[INTERVIEW] Mexican-American Band Suenatron Talks Long Awaited Debut Album

When one thinks of California, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Sunshine, maybe the ocean, and, without a doubt, lots of good music.

Dipping into a rainbow of delectable rhythms that immediately draw listeners into a kaleidoscopic world of impressive, exhilarating sound, Mexican-American band Suenatron is welcoming the new decade with positive vibes and the release of their long-awaited debut album, all the while celebrating their rich heritage and highlighting the bicultural experience in America.

The group, which comprises Hernán “Mexia” and Giovanni Hernández—both sons of Hernán Hernandez of legendary regional Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte—in addition to their friends Matt Gonzalez and Eduardo Montelongo—draws inspiration from San Francisco Bay area artists like Santana and bands such as Tower of Power and Los Humildes, but in the six years that they have been playing together as Suenatron, they have pioneered their own infectious sound that they have coined “popteño.”

Each of Suenatron’s members lends his own unique flavor, with one coming from a different musical background than the next. While bassist Montelongo introduces an alternative rock flair, Giovanni, the band’s drummer, finds his greatest influence in rock, and, as a former rapper, lead singer and accordion player Hernán offers a taste of hip-hop. As varied as their backgrounds were coming into the band, though, they were still able to find common ground and bonded over their shared desire to create a project that was innovative and original. “We all wanted to do something fresh, new…Through the years, through experience, and just experimenting with sounds, that’s kind of how we came across this new sound that we’re calling ‘popteño’,” Hernán explained to Musical Notes Global.

As a result, popteño is a magical, high-energy blend of these modern sounds mixed in with pop, a generous dose of electronic music, and even a little bit of soul, but at its root is regional Mexican music, specifically norteño, a folk style known for its polka-like, accordion-driven ballads and a style which Suenatron’s members grew up listening to. The band adds a unique contemporary spin to the genre, reviving it for a whole new generation of listeners while still incorporating traditional instruments, like the bajo quinto, while maintaining its integrity.

With their music, Suenatron wants to bring their listeners back to a more carefree state of mind, back to a time when living in the moment was a natural way of life and when smartphone technology didn’t reign supreme. “We want people to have fun again with regional Mexican music. I think for a moment everything started sounding similar—all respect to our colleagues in the genre—but our message and our goal is to really have fun again,” Hernán said. “When I used to go to concerts, or bailes is what they would call them back in the day, people would go there, they’d have fun, they’d dance. They wouldn’t be on their phones or filming it, watching the artist through their phones. They’d actually be participating in the dance movements, and it was one big dance party. And that’s what we really want. Our shows are a lot like that, a lot of energy. So that’s what we’re trying to bring back to the regional Mexican world.”

Last summer, Suenatron delivered on that goal, making a huge splash with the release of their single “Cumbia Cali,” the first extraction from their self-titled debut album. Vibrant, intoxicating, and sonically colorful, the song is a dedication not only to the Mexican-American community in the United States but also to the state of California, where every member of the group was raised. “It’s home to me. It’s California,” Montelongo, who was born in Mexico but grew up in the Golden State, noted. “It’s a place where I feel like having this opportunity to do music and being able to see how beautiful the United States is…from the East Coast, Midwest, etc., California is definitely the best. Because it’s so diverse on cultures and everything...There’s always some kind of celebration from a different place, whether it be Asia, etc…There’s always something that you are learning here…I love it. For me, it’s home. It means, truly, truly how the United States is, and certain parts should be, because it’s great. It’s pretty much the actual melting pot that the United States is.”

“Cumbia Cali” received airplay on more than 230 radio stations across the Americas and Mexico and was positioned in the top 10 of radio charts in the U.S. and Mexico. To date, the music video has garnered more than 300,000 views on YouTube.

In April 2020, Suenatron released their debut album Suenatron. Produced by Juan Manuel Caipó, the cutting-edge collection was a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait. “It feels awesome to finally be able to release our album. We started recording these songs in 2014 and getting the ideas together…but for this album we recorded about 22 songs and we picked 10 of the best,” Hernán said. “The reason we decided to put it out now, with everything that’s been going on, we wanted to give our fans and the people out there something to listen to.”

“The album represents a lot of hard work for all of us,” Montelongo added. “We really put in a lot. A lot of these songs were recorded five, six years ago, but they were not polished, they were not honed into what [they are] today. We kind of put them aside to go into the more regional sound, but when we were doing this, we were doing it our way, in our own style, with the electronic sound, the rock sound, and it took getting together again with Juan Caipó to really polish these songs out and give them a new revamp that you’re hearing today, with what we already discovered with ourselves. What it really represents is variety for everybody.”

As the children of immigrant parents, the band is cognizant of the cultural duality that many American-born Latinos and first generation American citizens are experiencing today. Suenatron speaks to that unique perspective while serving as a celebration of diversity and demonstrating the magic that lies in blending different elements that may not obviously fit together into a new seamless, cohesive whole. Its tracklist naturally—and even effortlessly—breaks down barriers, investing the collection with the power to bring people together in a way that only music can achieve.

“The album represents a fusion, the album represents unity. It’s meant for everybody and we call it regional Mexican music—that’s at the base of it—but it really extends to everyone and anything because we are not limited by just the regional Mexican,” Montelongo said. “That was what we discovered along the way, that we’re not just another regional Mexican band. We’re actually a world band. We love to experiment with our sound and really explore the limits of our music and our talents. Collaborating with other individuals like Jonaz on ‘Compas’ is one of the things that expands our mind and just really makes our music that much better and evolves even more as we go on and as we move forward with this project.”

“What I really love about this album is that I think we really captured what Suenatron is trying to put out there, our true sound,” Gonzalez pointed out. “We’ve always just wanted to get to a moment where we feel comfortable with our music and happy, and I think with this album we all kind of have this common feeling like, yeah, this feels good.”

Moving forward, because of their diverse appeal, Suenatron will continue to achieve a far reach that spans not only across generations but across languages and cultures as well. “We really want to take regional Mexican not just to other parts of the world, but to the Anglo market,” Hernán noted. “We really think that world and crossover—I really don’t even like to say crossover because look at Bad Bunny now, look at J Balvin. Look at all these artists that have done the so called ‘crossover’ thing, but they’re just artists now. I think that limit and that barrier has been breaking down…I just think now, just being generalized as an artist, as a band that’s just badass that’s got something new and something fresh to bring to the table, that’s definitely what we’re trying to bring…We want to knock on all doors, touch everybody’s heart, reach everybody’s minds with our music and our message. But there is no limit. There is no barrier. It’s all one now. Especially now with the way Internet and technology is. There really is no limit.”

Listen to Suenatron below.