¡Vamos Verde!

Austin FC striker Gyasi Zardes speaks on the all-time greats he’s played with, plus how music has helped him find balance and how parenthood changed him.

You’ll also hear from Austin DJ crew Peligrosa – who are the home game DJs for Austin FC – about mixing fan favorites at Q2 stadium, surviving as an artist in Austin, and the connection between rockin’ a party and teaching school.

The full transcript of this episode of ¡Vamos Verde! is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.

Jimmy Maas And we’re back. We’ve not been asked to leave. I’m Jimmy Maas.

Juan Garcia And I’m Juan Garcia, and we are still in this room.

Jimmy Maas Yes. And you’re listening to episode two of ¡Vamos Verde!

Juan Garcia What do we have on today’s episode, Jimmy?

Jimmy Maas Well, on this episode, we’re speaking with one of the most prolific goalscorers in Major League Soccer history, Austin FC striker Gyasi Zardes.

Juan Garcia We also have some folks that have been bringing the soundtrack to Austin’s nightlife for over 20 years. That is Austin FC’s official game day DJs, the collective Peligrosa.

Jimmy Maas Hear them describe what it’s like to rock a crowd 20,000 strong. That’s a lot.

Juan Garcia That’s a lot of people.

Jimmy Maas That’s a that’s also a lot in this episode.

Juan Garcia Yeah.

Jimmy Maas Stay tuned for all of it.

Speaker 3 Should be a good time.

Jimmy Maas All right, Juan. Here we are. Episode two two draws for Austin FC in the bag by the middle of March.

Juan Garcia So first two points of the year.

Jimmy Maas And speaking of the middle of March, we’re in the middle of South by Southwest, which means, of course, music.

Juan Garcia And so much of it, not just music. We’ve got a bunch of events happening during this time. It’s spring break.

Jimmy Maas It’s crazy. It’s it’s a little bit crazy if you try to do more than, like, two things at once.

Juan Garcia Oh, definitely.

Jimmy Maas And Austin is trying to do seven things at the same time. So speaking of music, we brought Gyasi Zardes on the show today. Did you know he plays guitar and DJs?

Juan Garcia I didn’t know until he was playing my guitar and telling us about his deejaying.

Jimmy Maas And, and also speaking of deejays, we we we’re like one DJ? that’s not enough for a show during the middle of South by Southwest. Let’s have four more.

Juan Garcia Another four.

Jimmy Maas Yes.

Juan Garcia Which are only four of a bunch more within their own DJ collective.

Jimmy Maas And we’re deejay crazy here.

Juan Garcia It’s DJ inception, deejays on deejays on deejays that make up the collective Peligrosa.

Jimmy Maas And four of many who, rock the stadium as much as they can.

Juan Garcia Every home game, you can see them in the, by the zebra gate.

Jimmy Maas All right. Our first guest is in his second season with Austin FC. After a long career of scoring goals with the L.A Galaxy, the Columbus Crew, and a short stint in Colorado, he is the 11th all time leading scorer in Major League Soccer history. He has two Major League Soccer championships. He has made 68 appearances with the U.S. Men’s National team, including one at Q2 Stadium in 2021, shortly after it opened, where he scored the winning goal over Qatar to push the team eventually to a Gold Cup title, his second on the national team. He is the man who bleached his hair so his grandma could figure out who he was on the pitch. He is Gyasi Zardes. So I guess we’ll start with an easy question. Who do you hate most on the team?

Gyasi Zardes No, I, I don’t hate anybody on the team, man.

Jimmy Maas Really?

Gyasi Zardes Yeah.

Jimmy Maas Everybody. Everyone.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. I’m positive. I’m positive. And if you I mean, if you come across the team and you talk to the guys, the culture here, it’s backed by that, that positivity. You know, we, we’re in this together as soon as we, into the locker room, we’re in this together. And especially the guys that step on the field, you know, the 11 guys on the field, they have each other’s back. Because you got to think about it. Like, in today’s society, people have such easy access to us, you know, as opposed to the guys back and, the late 90s, you know, where you can’t get on, you know, an interview or you can’t get on a social media platform to reach out to the players. So, you know, everybody get along here, and I’m cool with everybody.

Jimmy Maas I feel like a lot of Austin fans, you know, kind of came into soccer when the team arrived. You know, they’re they’re not you know, basically the world before 2021 is kind of a black box to them, you know. And so do you find it interesting that like, I mean, you are you’re an international, a U.S. men’s international. You are you you’re one of 11 people to score 100 goals, you know, like, in MLS. Do you find it weird when you go out to dinner and whatnot that, like, you know, no one’s? People asked like, I don’t know, are you a musician? What’s the worst thing that you get?

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. I think the worst was, a basketball player. I’m like, I’m only six foot. You know, how can I be a basketball player? That those guys are, like, six foot five, seven foot. But, yeah, you know, I, I’ve been toying around the city, and I go out to eat, if I’m not wearing a hat, you actually have, you know, people that have come up and they’re they’re very respectful here. You know, I’ve been in other cities where they’re not respectful, you know, when I’m out with my family. But it’s great that the people here, they actually understand soccer and and a lot of them attend actually our games. I have been to 1 or 2 games, you know, which is great because just to talk soccer with, like you said, American fans, if you look back, or not looked back. If I had an interaction with somebody like eight years ago. The depth of soccer is more European based. You know, we’re talking about European soccer. But nowadays, when I come across a fan or someone, we’re talking about American soccer, MLS, Austin FC, you know, and games we’ve played this year in previous years. So it’s exciting.

Jimmy Maas I have a list, here. These are the 11 guys with more than 100 goals.

Gyasi Zardes Okay.

Jimmy Maas And I think what’s weird about this is the connection to you amongst them. This is just my own, you know, my own thought here. Yeah. So Landon Donovan, second former teammate. Then you have Bradley Wright-Phillips. You guys both had a cup of tea together. Yeah.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah.

