The Jacuzzi Boys are guitarist/vocalist Gabriel Alcala, drummer Diego Monasterios, and bassist Danny Gonzalez, three dudes from South Florida, bright as neon and fun as hell. After forming the band in 2007 and accruing a handful of 45s, the group released the LP No Seasons on Florida’s Dying (located in nearby Orlando, FL) in 2009. Now, in 2011, we have Glazin’ – their second full-length, and the first for Hardly Art. Read More...
The Jacuzzi Boys’ practice space is like most any other—crammed with gear along with one of the guys’ record collections. But their band room happens to be located in a trailer tucked just inside Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on gorgeous Key Biscayne, FL. Just a few feet from their amps: tropical paradise. This is an area home to weird animals and buttonwood trees, located on an island just outside of Miami. “Miami is not known for producing many good bands,” bassist Danny Gonzalez concedes. “So, quite frequently we get asked, ‘would you ever consider moving?’ Our answer is always, ‘No!’ This is where our friends and family are from. Miami is such a part of the Jacuzzi Boys, as important as any musical influence.”
The Jacuzzi Boys are guitarist/vocalist Gabriel Alcala, drummer Diego Monasterios, and bassist Danny Gonzalez, three dudes from South Florida, bright as neon and fun as hell. After forming the band in 2007 and accruing a handful of 45s, the group released the LP No Seasons on Florida’s Dying (located in nearby Orlando, FL) in 2009. Now, in 2011, we have Glazin’ – their second full-length, and the first for Hardly Art.
For Glazin’, the group traveled to Key Club Studios in Benton Harbor, MI where they spent twelve full days recording and mixing. The Jacuzzi Boys used this as an opportunity to dig deeper into the production of each song. “If the first record was the Everglades, the follow-up is Dadeland Mall,” says Alcala. This is also true sonically – while No Seasons was a primal wallop, Glazin’ has the slight sheen of a studio environment. Moving beyond the beauty and harshness inherent in a life spent within a single climate, Glazin’ instead offers a take on the culture that surrounds that environment: girls, cruising, air conditioning, and “raspberry feelings.”
Crisp hand claps, tambourine shake, zip gun guitar and sneaky lazer keys are all here, alongside rolling bass lines, the sharp-snap drums of the unshakable Jacuzzi Boys’ sound, and Alcala’s cool, breezy vocals winding through it all. The trio offers up 10 new tracks of outré power pop, occasionally roaming into surf territory (“Lebras and Zebras”) as well as some heavy metallic glitter (“Silver Sphere”). Despite having been recorded in Michigan, nearly every track on Glazin’ circles back to Miami through love ditties about crushing and glazin’, big anthems dedicated to waiting on a bus, and miniature neon glam rock opuses about a death dream and erections.
While it conjures images both sweet and sexual, those looking for specific meaning within the term “glazin’” will be disappointed. When pressed for details, the band confirmed that there is no concrete definition for the word. Alcala made it up, and the band instantly knew what he meant by it. It could be a state of mind, it could be a way of life, it could be about sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. However it is meant to be taken, with any luck, Glazin’ will soon become synonymous with Miami: “The Gun Club and X are so L.A., and Television is so New York,” says Gonzalez. “It’s such a part of what makes them who they are, you know? I always wanted to have a band like that, birthed from its environment.”
