While the term “dream pop” spans the wave from Cocteau Twins to Beach House, there are certainly enough bands in the middle that rock: try Turnover, Real Estate, or Cigarettes After Sex. Yet, Sacramento four-piece Güero kind of rewrites the script as skaters gone dreamy. But they do it with a panache usually not seen in California’s working-class northern city.
“The world is so complicated; our music is a vibe to be used however the listener feels; put the
record on in the background or dive deep and peel back the layers,” says the members of Sacramento four-piece Güero.
Emerging from the imagination of vocalist/guitarist Rik Krull, Güero’s line-up is completed with Russell Volksen on bass and Mike Ruiz on drums. Buds since working in Skate shops, Rik and Shea were separated by the American Canyon winding between them until Rik moved to Sacramento. They met Russell on the scene and Mike’s bands would provide their party soundtracks.
Growing up in a world of subcultures would later shape Güero’s music with a unique documentary
style; a genre-blending evolution from years spent watching kickflips caught on film while being
introduced to music that would instantly get put on repeat. “When a skate video came out, we’d
check out the music, it ingrained in us the need to keep digging,” Shea recalls. Today, the band’s
practice sessions of jazz, psych, and even doo-wop are recorded by their ‘Scribe’, Russell on his
phone’s Voice Memos app. Capturing each instinctive moment, the audio files are a permanent
reminder of their authentic selves. “We don’t play the same way every time,” Ruiz explains of their
fluid intuition from years playing together. “We take social cues from each other, mix things up to
push us in new directions, catch that ride and flow into it.”
Glide is premiering the video for “Mind’s Eye,” (below) off Güero’s new album Wednesdays due out April 7th via Dutch Records. Directed by Paul Bates whom the band has been working with on a series of videos for the album and the video co-stars Amber DeLaRosa of fellow Sacramento band, Moxy The Band. Güero creates unobscured atmospheric intimacy that serves as a musical mood lamp.
“We played this song for a while never really trying to tame it. When we play live in the greater Sacramento area, we tend to play a 2-3 hour set. During one of our gigs we had some time to fill and played ‘Mind’s Eye’ knowing we could jam it awhile. It ended up being an epic rendition, one that will never be played that way again. Luckily, we have, Russell our scribe who caught it on his phone. Maybe because we weren’t really thinking it needed to be anything specific, everyone’s part just fell into place, perfectly. Some of those things we played that night were developed into the recorded version since we were able to draw from Russell’s recording. We really like how we added the mellow beginning to the song and how, Mike changes to the four on the floor during the second verse. It’s the little things about this song that we have grown to love,” says Krull.
