Salinas musician Alejandro Gomez, known by his stage
name Flaco El Jandro or "Skinny Alex," is no stranger to NPR's Tiny Desk Contest, or KAZU. He first dropped by our studios in 2023 after submitting his original song "Nadie" or "Nobody" in the NPR Music Contest that year. Since then, Gomez graduated from the CSUMB music program and toured around Europe with rock musician Chuck Prophet and his band. Now he's submitted a new original tune, "Cobarde" or "Coward," to this year's Tiny Desk Contest. It's an upbeat tune that features flavors of Cumbia and Tejano music. I stopped by Gomez's music studio in Salinas recently and he told me what the song "Cobarde" is all about:
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
"It's kind of talking about how it's hard for me (for certain people) to say the things that we're afraid to say to certain people — certain special people in our lives, who are either here or not here. I like to think about it as that phone call that you know that you have to make, but you're really scared of making. So it's easier to retract and be a coward about it than it is to face it up front."
Click the audio player at the top of this story to listen to the interview or read the highlights below.
Flaco El Jandro on entering the Tiny Desk Contest since 2023 and why he keeps submitting his original songs every year:
"This is my fourth [submission]. The first one we filmed at CSUMB, the second one we did at my friend's thrift store in Watsonville, the third one we did at Pop & Hiss, which is a record store in Pacific Grove, and then this one ["Cobarde"] we just took it back home and filmed it at my drummer's ranch in Prunedale.
Dylan Music: "So is [the winner] going to be announced in April?"
Flaco El Jandro: "I think so. I mean, to be honest, I never enter the contest with the idea of trying really hard to win, or the idea that we're going to win. I kind of just use it as a means to an end to create something really cool, because it gets everybody excited, and everybody's a lot more committed to the project if they know that we're working towards some kind of goal. If we win or whatever recognition that we get, amazing, but I think the true payoff for me is to have been able to make such amazing videos and create such great moments with my band and with my friends. To me, that's the real payoff."
Flaco El Jandro on why heartbreak songs are his specialty:
"I think that, unfortunately, some of the best art and music comes from places of pain. Not to romanticize pain in any kind of way, but that's just the way it is. And it's always been like that for me, because I've always used music as a form of therapy, you know, because it's helped me with all of my problems in my life. If I can use that to heal myself and to help heal other people, then that's really what it's all about. "
Flaco El Jandro submitted his original song, "Cobarde" in NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. The winner will be announced in April. In the meantime, the single comes out on Friday, Feb.13. That same day, he is performing with other musicians in the show "Luv Sux," an annual anti-Valentine's Day concert in Salinas at Heirloom Pizza.