An interview with Glare

The Texas shoegazers discuss finally releasing their debut album, downsizing to a four-piece, how MySpace needs to make a comeback, and why hardcore and shoegaze are such good bedfellows.

If you aren’t too familiar with Glare, you are forgiven. Despite being one of the most popular NewGen shoegaze bands, the four-piece from the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas have managed to keep a relatively and strangely low profile the last few years. With almost no interviews given and just a few reviews and news stories written, Glare feels almost like a well-kept secret. However, with over a million Spotify followers and an impressive reach on TikTok, they have managed to build one of the biggest fan bases of any band in their circle. While there are laughable online conspiracy theories that have made the band a bit of a controversy in the shoegaze community, I think it can be fair to say that Glare are just good at making music that hits the right spot.

Formed in 2017 out of the ashes of Brownsville, Texas emo punks Dispirit, founding members Austin Barrientos, Toni Ordaz, Christian “Rez” Resendez and Homero Solis changed their name to Glare and gradually built up an audience playing local gigs with whatever hardcore and punk bands they could. The band dropped singles like “Into You” and “Void in Blue” at the outset, but when the pandemic hit the band simply retreated to the studio. An album was planned, then shelved because touring it would be out of the question, so Glare continued to write and record, eventually deciding to put out the Heavenly EP in 2021.

But that was it for a few years. The band would continue to play sold-out shows while racking up streams on Spotify and TikTok, and inspiring newfound fans to pick up a guitar and cover their songs along the way. (In this period, Barrientos would the band, and Cesar "Izzy" Izaguirre and Jes Morales would join.). And then finally last fall, Glare released a new track, “Mourning Haze,” along with a tease that their long-awaited debut album, Sunset Funeral, was set to arrive in early 2025. With both Deathwish Inc. and Sunday Drive Records on board to release the album, everything seemed perfect.

Then in early January, just as the band was set to officially announce Sunset Funeral, abuse allegations against Resendez were made public and the members of Glare immediately issued a statement that read: “We have all parted ways and all association with Rez. Out of respect and acknowledgment of all involved we ask everyone to respect their wishes of privacy during this difficult transition. thank you all for the support, community over everything.”

Losing one of Glare’s founding members who was both a vocalist and guitarist could have signalled the end of the band or even simply delayed the release and promotion of Sunset Funeral, however, Ordaz, Solis, Izaguirre and Morales have chosen to keep moving forward as a quartet that will share vocal duties. Considering the time, effort and anticipation that went into Sunset Funeral, anything less would be disappointing. The album delivers on the promise the band has displayed since its conception: a whirlwind of glinting guitar noise, lustrous melodies and crestfallen lyrics that perhaps captures the reverence of shoegaze its purest and most lucid form.

Glare will be taking these songs on the road for a tour with grungegaze gods Superheaven, hardcore noiseniks Spy and post-hardcore gazers Prize Horse beginning April 26 in Louisville, KY.

Glare first released music back in 2017. Why have you waited so long to release a full-length?

Homer Solis: We had batch of songs, almost half of this album, and we were planning on releasing a medium-to-longish EP, like seven or eight songs, almost getting to the length of an album. But then the pandemic hit and we had another batch of songs that we were writing at that moment, and they felt a lot different. They were poppy and it had a different vibe, more like dream pop with some electronic elements, especially with drums and synth pads and stuff. So we ended up using those immediately for our Heavenly EP; we just kind of swapped them because it felt weird really releasing an album when we couldn’t even play them. It wasn't that strategic; it just felt like a better time to release the EP. So then we ended up writing and adding more songs writing more songs to Sunset Funeral, so we now had a fully realized album. We’ve had enough songs to put out, we just had to wait for labels and wait for vinyl, and a few things like that. It wasn't because we didn't want to put something out. We were just trying to figure out what felt right at the moment, so we decided to do Heavenly first so we could write more and flesh out the album. The singles we've dropped so far we've had since 2020.

