AUTOMATIC WEEKEND
12.9 6:00PM
Initially a two-man band rooted along the banks of the Rio Grande in Laredo, Texas, brothers Sergio and Adrian Romanos formed Automatic Weekend with nothing more than a guitar and drum kit. In 2009, the brothers began gigging around Laredo bars and coffee shops with a batch of Black Keys cover songs and an occasional original tune. After a couple of years and with a collection of more original music the brothers packed up and moved to Austin, Texas in 2012.
There the brothers reconnected with an old friend and fellow Laredoan, Fernando Gutierrez, who recently moved to Austin himself. The trio began writing and rehearsing new material for what would become their debut, self-produced EP, Hermanos. While performing throughout Central and South Texas in support of Hermanos, the guys stayed busy developing their unique South Texas blues/rock sound. In 2015 they enlisted the help of Grammy-Award winning musician and producer Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas, Grupo Fantasma) to record their second, self-titled EP. With the Automatic Weekend release, the band found itself digging deep into a grittier blues sound while simultaneously exploring a more soulful and softer side with tracks like: “Separate Ways”, “This Love”, and “Children of The Stars”.
After the release of AW, the band’s presence in and around Austin continued to grow as did their sound and population. In 2018, the band expanded to a 4-piece outfit with the addition of bassist Mark Martinez, coincidentally also from Laredo and also living in the Austin area. With the new lineup set, AW continued to find and set their groove and have since shared the stage with acts such as: Brownout, Jesse Daniel, Nuevo, and The Bright Light Social Hour, among others. The band also got their crack at bigger stages like C-Boy’s Heart & Soul, The Mohawk, Hotel Vegas, and The Sagebrush.
In 2020, the pandemic saw the band and the world take a hiatus from live shows, which allowed for the band’s continued evolution to take place uninterrupted and behind closed doors. What emerged after was a more solidified Tex-Mex blues rock n’ roll with added elements of tejano, country, and polka. Between 2021-2023, Automatic Weekend went back into the studio, this time calling on Grammy-Award winner and producer Beto Martinez (Grupo Fantasma, Money Chicha, Brownout, Caramelo Haze) to cut their upcoming album, titled Tejano Dreams. The new album is currently in post production with a scheduled release coming in late 2023.
Tejano Dreams finds the band combining the impressions of the bordertown sound with their own perspectives on the world as they see it. That is immediately evident in the title track, “Tejano Dreams”. Sung in spanish, the song opens with a guitar twang that serves as an invitation for a booming accordion lick which sets the tone for this catchy, uptempo polka about a love lost in real life, but not in dreams. The danceable Tex-Mex country tune “Mile Marker 30” gives loose instructions on how to make it past the border patrol checkpoint coming up north with more than just clothes in your luggage. Throughout 11-song album the band dives in and out of rock n’ roll, country, polka, and soul with a steady dose of bordertown attitude and point-of-view.
EL COMBO OSCURO
12.9 8:00PM
El Combo Oscuro is a psychedelic cumbia outfit hailing from the sweat-drenched discotecas of Austin, Texas.
Their sound combines the psychedelic trills of the vintage organ paired with gnarled guitar stylings and a thumping rhythm section that creates an impenetrable wall of psychedelic Latin sounds.
Since forming in 2020, they have resonated with both listeners and tastemakers alike. They have twice been nominated for Austin Music Awards’ Best Latin Act and their debut EP, Que Sonido Tan Rico, was listed at #15 in Austin Chronicle’s Top 100 Records of 2021 by music editor Kevin Curtin. Their sophomore release, Cumbia Capital, was praised by the former Chief Editor of the Austin Chronicle, Raoul Hernandez. In addition, they have performed at notable events such as SXSW, UtopiaFest, Levitation Fest, Austin’s New Year, Chicha Summit and Viva Big Bend.