Pistolera to perform at the 2013 International Accordion Festival in San Antonio
We are excited to finally return to Texas and play this awesome festival!
Vote for us in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest!
Vote once a day from April 5 – APril 29, 2013! You may recall that our song Nueva York from our third studio album El Desierto Y La Ciudad won the 2012 Session I Latin Category in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest! Lots of cool gear arrived on the doorstep to help make those home demos [...]
Frontwoman Sandra Lilia Velasquez to release solo EP produced by Meshell Ndegeocello in 2013.
On February 12, 2013, Pistolera frontwoman Sandra Lilia Velasquez (SLV) will release her solo debut EP, “Dig Deeper”. The four song recording was produced by ten-time Grammy nominee and legendary bassist Meshell Ndegeocello. You can visit the SLV website here, preview the songs here, and watch a 2-minute video on the making of the EP.
globalFest turns ten this year. Pistolera kicks off celebration.
Almost five years ago, we were invited to perform at the annual globalFest at Webster Hall in New York City. A dozen artists from all over the world on three stages – staggered start times so you could catch a little bit of everyone. The producers of globalFest strategically booked their one of a kind [...]
In Sandy’s Wake
We left for a gig in Miami on October 26 and ended up being there a week. Hurricane Sandy hit just a couple days later and crippled our hometown of New York City. Like everyone around the country, we watched the images on TV from our hotel lobby with disbelief. How do people prepare for [...]
Denver Rocks!
Thank you so much to the awesome people of Denver that made our first show there the best it could have possibly been. We were honored to have been the musical guest for the annual Museo de las Americas fundraiser at Su Teatro. It was a packed house and it was so great meeting so [...]
Sandra Velásquez wins 2012 John Lennon Songwriting Contest Latin Category.
I received notice today that my song Nueva York won the grand prize in the 2012 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the Latin Category. As someone who loves writing songs and feels that this is why I was put on this earth, this is a wonderful validation! Of course, I did not record this song [...]
Sandra Velásquez contributes version of “Deportee” for Woody Guthrie Tribute CD
I am honored to have been asked to contribute a cover version of one of Woody Guthrie’s songs for a compilation CD for the great American songwriter’s 100th anniversary. The producers of the album allowed the artists to pick their own songs with their only artistic direction being, “keep your performance natural and record them [...]
What we’re up to this summer
It might seem a little quiet on the Pistolera front at the moment. But things are not always what they seem. We are busy recording an album for our family friendly bilingual alter-ego, Moona Luna. It is going to be a great album, and not just for the kids! Ten great bilingual songs that revolve [...]
NPR Tiny Desk Concert
It was a great honor to join the ranks of a long list of talented musicians who have been invited to perform an NPR Tiny Desk Concert at the Washington D.C. headquarters. We are so humbled by the wonderful accompanying text. “The motivation was a longing for Mexican music on the part of the band’s [...]
Behind closed doors…
A belated Happy New Year to everyone! After a much needed internet-free holiday break, the creative juices are flowing again. It might seem like there’s nothing going on (where are all the shows?) but in reality so much is happening. New songs with new sounds and beats are taking shape in our cold basement Chinatown [...]
Village Voice 2011 Poll
Very humbled by having our album, El Desierto Y La Ciudad, put in the Top Ten albums of 2011 by two writers for the Village Voice. We are in some great company in Tad Hendrickson’ s list We are joined by some of our finest fellow Brooklyn musicians in Marty Lipp’s list.
Gratitude Attitude
It was an eventful year. The release of our third studio album, El Desierto Y La Ciudad, (as well as that of our side project for families, Moona Luna), lots of shows and happy audiences, new friends in new cities and familiar supportive faces singing the words. There are cities we didn’t get to in [...]
Sandra Lilia Velasquez helping to redefine Mexican-American music, says Huffington Post.
Two other Mexican artists based in the U.S. have also been creating their own hybrids. New York-based Pistolera’s latest album, El Desierto y La Ciudad, takes the group’s sound in a new direction. Where they had been spunky rockers imbuing their music with Mexican rhythms and the folksy huffs of an accordion, El Desierto is [...]
Holiday Sale until 12/20
From now until December 20 we are having a Holiday Sale on our web store. All CD’s are just $8, include free shipping in the USA, are signed by the band, and a link to download the album digitally. Thank you everyone for your continued support this year. It means everything. We can’t wait to [...]
Thank you Milwaukee & Chicago!
We are so grateful to all of you who came out to our concerts in Milwaukee at Latino Arts and Mayne Stage in Chicago. Both venues were fantastic in their own way as were the people than ran them. It was great to see familiar faces as well as new ones. We are back in [...]
Midwest dates this week!
We are performing a special Day of the Dead concert at Latino Arts in Milwaukee on Nov. 4th at 7:30pm, and at Mayne Stage in Chicago on Nov 7 at 7:3pm. We are excited to get back to that part of the country and perform the music from our recent album.
Rolling Stone Mexico
We are thrilled and grateful for the continued press our new album, El Desierto Y La Ciudad, is receiving. Click on the link to read the nice review. We have included a rough English Translation alongside it. We hope to return to Mexico on tour again soon!
National Geographic Feature Interview
It was a thrill being invited to the New York Offices of National Geographic for an in depth interview about our new album, El Desierto Y La Ciudad. As a kid I dreamed of growing up and working for them one day. Being able to travel the world and report on various cultures sounded just [...]
In The Huffington Post
World music journalist Michal Shapiro stopped by our concert at DROM in New York City on July 29. She filmed and edited a song from the concert and wrote a flattering editorial for the Huffington Post. Check it out and pass it along! Pistolera -Taking Life by the Teeth from Michal Shapiro on Vimeo.
New Music Video
Filmed entirely in the Mojave Desert outside of Joshua Tree, California, Pistolera’s new video for the title track from their third album, El Desierto Y La Ciudad, shows the band arriving to a private desert cabin after a long night of performing. Against a stunning backdrop of desolate landscapes and open skies, the band decompresses [...]
EL DESIERTO Y LA CIUDAD OUT TODAY
El Desierto y La Ciudad [The Desert and the City] is a musical journey contrasting the peaceful spaces of the wide open West with the urban streetscape of New York City. The third studio album by the highly regarded New York City–based Pistolera, represents a daring departure from the band’s previous releases—conceptually, musically, lyrically, and [...]