Luis Gerardo Garza Cisneros (; born September 19, 1979 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México), better known as his stage name Chetes (), is a Mexican rock musician, well known for being the leader of the influential

Avanzada Regia Avanzada Regia was a musical movement in the mid-1990s from Monterrey in Mexico. Origins In 1995, the group Zurdok Movimiento won the Battle of the Bands at the Rockotitlan music festival, becoming the first band not from Mexico City to win ...

rock bands

Zurdok Zurdok was a Mexican rock band based in Monterrey. It was formed in 1993 under the name Zurdok Movimento, changing it several years later to simply Zurdok. It was one of the most important bands in the Mexican rock band scene at the end of the 19 ...

Vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...

and eventually, his own solo career.

Biography

Chetes was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico. His father was a founding member of the rock band ''Los Rockets'', which led to Chetes' interest in music. At age 7, he learned classic guitar, and started to like artists such as the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

and the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

. At the age of 12, he attempted to learn how to play drums, but this project was quickly abandoned when neighbors complained about the noise. When

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

arrived in the city, Chetes got even more excited about rock music so he learned about guitar

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signa ...

. This is a method of playing guitar where the sound is distorted, but the actual guitar remains intact. Chetes then joined the band

in 1993, which was formed by Fletch Sáenz and David Izquierdo. The band received a recording contract to Discos Manicomio when he was only 16. With Zurdok, Garza recorded 3 albums: '' Antena'', '' Hombre Sintetizador'' and '' Maquillaje''. In 2002, Zurdok disbanded due to artistic differences and Chetes took a break. In 2005, Zurdok bandmate Maurizio Terracina and Garza created a new project band together with Rodrigo Guardiola called

, where their songs are completely in English. Chetes picked up a considerable number of new fans, due to the predominance of English as a world language. Vaquero is currently in hiatus and it remains unknown if they will record a sequel to their debut eponymous album. Chetes already had enough material of his own to cut a record. "Una Pieza" (One More Time or Figure Out) and "Poco a Poco" were written during the Vaquero era, but they did not fit into the band concept. So, by sending demos,

Ken Coomer Ken Coomer is an American musician and producer best known for his drumming in Uncle Tupelo and later Wilco. He was the drummer and co-founder of the Nashville-based band, Clockhammer, in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Career Coomer produced th ...

, ex-drummer of

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently d ...

and

Uncle Tupelo Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to atten ...

got hooked on Chetes's sound and decided to be the producer of his first solo album. Garza flew to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

in October 2005, recording and writing songs with Coomer and his engineer,

Charlie Brocco Charlie may refer to: Characters * "Charlie," the head of the Townsend Agency', from the ''Charlie's Angels'' franchise * Charlie, a character on signs for the CharlieCard, a smart card issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority * ...

. These songs were recorded in track and had no electronic instrumentation, being heavily influenced by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

. In May 2006, ''

Blanco Fácil Blanco (''white'' or ''blank'' in Spanish) or Los Blancos may refer to: People *Blanco (surname) Fictional characters *Blanco, a hobbit in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth * Blanco Webb, character in the BBC sitcom ''Porridge'' * El Blanco, albin ...

'', the title of the album, was released. So far, it has sold nearly 50,000 copies, the benchmark for being certified gold in Mexico. The first single on "Blanco Fácil", "Completamente", led to a 2006

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been ...

nomination for best rock song, some heavy iTunes Latino promotion, and a much-played video that features a bundled-up Garza singing his way down the streets of Beijing. The second single is "Poco a poco" and there is a scheduled third single "Que me maten". Chetes also collaborated with Amaral in the cover of

Miguel Bosé Luis Miguel González Bosé (born 3 April 1956), usually known as Miguel Bosé, is a Spanish pop new wave singer and actor. Early life Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of Italian actress Lucia Bosè (193 ...

's song "Si tu No Vuelves" for the soundtrack of the movie ''

Efectos secundarios ''Efectos Secundarios'' ("Side Effects") is a 2006 satire comedy-drama film directed by Issa López. The film stars Marina de Tavira, Alejandra Gollás, Arturo Barba and Pedro Izquierdo. It was originally released to theatres in the Mexico ...

'' and with Emmanuel del Real with the song "16 de Febrero" for the movie "Fuera del Cielo". In April 2008, Chetes released his second album

Efecto Dominó Efecto Dominó is an album by Chetes, released on April 15, 2008. The album received a Latin Grammy Award for Best Rock Solo Vocal Album. Track list All songs written by Chetes except where noted: #Efecto Dominó (4:10) #Fuera de Lugar (3:36) # ...

Discography

With Zurdok

* Antena – 1997 * Hombre Sintetizador – August 1999 * Maquillaje – June 2001 * lo mejor de Zurdok (Compilation album) – 2007

With Vaquero

* Vaquero EP – 2004 *

– 2005

Solo

– May 2006 *

– March 2008 * Hipnosis- May 2010 *Cardio Sapien EP – Aug 2012 *Stereotipos – Feb 2016 *Odisea Magnetica – 2019

Notes

General references

PublimetroCoca-Cola

External links

Official Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chetes 1979 births Mexican rock musicians Living people Rock en Español musicians Latin music songwriters Rock songwriters