For this month’s Stay Tuned, we sat down and chatted with recently debuted, Indy indie band, Callejera. Callejera is a punk and shoegaze influenced band.
Callejera is composed of Mia Rivas (vocals/bass), Tom Kitchel (guitar), Jimmy Raymundo (guitar), and Armando Tandy (drums). Their playlist consists of local bands such as Pat and the Pissers, Lost in the Dark, and Inner Peace. Just within the year, Callejera released their Honey EP and two singles. Their latest release is the song “knife.” Their music is available for streaming on Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer. Tune in to find out what’s up in the Indy alternative music scene.
Astrid Buquer: Can you explain the name Callejera?
Armando Tandy: Growing up, there was a time in high school where I was barely home. I always left and hung out with friends. My parents would say “Que eres? Callejero?” I chose Callejera. I wanted to give it a feminine spirit.
Mia Rivas: It’s slang in Mexico, specifically for someone who’s going from party to party.
AB: What is your musical background?
MR: When I was seven, my mom made me take guitar lessons. As I got older, I started moving into classical guitar. It felt very restrictive, so I stopped playing guitar and later picked it up again. I used to go to a music camp called Girls Rock and that was a lot of fun. I started writing music in high school and joined another band called Lost in the Dark.
Tom Kitchel: When I was younger, I started listening to Prince, and this inspired me to learn the guitar. As I got older, I started listening to a lot of Queen. I wanted to learn piano and realized after a month that it was unrewarding. I started playing bass because I didn’t know anyone who played bass and I saw The Who live. Pete Townshend played the first chords of “Pinball Wizard,” and I was like, “Alright, I have to be a guitar player now.” When I finally did get a guitar and started playing, a big motivator was thinking that I was [learning and playing] for younger me. Once I started taking a music sound production class at North Central, I started recording music. I thought “I really like this, I want to do this.”
Jimmy Raymundo: My sister got into playing guitar when she was twelve years old—I always saw her and thought she was the coolest person ever. She got me into music. When quarantine hit, I picked up my sister’s guitar, and she taught me basic chords.
AT: I had a classical music type of background. I played the alto saxophone. I hated it. At first, I was naive and thought this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That carried over into a rock band. [After performing in a previous band] I thought, “Man. This is great, but I really want to do more.”
AB: How would you describe your music?
TK: It’s hard to put into a specific genre. We have songs that are very indie-pop influenced, some are rock, or shoegaze inspired… so I don’t know how we would describe our music. Someone has once described us as art punk. I like that. Art Punk.
AT: We don’t like to stick to one sound because by sticking to one sound, you limit yourself. I think we all collectively pull from sort of the same groups like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and Julie. I like to use the term indie rock because it’s such a broad term.
AB: Tell me about the playlist you curated. What’s the mood? What should we be doing while listening?
AT: We wanted to let people know more about Indy. That’s the whole objective, to really overflow with local musicians. But there’s some in there that help us come up with our own style. I feel like it’s a playlist for making art or just being passionate. What we want to do is inspire. If you’re listening to this and you live in Indy, I want you to think, “Hey, Indy’s cool.”
AB: What artists, in Indiana and beyond, are you excited about?
JR: Julie. Armando was the one that showed me Julie and they’re so cool. They’re getting bigger and bigger. They keep releasing good songs.
AT: Inspiration wise, I think we take a lot from them, [Julie]. We really like their style, and they do a lot of it themselves. That’s kind of what inspires us. But personally, there’s a lot of local bands that I’m really excited about.
MR: Me and Tom love Pat and the Pissers. They’re amazing. The main singer Alex is such a great performer.
AT: Inner Peace. They’re the holy grail. The standard for Indiana. If you’re trying to find great production and great live performance, Inner Peace.
AB: What music project are you particularly proud of?
JR: “lipstick”
TK: Besides the projects done with Callejera, I did a project for school. I learned a lot about producing, mixing and mastering from that.
MR: Right now, I’m most proud of “knife” and “lipstick” because of the mixing and mastering.
AT: I’m proud of everything Callejera has been able to put out in a year span. I was about to give up on the EP but it gained traction, which later made the group form.
AB: What are you working on right now?
AT: We have a timeline planned out right now. We want to release more singles and then by next summer, work on releasing a full album.
TK: We have two EPs and then a studio album. That’s the plan.
AB: What are your interests outside of music?
JR: A hobby of mine is grinding Phantom Forces on Roblox.
MR: Me and Armando are really interested in film-making.
TK: I love Halo. I love horror movies.