So you had these old songs, which you obviously felt were worth keeping. Was there ever a discussion about just starting fresh and writing an entire new album?

Homer: I think we loved them so much that we felt they deserved to be a full-length. I don't think we've ever really got tired of them. We were keeping our favourite songs for an album. I wouldn’t say we were holding back any songs. They felt right to us.

Do you feel like bands even need to make albums anymore or can you just exist by dropping tracks and EPs?

Homer: Personally, I grew up liking a lot of EDM, like in high school, and those artists only drop singles. But then they always repurposed those songs for an album and I really liked that idea of not keeping your audience waiting a long time for an album. But I also like the idea of multiple songs providing a concept. It feels right to have a lengthier body of work to put together. So I guess it just depends on the vibe. If you're just trying different things, different sounds and experiment or whatever, I don't see a reason why you’d wait for an album. If you want to have fun and try different things, singles are great.

Is there a certain vibe or feeling that you were looking to achieve with the album that was different from the previous stuff?

Homer: I think we tried a lot harder to go to a little deeper with the songwriting. Like the lyrical content feels less vague and more specific. It’s got the big moments with the heavier and poppier sounds. I’d say it’s everything swirled in together… I don't know. The vibe just kinda came on its own. Lyrics were hard for us, just getting past that vague style of songwriting. The whole world had a rough time during the pandemic, there was a lot of loss and it was mostly dealing with that and processing all of it. The vibe was “we're all suffering, we're all dealing with shit, we're just gonna try to keep going.” I don't know if it's a very optimistic album, but we try. There are a couple songs that feel we’re taking a step forward. At least that's how I feel. There are some songs that seem positive and make you feel good, but then the lyrics are totally the opposite.

So, just days before you announced Sunset Funeral the band posted on socials that Rez had left the band. Firstly, are you able to shed some light on why you parted ways with him? Have you replaced him in the lineup and if not, is there any plan to do so?

Homer: We didn't really talk about this… Some mistakes were made, some awful things were done to certain people and it just made sense to go our separate ways.

[Izzy joins the call]

Hi Izzy.

Izzy Izaguirre: Sorry, I’m on the road in the middle of nowhere Texas so I have a really bad connection. It took me a really long time to get on the call. I don’t know why.

No problem. I was just asking Homer about Rez leaving the band and if there is a plan to replace him or will Glare remain a four-piece?

Homer: At the moment we’re gonna give it a go as a four-piece without a third guitar. It felt a bit silly to have three guitars anyway. I mean, it was fun and felt good being loud as hell and having stacked guitars but I think we can keep the circle tighter. So right now no, we're not planning on having anyone else join us.

So who takes over those vocal parts that Rez used to sing?

Izzy: Since all of us have done backup vocal parts in the band, we just used to work the set around him being the main vocalist. We realized all of us doing backups wasn’t really serving our life set or, in general, the growth of the band. I don't know, we wanted to make sure before we go about adding a third element, like another guitar or somebody else adding leads, we wanted to make sure that vocally we're all doing great and that we're at the peak of what we can be as a core, as a four-piece. But who knows? We have a lot of talented friends that have already asked about helping out in the future. I think right now we want to grow as our core.

I imagine Rez is still on the final version of Sunset Funeral. Was there any discussion of re-recording the tracks?

Homer: No. We had actually pushed the album back. We had joined Gold Theory, the management group, and the album was originally slated to come out in October or November of last year. We just didn't have enough time to put everything together because we were doing everything by ourselves. Sunday’s Drive and Deathwish helped us get some music videos and flesh out a visual concept, but were just late on things and decided with our manager that it was best to push it back to April and have more time to give the album the best start possible.

Have you had to change how you play any of the new songs or even old songs to reflect his absence?

Izzy: Live we have, yeah. Just making sure we’re doing backups together on certain parts. It used to be backups on some songs, but now there are two vocalists going on most of the time, like jumping in on choruses. That's the main thing that we’ve had to adjust.

