Sintense are going places. Really, there's no other way to put it. This quartet of San Antonio music scene veterans has forgone the safety net of being just another covers band and have worked really hard within the past year to develop their own orignals and show. What do they sound like? Imagine a mix of the Stone Temple Pilots, Creed, and Alice in Chains (among others), with lyrics that cover relationships, friendships, good times and the zest for life with amazing accuracy.
When I talked with them last Friday before their show at the Rock City Bar, everyone was joking with each other, and several times throughout the interview Bernabe (Drums), Dexter (Vocals), Ike(Bass), and Paul (Guitar) were quick to praise each other's talents and talk excitedly about their future together.
alfonso: So why don’t you guys tell me about how the band started?
Paul: Just making a little bit of guitar here and there. Got my cousin to help me out with bass. Later on, got a singer to join us, a drummer. I’ve known all these guys for a while, of course my cousin forever, just got them together. It’s been working out great since we started.
Dexter: Paul, I’ve known him since high school. This guy used to play with a cover band and jam in his garage all the time. And I had never sung before, and I went and started singing with him, doing covers—I had never done it before—and it was great. He stopped playing because he wanted to focus on getting his own music down.
So, years passed, the next time we talked, and him and Ike had something going, they were trying to put something together, and I swung by one day and Paul gave me a CD of their music already recorded and it was great. I started writing on it. We had a practice with a different drummer at the time, and it felt good. Paul asked me to come back. The other drummer didn’t work out, but then Bernabe showed up. Paul had said “I got a drummer” within a day. So went over and as soon as he started playing we all meshed together.
Ike and Paul already had some songs down and ready to go, all we had to do was add the drums and vocals and lyrics to it. It took off really fast and its been fun ever since.
alfonso: Was it time to get serious?
Paul: I’ve always been serious, I just didn’t have the people to take me seriously. Everybody always wanted to do covers. I said “I want to do original music, I want to get the right people.” It took a little bit of time, but we got the right people right now.
Ike: It’s been a work in progress that’s paid off these these three or four years we’ve been playing, me and my cousin Paul. And now we got a great chemistry and a good balance to see where it can go.
alfonso: And Bernabe, you played for other bands as well?
Bernabe: I’ve been playing since high school in all kinds of bands back when St. Mary’s strip was up.
Paul: I was a fan of this guy a long time ago. So I knew him already. I just had to look for him.
Bernabe: Years passed from the time I lost contact with Paul and the band I was playing in at the time stopped gigging, and I was not doing anything. And he went looking for me at my old address, and talked to my wife, not knowing she was my wife at the time. He said, “Do you know Bernabe, he lives in this house.” And she said “Yeah, he’s my husband.” And Paul said, “I have this band that I want him to come play drums for if he’s interested.” I went out there it was something I had been looking for, for years, and I finally found it. We’ve progressed so much in one year.
alfonso: So the band didn’t just come together overnight…
Ike: Oh, no. This is serious. And I think all our fans they come out and expect to hear us every week and we’ll give it to them. Wherever, whenever.
alfonso: You guys also have a song that’s coming out on a new The Edge Magazine compilation. How did that happen?
Dexter: It was a surprise to me, because I still don’t know who submitted it. Tamara[points her out], she does all our graphic design work—she’s awesome, she’s great—we have to give a shout out to her, she obviously sent in a CD to The Edge Magazine. To be honest, I was surprised; I walked into a show at Bonds 007 two weeks ago and everybody is going “congratulations, congratulations” and I was like, “What’s going on?” The Edge Magazine’s having a compilation. They had, I don’t know, about 700 bands between Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio send in music and they picked 30. So we’ve got two shows to do for them in Austin and two in San Antonio.
alfonso: one of the things I really liked about the demo is the variety of topics you guys cover, from partying to the more meaningful stuff. How do the songs and lyrics come together?
Dexter: I’m a big Beatles fan which I think is the best band ever; their music, their lyrics were really good and what they talked about was awesome. When I write I try to capture the mood of the song and make someone able to understand the words. What I mean by that is, I want everyone to feel a different emotion. If I can do a whole set of eight songs and have one talk about partying and one talk helping out this world and one talk about relationships and one talk about young kids in high school going to California, or trying to make it, then I think I can at least touch someone with every song. These guys provide the music for me to write on.
It comes from wanting to write good lyrics. I could easily write “Roses are red, violets are blue,” But I want to be able to capture and Intrigue an audience. With the music these guys put out, I think I can do that.
alfonso: So the music starts with the riffs?
Paul: I write all the riffs. Sometimes the inspiration is just the moment. A lot of it was done when I was visiting my mom in Indiana. I had a lot of free time by myself. I made about six songs out there, just music. That’s the stuff we recorded and are playing. Now we’re just adding songs as a band together, making new songs. The chemistry is just perfect now. The sky’s the limit.
alfonso: So you guys have more songs than what’s on the demo?
Everyone: Oh yeah, yeah.
Ike: We’ve got about 20 songs that we’re working on and a few more added pretty soon. Our shows are consisting of about 18-20 songs now.
Paul: We like playing the long sets.
alfonso: where else have you guys played outside of San Antonio?
Everyone: Laredo!
Dexter:That's the only place we've played out of town, because it's been a short while. Now we're going to get to play in Austin because of The Edge compilation deal, and hopefully we'll meet some artists who''ll like what we're doing, and maybe we can get some more gigs out there.
Paul: The exposure is coming around. We just came out on 99.5 KISS, Texas Tracks on Monday night, so that's a big deal for us.
Dexter: They were playing 4 O'Clock Rush which a faster, more agressive song.
alfonso: Do you guys ever play outside the clubs, like backyard parties?
Paul: We do backyard parties and we like it; Free beer, keg beer y'know?[laughs]
Dexter: Everyone's there to have a good time regardless, so it's fun.
alfonso: So location doesn't matter?
Ike: Oh, no. We've got songs that we can play for kids, we can play acoustic, we can change it around where we got a little bit of versatility. We got soft songs, hard songs, whatever you want.
alfonso: we then talked about their influences which could pretty much fill up its own article.
alfonso: Which is your favorite club to play in?
Dexter: I like Rock City. The guys here have been really good to us. The sound is good, and we really appreciate each other here. Bond's is always good, good sound. And Broadway Brewhaus has been good to us, so we like playing there.
Robert: It's the same for me.
Bernabe: I like Bond's. It gives you the real feel of a live concert: big stage, lights, smoke, big area to have the guys move around. We've played the White Rabbit a couple of times and that's another place that gives you that live feel. Of course Rock City, we enjoy playing here, and the Broadway Brewhaus is another spot we like. It's nice and cozy and you can really know the people that come out to see you.
Ike: Definitely Rock City, we're ready to do this. But Bond's 007 is my number one pick for rock club of the year.
Be sure to catch Sintense at Bond's 007 and everywhere else thoughout the months of September and October where you can pick up a copy of their demo. The Myspace page has downloads as well as a complete list of show dates and messages from the band.
http://www.myspace.com/sintense
http://www.sintense4.com
Covering San Antonio's music scene since 2005