West Texas Exiles Celebrate Release of New Album

During the 19th century, Horace Greeley wrote, “Go west, young man!” and encouraged those seeking a better life to head past the Mississippi River toward the riches that were promised in frontier America.

In the case of the West Texas Exiles, it was actually a case of heading east to find their fortune. Toward Austin, specifically, which has historically been the musical land of opportunity in the Lone Star state. While the band members may have made their initial journeys separately, they quickly found each other, and, as Hunter Thompson once said, referencing Herman Melville, “Genius [stood] hand in hand, and a shock of recognition ran the whole circle round.”

That was a few years ago. Today, the West Texas Exiles – Marco Gutierrez (lead vocals, guitar), Colin Gilmore (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Daniel Davis (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Eric Harrison (bass, vocals) and Trinidad Leal (drums) – are on tour celebrating the release of their first full-length album with two shows on Saturday, September 27, at the Mucky Duck.
On a bright fall morning, the Exiles are all gathered around a laptop, speaking via Zoom from Nashville and the AmericanaFest. The band prefers to do interviews with all members present, and, while somewhat unusual, it’s probably a good idea in this case, as it quickly becomes obvious that the Exiles have a strong connection and, collectively, a wicked sense of humor. The identifier on the Zoom screen says, “West Texa Sexiles.”

Despite the fact that most artists don’t like labels, your intrepid scribe began the discussion by asking what the term “Americana” means to them.

“It’s used so much that we now just call it ‘Genericana,’” Gutierrez says. “It means so much that it means nothing.”

“It’s like everything that’s not ‘country-country.’ If it’s somewhat in the country world but not bro-country or straight-up indie [or] pop. But indie rock leans Americana. Everything that’s not country or pop, that’s Americana,” Harrison says.

While the Exiles identify as West Texans, at some point they all felt a need to move from their homes. “Austin had a lot of opportunities,” Gilmore explains, “that, for me, Lubbock didn’t quite have. Even though so much good stuff came from Lubbock, there was something going on in Austin.”

“I love El Paso,” Gutierrez adds, “that’s where I’m from. But you have to drive eight hours to tour anywhere, and that’s a difficult thing. There’s Albuquerque and there’s Tucson, but I think where big things were happening musically was in central Texas. That is part of the reason that we all had to exile ourselves from our hometowns, if we wanted to do this thing for real.” Leal says, “There was a lot of synchronicity, kindred journeys that met at one time and just happened with this band. That’s the cool story about it.”

“We just act like morons. We’re all past our twenties, you’d think we would start acting like adults, but we’ve shown that we’re never going to stop acting like morons.”

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The Exiles new album (produced by Harrison and Michael Ingber) is called 8000 Days, and the accompanying video provides a familiar travelogue through Texas, with images of small towns, highways and souvenir shops seen along the way, as the band makes its way from one gig to the next. What does the band do to make touring tolerable?

Rising from his reclining position on the couch, Davis answers, “Act like complete idiots and make each other laugh.” Then Leal jumps in. “Usually in a band, everybody’s doing their own thing, listening to their own music or whatever, but, for me, our energy is really great travelling.” Back to Gutierrez. “I think the answer to that is that we don’t intentionally do anything. We just act like morons. We’re all past our twenties, you’d think we would start acting like adults, but we’ve shown that we’re never going to stop acting like morons.”

Putting hijinks on the road aside for a moment, when the band does get serious, what does the creative process look like? What was the mindset when recording began for 8000 Days? “We grabbed some songs that we felt good about, that mixed well together, and showed the breadth of what we’re doing, having three singer-songwriters,” Harrison says. “We wanted to make a cohesive-ish record that hit a bunch of different angles.”
Speaking of which, how are decisions made as to whose songs are recorded and performed, and in what sorts of ratios, since that can be a big deal for many bands? Gilmore steps up to take this one. “When we play live shows, we look at the setting and [ask], ‘What songs are going to work for the occasion?’ We do try to incorporate a little bit of everybody, but we’re pretty good about putting the ego aside, instead of ‘Oh, it’s my turn.’” Harrison adds, “There’s very little ego with these guys [in terms of] ‘Who’s getting the next song?’ We just kind of feel it [and ask], ‘What’s the best next song right now?’”

There is an appealing and genuine “Kum-By-Yah” vibe surrounding the Exiles. All of the members seem to have an unwavering commitment to their joint venture. “I have a very small side hustle, but the band comes first. First, second and third,” Gutierrez says. “I do sit in and play with some other bands, but all I do is talk about the West Texas Exiles to all their fans,” Davis adds. Harrison is next. “There’s only one chance you get to be in a band like this, so you’ve got to make room for it.” Then Leal speaks up. “They know, any gig, I’m in. Unless I’m dead!”

The West Texas Exiles will perform at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 27, at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk. For more information, call 713-528-5999 or visit mcgonigels.com. $37 and up.

For more on the West Texas Exiles, visit westtexasexiles.com.