Sanders said the ubiquity of instrumental rock - whether or not its practitioners apply the 'surf' tag - helps explain its continued growth. He pointed to the title track of Exil as a prime example. So do Wanner's playing techniques, which Sanders hears as informed by flamenco. but always tasty' - differentiate the trio from the surf rock crowd. Sanders said Nuclear Juarez's unusual chord choices - 'sometimes dreamy, sometimes moody. Sanders' online show features instrumental guitar music from all decades, and he's included the San Antonio band in his playlist, which spans genre luminaries to lesser-known artists. So, to sort out the best descriptor for the Nuclear Juarez sound, we spoke to a bona-fide expert in the field, Mark Sanders, the host of Mark Malibu's Surfin' a Go Go Radio Show. Let's be honest: artists are notoriously not the best interpreters of their own work. When you can massage the ears with good melodies and good sonic procedure, that's gonna be more popular.' 'You've got this deluge of words coming out of every speaker. But then again, Wanner - a man whose bandmates claim can play 'anything with strings' - always has a theory. Wanner has a theory as to why that might be. While surf rock underwent a '90s revival, thanks in part to Pulp Fiction's influence, a broader interest in instrumental rock has been growing in popularity for a while now. That said, Nuclear Juarez does write a setlist in advance, though the members aren't averse to switching things up midstream, depending on how the crowd is reacting to the material. 'It should be a unique fingerprint every time.' 'The music should not sound the same every time you play it,' he added. 'Let's break some new ground and see whose cuisine reigns supreme.'įor his part, Parrish likes to keep things loose for their performances. 'You've got three cooks coming into the kitchen,' he said. Guitarist Gus Wanner said the band's sound stems from the individual members' varied tastes. 'But maybe something out there in the perimeter.' 'I wouldn't say they introduce avant-garde into what we do,' said Parrish. The members agreed that jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo and the Velvet Underground are key influences. 'We play the emotive stuff, and you can put the pictures together in your head,' said Parrish. And yep, some double snare hits on 2 and 4.īut those core elements are balanced out by dissonant lead guitar lines, unusual melodic choices and the occasional riptide burst of jagged noise. You've got your reverb-soaked chords that invoke surf whitecaps. To their point, basic surf rock ingredients float to the surface in the Nuclear Juarez sea. 'And I don't look good in shorts,' bassist Michael Pittman added. A lot of those bands have to look a certain way, their guitars have to be a certain model, they have to use a certain kind of amp. 'There's maybe a surf beat on a few of the songs. 'We're not a surf band at all,' drummer Brian Parrish told the Current during a Zoom conversation. While Nuclear Juarez's music has some of the hallmarks of surf rock classics like Dick Dale's 'Miserlou' - the song featured in Pulp Fiction's opening credits - or the Ventures' 'Walk Don't Run,' the members are eager to point out the breadth of their musical approach. San Antonio's Nuclear Juarez dropped one of last year's best local albums, Exil, proving the guitar-driven instrumental trio has the potential to make waves. The members of Nuclear Juarez have a way of playing off each other conversationally, and it's also evident in the way their music unfolds.

L.a. guns album covers pictures