Chris Perez Opens About Selena, Talks 'Selena' Netflix Series, Relationship w/ Dad + More

at last we meet finally chris it's been uh it's been a long time coming man it's been a long time and i'm really looking forward to it man i have a question do you age yes i do believe it or not you still you actually look younger than me well i don't know what how old you are but i know how old i am but no i mean yeah i you know it's it's it's 52 years flies by bro i'll tell you that i'm gonna check your birth certificate in just one second i still get carded yo we're back it's the one and only at last we are here this has been the most requested interview on all of my youtube channel for quite some time and i'm finally glad to give all you fans the interview that you have been asking for i am joined here by the one the only every latinas man crush monday this man right here grab your award winner i had yeah chris perez how are you doing today i'm good man i'm i'm excited about today and uh tomorrow's event and to be sitting here with you man thank you have you ever heard the term mcm man crush one day i have but i've never associated myself with that so yeah no i mean so you know there's so much to unpack so much to dig into uh really excited about having you here so let's just get started the name of the show is called nothing beats experience uh obviously it goes without saying right you have plenty of experience how did it get started for you uh you know how did your musical journey begin when did you get bit by the bug um i love music as far back as i can remember you know and um i think a huge part of it comes from uh the beginnings of it was my mother of course and uh thankfully she listened to a lot of different styles of music it wasn't just one thing so through osmosis i kind of picked up a lot of different uh sounds and techniques and and whatnot in my head so by the time i was maybe 10 years old is when i uh started learning how to read and write music um but in in in those first 10 years i mean my school was my mom especially on weekends you know she would do when she would do her house cleaning chores she would play like uh tchaikovsky and different uh symphonic pieces and that's when i got my classical trainings and then in the mornings on the way to school during the week it was pop radio so if it you know there was an a fm wasn't even really big back then um but am stationed there was there was one in san antonio that played pop music and i would hear that on the way to school which uh disco was pretty popular at the time so it was a lot of that kind of stuff and um you know then my cousin who i would spend weekends with uh on my dad's side of the family kenny um him and his older sister my cousin tammy they were into like the cars and um ariel speedwagon and loverboy like the first records those guys were doing and so i would get my rock fixed with them as a matter of fact my cousin kenny's the first time i've ever heard van halen who is like my hero was my cousin showed it to me you know and i just was never the same after so from your recollection what is the first song that you remember that was like that you fell in love with like the first song that just made you go this is it um if there was one song man i i i don't know if there's one one song in particular um i i go through phases like i i will find a song or song will hit me in a certain way and that's the only song i'll listen to back to back to back to back to back until one day it's just like okay it's time to move on you know and then i won't listen to it again for a long time i think i'm the same way but just in terms of like your musical influences because you know i'm i'm aware that you know you're a big fan of van halen iron maiden ozzy kiss you know like so like you having such a a rock influence in in you know your musicality it always tripped me out to know like eventually you went on to play you know stay out of music and everything yeah you know we'll get into that in a second but i just before i ask you that i want to know because obviously you're a guitarist right right do you have a mount rushmore of guitar players i do um and i can i can i can rattle the names off but before i do i will say that like there are just so many um i don't think one is better than the other it's just how they influenced me that's how i how i would put them on that mountain you know what i mean and so of course having said that it'd be eddie van gaan would be my george washington um jakey lee had me in a chokehold for a while carlos santana knew no bettencourt from extreme man i could just keep going and going there's a randy rhodes of course um and that's where i started you know what i mean and those are like guitar players guitar players um there's also guitarists that i really love and admire because of their playing not so much that but also because of their songwriting and the the other four that i mentioned eddie jake nuno um like santana right and santana i mean you know they they especially eddie and nuno they're they're known for their songwriting as well so but then there's other guitar players like richie sambora from bon jovi especially neil shawn from journey i mean those guys were huge influences on me in more ways than just guitar playing you know like i would learn their i started to learn the craft of songwriting through guys like that you know what i mean when i would hear eddie it was more about the tone and the playing and the technique and and being a guitar player and those other guys helped to open up the door of the songwriting thing you know and also i think for me it was a hang up was uh i just thought a a band should sound the guitar should sound like van halen in a band you know what i mean in which i didn't realize at the time being so young i didn't realize how uh uh original his his plane was you know i love the sound of it i love how he played but as far as how he played in the in the in the song like the other you know the guitar solo might be 15 20 seconds long if that but there's another three minutes to the song and eddie's doing some incredible stuff you know during that and then that taught me the respect uh for the song you know what i mean so but it was it was a long road to to learn and to try to put the pieces together and um so so at what what age did you realize that you were actually good at playing the guitar like i don't i don't think i don't think for me i know i can get the job done but in my mind to say that about myself man i'd have to be ten times better than i am right now you know there's always that uh you know you do something and you move on and you're happy with it but you move on you don't i don't sit there and uh re-kind of relive it you know and it it's cool when you let some time go by like the other day i was in an airplane and uh flying back from new york and i hadn't heard my my first uh chris bettis band cd in a really long