Sin Tema or “without a theme” lends itself to feelings of passion that have no beginning, end or permanent home. They just want to be heard. And so they will. Last Tuesday, Belanova fans were given a home-grown after party treat as Houston’s fast rising Spanish Rock/Pop band played the neighboring House of Blues Foundation Room.
I caught-up with Sin Tema in between sets for a quick chat. Like to hear it? Here it goes…ok, in typed words at least.
DyC: Who is Sin Tema?
ST : Playfully replying…Hi! Cynthia Martinez. I’m the lead vocalist. I’m 25 wink-wink and enjoy long walks on the beach at sunset.
With a southern twang…How you doin’? Al Alvarez. I play bass. I’m old as dirt.
Talking over the laughter…Francisco Guevara. Rhythm and lead [guitar].
Victor Orta. Strings.
DyC: Where are you all from and how did it start?
ST: Cynthia- Well I am originally from California but I have been here forever so I consider myself from Houston. The way it all started was that I harassed Francisco to be my guitar player…just by chance we met through a mutual friend and we decided to start a band. I harassed him to start a band. He didn’t want to be in a band but I made him. That’s the story and I am sticking to it.
DyC: So what were you doing before?
ST: Cynthia- I was writing for another Tejano artists and the songs she didn’t pick, I thought they were good…so I found Frank and said these are the songs she didn’t pick, so these are the songs we’re going to play. Then we put an ad on Craigslist and found Al and Vic. So we’ve not even been together a year yet.
Fun Fact- Cynthia collaborated with Tim Ruiz of La Mafia on three songs for Tracy Perez’ comeback album Through it All which was released last year.
DyC: [Al & Victor] What were you looking for on Craigslist? Did you want to play in this style of band?
ST: Al- I started off playing salsa, I’m from Puerto Rico, and I just wanted to get back to my roots. I had been playing metal and all kinds of other stuff. So just getting back to those roots, I saw the ad, I heard her voice and his guitar and I said “man, that sounds pretty good”.
Victor- Same thing. I was actually born in Houston and raised in Puerto Rico but I grew up listening to a lot of Swedish metal. At The Gates. Rock…It was always my passion and then I hit a wall and I wanted to expand. I wanted to do something completely different. So I heard these guys online and I wanted to do something Spanish, jazz, flamenco classical, Spanish rock influenced and kinda open up a little bit. Playing acoustic totally opened me up to a new style of music and we just hit it off from there. Everything has been evolving since then.
DyC: Did you intend for the Sin Tema to be heavily influenced by the Spanish sound?
ST: Cynthia- I honestly went into this thinking “I am going to do some Spanish rock” but I think mixing it up is a little different and it fits us. It feels right and that’s kind of where our name came from. We don’t want to be pigeonholed into anything- we want to play what we want to play. I think Vic brings a little more of the rock style into it…Frank has this eclectic background so he mixes that into it. So putting these two guys together is amazing.
Victor- Stop feeding my ego! You’re making me all warm inside.
The group bursts into laughter…
Cynthia- ANYWAYS! I don’t like those guys!…[letting the moment pass] I mean in all honesty everyone has a mutual respect for each other and it works but, we don’t like each other outside of this…[reignites the crack-ups again]
DyC: Do you have any super fans yet?
ST: You know, we have the most amazing Houston fans because we have people that come out to all of our shows.
DyC: Who are your Sin Tema fans?
ST: Cynthia- I have a huge family and I have a great family…I can count on them for absolutely everything. I would say these are the number one fans in our eyes…
At that moment someone walks in and announces that the Belanova concert is about to let out and that some of the concert crowd would be spilling over. “Are you guys ready to play?”, the guy says. “Oh hell yeah!”, Sin Tema yells in synch.
We close on a high note as the band heads off for their third and last exciting set of the night.
Sin Tema is currently auditioning for a drummer and a percussionist. To contact the band regarding this or to hear music, read bio and see pictures visit:
http://www.reverbnation.com/sintema
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sin-Tema/123352057703817
Photo courtesy of Lisa Perez.
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