WelcomeSam Ray Club to

40-hour work week consisted of religious caffeine runs, before and during the physical strains of warehouse duties. Thirty-minute breaks have never been about enlightenment, but rather how fast I could clock in and out on time without stumbling in my steel toe boots.

Until the beginning of spring arose.

March 29th, to be specific, and it was as if I was gifted with a remarkable stranger, who unlocked an entirety of musical inclinations and talent to me.

Dark hair that hugged the frame of his jawline, dangling gold-plated earrings peeking through, and distressed jeans that approached my car. As he took orders for a local coffee shop in El Paso, many cars waited behind mine. In that fragment of time, I met Gianni Ortega, rhythm guitarist of indie band, Sam Ray Club, a borderland gem that tugs on the heartstrings of listeners. Not just by their music, but their outstanding charisma as well.

I later had the opportunity to meet each member, vocalist Grant Gonzalez, drummer Sergio Ortiz, bassist Raymond Ortiz, and lead guitarist Ian Martinez.

This is not just a band, but a brotherhood that possesses captivating artistries, passion, and devotion to their craft, with each connected in the precipice of El Paso’s music scene and shows, including “Hexenzense,” “Melancholy 10,” “Worm Ceiling,” and “Beach Cowboys.” pursued music at different junctures of their lives, but through fate, each individual became a proficient addition to the indie genre that is Innovated by the eccentric and infatuating sensations of jazz, indie, hip hop, 90’s alternative, and punk rock music the members listened to while growing up.

Originating in 2022, there is a significance and history that also influenced them as a whole.

“Sam Ray’s Club name comes from one of my favorite Sams in the world. As soon as you hear one of his songs, you can immediately tell that it’s his. No one else sounds like him, and he created a genre and sound of his own,” Gonzalez says.

The band began its musical expedition by performing admirable covers and personal interests and played its first show on September 9th, 2022, hosted at the Music Gallery, where fans gathered inside the venue, and as far as the sidewalk to indulge in their uplifting performance.

Since then, the band has been making appearances throughout the city with their electronic instrumentation and pulsating vocals at The Galleria Lincoln, Lowbrow, Love Buzz, Whole Lotta Denim, The Circle, and the Cosmic and Grounded Art Studio.

“I’ve always wanted to make music. One day, I discovered what would be my favorite song of all time called, ‘Is There a Place I Can Go’ by Trudy and the Romance. I just wanted to recreate that same feeling it gave me when I first listened to it,” Ortega says.

Gonzalez, the band’s vocalist, explains the desire in his lyrical journeys that establishes his truth, which is translated in each correlated ballad.

“I’m the kind of person who has to write based on real life. Emotional experiences give me something to say. Even if it’s fictional, it allows me to get over situations and directly addresses someone or how I feel. Something has to happen to me in order to write. Like emotional packaging and being able to push subjects,” Gonzalez explains.

For example, the band’s single “Murakami No Bass” emphasizes on loss, romance, and the sexual tension within a friendship. The creative process behind the single expresses an “emotional arc” that Gonzalez describes as a “Reflection on the experience of losing someone you were once really close to. There’s so much bad blood that you could be in the same room but never speak. It’s universal.”

With grand fidelity, Sam Ray Club toured throughout Texas with Late Night Drive Home in March of 2023, venturing through Houston, Waco, Dallas, and San Antonio.

“The fans and venues treated us differently; it was like an out of body experience. Seeing all the venues and meeting new people. I didn’t think we were such a big deal, but we were taken care of,” Martinez says, highlighting and punctuating El Paso’s finest euphonious revolution of local talent.

In addition, Sam Ray Club will be touring again in July, beside Late Night Drive Home among the west coast and Arizona deserts, and will soon voyage throughout Albuquerque, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Santa Ana.

When asked about where they see themselves together as a band in the near future, each member didn’t fail to withhold and mention one another with gratitude.

“Touring a bit further, or one specific state at a time. To not rely on a full-time job for housing and food, but instead keep making music and being able to support myself,” Ortiz explains.

It is important to note that Sam Ray Club is, in fact, well on their way towards stardom, with striking intellectual versus melodic essence, purpose, but most importantly a message.

For anyone aspiring to start their own band or pick up an instrument, Ortiz advises, “Don’t listen to anybody but yourself, unless they are looking out for you. Stick to it. Practice. It is fulfilling.” Thus, Martinez emphasizes on pursuing music by going against societal norms.

“Don’t do it because it’s cool or it looks cool. Do it because you like it.”

Sam Ray Club encourages everyone to push themselves to truly live unapologetically in order to create, never refrain or restrict yourself from different genres, and use creativity as a result of the unfortunate circumstances that are inevitable in our lifetimes.

Gonzalez then adds, “Well, definitely don’t do it to be cool, but be cool.”

Gonzalez, Martinez, Ortega, Sergio Ortiz, and Raymond Ortiz recently announced the release of their first full-length album destined to make your heart grow fonder, with over fourteen songs in production. Accelerating an anthem for those chasing a dream, stuck in between romantic barriers, and with love and respect for the art itself.

| By: ERIN COULEHAN |

In literature, the genre of Romance takes readers on adventures far away from home as the protagonist explores exotic locations, learns lessons in true love, and faces challenges head-on while on their journey of self-discovery. Tim Z Hernandez, acclaimed writer, performer, and professor of creative writing at UTEP, has made El Paso his home and is singing his truth through poetry.

“El Paso was the place that I never would have wanted for myself to come to,” he laughs, noting the region’s desert landscape compared to the lush green he loved in Colorado. “But now after being here nine years, I realized it’s the place that I needed to come to. El Paso is my ancestral homeland.”

Originally from California, Hernandez says he was familiar with local writers but unable to relate.

“There were writers like Gary Soto, writers who were writing about teen life and things in the