time like i had played the songs live in different versions of musicians and whatever i had played them but i hadn't heard it like what i had recorded what i had done what you know what we i guess won the grammy for was that album and i was on the plane and i just popped it on like i'm just jamming you know and i sat there like freaking out on everybody's performances just uh reminiscing on the process who played on the record you know i mean i had a sting's drummer vinnie collier to play drums on the whole thing i had cheap cheap tricks showed up and they ended up singing background vocals on one of my songs um you know luis gaunt that played percussion who's played with everybody from you know back in the day he played with everybody you know including madonna and artists like that so to be able to play with people like that it just like the better the musicians you play with the the more and the faster you grow you know what i mean i like playing with musicians that are obviously way better than me because that's where the growth happens you know if you're the best player in the room when it's kind of hard you can grow in other ways like i can continue to grow in sitting in my studio or in my bedroom and practicing i can grow that way but as far as being in a room with other people playing music um like the real growth happens when you're playing with people that are just they elevate your game yeah and there's a certain understanding you know so maybe on that level i think i'm good like i my attitude is not normally it's not about me it's like i want to hear you you know i want to hear you i want to hear you i don't necessarily need to hear myself gotcha and we'll get to the grammar here in a second but i guess let me rephrase the question it was not so much when you realized that you were good but when you started developing that self belief that confidence that like this is something i want to do did you form a band in school did you have like a you know where this story began in terms of like it being a career high school was it um yeah no it didn't actually it didn't really start until i got out of high school and i started playing music uh i guess we'll say professionally which always sounds weird to me like i still like to you know i play music but um then i'm fortunate enough to make a living at it but uh back then when i was 17 i was still really self-esteem issues self-confidence things like that i was one of those guys that you you know if we were friends and you went to the garage and you heard our band whatever band i was in at the time playing i would let loose a lot more there and whatever as opposed to being in front of people i didn't know it was just awkward weird you know because being on stage is completely different than sitting in your room and practicing or being in the garage with your boys and you know and that took some getting used to but i honestly like where i could really relax and be myself i would say 100 was probably with selena with the genos because that band was so um like all the bases were covered yeah there was just the guitar spot that was open so i got to feel that you know what i mean and to have the talent around that that i had um obviously selena included i mean it's just it just felt like butter yeah it was a group of like i always say it was a group of musical geniuses in my opinion you know just everybody was musically inclined and i think that's why i asked you a little while ago like you having such a rock influence did you ever envision eventually playing what is you know tejano music no i i it never it happened by accident you know and and in my mind it was temporary um you know but then things just started happening um i you know gigs started popping up with the bands i was in and it made it harder and harder to get out you know because my dream was was once i graduated from high school was i wanted to be in a band and and um and quote unquote make it in the rock scene that was my dream and but there was no money really i couldn't survive on just that and so i had odd jobs you know i even worked in the library once for for for a period of time and i would save up what i could and on top of paying my bills you know i would buy my little pieces of gear here and there but i could never i never really felt like um i couldn't compete because all the other guys that i knew that were in my age bracket they had the support i guess that i didn't have because my family on my mom's side uh nobody had ever made a decent living being a musician and it scared the [ __ ] out of pardon my french it's scary it scared you know my my my mom especially because of the stories you know you see the movies of the all the trappings that come with especially playing rock you know unfortunately what people think and i'm not gonna lie uh they are out there you know and and there's lessons to be learned inside all of that as well some people can get away with it some people don't some people get in trouble some people learn hard lessons all that was going on with me at 17 18 19 but at the same time having the attitude of being invincible i guess as only a teenager can have you know what i mean when you get older it's like you know better but back then it was like that so the gear that i had was not up to par by any means to to do what i felt i needed to do and it was embarrassing to me to tr like why would i go out and play with all my gear that was sub normal you know and then there'd be other bands there with marshall half stacks and all the latest um electronic gear and midi controlled this and you know what i mean it was just like it was as a 17 18 year old you know it can be really scary and embarrassing to even think about putting yourself out there so what happened was i i lived with my dad at the time we shared in apartments two bedroom two bathroom whatever and i was home one night and uh i happened to be like i always was back then i wasn't really out partying or nothing i was practicing and i was uh in my room of playing along to a record and trying to learn parts and whatnot and there was a knock on my door it was my dad and he was just standing the door you know when you when you can feel somebody has something to say and uh so i stopped playing okay what's up you know and uh we just ended up having this conversation about i don't know what it was i didn't even plan it i didn't i wasn't thinking this i mean i had been thinking it but i wasn't thinking about i gotta have this talk with my dad it was just inside of me just this uh conversation with myself but for some reason when i was talking to my dad i just started telling him and the conversation was what i just told you you know about being embarrassed i don't have the gear and it's and i even i i think i even said like is this all there is man like i just want to know like am i gonna just have odd jobs here and there and play music because i love it like as a