Mariachi El Bronx
Encyclopedia
Mariachi El Bronx is the fourth studio album by the Los Angeles
rock
band The Bronx
, released on September 1, 2009 through Swami Records
in the United States and Wichita Recordings
in the United Kingdom. It marks a divergence from the band's usual hardcore punk
and hard rock
sound in favor of a mariachi
style. To promote and perform the album the band adopted the alter ego
persona "Mariachi El Bronx", and have performed under both identities concurrently.
album in short succession, hoping to release the former before the end of that summer. However, they did not enter the recording studio until March 2008, by which time they planned to release the mariachi album before the end of the summer. Mariachi El Bronx was recorded in March 2008 at Brandos Paradise in San Gabriel, California
with producer
and engineer John Avila
, who also played charango
, sang backing vocals, and mixed
the album with the band.
In June 2008 the band posted a video to YouTube
of themselves performing "Cell Mates
" in mariachi style under the name "Mariachi El Bronx". The punk rock album was released first, on November 11, 2008. Titled The Bronx
, it was their third eponym
ous album. The band supported it with a world tour from September through December 2008 covering Canada
, the United States
, Europe
, the United Kingdom
, Australia
, and New Zealand
, playing with bands such as Bad Religion
, Every Time I Die
, and Stick to Your Guns
. In a December 2008 interview, singer Matt Caughthran
commented that "[Mariachi El Bronx] was something that was a part of us that we didn't really realize. I mean, being from Los Angeles and, you know, growing up and surrounded by Mexican culture, it just kind of happened [...] We were writing two or three songs a day for that record, and the lyrics and everything just kind of shit out of all of us [...] it was the funnest and easiest record we've ever made." Guitarist Joby J. Ford, discussing the band's decision to leave Island Records
and to release The Bronx on their own label White Drugs, remarked that "I want to be in a band that plays music that I like and also has another band where they play mariachi music."
In March 2009 The Bronx played the South By Southwest
festival in Austin, Texas
, followed by a tour of the United States ending in June. In an April 2009 interview, Caughthran spoke more about Mariachi El Bronx:
On the impetus for switching styles for the album, Caughthran remarked that many musicians "kind of blow it by not challenging themselves and not listening to their urges, so to speak. A lot of bands play it safe and make the same record over and over again [...] It was just one of those things, where we got asked to do an acoustic thing for Fuel TV
, and it's like nothing sucks more than rock bands playing acoustic rock songs. You know, it just sucks. So we did a song mariachi style, and it just opened up this whole thing where we were like 'This is awesome.' So we wrote some songs, and it just became." He speculated that Mariachi El Bronx might tour with The Hold Steady
after the album's release, calling it "a whole different outlet – we can go tour with bands The Bronx couldn't go on tour with."
The first Mariachi El Bronx song to see release was a cover of Prince
's "I Would Die 4 U
", released on the tribute album
Purplish Rain
in June 2009. The following month the band announced that Mariachi El Bronx would be released on September 1 through Swami Records
, who had released the vinyl version of their second album, 2006's The Bronx. In July Spin
exclusively debuted the song "Quinceniera" as streaming media
on their website. The website Clashmusic.com then offered a free download of "Slave Labor" in August, the same month that Wichita Recordings
released a single
for "Cell Mates" in the United Kingdom
. The band launched a full album stream on Purevolume
, followed by the premier of the music video
for "Cell Mates" on August 28, 2009.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band The Bronx
The Bronx (band)
The Bronx is an American hardcore punk band from Los Angeles formed in 2002. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist Matt Caughthran, guitarists Joby J. Ford and Ken Horne, bass guitarist Brad Magers, and drummer Jorma Vik...
, released on September 1, 2009 through Swami Records
Swami Records
Swami Records is a San Diego based independent record label specializing in punk rock, indie rock and garage rock that was founded in 2000 by John Reis...
in the United States and Wichita Recordings
Wichita Recordings
Wichita Recordings is an independent record label located in London, founded in 2000 by Mark Bowen and Dick Green. Its most notable signees are Bloc Party, The Cribs, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Her Space Holiday, Los Campesinos! and Peter Bjorn and John...
in the United Kingdom. It marks a divergence from the band's usual hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
sound in favor of a mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
style. To promote and perform the album the band adopted the alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
persona "Mariachi El Bronx", and have performed under both identities concurrently.