Jimmy Maas And then Edson Buddle another teammate. All these are, I mean, three of these people, we’re working with you. One of them is you. And then Kai Kamara you guys have some hometown connection there. I don’t mean I don’t know. Do you guys hang out together? And have you ever made this this I’m sure you have at some point.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. Yeah. Starting off with Landon Donovan, you know, I was lucky enough to obviously sign with my hometown club, L.A. Galaxy, but at the time, Landon Donovan was there, and he was a mentor of mine. You know, he kind of took me under his wing as I was growing up. Those early, those earlier years in my career, I played, you know, left, mid, right mid, but primarily left mid. And then I’ll alternate with Landon, like, if he’s up top and he’s not getting a lot of touches on the ball, he’ll come out to left mid like hey, can you switch. But you know during training sessions I used to always watch him and just listen to his advice. He would constantly give me advice and he was always willing to help me become a better player. You know, it wasn’t it wasn’t like a competition thing. It was more like, hey, G, you’re on the team. I’m going to do what I can to help you be the best player you can be. And and, if you’re the best player you can be, you can help this team, you know, win, championships. And I really respect that. And then we move on to, I think a year went by and then we signed Ed Zimbardo back to the team. And just to have another guy like Ed Zimbardo in the locker room and learn from him was great. You know, he was a guy that was always so positive, always smiling. You know, it was, I, I can’t even remember a time he walked in mad or upset, you know, from a training session or a game. And so I just try to learn from a lot of those guys I consider legends of the game and try to implement, at least take one thing or two things from their game and apply it to, to my own. And I think that the, the last guy you mentioned was Kai Kamara. You know, I grew up in Hawthorne, California and Kai was a legend in Hawthorne, California, you know, still is. I went to Leuzinger High School. And I remember years, before I attended the school, he went to Leuzinger High School and, you know, part of his team. You know, they were doing huge things like, beating, beating high schools that, that we shouldn’t even be beating, going to the, you know, the tournament,CIF I, I think it was called back the CIF tournaments. And not only that, he was the guy that I used to view myself as. Hey, he went pro, you know, he went to Leuzinger High School. I can do it too. And he would come back even. He played at Dominguez Hills. He signed, I believe, at Columbus Crew. But in the off season, he would come back to the high school and donate jerseys to us. So, and donate soccer gear to where, you know, that’s kids growing up in Hawthorne were like, man, this is incredible. Like, we have, new Adidas gear, you know, and, because other schools in different school districts like Palos Verdes, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, you know, they were already outfitted with the best equipment and, you know, the best, fields and everything. So, we didn’t have that in Kai. When he went pro, he gave love to the community and the the team that was coming up after him, which I thank him for. Because because of that, it allowed me to find success in high school, which later on, led me to go on and pursue, playing in college and then going pro. So he, he’s a he was a huge role model of mine as well, you know, because he, he was the example for a lot of us growing up in Hawthorne, California, you know.

Jimmy Maas Did your did your parents play did was there any of that as far as no guidance from them or?

Gyasi Zardes No. No, no. So they didn’t play, but I thank my dad, because he was the one he would he was learning the game, you know, he was learning the game, reading books, getting, video tape. I’m the youngest, it’s five of us, but I’m the fourth, and I’m the fourth boy. So he was teaching my older brothers everything, and it was kind of like I always say, he my older brothers were the experiment, and he finally got it right, you know, with me. But, it was great because he took me. I mean, back in the day, he took me to so many, so many soccer events, like way down in San Diego, Arizona. He did anything he can just to help me progress with soccer and try to get as much resources as possible as well.

Jimmy Maas When you think about this path, I mean, do you think, I mean, is it a wonder that somehow they found you or do you are you think you pretty much you were on the way at some point. You knew that this is going to happen?

Gyasi Zardes No, I think of it it was kind of like a diamond in the rough because I wasn’t on the radar like some of my teammates. And, because a lot of my teammates, you know, back in the day, they did ODP, a lot of my teammates made the national team, you know, and I never made it. And I was like, all right. That gave me motivation to keep my head down and keep working, you know, so that one day I do make the national team. So, it wasn’t until I want to say maybe 11th grade, when, you know, a lot of colleges start asking about me. I’m kind of at the tail end of 11th grade, 12th grade, even. And, and it was kind of late compared to other people, you know.

Jimmy Maas But you showed them.

Gyasi Zardes  Oh, yeah.

Jimmy Maas I mean, and then I think about, you know, I, we didn’t get it to like the greats that you played with in LA, Steven Gerrard or, Robbie Keane. I mean, you played with I mean, you’re like this bridge between the old guard of the U.S. team, like the Clint Dempseys, the the Michael Bradley, and then the new guard, the Western McKinneys, and the Christian Pulisics of the world. How would you describe your role on the team in the locker room? Like, I mean. I mean, you’re. There’s a lot of not quite been there, done that energy to you. But you know, you have MLS cups. You have I mean you and Hector Jimenez like I think that’s it.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah.

Jimmy Maas The team. So I mean what what is your role in the locker room?

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. But for myself, you know, I’m, I’m not the most vocal person like rah rah rah. You know, I’m more. So I try to lead by example. You know, if I want to tell somebody to do something, I have to go do it first, because I’ve seen, players that that try to, you know, lead but don’t set forth the example. So in my opinion, I feel like, yes, you need those guys on your team that that do screen that do talk, that do communicate. But my role is just to be a positive, a positive person that works extremely hard to know that if I’m going to step on the field, I’m going to give it my all for my teammates. And I feel like that energy, sets a domino effect. You know, if I’m going to work hard, my wingers behind me are going to run and work as hard as I’m working. And that’s going to correlate to my senior midfielders, and it’s going to go down to the defenders and the wing backs. So, that’s that’s kind of like the, the frame of thought that I think of when I step into the locker room. And, you know, I tell these young guys, I talk to the young guys a lot because that transition from coming from whether you’re coming from college, a second team and your place in the first team locker room, especially in pre-season. I know those guys are probably thinking overthinking a bunch of things. So, whenever they’re on my team during training sessions. If we’re in the gym or something, I’m trying to constantly just talk to them. You know, I prefer to talk to players one on one, especially if they’re on my team. Like a center man. I’m a think about this next time. Or do you see something? Because you can learn a lot from the younger players, too. You know, I used to be there and, and, you know, listening to somebody else’s opinion might change your, your point of view on, on a player or something. So. Yeah.