night gig and that's it you know um and to his credit man you know um there's a lot that has been i shouldn't say there's a lot but there's some things that i have said you know about not having a dad growing up or whatever but he was there when it [ __ ] counted man 100 and uh so he just basically we had this conversation when he i guess he saw the look in my you know that i was that i had and the way i was talking and he said um well what is it that you need you know and i was like i had never gotten that support so i still didn't believe it you know i i was like ah it's just way too much what i was like no what is it that you need like let's research it let's let's talk about it boy i had catalogs laid out all over the floor magazines and you know and i made my i didn't i didn't put everything on there but i put the bare bones you know what i mean of what i would have like what i needed to show up and do what i needed to do in front of everybody and so i made my list of a few things and he's he looked at it and he said let's get it let's get it and then just pay me back with you know in time like no rush no nothing whatever and from when when the minute that those pieces of gear came in it was up it was it was a uh i was on an upward arm doorstep yeah and and maybe maybe the thing is that the hang up wasn't me maybe i really didn't need that gear so maybe there's a lesson to be learned there but in my mind that was my hang up yeah maybe i always had that talent but i didn't feel like i could present it in the right way unless i had that stuff gotcha so let's fast forward so you talk about celino los dinos and how that's where you felt the most comfortable in terms of your musicality was right up to that point where you really felt not so much the most controversial but up to that point yeah where you were that was your first real you know situation where now you're comfortable how long did it take you to feel really comfortable with the band that happened pretty quickly because everybody was super cool um and i had also in the band previous to that one shelly right yeah we had played we had played um a number of selena songs like that was her inspiration i believe like the way i remember it is that was kind of what shelly was shooting for you know what i mean and what she had with us um so i took those records home you know back when they were still with manny and whatnot the dinos and uh and i like i i i ate i breathed i like i slept that music you know what i mean and i listened to everything and and back then it's a little different now you have the record and so you can see all the credits where it was recorded even the address of the the studio and you know the lineup who played what who wrote what all that stuff was on there and um so when i joined the band i mean i was already real familiar it was like and it was night and day because i used to play the songs with the other band with shelley but then when i was playing with the dinos it's like i had learned them note for note like literally note for note um roger garcia who's the guitar player before i was there and jesse vara but roger like he believe it or not all those other guitar players i mentioned earlier roger's a freaking he's a huge one to me um he might freak out if he hears that but i've told him i'm like dude like i learned everything you ever did i learned how you did it um i i cop the sound because i didn't want to join the band and for it to sound when they played their old stuff i wanted it to sound like their old stuff you know what i mean i didn't come in trying to mark my spot or you know plant a flag so to speak i really wanted to show respect to what they had done in the past um but then when we started creating new music that was when i got to bring some of what i do to it but in a tasteful kind of way you know i'm not trying to squeeze eddie van halen licks in where they don't belong or whatever like my my main thing was the song you know and ricky vela the keyboard player for the dinos he's like a walking encyclopedia of musical greatness no joke man and i wouldn't be the guitar player i am or the musician that i am today if not for rick you know in los dinos yeah i mean you know i've had an opportunity to speak to pete you know i actually interviewed pete and you know he spoke a lot of great things about the experience that you guys had the one that you guys had and to to our culture right i've always felt you know you have elvis you have michael jackson you have the beatles to me selena and los dinos are in the same cup from the same milk in terms of just the magnitude i know for you being part of it it being i don't know if you feel that way so much because you look back and you lived it you know you lived that that era of music you guys did but to know that here we are 26 27. it's been a minute yeah dude yeah since i joined the band yeah yeah or since she passed yeah it's been about 26 27 years but you know the years that we were doing those records you know the capital emi stuff um there's a lot of a lot of really cool stuff that happens super fast yeah you know um and i'm just grateful to have been able to be a part of all that stuff you know because um it was just it was like for me i know different members of the group would have different uh experiences of it but for me it it was easy it was easy to be in the room with with that energy and that vibe and whether things were drawn from me or not i know that i drew a lot of stuff from everybody you know what i mean in in and i feel like with you and specific you have two two versions of it you have the musical side and then you have the personal side as well because obviously you and sadina went on to in my opinion whether or not you signed up for it or not kind of became like the first real power couple of our culture you know to me like looking back on it now it may have not been like that during the time but like it's like a whole nother level and i've and i and i've thought about what i wanted to ask you when i got in front of you and all i can think of was like man you know like you know you hear like the disney characters like cinderella snow white ariel princess jasmine to me selena's all that handsome you know in terms of legacy now and your prince charming man you know you really are like and i don't know if you ever wanted that responsibility but you are beloved by the fans and and i know you're appreciative of that but kind of speak to that kind of speak to the high regard that people view you as you know being yeah someone that was with selena you know well first off i'm grateful because that's something that has to be um that the fans have to it comes from them right so it's not anything i can i don't feel i have the power to perpetuate for it as a matter of fact i think it's kind of taken on a life of its own and in the beginning i mean man there's so much to say about all that stuff uh you know not