The parking meters don’t run on Sunday, the day I go to Los Olvidados, the much-frequented downtown coffee shop at 309 Flores Avenue. Los Olvidados is a functional tabula-rasa for creatives, its walls amorphously beautiful blank canvas for show planners, artists, and musicians that frequent the venue in search of something like a second home.
I’m there to meet with the members of 2H!P (pronounced “too-hip”), the all-too-cool acronym behind the theatrical, indie collective taking over Laredo’s music scene. 2 Hour Indie Power Hour, also known as 2H!P is comprised of five members — Niurka Rocha, Adalberto Segueda, Victoria Ramos, Miro Santos, and Klarissa Aguilar.
Beginning in 2018 as a Friday radio show on local station 107.3, 2H!P has since transitioned in unconventional ownership from traditional radio host Jerry “Jay Ram” Ramirez and Raul “Gonzy” Gonzalez to a quintet of multi-skilled local creatives.
As Adal explained over a call, 2H!P was “molded” into its current shape. “It’s not so much an inheritance,” he said, “But we’re kind of taking it a little bit further [...] We’re doing that, but we’re adding an element of theatre to it.”
Pre-pandemic, Vicky explained, they did two sessions of live acoustic shows at the Outlet Shoppes and at North Central Park. They’ve recently started up again. Nevertheless, they’ve been doing so with full force. “[Jay Ram] saw something in us, I guess,” she said, adding, “That we actually cared about what he was doing.” It’s the kind of thing that’s palpable as you sit around the group. Everyone wants to make real change, desperately wants to, as Miro called it, “to [open] up the silos from the creative scenes here in Laredo.”
So how does it come together? Generally speaking, someone brings up a theme and the bands are chosen. They dwindle from a robust selection of four or five down to three — local opener, local band, closer. “Other people have other philosophies,” he said, but that’s the way 2H!P works best. They make props and meet up and work right up until the day of the show. Of course, it’s not as simple as this but the members make it look easy. It’s an effortless assemblage, everyone’s skills melting into one another — a pastiche of local talent.
Their most recent project is the upcoming Down the Rabbit Hole, a show centered around whimsy and psychedelics, a nod to Alice in Wonderland just a day before Easter. This show in particular will feature local musician, Fort Sui, the stage name behind local photographer and 2H!P member Victoria Ramos. It will also bring self-described “sunshine pop” Austin-band Kid_Wy and local talent as well as this show’s closer, Kit Fisto.
Sitting with Wyatt Corder of Kid_Wy, I am told this is the band’s first time in Laredo. Corder’s background in classical trumpet provides the band with a diverse musical history, its musicians brought up in equal parts gospel and indie rock. Our conversation meandered — from the band’s origins to Austin’s seemingly unending growth. “Musicians need cheaper rent so we can just focus on our art more, and that’s changing a lot.”
That holds true in Laredo, too. When Niurka shared about her introduction to 2H!P, she mentiioned her desire for a house show. “Adal was like, ‘Dude, no one has a house.’” The struggle ultimately led the group in the right direction for success: a heavily-attended punk show, framed by the cult-favorite Rocky Horror Picture Show in both visuals and atmosphere. “The aura was,” Adal said, “Surpassing the venue.”
That’s what 2H!P aims to do — create moments and experiences Laredoans seek elsewhere and relocate them to a hometown they know is full of talent, talent one will undoubtedly see as long as one is willing to show up.
The show is set for Saturday, April 19 at Los Olvidados, with doors opening yet again to host the collective. Attendees are expected to arrive by8 p.m., with music starting at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8. Shows like these are the heart and soul of Laredo. One can only hope they continue to thrive under the weight of the continuously harrowing national climate of uncertainty. Perhaps, I think with an optimistic heart, they will thrive because of it.
(Monterrey-born, Laredo writer Ana Vara is the founding editor of the Texas A&M International University literary magazine, The River Gull Journal. Their work can be found in The River Gull's first issue and its forthcoming second issue, on the website of TAMIU's independent student newspaper, The Bridge, and on their Substack "dog ire like a flood." They are in the process of writing their first novel.)