Jimmy Maas So, you don’t big time the FC two players.

Gyasi Zardes Nah nah nah nah nah man. It’s crazy that you mentioned like, all the accolades of my career because I go into every season, just thinking, like, I’m starting from scratch, you know? So it’s crazy to hear that. God, you two MLS cups, you know, over 100 goals and stuff like that.

Jimmy Maas Don’t forget a Gold Cup.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah, Gold Cup as well.

Jimmy Maas So that Gold Cup in there.

Gyasi Zardes To to the, the two Gold Cups are one that I think two.

Jimmy Maas I’m going to give you two. If you say there’s two.

Gyasi Zardes You got I think 17.

Jimmy Maas They’re on your trophy.

Gyasi Zardes 17 of 19. Yeah. See like for example, like I can’t even remember, you know, all those because I’m always hungry for more. And like I said, I just start from scratch, you know, 000 across the board and just want to work to, you know, try to obtain more.

Jimmy Maas How has your family adjusted to Austin?

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. I would say that I feel like they’re finally adjusted. You know, my wife does an incredible job with our family, off the field. You know, we have four kids, and all of the kids are involved in activities. You know, they all go to school, but they also are heavily involved in activities. My oldest son, he plays with, the Austin FC Academy. You know, my daughters are dancers. And I don’t know if you know too much about dancing. I’m learning about it. And I thought my schedule was hectic. I mean, my daughter is dancing from like, 4:00 to 830 at night, and I’m talking four, five times a week, which, you know, I always ask her you love it. She’s like, I love it, daddy. So I’m like, all right, hey, do you think I’m going to support you as best as I can, you know, but, and my youngest son is playing soccer now, too, so, I would say they’re, they’re really adjusting, and they, they finally, I feel like they finally have, you know, their group or their community of friends, that they can rely on and hang out with. And, you know, they they’re excited about it.

Jimmy Maas Yeah. And I’m, I’m sure 15 years ago, you thought making the men’s national team would be my greatest accomplishment. Scoring for the men’s national team against Ecuador would be my greatest accomplishment. Scoring that first goal for club X will be my greatest… Then these kids come along.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah.

Jimmy Maas And now, like, can you describe, like, is there anything that you play that describes the same feeling you get when you like, watch your kid dance or whatever?

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. Oh yeah man. It’s it’s wild. Like you said, your whole your whole thought process changes when you become a parent and especially when you’re looking at, you know, your child and you see all the hard work they do. For example, I got to see for the first time actually this past year, because the previous year and I never had a chance to watch my daughter perform because I was always like, gone with the national team, are gone with my club, and I got to see her perform twice and the, the butterflies and the jitters that I got just from sitting in the crowd, like. Like I know her routine because you probably sit at home and I’m, like, watching while, you know, a thousand other people are watching her on stage, you know? Yeah. Mind you, she’s only seven, right? And she’s owning the stage like she’s been there for ten years. And I’m just, I don’t know, it’s kind of like taking a huge block for a final. That’s the kind of feeling I got. Seeing her on the stage, performing. And then once she was done and. And she killed the routine and crushed it. Is is so relieving. You know, it’s because I get to see all the the hard work and the sacrifices she’s already making at a young age. And to see her perform on stage with a big smile on her face and score. Well, it’s it’s, an incredible feeling.

Jimmy Maas You, you have a son who is on an academy team. I’m guessing just by age and circumstance, you’re the only player to actually have a kid in the system. In the Austin system. Would that be correct?

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. Yeah. Player wise, yeah, yeah, there’s a couple coaches.

Jimmy Maas So he might. He might. The coaches. Sure, absolutely. Yeah. Yes. But, you know, they’re they’re old heads. Yeah. Like me. But, I, your your son, your the son in the academy probably has a clue, but do your kids understand what a big deal you might be?

Gyasi Zardes I say yes, and then I say no. I say yes when I’m maybe walking around the stadium and asking people, and people are asking for photos, or if I’m out and people are asking for photos, they’re starting to understand it just because the they they were younger, but now they’re a little older and they understand like, okay, why do they want pictures with you? And I’m like, they’re fans, you know, of our team and stuff. But now my son and my oldest daughter really understand that because now they actually if a fan, for example, after the game, I always go to my family, you know, and greet them. But if my daughter or my oldest son see a kid that want to autograph, they actually pull my shirt. They’re like, daddy, daddy, he wants your he wants you to sign something. Or like that kid over there wants the photo. so they’re actually. They understand now.

Jimmy Maas Nice. Do you think all of them will find their way eventually to soccer?

Gyasi Zardes Oh, I’m trying hard on my girls. There’s hope with my youngest daughter. But my boys, I mean, my boys are left footed. They’re special already. I can see it already. I’m like, man, the game just come natural to them. Meanwhile, I have to work for everything, you know? But I see my boys going on and pursuing soccer. But my girls, I think dance have taken over.

Jimmy Maas So these are questions from my kids’ soccer team.

Gyasi Zardes Okay.

Jimmy Maas I have two daughters. They play on three teams. At least right now.

Vera Hi, my name is Vera, and I play soccer for Lonestar. My question is, what is your favorite pre-game song?

Gyasi Zardes Favorite pre-game song? I would say at the moment, like this last season I listened to like, Kendrick Lamar. He has, a song called Count Me Out and it’s like, I think the chorus says, I love em when they count me out. And it’s kind of like being an underdog going into every situation, like, hey, people don’t want you to succeed, but you know that that gives me motivation to go out there and prove, to, you know, the fans, the people out there like, hey, I deserve to be on the field. And also I deserve to, find success on the field and us win, you know, because, Austin is such a great team, such a great city, such a great environment at the stadium. And so when I correlate that song to, you know, pulling up to the stadium is kind of like people don’t want to see Austin succeed, but yet we’re going to we are going to succeed, we’re going to overcome, and we’re going to win. So yeah.

Jimmy Maas Kendrick Lamar, Compton, how far is that from Hawthorne?

