Vallejo
Website
Biography
From their website: A striking blend of modern rock grooves, potent guitar work, Latin percussion and soulful lyrics has made VALLEJO one of the most popular bands to hail from Austin, Texas. The music immediately hooks their listeners right in, taking them on a roller-coaster ride of musical beats and expressions.
Raised in the small town of El Campo, Texas, VALLEJO was first formed in 1990 by three brothers A.J. (Vocals, Guitar), Alejandro (Drums), and Omar (Bass). The Vallejo family tree of Guatemalan and Mexican descent introduced the boys to the Latin sounds of Tito Puente, Herb Alpert, and Santana, to name a few. The brothers were also very active in all of the music programs in their school.
"Our musical career was jumpstarted when our parents brought home three trumpets during our teen years," says Alejandro. "Between the three of us, we were all over our school's music department - in jazz, marching band and symphonic band." The brothers also started their own act, The Vallejo Bros., practicing Classic Rock covers every day after school and playing backyard parties on the weekends. After high school, the brothers officially changed the band name to VALLEJO and recorded their first CD, entitled Sins. This immediately gained them a local following in Birmingham, Alabama and eventually all over the Southeast.
In 1995, the group moved to Austin, Texas, the "Live Music Capital of the World" and set their sights on conquering one city at a time, making their headquarters the Midwest. Over the next few years, VALLEJO released two albums on TVT Records and toured relentlessly all over the country. Their debut album, Shining Sun, was released in 1996, followed by 1998's, Beautiful Life, produced by Vallejo and Neil King at the infamous Record Plant in California. While sharpening their performance skills with a non-stop touring schedule, the group also added James "Diego" Simmons on percussion, and Heath Clark on guitar.
In the winter of 1999, VALLEJO signed with Crescent Moon Records/Sony, helmed by Emilio Estefan. Going into the new millennium, Vallejo headed to the studio and began recording Into The New. Produced by Michael Barbiero (Blues Traveler, Metallica, Guns N' Roses) and the Vallejo Brothers, the album was recorded at Arlyn Studio (Austin, TX). That year the band would tour with everyone including Matchbox 20, Fuel & Stone Temple Pilots. Having become one of Austin's premier live bands, VALLEJO was voted the city's best rock band of 2000.
2002 promised to be an even more exciting year for VALLEJO as they released their fifth album, Stereo, that truly captured their live and grooving energy and would pave the way for their own label imprint, VMG (Vallejo Music Group). Their song "Rock Americano" was featured on MTV's "Real World" & "The Inferno", and once again the band set out to tour the country in 2003 and make their mark as one of Texas' most important rock bands. In between touring and now running a full fledged label, the Vallejo brothers started producing local Austin bands - The Dirty Wormz & Ill Camino - whose records were also released on VMG.
In 2004, the band released three albums at once called "The Fans Only Trilogy", that allowed fans a look into Vallejo's vault of hundreds of unreleased tracks the band had recorded over their 10 year career. The first offering was a bootlegged live show from the legendary Steamboat in Austin called Steamboat Live '97 that featured the band tearing it up on stage in their early days. The second release was the heavy & dark, Black Sky, an album that was to be released after Into The New but never came out because of the unfortunate and untimely fallouts of both 9/11 and Sony. The final installment, Leftovers, was a compilation of B-sides, remixes and two new unreleased tracks, "Just A Game" and "Break Free".
2005 sees the band entering the studio with long-time producer/alum, Dwight Baker, recording what is promising to be the "ultimate Vallejo album". The album will include the talents of the Del Castillo brothers and Emilio Perez from the Latin-Rock Panama sensation, Los Rabanes. Sure to be a destined classic for music lovers and Vallejo-fans alike, the music just keeps on running through their veins, thicker than water...
For over a decade now, VALLEJO has stood the test of time, not only surviving as a striving force in Texas music, but also progressing and maturing as a band and with musicians everyday. All the while keeping the good times rolling. "We're out to have a good time," says A.J. "We want to play music that makes our fans want to get up and be alive." Ten years later, Vallejo continues to spread their music across the world, in what seems like a never-ending tour, that will continue as long as brothers will be brothers.
