Diandra Interviews Marinero: Giving & Receiving Hella Love

I read someone compare listening to a good song to having your mind flushed down a drain. I laughed and grimaced at the oddly appropriate analysis. Our mind is packed with negative thoughts, surrounding philosophies, delusions, and addicting dreams. I can’t deny the times I’ve stayed up, in bed, because my heart and body were tired, but my mind was ready TO GO! Yet, when I hear Marinero’s newest album, Hella Love, it is exactly how Jess Marinero describes it: a warm hug to a moment of time that is leaving but you can’t deny its temporary magnificence. Imagine That! Being able to physically embrace a great day in thankfulness for being kinder to you than most other days. LOVE IT! In our interview, Jess discusses how Marinero and all the people he’s met and moments he’s had led to HELLA LOVE in his life. 

Diandra: The album is about closing a chapter. When you look at the chapter you most recently closed in your life, what do you feel and how would you summarize it? 

Jess: Hella Love (lol). Honestly, I wanted to leave my close friends and family with a sort of sonic warm embrace. The album took about 2 years to write and record, which gave me plenty of time to reflect about moving, family history, and a few things, that have happened historically in the Bay Area, that I felt like singing about. 

Diandra: If you could sail around the world, what would like to discover about yourself and people? What do you feel you seek in them? 

Jess: In some ways touring or traveling already feels like that, and if you’ve done either of those things, they offer opportunities to find human connections in places that might be different culturally. I guess I seek finding similarities with people through vulnerability and humor. But hypothetically, if I had to sail around the world, I’d choose to go with my dad, who’s actually a very nautical person. If not just for the special memory and experience, but also because I, probably, wouldn’t be able to survive the ocean without someone like him.

Diandra: Nuestra Victoria speaks against the almost communal cruelties caused by gentrification from the perspective of a Panaderia closed. What was your favorite memory in that Panaderia?

Jess: I remember going there to drink coffee and write lyrics when I was working on the first Marinero EP “CHICAN@” back in 2015. There was someone that would play classical guitar, as well. I think I remember recognizing a Heitor Villa-Lobos piece. Also, when my mom was a young girl she said she used to roller skate in front of La Victoria or on 24th street as well, which was cool that we added roller skating in the music video. Full circle. 

What fascinated you about the Tropicalia movement? 

Jess: The music first. Also the many incredible musicians that came from that era that also collaborated and recorded with one another. So many musical legends.

Diandra: What did you find about your parent’s love story most inspiring? 

Jess: The fact that I’m alive from them meeting, falling in love, and having me. It’s not so much inspiring as it is gratitude. 

Diandra: For artists, music is a journey of self- reflection and finding yourself. How would you describe your self-identity, including aspects of your personality? 

Jess: It doesn’t really feel like a journey of identity for me. I know who and what I am. I think the album shifts a lot between genres and I try to make those transitions smooth for the listener. I’m just a person that writes songs and tries to make music that I wanna hear. I’m also a Bay Area native that happens to be Mexican-American. It’s pretty hard to describe yourself, but I’d say that  I have a big heart and also like to laugh about dumb shit. 

Diandra: If you could turn any movie into a concept album, which would it be and why? 

Jess: I’ve always loved James Bond themes and lately I have been joking with friends about writing my own fake James Bond song for a fictional movie. John Barry and others have written some really amazing songs like “You Only Live Twice” or “We Have All The Time in the World”. Undoubtedly there are very misogynistic themes within that franchise, but it would be fun to write a song for a sensitive 007 or play around with a new or different 00 agent or character. I love how the songs have a mysterious, minor formula with a big chorus revealing the title of the movie. I’ve been playing around with a title called “Die Again, Yesterday”. 

Diandra: If your life could be a movie what would be it’s premise, and who would you cast? 

Jess: I’ve been trying to turn “Hella Love” into a visual album, but it’s been really expensive. My girlfriend is a really funny actor and has similar looking hair. I’d definitely cast her and give her a cool pencil mustache for the role. She’s also a much better dancer than me, and I’d appreciate her making me look cooler than I actually am.

Diandra: What is your favorite childhood music memory with music?

Jess: When I was about 7, we visited family in Mexico. We’re from a really small town in Jalisco and my mom’s cousin had a mariachi band that played at my uncle’s house. I remember him letting me pretend to play his violin with the group and it felt really cool. I even ran to the kitchen to grab two spoons to clank together and jam with them. Sadly, I still suck at playing spoons, but it was a nice first jam session. 

Diandra: What did making this record help you to discover in terms of how you love versus how you want to be loved? 

Jess: I just try to love without any expectation of getting it back. I think there’s a lot of grace and strength in that. I don’t always do it, but I try. It’s not something that making this album even taught me really. I learned that from the school of Hard Knocks and some therapy too.

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