Maya Sanchez and Gabriel González

[00:00] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: My name is Gabriel González I am 47 years old. It's January 13, 2023. We are in El Paso, Texas. I'm here with my wife, Maya Sánchez

[00:11] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: My name is Maya Sánchez I am 48 years old. Today is January 13, 2023. We're in El Paso, Texas. I'm here with my husband, Gabriel González and he is my husband.

[00:27] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Well, I guess we'll start our story. I guess you want to take over. You tell the story of how we met pretty well, or how you got here before we met. I guess we'll start there.

[00:41] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: So, before I get into our story, I'll just give a little bit of my background. I'm originally from San Luisario, Texas, actually born here in Segundo Barrio, where we are right now in El Paso. But my family and where I first lived was San Luis, Ario, which is about 28 miles east of downtown El Paso. And when I was two years old, my parents moved us to the Los Angeles area of California, where I was raised. So I was basically gone from the age of two until 36, which is when I decided to come back. I came back after a career as a commercial producer, specifically working in visual effects post production. And I decided to give my career up because I wanted to give back towards the ancestral community of my family. Both sides of my family are from San Luis, Ario, and I am inheriting six acres out there to include a commercial building. And I basically wanted to develop that. Well, in the course of working towards that goal, of course, I held a regular job, which was in advertising. And through that, we coordinated. I helped coordinate a film festival that took place in downtown El Paso. And so the way you and I met was, you were the owner of the venue where the festival was taking place. So, of course, initially, it was all professional. It was a kind of strange time for me. This was the summer of 2013, and not only was I working full time and then also working on my goals of developing my family business, we were also in the midst of fighting a very unusual battle in our community. Our small town, which is a very historic town here in the El Paso area, was under the threat of annexation. And so before I go into all of that story, I'll just say that's the temperature and the climate in which you and I met. I was trying to be a farmer. I met this man who spent his life in rock and roll as a musician, had roots in punk rock. I was all cheerleader bows and polka dots, and I didn't think you and I were ever meant to be a match.

[03:09] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah, that's pretty good base of where we started. I guess I'll tell a little bit of my backstory leading up to that point. I had been born and raised in El Paso, Texas up until I graduated high school at 17. Then I moved to Austin with a band. I've been playing in bars since I was twelve years old in rock and roll bands and had a band going on. When I graduated high school, moved to Austin, I didn't even tell my parents. Just a u Haul showed up and they go, what's that? Michael? And I just threw in my mattress and clothes and stuff and away we went. And then ended up touring with other bands with did a front of house engineer at the drive in for a bit at their pinnacle. And then after that I ended up playing with the band Sparta from El Paso. Both bands are from El Paso, Texas, but ended up getting some sort of notoriety nationally and around the world a little bit. And then I decided to put on big boy pants and start trying to open businesses and stuff. So that's what led me back to El Paso around the time that we met, to open up a studio and a venue and things like that. Trying to be a little bit more straight and narrow.

[04:29] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Yes. Trickey Falls is. Definitely holds a special place in both our hearts. Maybe for different reasons, but it's definitely important in our lives. Lives, yeah.

[04:39] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: And that's where we met, at tricky Falls.

[04:42] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: So I know when we first met, we were on a professional wavelength. At what point did you even consider me someone that you might be interested in?

[04:54] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: I think. Well, my interest has peaked from the get go, but I thought it was maybe a few weeks later we were talking about our music, what music we liked or whatever. And then you said, you mentioned cat Stevens and I was a wow, this might be something. There's not a lot of people that I hang around with or in my.

[05:21] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Circle that digs on cat Stevens, and I don't. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'm not one to typically do this, but I think I actually pursued you more than you pursued me at the beginning, even though I, you know, at the time.

[05:38] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Should we tell the story about how you came up to me and I felt that you were hitting on me and I had worked with your cousin who owned the advertising agency that you worked at, and I thought you were his wife.

[05:50] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: We both have the same last name.

[05:52] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: This is all messed up that you cannot be hitting. Ray's a really nice guy. I don't know. He doesn't deserve this. And then I worked it out that you were cousins.

[06:00] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Yeah.

[06:01] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: And even though at first I was like, this is. I don't want to get into this, something like this.

[06:05] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: And even though the cat Stevens might have piqued your interest, we bonded over Lionel Richie. Lionel.

[06:12] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Lionel Richie.