VIVA VALLEJO!
Raised in the small town of El Campo, Texas, VALLEJO was first formed in 1990 by three brothers A.J. (Vocals, Guitar), Alejandro (Drums), and Omar (Bass). The Vallejo family tree of Guatemalan and Mexican descent introduced the boys to the Latin sounds of Tito Puente, Herb Alpert, and Santana, to name a few. The brothers were also very active in all of the music programs in their school.
"Our musical career was jumpstarted when our parents brought home three trumpets during our teen years," says Alejandro. "Between the three of us, we were all over our school's music department - in jazz, marching band and symphonic band." The brothers also started their own act, The Vallejo Bros., practicing Classic Rock covers every day after school and playing backyard parties on the weekends. After high school, the brothers officially changed the band name to VALLEJO and recorded their first CD, entitled Sins. This immediately gained them a local following in Birmingham, Alabama and eventually all over the Southeast.
In 1995, the group moved to Austin, Texas, the "Live Music Capital of the World" and set their sights on conquering one city at a time, making their headquarters the Midwest. Over the next few years, VALLEJO released two albums on TVT Records and toured relentlessly all over the country. Their debut album, Shining Sun, was released in 1996, followed by 1998's, Beautiful Life, produced by Vallejo and Neil King at the infamous Record Plant in California. While sharpening their performance skills with a non-stop touring schedule, the group also added James "Diego" Simmons on percussion, and Heath Clark on guitar.
In the winter of 1999, VALLEJO signed with Crescent Moon Records/Sony, helmed by Emilio Estefan. Going into the new millennium, Vallejo headed to the studio and began recording Into The New. Produced by Michael Barbiero (Blues Traveler, Metallica, Guns N' Roses) and the Vallejo Brothers, the album was recorded at Arlyn Studio (Austin, TX). That year the band would tour with everyone including Matchbox 20, Fuel & Stone Temple Pilots. Having become one of Austin's premier live bands, VALLEJO was voted the city's best rock band of 2000.
2002 promised to be an even more exciting year for VALLEJO as they released their fifth album, Stereo, that truly captured their live and grooving energy and would pave the way for their own label imprint, VMG (Vallejo Music Group). Their song "Rock Americano" was featured on MTV's "Real World" & "The Inferno", and once again the band set out to tour the country in 2003 and make their mark as one of Texas' most important rock bands. In between touring and now running a full fledged label, the Vallejo brothers started producing local Austin bands - The Dirty Wormz & Ill Camino - whose records were also released on VMG.
In 2004, the band released three albums at once called "The Fans Only Trilogy", that allowed fans a look into Vallejo's vault of hundreds of unreleased tracks the band had recorded over their 10 year career. The first offering was a bootlegged live show from the legendary Steamboat in Austin called Steamboat Live '97 that featured the band tearing it up on stage in their early days. The second release was the heavy & dark, Black Sky, an album that was to be released after Into The New but never came out because of the unfortunate and untimely fallouts of both 9/11 and Sony. The final installment, Leftovers, was a compilation of B-sides, remixes and two new unreleased tracks, "Just A Game" and "Break Free".
2005 sees the band entering the studio with long-time producer/alum, Dwight Baker, recording what is promising to be the "ultimate Vallejo album". The album will include the talents of the Del Castillo brothers and Emilio Perez from the Latin-Rock Panama sensation, Los Rabanes. Sure to be a destined classic for music lovers and Vallejo-fans alike, the music just keeps on running through their veins, thicker than water...
For over a decade now, VALLEJO has stood the test of time, not only surviving as a striving force in Texas music, but also progressing and maturing as a band and with musicians everyday. All the while keeping the good times rolling. "We're out to have a good time," says A.J. "We want to play music that makes our fans want to get up and be alive." Ten years later, Vallejo continues to spread their music across the world, in what seems like a never-ending tour, that will continue as long as brothers will be brothers.
VIVA VALLEJO!
