María y José, the solo project for Tony Gallardo II, is finally making its debut in San Diego on Nov. 6 at U-31 as the headliner for Mike's Harder Lemonade #CulturaDura tour, which has featured Latino bass-heavy electronic artists such as Venus X, Füete Billēte and Álvaro Díaz.
Whether he's rocking as Tony Gallardo II or María y José, he's that dude, who, along with his cohorts Los Macuanos, invented a new music genre called ruidosón. And now, Tijuana's bad boy of ruidosón is passport-ready and looking to conquer the United States. He's already hit hot spots across the country, and María y José even made a huge career step-up this past October with a coveted performance slot in L.A.'s alt-Latino music festival Supersonico. In July, he resuscitated the two-year-old single "Tormento" with a brilliant kaleidoscopic music video that perfectly defines María y José's swag-swag.
We'd be remiss not to applaud his musical contributions to Tijuana's rich music history. Gallardo is an artist on the rise who's expertly fusing electronic music with Mexico's tropical and folk genres. He guarantees to bring the electric body rock party music a la ruidosón wherever he goes.
Dita Quinones: I heard you finally got your passport! What did it feel like to finally get it so you can tour in the U.S.?
María y José: I feel so great about it! In just two months, I've played Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and now San Diego.
DQ: I just saw your video, "Tormento." BRILLIANT! Are you dropping it again for the new album? When will "Deep Wow" drop?
MJ: Thank you! Yeah, it was released two years ago, but it was released officially last year. No, I'm still working on my stuff for both Tony Gallardo II and María y José. María y José has the "Hot Tropic" album set for next year. And the Tony Gallardo II -- it's not called "Deep Wow" anymore. I don't know if it's gonna be an EP or LP. This month I'm dropping the new single called "Juventud Guerrera."
DQ: What are you most excited about, finally playing in San Diego?
MJ: I spent five years in SD. It's my third home. I'm really, really excited to finally show the U.S. what María y José is made of and start to be a name everyone is gonna remember.
María y José perform Nov. 6 at U-31. RSVP here. Early arrival is suggested. Must be 21+ to attend. Watch "Tormento" here.
Dita Quinones is a multimedia journalist born in Tijuana with a passion for Latin alternative and hip-hop music news. Her main goal is to uplift and inform so that the Latino, Filipino and hip-hop community get knitted into the fabric of American history. In addition to SoundDiego, she contributes to Latina, Fox News Latino, Poder, VidaVibrante, San Diego CityBeat and HipHopDx. She is also the founder of the infamous music and politrix blog GN$F! Follow Dita on Twitter or on Facebook.