Gyasi Zardes Five, ten minutes. Okay. Yeah. Just down the road. Kind of.

Jimmy Maas You guys ever run into each other?

Gyasi Zardes Me and him? No. Well, it’s been a lot of time.

Jimmy Maas We might make that happen. I don’t know, Carson. Yeah. All right, here’s our next question.

Violet I’m Violet. I play for one world and Kealing middle school soccer. And my question is, what gives you the motivation to keep playing to go to pro?

Gyasi Zardes The motivation for me was, was, I grew up in Los Angeles. It’s a lot of sports in Los Angeles, but it’s a huge Latin presence to where once I fell in love with soccer, I ate, slept, and dreamed soccer. You know, Ronaldinho was a huge, player that I used to look up to. Barcelona. Yeah. I mean, just the Brazilian culture as well, you know, I was so infatuated with how they controlled the ball and how they play with a smile on their face. Whether good things or bad things, they just enjoying living in the moment, playing the beautiful sport. So, Ronaldinho was a huge inspiration of mine. I use to watch all his games and just try to imitate him. You know, when I, whether I’m playing futsal on tennis courts, are playing, you know, soccer 1111 and, I love it.

Jimmy Maas Contractually, are you allowed to still play on concrete?

Gyasi Zardes I’m not sure, but, I mean, I’m sure we all still do it.

Jimmy Maas You got any other skills? What else makes you tick?

Gyasi Zardes Like, as far as.

Jimmy Maas Well, yeah. You play any instruments? I know you DJ.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah, I enjoy deejaying. Guitar. You know, I it was crazy. My dad bought, he bought my first guitar in the seventh grade and I was. So it was, it was a Christmas. I was so mad because my older brother got the drum set, and all I wanted was a drum set, you know, I was I was fuming, but, you know, years went by and I will always pick up the guitar for like maybe a year, then put it down for a year, you know. But when I got to college, I purchased, like, an acoustic guitar, from the Guitar Center. And that’s when I really honed in on, like, man, I actually see why my dad got me a guitar because it mellows me out. Just learning new. So, new songs, new chords. And now my daughters are like, hey, dad, let’s let’s play a song. So they love singing, like, whether it’s Taylor Swift or somebody else. I have to go learn the acoustic version of the song and I’ll play for them. You know, you.

Juan Garcia You ever play a duet with your daughters.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. Well, I mean, they at the moment, we’ve been diving, so I love all genres of music, but we’ve been diving into since we moved here. We’ve been diving more into. So, guys, I think it’s like Miranda Lambert. If I was a cowboy. If I was a cowboy. Okay, my daughter loves that. She just walks around with cowboy boots singing it like. Yeah. So that’s that’s one we play a lot.

Jimmy Maas Well, you’re in luck, because we have a, former Guitar Center employee here. Yeah, producer Juan Garcia as well. Wondering if you might play us a few bars.

Juan Garcia And it doesn’t have to be one of your duets with your daughters.

Gyasi Zardes Of what song?

Juan Garcia Whatever you’d like.

Gyasi Zardes Okay.

Jimmy Maas Yeah, we’re going to plug you in here.

Gyasi Zardes All right. Is it twtuned already? No idea. Yeah. I mean. [guitar strumming] Does it sound fine or do you want me to turn down? Let me see. What else. Fingerpicking. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe that might not work on this. What else? I play a lot of sublime and reggae, like bar music, but I kind of figure out because usually I have, like, the guitar app in front of me. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That’s right.

Juan Garcia Yeah, yeah. Better than I could do on the spot.

Jimmy Maas We forced you into this.

Gyasi Zardes No. Thank you guys. That was fun. I need to get my guitar out more. We’ve been on the DJ thing heavy. But now that you’ve brought out the guitar, I’m going to whip it out.

Juan Garcia Yeah. On a year where you’re putting it down, or on a year where you’re picking it up a lot.

Gyasi Zardes No, it’s it’s right now is down.

Juan Garcia Yeah.

Gyasi Zardes It’s kind of, it’s busy. It’s, pre-season and everything. Christmas, Thanksgiving. You don’t have too much time for it, but now I’m going to pick it up. Yeah. I have a couple, a Taylor acoustic and then a Gibson electric.

Juan Garcia Oh, nice. Yeah. Nice.

Gyasi Zardes But, I mean, once you like, I do ultimate guitar tab.

Juan Garcia I got me too. Yeah.

Gyasi Zardes So, like, once I start playing again, I’ll bring out my tab, and then I’ll play it on the I’ve put on the table, and then I’ll play like I like the music. Yeah. Yeah.

Juan Garcia  That’s how you do it.

Gyasi Zardes Hoping one day I’ll come back to the forefront. Like when the kids are older in high school and, like, have friends over, you know, have a little bonfire going.

Juan Garcia You got enough kids to start a band.

Gyasi Zardes That’s true. I and I tried that. I was like, hey, my oldest daughter could play the piano, my son could play the drums, and then my other daughter can play like the bass on the. But they didn’t want any parts.

Jimmy Maas The recordings exist of this band. Yeah. Zardes family band.

Gyasi Zardes Z band or something?

Juan Garcia Who knows? The live music capital in the world of the world can do some crazy things to people.

Gyasi Zardes That’s true. You’re absolutely right.

Jimmy Maas Cool. Appreciate the time.

Gyasi Zardes Yeah. No problem. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you.

Jimmy Maas That was fun. I enjoyed that, and he was really, complimentary of your crappy guitar.

Juan Garcia Yeah. Yeah. That is not the best guitar.

Jimmy Maas But still, he seemed to. And we surprised him with it. He was not expecting it. That was. That was. I applaud him for for playing along.

Juan Garcia I mean, he did better than I could in, like, a sudden if you had, like, surprised me with a guitar, I don’t know if I had done.

Jimmy Maas Had we only known he wouldn’t needed an acoustic.

Juan Garcia I know.

Jimmy Maas Yeah, but you did. We did our best. Whatever. Anyway, we’ll have more. What will we have more? What are we doing next? Juan?

