The Red Pears
Hailing from El Monte, a sleepy suburban town just east of Los Angeles, The Red Pears redesigned the DNA of 2000’s indie rock by coalescing it with the Latin-tinged sounds of their childhoods. By harnessing lessons learned over a decade of friendship, music, and touring, the trio of Henry Vargas (vocals/guitar), Jose Corona (drums), and Patrick Juarez (bass) are now at their best and ready to reintroduce the version of themselves they’ve long waited to meet on their fourth album, Better Late Than Never.
The emerging band has come a long way since forming in high school. Their first self-releases, 2015’s We Bring Anything to the Table...Except Tables We Can't Bring Tables to the Table and 2018’s For Today, For Tomorrow, For What Is, For What Could’ve Been, introduced them into the local music scene, while their follow-up EP, 2019’s Alicia, showcased a more polished alt-rock sound and captivated ever-growing audiences. In 2021, the band began to shift towards a matured direction with their album You Thought We Left Because The Door Was Open, But We Were Waiting Outside. The Red Pears’ tenacious fervor has transported them from backyard shows to the national stage, gracing festivals like Coachella, Tropicalia, Viva! Pomona, SXSW, and countless sold-out headlining shows across the nation.
In the summer of 2023, they released their first new single in two years, “The Way You Talk”–the first produced solely in their self-built home studio in the garage of Corona’s family home. The new space allowed them full freedom to explore all production ideas without the limitations of studio time. Many jam sessions here eventually evolved into the making of Better Late Than Never. Written and recorded in the winter of 2023, following an extensive tour, the album finds The Red Pears maintaining a balance between their grunge roots while entrusting new input and technical dynamics into the mix. “While we used to be ear and feel, we’re now trying something different to extract the creative vision in our heads and hearts. This time we were more open to ideas and experimentation because we have a better understanding of musical skills, upgraded instruments, and possibilities of our collective sound that we didn’t have before,” shares Corona. For the first time since their inception, Vargas, Corona and Juarez were also joined by an additional member in the studio: sound engineer Kelwin Hernandez. Hernandez, having worked with the band during live shows, was an organic build to the friendship and in-studio dynamic.
From Vargas’ strong vocal dexterity to Corona’s masterful control of sonorous drums, to Juarez’s deep staccato bass lines, the songs on Better Late Than Never highlight the individual growth of each member. The melodies are texturized by emotionally raw and vulnerable lyricism. Thematically, the album explores the complex human experience of aging, as well as the ups, downs, and in-betweens of life's hard lessons learned along the way.
Fueled by a new confidence, as well as the time and skills to stretch beyond their previous limitations, the trio revisited and reimagined a handful of songs from their past. While songs like “The Way You Talk” were inspired by more recent experiences like parting ways with loved ones after no longer recognizing them, the ideas for others–like “Didn’t Realize” and “Tired”–originated in their high school years. Reflecting on navigating the end of a relationship, and the process of reconciling with a new world once their presence is gone, these songs’ universality allows for a timeless interpretation that grows and develops alongside its listeners, in the same fashion it once did for the band.
Better Late Than Never is a testament to the lived experiences through their friendship turned brotherhood and subsequent career. Vargas shares, “the title itself sets the tone for the album because it's a collection of our evolution. It represents the lifespan of us working together over the last decade, from before we were even formally a band, to the people, musicians and band we are now. Many things are finally falling into place for us, and we’re able to creatively express ourselves better now than ever before. The title captures all of that pretty perfectly. ”
As their music continues to progress alongside their personal life, their latest album has found harmonic coexistence between both the chaos and resolve that growing pains often carry–creating something compellingly honest, self-expressive, and more mature than ever before.
With a bold, modern day reinvention of early aughts garage rock that rekindles its riotous and rebellious spark, Better Late Than Never ushers The Red Pears into the new class of indie rocks’ vanguard.
CONTACT
HI RES
