- The following program was made possible by Bonfils Stanton Foundation and viewers like you.

- So, basically, when we went on tour with the FlowBots, that's basically what I guess planted the seed of where we are today.

- All right, so just like stealing members of the band.

We all know that Kenny O is the drummer in FlowBots.

- Yeah, that's one way of looking at it.

[Music] - Hello, Hi-Dive, and welcome to Sounds on 29th.

Let me hear you.

[Cheering] It is my pleasure to introduce 2MX2.

Without a doubt, one of the best bands in Colorado, one of the most hardworking bands in Colorado, and also without a doubt, the band with the best drummer in Colorado, Kenny O.

[Cheering] You right there.

This band is made up of a bunch of hardworking folks who decided to get together and make authenticity a pledge that they share with every album, every song, and every show.

It is a real pleasure and a treat to be able to share this incredible display with y'all and a band that has so many important things to say and so many stories that we all need to share.

So, with that, please make some noise for 2MX2.

[Music] [Singing in Spanish] - Hi-Dive, want you can put your hands together for our guitarist, Adrian Gray.

[Cheering] - Who are your inspirations, like when you were young, early on?

You don't have to speak for the whole band, just for y'all.

- Well, for me personally, my father was probably my biggest inspiration.

He's very creative.

He would wake up every morning, play his guitar, sing.

He has a beautiful voice.

And that was just kind of my daily routine.

I would wake up to this and it was beautiful.

And I recall it, and it kind of sits in the back of my-- As I grew up, it sat in the back of my consciousness.

I would listen to Selena, I would listen to Mexican folk music all the time, cumbias, stuff like that.

And of course, hip hop.

I grew up in Denver, Five Points, and my sister was just always listening to hip hop.

So, I grew up to hip hop as well.

And that's kind of where it came from, I think, for me.

- My dad would just wake me up in the summer and say, "Get a job,” when I was a kid.

That's beautiful.

What kind of music was your father playing?

- Oh, man.

He loved the Mexican folk stuff.

Yeah.

- Oh, and how about for you?

- It was actually my cousin, Juice.

Yeah.

He started rapping.

I'd like to say I started him rapping because I gave him an instrumental CD for his birthday one year, and he started to write his own raps to people's music, and people would-- When he would recite them, I would just see people's reactions and I would just be like, they really like that.

He's special.

And so, I was like, "hey.” I was showing them off to all my friends.

And one day, he's just like, "I'm tired of you showing me off.

Let me just show you how to rap.” And so, he taught me how to rap, and the rest is history, basically.

[Music] [Singing in Spanish] [Cheering] - So, who is other musicians that you all looked up to in this?

So, you mentioned Selena, you mentioned Bone Thugs, but like who are some other folks that kind of helped shape y'all sound and that you look up to?

- Definitely Residente.

He was the emcee in Calle Tresa, and then he did his own thing, Residente.

Such an incredible lyricist and just artist in general.

Gosh.

People like Bob Marley.

I like Amy Winehouse, Tyler, the creator.

I feel like I pull from so many different places, and definitely local bands too, you know, like The Reminders.

Anytime I see their show, I promise, I'm in tears.

They are so healing.

It's crazy how much healing they do just through being themselves on stage.

It's incredible.

- So, we talked about Owen a bit, but what led to your-- you getting to the point where you're on the stage, where you're doing your own albums and your own projects?

- Well, I went to-- OK, so I was going to school.

When I was going to go to college, it was going to be for creative writing because I've always been a writer.

I love creative writing, poetry, all of that.

And when I was sitting in the admin office with my mentor and they asked me what I wanted to do, I surprised us all and I said music.

And I don't know where it came from.

I think that's all the subconscious things in the background.

I think I always hid it from myself.

I knew I loved music, but I didn't allow myself to believe I could actually do it until that moment.

And in that moment, I was like, I want to do music.

And so, I did music business so I could kind of understand, you know, the playing field, I guess.

And that's where it kind of started officially, I suppose.

- So, it was almost like a secret wish.

- Yes.

- And then, in that moment, you had to declare it.

- Yes.

- Wow.

That's beautiful.

- Thank God for that.

[Laughter] - And 2MX2 just threw me in the fire, you know, because I didn't have any performance.

- She cooked very well.

- So, then how did you come into the picture?

- I met Owen in college, actually, in music law class, and he needed help because he was absent a lot.

