Brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez invoke the grainy films of Sergio Leone and Jim Jarmusch to create a soundtrack for dramatic, arid landscapes on El Bueno Y El Malo, their Dan Auerbach produced Easy Eye Sound debut.
The desert has captured the imaginations of so many guitarists. Throughout the modern history of our instrument, players have been enchanted by its mystery, stillness, or whatever they feel it represents. Those who’ve made the desert their muse, whether for a one-off project or lifelong dedication, interpret their feelings just as widely. From Grant Green’s funky settings of cowboy tunes on his Goin’ West to the slow, monolithic riffs of doom icons Earth, Ry Cooder’s lonely, plaintive slide work on the soundtrack for Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas, to Saharan guitar masters Ali Farka Touré and Tinariwen, there is no one desert sound. Instead, there’s an ineffable feeling, a vibration that resonates across the quirkiest and the most severe of these projects.
For brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez, it wasn’t until they’d travelled across the American Southwest that they realized how captivated they’d become. Raised by an Ecuadoran mother and Swiss father in Switzerland—a decent distance from any arid terrain—Estevan explains, “I think it’s just a feeling that we have. It’s just in us.” In 2018, a couple years after forming their duo, Hermanos Gutiérrez, they took a trip across through Death Valley and the Mojave Desert. “It just blew our minds.” he says. The brothers had never discussed musical influences, and their trip taught them their deepest musical truth. The desert, Estevan says, “is where our music was born.”
Hermanos Gutiérrez - "Los Chicos Tristes" [Official Music Video]
A few years have now passed, and the brothers are confident in their inspiration, which, on El Bueno Y El Malo—their fifth full-length release and their first on Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound—comes by way of classic film imagery. The album opens with the title track, its dramatic first strums serving as an overture that introduces listeners to the type of instrumental storytelling they’re about to hear in 10 short, simply stated chapters. By the middle of the record, Western analogies abound: “Tres Hermanos” feels like a three-way high-noon guitar showdown across the stereo field with Auerbach joining in, while the simple, major-key elegance of “Pueblo Man” radiates the morning sun, contrasting the minor-key chiaroscuro of the subsequent “La Verdad.” Together, the album makes for an enthralling listen, with a balance of instrumental plot and exposition in their simple chord progressions, ornate rhythms, and plainly stated melodies that appeals to the same sensibilities as some of Cormac McCarthy’s best novels.
Any of the songs on El Bueno Y El Malo could serve as more intimate stand-ins for Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack work, and throughout their body of work, the brothers’ music feels like a series of ready-made film scores. “On a personal level,” says Alejandro, “I always love to make a sound that brings you somewhere. Because we love the desert and the spaghetti Western kind of vibe, we’re telling a story that has this kind of a feeling.” He points to “big film scores” as an outsize influence, specifically Morricone’s work with director Sergio Leone. “Watching those movies without music,” he says, “it’s impossible. It just shows the power of music itself.” He goes on to call Neil Young’s score to Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man “a milestone in film scores. It’s perfect.”
“The biggest thing you can hear on the record is the Easy Eye Sound, which sounds kind of hilarious, but it is. You enter this studio, and you can just feel it, you know?” –Estevan
It’s no surprise, then, that the Gutiérrezes talk at least as much in visual references as they do about musical ones. And as a touring act they’ve taken in a lot of firsthand stimuli. “Part of what we’re doing is travelling together as brothers,” says Alejandro, “so we go to places, we come back and we’re feeling inspired, and we feel like we’ve gotta write something about this place.”
Their relationship as brothers is the other essential part of their music. Around the age of 9, Estevan first picked up a guitar. He started by studying classical guitar and says he was a fan of “old music from Ecuador,” which he played into his teens. Once he took up surfing, he got into Jack Johnson, but says he “always stayed with my salsa roots.” Eight years younger, Alejandro saw the power of music in his brother’s hands for as long as he can remember. “Our mom always got emotional when he was playing that old milonga kind of music,” he says about “those Argentinian pieces which are so beautiful.”
Working with Dan Auerbach and his stable of Nashville veterans, El Bueno Y El Malo marks the first time the brothers have collaborated with a producer or featured other musicians on an Hermanos Gutiérrez album.
In his 20s, Estevan moved to Ecuador to live with his grandparents. “I didn’t have a real plan,” he confesses. “I just went over, and I started to work in a salsa bar on the weekend.” There, he served drinks and worked security, spending the rest of his time surfing. “[It] was the best experience I ever had.”
