Tejano dream-pop of San Antonio’s Los Juanos exudes puro party vibes

Even though San Antonio’s music scene can sometimes seem siloed along genre lines, the city’s true musical strength has always been in its propensity to produce game-changing, genre-blending original acts.

Think about it. From the Jiménez brothers to the Sir Douglas Quintet, from Garrett T. Capps to Piñata Protest, from the Butthole Surfers to Girl in a Coma, many of our best artists don’t sit comfortably in a genre pigeonhole.

That’s where Los Juanos come in. Launched during the pandemic, the band started as a nostalgia-embracing one-off collaboration between friends Baldemar Esquivel and Miguel Guzman. Both were just eager to try for a different sound — something Esquivel envisioned as Tejano dream-pop.

Their song “Cien Novias,” released in 2021, was well received, and the rest is history still being written. The band’s since grown to six members, dropped eight more catchy, eclectic singles and developed a reputation as one of the fiercest, most joyously raucous live acts around.

And, the band’s sound?

Esquivel still calls it Tejano dream-pop, which is pretty spot-on in its own right, but the music also has a lo-fi, stoner, punk aspect at its core. Maybe it’s the lyrics, frequently embracing blissful abandon, maybe it’s the group’s restless energy and refusal to sit still — literally and figuratively.

The Current spoke with bassist-vocalist Esquivel, guitarist-vocalist Guzman and guitarist-accordionist Eddy Longoria about what the group means to them.

Esquivel’s made music solo and in various non-Tejano bands in San Antonio since 2015 or so, meaning he grew up around Tejano music, but never really thought he’d be making it.

Something about the pandemic, however, led him to act on “a fantasy that I’ve had for a while to be in a cumbia or Tejano band.”

Now, he approaches Los Juanos as a way to “make the Tejano music that I want to hear: more experimental, more free.”

Guzman’s family includes members who have won significant esteem in more traditional forms of regional music, but he grew up wanting to pursue anything else. Most recently, he fronted a progressive math-rock band called Werito.

“I grew up just thinking that Tejano was basically corny-ass music for an older crowd,” he laughed.

But, Esquivel’s embrace of the Tejano form and the possibilities it still has to offer, led Guzman to change his perspective and ultimately embrace his role as the magnetic and frenetic frontman of Los Juanos.

Guzman also cites a nugget of wisdom from former Los Juanos drummer Mel Sanchez: “Hey, we are Tejanos, so anything we make is Tejano.”

“And, I realized how true that is: punk is Tejano, rock is Tejano,” Guzman said. “And, growing up in San Antonio all of these different styles are important to us. … In fact, Los Juanos as a band could only have come to exist in San Antonio, where we have this culture of ni de aquí, ni de allá [neither from here, nor from there].”

One of the things that may have initially turned Guzman off about Tejano music was its emphasis on preserving tradition.

However, as he’s worked on Los Juanos, he’s come to realize that “preserving tradition and culture is also about moving it forward and pushing — we are not trying to preserve it like a museum.”

For Longoria — without whose accordion and songwriting gifts Los Juanos would be a different band — playing accordion is a way to connect to his heritage. He moved to San Antonio from Monterrey when he was in 7th grade and was looking for a musical connection to Mexico.

“The way I thought I could connect with my roots was through music, through the bajo quinto,” he said.

But, when Longoria, who already played some guitar, showed up to a local class to start learning, he found the instructors were all out of the unique, guitar-like instrument. Instead, he was offered an accordion and thought, “Well, I’m already here.”

Now, his skillful and intense playing is part of the soul of Los Juanos. Like Guzman, he loves the fact that the band is preserving culture while pushing it forward.

Aside from “Cien Novias,” the best songs in the band’s recorded repertoire include “Fin del Mundo,” a wild end-of the-world party anthem with a surprisingly sentimental heart; “Minivan,” a driving, electro-cumbia about a series of memories in the titular vehicle; and “Otra Lata,” a tear-in-your-beer conjunto waltz soaked with deliciously frayed accordion notes.

Those who haven’t yet caught Los Juanos live have ample upcoming opportunity to remedy that, most immediately Saturday, June 7, when the band will perform at the second-anniversary celebration for the West Side’s Chiflada’s Cocktail Bar.

The group also has new recorded music on the way, including two singles, out Friday, May 30, on a compilation honoring the great Mexican Norteño act Los Vikingos del Norte. A new EP also is coming this summer.

Upon first hearing Los Juanos perform, Jaime Mejia — the mastermind behind celebrated nuevo-Latino act Volcán and a focal point in the thriving local indie Latin scene — told the group, “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Contacted recently for clarification, Mejia doubled down: “Los Juanos is what Tejano needed 20 years ago. We needed them and are so glad they arrived.”

$5, 9 p.m., Saturday, June 7, Chiflada’s Cocktail Bar, 1804 W. Martin St., instagram.com/chifladas_sa.

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This article appears in May 29 – Jun 11, 2025.