024,"height":1024,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":198107,"url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hermanos-pdx-24-square-1024x1024.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"width":300,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":33143,"url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hermanos-pdx-24-square-300x300.jpg"},"medium_large":{"width":768,"height":768,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":132886,"url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hermanos-pdx-24-square-768x768.jpg"}}},"all_day":false,"start_date":"2024-08-06 18:30:00","start_date_details":{"year":"2024","month":"08","day":"06","hour":"18","minutes":"30","seconds":"00"},"end_date":"2024-08-06 22:00:00","end_date_details":{"year":"2024","month":"08","day":"06","hour":"22","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_start_date":"2024-08-07 01:30:00","utc_start_date_details":{"year":"2024","month":"08","day":"07","hour":"01","minutes":"30","seconds":"00"},"utc_end_date":"2024-08-07 05:00:00","utc_end_date_details":{"year":"2024","month":"08","day":"07","hour":"05","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"timezone":"America\/Los_Angeles","timezone_abbr":"PDT","cost":"","cost_details":{"currency_symbol":"","currency_code":"","currency_position":"","values":[]},"website":"","show_map":false,"show_map_link":false,"hide_from_listings":false,"sticky":false,"featured":false,"categories":[],"tags":[],"venue":{"id":10,"author":"2","status":"publish","date":"2017-11-16 10:51:05","date_utc":"2017-11-16 18:51:05","modified":"2024-05-07 15:54:44","modified_utc":"2024-05-07 22:54:44","url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/venue\/edgefield\/","venue":"Grand Lodge","slug":"edgefield","address":"3505 Pacific Ave.","city":"Forest Grove","country":"United States","state":"OR","zip":"97116","phone":"(503) 992-9533","stateprovince":"OR","json_ld":{"@type":"Place","name":"Grand Lodge","description":"","url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/venue\/edgefield\/","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"3505 Pacific Ave.","addressLocality":"Forest Grove","addressRegion":"OR","postalCode":"97116","addressCountry":"United States"},"telephone":"(503) 992-9533","sameAs":""},"show_map":false,"show_map_link":false,"global_id":"grandlodgeconcerts.com?id=10","global_id_lineage":["grandlodgeconcerts.com?id=10"]},"organizer":[],"json_ld":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Event","name":"Hermanos Guti\u00e9rrez","description":"<p>\u201cWhen Alejandro and I play together, it\u2019s like we are driving a car,\u201d says Estevan Guti\u00e9rrez, one half of the guitar duo Hermanos Guti\u00e9rrez. \u201cIt\u2019s like we are taking a…<\/p>\\n","image":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hermanos-pdx-24-square.jpg","url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/event\/hermanos-gutierrez\/","eventAttendanceMode":"https:\/\/schema.org\/OfflineEventAttendanceMode","eventStatus":"https:\/\/schema.org\/EventScheduled","startDate":"2024-08-06T18:30:00-07:00","endDate":"2024-08-06T22:00:00-07:00","location":{"@type":"Place","name":"Grand Lodge","description":"","url":"https:\/\/grandlodgeconcerts.com\/venue\/edgefield\/","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"3505 Pacific Ave.","addressLocality":"Forest Grove","addressRegion":"OR","postalCode":"97116","addressCountry":"United States"},"telephone":"(503) 992-9533","sameAs":""},"performer":"Organization"},"ticketed":false}