The 915 Five features El Paso’s musicians and artists answering the same five questions. Each installment offers a stripped-down look at the people shaping the 915’s cultural landscape, in their own words. This week, we’re featuring El Paso duo Dearest Dear, which blends ’50s flair with post-punk grit, crafting bare-bones, heartfelt songs born from late-night sessions between partners-turned-bandmates.

Band/Artist Name: Dearest Dear

Line-up: Ramon Marin: guitar and vocals; Anahi Rodriguez: bass and vocals

Formed: We started in 2023. The way it all began is that we are a couple who just started piecing songs together after work until it gradually became more and we now have two albums’ worth of songs. So thought we should start playing live.

Find Them: 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearest.dear.band?igsh=eTU2Mzg4djgzMmNs

What high school did you go to?

Bel Air

What’s your favorite local venue to play — and why?

The Hive on Mesa because the owner, Michael, is really welcoming and tries to give bands a chance to play and he’s just an all-around awesome guy. Plus, he was in a band himself so he understands. 

If you had to describe your sound without using a genre label, what would you say?

Since we don’t have a drummer at the moment, bare bones and naked.

What do you do when the song isn’t coming — push through, scrap it or something else?

We record what we have, then step away. We listen to it the next day and rearrange it until it’s something we’re happy with.

If someone is seeing you live for the first time, what should they expect?

It’s a mesh of ’50s meets post-punk. We took the music that we loved growing up and combined it.