Juan Garcia We’ll have more after the break. Our next guests. Guests, plural have been bringing the soundtrack to Austin’s nightlife for over 20 years, and for the past three years, they’ve been part of the sound that makes Q2 Stadium one of the best environments in Major League Soccer. We spoke to Manolo Black, Pagame, Manny Dojo and Orion Garcia from Austin FC’s official Game Day DJ collective, Peligrosa.

Jimmy Maas What’s the best way to call it? DJ syndicate what? What’s what do we want to. What? What is this?

Orion Garcia I like these syndicate.

Jaime Mayo Yeah.

Orion Garcia Now, this Wu-Tang clan of deejays crews in the South. Us. In Austin.

Jaime Mayo [crosstalk] Yeah, there’s a lot in there, but I enjoy it.

Speaker 8 I always explain it as a collective of artists that, you know, we we are on the same mission, you know, of, like, pushing Latino and global culture, you know, in, in whatever we do, whether it’s, with music, with art, with our just ourselves, you know, and all of us bring like, something different to the table. And it’s what makes the magic.

Jimmy Maas How long is the group been at it? How long you guys been going?

Orion Garcia This is Orion. We just celebrated our 16 year anniversary in December. Every day I’m amazed and intrigued by it. Because we started out as a collective and mid-point. We started thinking more, fundamentally about the business aspect of it, while consciously not pushing capitalism necessarily and remaining a collective of artists, you know, some of the, some of the ideology in those two things, a collective and a business are at odds with each other. But the fun part about doing it with the crew who gets to express himself, how are they? What do their art is? It manifests in unique, different ways, sometimes with unexpected ways. You know.

Jimmy Maas For the uninitiated, how does a crew work a show together? Explain that to me.

Jaime Mayo It used to be, this is Jaime. I mean, nowadays it is kind of like slotted times. Like what? We just trade off as quickly as we can. Before, it was a lot more what you would call round robin to where you duck in and you have multiple decks like you add on top of each other. And I’m like more often than not, if you’re in sync with another person, like you’ll be queuing up the same exact song just because you both think of that. Like, that happens multiple times too. Yeah, and I think it’s just like sharing your time that way. And it was like before there were like 9 or 10 of us out on stage at a time. Whenever it was like 4 or 5, it was easier to do a round robin, that it would be like you duck in for 2 or 3 songs. There’d be like, ooh, I got something, and then you roll in and then you just basically like, pull in on top of each other and it’s like it’s a cordial dance, like a give and take. It’s like, yes or no. And you kind of have just like visual cues or hand like motions that you’ll be like, no, no, no, not yet. Or, you know, stop there, go there. Oh yeah, that’s good. Like just kind of roll it. You know.

Trey Lopez This is trait that’s most exciting for me. Now we’re kind of, we’re at Coconut Club once a month, and their booth is small, so it doesn’t really allow for multiple setups. But I remember a show where we would have three sets of turntables on the stage with percussion, and a stage was big enough to where people could come and hang with us, and we just allowed the party to kind of be on the stage as well as, you know, and on the dance floor. But yeah. So, I think that’s probably.

Jaime Mayo Creekside as well. Yeah.

Trey Lopez My yeah. The thing that I love most about this crew is that collaboration like we’ve had just for because of space purposes, we’ve kind of had to go, okay, you’re on for about 2030 and then next one. But my favorite is when each each person plays two songs and ok tag your next. And it’s challenging, but it’s also fun when it all just like works. You know.

Jaime Mayo It’s more like a mental workout too. Yeah, because it’s like it is fun to like, try and get in where you fit in. And if you’re not in that headspace, then it’s like, you got to take it almost like you. You take you make yourself take a back seat.

Juan Garcia It reminds me of like, dynamics that I’ve been in, in like bands with instruments that like non-verbal communication that like being in sync with one another, like queueing certain things up or like giving those, those signals. Am I on to something there? Is that kind of how do you guys function?

Orion Garcia Exactly the same, I think in even in so much to say like if you’re in a band and you play trumpet and it’s your time to play. You have essentially two options. Do I roll and fit and match what’s happening currently or do I? Am I the jumping point for something new or different? Am I going to be the one to take it in a different order? I mean, it’s different when you’re performing songs that have been rehearsed, but, you know, there’s a lot of similarities.

Juan Garcia Jazz, man.

Manny Dojo Pretty much. It’s like, you know, it really is.

Orion Garcia I mean, you have access to all the.

Manny Dojo Instruments and then just just cut it and you know, it’s in there and it’s that energy that that skill set up, you know, and this is Manny. And then also, you know, we all bring like when people see us on stage and having fun and having that interaction, you know, and some of us, you know, kind of connect with the crowd, you know, and you know, we put their hands up or, you know, sometimes I even going like, all right, everybody get low. I know, you know, get low. And like, you see everybody getting low and getting down and they just like, you know, like, are you ready when the beat goes off, I want everybody to jump on their like whoa, you know, so you just hyping them up a little bit.

Jimmy Maas And when you ask the crowd to get low and they don’t get low. Maybe there’s like one guy in the back and you’re like that [bleep] guy that you.

Jaime Mayo Play two stage. Yeah.

Trey Lopez He has a bad back, you know. Kid, maybe you’re right. He can’t physically. That’s my thinking.

Jaime Mayo That’s that’s what really? That’s all right. You’re not going to, like, confront this.

Trey Lopez That’s all right with me.

Manny Dojo You know, but it’s I don’t know for the most part, but I kind of feel it out, like it has to be pretty packed and people are dancing. It’s not my first go to, you know what I mean? You know, I think I first got to’s like, what’s up everybody. You know, make some noise for yourself. You know you’re looking good. If you feel good, make some noise like, you know you kind of feel it out a little bit. See what you’re. That’s Orion’s.

Orion Garcia Yeah. That’s my that’s my line.

Manny Dojo That’s his line? Yeah.

Orion Garcia You feel good? You look good.

Jaime Mayo It’s like already like Bill and Teddy.

Orion Garcia Already like Bill and Ted. Yeah, yeah. Just get three already. Hard to keep my breathing steady.

Juan Garcia I mean, like, I feel good. I look good today. Just be just off of that. So, like, okay, it works, you know? Yeah.

