Giovannie and the Hired Hands take the Washunga Days Amphitheater stage on Saturday, June 20, performing between The Highway and Austin Snell.
Giovannie and The Hired Guns have built a career on a sound that does not fit neatly into one category.
Formed in 2015, the Stephenville, Texas-based band blends alt-metal, Red Dirt country, Latin pop, Americana and other influences. The five-member group has grown from playing local honky-tonks to performing at major festivals and arenas across the country.
The band includes frontman Giovannie Yanez, guitarists Carlos Villa and Jerrod Flusche, bassist and tuba player Alex Trejo, and drummer and pianist Milton Toles.
Giovannie and The Hired Guns gained national attention with the single “Ramon Ayala,” which reached No. 1 on both the Active Rock Radio Chart and the Alternative Radio Chart. The band also won the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Award for Best New Artist in Alternative & Rock.
Their latest album, Quitter, was produced by Johnny K, whose credits include Megadeth, Sevendust and Plain White T’s. The album is the band’s fourth full-length release and its second LP since signing with Warner Music Nashville through a partnership with Warner Music Latina.
Recorded at Sonic Ranch near Tornillo, Texas, Quitter reflects some of Yanez’s most personal songwriting. The album addresses grief, addiction, regret, loneliness and the struggle to keep moving forward. Yanez has said the record came during a difficult period in his life, including the death of a close friend and his own relapse into addiction.
Despite its serious subject matter, the album also reflects the band’s energetic live style. Songs such as “Cheap Tequila,” “Chiquita,” “Never Change” and “You” show the band’s range, moving from heavy riffs and party-style anthems to Latin- influenced grooves, funk-pop and ballads.
Yanez has said the band’s goal is to make music that can be both fun and serious, while remaining honest with fans.
Before the band’s national success, Yanez worked in a pawnshop and performed in dive bars after getting (See Take stage June 20 , Page 2) his start as a self-driven musician. He grew up listening to outlaw country, alternative rock, hip-hop and Mexican folk music, influences that continue to shape the band’s music.
That wide range of influences has helped Giovannie and The Hired Guns attract a diverse audience, from country fans to rock listeners. The band’s high-energy performances and refusal to stay within one style have become central to its identity.
The band has performed with major artists, including opening for Jafrom son Aldean before a crowd of 36,000 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
As Giovannie and The Hired Guns continue to tour and release new music, Yanez has said the band wants fans to feel connected to the music and to each other.
“We just want to be real with our fans and let them know we’re all different and a little off-the-wall too,” Yanez said in the band’s biography. “We’re all connected, and without them we’d never be where we are now.”
A $25 wristband provides one with the Saturday evening Washunga Days live music experience. Tickets may be purchase at councilgrove. com/washunga-days or at Destination : Council Grove, located at 512 E. Main.