The Mavericks keep doing music their way

Since forming in the late ’80s, the Mavericks have been defined by a fiercely independent spirit. The Grammy Award-winning, Nashville-based band, which hits the Fox Theater’s stage on Sunday, has always strayed from the status quo, blending rockabilly, Americana and Tejano musical styles and weathering the storm of multiple break-ups, lineup changes and reformations.

“If you look back at the band’s history,” said Mavericks guitarist Eddie Perez, “it had its roots in country music and the honky-tonk barroom sound. But it has certainly progressed over the years. … It’s an ever-evolving musical art piece, from one energy to the next, from album to album.”

Certainly that versatility is partially a result of the band’s sometimes tumultuous history. Perez didn’t join the Mavericks until the early 2000s, and the band went on hiatus shortly after he became a member.

“Looking back, we just couldn’t come together as a band,” Perez said. “Too many agendas needed to be served at that moment. We had different management issues, and the business was going through a transitional phase. There were a lot of things stacked against the Mavericks at that time, and it just kind of had a way of taking away the enthusiasm from what we were doing.”

During that break, Perez continued to perform with Mavericks frontman Raul Malo, who released five solo albums during the band’s down time. The Mavericks eventually reformed in 2012, and Perez says the band’s original energy was almost immediately restored.

“Where we’re at now, it’s like night and day,” Perez said. “I think there’s a lot more respect. I think there’s more allowance for each of our eccentricities. I think there’s a lot more love and a lot more maturity. … We realized that together we make this special music that you can only get in one place. We take a lot of pride and work really hard to protect that at every turn.”

The Mavericks spend a lot of time on the road – “We always say, as an inside joke, ‘I don’t think we’re ever going to get off tour,’” Perez noted with a laugh – and the members pride themselves on a memorable and finely honed live show.

“People know that when they come to a Mavericks show, they’ll get two and a half hours of, hopefully, music they have memories with, music that will make them feel a certain nostalgic thing,” Perez said. “It’s also a full-on dance fest. I think what people feel from what we’re doing is the immense joy and pleasure we have being on stage together.”

And now the members of the Mavericks have launched their own record label, Mono Mundo Recordings, which further cements the group’s status as a self-operating entity. Perez says the band has two records, one a studio recording and the other live, currently in the works, both of which will be self-released.

“When you’re in a major label system, there sometimes seems to be a lack of communication amongst entities that are supposed to make things happen,” he said. “We felt like it was a natural progression for us. After all these years, we think we’ve got this. It’s turned for us into a touring business, so it was a matter of common sense. We kind of travel on an island by ourselves no matter what.

“In essence, we’ve been doing this for the last four and a half years. It just made sense to forge ahead and put our flag in the dirt. What’s the most Mavericks thing to do? To just do our own thing.”

Perez says the band plans to sign other musicians to this new label, which he hopes will cultivate a stable of similarly-minded artists.

“When you live this lifestyle, you run across so many talented people,” Perez said. “We find that we keep our inspiration alive by fostering new things and trying to be engaged in what’s going on. … We see it blossoming into something that could be for other artists like us who don’t get much radio airplay but deserve a platform and deserve to have their music heard.”