The blend of South American heritage with a flair for creating soundtracks to imaginary Westerns has made brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez one of the most compelling guitar duos to emerge in years. We find out more about their musical DNA
Sometimes fate takes time to reveal itself. Born to a Swiss father and Ecuadorian mother and raised 30 minutes from Zurich, it wasn’t until adulthood that brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez realised they had a remarkable musical connection.
But when they discovered it, their dynamic would prove prolific and remarkable.
“Alejandro moved away to Zurich and then we tried to reconnect through music,” recalls Estevan of his brother, who is eight years his junior. “I remember in the beginning he called me and said, ‘Why don’t you come to Zurich and bring your guitar? Maybe we can play a little bit.’ And then we started to play, and he showed me an idea for his song. He said, ‘Something is missing, maybe you can add something.’”
They jammed and the results were powerful enough to wow the first person to hear them play that night. “His roommate stepped into the room,” remembers Estevan, “and he was like, ‘Oh my God, which song is that? From which band?’ We said, ‘This is our music.’ And he was the one that opened our eyes. He said, ‘You have to record it. You have to play concerts. It’s beautiful!’ And so that evening was like the beginning: the birth of Hermanos Gutiérrez.
Also, we found the name Hermanos Gutiérrez in 10 seconds. It was clear from the beginning that we were the brothers and Gutiérrez is our mother’s maiden name.”
Five albums and eight years later, Hermanos Gutiérrez are selling out shows worldwide, with The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach as a fan, and producer for last year’s acclaimed El Bueno Y El Malo at his Nashville Easy Eye Studio. With soul-stirring melodies, slapback delay and haunting slide guitar, the brothers paint lucid visions of desert vistas and the high mountain passes of their family homeland. We find out more about the influences and gear behind their sublime sounds.
When did you both first start playing guitar?
Estevan: “I started to play the classical guitar at the age of maybe 10 or 11, and started to play Argentinian folk music, which is called milonga, with fingerpicking. So I started on the nylon-string guitar until I was maybe 19 or 20. And I still play a lot of fingerpicking – I don’t use a plectrum.”
Alejandro: “I started when I was 16 years old and it was rig