[06:13] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: But I know at the time, for me, like I mentioned, I was trying to be a farmer, opening a sustainable restaurant, growing what I could on the six acres that had originally been farmland. And so me waking up at five, six in the morning to work, I knew with the life that you lived, that's probably about the time you were getting home from work. So I thought, this would never work. Then, to top it off, I was the president of this political action committee. You can sense my blazer and pantsuit right now to help incorporate our small town. And so I thought, what kind of rock and roller is going to be interested in?

[06:58] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Actually, I think that's what sold me even more, because the social conscious thing is very important to me, and the agenda that you had was similar to mine. And then the fight that you were fighting at the time was definitely intriguing as well, because I knew you were a strong woman that was fighting for what she believed in, whether, no matter what the outcome would be, which you did not know at that point, which I think is probably a pretty good segue for you to tell that story, because I think that's a big part of your.

[07:33] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: I think that kind of lays the foundation, though, where it came. I quickly realized that we had more in common than we had opposite. We both come from large families. Our fathers are both one of twelve children, which is unusual. Not unusual for mexican american families, but the fact that it's the same, we both come from very historic places in El Paso. Myself from San Luis Ario, which was the first county seat of El Paso. Our town existed before El Paso was even a city or a town. Your family from smelter town, which I want to get into a little bit later. And so I started noticing those. Those similarities. Another thing I noticed about you is that your sense of intuition and attention to detail, which is partially what attracted me to you, is so much more heightened than mine. And what I mean by that is. Okay, so the incorporation story. So, as mentioned, I live. We now both live in this town, which is where a lot of people could argue El Paso started. A lot of things in El Paso started. I remember being at. There's a local show, a local production called Viva El Paso that tells the story of El Paso's history. And this one year, we were already married. You wrote the music with your writing partner, Jim Ward. And so we went to the grand opening of Viva El Paso, and as the story is being told, I keep leaning over to you saying, that was in San Luisario. That was in San Liisario. And you finally looked at me and said, yes, we get it. The world begins and ends in San Li Sario. But it was just really, you know, and I think you understand the importance of what retaining this unique town's character and identity meant. And so what was going on at the time? Almost actually, about exactly ten years ago at this time, in January of 2013, my dad received a letter from a neighbor. One of his friends had come over, and he said, I don't understand what this is. It's from the city of Socorro, which is the neighboring city. At the time, we were just unincorporated El Paso county. Even though our identity is strong, ever since 1851, which is when the real first mayor came into play in San Luis, Ario, we have been a city and then disincorporated several times. So at this moment in history, we're not a city. My dad quickly read it and understood that the city of Socorro was undergoing an annexation process. For those not in Texas and not understanding what that means, Texas law. And, mind you, growing up in California at the time, I knew none of this. I quickly was thrown into the fire to learn all of this information. But Texas law allows cities that do not have incorporated cities on their borders first right to annex those areas into their city for city growth. And so since we were unincorporated and Socorro had not annexed in three years, they were looking to take 30% of what's called their extraterritorial jurisdiction. Now, again, Texas law only allows for 10% each year to manage this growth. And there are certain things that you have to have in place as a city to be able to handle the influx of, you know, the growth of your city. But again, since they hadn't done it in 30 years, in three years, they were looking to take 30%, and they were looking to take a big chunk of San an isario's commercial business. There is a very historic dairy called liconderry, which is known in this region, not just in El paso, for their asadero cheese that was now going to be in the city of Socorro. And so you can imagine a lot of people in Sano isadio were really concerned and upset about this, and I soon found out that Socorro's etjdeheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh extended two and a half miles past their city limits, which would have taken it past our historic presidio chapel, which is the mainstay of our community, and one of the reasons our community is so historic, part of the mission trail. Socorro already has their mission. Ours is different. It's a chapel. But three communities along this mission trail have these structures that are go back in history, but are still active churches. And so they could have taken ours back into their city eventually. And so we quickly kind of formed a group. Part of the business, which you and I now run, is a party hall. And so we utilize that party hall space to meet on a weekly basis to try to figure out what the heck can we do. And the crazy part of it is, is if you're in an annexation area, you as a community member, you don't have a vote whether you're going to become part of that city or not. It just happens if they follow the process. And so what looked like an impossibility, because they were already plugging along, going down to make this happen, we still said, you know what? We've got to figure something out. Well, since they were taking 30% of their eTJD, our little town wasn't the only town that they kind of pissed off. The city of El Paso came out in force during their council meetings. The town of Horizon city came out in force because these were all areas that were close to those other cities as well. And I remember being at one of the city of Socorro's council meetings, and I think there were over almost 200 people there, and public comment went on for over an hour. It was pretty crazy. So to wrap up kind of the process and the story, it became, I didn't really believe we're in far west Texas. A lot of the rest of Texas forgets we're out here in El Paso, and the wild, Wild west was alive again through this whole process. It got very contentious. The county of El Paso ended up suing the city of Socorro, claiming that two of their council members had extended terms illegally. That was a ray of hope for us, because if that were the case, then that meant the annexation was null and void, and they would have had to start all over. That court date was pretty scary because we knew, and it was in March of 2013, that's how quickly these things moved, that if the court date ruled in their favorite I Likonderi and part of our community was in Socorro, if the court ruled in our favor, they had to start all over. Well, needless to say, it was. I call it a perfect storm. We were in the eye of the storm, where everything was just falling into place for us. So we won that court case, or I should say the county of El Paso did. So, as you can see, a lot of people in this community, not just in San Luis, Ario, but in El Paso overall, stepped up to help us out. And so that's when the real work started. Because not only did we have to work towards becoming a city, because according to Texas law, that's the only thing that could have saved us from future annexations. So whether we were ready for a city or not, if we wanted to save our town, that's what we had to do. But not only did we have to create a city, we had to have the city of Socorro city council release their ETJ to even allow us to become a city. So we had to work hard and get people in office that helped us do that. Sure enough happened again. So we were working on creating a city and also campaigning on behalf of council members, potential council members in another city. And that's pretty much when you and I met. So I was constantly, weekly having these meetings. And at the end of the day, on November 5, 2013, the city of Sano Isario was born. And being the president of the political action committee, rumors started pretty early that I would be mayor. I've never been in politics, especially with you and I dating. I was like, oof. I don't know if this is. Even though it's a little bit of limelight, I didn't know that that was something that you. One thing I quickly learned. Now, I know that you had been on the Tonight show with your band and on Conan O'Brien, and even at that, you wanted to kind of stay in the shadows and not be upfront. So within this world, I didn't know if that was something you were open to, so I was pretty concerned. But what really kind of set the tone for me was, I remember when you and I first met, you had a beard that was down to your belly button.