to sugarcoat it but when she and i first started getting serious i mean it was hard there was a lot of shifting that i had to do emotionally and learn how to kind of navigate through certain waters like um you know that's why i think there's not a lot of video of her and i um of celine and i like holding hands or hugging or being loving with each other or just acting like a couple is because we had been kind of brainwashed seems to be too harsh of a word um maybe and and trained sounds kind of messy but we the way that we had come up in it it was like always i felt always like in the public eye keep it separate so that's why there's not a lot of video around that now behind the scenes of course there was a lot of that when there wasn't cameras around and not everybody had video phones camera phones back then so um i'm sure nowadays if we were going through what we were going through back then it would be a lot different and it would be documented on all kinds of platforms right so um it was really hard uh at first and it's funny because when it did come out that we were seeing each other or that we had gotten married or that i was her husband she was my wife it was the it felt like the exact opposite of what it is now in in in the sense that like i mean i'm sure a lot of your viewers uh have seen uh it's even on youtube like you know she's at the haunted music awards and she's thanking everybody and when she thanks me and i take this you know it's like it's funny to me you know what i mean it but at the time it hurt you know when she's thanking everybody and then she thinks her husband and you start hearing booze you know and then she flips it around like oh you wouldn't be booing it and so you know what i mean so that is how it was back then right so it's the way that it is now and i'm very grateful because that's something that i can't ask for or that i can't make happen that's something that her fans um have i'll say given to me you know because it is something that i'm very proud of and it was a super loving relationship and i'm very proud of everything that she's done the woman that that she was now it was back then and what she represents now and what she means to everybody now i mean it means a whole lot to me um so i'm grateful for that that they put me where they put me there like you said uh i'll just say they they put me as the you know the couple you know um you sit on a pedestal or or whatnot um i'm glad for that but it took like from her passing until maybe after the movie came out to where i started realizing that people were starting to get it you know what i mean because i didn't and and i i take some of the blame for that because i didn't you know i was very guarded i didn't talk a lot about it so how can i expect everybody to understand or to know what i was going through yeah and i think too because the reason i asked is that expectation level you know people hold you to this expectation of almost uh because you were in a relationship with selena but at the same time like you mentioned like you know you were guarded you didn't vocalize a lot of what it was that you felt and so and i and i and i for me just personally i would like to know like is it challenging or has it been hard because you know anytime you may go out in public you do a public appearance you hear of her or people put you know you know pictures or share memories of her to you and you know i know that it could be sensitive because you know at the end of the day it's still someone you love that you lost yeah i kind of want to get your perspective on that no that that that again that's another thing that has changed it used to be a drag you know um but in all honesty now like 100 straight up now it's a i can't say all the time i won't lie but 99 of the time it's it's a it's a happy thought it's a happy not a reminder because i live it every day but it's a happy uh moment that i get to share with somebody you know it didn't used to be that way um because it usually happens it doesn't every now and again it happens out of the blue but more times than not it happens at an event or if i'm if i'm at an event that you know so if i'm out and about i kind of expect it you know it's just it's a little weird when i'm in a situation where i'm not expecting it and then it happens and it usually doesn't have anything to do with another person it's more like um i'm thinking i'm i'm i'm in a certain mindset and i'm out with friends or whatever and we're eating and then all of a sudden by the sakumia comes on blasting on the system and it's like oh [ __ ] you know what i mean like it it kind of like it'll it'll it'll i get taken aback a little bit sometimes you know but then i look around and i see everybody's body moving and they're jamming you know what i mean that feeling goes away real quick so so let me ask you about the movie real quick you know we i was talking about our culture and i always say the one thing about like let's just say for example i say the culture i'm obviously referring to mexican-americans mexicans and latinos in general right uh i feel like the movie is part of everybody's top 10 collection now you know and it's part of our it's embedded in our in our culture now john ceda they did a phenomenal job of casting him and i know that you guys are still friends to this day am i right about that yeah yeah for sure how did i mean did you have anything to do with the casting game because y'all guys are he did a phenomenal job yeah look all i can do before i say what i'm gonna say about that is that the way i remember it right everybody i think i've heard different stories of who picked who or whatever what happened with me the way i remember it was i they they had a videotape that they made for me and i'm pretty sure it was gregory nava who we're also still friends you know montezuma esparza uh we talk you know the producer of the film um you know jacob the actor who played ab i mean a lot of the people that were on the on the cast and the crew were still really good friends especially john cena and myself obviously but the way i remember the that he got cast was they showed me a the director of the movie had made a video cassette with i remember four actors might have been six i don't know and i remember one was one was freddy rodriguez who i got to meet and we clicked really well um i want to say another was freddy prince jr oh wow and there was another guy um i'm not clear on his name so forgive me if i get it wrong is it danny lucci or something like that um and then john sata and and they were all like i didn't know the script but you know when you're doing a read or whatever on audition you're reading part of what might potentially be the script of whatever project you're auditioning for in this case the selena movie so i had just seen i like it like that with john and i just thought when i saw it i thought there was a uh an essence there that i wanted to be