ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The inaugural Heartland Awards have two Southwest Kansas bands nominated in multiple categories, with one of them being Dodge City-based Thunderbird Hotel.

The group was formed in 2021 after brothers Hugo Hernandez and Alonso Carranza discussed creating a blend of their biggest musical influences. Local singer Orlando Galvan was later invited to do the band’s lead vocals, and Dwight Imel eventually took on the percussion role. As Hernandez tells it, it took a lot of work for everyone to come together.

“The band is actually derived from other projects Orlando and I have done, and he and I have done a lot of music projects in Southwest Kansas,” Hernandez said. “After a while, my brother was kind of starting to get into music himself and was picking up guitar and bass. There was one day he told me ‘I would really love to start a band,’ and I always thought it would be cool to start a band with my own brother. We initially started as a three-piece ensemble with me, him and a drummer friend of ours who had played also in other projects. We realized with us three alone, we didn’t sound that great, so we ended up bringing Orlando to the group after I asked him, "Would you be up to play in one more project that’s kind of rock and roll, very alternative grunge style of music?’ and he said, ‘Yes, let's do it.’”

Hernandez said he and the group were excited to get word about their Heartland Awards nominations.

“I told the guys about it, and right off the bat, we were very surprised by the whole thing. We didn't know anything about it, and I explained it to them how the Heartland Awards was kind of a new thing, and my brother was very stoked about the whole thing,” Hernandez said. “Orlando is a rather timid person and doesn’t really draw a lot of attention to himself, so he was super surprised, but he's one of the most talented vocalists I've heard. I've been in the music scene for about 15 or 16 years now, and we've gotten to travel all over the state and surrounding states and gotten to know a lot of great musicians, so it's an honor to be nominated. We don't know who nominated us or who voted for us, but since we got this far, we’re grateful for those who did.”

And since the group has only been together a few years, Hernandez said that makes the nominations more special.

“This has been like our favorite project that we've been a part of, and we feel a lot more creative in this project because the projects we've been involved with before are heavier styles of music,” Hernandez said. “Back in the day, we probably would have played heavier styles of music because we had that youth and this energy but now, it feels like we can calm down and explore different options, which has been super great. In the last few years, we've gotten to release what we would consider pretty good music, very marketable, very easy to listen to, and we've created some really good traction with this band in just a few years. We've gotten to play with some pretty you know awesome bands, even some signed bands. It's cool how people like our music and how we've created some traction and some cool opportunities out of it.”

Joey Dean & the Dry River Band is the other Southwest Kansas group among the nominees, and Hernandez said he is proud to be another part of that Southwest Kansas representation.

“We didn't know until Joey [LaBelle] messaged us saying "Hey, congratulations on this!’ and I remember we were all thinking ‘Okay ...’ because we were king of confused. But then we looked at our Facebook page and saw a message there from Savannah Chestnut, the lady in charge of everything, and we think it’s really neat,” Hernandez said. “Joe’s a good friend of ours who we've known for quite some time, and we’ve even done some shows together, and I remember he told me ‘I hope one of us takes it to represent Western Kansas.’ In Southwest Kansas, we tend to get put in this little pocket area, so it’s cool to have representatives from the area and part of this whole initiative.”

Along with preparing for the awards ceremony, Hernandez said he and the group are hard at work.

“Usually during this time of the year, we try to take a little bit of a break and kind of focus on writing new material, and hopefully, we'll be getting a music video going for a song we have unreleased at the moment,” Hernandez said. “We’re working on that, and we’re also working on hopefully picking up some gigs starting in 2027. It's harder for us to travel as much this time of year because of weather and the holidays and everything else, so right now, we're taking it easy. We stayed pretty busy this whole year with performances, so right now is a good time for us to take a breather. We're excited to create something you know new and fresh and maybe try some new ideas we haven't gotten to explore as far as like sounds and tones and some different influences we haven't explored yet. We've even thought about possibly inviting a friend of ours who plays keyboards and joining the band, but that’s still just in discussion at the moment.”

Overall, Hernandez said, the future looks pretty bright.

“We just appreciate the recognition, and hopefully this will give an opportunity for more folks to maybe check out our music, we’re on all the streaming platforms so people can check us out,” Hernandez said. “Give us a follow, and check us out at a at a show near you!”