By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
Derek Flores is not your average rockstar, and Ethun Hawk is not your average band, so audiences can expect the upcoming tour to be anything but boring.
Frontman Flores describes himself as the “project manager” of his band Ethun Hawk, which he perceives as a collaborative effort. The band’s songs are a complete collaboration, sometimes fueled by alcohol, but always starting from the basic forms of music.
“I come up with an idea, a melody, a feeling or even just a fictional story,” said Flores. “And then I’ll call up my producer/cowriter, and we will just get like really drunk and start calling other people, and they fill in the sounds as we go.”
According to Flores, Rowen Allen will be accompanying him on the mighty upcoming tour of Ethun Hawk, rocking out on the guitar and backup vocals. Drummer Mike Garza will also be hitting the road. The quartet will be completed with a surprise bass player.
Flores says that Allen was originally in Scarlett O’Hara, and that they “had toured the county for years.” According to Flores, he became acquainted with Allen later on, and that Allen had become his musical mentor.
“He taught me everything I know about songwriting, melodies, how the music industry works…This is the guy I always need with me. I’m useless without this guy,” said Flores.
Garza was doing cover gigs when Flores met him through a mutual friend. Flores says he’s a cool guy, and the two easily hit it off.
“When it came time to find members to fill in the live sounds, I was like ‘That guy. That guy.’,” said Flores.
Flores commends his bandmates on their undeniable talents, especially regarding audience interaction and stage presence, which is extremely important to him, as he wants his band to authentically stand out from the rest.
“They like to move around. They are full of energy. They have huge personalities, which sometimes clash,” laughed Flores. “There’s been times on the road where me and Rowen got into like legitimate fist-fights, but he is like my brother, and it has never been boring.”
Flores has had multiple performances at Hopper Haus in Port Isabel, and on the weekends you can find him on South Padre Island, where his parents actually got married. However, with the upcoming tour of Ethun Hawk, he is going to be going the distance, traveling to perform shows in some of Texas’s biggest cities.
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