Homer: Just to add, we’ve also had to figure out how, when there are two leads going on the same time like with a rhythm guitar, trying to figure out or prioritize what makes the song better, figuring out which one should be played live because we don't have that third guitar to do both leads at the same time. So it's stuff like that. I find it’s a little tricky but I feel like we've been doing a pretty good job of it. The set feels a lot cleaner and tighter now. We all genuinely feel like this has been really good for us. Musically, we’re trying to be better about making sure the vocals and harmonies are tighter, having our front of house or sound person make it sound a lot better with the volume. You can hear the vocals now. It's kind of crazy.

The video for “Guts” and your website pay homage to MySpace? How important was that website for you guys?

Homer: We’re from way down south Texas, we're a border town, like the furthest south you can get in the state. I guess anyone can relate to it, but for us, when we were younger, sometimes our parents weren't cool with us being out super late. So the socializing online was very important to us and our friends. Like metalcore bands, that kind of stuff, MySpace was how we found that shit. And everyone was just sharing their interests. It was super cool to have a profile page with our favourite track of the week and promoting our interests to friends and other people. To just wear that on your sleeve and show it off.

Izzy: I agree. I feel like that was the best way to express what I liked, by putting like my top five bands or whatever on my page with my top five friends. That truly meant a lot to me. You’d find one band you liked, and then they would have another band on their top five, and then you’d click to their MySpace page and find another band to like. That was Bandcamp for me before Bandcamp. So even though the homage to MySpace in the video is really quick, it does mean a lot to us.

Do you feel it would still hold up against all of the other social platforms out there had it survived? One could argue that Bandcamp is a better version of MySpace?

Izzy: I believe MySpace right now in this culture would thrive. The same way Tumblr would thrive right now. Because people are not looking to throw out their opinions in some echo chamber. They want everyone to know what they like, who they are, and it’s all becoming much more niche and insular, showing what interests people are. I feel like those kinds of sites really led to that. Like with shoegaze, that could be a super niche thing, but there are all these blogs that show love to those bands. I think it would hold up now, and likely be even better.

Homer: With Bandcamp, I’m not so sure about the user pages, but with the band pages, it feels very limited in how you can customize or personalize your account. I don't feel like you can do much with it in terms of aesthetics and how it looks, listing your interests or whatever. Even with Instagram, you can post reels and stuff. So I feel like in a perfect world the best thing would be taking the best of both those sites/apps. I think that was a big part of MySpace: having your aesthetic or your interests on full display. Making it look sick by showing off the stuff you were into. So yeah, I think MySpace would kill today.

Izzy, you’re also in RILEY! and Worst Behavior. How do you juggle Glare with your other bands?

Izzy: By looking at my calendar a lot. I have to allocate my time very specifically, but it’s become very natural. Just one band at a time. I technically started with Worst Behavior, because it was much local to my area. Shortly after that I started playing drums for RILEY! It really was like a snowball effect. So it was one thing at a time until the point where it was all I can do. It would be much more of a disservice for me to get a job and say, “Hey, I'm leaving!” every three weeks. So it was just these opportunities back to back, and I think Glare noticed that I was touring a lot with RILEY! and they saw I was available. I've been very blessed to have really good, talented friends around me and having that just keeps me going.

It’s kind of ridiculous how strong the shoegaze scene in Texas is at the moment with bands like Trauma Ray, Kraus, Narrow Head, Ringo Deathstarr, Fawn, Blushing, and Glia. Does it feel like there is a real scene in the state? Or is that hard to determine because of its size?

Homer: Absolutely there is. I remember these legendary linkups, like we met Trauma Ray at a show that Angel Aura played. There are so many bands and at some point everybody links up. It’s been a bit of a while, but everybody stays in touch via Instagram or something and everybody's helping each other out putting on shows. There is a great sense of community that way. That’s how scenes get built: helping each other out. I think it helps that hardcore is really receptive when it comes to alternative and shoegaze.