Back in Switzerland, Alejandro picked up the guitar out of loneliness. “I just missed that sound in our house, so I started playing,” he explains. He started by teaching himself and, by 18, his parents gave him a classical guitar.
It wasn’t until just six years ago, when Alejandro moved to Zurich, that the brothers, once again living in the same place, started playing music together. “We were missing each other,” Alejandro explains. “Instantly, we were connecting through music.” Writing with just their electric guitars plugged direct into small amps—a Gibson CS-336 and a Fender Princeton Reverb for Estevan, and a Fender Stratocaster and Vox AC10 for Alejandro—he says they “always had this idea of having our own vinyl” because “it lasts forever, and you can pass it on to future generations.” In 2017, they recorded their debut, 8 Ãños.
Estevan Guttiérez’s Gear
It wasn’t until the brothers took a trip through the American Southwest that they realized the desert was their muse. Estevan explains, “It just blew our minds.”
Photo by Debi Del Grande
Guitars
- Gibson CS-336
- Gretsch 6120
- 1959 Gretsch 6120 “Rudy” (at Easy Eye Sound)
Amps
- Fender Deluxe Reverb
- Fender Princeton Reverb
- Vintage Magnatone (at Easy Eye Sound)
Effects
- Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner
- MXR Dyna Comp
- Malekko Omicron Vibrato
- Strymon El Capistan
- Boss TR-2 Tremolo Analog Man mod
- Boss RC-300 Loop Station
Strings
- D’Addario EXL 115 (.011–.049)
Even on their first record, the Hermanos Gutiérrez established a strong, recognizable style. Estevan and Alejandro say their basic approach to writing and collaborating has never changed. “We have this invisible communication,” says Alejandro. “We don’t have to talk to each other that much. We feel it.” When writing, he explains, “we always know the other part is missing, this is the other brother’s part. We have this deep connection as brothers.” He adds that they never question their intuition. “We’re never looking for a particular sound or rhythm,” he says. “It’s never conceptual. It was never trying to have this sound. It’s just what it was.”
That’s not to say the project hasn’t evolved. Gear discoveries have helped them along their path. “When we started, we didn’t use any pedals,” says Estevan. “We just used the guitars and the amps. We were just two brothers playing guitar.” Eventually, Estevan discovered the Strymon El Capistan, a watershed that opened up creative possibilities. “I remember that day,” he reminisces about first playing the pedal. “I fell in love. I knew it was gonna change something in our sound.” As soon as he purchased the El Capistan, he says he called his brother and said, “You have to buy this. This is gonna be next level for us.”
“Part of what we’re doing is travelling together as brothers, so we go to places, we come back, and we’re feeling inspired, and we feel like we’ve gotta write something about this place.” – Alejandro
Part of the El Capistan’s allure, Alejandro explains, is that that they both found ways to approach the pedal differently. “I use it as a layer,” he explains. “Really subtle. My brother uses it more as a delay. He has this horse sound, like this galloping sound he can create with his slapping, which only he can do.”
That slapping is a percussive righthand technique that Estevan uses—not slapping of the funk variety. Rather, it’s the way he hits the strings when he’s strumming. Both Estevan and Alejandro are fingerpickers, which—and lots of credit to their classical-guitar backgrounds—means they have a variety of picking, strumming, and righthand attack techniques at their disposal. That includes using muted-string attacks for percussive effect, a relative of the early “bongo guitar” methods used by players such as Ray Crawford or Herb Ellis in drummer-less trio settings. While Alejandro credits his brother’s signature technique, they each do a variation on the move.
The Gutiérrezes’ rhythmic versatility casts a spell in live performance. There are few instrumental guitar duos out there who can make their audience dance and rock out. But when the Hermanos played Philadelphia in November, most of the near-capacity audience pulsed along with the music, with a small cohort breaking out into wavy, full-body interpretations.
Alejandro Guttiérez’s Gear
The brothers live in Switzerland, but they were back at Hollywood Forever for a Day of the Dead concert this fall. “Part of what we’re doing is travelling together as brothers,” says Alejandro, “so we go to places, we come back and we’re feeling inspired, and we feel like we’ve gotta write something about this place.”
