Pachanga fills Fiesta Gardens with diverse sounds

The third Pachanga Latino Music Festival this year fills Fiesta Gardens with an impressively diverse slate of artists that proves 'Latino music' is about as useful a descriptor as straight-up 'music.' From family-friendly Tejano acts like Roberto Pulido to up-and-coming objects of hipster affection like Bomba Estéreo, this year's fiesta has a little something for everyone. We talked to three of the festival's best young bands, from a San Antonio rock quartet that gives a shout-out to sublimely sugary soda Big Red in their album title to a duo whose guitarist and keyboard player began his musical career by banging on cans in the Dominican Republic.

Hacienda

8:30 to 9:30 p.m., Patio Stage

Family affair Hacienda - a San Antonio quartet featuring Dante Schwebel and cousins Jaime, Rene and Abraham Villanueva - spent a healthy portion of 2009 opening for themselves. As the backing band for Ohio blues-rocker Dan Auerbach - one half of beloved duo the Black Keys - Hacienda toured the country performing in front of crowds that sometimes numbered into the thousands, as at last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. Night after night they brought their enthusiastic, Beach Boys-meets-Sir Douglas Quintet '60s rock 'n' roll to critical crowds, turned around and went backstage, and then returned minutes later to rapturous applause.

'It's a little strange in that you'd come out as Hacienda, and everybody's got their arms crossed and they're giving you that look, like 'Prove it to me. Prove that you're good enough.' And then we'd get all sweaty, go back and change and try and look cool again, and you'd walk out with Dan Auerbach behind you and everybody loves you,' said guitarist and singer Schwebel, 29. 'And you're like "I'm the same guy, man! You were really giving it to me earlier!" '

Auerbach's recommendation's gone a long way toward establishing Hacienda's bona fides as one of the best up-and-coming rock bands out of San Antonio. The bearded one also produced debut album 'Loud Is the Night' and this year's follow-up 'Big Red and Barbacoa,' but the foursome have earned their steady ascent wholly apart from props from any indie darlings. Hacienda mix sun-dappled harmonies with memorable guitar lines for a striking retro-rock sound that make them one of the most compelling acts coming out of Central Texas today.

And it's a sound that began for one primary reason: jealousy, spurned on by Schwebel and Abraham Villanueva spending hours in the company of Jaime and Rene's high school band the Asteroids.

'They played, like, house parties. But Abe and I would go and hang out, take pictures and things, help them carry the amps,' said Schwebel. 'So we'd go to these little high school parties and we were jealous, man. So we were like "All right, we can beat this. Let's start a band, you and me."'

The band they formed ultimately included Jaime and Rene Villanueva, whose high school band fell apart, as high school bands are wont to do. An early round of demos recorded by the quartet began making the rounds among independent record labels. Fat Possum Records emerged as an early pursuer of the band, and booked them for a 2007 South by Southwest showcase at Stubb's (they ultimately wound up on Alive Records). Hacienda's members already had stars in their eyes, and, Schwebel says, were shocked at just how easy it was to make it in the music business.

'And within about six months we were well aware with how shrewd the music business was,' said Schwebel with a laugh. 'It was a little scary at one point because I'd given up everything to try this music thing out, when there was so much interest in the band. But then there was some loss of interest. And we were like "You guys came to us! I was working at a ranch! I was doing fine!" After that we kind of took the approach of not trusting anybody.'

Instead, they poured hours into practice, attempting to ape the live precision of one of the group's favorite bands, Booker T. and the MG's. They played regular Austin gigs, especially at Beerland. And a demo passed along to Auerbach by Jaime during a Black Keys sound check paid off, as Auerbach contacted the band and offered to record their first album at his Akron, Ohio, studio.

Auerbach's diligent production guided the band, as did their first tourmates, Philadelphia's similarly old-school rockers Dr. Dog, who provided guest vocals on 'Loud Is The Night.' Auerbach also introduced the band to the Sir Douglas Quintet - a longtime comparison point for Hacienda's sound that the band themselves had no familiarity with.