· San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora
Let’s Dance
Moses Perez Montoya grew up in a Southern California household filled with Mexican music. His dad was, in his words, “Chicano, pocho too,” and his grandfather one of the original pachucos. His mother’s side of the family includes the Sonoran duo Miguel y Miguel. “On my mom’s side, all of them are musicians,” Perez Montoya, 45, said.
When he started playing guitar, he began with the blues. His friends weren’t thrilled. “I was just playing the guitar, all the time, and I sucked! And they were just like, dude, shut the fuck up already,” he said. He didn’t shut up, though. He kept practicing and eventually found his niche in the Southern California rockabilly scene and even turned a lot of people on to it when he moved to San Luis Rio Colorado and opened Del Rio Records.
“Now those same friends are the ones that support me when I go play in L.A., I mean, those are the guys that are all there.”
These days, he plays rockabilly in his band, Los Motosaicos. When he discovered the genre, it was as if he’d found something he’d been looking for without knowing it existed.
He already dressed the part. His style, then and now, is 50s Hollywood biker.
“I dressed like a greaser, you know, because of the movies I saw, like, “The Wanderers,” road racers, “Grease,” shit like that. I wanted to look like them, but I didn’t know exactly what kind of music they listened to,” he said. “The first time one of my friends, like, dude, I’m going to take you to a show, I ‘m like, what do you mean a show? A rockabilly show, I’m well, rock-a-belly, I’m all, what’s that? ‘It’s rockabilly, bro.’ I’m like, alright, cool, let’s go. When I got to that show, it was at a bowling alley in Eagle Rock, California, and everyone was dressed like me, and they were listening to some cool ass music, my first gig, I mean, that I had the honor. I mean, the privilege. My first show was this cat named Robert Gordon, which I have right there on the wall. “
At the time, Perez Montoya worked as a house music DJ, but after the Gordon gig, everything changed. “I sold all my deep house records. I sold all my 80s records, which I totally regret now. And because I just want to be cool and just listen to that kind of music and, you know, and that that stayed that way until I was like 19, 20,” he said.
He’s also found equilibrium between his style, his music, and vinyl records at his record store. The store, sells vinyl of every genre and era. It’s also home to Perez Montoya’s own low-key rockabilly outreach.
“Nobody knew about that kind of music. It’s still, it’s not like everyone likes it now. There’s a very, you know, small amount of people that dig it, but the people that know me hear at Del Rio records. I mean, just, all kinds of different musicians come through here,” he said. “I met a lot of badass musicians and a lot of people that I did show this kind of music. I mean, the guys that are in my band right now, none of them knew about this music. And they love it. They follow my lead, and I really appreciate them for that because they’re good musicians.”