Mostly made up of teenagers, Los Del 8tres1 of Salinas approaches the corrido sound with contemporary flair.

A corrido is a Mexican ballad with a narrative that typically centers around an individual, whether a soldier of the revolution or a modern drug trafficker.

Los Del 8tres1’s single “El Joven Magnate” (“The Young Tycoon”) displays their skill for delivering melodic storytelling. But the music video is a visual representation of why the band named themselves after the 831 area code. Once introduced to the young tycoon, the video cuts to a shot of strawberry fields and, suddenly, transitions to a shot of four well-dressed young men performing on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

“De las sierras a los mares/ yo conozco mucho gente,” Alejandro Ahumada sings in the opening lines. “Entre ranchos y ciudades/ tengo amigos influyentes.” The smooth lines over the Polka-like rhythm of two guitars and a tuba translate to: “From the mountains to the seas/ I know a lot of people,” and “From ranches to cities/ I have influential friends.”

The lighthearted bragging in the lyrics fits the band’s style, with all members dressed in sharp suits. The regional connection is made explicit with the line “Muy seguido voy y vengo de Texas a Salinas” (“I often come and go from Texas to Salinas”), indicating that the busy lifestyle of the song’s subject won’t make him stray away from his hometown.

The three core members of Los Del 8tres1 are all from Salinas, and they are all teenagers. Though Ahumada does a large share of the songwriting, the rest of the group often adds input. It was the idea of the youngest member, 16-year-old guitarist Leonardo Lomeli, to mention Salinas in the song.

“It started with my cousin Leo (Lomeli) playing guitar and me singing along,” Ahumada says of the band’s origins. He later noticed Jaime Ortiz playing guitar at Everett Alvarez High School, from which they both just graduated, and the group was formed. After several sessions playing together, the group performed at their own school. Even there, they worried about reception, considering most high school-age kids, even Latinos, don’t listen to corridos much.

“People at our school didn’t know we played until the ‘El Joven’ video came out,” Ortiz says. “But the performance was fun and some students started filming us with their phones.”

The band has two singles on YouTube, both corridos. “La Plebe” is about a man living a nonstop extravagant party.

Though the singles are building a buzz through social media, the group remains focused on releasing more songs before they begin recording a full-length project.

In the meantime, Los Del 8tres1 is garnering practical experience performing, including two recent events at the Sheriff’s Posse Grounds in Salinas.