Del Castillo - Full Band - Return of the Tex-Mex Favorites!
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Doors 6:50 pm • Showtime 7:30

Del Castillo is a cross-cultural power uniting music lover of all ages, creeds and colors. Their original music blends rock, Latin, blues and world music into a cinematic celebration of sound that lifts your soul. “Whether Del Castillo works in Spanish or English, it rocks righteously. The Spanish guitars’ flamenco vibe gives a dramatic flair, abetted by Alex Ruiz’s passionate vocals. They pull together Latin music’s romance and rock’s grit.” says Billboard magazine. It started with two brothers, Mark and Rick del Castillo collaborating on a recording project that was initially intended as a gift to their parents and family members for the holiday season. As accomplished electric guitarists in different bands and not having played together, they decided to join forces on acoustic nylon string guitars, creating a rich, romantic, more traditional sound in honor of the Spanish music they grew up listening to at home. The brothers invited their long time, home-town musical friends to also play on the songs and the music soon came to life. Once the album was finalized, it was titled after their namesake, “Brothers Of The Castle” (2000) and they performed their first public concert for family and friends to celebrate the release. Their plan was to perform “one night only.” However, the very positive turnout was unlike any of their other bands. From their inception, Del Castillo became something uniquely special and soon the word spread about the new band. The more the band played, the more their audience grew. They continued writing and recording music, building their repertoire, making more fans and becoming one of Austin’s most recognized bands. One of the instrumental songs from the first album, “Spanish Castle Tango” was later handpicked by Robert Rodriguez and fueled the inspiration for, “Mexico and Mariachis” (2004). Another track from their first album, “Dias de Los Angeles” was placed in the film and soundtrack for “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” (2003) starring Johnny Depp, Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.

“… tumbling brilliance on nylon-string guitars… These eruptions of technique and taste conjure images of Eddie Van Halen fronting early Santana (with an assist from the Gipsy Kings).” says Rolling Stone magazine.

Film director Robert Rodriguez first attended a Del Castillo concert in 2002 and a great friendship quickly developed. Rodriguez enlisted the group to contribute music for the soundtracks to “Once Upon A Time In Mexico”, “Spy Kids 3D”, “Sin City”, “Grindhouse” and “Machete”, and then perform the music live at the premieres. He was so impressed with Del Castillo that he wanted to record with them, so together they formed the super-group, “CHINGÓN” and recorded an electrifying rendition of the Mexican mariachi classic, “Malagueña Salerosa”. Quentin Tarantino loved it so much that he edited the ending sequence of “Kill Bill Vol. II” to fit the song into his film. Their live performance can be seen on YouTube and has over 4 million views. From 2001-2006, between their first release and third release, Del Castillo received an astonishing 18 awards including SXSW/Austin Music “Album of the Year” Awards for their second (“Vida” 2002) and third (“Brotherhood” 2006) albums, SXSW “Band of the Year” (2003), ASCAP’s “Best Independent Group of the Year” (2005) and Austin Music Pundits “Best Live Act (2004)”.

“Watching brothers Rick and Mark del Castillo take the stage and throw down dazzling nylon-string runs, in unison and in harmony, made me a big fan…infectious Latin rhythms with mind-boggling solos.” says Guitar Player magazine.

By 2004, Del Castillo was touring nationwide playing with such diverse acts as Styx, Los Lonely Boys, Ozomatli, Kinky, Don Henley, Los Lobos, Ryan Bingham and Willie Nelson and toured non-stop through 2006. They performed at three of Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnics, at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival and made numerous local/national TV appearances. Willie Nelson enjoyed Del Castillo so much he re-recorded his song “I Never Cared For You” with the full band (featured on “Brotherhood” 2006) and says it’s his "favorite version”. Willie has continued to be a good friend of the band and also appears in the music video for “Anybody Wanna” (“Del Castillo” 2009) and have discussed another music project for the future. In 2005 the band made an appearance with Robert Rodriguez as the band, “CHINGÓN” for the George Lopez show on ABC-TV.

Del Castillo took a brief hiatus from touring to work on different recording projects and new musical collaborations. After a couple of years off the band eventually began writing and recording new music once again, this time expanding their sound to incorporate more electric guitars in the mix. The band has started performing live again and are playing new songs at select shows.

Awards/Honors: - Album of the year “BROTHERHOOD” - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2007) - Best Latin Traditional Band - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2007) - Best Latin Traditional Band - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2006) - Best Independent Group of the year - ASCAP Latin Music Awards (2005) - Best Latin Traditional Band - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2005) - Best Live Act by Austin Music Pundits- AMP Awards (2004) - Best Latin Contemporary Band - Austin Music Awards/SXSW (2004) - Best Latin Music Video “Sueños Madrigales” - Austin Music Video Awards (2003) - Band of the year - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2003) - Album of the year “VIDA” - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2003) - Best Drummer “Mike Zeoli” - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2003) - Single of the year “VIDA” - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2003) - Best cover art “VIDA” - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2003) - Best Producer “Rick del Castillo - VIDA” - Austin Music Awards/SXSW (2003) - Best Latin Traditional Band - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2003) - Best World Music Band - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2002) - Best Latin Traditional Band - Austin Music Awards/South By Southwest (2002) - Best Latin Rock Band - Primetime Tejano TV/Austin (2002) - Honored by Austin Latin Music Association - Live performance filmed for “Sonidos del Barrios” TV series (2002)

Special guest opener is Lubbock’s own Robert Lopez!

Reserved Tickets:
First 4 rows (row A-D)........$27.50
Remaining floor....................$25.00
Balcony...........…......................$22.50
Balcony box seats (box includes concessions)…..$50.00