Chetes

Luis Gerardo Garza Cisneros (born September 19, 1979 in Monterrey, Nuevo León), better known as his stage name Chetes is a mexican rock musician, being popular for being the leader of the influential rock bands Zurdok, Vaquero and eventually, a solo career. Chetes grew up in Monterrey. His father was a founding member of the rock band Los Rockets, which got Chetes into music. At age 7, he learned classic guitar, and used to like artists like Beatles and the Beach Boys. When MTV arrived into the city, Chetes got excited about rock music so he learned about guitar distortion. Chetes then joined the band Zurdok in 1993, that was formed then by Fletch Sáenz and David Izquierdo. The band recived a recording contract to Discos Manicomio, when he was only 16. With Zurdok, Garza recorded 3 albums: Antena, Hombre Sintetizador and Maquillaje. In 2002, Zurdok disbanded due to artistical differences and Chetes took a break. In 2005, Zurdok bandmate Maurizio Terracina and Garza made new project band along Rodrigo Guardiola called Vaquero, with all their songs in English. Vaquero is now in hiatus and it is uncertain whether they will record a sequel to their debut eponymous album. Chetes had already materials for the recording. "Que me maten" and "Poco a Poco" were written during the Vaquero era, but they coud not fit into the band's style. He sent demos and Ken Coomer, ex-drummer of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo got hooked about Chetes's sounds and decided to be the producer of the album. Garza stayed in Nashville for october 2005, recording and writing songs with Coomer and his engineer, Charlie Brocco. These songs were recorded in track and had no electronic instrumentation, with heavy influences from The Beatles and The Beach Boys. In May 2006, Blanco Fácil, the title of the album, was released. So far, it has sold nearly 50,000 copies, the benchmark for being certified gold in Mexico. The first single of his album "Blanco Fácil", the song "Completamente", led to a 2006 Latin Grammy nomination for best rock song, some heavy iTunes Latino promotion, and a much-played video that features a bundled-up Garza singing his way down the streets of Beijing. The second single is "Poco a poco" and there is a scheduelded third single "Que me maten". Chetes also collaborated with Amaral in the cover of Miguel Bose's song "Si tu No Vuelves" for the soundtrack of the movie Efectos Secundarios and with Emmanuel del Real with the song "16 de Febrero" for the movie "Fuera del Cielo". In late August 2007, he finished recording his 2nd solo album, which is suposed to come out at the end of the year.