[17:00] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah. Zz top beard, for sure.

[17:01] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Absolutely. And one day, you told me we weren't even married yet. You said, I'm gonna cut it off. And I said, no, this is what I fell in love with. And you said something very, very, very. It meant a lot to me. You said, you going down this path to become the mayor of this community, people are gonna make judgments about you based on my appearance. And so you wanted to clean it up, I guess.

[17:28] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah.

[17:29] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: You know, and in your creative way, you turned it into our coming out as a couple picture. So we, to this day, we have the sepia tone picture where I'm taking the first snip of your beard, and it grossed you out. But to this day, I kept that clipping, and it is now I have a locket of my dear love's beard hair.

[17:52] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: It's pretty gross. It's pretty gross.

[17:55] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: So, yeah, so it was a whirlwind year, and so as 2014 came, that was the year. So in 2013, a year to the day that you and I met, we got married. It all happened so quickly for two people. And this is another thing that's unusual for our culture. You and I had never been married before, nor did we have any kids. And that's kind of a unicorn for our culture. And not that that had any bearing on whether we were going to end up together or not, because I didn't have any vision of what kids. I always assumed if I were to get married, the fact that my partner might have children, and obviously a life before which we both have had, that was part. I was perfectly fine with that, you know, so another funny thing about our wedding with our large family is I really wanted something small and intimate. And so when I asked for your list, and of course, we only had a handful of our own friends there, because it was all family, I looked at the list of who we were to send invitations to, and I said, I'm sorry, honey, I am not sending an invitation to Pelon. You know, you didn't even. You know, because that's what you always called your cousin. It was, you know, in our. In our culture.

[19:16] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah. And my cousin is significantly older than me, so. Sure. Since my. Since birth, that's what I called.

[19:23] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: And we both had that.

[19:24] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: And I actually had a. For, like, two minutes of what his real name is. I'm all. What's his real name?

[19:29] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Yeah.

[19:30] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Took me a couple seconds.