Orion Garcia Osmosis is a real thing. Especially in the DJ setting where it’s like, not all like we’d rather be. I speak for myself. I’d rather be heard than seen. So like, the whole Booth elevated thing is not really my. I just want to be down on the ground with the crowd, feeling what they want to hear, playing what I want to play, and seeing if those two things match up and we’re all going to have a good night.

Jimmy Maas Yeah. A second ago, you you mentioned how, you know, you sometimes you’re in sync, like you’re getting ready a song, you’re getting a song ready that, maybe you had already, you just switched over to. So, has there ever been a time where that just didn’t work? You, you went to something that was just, oh, like, like all off, and the rest of you were just like, come on.

Orion Garcia That’s the risk. That’s the risk? Yeah.

Jaime Mayo Risk and reward, man. And at that time, it’s like, man, you got to shrug that [bleep] off. Like it’s fun. It’s like, all right, I know I did bad, but it was a good time, wasn’t it? I don’t know, man. I love I mean, I’ll be honest, I love a good [bleep] killer song.

Manny Dojo But that also it when it hits, you know, it’s like, man, I can’t. That thing went off, you know? So yeah, it’s like if if you don’t take the risk, you won’t get the glory almost, you know, but then you also if you didn’t hit then. Yeah. You have to take the L. All right.

Jimmy Maas Yeah. Yeah. Any combos that just you just like memorable like clunkers. Like, I don’t know, like. Yeah. Yeah. Like just things that just didn’t.

Orion Garcia I, I definitely have songs that I like to play that I know people don’t like, but I love the song, you know?

Jimmy Maas Sure.

Orion Garcia It’s kind of my right to be the loudest person in the room. I had the right to just play it.

Jaime Mayo I think like any juke, because it’s like, man, I know that you and myself will like, I’ll try and shoehorn it in every now and again.

Orion Garcia It’s a very particular time you can throw.

Jaime Mayo But the thing is, it’s like when you get it in and you can get people like on board with like Chicago juke, like proper. And it’s just like at first you see people kind of shift like, oh man, I’m really like just kind of stuck in molasses. And then you’ll see people start to move on things.

Trey Lopez BPM’s around 150, maybe.

Orion Garcia 160.

Trey Lopez 160.

Manny Dojo The, you know, it just super fast.

Juan Garcia I’m not I’m not familiar.

Trey Lopez It’s also called like fast footwork.

Manny Dojo Yeah. Where you see like the like people dancing and it’s kind of like the [ingidstinguishable] kind of deal. Yeah. And like it’s kind of like a weird.

Orion Garcia He’s going to break stuff.

Jimmy Maas Yeah. Okay. I’m going to just describe what’s happening.

Orion Garcia I mean he got up.

Jimmy Maas There’s there’s a man.

Jaime Mayo There’s a man. He’s looking like he’s possessed by a marionette.

Jimmy Maas He is about to speak in tongues.

Manny Dojo It’s kind of like that.

Jimmy Maas It he does look like a marionette. That’s that’s accurate. Yeah.

Manny Dojo Doom doom doom doom doom doom.

Trey Lopez This is like the drum, the beat. It’s just like 160 bpm. So that’s like, just like maybe faster.

Orion Garcia We have a we have a side record label called Discos Peligroso. And I wrote an album with a guy who came from Chicago, lives in San Antonio. And we put a record out kind of combining like. [music plays] We’re philosophically similar, in that we are still of the understanding that deejaying is about breaking records. Yeah, there’s times to play the stuff that’s already well known, but there’s times to play new stuff and there’s times to play things you know other people haven’t heard. And that’s kind of, the with the democratization of the gear that, you know, is more accessible. Like those philosophies have been lost on another generation, not for better or worse, just different.

Juan Garcia So and, you know, how does that taste change over 20 years? Like how do you continuously evolve to stay kind of on that cutting edge and not ever fall back into what everybody else is playing?

Jaime Mayo I don’t necessarily know that it’s staying on the cutting edge. Like, that’s not the mindset. I would think it’s kind of like, how do you teach a DJ to dig? Like you don’t like the people that go and find new music like, and that’s doesn’t necessarily pertain to just deejays. That’s like people in general who are into music. Yeah, you’re constantly wanting new, new, new things. You’re just like like it’s a dopamine rush. Like you’re just like, ooh, what’s a hot new thing? And it’s not necessarily what’s a hot new thing? So I can show it to other people. It’s just like, I want to consume this for myself. And then as deejays, we have the ability to like, oh, let me show you this thing. Like, ooh, this is really dope like, I, you know, I would like to show you what I’m into versus, like, staying on top of it.

Manny Dojo Like, I guess now that I think about it, I’m really into kind of like cumbia rebajada, you know, it’s more like a darker, you know, it has like a just like a chunky.

Orion Garcia It’s chopped and screwed cumbia, essentially.

Juan Garcia Okay.

Manny Dojo Yeah. You know, I just got, like, a weird.  [music]

Orion Garcia It’s actually a fun story from Duéñez, the guy who’s credited for cumbia rebajada, who lives in Monterrey. Who, you know, the folklore because there’s there’s a there’s a folklore.

Jaime Mayo He created screw. Yeah, yeah.

Orion Garcia Folklore with the accordion as well. Yeah. Controversial. And I like that there’s like, every 50 years is another controversy based on a music genre. But like, his table, like his turntable got, like someone spilled a beer on it or something, and and and something blew.

Jaime Mayo Something busted that it was like a capacitor, that it was like, rolling at a really slow speed. But he was also playing 45s. This is Jaime. I had heard another story as well that was like, oh, the 45 busted. So he could only play on 33. And then I heard another one that it was actually rebejadas came from people wanting to extend the long songs to be longer because they were like, [bleep], they didn’t have enough time. Like, let’s say it’s a 218 or three minute song and they’re still digging through. And then they were like, yo, let’s play it at 33. Like, I’ve heard multiple lores about like rebejadas, but I still to this day believe that it was like, I can’t imagine that DJ Screw from Houston did not hear like slow [bleep] cumbias, rebejadas, playing and wasn’t like… [crosstalk]

Trey Lopez Anyone who’s ever played with records who grew up, I mean, when I was, when I was like 8 or 9 years old, I used to play my stuff on 33, like my fault, just to see what it sounds like. [crosstalk] So I think it’s it’s experimentation. And just because it arrived in one part of the country and or in a different part of the world, they could have simultaneously came together. Funny that there’s like I don’t think like.