Izzy: And it’s true that it’s a very separated state. Like Dallas and The Valley are literally the polar opposites, but Trauma Ray is really our sister band. And yeah, it’s super tight, but all very online because a lot of us are doing stuff in our own way. I feel like every band isn’t trying to do the same thing. Everybody’s reaching out in their own avenues of doing it, but we all still constantly talk and keep an eye on new bands. So we’re on different paths in the same genre as someone like Trauma Ray, but we get to team up again with them four years later on a really big run. It also helps that our label is semi-based in Texas.

I know the band has some roots in hardcore and/or punk, so I’m curious as to what it was about shoegaze that made you want to start playing it?

Homer: Growing up I was mostly listening to indie rock, like The Strokes and The Killers - those were the first rock bands I got into. And then I started listening to Silversun Pickups and shoegaze-adjacent bands, but I didn't know what the fuck shoegaze was. I always loved atmospheric guitars and with swells and pretty sounds. So I basically went through the motions listening to Slowdive and Cocteau Twins. I was like, “This is sick. I don’t know what it is, but it’s sick.” And then I think what finally made it like click was when Whirr and Nothing started popping up and they were doing it but slightly different. That really solidified the genre for me. Like, “Okay, this is something I'm really interested in and I would like to do it.”

But our band DISPIRIT started in 2013 and it was basically the same band with three core members and a few alternating drummers and bassists. I was singing in that band, which was more like Superheaven or Basement or Title Fight, that kind of alternative music. Then by 2015, we wanted to do something different, but still in the realm of alternative music. So we ended up changing our sound and the name. That’s when we became Glare and dropped a couple of songs in 2017.

But to answer your original question, we don’t have a music scene here in Brownsville, where Glare started. It’s very small. The scene was in McAllen, which is an hour away. We would drive up and play shows that were so many mixed bills. There was never a shoegaze or alternative line-up. We’d be playing with hardcore bands, D-beat bands, anything that had guitars. Guitar music was really the genre. So we’d play with hardcore bands, which is how we met Izzy and Jes, our drummer. We were always the alternative band on the hardcore or the punk show bill. I grew to love it because not only was it what we had, it was tight-knit and supportive. It was such a great community. We loved playing that type of show because of the energy and the DIY ethos.

Izzy: Those are our people. They put us on when nobody would play with us. A lot of it boils down to the ethos that we take on with the band. There are a lot of bands that have never stepped foot in a local show before. Like we've played with bands that started off on the road, so it was very important for us to stick with the community that really helped us from the start. Obviously it's okay to grow and everything, but I feel like at the very deep end of everything, whether it’s with the bands that we choose to take out on tour, or maybe even with the sounds that we pull from every once in a while, it's always just gonna be a part of our DNA. Because again, like Homer said, it's raised the entity of the band even before it was Glare. I was a huge DISPIRIT fan before I was ever in Glare because I loved them and those were my friends playing music that I thought was crazy and that nobody else could do. I looked up to them. I know it's a tough exterior from a lot of people trying to see the hardcore community from the outside in, but it really is just all love.

A lot of musicians who came from punk scenes have gravitated to shoegaze, like Whirr, Nothing, Cold Gawd, and Cloakroom - why do you think that is?

Izzy: I'm not 100 percent sure. I think really because we all come from that community, it’s a need to address and to express a little bit more than aggression. Obviously there are ways of showing that in our genre as well. I feel like it's just another avenue. People have that innate desire to create, so they will end up gravitating to what serves them best in getting that idea out. Also I feel like those bands you mentioned, they're hard in their own way. I don't know how to explain it. Like the guitars are not running dirty into a dirty amp; it's very atmospheric, but in a heavier, different way. And they know that atmosphere crushes just as heavily as a pummelling breakdown would.