[19:31] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: So in 2014, that was the year that we got married. It was. So on March 8, I believe, of 2014, I became the first mayor of San Luisario in this century. And then on May 9, the very next day, I turned 40. And then a few months later, we got married in our lives the very first and last time. So 2014 is very special as well.

[20:04] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah. Packed a lot in.

[20:05] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Yeah. Yeah. So what has it been like? Or I guess I should say at that time, what was it like marrying someone who was a mayor and having to be involved in politics and all that?

[20:20] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: You know what? I don't think I've ever thought about it. It was just I was pretty open to the. To everything because I didn't know what to expect. So I just rolled with it, you know, and it was. You were learning, so I was learning vicariously through you about how to make a city, how to build a city. And so that was the learning curve and the speed that you did, that was pretty impressive. So that, I just remember that not knowing, knowing so little about municipal law and stuff and learning vicariously again through you was a fun journey, but I was still living my life. So it was, I really liked the dichotomy of, you know, working at tricky falls, doing rock and roll shows or death metal show one night, and then going home and listening to ETJ and this or that. It was, I really enjoyed it because it took my, took me away from that, which by, at that point, I had already been doing something in music since I was twelve years old. So I was already kind of, you know, so something new was, was very interesting to me, but it was, it was good. And I think I was a little bit paranoid about how. I was overly paranoid about how you came off or what we did or what, like, it's like. And it really wasn't that big of a deal.

[21:46] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Yeah. No. At the end of the day, I mean, politicians are people too. And thankfully, today I'm no longer a politician. But there are a few key significant moments during that four year, it was two years that I served as mayor of San Luis, Ario, and I think two terms. Two terms, yes. And one of the first things that really stands out me. There was a very, very well known fight that was happening against a pipeline in North Dakota, and there were even protests in downtown El Paso against this pipeline that was happening thousands of miles away. And what a lot of people here didn't even realize is the same exact company was putting what appeared to be the same type of pipeline through our community. And there were a lot of constituents, especially some of the farmers, because San Rizario, to this day, is still a pretty large agricultural community who didn't want to see it happen, but had been through it. I had one farmer, this was going to be the 7th pipeline that came through his property. And so again, not long after becoming mayor, it was a fight that, that I had to take up and the reason I bring it up and why it's so significant, and we did lose that fight. But at my core, I'm not a traditionally romantic person. I've never been one to celebrate Valentine's Day. Whenever you ask me about it, I'm like, let's not do anything, you know? But it was a testament to me of how you truly get me and how you know my romantic side, because any person who has a partner who's a creative like you, especially a musician, and I don't know anyone who hasn't had their significant other write a song for them or get inspired to write a song for about them, and so I am. So when I heard the song that you wrote for me, I. That's when I realized, he gets me. It's not a traditionally romantic song to me. I don't think there's anything more romantic than the protest song that you wrote. And I just want to dictate the first refrain from it. It's called catalyst. All hope is lost power the spotlights up at dusk. Ready the search parties for launch. We will not rest till the hope lost is found, safe and sound and restored. Can you tell me why you wrote this song?

[24:41] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Well, yeah, I remember you were. You fought that for quite a while, going back and forth with the oil companies, and. And refresh my memory. I forget. There was one thing that you did where there was a public reach out thing that they had at San Ellie, and they wanted it basically just as a show and tell, and they were just going to do, like, a PowerPoint and then just tell people, this is how it's going to be, and blah, blah, blah, and throw it back. And then you switched up the format of the chairs to make it into more of, like, a community outreach, where, like, everyone would speak in groups and stuff.

[25:16] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Yeah, they wanted it to be an open house where individual individuals or small groups of people went to each station.

[25:24] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[25:24] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: But we switched it up on them before they had time to set up. We set up all the chairs and all sat down for a community organized meeting, which they wanted to avoid.

[25:34] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah, I always thought that was genius. But anyways, that, like, you were doing things like that, you're trying everything in your power, which, you know, fighting against such big companies with such power is most likely a losing battle. And I thought there's something very brave about that. Well, there is something very brave about that. And so that's why I thought it was. It wasn't only it was fighting a fight that you're probably gonna lose, but it's about the fight. And so I think that's what that song is about. It's about, you gotta try. And then. And whatever happens, happens you.

[26:16] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: And then not only did you write this beautiful song, which to this day, when I first hear that strain of the guitar, still makes me cry. Strain. That's not the right word, but you understand.

[26:28] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Strum. Strum.

