Not many excessive schoolers discover themselves working across the Midland-Odessa Petroplex catching gigs at native venues, working towards in storage setups, producing sounds sturdy sufficient to chop by way of the mainstream tunes of at present and representing West Texas within the 2023 Worldwide Blues Problem Youth Showcase.
Nevertheless, for Legacy junior Leon Carrasco, Compass Academy sophomore Elijah Ornelas and Odessa freshman Ian Chavez, that is actuality. Spending evenings on homegrown levels with an instrument in hand comes naturally for the virtually 4-year-old trio, changing their nervous interview demeanor with confidence and poise. Their stage identify, By no means 2 Younger, goes past the plain commentary of age and dwells deep inside the crew’s roots.
“You’re by no means too younger to be a Christian, musician, an athlete — it’s a constructive factor,” Carrasco defined. “You’re by no means too younger to do what you need.”
All raised in musically proficient households, every band member discovered their first chords pretty early. For Carrasco, Elvis Presley blues and Jimi Hendrix guitar runs bought juices flowing whereas cousins Ornelas and Chavez watched their dads stick with the hymnal rhythms in homebase Phrase of God Ministries.
“I began taking part in the drums there once I was 6 or 7-years-old,” Chavez said. “Earlier than that, Elijah’s dad was taking part in them, however then he went to bass.”
“He performed bass for some time, after which I just about took over once I began,” Ornelas joked. “My mother performs piano, Ian’s dad performs guitar and sings, now we have a cousin who additionally performs guitar, one other cousin who sings, and our grandfather is the pastor.”
To an outsider, getting collectively for practices could sound straightforward. Nevertheless, with Carrasco’s athletic schedule, Ornelas in orchestra, and Chavez in band, late nights rapidly creep in and assist turns into a necessity. Regardless of being a bit of exterior of the “youth” class, Adrian Ravilla suits the invoice. After getting caught up with By no means 2 Younger six years in the past because the mariachi teacher for the Hispanic Cultural Middle, the San Antonio Faculty music graduate labored with Carrasco for just a few years within the Mexican people music, performing round city at occasions and events. Now, the Yarbrough Elementary College instructor fills in along with his depraved keys wizardry, formally incomes a spot within the posse.
“I like watching the expansion from once I bought into this,” Ravilla praised. “I’ve seen personally, not even simply in them however in myself. They push me to get higher, observe totally different stuff, and that is the secret.”
The sentiment follows inside Carrasco, Ornelas and Chavez as nicely. Past their designated troupe roles, the menagerie consistently expands their talents by studying new devices, revisiting previous expertise and synergizing their inspirations and concepts into one. Staying true to the method and discovering their sound collaboratively, the gathering prides itself on not speeding building of their first album. Whereas many originals dwell within the MacBook completely devoted to the ensemble, their inventive spirit retains notions percolating and a complete sound steadily evolving. The triad lives life at their very own tempo and with their very own guidelines, proving you possibly can by no means be too younger to dwell your goals.
To be taught extra about By no means 2 Younger and their street to Memphis, go to www.gwtxblues.com. To catch the band in motion, have a look at an inventory of their upcoming performances at www.never2yong.live. You can even assist fund the self-paid journey to Memphis by way of the Venmo (@Never2YoungBand) and GoFundMe https://bit.ly/3Aslqh8.
