By Michael Botsford and Sami Yazdanyar
SAN ANTONIO – Having played in tons of rock bands throughout the city of San Antonio, Mark Anthony Esquivel reaches back to his classical training to bring his new project ‘Televangelist’ to The Garage. The finger tapping rock band shows us what it’s like to have tons of experience, but still be the new kids on the scene.
Click here to watch… While it might be an unusual name for a rock n roll band, the members of Televangelist gave us some insight on how they chose the name for their new project.
“I was watching the late night Televangelists on TV. The name really just rolls off the tongue. It’s the same thing; we are trying to sell you on something. Music is a religion to all of us right here. I found that connection very close,” says guitarist and vocalist Esquivel.
With the success of their former band “Dates”, they recently reformatted their name and members to bring the Alamo City a fresh new sound.
“Televangelists was mine and Masons side project a year and a half ago. We are more crust-punk type stuff. The only real difference between the bands is the added members. It was my project, writing everything. Slowly I started adding more members to the band and it evolved from there. Originally it was just me and an acoustic guitar,” explains Esquivel.
Drummer Mason Macias brings the heat to each Televangelist set. With each performance comes high energy and tons of sweat, the Televangelist drummer without doubt isn’t scared to let loose.
“That’s just the way I like to play. I’ve always been a hard hitter and I always have a tendency to hit the drums harder. I have fun doing that,” says Macias.
Finger tapping, a two-handed guitar technique perfected by Eddie Van Halen, has become essential for the guys of Televangelist.
“Finger tapping is something I did when I was eighteen. I would like to think I was one of the first pioneers in San Antonio that has done it that is not in a metal band. When I first moved here I did play in a metal band for maybe a year or two and I took some of that inspiration in that band and used it in some other type of music,” says Esquivel.
While they may be a new band on the San Antonio scene, the guys have already gotten an outpouring of support from friends and fans throughout the city.
“We played a house show not too long ago. We got 30 bucks for our CD that was burned CD. This guy loved us so much and gave us 30 bucks for it. It meant a lot to us because we weren’t really expecting that feedback. We are relatively new and a lot of people are still on the ‘Dates’ bandwagon,” says bassist Ian McIntosh.
The guys gave us a taste of their new music performing “English Subtitles” and “Hospital Bed” in the Garage studio.
“A lot of the song names were working titles and just kind of stuck. I have been working on them for a year and a half before the band already formed,” says Marc.
The songs are available on their new EP “Crime Wave”,
available on BandCamp.
Check them out at the CD Release party on September 7th at The Ten Eleven (1011 Avenue B, San Antonio, Texas 78215) with Equals and Cure for the Radio.
For more information about Televangelist check out their Facebook page at
facebook.com/Televangelist.
Are you in a band or know of somebody here in San Antonio that should spend some time in our garage? Please let us know! Email
MichaelBotsford@woaitv.com.
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