The Alex Lucero Band – Road Trippin’, Americana Riffin’, Funktasy Dippin’

The Alex Lucero Band has made its name dazzling crowds with their soul-infused and roots-tinged Americana, garnering acclaim for their multi-genre range and expert musicianship. Primed for the next chapter of their journey, the band is set to continue their cross-country march with the release of their latest album and a nationwide tour, organised by Funktasy’s booking team.

Over the past few years, the Santa Cruz based band has consistently made its mark on the independent music scene, recognized for their electric live performances and the intimate connection they’ve built with their fanbase. Fronted by lead singer and songwriter Alex Lucero, the 6-person group came together over time within the Santa Cruz and Bay Area music circuits, joining forces to form a renowned touring and recording band.

Part of the band’s line up is Lucero’s wife Justina, their star bassist and support vocalist. The couple met all the way back in high school, going from intrigued acquaintances to inseparable soulmates in the matter of a summer. Although Alex has been gigging with his band since the beginning of their relationship, Justina only joined them on stage three years ago, choosing to stay away from the limelight while Alex honed his craft and sound as a performer. Nowadays, the couple have grown into an outstanding musical force, enjoying every single second together as bandmates and partners. Mick Adams, Russel Kreitman, Everett Moody, Jake McCuen and Jordan Smallwood make up the other members of the team, each of them adding their piece to the puzzle to merge into an irresistible force in the Americana scene.

The band has previously received numerous awards on the Roots Soul/R&B Charts for their original compositions and supported major acts such as Michael McDonald, Chaka Khan, Pablo Cruise and Monophonics, now also leading the charge as headliners at festivals and main stages. Their latest single-rollout has seen them expand their musical repertoire, with “Long As You Like” combining funky guitar riffs with the band’s renowned Americana sound, leaving us waiting with anticipation for the album’s release date.

Recorded predominantly through live sessions, this new album highlights the band’s chemistry and creativity, capturing the authentic energy that became synonymous with their concerts. Collaborating closely with producer Deegan Adams of Little Warrior Productions, the band has assembled a collection of songs that showcase the latest step in their evolution, overall embracing a richer and more focused sound.

As the Alex Lucero Band embarks on this album rollout, fans old and new can expect not just exceptional music but a genuine celebration of the band’s growing artistry and continued passion for storytelling through song. Keep reading if you want to get an exclusive insight into the band’s creative processes and inspirations, as frontman Alex Lucero guides us through the band’s most exciting project yet.

Your upcoming tour has generated a lot of excitement. Could you highlight a few key dates or venues you’re particularly looking forward to playing, and tell us why these stand out?

It’s difficult to choose just a few venues to highlight on this tour, because we are just so excited to hit the road and bring the music to all these new places. That being said, our shows at City Winery Chicago in Illinois and The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware, are two venues that we are so stoked to have on the list, since the venues themselves look killer and seem to be nestled amongst incredible music communities that we can’t wait to break into.

With your new album on the horizon, what themes or emotions guided your songwriting process this time around?

Often a common theme that seems to arise with any and all of my writing projects is the idea of fleeting and unpromised time. This one life here on Earth has always motivated the “dreamer” mentality and pushed the desire for taking chances and not settling for anything less than what fills me up. Where that, of course, is still true with this project, it was definitely more of an “in the moment” writing style, where in the past I’ve written about a memory or a time in my life I could pull inspiration from or even thought about someone else’s experience, throwing myself into their shoes to write from their perspective. This album was very much an in-real-time/based on my life as it was happening kind of project. For instance, “Long As You Like” was written on the riverside in Gualala. While Justina and I were camping, we plopped ourselves down with our feet in the water and wrote about the exact feeling we had in that moment and time. We could have stayed there forever, but if we couldn’t, we wanted to bottle that feeling up and take it home with us, and that is definitely a palpable emotion throughout the song.

Could you describe your recording process for the album? Were there any innovative or unconventional methods you tried during production?

Our recording process has always been unconventional in its nature, because we prefer and seem to receive a better outcome when we track live. That is why you will see multiple “recorded live” takes on this project. One of the most impressive things about this band I get to call my own is that the magic seems to happen authentically on-stage, and capturing that in a studio with some tracks seems impossible. Rather than settling for a dryer take, we usually choose to track live, all at once, in front of an audience and, more often than not, are more than happy with what comes out. I think the band really enjoys the challenge of it —  capturing a moment in time rather than meshing individual tracks, overdubs and takes. There’s even a live version of “The Drive Home” videoed and recorded on a moving bus you can find on YouTube, and not one single overdub was made. What you see or hear is exactly what was played as we were headed down the road trying not to fall over.

How would you say this new album differs from your previous releases in terms of musical direction or style?

For this album, I think we really leaned even more heavily into the Americana side of things, which the band has so naturally progressed into. Between Mick’s slide guitar parts and Russel on the melodica, as well as melodically how the songs seemed to present themselves, we really have found our sound and originality in this album. We’ve also not concerned ourselves too much with putting our music into a box style-wise and just let the sound that felt best for the song be the inspiration, which has really opened our eyes to what the band is capable of and sort of has furthered our hunger for the next step and really keeps us pushing for more.

Are there any collaborations on the album that you’re particularly excited about? What was special about working with these artists or producers?

