Bay Area-based funk rock band Just Friends is changing the game of what traditional rock looks like by mixing different genres and languages in their music. For co-vocalist Brianda ‘Brond’ Goyos León, embracing her culture through music serves as a way for her to heal the younger version of herself.
Born and raised in México City, Goyos León immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area with her mother and brother when she was 8 years old, where she grew up for the rest of her teenage years.
Living in South San Francisco, a predominantly Latino community in the Bay Area, was a challenge for Goyos León as she adjusted to the new culture during elementary and middle school. “It’s funny because like, musically, culturally, I have so many similarities and so many differences from both American folks from the Bay Area and Mexican folks from México,” Goyos León said.
Music has always been a big part of Goyos León’s life. Her mother’s love for singing was passed down to her, recalling moments during her childhood when her mother would sing at the top of her lungs while driving. Though her family was not able to have the luxury to attend live music shows during Goyos León’s youth, she instead found herself in color guard and marching band during her high school years, writing lyrics and melodies for fun.
“I’ve always been passionate about music,” Goyos León said. “I think it’s just that because I hadn’t seen live music– a live performance, in a way that was exciting, I didn’t really see myself in it.”
During her first nine years in the United States, Goyos León’s mother worked on achieving residency status for herself and her children. Goyos León was granted residency shortly after she graduated from high school.
Following the drastic life change, she decided to take on guitar lessons and pursue a higher education at Ohlone College, majoring in psychology.
“I think that’s what gave me the courage to become a musician and like, really go for my dreams.” Goyos León said. “Because I was like, Dude, I didn’t get to have dreams until now and this thing that I thought was impossible– I mean, my mom did all the work, but for me, it just seemed like this thing that was impossible, suddenly went away and it was like a miracle.”
While taking elective courses in music at Ohlone, Goyos León met people involved with the local scene in cities all around the Bay Area, exposing her to a scene that offered many bands in the alternative genre.
She later joined her very first band, “Sweet Peaches”. It was during this time that she would go on to play shows with Sam Kless, vocalist for Just Friends, unaware that she would eventually join the band and get to tour across the United States on several tours with bands such as Hot Mulligan, The Story So Far and The Maine.
While working on their 2018 EP “Nothing But Love,” Kless recruited the help of Goyos León for a feature on the record. “I ended up not just singing on one song, but like the whole record. And then they invited me to sing at the show with them,” she said. “Next thing you know, I was in a parking lot in Florida at The Fest, thinking like “Oh, I might be part of this band now. I might be in it for real now.’”
Goyos León says there was no formal invitation for her to join the band. Just Friends continued touring and dropping singles leading up to the release of their third EP “Hella” in 2022, creating the song “Honey”, the first of many Just Friends songs to include lyrics in Spanish.
“It was kind of risky. Nobody was doing it. It was scary, you know? To do something we were like, ‘are people gonna [understand]?’ I mean– they’re not gonna understand, because they don’t speak Spanish, but I was like ‘I’m not singing to the people that don’t speak Spanish. I’m singing to the people that grew up around Spanish, whether they speak it or not.’” Goyos León said.
Fans of Just Friends had a great reception to the song, singing along to the verse at the band’s live shows despite many not understanding the lyrics. For Goyos León, the song was a way for her to stay true to herself and represent her heritage while weaving it into the history that Just Friends already had.
“To be welcomed also by other folks is like– it’s good. It feels nice because you’re always like– I love all our fans, you know? So I never want to alienate anybody. And I appreciate so much, people accepting me entirely.” Goyos León said. “And that kind of heals some of my, you know, checkered immigrant past because the narrative was like, ‘people won’t like me, people won’t accept me’. And that’s still– immigrant or not, that’s still such a big narrative for Latinos.”
Today, the band continues to serve as a representation for the Latino community in the alternative music scene that is heavily White male dominated. New tracks like “5th Dimension” and “Love Bug” that also include lyrics in Spanish are active picks in their setlists as opening acts, exposing larger audiences to Just Friends in their purest form and creating a sense of unity between the ethnically diverse crowds.
