Meet Leopoldo Juan Treviño | Local Musician Performer/Producer & Label Upstart Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leopoldo Juan Treviño and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leopoldo Juan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
– My thought process was 100% in the “Do it Yourself” (DIY) ethos. Before I get started and to give some relevant foundational information, my father was one of two founders of the Coachella Valley’s very first Spanish newspaper El Informador del Valle; before that he was heavily involved in the migrant farm worker union United Farm Workers of America and was very hands on in the implementation of negotiations that would end up assuring farm laborers like himself and my mother had the housing, safety and labor rights that they deserved… so DIY runs in my blood. With that being said, I have been involved in the local music scene since around 2003 and have performed in several different bands since then. Each time I was a founding member of one of those bands I tended to favor the DIY approach of making music, distributing music and marketing it. Very early on I invested in myself and purchased my own recording equipment, after realizing how much it would cost me out of pocket to hit a studio every single time we wanted to release new material. At that time, around 2005, recording studios were not so common and there were none in the Coachella Valley; so we took matters into our own hands. Long story short, I picked up a few tips on the basics of navigating a DAW, or digital audio workstation, from a friend that went to the Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles. Ever since then I have either produced all of my own music to be pressed on vinyl by other DIY labels or have released all of my own music and have also helped many other friends with their releases or pre-production work that has gotten them signed to more prominent record labels. This time around, with my current musical project Bronca, I have decided that instead of looking for a record label to press or print our music or produce our merch, I would start my own DIY record label and focus on local music. Me Vale Records was born, a 100% DIY label meant purely to push forward local Coachella Valley/Southern California music. I figured there is no better time than now to do it since our local music scene is starting to really explode in the last year or so.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Getting to where I am today was not easy in the slightest. A teacher going on his 15th year in the classroom, a musician that has been performing and recording original music, a co-promoter of live music and events, an activist, etc. Aside from the foundational tools and work ethic my parents instilled in me, I would have to say the fact that my work is genuine and not just a carbon copy of something else; sure I take massive liberties in the musical influence from many of my favorite artists, but the product I create or curate is 100% a reflection of who I am. The people who gravitate towards Bronca, or the shows I help book/promote, can either see that and admire it or relate to the topics I choose to critically address. I do not just mention an issue, I put it under the microscope and often highlight even my own shortcomings in an issue. This EP “totlanawatil” was the perfect first release to demonstrate what Me Vale Records intends to represent. Somewhat of an aside, Me Vale Records gets its name from the phrase “Me Vale Madre” which has several translations/variations on how one chooses to use it; first off “madre” is mother in Spanish and something that most people often overlook in a hyper masculine culture like the Mexican culture, is that the mother figure is often seen as the actual head of the family. The Virgin Mary of Guadalupe is without a doubt more prayed to and revered then Jesus in the Mexican Catholic household; just ask any of your Hispanic friends who no longer live with their parents how they refer to their parent’s house… more often than not it’ll be “my mom’s house” and not “my dad’s house” or “my parent’s house” regardless of who pays the bills. All this is to say that “madre” in this phrase represents “everything” because the mother figure is seen as everything important or everything that matters in this world. So, “me vale madre” means “I don’t care about anything” or “I care about everything” depending on how you use the phrase. In this case, Me Vale Records represents ideas and music that I truly care about.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Places to go to:
Indio Badlands Trail, Bump n Grind Trail, Ladder Canyon Trail, The Tram, Acrisure Arena, The Living Desert, World Famous Repairland, and whatever local show might be popping off at a local venue

Places to eat, drink, hang out:
Unique Bite Eatery, Ruben & Ozzy’s, Food Truck Fridays in Old Town Indio, Allende Restaurant, Mariscos El Capitan, Mariscos Guamucil, One Stop Taco Shop, Thai Smile, Sushi Kitto, Los Pablos Tacos, Asadero Los Corrales, TKB, Lala’s, Great Shakes, The Slice Pizza

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Many people deserve credit and recognition in my story:
First and foremost, my parents. I was born and raised in Indio, California in a Spanish speaking home. My mother, Maria Elena Treviño, was born in Baja California, Mexico and was raised in various parts of Baja California and Sonora, Mexico; and my father, Leopoldo Treviño Guerra, was also born in Mexico (Caja Pinta, Nuevo León) but was partially raised in the Pacific North West (Bellingham, Washington) before he began moving back and forth between Nuevo León and all throughout the Western US states as a migrant farm worker. This really shaped my upbringing being that my mother primarily only spoke Spanish and my father was very fluent in both English and Spanish. My father was a very staunch political activist who often spoke his mind and always fought for what he believed was right. Although we did not always see eye to eye on every issue, we agreed on the most important aspects of humanity and he really imprinted that attitude into my being. This attitude has definitely helped drive forward whatever vision I had in my mind. My mother on the other hand was more responsible for my general outlook on life and how to have the fortitude to simply survive. She was born with only one functioning kidney (this was not known until much later in her life) and in all reality should not have been able to live a long life let alone have any kids… she ended up successfully giving birth ten times and lived until almost 70 years old. She had a phrase she would always repeat to me whenever difficulties were placed in our paths by other people “Mas ayuda el que no estorba” which loosely translates to “the most helpful person is the one that does not get in the way”. Both of my parents basically teamed up and laid a strong foundation that would be the perfect platform for a DIY oriented person. Both in the public education setting and in the punk/hardcore music scene there are a lot of barriers and one involved in either cannot just sit around hoping someone comes to make their life easier. As a social studies classroom teacher and as a student leadership advisor in the very neighborhood that I grew up in, I often find myself having to hurdle many barriers just to make sure that these kids get something of a semblance to the opportunities other students in this same district can often take for granted.

My wife & daughter: they give me the daily drive to try and be a better version of my former self; Emily Valenzuela Treviño was born in Indio, Ca and was raised in Coachella, Ca & Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico whenever she was not in school, which helped shape her outlook on life and has in turn also helped me make better sense of the world; Ariana Elena Treviño was born in Rancho Mirage, Ca and is currently being raised in Indio, Ca… she’s still a work in progress at just over a year and half old, but she has definitely helped sharpen my view on life and what truly matters in this world.

The local music scene: HotStuff Booking, Dunes Booking, World Famous Repairland and all the other bands, venues and promoters doing their thing to help grow the music scene; but most importantly all the people that go to the shows to support local music. No specific venue or band is more important than the people in the scene that attend the shows.

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/me.vale.records

Youtube: https://Youtube.com/mevalerecords

Image Credits
Ken Larmon
Sergio Lozano