Giovannie and The Hired Guns LIVE @ The Hochatown Saloon
One of the most crowd-thrilling bands to burst onto the national scene in recent years,
Giovannie and The Hired Guns have pushed the boundaries of rock-and-roll and country to
forge an irresistibly gritty sound all their own. After building a massive grassroots following on
the strength of their explosive live show, the Stephenville, Texas-based five-piece ascended to
new heights with their smash hit “Ramon Ayala”—a 2021 release that climbed to #1 on the
Active Rock Radio Chart and the Alternative Radio Chart, marking the first time in over 15 years
that an artist’s first career-charting radio single reached the top spot on both tallies. Fueled by
the enormous success they’ve achieved as an entirely independent act, Giovannie and The
Hired Guns have now signed to Warner Music Nashville just in time for the release of their third
full-length, Tejano Punk Boyz: an immediately vital body of work cementing their status as an
essential new force in redefining the possibilities of Texas music.
The start of a bold new era for Giovannie and The Hired Guns—vocalist Giovannie Yanez,
guitarists Carlos Villa and Jerrod Flusche, bassist Alex Trejo, and drummer Milton
Toles—Tejano Punk Boyz expands on the wildly catchy brand of guitar-heavy alt-rock they first
honed back when Yanez was working the counter at a local pawnshop. Like their self-titled 2020
sophomore effort, the 10-track album finds the band joining forces with producer Taylor Kimball
(Koe Wetzel, Read Southall Band, Austin Meade), fully harnessing the band-of-brothers
chemistry that makes their live set so exhilarating. In addition to delivering songs in both English
and Spanish for the very first time, Tejano Punk Boyz doubles down on the culture-bending
sensibilities that have long guided the band, fusing elements of everything from Red Dirt country
to post-grunge to la musica norteña. “We didn’t want to hold back at all with this album,” says
Yanez. “We all come from different walks of life, and we wanted to mesh those influences
together and come up with something that feels really free. Because of that, I feel like we
created something that’s completely true to us, and like nothing else out there right now.”
With its title taken from an inside joke between Yanez and his cousin, Tejano Punk Boyz infuses
that free-spirited energy into every song, ultimately embodying a more joyful mood than their
past work. “‘Ramon Ayala’ really set the tone for the album,” says Yanez. “Songwriting is an
outlet for me, and on the last record I was going through some dark times in my life. But ‘Ramon
Ayala’ came from thinking about my family and the music we love to listen to when we’re all
partying together, and that sort of carried over into the rest of the album.”
Along with “Ramon Ayala”—a track that spent five weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative
Airplay Chart and earned acclaim from outlets like American Songwriter, who hailed it as “a
cathartic anthem for the underdogs and rejects of society”—Tejano Punk Boyz features more
emotionally raw offerings like the album-opening “Overrated.” Rooted in the band’s signature
collision of combustible guitar work and unforgettable melodies, the sing-along-ready track
serves as a prime showcase for Yanez’s reflective yet down-to-earth storytelling (from the
chorus: “I’m such a freak/I love the way she hates it”). “At the time I was fighting with my
girlfriend, so it was the perfect moment for that kind of song,” he notes. On “Numb,” Tejano
Punk Boyz shifts into a darker tone as Giovannie and The Hired Guns channel the ache of
disconnection, amplifying the track’s moody urgency with serpentine rhythms and brooding
guitar tones. “Recording ‘Numb’ was probably the most fun we had in the studio—we didn’t try
to force anything, we just let it all out and put everything we were feeling into the song,” says
Yanez. And on “The Letter,” Giovannie and The Hired Guns share one of the album’s most
vulnerable moments, a heart-on-sleeve love song that slips between English and Spanish as
Yanez bares his soul with brutal honesty. “I’d always wanted to sing in both languages, but for
some reason I was always too scared,” says Yanez. “When I was writing ‘The Letter’ it just
happened naturally, and it instantly felt right.”