connected to you know what i mean and uh not really knowing that my pick was going to be the pit because i didn't know what the process was who else they were going to talk to if they were going to talk to anybody or if my pick was actually that important that whoever i picked was going to be the one i didn't know that so having said that it was john cedar the next thing i know i was in hollywood he was in hollywood they had set up a meeting at the sunset marquis and as soon as we met and started talking dude it wasn't even about the the movie we just right away started talking about music and i tripped out because he has the same musical taste that i do wow and we started talking about iron maiden judas priest and i'm laughing because john john when we start talking about it he'll start saying he'll start like singing like the you know whatever he's hilarious at that and he's actually a drummer oh wow um and now he's a guitar player it was a really good one you know and and i'm proud to say i started giving him his first lessons when he was uh doing the movie and um yeah from then on we just hit it off and it kind of took on a life of its own i guess and you know so i'm sure you obviously you've watched the movie so what would you say because obviously when you go in this this hollywood process of making a movie they consolidate the story they make it an hour and 20 an hour 30 minutes and they wave the hollywood wand over it right what would you say is the difference between the movie chris and the real chris dude i mean look i gotta i gotta take the i gotta take the fans perspective on this answer because i think the character chris in the movie and the real chris are really intertwined by this point you know what i mean but um you know it was uh again i mean i guess kind of going back to what you had asked earlier uh uh you know having to do with selena and myself and being a couple and whatnot even during the the making of the movie like i did i wasn't around i couldn't i couldn't for obvious reasons to me maybe maybe not obvious reasons to people that don't know me but i couldn't be around it it was just it was a few reasons it was a heavy vibe um i was up to um i was um trying to find ways to cope with the pain not feel the pain and it was a there was a lot of uh dark stuff going on that i was you know um doing right and so i think all of that combined uh it just i couldn't i couldn't go i couldn't i just didn't want to i didn't want to deal with it you know and it was even difficult sitting at a table with the family and the director and the producers and whatever and telling the story like i don't remember talking that much you know i remember them getting a lot of the things from the movie from the family not me because it was so um for me it was difficult to relive and to you know try to tell my side of the story that was just my way of coping and i understand 100 that not everybody is like that to some people i noticed actually talking about it and telling all these stories was 100 helpful to their healing process you know what i mean and and mad respect to them uh for handling it the way that they did i was a different i was in a different space i didn't i felt like like i wasn't ready to give to give yet you know what i mean and i felt like things were being taken at the time and so i just shut down you know i didn't talk very much about it and it was a it was just the way that it was back then you know um and interestingly enough um when we were we were in miami for uh that event um it was a billboard awards show that um there was that one that jennifer the j.lo did the tribute to selena where uh myself abe and suzette and rick actually were up there playing with her i don't know it was i forgot what songs we did but um so we're in miami and uh the director gregory was there from the movie right and so after we had performed uh carlos and i had you know we got back to the hotels real fancy hotel we went to the bar and you know the 20 drink kind of fancy for a shot on ice you know on the rocks but um so we went down to the to the bar and we were just kind of recapping how the night went and carlos you know he usually takes pictures so he was showing me what it was from the crowd perspective and whatnot and then here comes gregory nava the director of the of the movie and we're like hey what's up greg hey hugs and um hey you want something to drink yeah what are y'all drinking and so the three of us were sharing a drink and we just started chatting it up and and it he he said he was like yeah you know so we we ended up talking about the movie right and i don't know how he got there but we ended up there and uh he said yeah certain uh um about the love you know the the relationship that celine and i had in the movie that um there were certain uh people that wanted it uh downplayed you know that we're we're trying to to put that down which is odd because like as i was saying i wasn't really saying much about it in this when the script writing was being done but whatever was in the script at that time back then that there were certain people that wanted to downplay the love story and up play some other things and that gregory told them if we don't have a love story we don't have a movie and right then was when i snapped right then was was when in in some ways like the me that i am now was born like uh i got it you know but it took all that time to pass for me to be able to look backwards and see it i understand you know what i mean because when you're in the middle of it it's did it feel intrusive at that time did you feel like it was like not not in a negative way because this may sound wrong but kind of exploiting some of your personal space because it's like i don't want to relive this at the moment it was at the moment prior to all that no i mean it's it's a weird that's a it's a weird answer because i wanted to but the way i was feeling was i didn't necessarily believe that that was going to make it a better movie like it really didn't need to be in there because of how everything had played out leading up to that meaning our relationship from the beginning to when it was found out about to all the drama that was after that to even during our marriage you know what i mean it was kind of like i've never been one to try to ruffle any feathers or make any waves so just kind of go with the flow that was part of my thing too so i just kind of kicked back and and what happened happened have you seen the series at all yeah i've seen it what are your thoughts on that if you don't want me asking um that's like a two-sided question um i want the on the on the side well they're both honest they're both honest and i mean that's the thing is like everybody has their perspective but i choose to look at it from more of a diplomatic kind of standpoint you know um and i think that's the best way um on the one hand like i think that it's from the family it's