Joaquin and The Glowliners

For Immediate Release

With A Promise To Capture The Heart And Soul Of Chicano Music

Joaquin And The Glowliners

Set To Release New Vinyl And Music Video Premier This June!

San Antonio, TX – Joaquin and The Glowliners are proud to announce their debut vinyl, a collection of songs on 45s with the stunning “I Remember” on the A-Side and “Hinder” on the B-Side. The songs are out now and available everywhere you stream music with the new 45s due out this summer.

Joaquin and The Glowliners are a standout Chicano soul project and one of the few in southwest Texas. They hail from San Antonio, a city known for legendary Chicano soul writers like Joe Jama, Dimas Garza, and Sunny Ozuna. The band carries forward this rich musical tradition with pride and passion. When the band came together, Joaquin Muerte (also known for his work with SA-local staples Los Nahuatlatos and Eddie and The Valiants) the multi-talented frontman, was already an esteemed a labor rights community organizer and expanding on his work within the latino communities on healthy food initiatives with UT Health. Coming from the locally recognized band Los Nahuatlatos he was able to bring a wealth of DIY learnings from bookings to sound to promotions and quickly build Joaquin and The Glowliners. With their rise the band has built a platform to carry on the Chicano traditions of organizing and uplifting the Latino communities.

The most notable reference is from the band’s name which was drawn from frontman Joaquin Muerte and also from Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales’ seminal movimiento poem “I Am Joaquin.” A storied reminder that the 60 year long movement is still relevant and carries on.

Joaquin and The Glowliners sound is their iconic Soul Movimento, the heart of the music draws from old school Chicano soul, a nod to the times of the movement, while lyrically they unite and uplift audiences through love and positivity. It showcases multi-rhythm tracks ranging from fast bops to slow-tempo brown-eyed soul and echoes the doo-wop era with three-part harmonies rounded out by vocalist Amanda Joy Urdiales and Sarah Rocha-Barz alongside Joaquin Muerte. The full band features Felipe Iruegas on guitar, Luis Gonzalez on bass, Jacob “Jknodic” Benavides on drums and Chris “Kra” Malacara on Keys.

On the new 45, the soul-stirring songs “Hinder” and “I Remember” explore the intricacies of barrio romance and are richly textured reminders that there is romance in the revolution. Sonically “I Remember”  merges an old soul bassline with doo-wop styled vocals and challenges the typical chordal structures with a Beatles-like chorus and dream pop bridge. Inspired by Joaquin’s upbringing in Del Rio’s San Felipe barrio, “I Remember” is a reflection of his childhood and simpler times. Joaquin shares, “ ‘I Remember’ The story of an old love that never came to be and at the same time the love story of my parents,” he recalls, “I spent three months woodshedding these songs that I had written after a bad break up in the early 2000s.”  

Joaquin’s songwriting approach for Joaquin and Glowliners includes infusing the songs with his unique signature, blending neo-soul chords with an old-school flavor. Think Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” meets The Royal Jesters. Some of his best work comes to him in dreams; he wakes up with melodies in his head, and they stick with him. His longtime bandmate Felipe Iruegas Jr., with whom he has been playing for over a decade, usually helps hash out the song compositions. Joaquin then brings the vision to the band, and they add in their own magic. 

The new set of songs came together at a time when Joaquin was marking his first year in recovery from alcoholism. He celebrated by gifting himself studio time at WEPA Estudios with long-time friend Kiko Villamizar as producer. Determined to capture a specific oldie’s vibe, Kiko connected him to engineer Juan C. Alvarez, and together they recorded two tracks in Austin over a weekend. Juan’s use of a vintage tubed mic, reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s Thriller sessions, perfectly complemented Joaquin’s vision. 

Joaquin recalls, “When I was choosing a studio, I wanted to avoid the classic Tejano music studios and engineers that Texas is known for, because I was going for a specific oldie’s vibe, and I needed an engineer who was in tune with that. After talking to a lot of discouraging studio owners, who basically told me I had no future in music, I called a friend of mine named Kiko Villamizar. I showed him my ideas and he loved them.”

For subsequent tracks, Joaquin tapped Black Castle Media to work with the impressive producer Anthony Aguilar whose attitude and flexible approach allowed for creative freedom that the band had been in search of. Iram Reyes mixed and mastered the songs. Joaquin comments, “After working with Anthony, we decided to pass the mixing to Iram Reyes after he had done a fantastic job mixing and mastering our music with another project of ours called Combo Cosmico. He also had a great attitude about the process and so it all fit the positive vibes. We were out to prove that we could get the work done with the small-time locals with just as much skill and talent than the more well-known studios” 

Staying true to the Chicano legacy, Joaquin has been a bridge to social justice activism with the soulful sounds of the civil rights movement. The new songs mark a significant evolution for Joaquin and The Glowliners, blending old-school vibes with contemporary beats, making each release a milestone in their journey. With the new material, they are set to light up the summer with more releases, 45s, music videos, and live shows. 

Currently, the band is working on a music video for “I Remember” styled in 1960s San Antonio. Directed by Jacob Glombowski, it is set to be filmed in black and white during the night giving a dark noir feel with an old film color and grain. They are set to premiere the new music video on June 28th at Slab Cinema Art House at 6 PM!

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