Border-Crossing Cyber Sessions

With two of the six members of Spanish alt-rock band Marquez! living in Jalisco, Mexico, three living in San Diego, and one living in Tijuana, the band has had to find creative ways to record their debut full-length.

“We are recording the album ourselves at Hacienda El-Ivis,” says multi-instrumentalist Paolo Cesar Zuñiga of the recording space located in Cuidad Guzman, Jalisco, where he and singer Jared Wardle-Armijo record. “The hacienda has been in my family for years, so we simply set up our own studio in one of the rooms. It is a small city with great vibes and even better food!”

Once the demos are recorded, Zuniga and Wardle-Armijo log onto video-conferencing and internet-telephone provider Skype to go over the songs, exchange ideas, and work on preproduction with the three members living in San Diego — Chad Tuthill, Colin Tuthill, and Edgar Alminar — as well as Luis Lopez in Tijuana.

“Everyone usually gets updated emails as the songs progress,” says Zuniga. “Then we get together in Skype and talk about mixing ideas and whatnot.”

From there, after the band members decide on their parts, they wait until the band gets together to lay down the final tracks. “We have all had to travel back and forth during this recording process,” says Zuniga.

When asked if Zuniga and Wardle-Armijo are willing to leave the laid-back life at Hacienda El-Ivis to come play music and live in San Diego full-time, Zuniga responds, “Maybe. San Diego is a great city, but we’ll just have to see how things work out with this album. If not, it’s back to playing cantinas!”