Orion Garcia I think there’s probably more relation than just like, coincidence. Yeah. Because the conversation between the Texas and Mexico side of that border has been like exchanging cultural ideas, music ideas longer than that border has really been there, you know.

Trey Lopez And it would it would be interesting to get those two in a room.

Orion Garcia I would love nothing more.

Trey Lopez And sit and talk about that, how it came about.

Jimmy Maas Screw hands him a cassette. Have you heard this?

Jaime Mayo [crosstalk], like hip hop artists that like attribute to Mexicanos. Like. Being the bulk of their fan base and the fan base that actually, like, keeps them employed. They were like, they were like, yeah, Black people were at our shows. But for the most part, it’s Latinos where a lot of them were like Mexicans, but they were like, Latinos are the ones that are at shows that are like buying the merch, buying the records, like being coming to shows, paying the fares like they were like in hip hop. It was like Bun B said that. Bun B and I can’t remember. I think it was not Scarface, but it was like other cats that were just saying like, no, I stayed alive and relevant because of Latinos in America.

Manny Dojo Which we play with Bun B not too long ago. Yeah. This is Manny. We did a backyard barbecue.

Juan Garcia Like six years ago.

Manny Dojo No, we did it twice at little darlings and. Yeah, music in them. And you put this together and, you know, it was like, you know, he came out with his burger. So it was like the year before, and, I mean, we were like, oh my God, we’re going to be like on stage, you know, before Bun B.

Jaime Mayo I was more excited for Paul Wall.

Manny Dojo There was like a moment. They were like, oh, he might need a DJ. You want a DJ from like, oh [bleep] yeah. It’s going to be incredible. So, I didn’t mean to cut you off.

Jaime Mayo No, no, no.

Orion Garcia I love that Paul was just rocking the gray right now. Hell, yeah. I love it to death.

Jaime Mayo I’ll be there shortly.

Juan Garcia You know.

Orion Garcia We’re there right now. Yeah. Shut up.

Jimmy Maas Aging is tough.

Jaime Mayo Yeah, man, none of you live that. No, no, no, just put that aside. Just looks like you look wonderful. Yeah. Did I say that? Just let me paint you guys a picture. Yeah, I see an Adonis in front of me. I know you are, Cat. That is just a golden god.

Jimmy Maas Yeah, yeah, that is exactly what it.

Juan Garcia It’s no lies. No lies told.

Jaime Mayo See? Everyone in the room agrees.

Jimmy Maas Accurate facts.

Jaime Mayo If you lie, I’m hurting.

Orion Garcia I look great on the radio.

Jimmy Maas We. I was gonna ask a question, man. Now that you threw me off at that. Now I’m thinking I’m bad because he’s good.

Jaime Mayo That’s my. That’s my move.

Jimmy Maas That’s. You totally killed the party.

Jaime Mayo Nice crunching numbers. That guy. God, yeah. Batting a thousand over here.

Juan Garcia More from Peligrosa after this. [music] You’re listening to ¡Vamos Verde!. And we’re talking to Austin FC’s official game day DJs, the collective Peligrosa.

Jimmy Maas Your involvement with the team, has it open doors that you wouldn’t have normally have had open to you before?

Orion Garcia I think every time you’re in the public eye, there’s opportunity for that. So. Absolutely, I mean, it. Stadiums sold out 21,000 seats up for last, you know, a couple of years. No doubt.

Trey Lopez You’re pretty visible to so many people. So. And I remember, I’ve talked to, you know, coworkers, about that gig because there are there’s a lot of fans there. And, you know, just kind of their faces light up to, you know, just because, like, wow, that must be an amazing feeling. And it is like playing to that many people. And then just, the vibe there is so amazing as it is. You know, I’m I feel like. I’m, I feel just really fortunate to be a part of it and grateful and blessed.

Jimmy Maas Now you say coworkers, you don’t mean he’s fine gentlemen.

Trey Lopez No, my day gig, day gig.

Jimmy Maas So. So you go from deejaying effectively, a 2.5 hour long party for 20,000 people, and then you do what?

Trey Lopez I substitute teach.

Jimmy Maas For what level of.

Trey Lopez School? Elementary at Zavala. Shout out to Zavala Elementary.

Jimmy Maas That is.

Trey Lopez Yeah.

Jaime Mayo Intense.

Jimmy Maas That’s that’s fun.

Jaime Mayo First time hearing about it. By the way, you are amazing.

Trey Lopez It’s amazing.

Jimmy Maas I mean, actually, this this is a pretty this. There are parallels you can draw. You have a…

Orion Garcia Absolutely, we’re his children.

Jimmy Maas You’ve got a crew that kind of back you up. But for the most part, you’re out there alone. Yeah. You’ve got an audience that is a little on the fence about you to begin with, right? And you have to win them over.

Jaime Mayo Yeah. It’s true.

Jimmy Maas And, and, you know, they may have seen you before at another show, when you were substituting. You were Mrs. Brown’s class. Yeah. But but, you know, they’re still like. Well, I don’t know, what are you going to do today? You know what? You’re only as good as your last set.

Trey Lopez At Zavala. I’ve been there for almost two months now, so I’ve gotten to know the students.

Jaime Mayo So you got a residency gig? [crosstalk]

Trey Lopez Before I did that. Going to a new school every day. That was it. That was a trip.

Jimmy Maas Yeah. And, like, I’m sure explaining to them. Yep. I just deejay Q2.

Trey Lopez Yeah, I told them they’re like, no way, Mr. Lopez, you? I’m like, what do I not look like I do?

Jaime Mayo No, you look like a nerd.

Trey Lopez Well, I mean, so I had to bust out of my pictures, and I’m like, wow. Can I go? Can you take me? Immediately, if you’re good.