selena related so it's helping to perpetuate to push forward her legacy and the music and the story right on the other hand uh in all honesty not being involved um i think i could have helped you know and and um to some they might have their reasons as to why maybe they didn't they felt they didn't need me to be a part of it and that's that's their prerogative you know um and at the end of the day i have to be okay with that i don't have to be i choose to be okay with that you know what i mean because in the end it's all about selena correct you know and it's all about again what she stood for and what she represented you know and she was all about family um 100 so i try to uh you know do my best at flying that flag because i know it helps uh push forward what she's left behind now that that i that i understand the position that i'm in which i didn't understand for a really long time as far as the fans perspective well you know and i appreciate you opening up and sharing this stuff with me because i know that like you mentioned it wasn't always something that you felt comfortable doing uh and i and i don't want to dig into any of the issues that may go on with you and the family but i do want to ask one question i'll leave it this here if things could be different do you wish they could be would be different if if they could be you talking about the family yeah with the family um more than that i think that one day hopefully soon it will be you know that's my um that's what i put out in the universe you know um i hope that um you know uh things can get worked out you know and i realize that everybody has their uh but more specifically that her family you know we all have our cross to bear and we all see things differently um and i just try to be as honest as i can in the whole situation through it all and that means if i'm at fault it you know for anything i'll be the first to admit it um and i would hope vice versa and it doesn't need to be done in a public forum you know what i mean it's it's private i still consider them family i still love them and i choose to put out into the universe that one day soon things will be [Music] back to normal so to speak i hope so too man let's go back to the grammy you know i told you i was going to bring it back yeah you know uh first off congratulations on that you know i think that that says a lot about you as a musician and it says a lot about chris and his legacy as well because like you mentioned prior to celina los dinos you had aspirations to be a musician right you had aspirations to to be a rock star so to speak right yeah and you you went on to live the dream you you you're part of the arguably the most iconic you know singer of all time yeah uh and then you went on and you had your album your success how validating was it for you to be able to not compare it because i don't ever want to compare to your previous success but to carve your own lane have your own group and win a grammy for your body of work what yeah it meant i mean like one that was like an unimaginable um thing that happened you know the people that i was uh that were in the same category as i were heavy hitters and all of them were inspirational to me in making my record so to have that record i made alongside those other cats and then to win it like it was awesome and it was [ __ ] up man you know what i mean like i was excited you know i was happy but then i was also kind of sad because it then it felt like a competition because then people got upset and and what's what's odd is it wasn't the other musicians everybody like most of them i knew we were friends and they called me or i saw them at the event and were congratulating me and whatnot and so and it was all cool like yeah this is great man yeah and then the next day in the press management from different camps or record label heads from different labels of those bands or whatever just started coming at me and coming at my crew like who's this dude and like his first record and whatever and then i was like oh and at the time i had really thin skin you know like now it's a lot thicker thing kind of bounce off me a little bit easier but back then it wasn't like that so um that hurt you know and it's like i guess in that situation or scenario speaking of the grammy it felt like i couldn't have my cake and eat it too gotcha you know um and you know it's just it's an unfortunate thing that that's the world that we live in you know i think things have changed a little bit more now but um back then being that it was the first year that that category was even entered into and this was the american grammys i don't think they had even created the latin grammys yet so yeah it was it was a bittersweet a little bit yeah but again now it's changed now that i and now that all this time has passed and i get to look back on that it's like you know f all of you know yeah i know for sure but i think for me as a fan like i can say this proudly like i'm proud of you because i think you know you you you went through a very difficult grieving process your your whole entire life is being played out for the world through movies you know and and your story's being told and it's like with all due respect it's like you're still your own person and you know chris perez is still chris perez and you know that that presence that that that selena has yeah very overpowering and in a respectful way though right it's overpowering but she keeps me grounded believe it or not because i still hear her you know whenever you're still here if you don't mind me asking like yeah like i still like i still i i can't say sitting here that that like i hear her voice like she's right here talking to me but i knew her so well that um i i hear her in here like you know reminding me of certain things um and i hope this doesn't come across as too um self-centered or whatever on my part but also like how good i've been doing yeah you know and also sometimes i hear trust me i hear the other ones too like off don't do that you shouldn't have done that whatever but i also hear the like thank you you know when when it has to do with anything i might be a part of that is about her gotcha you know because you know it ain't easy all the time you know what i'm saying that's what i'm saying and i mean in a respectful way it's like to win a grammy with your band to me that's i mean everybody dreams of winning a grammy but yeah to to do it i know i know it's a massive deal it it really it's like you know it gave you more of your own identity that you should have you already had but it's like i think yes i'm i'm very proud to have won that award but i think above that the validation and the um pride [ __ ] hard but um the pride of watching you know my mom my dad and when that happened it was like you know that was the kicker that's what it's all about though you know so yeah i appreciate you sharing that with me as well man uh yeah like i said i