[Laughs] And so, I would take notes, and give it to Owen, and go to their shows, check out their music, and just slowly kind of organically, we started writing together.

Yeah.

- And then, we got the opportunity with the FlowBots and the whole citywide statewide tour with The Detour.

And that was just the biggest training session for us as, you know, now workshop facilitators and musicians.

It was cool.

[Music] [Singing in Spanish] - Hi-Dive, make some noise.

[Cheering] - What would you say kind of is the message of the band?

- We pull from our own experiences and our own communities.

So, when we see immigration things going on, they find their way into our music.

When we see police brutality stuff going on, it finds its way into our music where I feel like keeping it alive, like the storytelling, the passing down of information in a creative way, in our own way.

And we hope that in doing that, we inspire others to also just live their authentic creativity in whatever way it comes through.

- And we're all about renewing things, too, because, you know, there's a lot of old-- For example, we do a lot of traditional Cumbia music into the new space, into hip hop.

And it's stuff we grew up with.

So, I feel like we are trying to keep that alive in the next generation of music listeners.

So, we combine a lot of old with the new, and it just becomes our own.

- All right.

Well, talking about your own, 2MX2 goes back to the Aztec calendar.

Can you talk about that a little bit and like the cycles of change?

- Yeah.

Well, I mean, that's where our name came from.

So, we began in 2012.

We used to be-- Our group name was 2012.

And in 2012, we realized we were expired, that our name was expired.

So, then, we were like, well, how are we going to continue to do this but still-- And the reason we chose 2012 is because it there was that doomsday prophecy of the Mayan calendar.

And then, we were talking-- We were kind of flipping the idea of it being the beginning of something new.

And that's when we decided to change it to 2MX2 so that we could, one, be easily found on Google.

So, you know-- And then, two, to just have something that is unique, you know?

So, 2MX2 is the combination of the Roman numerals 2012 and the regular numbers 2012.

[Singing in Spanish] [Cheering] - What are your favorite venues?

What are your favorite places to go see a show?

What's your favorite place to perform?

- To perform, Levitt is always fun.

I just love the outdoors.

That's awesome.

To see a show, Red Rocks, of course, is in there.

I like Ophelia's, just because of the vibe in there.

It's really nice.

Can you think of any?

- Those are my two favorites.

Red Rocks is my favorite to see, but we haven't played there yet.

I'm assuming that's going to be our favorite to play once we get there.

It's a dream on its way, a dream coming true soon.

And then Levitt Pavilion, it's so cool to see there.

And then, they treat people-- They treat the artists performing really good.

- You all have a unique kind of business model.

You do as many shows at venues as you do at schools, right?

- One of our passions is to inspire the youth that's in the schools, and give them a show they've never seen, and do it in a way that makes them feel like maybe they could do it too.

- What's the difference between a show that you do at school and a show that you'll be doing at the Hi-Dive?

- I guess the choice of songs.

[Laughter] Yeah, yeah.

The choice of songs, and then we don't cuss very much in our records, so that's not difficult, but we definitely do more motivational songs at schools.

So, we have set lists for both.

- So, who are your peers in this scene?

Who are some of the folks that you consider to be, that you're sharing stages with all the time?

Who are ones that you have a friendly rivalry with?

And then, last, who are some people you just really want to shout out and give appreciation and their flowers to in this scene?

- I'd say we do a lot of shows alongside Naoma, the Mañanas.

We always do a lot of shows with the Mopochetes, the Mopochetes.

FloBots has been nice to perform with as well.

The Reminders.

Yeah, so, that's usually kind of like our-- who we're riding alongside with.

Friendly rivalry, I would say the Mopochetes.

We're often being-- You know, they either call the Mopochetes or they call 2MX2.

- That's true.

- And they'll tell us, "Hey, so we called the Mopochetes, and they said to call you guys.” And we're like, "All right.” And then, we do the same.

You know, if we're not available, we're like, "Call the Mopochetes.

They'll be a good second choice."

- Shout out to the family.

Shout out to the ancestors for always being there with us and giving us all these gifts.

So appreciative.

- Thank you all so much.

The city of Denver loves y'all.

- Yeah, we love Denver.

- Well, thank you so much.

- Yeah, thank you.

- Hi-Dive, y'all have been great.

[Music] [Singing in Spanish] [Cheering] - Denver, make some noise.

[Cheering] - Thank you all.

- Thank you once again.

We are the group 2MX2.

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Visit pbs12.org/programsupport and donate today.