Originally from the Northern Texas town of Mineral Wells, Yanez first explored his unfiltered
approach to songwriting at the age of 17 (“It pretty much started right after the first big
heartbreak,” he notes). Around that same time, he began performing at local dive bars while
holding down a job at a rock quarry. “I’d go play gigs and be out till about three in the morning,
then get up to go to work at seven—it was a struggle for a while, but I knew this was what I
wanted to do with my life,” says Yanez. Not long after landing his job at the pawnshop, Yanez
crossed paths with Trejo and soon began assembling the Hired Guns lineup, then pushed
forward with an equally grueling gig schedule. “When we first started out it was always, ‘Hey
guys, can you play a four-hour set with two breaks? Here’s $200,’” Yanez recalls. As word got
out about their can’t-miss live performance, the band began selling out shows all across Texas,
in addition to sharing stages with the likes of Read Southall Band and Kody West.
With the arrival of their self-released 2017 full-length debut Bad Habits, Giovannie and The
Hired Guns offered a first glimpse at the unbridled eclecticism that now defines their sound:
Toles, for instance, brings a soulful intensity informed by playing music in church as a kid, while
Flusche’s background includes session work with such prominent country acts as Sam Riggs &
the Night People. Another independent release, Giovannie and The Hired Guns featured
standouts like “Rooster Tattoo,” a slow-burning track that quickly amassed millions of streams
on Spotify thanks to word-of-mouth buzz. As they set to work on Tejano Punk Boyz, Giovannie
and The Hired Guns landed on Amazon Music’s 2022 Artists to Watch list, then later inked their
deal with Warner Music Nashville in a partnership with Warner Music and Warner Music Latina.
With their career highlights to date including opening for platinum-selling country star Jason
Aldean to a crowd of 36,000 at Globe Life Park stadium, Giovannie and The Hired Guns have
spent much of the band’s lifespan on the road, delivering an electrifying show that invariably
leaves audiences sweat-drenched and ecstatic. “At this point my house is mostly just a place
where I collect mail,” says Yanez. “We’ve played an insane amount, but we love getting out
there and connecting with the fans. The craziest thing is when they tell us that our music has
saved their lives, because I’ve had that happen to me with the music I really love.”
As their following continues to grow far beyond the borders of their home state, Giovannie and
The Hired Guns have found their sense of purpose ineffably deepened with each new album
they create. “To me making music is a godsend,” says Yanez. “I generally don’t tell people
what’s on my mind or how I’m feeling; I hold it in and then get it all out by picking up a pen and
paper or strumming my guitar. So the fact that our songs might end up helping other people in
some way just makes it all even sweeter.” And with Tejano Punk Boyz dropping in the midst of
another extensive tour, Giovannie and The Hired Guns look forward to strengthening their
extraordinary bond with their audience. “The goal for the live show is always to take people
away for that hour and a half,” says Yanez. “Whatever problems they’re dealing with, whatever
they’re going through or whatever’s happening in today’s world, we want them to forget all about
it for those 90 minutes. If they want to get sad and cry, then I’ll cry with them. If they want to let
loose and have fun, I’ll do that too. We just want to feel connected to everyone, because we
truly are—we’re exactly the same as every single person out there in the crowd.”
GENERAL ADMISSION & VIP TICKETING
General Admission Tickets allow you into the venue and do not reserve you a seat or a table. Most of our venue and stage area is standing-room only!
VIP Tickets allow you to have a seat/table reserved for the event. We require guests under 21 years of age to purchase VIP tickets due to the enhanced amount of security that underage patrons require. We understand that not all of our underage guests are attempting to break the law by consuming alcohol, however, we must take all appropriate precautions due to our responsibilities as a Licensed Seller of Alcohol.
SECURITY AND GUEST SAFETY
We reserve the right to remove any guest at any time for any reason (or event) that we deem "unacceptable". We do not condone or allow the use of drugs on our property - including Marijuana and THC-related items. Our guest's safety is one of our highest priorities and we appreciate you helping create a safe environment for our guests.