Photo by Debi Del Grande
Guitars
- Fender Stratocaster
- Rickenbacker Electro NS lap steel
- Silvertone 1446
Amps
- Fender Deluxe Reverb
- Vox AC10
- Vintage Flot-A-Tone amp (at Easy Eye Sound)
Effects
- Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner
- Boss GE-7 Equalizer
- Ceasar Diaz Texas Tremodillo
- MXR Dyna Comp
- Strymon El Capistan
- Electro-Harmonix Freeze
Strings & Picks
- Pyramid Gold Heavy (.013–.052)
In concert, it’s just as easy to zoom in on the finer details in the brothers’ music as it is to vibe out on a wave of rhythm. Both Estevan and Alejandro sound as though they’re reproducing the most life-affirming classic guitar tones—mythical, old-school sounds, like they’re contemporaries of Santo and Johnny (another pair of guitar- and steel-playing brothers)—which will draw in any armchair historian of guitar music. Of course, that’s one thing to capture on record, which they do, but it’s another, more impressive thing to do with some rented Deluxe Reverbs. Within those sounds, there are sonic details to catch, like how nuanced Estevan’s right-hand patterns can get, or how Alejandro manages to pluck the string on his lap steel with his thumbnail—he eschews fingerpicks on lap steel as well—to add a bright attack to just the right notes. At the Philadelphia show, most of those who weren’t dancing slowly lurched closer to the duo until, near the end, the brothers were encircled on the World Café’s narrowly defined stage by listeners who were seemingly enraptured by these subtleties.
No doubt, though, it’s the brothers’ chemistry that ultimately makes them sound magical, no matter what a listener is focused on. For El Bueno Y El Malo, Auerbach was careful not to disrupt any of that energy. Upon arriving at Easy Eye Sound, he didn’t dissect how they’d approach the session with the duo. Instead, Auerbach simply let them do their thing. “We entered the studio,” says Alejandro, “and we were recording after 20 minutes.” As soon as they plugged into their amps, Auerbach made a few level adjustments around them while they got a feel for the studio. “We didn’t even realize,” he adds. “We looked at Dan and he said, ‘From the top again,’ and we were recording. That was ‘El Bueno Y El Malo,’ it was the first take.”
Although much has been written about Auerbach’s studio, including in PG, it bears repeating that the producer/guitarist has curated not just a fine collection of gear in Easy Eye Sound, but a vibe. “The biggest thing you can hear on the record,” points out Estevan, “is Easy Eye Sound, which sounds kind of hilarious, but it is. You enter this studio, and you can just feel it, you know? So, this mixed with all these vintage amps and guitars and our flavors that we put together, it was like a soup that we were cooking. It’s beautiful. You can hear it and it sounds so special.”
Brothers Estevan (left) and Alejandro (right) Gutiérrez at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in May 2022.
Photo by Debi Del Grande
At Easy Eye, Alejandro used the house Flot-A-Tone amp and Estevan opted for a vintage Magnatone. He points out that the amp’s heralded vibrato is noticeable on the title track. Alejandro brought along his own vintage Silvertone 1446 and his Rickenbacker Electro NS lap steel—which he tunes by ear to each song, though he notes that he doesn’t keep track of his tunings. While Estevan brought his own modern Gretsch 6120, Auerbach offered his own 1958 Gretsch 6120, “Rudy,” which was too good to resist, and he used as his primary instrument for the record.
The duo finished their parts in just two and a half days, using several first takes. “We were not rushing things at all,” says Alejandro. “It was just really flowing perfectly.” With more time planned for the session, the brothers, who’d never worked with other musicians on their records, had plenty of ideas for how they would take advantage of Auerbach’s connections, and they brought in percussion, string, and organ players for overdubs.
“It’s never conceptual. It was never trying to have this sound. It’s just what it was.” –Alejandro
“It was so beautiful to work with these kinds of musicians,” says Estevan. “Everyone is on a high level. We felt like this is the right place for us.” Although other Auerbach productions might feature old-school session cats ripping solos and contributing key riffs, the additional production on El Bueno Y El Malo simply adds color and amplifies the magic that is already there. Auerbach and company deliver the perfect Easy Eye treatment—all ears are on the brothers.
With El Bueno Y El Malo, coming to Nashville to record has added to the brothers’ ongoing musical travelogue. Having come this far, it’s no surprise that the album stands as a major aesthetic statement for instrumental guitar music, and the definitive statement of Hermanos Gutiérrez. At least for now. When we spoke, they were getting ready for their U.S. tour, which would end in the Southwest. Both brothers acknowledged this trip would be a return to the source of their musical inspiration, a full-circle experience they were looking forward to. “It’s just beautiful where we can go with this music,” says Alejandro. “It’s just my brother and I together, and we’re so happy to have this.”
