San Antonio Kid: Doing Music Their Way

The American West, with its wide open spaces, desolate landscapes, and meeting of cultures from Cowboy to Comanche has been, over the decades, inspiring to more than a few musicians, from Roy Rogers to Waylon Jennings, from the Vandals and to the Supersuckers.

San Antonio Kid (Photo by Franziska Gumpp)

But that allure has transcended far beyond the shores of America, where thanks to movies, TV and music, wanna-be cowpokes can be found everywhere from Tokyo to Timbuktu.

San Antonio Kid doesn’t want to be cowboys so much, but the band’s music definitely recalls the same open spaces and unfettered freedom so much a part of the cowboy myth.

“For us, America, and particularly the West Coast, represents a romantic kind of wanderlust, especially in music and movies,” explains Sandro De Nobili, drummer for the band, in an email interview. “And that mood is transported to us through a lot of records we grew to love.”

The other members of the band, who also participated in this interview, are Matt Stones on lead guitar, vocals and lyrics; Silas Schulz on rhythm guitar; Andreas Wolferseder on bass.

“And that mood is exactly what we feel in our small rehearsal room, which is out in the woods, located in the city district called "Sankt Anton Siedlung", which basically means San Antonio Settlement. That is, by the way, where the name of the band comes from.”

The band, which hails from the town of Augsburg in Southern Germany, is a bit of a departure from what we usually feature here at Garagerocktopia – though not much. Most of the bands here draw their inspiration from the Beatles or American Blues – the latter of which SAK also acknowledges.

But take one listen of San Antonio Kid and you get visions of Johnny Cash, trippin’ big time on LSD, jamming in a Jim Jarmusch film with the Chocolate Watchband.

The trippy cowboy sound isn’t new. The Los Angeles band Wall of Voodoo staked claim to this here territory back in the early ‘80s (1980’s, not 1880’s), and the Supersuckers have also put the sound to great use. But SAK also does it extremely well, cooking up a brand of music that is at once mesmerizing and rockin’.

“Certainly, we draw from a variety of genres, yes – including -- Johnny Cash,” Stones admits,

“though sometimes it’s not intentional. We just look for all the feeling that music can give us in so many different ways. It doesn’t matter it´s country, or hip hop, or soul, or ‘60s west coast music or European. All of us have our own special preferences and our own experiences. Really, the sound of San Antonio Kid is based on a very wide range of influences.”

Stones gave a long list of other influences, from Otis Redding, to the Brian Jonestown Massacre, to Duke Ellington, Saharan blues and Brazilian Tropicalia.

And if the music has the feel of a Jarmusch film, it’s not entirely by accident. De Nobili says the band appreciates art going far beyond music.

“We also like the old, dusty funky vibe Tarantino has in his movies,” Stones pointed out. “They’re like listening to old good records, with the warmness and crackle of the sound of old fashioned-recorded instruments. He’s especially killer with his choice of music, and similarly, that is probably why for us, atmosphere takes a bigger place than lyrics.”

“That’s not to say the meanings of the lyrics aren’t important – they are, but the amount of words isn’t as important as when and where you put them. Less can be more in the right moments and less can drive the music to be even more intense.”

Wolferseder says the band didn’t just decide to toss in a cup of Roxy Music and sprinkle it with some Lee Hazlewood. De Nobili says the band members are simply doing what artists are supposed to do, which is to draw from their own experiences and their own likes to create something that is uniquely them.

“We just play and sometimes, things just happen,” Wolferseder said. “Absolutely, we want to create something completly new. But we want to pay homage to all the artists that are important to us.”

And, perhaps most importantly of all, the band makes music that is, above all, something they themselves are into, something that should be basic to music but, at least in the mainstream, seems not to be.

“The music gives us a comforting feeling to get by in our everyday lives,” Schulz revealed, “which includes the bread and butter jobs that for right now we still have to do. Without these jobs, it’s really hard to make music or art, in Germany and everywhere else.

The band has not yet toured music. Don’t feel sorry for them, though. In fact, says Schulz, the business end is a side concern at most.

“We don´t care about the “North American Market” or “European market," said Schulz. “We just make our stuff, and of course we would love to play in the US – especially at the Austin Psych Fest. That would be great for us. But we don't take these kind of things too seriously.”

“We never want to get tensed up or angry because of a record-deal or anything like that. That does not have a good influence on creativity. If people like what we do, fine. If not, okay! We´re just buddys, hanging out, dancing at the clubs and drinking good wine at the bars around town.”

Though the band hasn’t performed in the United States, they have been here, taking a road trip through some of the most important music cities here in the good ol’ U.S.A.

“We started in New York City,” recounted De Nobili, “and also went to New Orleans, Nashville and

Austin. It really was such a joy. We met a lot of nice people and heard some ace live music on the Austin Psych Fest. We heard cool music at some other venues as well.”

“We were excited about the vast amount of good live music all over the U.S. It was nice for us to see that people there can really relax and enjoy a good time. In general, Germans are not so good at that.”

From looking at the group’s Bandcamp page, one might conclude that the band has the personal approval of one Jack White. But no, and the band gets a little snicker when asked about it.

“We have not met Jack White, nor have we recorded at his studio,” Stones admits. “But we did record a song in an old Record Cabin in his store in Nashville. That recording immediately got scratched on a small 45 vinyl. The truth is that anybody can do that – it’s public --  but it does make a good joke for our band page.”

Though the band is not a threat to top the charts, at least not yet, the group is not under intense pressure to churn out hits. Go on grinding tours or move massive units of sales. De Nobili seems pleased with what the band is doing and what it has accomplished so far.

“It would be a lie to say that this isn’t hard work,” De Nobili says. “But for us, it’s all about the fun we have making and creating music. Our goal is to give other people the same good time we with the music we have. We love it.”

Enjoy this story? You should check out our features on the Galileo 7 and the Cherry Drops.