Review Fix Exclusive: Sierra Blanca Talks Honorable Mention

Review Fix chats with multi-instrumentalist Sierra Blanca who discusses his upcoming EP, Honorable Mention.

About Sierra Blanca:

Jethro Gaglione, aka Sierra Blanca, is a self-taught, multi-instrumentalist, who began playing music as part of the worship group for his parents’ missionary team in Mexico. They traveled all around the country living in old re-purposed school buses and putting up tents for “church” meetings. Starting with keyboards, Gaglione added  bass, guitar, and drums to his repertoire and started jamming with local bands upon moving to the US in 2002. He started a project called “A Main Street Marvel” from 2007 to 2015 and changed the name to  Sierra Blanca when he relocated to Nashville in 2015. Refining his live performance with shows across the Southeast, Gaglione cites  Louis Armstrong, Fleetwood Mac, and Amy Winehouse as influences on his hybrid of indie, folk, soul and pop.  His sound has been compared to that of Feist, David Ramirez and older Death Cab for Cutie.

Review Fix: What makes this album special?

Sierra Blanca: It’s the first record I’ve written and recorded since moving to Nashville and starting a new chapter in my life. I feel like I’ve grown quite a bit as a songwriter and musician in the time I’ve been living here, and the new EP shows it. It’s also a bit of a change of style from the stuff I normally write and compose.

Review Fix: What track are you most proud of?

Blanca: I wouldn’t really say there’s just one. I’m proud of the whole thing and since I put a lot of time, work and passion into it. My favorite song to listen to or play can vary from day to day. As of now I would say it’s “Book,” since i get to play some fun ruffs on an electric guitar instead of acoustic!

Review Fix: Is there a story behind it?

Blanca: “Book” was the last song I wrote for the EP. I literally finished writing the lyrics in the vocal booth as I was recording it. It’s one of the very few songs that I’ve written that carries some political undertones. I recently filmed a live video for it in the woods with a few good friends of mine!

Review Fix: What are the goals with this album?

Blanca: Just to put it it out there for people to hopefully relate to and enjoy.

Review Fix: Bands often give their albums nicknames, like the Eagles call “The Long Run,” “The Long One,” because of all the time they spent in the studio on it. What would you guys nickname this one?

Blanca: Maybe the sad one, haha. The writing is definitely more heartfelt and authentic – sort of a heart-on-your-sleeve record.

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you?

Blanca: This record definitely has some singer/songwriter influence with a lot of acoustic guitar. It also has some soulful rhythms with more complex harmonies and guitar parts that are somewhere in the realm of indie/americana. The writing is definitely authentic and honest.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why must someone listen to this album?

Blanca: I feel like it brings some originality to the table in contrast to a lot of other music in the same group of genres.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Blanca: A lot more playing and writing. Hopefully starting work on a full length record at the beginning of 2018 with more of a focus on the instrumentation and composition. I’ve always wanted to make a big production and just go all out with every instrument. This feels like a good time for it.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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