[26:29] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: There you go. You put together.

[26:31] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Don't get me.

[26:34] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: You put together this absolutely beautiful video all based on stock footage. And it.

[26:41] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah, I'm broke. So what?

[26:44] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: But it so told the story so well. Like, the images you chose were of these very significant moments in history where you knew that people got screwed over basically, in some of them. And just the images are so compelling, along with the song. So, I know I've thanked you a million times before, but I do want to take this opportunity yet again to thank you for that, you know, so, another significant time in our relationship, and as my time as mayor, we were celebrating our two year anniversary, and we went to a town where my family, before moving to San Luis, Ario, was originally from in south central New Mexico, called Lincoln.

[27:35] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[27:36] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: And of course, Lincoln is famous for the Billy the kids stories, young guns, and the different movies about Billy the Kid and the regulators that have come out. And so we decided to go to this town, which is, you know, according to all research, is one of the most well preserved old west towns. There are several buildings of historic importance, and most of them are open to the public. And so we stayed in this. This beautiful little cottage, and we were at the Lincoln County Courthouse Museum. I had been going there since I was a little girl, to Lincoln and this part of the country visiting family. But this was the first time I had gone where there was an actual museum at sheriff's museum. And what I didn't know at the time, and we discovered on this trip, there's a whole circulator of every sheriff of Lincoln county going all the way back to its inception in the mid 18 hundreds. And my greatest great great grandfather was the second sheriff of Lincoln county just before William Brady, who was killed by Billy.

[28:56] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah.

[28:57] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: And so everyone has stories like that where they find something out about their family history or someone that they knew forever that they didn't realize was, you know, just crazy stories. And for me, it's those small little details in life that kind of. Yeah, it might just be a coincidence, but between that third great grandfather and then my grandfather being constable in 1927 here in El Paso, it was just a little bit of confirmation that public service was in my blood. And it's those little details that just give you a little, you know, God, ray of sunshine, that. Yeah, you're on the right path.

[29:42] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Keep going.

[29:42] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: You know, little pat on the back. Yeah. And then it's kind of strange that in our community, we also have a Billy the kid. Connection with our old county jail, which is famous for being the only jail that billy the kid ever broke into. And so at the county courthouse, you can see the spaces in which he was held. But, no, it's a pretty interesting connection. So I'd like to shift gear and talk about your family for a little bit and smelter town and the significance of that place here in El Paso. So I just kind of want to let you, you know, free form it.

[30:24] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah. I wasn't prepared to talk about smelter town, but it had been pretty prevalent in this town. The company itself had. It was a copper smelting plant and other metals at some point, but it had been there for a long time, and a lot of immigrants would come here to work that. And that's basically how some of my family got here. And before textiles took over, that was, like, a big moneymaker in El Paso, and would always. And it was kind of weird, you know, because they had a company store. You know, it was really old fashioned mining town. Smelter town was. And you were kind of. You. Your life revolved around that. You lived beneath the stack, and then you went to work, and you came home, like, across the street, across from Pisano. And I think that it was the live blood. It was your family's whole livelihood. And so everything revolved around that. But later on, as generations got older and then medical science got a little bit more advanced, everyone started realizing they're getting sick. And I think it became more of an issue once it started hitting the not so much smelter town. But Kernighe, I think there were some birth defects that they started seeing. And so then that started the uproar, and eventually more tests were done, and people were saying how unsafe it was to live there, especially right underneath the stack, where it would, like, rain black soot on everything. At times, not all the time, but. So they determined that it was unsafe for people to live there, so they. The federal government ended up buying them out. I believe it was the federal government, or maybe it was in conjunction with Osarco itself, I'm not sure. I don't remember. And bought everyone out and made it a ghost town, basically. Everyone had to move out. I mean, most of the people ended up staying around that area off of Doniphan, what is now Doniphan, which is an extension of Pisano, basically. And it just. That's where the history stopped. It literally pulled the cord, which. It was a blessing and a curse. It was. It was the lifeblood for all these families, including my family. And then it was also took their lives, some of them, because of the health hazards. But yeah, it was a special place and it was a special place in El Paso. And I wish they would have kept the stacks as a reminder not only of corporate wrongdoing and taking advantage of people and their livelihood and their health, but it could have been something cool. I don't think they had to tear it down.

