Alex Rosales
Interviewed by: Gueroloco

(Snippets From Alex's Various Songs)

When did you start singing?
About age 7

When did your parents realize that you had talent?
I was about 9 and they caught me singing in front of the TV along with Luis Miguel with a comb as the microphone. Then when I was in middle school I won a talent show, I still haven't got my trophy.

Which Instruments do you play?
I play six instruments: Keyboard, Guitar, Drums, Bass, Saxophone and the Accordian. I learned how to play the Saxophone in High School but the rest I taught myself.

When did you start in the industry?
I was 14 and my uncle hung out with the first Regional Mexican group in Indianapolis, Neblina. I begged him to take me just to watch and he finally he did. When I got there the keyboard player didn't know a song but I did so I just kind of jumped in and after that I was part of the group. After that I signed a management contract with a former writer from LaFace Records. He signed me up to compete in the Indianapolis Black Expo for R&B.

What kind of experience was that?
Well I'm a really light skinned Mexican so I caught alot of jokes and dirty looks. I felt like shit really. But when it got to the competition I forgot all about it. That was the first time I had performed for a crowd of that size. When I saw all of the crowd with their mouths opened I just went with it and rocked the crowd. Afterwards, I caught alot of dirty looks but I just took it in stride and waited for the announcement of the winner.

And???

I was in the bathroom and in the middle of walking out zipping up when they announced my name. I was really shocked but that gave me the confidence to continue with my music.

What type of projects are you involved in now?
Right now, I'm the lead singer for a Spanish Rock group called, Mantra.

How did you hook up with them?
Luis the bass player was a teacher at my highschool, Northwest. He had told me when I was in school to come and jam with them. I was like this guy is doing Spanish Rock in Indianapolis....hmmm.....he ain't going nowhere. After that I graduated and forgot all about it. Then I had just finished up my management contract and one of my boys told me that this group was looking for another member, so I went.

How was it?
First I saw Mr. Morales, I mean Luis lol and I was like, here we go. The guys were all grungy, they had just gotten out of work and I was like ok I'm gonna sit here listen, maybe make some suggestions and get the hell out of here. But as they started playing little by little I got more and more amazed at their talent. But I never showed any expression. 3 or 4 days later we were together jamming out.

How would you classify your style of Spanish Rock?
It's unlike anything in Spanish right now. But I guess it's somewhere in between: Evanescence, Creed, Maroon 5 and a little bit of punk but all in Spanish. Our first album is gonna be called "UNO" we're negotiating with some majors right now but if the right deal doesn't come we'll go independent.

Who's your management right now?
Saul Ramirez out of Chicago is our manager. He's a promoter in the midwest and we hooked up with him. The guy is amazing, his connects in the industry are endless and he's got us doing shows almost every weekend. He's really focused on our project and believes in who we are and what we are doing.

What are some of your other projects?
Right now I'm producing and singing Reggaeton also.

Ok, How do you go from singing Baladas to Cumbias to R&B to Spanish Rock and now Reggaeton???
I've always had love for Hip Hop. Remember I grew up in Indiana being Mexican in a time when there were no Mexicans. There were about 50 of us and we all lived on the same block and half of them were my family. Me being so light people used to think I was Italian until I opened my mouth and the accent slipped out. Now Indy has exploded and has become a Mecca, or maybe the perfect Mantra, for Mexicans and Latinos to come to. In 10 more years I see us as the next Chicago. So basically I had alot of influences. Then one day a white boy, I think you might know who he is, came and hit me up. He told me he was gonna do all Spanish hip hop and reggaeton. Now I had known him for a little while cause he had a Latin Hip Hop radio show out here. He spoke Spanish and was connected to my family but when he said that I about pissed on myself laughing so hard. I was like man this guys got some serious issues. But he was really serious. I knew he had went to Cali then came back, went to Cali again and then came back so I knew he had the desire but I didn't know if he had the talent to pull it off.

Then what happened?
He opened up his book of lyrics and I was like holy sh@t this guy is more lyrical than I am in Spanish. The only thing were some annunciations when he flowed but I knew we could fix that. So we spent hours and hours and hours getting it right then we laid down our first song together. It was a really nice song, but he was like, "no I can do better." He kind of became obsessed with the annunciation thing after being told he couldn't do it for so long. So we kept going and eventually made "Hey Tu" a little rhythmical Reggaeton with some salsa sounds in there. And that's when I really knew that he was gonna do it, and at the same time he had opened me up to a whole new genre of music which I started getting addicted to producing and singing to. Also we just found out that "Hey Tu" is a finalist for a contest hosted by www.myspace.com and Fanta/Coca Cola. We were both really surprised and humbled by it and hopefully we'll make it from the Latin Final 4 to the Final 4 and eventually win it all. www.myspace.com/thefantanas

How much of a difference is there between your Rock and your Reggaeton?
Night and Day. When I started recording with "Mantra" I had just gotten out of a really bad relationship with my highschool sweetheart, if you wanna call her that. And I was in another mind set. Alot of my Rock songs are sad and more from a broken heart. Reggaeton let me get happy again really. Guero is a cabron he loves to party and loves Latin women and alot of his songs are about that.

Have you produced for any other artists
Yeah kind of, Azteka from Univision came through around the holiday's last year with Guero. We were in the studio and I was feeling his album and we started to jam. I grabbed the acoustic guitar and he started flowing to it right there. He asked if we could do a remix to one of his songs and I said sure. We got down and about 30 minutes later we had the track mixed and mastered. The remix was to "Lagrimas Secas". It was all acoustic, I wrote the hook besides using the title and he came through and did a real tight recording to the track. It never got made official, but I was really pleased because he told me that it was his favorite track and in his opinion the best track he had ever recorded. He was such a humble guy for being signed to a major.

What do you use to produce?
The only program that I touch is Reason, no presets, no loops, no samples just me and my M-Audio Oxygen 8 Keyboard and when we lay down vocals we use Nuendo 2. I got bored with Fruity Loops honestly, I'm a musician I have to have that hands on feeling. The program is great but it's not for me, I've heard some nice stuff come out of it, but like I said it's not for me. Other than that all my instruments are live.

Who you bumpin in your ride right now, hip hop and reggaeton wise?
El Pecador, Daddy Yankee, Pitbull, La Sinfonia, Sporty Loco, Don Abusivo, Azteka, Tego, Cuban Link, David Rolas and a few others.

And the others?
Luis Fonsi, Juanes for sure and I just got the Betzaida album and I got her poster on my wall, she's smokin man.

Any shoutouts?
First and foremost to God. Also www.indiestreetlatino.com magazine Gueroloco and Angela thanks for hitting me up to do the interview, my family for always being there, Saul Ramirez, El Padrino out in Denver, CO for all his support to the Latin Hip Hop and Reggaeton movement and Issa from Latin Music Artists. And mostly to all of the Latinos in Indy that support us on a local level and to all the Latinos/Mexicanos that are out there struggling and making sacrifices to make this country a better place. Also any artists that are looking for tracks hit me up. www.myspace.com/alexrosales

To all the rest get ready, we're coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For Booking or for a Demo please contact the IndieStreet Latino staff