mean you know you mentioned hearing selena's voice and without you digging too much deeper what would you say is the one thing that you missed the most about selena um i mean that that's kind of like you know the private times that we had together when there was no uh spotlight or focus and it was just me and her and um you know it's the simple things listening to music being in the kitchen together bumping into each other trying to do the same thing at one time you know what i mean it's those little things that um that you kind of take for granted you know um but it would be it would be the things it'd be things like that you think she would love the hot sauce i think she'd be really proud but but she would she'd love it she loved it she'd probably eat the hottest one so let's let's talk about the hot sauce you know you have your own hot sauce line which is pretty damn cool you know like uh how did that come about like how did that whole whole concept originate and and and let's talk a little bit about yeah that's awesome i remember i remember clearly how it started as as just an idea i was um my business partner who's here right now with us uh carlitos and john gomez actually is my business partner with the hot sauce um and we started it together uh because there was no secret about the hot sauce right the movie and just if you know me in general you know i'm down with all the spicy stuff but we went to this really fancy restaurant and i reached in my bag and i pulled out my plastic heb produce bag with loaded with serranos you know what i mean and there i am and i put it back and i i noticed him staring at me but you know i'm just doing my thing and he goes bro you ever thought about you know your own hot sauce whatever i'm like yeah but i don't know how to do it you know what am i gonna do like i know how to i know how to go into a studio and make a record you know what i mean i know how to how to write a song i know how to play guitar i don't know how to do the hot sauce thing and he's like let me look into it and then from then on it just started you know but it wouldn't happen had he not done the majority of the groundwork learning the process including me in it you know what i mean because there's a lot of times that things just kind of happen and somebody slaps their name on it but this is really a product where you know it's hands-on um shoot i was even in the kitchen you know mixing like a mad scientist mixing different ingredients in different ways and talking about what flavors are we gonna go for and then we came to a happy middle ground and it was a learning process too you know fda approval and you know just just things way outside my normal everyday realm of thinking and we learned it together uh and created the business and then it just kind of oh and then we started it boom went off like a bomb in a good way and then the pandemic hit right so that we had a lot of these things coming down the pipeline that we couldn't close the deal on because of the the pandemic you know and that i mean as did most everybody out there you know everybody's lives kind of just stopped or what the hell are we going to do now how we're going to figure this out so there was some of that too but i will say it had it not been for the hot sauce um i wouldn't have made it financially through the and i can't even say we're through it 100 yet the pandemic but the hot sauce really uh because i couldn't play anywhere you know what i mean i couldn't go anywhere had it open for the hot sauce i don't think we'd be here today so thank you to the hot sauce you know yeah so is the hot sauce available in stores yeah we have a deal with heb um they have the red and the green sauce which is the red is serrano based the green is jalapeno-based and then we recently came out well not so recently but kind of recently came out with a habanero that is available on along with the others you can't get the habanero at heb but you can order it on amazon and you can also on amazon order the red and the green so you can order all three on amazon.com um or you can get them from bettispeppersauce.com you know order them from there and they'll ship it you know make sure they'll they'll ship it out right we're still doing that yeah yeah and i was hoping that you were going to plug in the website because that was going to be the next segue to plug the website yeah so let me ask you what's next for you you know obviously you have the hot sauce that you know you've been moving what's next musically business-wise i mean yeah musically i'd like to do another record but we've been working i've been working on so much stuff and we just started a production company we're gonna make our first major announcement on uh in the second week of august um 12 13 somewhere around there we'll make the first announcement of the plan is to make the first announcement of our first signing super talented artist um i'm excited the way i like to work is like i want us all to be a crew you know what i mean there's no obviously there's gonna be some title ceo and you know co whatever and vice president and all that stuff there's gonna be that but as far as the artists go that we work with that are gonna be under our umbrella you know i wanted to seriously not just a lot of people say it but the truth is i want it to be like family you know what i mean the crew everybody works together if uh somebody's working with an editor you know what i mean we all kind of try to include that person in different projects that we're working on and hopefully one day to have everything in-house you know what i mean blue monitor productions we've got some i can't talk too much about them we got great series slash movie ideas that we're working on that people have come to us that's on the video side of things on the audio side of things uh i'm probably gonna be one of the first you know under under the blue mariachi umbrella to uh release my next solo album under that so being that we work with so many people at this point and i'm recording with so many different people it's kind of hard like i'm the type of guy i found out recently that i'm the type of guy that i'll sit down and be like all right bob because bobo gomez he's another grammy award winning musician producer i've known him since way back in the cumbia kings days the cumbia all-stars he's done work with a lot of other artists me and him we have that kind of marriage in the studio and um i could sit down and be like all right the next song we write is not gonna be for so it's gonna be for me i'm gonna write this song for me all right okay we're gonna write this song start riffing start playing we come up with these ideas we start tracking it and then we do like a really good sounding demo of it and it's like maybe we should uh shop it too to so and so involved like well i thought that was going to be your song i said whatnot but i think it'd be a lot better with so as long