[33:19] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: And again, that's another beautiful song that you wrote in homage to that part of El Paso's history and your family history. So in the last remaining few minutes that we have, can you talk a little bit about your music career? What's important about that?

[33:34] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Well, like, I hit at the beginning. I had been playing in bars since I was twelve. I started like, get messes with like, wherever, whatever church would let my friends and I play, like Cure and Smith's cover songs or whatever, which Latinos really didn't want to hear anyways at that time, in the mid eighties, but my parents would have to drop me off at bars to play.

[33:58] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: And didn't you tell me one of the first shows you did was opening for anything box?

[34:02] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah, that was later on, I was a little older than I was like maybe 1615 or 16.

[34:07] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Sorry.

[34:07] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: And then, yeah, no, we got really lucky and got to open up for a lot of bands. And later on I started a band with some guys that were way older than me. Then I was like 16, probably, and they were all 21. And like I said, we moved to Austin, tried our hand out there. I got a hankering for recording people's demos in my walk in closet. So I started wanting to be getting interested in recording engineering. And I did. I went up, that band broke up. I ended up going to a school for engineering, audio engineering. Came back, got hired by at the driving because they needed a front of house guy. I wanted to be a studio guy, but the student loans don't wait for anything. So I took the job and it was a great experience. I got to do broadcasts. I did mix them on every tv show you can think of here and abroad, in Europe, at the BBC, you know, NBC, all kinds of stuff. Cool stuff. And they disbanded. I ended up playing for Sparta, which is an offshoot of that band at the drive in. But it was funny the way they asked me how to play. They called me one day, said, hey, you know, at the drive, it's done. I were looking for someone that could play guitar keys and sing backup, and I was wondering if you knew anybody? And I go, well, yeah, I think I know a couple people and they're all, I'm just kidding. Do you want to join? Help us out. And so that's how that started and all that time still, I was recording other bands and I toured with a couple other bands on doing front of house and doing broadcast. So that's kind of my background and how I ended up opening up a venue with my business partner at the time, Jim Ward.

[35:58] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: And I think tooting your horn a little bit because you're not going to do it. Most people who are involved in this world, here in El Paso and beyond, know your genius. One of my favorite stories about you was when you were on tour with sleeper car in Australia, opening for Coldplay, and your pedestal player quit. And so, can you tell us what happened?

[36:21] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Oh, no, no, we had just gotten back from that. Oh, ok. No, we lost our pedals field player. He's a cinematographer in Hollywood, and he started getting bigger gigs, and he's like, I gotta take these offers, which is totally understandable. And everyone's okay. And we didn't know what we were gonna do. And the Jim said, hey, well, I guess on the next tour you're gonna play pedal steel. I go, okay. It's not a very easy instrument to switch. Not from, like, playing guitar and switching over to bass or vice versa. Either way, it's a totally different beast. And I did, and it was for the first week. It was probably pretty horrible. It was probably unbearable for people to listen to. But, yeah, I enjoy jumping from instruments.

[37:05] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: To instrument because it's a horrible building instruments, building equipment. You're so multitalented.

[37:11] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: It's really impressive, which I'm fine with. I've grown to accept it. Yeah.

[37:17] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Another favorite story is when you were a kid and playing music, and you ended up, I think, going to Seattle without your parents knowing.

[37:26] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Oh, yeah. My very first tour, I told my mom I was going to stay over at a friend's house, and we packed into our singer's grandmother's Ford limited old boat and drove to play a show in Seattle. I think we hit Colorado Springs first and we broke down and overheated.

[37:46] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: All that summer, I was such a rule follower, I couldn't even imagine ever doing it.

[37:51] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Well, I knew they weren't gonna let me do it. My mom is such a traditional mexican lady, she was not gonna let that happen. So that was the only way it was gonna happen.

[38:01] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Yeah.

[38:02] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: So I've lived a good life of music.

[38:06] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Well, it's been a joy building this partnership and all the plans that we've made for the future that is now merging all these things that we just talked about. You know what I was passionate about coming out here? What you're passionate about, and having the space, and to a degree, the funds. We still have a long way to go, but at least we're making progress. And at the end of the day, I think it really accomplishes the goals that we both came back here to do, which is make our space a better place.

[38:45] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: Yeah. Leave the place a little bit better than we found it.

[38:48] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: Absolutely.

[38:49] GABRIEL GONZU00E1LEZ: We'll get there.

[38:50] MAYA SU00E1NCHEZ: We will.