Los Tranquilos: A bilingual band’s journey from garage jams to touring success
As the saying goes, when one door closes another one opens.
This is what happened when brothers Manny and Jonathan “JJ” Martinez were in a band that ended five years strong. After the disbandment, Jonathan invited his old high school friend, Cameron Porter, to the brothers’ garage just to play some music together in the summer of 2022.
“It just came down to one day in the summer,” Jonathan said. “We told him ‘Hey come over to the house, bring a drum kit. No expectations, we’re just going to jam.’”
A few weeks after the jam session, the Martinez brothers and Porter would perform at Guadalupe Cafe, which would be the first time they performed together as the band Los Tranquilos — actually, Os Tranquilos at the time.
Los Tranquilos is a bilingual band from Nipomo, which is located 25 miles south of San Luis Obispo. Manny is the lead vocalist, guitarist and keys player, Jonathan is the bassist and vocalist and Porter is the guitarist and vocalist.
With how versatile the band is with each other’s instruments and roles, Porter said it’s made it easier when writing music together.
“We can all have a say because we all have been in those roles,” Porter said. “We can take the roles differently and have some more vision.”
Manny said their music draws inspiration from the Latin American ballads he and his brother would listen to growing up. He said the band adds rock, soul and cumbia into their sound, as well.
“It’s an exploration of many different sounds,” Manny said. “We do a lot of different things, I don’t necessarily say we’re a rock band or soul band.”
Some artists that inspire Los Tranquilos’ sound include R&B and soul band Brainstory, alternative indie band Chicano Batman and the Prince of Motown, Marvin Gaye.
Los Tranquilos released an EP on Feb. 5 titled “Todos Tranquis,” which translates to “everything is calm.” The EP’s three songs — “Mi Sol,” “Siento Que” and “It’s You” — stick true to this title, with upbeat, peaceful and groovy beats. Spanish and English lyrics, plus a clash of guitars and keys, make an ideal soundtrack for a sunny day.
The cover of the EP is filled with warm browns, oranges and yellows — colors found in traditional Zapotec rugs from Oaxaca, Mexico, where the Martinez brothers’ mother is from.
In the middle of the cover is a heart made of a butterfly, a golden jaguar head and tree roots.
Manny said the jaguar head is tied to Zapotec culture and his family in Oaxaca, as they have a stone carving of a jaguar in their home. He also said the butterfly represents the state of Michoacán, Mexico, which is where the Martinez brothers’ dad is from.
The border of the EP cover represents the cycle of life, with stair shapes that go in a forward direction and cycle back.
“It’s culturally significant to JJ and I,” Manny said. “It’s really just a big collage of culture and many different colors that represent our heritage and our background.”
The band said they are thankful for digital artist Helen Yanez for making the cover of the EP.
“We love it, people are loving it and it’s just a great piece of art to come out for our first release,” Jonathan said.
A week after the EP was released, Los Tranquilos performed as an opener for Aaron Frazer from the band Durand Jones & The Indications in Los Angeles. They performed for three straight sold-out nights in various music venues in the area, including the Troubadour, Lodge Room and The Paramount.
“We have good experience being ready to play in a show even with nerves too, we’ve gotten good with that and getting ourselves ready,” Porter said. “But with those shows it kind of hits different — you get there, it’s the Lodge Room, Troubadour, venues I’ve heard about for years.”
The band said they were honored to get a call from Frazer to open for him, especially since, at the time, they did not have any released music.
“We were getting ready to release so we had nothing out, so it was more of an honor that he put the trust in us to go out there,” Jonathan said.
Los Tranquilos will sometimes feature a guest drummer like Richie Guereca from the band Los So-Lows, located in Oxnard.
Jonathan told Guereca of their performance plans and he told the band that he was in. The band made the two-hour trip down to Oxnard a couple of times before the shows so they could practice with Guereca.
“It took all of those elements of making the time just to really dial in our sound,” Jonathan said. “Honestly those three shows were probably the best outcomes of a lot of shows that we’ve played.”
The band agreed in unison that those three nights brought them even closer together.
Los Tranquilos went on tour with the band LA LOM across four states from May 9-12, according to an Instagram post by Los Tranquilos. This was the first time the members performed as Los Tranquilos outside of California.
“Things just kind of happened real fast and it’s exciting to just get out there, play new venues, meet new people along the road and more than anything just doing our music thing,” Manny said. “That’s the most exciting part of it, is being able to share our music with a broader audience that’s outside our local region.”
Jonathan thanks their Central Coast audience for supporting the band.
“Before more than anything outside of here, they were the ones that gave us the spots to start off playing in like [Guadalupe], Santa Maria, SLO,” Jonathan said. “Shout out to all of the Central Coast.”
More information about the band and their upcoming events can be found at their Instagram, @los__tranquilos.