Jimmy Maas Immediately, they’re like, where can I get free tickets?

Juan Garcia Yeah.

Jaime Mayo That happens with adult humans as well. Oh, yeah. The minute that they find out like you do what now?

Jimmy Maas What’s your takeaway when you do shows there? What? When you walk away, when you’re hit the bus or whatever you’re doing on the way home. What’s the feeling you guys get?

Trey Lopez This is Trey. It’s kind of a rush, almost. Or this, like, elevated experience, you know, just. I mean, like I said earlier, sports was a huge part of my life. So being in that atmosphere and, I’ve mainly gone to baseball games and basketball games, I’ve never really been to a soccer stadium that is bumpin like that. You know what I mean? So and then being a part of it and just thinking, wow, I just we just got to play for the home team. So like 20,000. And if we win it’s feels even better. You know. And so this year like last year, what I really like about Austin FC is they have incorporated so much of the Austin artist bands. So the idea to like have someone in our crew create the theme song or the song that’s played right before kick off, that was something that was, you know, I thought about that, during the off season, and I mentioned it to, someone in the production team, Alfredo, one night at the Peligrosa and I’m like, hey, you know how we use those songs? We’ve been playing other people’s songs the last couple of years before, right before a whistle, like, oh, what if? What if like, we do our own and produce it, you know? So Orion went to town and created this crazy beat. [music] Like you say. We we brought on board Z and, so yeah. So now it’s just another level. Every year I think we’ve been able to just kind of elevate it a little bit. But yeah, just, you know, and it also walking out with the crowd together, it’s pretty dope for sure.

Jaime Mayo I always like that. Like whenever they do halftime. And you’ll see people just kind of like, you know, strutting on their way to go grab some that has a very like serious gait. You know, the way that they’re moving, it’s like, oh, that dude’s on a mission. And then you’ll just see him kind of like break a little bit like, oh [bleep], that’s my jam. Or just like, oh, cool. And then you’ll just see him stop and then either go do what they’re doing or circle back, you know, later, and then they’re just like, oh, hey. Yeah. And it’s just it’s really funny to see someone’s entire mood melt in front of you of just like, I got to go do something and I’m going to be there, get, you know, get back to my seat. And then they’re just like, oh, [bleep], let’s have a little party, like let’s dance a little bit. And then they and then be on their way. You know, it’s funny, I think that’s my favorite part.

Manny Dojo I would I would add something to Trey. Everything that Trey said, I definitely feel super high when I get out of out of the shows because of the energy that I’ve never experienced before. But I started seeing kids show up right on our stage, right? As soon as we’re playing, they’re there, they’re just waiting and it’s almost like, we’re, we’re dancing, you know? They’re just like they’re expressing themselves. There’s almost like future breakdancers, you know? And they’re doing like, a weird way.

Jimmy Maas Wait, let me describe what I’m seeing. Oh, yeah. Here we go.

Manny Dojo Yeah. Speaking in tongues. Oh my gosh. Beautiful. It was so, so, so beautiful.

Orion Garcia Yeah I’m there for the team. So if they need me to play, you know, two hours of the sound of duck quacking, I’m there.

Jaime Mayo Doesn’t matter what it is. Just get it in.

Jimmy Maas That album’s pretty good. Two hours of the sounds of ducks quacking. [crosstalk].

Juan Garcia There’s a mallard in there.

Orion Garcia That’s the way I make bread. Yeah.

Juan Garcia I’ve never heard a mallard quite like I’ve heard a mallard on that record.

Jimmy Maas And, we’ll come by Saturday.

Orion Garcia Please come say hi to whoever’s either outside.

Jimmy Maas I’ll dig through your crates. Yeah, I’ll pick, like, Eartha Kitt and. Oh, yeah. Let’s go.

Manny Dojo So. And also third Friday of the month, you know, if you’re looking for a party third Friday of the month, that’s when Peligrosa is up. It’s always on the third Friday of the month. So if you if you’re out and about, just text us, look us up on online Peligrosa, and we’ll help you out.

Jimmy Maas And thanks to democratization of equipment, Juan and I are doing a set. Yeah. [crosstalk]

Orion Garcia I assume you’re just going to deejay your podcast.

Jimmy Maas Yeah, we’re just gonna get, you know, it’s gonna be a remix that.

Juan Garcia Like live cutting. [crosstalk] You’ll have to take that duck quack out.

Jimmy Maas We had to whittle down an hour and a half of that conversation, so.

Juan Garcia It was a good chat.

Jimmy Maas It was a really I mean, I had no expectation for, what, what they would bring in, man, they were all very interesting and very cool. And we only met a percentage of them. There’s still more Peligrosa and lots of danger. So lots of danger out there. Big thanks to Trey aka Manolo Black. Jaime aka Pagame.

Juan Garcia Manny aka Manny Dojo and Orion Garcia who goes by his own name.

Jimmy Maas And Austin FC striker, Gyasi Zardes. Of course. Our question askers this episode Vera and Violet from Kealing Middle School, as well as Lone Star and One World soccer clubs respectively. Also Jupiter from Laza High School and Cap City Soccer, who until this moment was uncredited for posing the question in episode one. Takes a village here. Want to thank Elizabeth McQueen, Zahra Crim, Todd Callahan, Jacob Rockey, Rene Chavez, Marnie Castor and Patricia Lim all here at KUT, as well as big thanks to Cameron Koubek and Ryan Madden at Austin FC. Our theme music was composed and performed by Jaron Marshall, additional music from Orion Garcia, Zele, and Discos Peligrosa, as well as part of Pacho Buscaroa and what the Jorge Jimenez. ¡Vamos Verde! and KUT and KUTX Studios and KUT Radio are members of the NPR network. What’s that, Juan?

Juan Garcia It’s an independent coalition of public media podcasters. What does that mean, Jimmy?

Jimmy Maas It means you can find more shows in the network wherever you get your podcasts. I’m Jimmy Maas.

Juan Garcia And I’m Juan Garcia.

Jimmy Maas Thanks so much for joining us.

Juan Garcia Bye!

This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.