as i have that attitude i don't know when i'll ever get another solo record done you know but but we're talking about like you know we're landing them with major artists like i just recorded guitars for nathaniel cano who is doing really well right now um it's not out i don't and you know how it is i don't know if it's sometimes they'll never see the day of life yeah or it might be a b side of something so to speak i don't know but you know cool things like that are happening i did a track for um daryl from run dmc really heavy and uh cole beasley from the cowboys well he when he was with the cowboys buffalo bills yeah now he's with the bills and and you know there's there's a more than a handful of artists that i've been working with and happy just to play guitar you know you i think you've heard the i think the latest thing that's come out is the one with signal yeah that ballad and then um victoria lamala has another one coming out that we did and i'm excited about that one too because that one has joe heather from the dinos we've been writing a lot of stuff together as well the other keyboard player yeah that's awesome and um it's always a lot of fun and working with joe and with bible it doesn't feel like work you know what i mean it's a lot of fun so um as someone that's had themselves portrayed in a movie portrayed in a netflix series do you ever care to tell your story and have the beginning the beginning of time the all that story that you said in the beginning about you being a kid do you ever care to share your story and tell your story on that level yeah yeah i do i do and i know it will happen one day you know um and and i'm real big on like i want it i want things to look and sound a certain way and it's not easy for me to um give that up you know i've learned some lessons um being a part of this artistic uh community you know but more so being a part of the music industry the the work part of it you know um and i've you know i've done some things that i wish musically speaking i've i've created or been a part of some things that i wish i didn't do you know but i understand why i did it and it wasn't for the right reasons i you know i made a certain record uh that was more of a tejano kind of record and i wasn't i chose not to be too involved i kind of took the easy way out and although there are some original songs on there that i wrote along with john garza my vocalist they weren't done properly and i just didn't fight you know what i mean i didn't want to fight i didn't wanna i was just in that point in my life i was just tired i mean being the the leader of a band especially one like mine uh it's it's it's a lot yeah you know and it's something that i had to learn to um kind of distribute the duties of what comes with that because i would try to do a lot of it on my own you know what i mean and then it burned me out gotcha well i have i have a few more questions and we'll wrap up did want to ask you your thoughts of you know we talked about selena earlier about her legacy when you see some of the artists paying homage to some of the current artists how does that make you feel i mean i think you got to have a certain level of pride with that because it's pretty cool like i think i saw i don't know if it was drake or one of the artists recently i had a shirt yeah and i thought that was pretty cool i mean it makes me proud as a lifelong fan you know you know i don't know if i've shared this with you but you know obviously you're gonna be at my event uh center pupil out which is actually named after my mom's record shop that she owned from the 80s to the 90s so we distributed tech specs music yeah we were we my mom was the one that would sell it so i i was very familiar with the catalog how does that make you feel i mean it's always surprising you know but but it makes me happy i mean anytime i see selena anywhere you know whether it's on a shirt a celebrity is wearing or painted on the side of the building you know there's some beautiful pieces of art you know that have been created with her image and to say amazing is an understatement how she just keeps carrying forward and what she represents and has become that icon you know what i mean to so many people um but to see other musicians or artists singers whatever you want to call them entertainers um celebrities wearing the shirt i mean it's it's always a pleasant surprise like oh okay cool i wouldn't sometimes it's like you know i would have never thought that but okay yeah i feel that way so it doesn't like wow that's pretty cool name of the show is not the beats experience you have plenty of it advice you would give someone young young aspiring artist out there young inspiring musician from your experience what advice would you give um i would say just keep going you know keep don't don't don't stop um and it's not easy you know um but you but if it means that much to you um just keep doing it i mean the name of the game for me is if if if music makes you happy as long as you're playing music that should be good enough right if you want to make it then quote unquote depending on what that means to you then that's a whole different you better start getting your mind wrapped around the business aspect of things because um that's something i didn't do um that was something i had to learn out in real time you know out in the world but you do have to have some kind of grasp on how the music industry works or you'll be taken advantage of in a heartbeat you're not going to say i'm going to say you are a legend and i appreciate everything i appreciate everything you've done not only musically for our culture you you've been a hell of an ambassador and i just want to say thank you for joining me on the show today uh i'm gonna tell everybody that now you're my cousin because my mom's last name was actually perez so you know there we go family family uh no but thank you so much for joining me man uh you know like i said you've been the most requested interview on my channel and i was excited to have you here and just so appreciate of you sharing your stories so thank you so much that my friends is the one the only your man crush monday chris perez thanks for having me the ageless wondered me i had to get out of here thank you [Applause]

Channel: Premier Live TV

Views: 169,165

Rating: 4.9394984 out of 5

Keywords: chris perez interview about selena, Chris Perez Interview, Chris Perez talks Selena, the Quintanillas and new ventures, Chris Perez talks about selena, EXCLUSIVE: Extended Chris Perez interview, Chris Perez talks about his life with Selena and his life today, Chris Perez Interview about Selena's Death, Selena Quintanilla's husband Chris Perez reflects on her death 25 years late, To Selena With Love, ab quintanilla interview, pete astudillo interview, suzette quintanilla interview

Id: fmuyl7icnh0

Length: 66min 27sec (3987 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 16 2021