The Last Bandoleros blend bass-heavy programmed beats, Flamenco-style guitar, and their sublime four-part harmonies on the sultry new song “Maldita.” The San Antonio/Nashville band call the distinct sound “Tex-Flex.”
“Tex-Flex is the sum of all our influences,” guitarist Jerry Fuentes says in a statement. “Tex-Flex is a blend of modern sonics with Tex-Mex, Latin flavor – basically, the musical personification of who we are.”
On Monday, the group premiered a music video for “Maldita” — Spanish for “damned” — that finds the four-piece mesmerized by a silhouetted dancer, Mexico City’s Jose Manuel Esteban.
The Last Bandoleros are Fuentes, guitarist Derek James, and the brothers Navaira, Diego and Emilio, on bass and drums respectively. Diego and Emilio are the sons of Tejano star Emilio Navaira, who died in 2016. They credit him with expanding their musical palette.
“Because of our dad, I never grew up thinking in terms of genres, so it makes all the sense in the world to do the Bandoleros,” the Bandoleros’ Emilio told Rolling Stone in 2018. “It’s everything I love in one thing. He could do it, so why can’t we?”
The Last Bandoleros, who’ve toured with artists from Sting to the Mavericks, are currently on the road. They’ll play a superb double bill on Thursday with fellow Texas band Vandoliers at John T. Floore’s Country Store in Helotes.