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Stompboxtober Day 29 is live! Enter today to win a pedal from StewMac—more chances to win tomorrow!
StewMac International House of Overdrive Pedal Kit, With Bare Enclosure
The IHOO is based on the Crowther Hot Cake, an overdrive that became available around 1976. It was one of the earliest hand-made boutique effects pedals available. The circuit was designed to be what is now referred to as a “transparent” overdrive. An effect that enhances the player's sound while keeping the original tone intact.
This circuit has undergone many changes since its inception, and we have further expanded on the design by returning to an earlier version most revered by players and removing the buffer, which resulted in a reworked circuit that is true bypass but still retains the charm of the design.
We also include the original LM741 IC chip found in the originals, as well as the TL071 that is found in later versions so you can experiment with which IC best suits your playing style.
PG contributor Tom Butwin details RAB Audio GSRS – a studio racking system purpose-built for guitarists looking to declutter, customize, and elevate their creative space. Whether you’re a pedal enthusiast or amp collector, RAB Audio has a solution for your recording setup.
RAB Audio ProRak SRS1 Guitar Studio Racking System
3 adj amp head decks, laminated plywood, Blk TrimHandcrafted in the USA, the JEL-50 features 50 watts of all-tube power, two channels, and a transparent effects loop. The JEL-212 Cab is loaded with Celestion Creamback speakers.
Jake E. Lee ranks high on the shortlist of influential gunslinger guitarists that emerged as the heroes of a new generation in the early ‘80s. Best known for the burning guitar work and innovative songwriting, Lee contributed to two of Ozzy Osbourne's most revered albums, 1983’s Bark at the Moon and 1986’s Ultimate Sin.
With Ozzy, his post-Ozzy band, Badlands and most recently, with his own group, Red Dragon Cartel, Lee’s playing embraced the athleticism of the ‘80s while remaining firmly rooted in the hard rock fundamentals of the ‘70s. Jake’s tonal choices provide the evolutionary glue between the sonics of those two great eras. Jake E Lee and Dave Friedman combined their legendary ears and talents to create the new Friedman JEL-50, a signature amplifier that offers Lee’s ultimate tones in a boutique hand-wired package.
In Lee’s own words, “this amp puts the two specific tones I use to create my sound in one head: The sweetness and warmth of a classic Plexi and the more aggressive slant of the master volume amps of the ‘80s -- all tweaked to my taste. Dave has an innate understanding of where I’m coming from as a player and we’re alike in the way we hear tones. Dave doesn’t hear things as a technician, he hears things like a musician, and that made him really easy to work with. I grew up in the ‘70s and those muscular, articulate rock tones were the tones I always sought, but I made a name for myself in the ‘80s when you needed a little more aggression and a little more scream. I’ve always tried to retain a little of that ‘70s heart and I still do, and that’s what this amp does -- though it’s got plenty more on tap if you need it!”
The JEL-50 was specifically designed to take pedals well especially boosts, ODs, phasers, flangers, tremolos, and wahs. The ultra-transparent buffered, series effects loop takes time-based effects pedals and rack units equally well. This is the exact same FX loop Friedman uses on all its amplifiers including the legendary BE-100. The head cabinet features beautiful red tolex, white piping and solid Baltic Birch construction.
SPECIFICATIONS
- 50-Watt all-tube head
- Two channels
- Handwired in the USA
- Custom USA made transformers
- 2 x EL34 power tubes
- 3 x 12AX7 preamp tubes
- JEL channel - Gain, Master, 3-way Bright switch
- JEL Channel Hi/Lo (Push pull gain switch)
- Plexi channel - Gain, Volume, 3 way Bright Switch
- EQ- Bass, Middle, Treble shared with Ch1 and CH2
- Ultra-transparent series effects loop
- Thump knob - ( Rear ) Varies lowered response of the amps power section
- Presence - ( Rear) Varies high end content of the amps power section
- Single button foot switch for channel selections
- 4, 8 and 16 ohm Impedance jacks
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Dimensions: 8.75″ (D) x 24″ (W) x 10″ (H)
- Weight: 33.5 lbs
2x12” Celestion Creamback Loaded Extension Cab
The Friedman JEL 2x12” is a rear ported closed-back extension cabinet which utilizes tongue and groove Baltic Birch construction to deliver the bass, mid response and great sound you would expect from a Friedman cab. The JEL 212 Cab features red tolex, white piping and black grille cloth, designed to cosmetically match the Friedman Signature Jake E Lee heads.
