“Back then, it was just me, Hector, and we had a couple of singers go through the lineup. “David Garza was the one who pushed us to make this into a serious project and start playing live,” Calderón said. It was distributed by the record label Casete in Mexico and Nacional in the United States. It’s not just writing music and playing shows – it’s social media, getting merch, doing all these other things for the band.”Įventually the band recruited Amalia Mondragón to sing on its self-financed debut album, which was released in 2015. “You get to not only work, but live with all these bands and you get to see all the other work that they have to put into the band. “Hector and I have always considered ourselves really lucky to have grown here as musicians and as people,” Calderón said. Watch Video: The Chamanas record album at Sonic RanchĬalderón and Carreón said that Sonic Ranch owner Tony Rancich and everyone else who works and lives at the studio have been very supportive of the group from the beginning. Instruments and beats on "Once Once" range from harps and synthesizers, poppy ballads and upbeat tracks such as the huapango-influenced cover of Portugal. What the duo and their friends created was a blend of traditional Mexican folk music with electronic and contemporary sounds. This is where the whole Chamanas thing started.” … This is an amazing place and it’s been an amazing experience to be here. He started inviting me to sessions, that’s when I started to learn everything here at the studio. “I got into this engineering program and we had a tour (of the studio). The two have worked on albums by indie bands such as Beach House and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as well as Mexican pop artists such as Natalia LaFourcade and Zoé and norteño groups such as Los Rieleros del Norte.Ĭalderón said he has collaborated with friends who worked or lived at the studio in his spare time when he met Carreón. The awards show will be televised nationally by Univision Network.Ĭarreón and bass guitarist Manuel Calderón, who also has worked as a full-time and freelance recording engineer at Sonic Ranch since 2008, formed the Chamanas in 2012.
17 to find out if they get to take home some hardware for all their hard work. "I’m like, why is he calling me? Is something wrong?”Ĭarreón and the rest of the Chamanas will be in the audience during the Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas on Nov. "One day, in the morning, my brother called me like 10 times," he said. I never expected a nomination this soon," Carreón said while taking a break from recording the band’s second album at the studio located on a pecan ranch on the edge of El Paso County. “There was a rumor that we were on the list of artists being considered. Guitarist and co-founder Hector Carreón, who often works as a recording engineer at Sonic Ranch recording studio in Tornillo, said he had just awoken from a long night of recording with Austin singer-songwriter David Garza when news of the nomination reached him.Ĭarreón said the announcement came as a surprise.