One collaboration we’re particularly stoked about has been working with Deegan Adams and Little Warrior Productions. In the past, we have worked with some very talented producers but have not had nearly the connection, commitment or passion that we have received from Deegan, and having someone on the team that believes in the project as much, or even sometimes more than we do, can make all of the difference. As an artist, it is already such a big thing to put yourself out there and advocate for your ability and sound or even relevance to the industry. Deegan has made it possible to still believe that sticking to our authentic and original sound is the way to go and that we’re just getting started.

What do you hope your audience experiences or takes away from listening to this new album?

This album, to me, is very music-forward. I hope the listeners after hearing tracks like “Long As You Like,” “The Drive Home” and “Every Little Thing” will walk away impressed with the instrumentation and musicianship of this band. What has been most impressive to me, and what I am hoping stands out to listeners as well, is how tight this band and these tracks are as a whole. Every bit of our instrumentation was very intentional, whether it was a first-time take in a live setting or a parted-out solo taking the emotion of the song to a whole new level. It’s really an amazing phenomenon.

Touring can often impact how songs evolve or resonate differently live versus recorded. How do you anticipate performing this new material live, and do you think the live setting will alter how the songs are received?

I love this question, because it’s spot on. We have so many recordings in previous albums that we walked away from the studio buzzing about, and then over the years since have completely revolutionized the song as a band and love the way it’s played now even more. That being said, this new material is probably part of a project that the band and I have been playing the most of out of any other project in the past, so I don’t so much see our live performances being too drastically different than the album versions. I just expect for them to get tighter and tighter with each performance and more familiar with the audience with each passing gig.

When crafting a setlist for your shows, especially with new material involved, what considerations or creative choices go into deciding the flow and energy of your concerts?

So much of building our setlists typically depends on the audience, location, venue and event. It almost seems like we never play the same set more than once. We really do love to tailor our show individually to make sure it’s hitting hard not only musically, but emotionally with the audience as well. Sometimes we break it down for a couple of acoustic songs with just my wife and I for a real intimate, punch-you-in-the-gut tug at your heartstrings kind of sound, and sometimes we skip that altogether and keep the energy high and the band grooving. As much as it would be much easier on everyone, including myself, to just have one setlist and be able to recite it in our sleep, I really enjoy critically diving deep into what’s needed for each show, and I think that keeps our performances interesting. You’re hard-pressed to see an identical Alex Lucero Band show no matter how many you attend.

What aspect of this upcoming tour and album cycle excites or challenges you most as an artist?

I think as an artist what excites and challenges me most about this upcoming tour is how much we as a band have really thrown ourselves into — for lack of a better term — doing the damn thing. We are all giving up time and individual commitments to dive headfirst into a collective original project, which, I suppose, makes me feel like the stakes couldn’t be higher. I have four other members that are putting their trust and faith into the music, and so, in-turn, they’re putting their trust and faith in me, which is definitely a feeling I don’t know that I ever really anticipated when I decided to make this music dream of mine a reality. I am so excited to hit the road with these four bandmates, because I know what we’re capable of musically and personally, and I can’t wait to share it. This is about to be the trip of a lifetime, and I really feel like this might be the first of many for The Alex Lucero Band.

Looking ahead, how do you see your musical style and ambitions evolving after the release of this album and the subsequent tour?

After the release of this album and subsequent tour, I really just feel like the sky’s the limit for the band and I. This has been the first project with all of the current members, and it feels really great to be able to have something tangible that aligns with what we can do on stage. To say that we are all really motivated and committed to the music/band/project is such an understatement. I mean, the band group chat is at a constant. Whether we’re talking music, sending memes, having sticker wars from the weekend’s pictures, or sending potential setlists we’ll inevitably change, we’re all basically talking all day long if we’re not already on stage together, so we’ve become very close, and I think that really makes a difference not only with our musical performances, but also our potential as a whole. There is not another group of dudes (and one dudette) I would rather spend my time with even just personally, so to add that such amazing music comes out of this group is such a plus. It definitely further fuels my personal ambition.In fact, sometimes I think I want to “make it” more for this group than for myself, which is a killer place to be.

You signed with the Funktasy Booking Agency in 2025, and already several shows have been booked. How has working with Funktasy impacted your planning and momentum for this tour?

I’m so glad you asked this question. It really has been such a killer experience having some professional backing and a booking agency like this in my corner. It’s one thing to be the artist who believes in the craft and is willing to push for a chance to deliver the project in a live-setting, but it’s another thing entirely to have an agency – especially one with such awesome people to work with – that is willing to put their name behind it and reach out to these incredible venues promising to deliver what I know we can. There have already been some booking inquiries/negotiations that I was not super savvy with that Niko and the team took the time not only to oversee the booking deals and the business end of it, but took the time to personally check with myself and the band on multiple occasions to make sure we were comfortable with how things would play out and that we felt good about the outcome. I would say this was one of my concerns going into my first time signing with an agency. Funktasy has more than put my mind at ease, and it is clear that they care not just about where the cards fall from a business perspective, but from a personal point of view as well. The momentum that’s already building from this collaboration has made me very excited for what’s to come.

The anticipation is truly building for the album to drop in our laps and the tour to hit the road, as it is obvious that Alex Lucero and his band are as motivated as ever to demonstrate their skill and guile on the national stage. Whether it be in the studio or on stage, the group is one of the stand out performers in the Americana genre, definitely not to be missed this upcoming summer.

Their tour kicks off in Chicago on August 5th, passing through New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware, West Virginia, before returning home in California throughout September and October.

If you would like to catch or book the Alex Lucero Band live, get all the information on Funktasy’s artist page, here.