At the heart of the cab is a Celestion G12M-65 Creamback 16 Ohm speaker. The G12M Creamback is perhaps the definitive vintage Celestion ceramic magnet guitar speaker. Developed in the mid-sixties, it was quickly adopted by players like Hendrix, Beck and Page, who typified the louder and more aggressive blues-rock playing styles that came to characterize that era. The higher power handling G12M-65 Creamback used in the JEL 1x12 produces that familiar woody tone, making it ideally suited when both vintage and modern tones are desired. The increased power handling brings with-it low-end grunt complementing the warm and vocal mid-range, crunchy upper mids and sweet, refined highs.
As with all Friedman cabinets, oversized 12-gauge speaker wire is soldered between the speaker and terminal, assuring you capture every ounce of valuable tone. This compact monster not only excels in the studio, but the perfect compliment to your stage rig. The Friedman JEL-212 Cab is handcrafted with pride in the U.S.A. and designed to withstand the rigors of the road.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Hand crafted in USA
- Cosmetics to match the Jake E Lee Signature Heads
- 2 x Celestion G12M-65 12" Creamback Speakers
- Nominal impedance - 8 Ohms
- Closed back -rear ported cabinet design
- Limited lifetime warranty
- Dimensions: 12" (D) x 30" (W) x 20.75" (H)
- Weight: 58 lbs.
The Friedman JEL-50 Head carries a street price of $2999.99 and the JEL-212 Cabinet carries a street price of $999.99.
For more information, please visit friedmanamplification.com
Friedman Amplification - All new Jake E Lee 50-Watt Head featuring Jordan Ziff - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Friedman JEL-50 Jake E Lee Signature 50-watt Tube Head and 2x12" Cabinet
Jake E Lee 50W Tube Head 212 StkThe Boss GX-10 Multi-FX Processor offers 23 guitar amps, nine bass amps, and 170 effects for versatile sound creation.
Boss announces the GX-10, a powerful new amp and effects processor for guitar and bass. Equipped with the core sound engine and color touch display from the acclaimed GX-100 released in 2022, the GX-10 offers players the same inspiring experience in an even more portable footprint. Adding in multi-mode footswitches, an integrated expression pedal, and USB audio connectivity, the GX-10 seamlessly transitions from nightly stage performing to desktop recording, song creation, and daily practice sessions.
The GX-10 delivers a universe of ultra-responsive tones in a travel-ready size. There are 23 guitar amps and nine bass amps to choose from, including high-gain X-Ultra, X-Optima, and X-Titan types crafted with the latest BOSS modeling technologies. Players can color sounds with 170 different effects, including overdrives and distortions, mod effects, delays, and reverbs, plus dedicated bass effects and BOSS classics like Slow Gear, Octave, Slicer, and more.
The GX-10 enables fast sound creation with an inviting color touch display and four dynamic parameter knobs. Up to two amps and 15 effects are supported in each memory, and it’s easy to change effect order and create series or parallel routings by dragging blocks with a finger on the screen. Send/return jacks are available to integrate favorite pedals or an amp’s effects loop into the GX-10 signal flow.
The GX-10's clever control options provide versatile real-time sound adjustment possibilities while performing. Multiple control modes and user-assignable settings offer maximum flexibility with just three footswitches. By default, the expression pedal toggles between volume and wah and activates the tuner when the pedal is pulled back. But it can be customized to control nearly anything using the GX-10’s assign matrix.
Boss Tone Studio allows users to edit sounds and load their own speaker cab IRs from a Mac or Windows computer. The GX-10 also supports the optional Bluetooth® Audio MIDI Dual Adaptor, which unlocks on-the-gig wireless editing via the mobile version of the app.
Boss Tone Studio includes additional tools to organize GX-10 sounds for different gigs and playing situations. It also provides direct access to Boss Tone Exchange, an online platform for downloading professionally created sounds and sharing GX-10 Livesets with the global BOSS community. GX-100 Livesets are fully compatible with the GX-10 as well. In addition, there’s a built-in USB-C audio interface for capturing high-quality guitar tones in music production apps on computers and mobile devices.
The new Boss GX-10 Guitar Effects Processor will be available for purchase at authorized U.S. Boss retailers in October for $399.99.
For more information, please visit boss.info.