Who is Joe Gonzales? – I asked.
I have seen more of Joe, lately, in the audience than on stage. But I have seen and heard him play the drums and will again, more often, with the group “Friends of Friction.” A great drummer and a great guy. Always pleasant to talk to.
These interviews are treasures for me. They are allowing me to understand you amazing people called musicians. I have said this before and I will say it again, “I am in awe of what you do.” Your stories expands my appreciation of you and your craft. Now, Joe is part of my treasure chest of musical memories. Thank you so much, Joe, for contributing. Take over from here.
1), Who is Joe Gonzales?
Well, I am a lot of things – I’m a husband, a father, and a grandpa first and foremost. But before all those things, I was a drummer and continued to be since I started playing in junior high. My love for music
started when I was young because of my Uncle Mario Bustos. He was an amazing musician and played every type of music to include rock & roll, country, and Tejano. I got to be his roadie when he played with the likes of George Jones, BJ Thomas, Gladys Knight and even opened for James Brown. That gave me the itch to play music and started playing drums in junior high around 8th grade – and I just took off from there. I played in marching band my high school years and eventually got my first set of
Kia drums by mowing my neighbor’s lawn in exchange for them. Around my junior year, I pulled a band together and started playing local establishments and even did the lighting for Casino Ballroom, just so I
could be around music. Life progressed and in 1990 I graduated high school and went into the Marine Corps, got married and started a family. We were stationed in San Diego, CA for 4 years and during that time, I still played with a couple of bands and performed on base at the NCO Club. In 1994 I got out of the Marine Corps and came back to Texas. I got situated, got a job, and started looking for a band I could join.
2). Tell me about your projects:
I started playing country in a couple of bands – Ed Beatty & the County Line and Scenic Route. In 1997, I decided I wanted to form my own band and play original material and so Steel Soul was born. I formed the band with my friend David Self. We played Austin’s Steamboat, lots of bike rallies and played every hole in the wall between here and Houston. In 2000 we transitioned into playing and writing songs with King Zero. It was an amazing time for us. We opened for Vallejo, Blue October and The Toadies. Around 2005 members of King Zero moved to Dallas and I had to stay in Austin because of my family. My next move was joining Boneglove for a several years as a drummer and song writer and then
came MIB (Michael Ingalls Band). I have played with numerous performers and bands since that time and am continuing to hone my craft. The last few years I have played in projects with my wife, which I
intend to continue to do. My favorite current project is Friends with Friction with Keith Cantrell and Clay Finley – they’ve made music fun for me again. Music makes life bearable for sure.
3). Give me your interpretation of Austin Music Scene past and present:
When I came back to Austin in 1994, the Austin music scene was amazing! Now, not to say there wasn’t a lot of hard work to put in – we did our own bookings for the most part, physically sold tickets for shows,
put up flyers and tried not to tick off bar owners or music buyers. But it taught us to not take what we had for granted and to appreciate every show, every booking, and practices that we got to make new music.
Austin music used to be about original music, about new sounds and helping each other out to help each other get heard. I feel like Austin, has gotten away from a lot of the character of original acts and the
impact and newness they brought to Austin. I hope that a lot of us that are writing new material will and be out sharing it, that it will make a difference in each other’s lives. I hope that as musicians, we will be
helping one another and helping to improve things not only for other musicians, but for our community as well.
4). AI and music – I believe that AI is an amazing program to utilize – for pictures and some films – those types of things can be enhanced to a point. But the one thing AI misses, it’s the emotion and feelings behind it. You can give it some points to look for editing a picture or words for writing a song – but is it really going to look the same or sound the same if there isn’t a person behind it that paints a portrait out of love for their child or writes a song about having their heart broke? I personally don’t think so. AI will be wonderful in a lot of ways, but to portray true love, heartbrokenness, grief or sadness, I don’t think it will ever have the same emotion behind it that a real person does.
5). What is the question you are never asked? The question that I never get asked is “Which gray hairs are from the music and ones are from life.” And the answer is yes…. lol
