Ciao Granada

Ciao Granada se origina en el año 2008 en la ciudad de Monterrey, y está conformada por Marco Barcenas (voz y guitarra), Chavi García (bajo y 2da voz) quienes fueran los fundadores, para posteriormente incorporar a Iván Gtz. (batería), Jeremy Johnston (teclados, trompeta y samplers), quien se integraría después de asistir a un ensayo, y Hugo Guerrero (guitarra).

Siendo ya una agrupación completa y con una gran ventaja que ellos mismos aseguran tener que es la de compartir las mismas influencias musicales y objetivos, fue así cuando comenzaron a fusionar estilos e ideas de cada uno, lo que resultó en un sonido electro-rock que los caracteriza.

www.ciaogranada.com


Por Marcela Guerra - Monterrey Under

Interview/Podcast - Grupo Reforma

By JESSICA FISCHER
jfischer@timesnews.net

When Kingsport native Jeremy Johnston moved to Monterrey, Mexico, as an exchange student four years ago, he planned to spend a semester there improving his Spanish, then move back
to the Tri-Cities and teach the language at the high school or university level.
Instead, he landed a spot as the keyboard player for a Mexican indie pop rock band called Ciao Granada.
“I liked the city, so I went home and graduated, then came back to work at an English school,” said Johnston, who graduated from Sullivan North High School and earned his bachelor’s degree in Spanish from East Tennessee State University. “There, I met a member of the band, and he asked me to come and see if we would play well together.
“Three of them — the drummer, the vocalist and the bass player — were already playing to gether. They were actually a heavy metal group and a cover band before. They wanted to do something a little lighter, a little more indie pop, I guess, and they knew that I was a keyboardist and that I had an electronic music background, so they asked me to come and just see if we meshed well together. The first time that we met, we sat down for three hours and wrote three complete, well-structured songs. They were like, ’OK, this never happens, so you should probably stay.’” The guys will make a trip to
Johnston’s old stomping grounds later this week, when they fly into
the Tri-Cities for a gig at Johnson City’s Blue Plum Festival.
Ciao Granada will perform at 1 p.m., June 4 on the festival’s Latin stage.
Folks expecting the kind of “Mexican music” they might hear while sipping a Corona at the local taqueria are in for a big surprise, Johnston said.
“A lot of people in the United States — in the states above the border states — don’t really expect Mexico to have different genres, other than what you hear at Mexican restaurants, so when they hear that there’s pop music and rock and indie, it’s kind of a shock,” he
said, adding that Ciao Granada’s songs, though sung in Spanish, deal with many of the same themes as American pop tunes. Case in point, “No Se Admiten Vaqueritas,” or “No Cowgirls Allowed,” the second single off Ciao Granada’s debut album, “En Gravedad,” or “In Gravity,” set to be released in June on the Moha Music label. The music video for the first single off the album, “Lejos,” is set to hit YouTube on June 12, around the same time the album will be available on iTunes and Amazon.
“Our lead singer dated a stereotypical country girl here in Mexico, and it didn’t work out, so he said, ‘No more cowgirls,’ ‘No cowgirls allowed.’ It’s a sad breakup song about his ex-girl-friend,” Johnston said. “Nearly ever song on the album is pretty much about failed relationships
— either friendships that have withered or romantic relationships that have failed — and most pop songs are about that in one
way or another, so if the people could speak Spanish fluently or
could hear English translations — I know the music is enjoyable
— but if they could understand the lyrics, I think they would dig that, too.”
While they’re in town, Johnston and his band mates will be filming footage for the music video for “No Se Admiten Vaqueritas.” "On Sunday morning, very early, the plan is to record some scenes for our second single on Roan Mountain and at Natural Tunnel,” Johnston said. “Joe Volpe works with a group called Don’t Panic TV and they do documentaries and music videos for international bands. When Joe,
who’s from the Tri-Cities as well, heard about us coming to the area he offered to shoot some footage for us.” Johnston said he’s excited
about sharing his hometown’s Southern hospitality with his
band mates.
“I have been waiting for this since I decided to stay here andplay with these guys because I’ve sacrificed being far from my family and being far from my friends and my life that I built in Tennessee,” he said. “Now these guys are finally going to have to travel and go back to my stomping grounds, and I'm excited for them to experience the Southern lifestyle.
Had it not been for the generous financial support from local businesses, Johnston said Ciao Granada couldn’t have made the trip in the first place. “I want to say that I’m surprised but I’m really not because I understand Southern hospitality and how generous people in the South are,” he said. “The support from local businesses in Kingsport has been miraculous.”

For more information about
Ciao Granada, find them on
Facebook. - Kingsport Times-News

Interview about Jeremy Johnston's history with the Mexican indie rock band Ciao Granada - WCYB

Translation:

One of the most promising bands on the Mexican independent music scene is Ciao Granada, originally from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. The ''regio'' quintet will be offering a mini-tour through Mexico City next month, playing shows in The District's most important clubs. Without a doubt, Club Atlantico will be a perfect setting to hear the awesome sonic proposal that Ciao Granada has to offer. Soon to release an album, they tell us that their first single will be ''Lejos'' and the video for said single will be produced by Fernanda Gonzalez and Homero Montemayor. This band is on the label Moha Music.

Original:

Una de las bandas más prometedoras de la escena independiente de nuestro país es Ciao Granada, originarios de Monterrey, Nuevo León. El quinteto regio estará ofreciendo una mini-gira por el Distrito Federal en el próximo mes de Febrero, haciendo escala en los clubes más importantes de la Ciudad de México. Sin duda, el Club Atlántico será un escenario perfecto para escuchar la genial propuesta sónica que Ciao Granada tiene para ofrecer. Próximos a sacar disco, nos adelantan que su siguiente sencillo llevará el nombre de "Lejos" y que para dicho Video contarán con la dirección de Fernanda González y Homero Montemayor. Ésta es una banda del sello Moha Music.

- Radio Analogo