February 2013: Boyce Avenue

Sharon. I have never met anyone with that name, but when I do I will owe her the biggest hug and a concert. It was the Spring of 2010, I was young and unassuming. My brother worked at the airport and came across many items that were left between flights. One night he brought home an iPod that would change the way I listened to music. While I was borrowing Sharon’s iPod I got to know her musical library. It was brilliant: diverse, exciting, and uplifting. I knew that we would have been friends. The best thing about my time with Sharon’s iPod was finding one of my favorite bands. I saw a name “Boyce Avenue”. She only had two songs, but that was all it took. The song was a medley/cover of “Beautiful Girls/Stand By Me”. As I pressed play I was left in silent revere. I was speechless and contained to a place where all I could do was fall into every note. Little did I know how common the “Manzano” clan would become in my life. The alphabet starts with “A” and so does “Alejandro”—my, was it a beautiful beginning.

In the years that followed I did my best to share videos like fire. I loved seeing the faces as my friends and family ingested the pitch perfect melodies of Boyce Avenue. It is always a pleasure to share something you hold dear—but music just amplifies this (pun intended). My cousins and I spent hours sifting through video after video and picking out the things we enjoyed about each one. It is one of my favorite memories: getting to know those rifts and memorizing the cajon slaps with the ones I love.

Boyce is not only talented—they are smart, creative, and inventive. They chose Youtube as their outlet and attracted people to songs they know. They sang them in a different way and made non-conformist love mainstream hooks. People want to sing something they know—BA understood that. After you are hooked by the talent of Alejandro, Daniel, and Fabian—you take another step. Next, you listen to their original music which is genuine, raw, and soothing. The story behind the lyrics will melt your heart and take you somewhere to find rest. “All We Have Left” has me so excited for the next album: COMING SOON.

If their music were not enough they have heart, too. Boyce Avenue used to be signed to Universal Republic. However, when they were asked to compromise and had to make a decision.

 

Alejandro ellaborates, …”I won't ever have time to explain to you all what you deserve to know because you support us almost blindly and have questions like we did and still do, but let me just say that we make the best of everything we can ever get our hands on. We started from zero and have clawed our way to be the small band that we are today. We have a LOT more clawing to do but my goodness, if you all knew some of the things that go down in this industry you would be astonished. That's not even a proper word to describe how gross it is haha. All I can say is we are blessed and you all are amazing! And maybe someday we will write a book for everyone to know what TRULY went down with our story. Someday it will ALL make sense and you and so many others will be like "WOW! So THAT'S why they did what they did for the first 10 years of their career!" Just be patient with us. It has always been a 10 years plan, not a 2 year plan. We are only 4 years into our plan, we have 6 more to go before it all makes PERFECT sense. Stick around to find out haha :) Love you all!”

These are obviously the words of someone who understands music and takes it to the heart. People and true artistry like this is rare—I am so glad we have had the chance to have found it.

“Even when it's dark before the dawn/I will feel your grace and carry on
And with every breath of me, you'll be the only light I see
The only light I see.” –Every Breath