The Animeros to Launch West Coast Tour Behind Dan Auerbach-Produced Debut
The Austin-based band will kick off release shows in Texas before heading to Easy Eye Sound-backed dates across the West Coast.
The Animeros are set to play a series of Austin release shows and a West Coast tour in support of their debut album, due out August 28 on Easy Eye Sound and produced by Dan Auerbach.
Following a surprise show supporting The Black Keys at Chicago's The Vic, the Austin, TX-based band The Animeros announced two hometown album release shows and a fall headlining tour celebrating their forthcoming Dan Auerbach-produced debut LP, ¡Qué Bárbaro!, due out on August 28th via Easy Eye Sound. The trio of Mauro Lopez (guitarist), Nicolas Sánchez (bassist), and Nick Tozzo (drummer/percussionist) confirmed new Austin shows at Waterloo Records (8/27) and Continental Club (8/28) as well as West Coast dates in October, including LA's Zebulon (10/03) and more; a full itinerary is listed below and tickets go on-sale Friday, July 24th at 10am local time.
The announcement follows their latest single, 'La Camita,' the band's psychedelic cumbia take on Traffic Sound's 1971 cut, which earned praise and support from NPR Music's Alt.Latino ('timeless sound'), Brooklyn Vegan, Far Out Magazine, and more. ¡Qué Bárbaro! is available for pre-order here.
If you aren't well-versed in Spanish slang from around the world, you might take the title of The Animeros' debut the wrong way. ¡Qué Bárbaro! literally translates to 'How barbaric!' but it's far from a pearl-clutching gasp at something violent. Rather, it's a nod and a smirk of approval, a 'That's sick' or a 'That's badass.' The Animeros remembered friends or family saying it in a tone of brotherly awe, and the phrase came back to them as their sound cohered and materialized in these songs–songs that are celebratory, raucous, cathartic, and, well, badass.
By the time Lopez, Sánchez, and Tozzo joined forces as The Animeros, each had over a decade of experience cutting their teeth in Austin's diverse Latin music scene. All had played across the spectrum, but shared a deep affinity for cumbia. 'When we first talked, one of the things that initially drew us together was our love for the nuance in Latin music,' Lopez says. 'That's like a language among musicians.' Soon after forming, the trio caught the ear of Auerbach, who heard their music drifting down from a rooftop during a SXSW gig. It was only their second performance, and it took Auerbach a while to track them down. But one thing quickly led to another, and Auerbach signed The Animeros to his label Easy Eye Sound after inviting them up to Nashville to produce ¡Qué Bárbaro!.
The songs they recorded–a mix of 10 originals and three reimagined covers–are bursting with color, often written with a visual quality. The band just as often think about a Quentin Tarantino fight sequence, a Spaghetti Western showdown, or a long ambling journey across the deserts of America, as they are the scenes from which these sounds traditionally emerge. The imagined soundtrack in their head was a vivid collision of Latin music. Other album singles include 'Mamba Mambo,' their love letter to the golden-age mambo explosion filtered through fuzz pedals and Tex-Mex psychedelic soul, 'Gózalo,' which pays homage to the South Texas Latin soul legend Esteban Jordan, 'Danza de Los Saguaros,' which distills the twin influences of cumbia and the American Southwest, and 'Ponchote de Ritmo,' which was inspired by South American cumbia psicodélica and chicha sounds of the '60s and '70s.
The resultant ¡Qué Bárbaro! is a kaleidoscopic fusion of now and then, honoring the rich cultural heritage the band is carrying but also guiding these rhythms on new adventures. These are sounds that have defined Latin music for decades, yet remain current and vibrant today. For The Animeros–whose name is inspired by Colombian shamans who would usher lost souls to their peace–it's about using the music in their DNA and thinking about how they can make people move, while saying something new with it. That, in the end, is how they know the music is working. 'That's our metric,' Tozzo concludes. 'If they're dancing, we know we got them.'
The Animeros Headlining Tour Dates:
07/23 - West Asheville, NC - AyurPrana Listening Room
07/24 - Check, VA - FloydFest 2026
07/25 - Macon, GA - Bragg Jam
07/26 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
08/19 - Loveland, CO - Foundry Community Plaza
08/20 - Boulder, CO - E-Town
08/21 - Colorado Springs, CO - Lulu's Downtown
08/22 - Breckenridge, CO - Air Stage: Blue River Plaza Series
08/27 - Austin, TX - Waterloo Records, In-Store (5:30pm)
08/28 - Austin, TX - Continental Club (Album Release Show)
9/30 - Santa Fe, NM - Tumbleroot
10/01 - Phoenix, AZ - Linger Longer Lounge
10/02 - Yucca Valley, CA - Dune Room
10/03 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon
10/06 - Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley
10/07 - San Francisco, CA - Brick & Mortar
10/09 - Portland, OR - Bunk Bar
10/10 - Trout Lake, WA - Trout Lake Hall
10/11 - Seattle, WA - Hidden Hall
Photo Credit: Sonny Loya
Photo Credit: Sonny Loya
