The Blazers

The Blazers fuse guitar-driven sounds drawn from blues, surf rock, country, norteño reworked with rock energy, cumbia, and further Mexican traditions. Their approach often invites comparison to fellow East Los Angeles outfit Los Lobos. In the same vein as Los Lobos, the Gourds, and Doug Sahm’s Texas Tornados, the ensemble delivers an energetic, dance-oriented blend of North American musical idioms. At the core stand guitarist/vocalists Manuel Gonzales and Ruben Guaderamma, whose collaboration began in high school amid the beer joints of East L.A. Bassist Lee Stuart and drummer Raul Medrano anchor the sound with a powerful, forward-moving pulse beneath the searing guitar lines and blues-inflected, soulful vocals. The group’s catchy Ameri-Mex rock grooves and twin-guitar interplay have sparked analogies to Santana, the Kinks, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, and the Allman Brothers. Extensive tours abroad have earned enthusiastic responses from European audiences hungry for roots music. Their first Rounder Records effort, the 1994 album Short Fuse, earned widespread critical acclaim as one of that year’s standout rock releases. Additional Rounder titles include East Side Soul (1995), Just for You (1997), and Puro Blazers (2000). Following the turn of the millennium, the band relocated to producer Pete Anderson’s Little Dog Records, where they issued Seventeen Jewels (2003) and Dreaming a Dream (2008). Any admirer of hard-driving blues-rock and rockabilly will likely connect with the full catalog of Blazers recordings.