Higuera is a Los Angeles based rock band with members from every corner of California, from Ventura County and Northern California to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas east of I-99. Every member contributes differently to the texture of the band’s sound, but the basis around which all of these influences form is the songwriting of singer and guitarist Valley Taylor.
Taylor grew up in rural central California, in a setting far from the bustle of Los Angeles or the Bay Area where the other members were raised. As a child he was homeschooled and spent most of his time at church or in his bedroom alone writing songs, having only worship music to draw inspiration from. He did not listen to pop radio or experience much of pop culture until his late teens, when he left home to spend a year traveling to the east coast and back, working odd jobs and writing songs with his friends.
Taylor continued this lifestyle for years, living various lives as son, husband, and friend, many roles that were short-lived and quietly ended in more songs and more paths to travel. These songs deal with life, love, and loss, but the thread that runs through all of them is the act of leaving. Leaving your home, constantly leaving people and places discovered in your travels, leaving a lover.
For a while, Valley fronted a respected Central Valley hardcore band and performed these songs, but eventually, it was again time to leave, and he moved to the Los Angeles area in early 2013 to form a new band. Kyle Gibson was quickly recruited and became Taylor’s partner in the project, feeling compelled to share these songs with people.
Throughout five years, several lineups, and several hundred shows in the Los Angeles area and throughout the west coast DIY circuit, songs that were born around rivers in the Midwest or old houses in North Carolina have found their home being performed in endless places, from house shows in Simi Valley to backyards in Houston under the glow of Fourth of July fireworks, from the Silverlake Lounge in the fog of the L.A. basin to frozen basement shows in Portland. The sound of the band has evolved, but what remains are performances that are raw and hard-hitting, with a classic and familiar sense of arrangement that is equally at home on large stages and at DIY house shows. This working-class approach to pop songwriting is unique in modern music - the songs are catchy and well written but the sonics are informed by a working-class sensibility one can only gain from working hard and playing hard music.
This working-class American attitude is obvious in a song of the band’s called “Blue Collar, Blue Blood”, which has become somewhat of a mantra for the band. Gibson and Taylor have been known to spend days cleaning pools in wealthy neighborhoods of Los Angeles in the summer heat, only to then pack up their gear and play three or four shows a week in the San Fernando Valley or over the hill in Hollywood.
Having focused on playing shows, working and traveling, the band has been notoriously absent in releasing music publicly. Eventually, it became time to rectify this, so Higuera’s nomadic spirit took them away from home to the Bay Area for the better part of a year, working on a debut release. The additions of members Tyler Way playing bass, Brendan Gibson playing guitar and synth, and Owen Rogers drumming have solidified their lineup for 2017 and beyond, and Higuera is looking forward to releasing music and continuing to perform these songs live.