Background
The Bronx first expressed intentions to record in a mariachi style in April 2007, when they announced plans to record both a mariachi album and a punk rockPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
album in short succession, hoping to release the former before the end of that summer. However, they did not enter the recording studio until March 2008, by which time they planned to release the mariachi album before the end of the summer. Mariachi El Bronx was recorded in March 2008 at Brandos Paradise in San Gabriel, California
San Gabriel, California
San Gabriel is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is named after the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, founded by Junipero Serra. The city grew outward from the mission and in 1852 became the original township of Los Angeles County. San Gabriel was incorporated in 1913...
with producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and engineer John Avila
John Avila
John Avila is a Mexican-American bassist and music producer, best known for being in the new wave band Oingo Boingo from 1984 to 1995.-Career:Avila co-founded the music group Food for Feet in 1981, and played with them until 1991....
, who also played charango
Charango
The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...
, sang backing vocals, and mixed
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
the album with the band.
In June 2008 the band posted a video to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
of themselves performing "Cell Mates
Cell Mates (song)
"Cell Mates" is a song by the Los Angeles-based punk rock band The Bronx, released as the first single from their 2009 album Mariachi El Bronx. The album marks a divergence from the band's usual hardcore punk and hard rock sound in favor of a mariachi style...
" in mariachi style under the name "Mariachi El Bronx". The punk rock album was released first, on November 11, 2008. Titled The Bronx
The Bronx (2008 album)
- Track listing :...
, it was their third eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous album. The band supported it with a world tour from September through December 2008 covering Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, playing with bands such as Bad Religion
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...
, Every Time I Die
Every Time I Die
Every Time I Die is a metalcore band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1998. Their musical style is rooted in technical hardcore with strong southern metal and mathcore elements, and is also characterised by their cryptic, bitingly sarcastic lyrics. The band announced on July 14, 2008 that they had...
, and Stick to Your Guns
Stick to Your Guns
Stick to Your Guns is an American hardcore band from Orange County, California, formed in 2003. They are currently signed to Sumerian records, and have released three full-length albums to date. "The Hope Division" was released June 1, 2010 through Sumerian Records.-Biography:Stick to Your Guns is...
. In a December 2008 interview, singer Matt Caughthran
Matt Caughthran
Matt Caughthran is an American singer, best known as the frontman for Los Angeles based punk band The Bronx. In addition to The Bronx, Caughthran is involved in a side project, The Drips. Caughthran has also recorded a number of tracks with Bullet Treatment which can be found on the What More Do...
commented that "[Mariachi El Bronx] was something that was a part of us that we didn't really realize. I mean, being from Los Angeles and, you know, growing up and surrounded by Mexican culture, it just kind of happened [...] We were writing two or three songs a day for that record, and the lyrics and everything just kind of shit out of all of us [...] it was the funnest and easiest record we've ever made." Guitarist Joby J. Ford, discussing the band's decision to leave Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
and to release The Bronx on their own label White Drugs, remarked that "I want to be in a band that plays music that I like and also has another band where they play mariachi music."
In March 2009 The Bronx played the South By Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
festival in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, followed by a tour of the United States ending in June. In an April 2009 interview, Caughthran spoke more about Mariachi El Bronx:
The record's been done for a while now, hopefully it's gonna come out in like early or mid summer. It's a really really important record; it's the best thing I've ever done. It's all original music, traditional mariachi stuff, and it's the punkest thing in the world for a band like The Bronx to put out a record like that. And I know it's gonna fuck a lot of people up. I want to make sure it gets done the right way, so we're being real careful with it. We don't know if we have the manpower ourselves to put it out on White Drugs, so we're trying to see if we can find a label who's in love with it enough to put it out there.
On the impetus for switching styles for the album, Caughthran remarked that many musicians "kind of blow it by not challenging themselves and not listening to their urges, so to speak. A lot of bands play it safe and make the same record over and over again [...] It was just one of those things, where we got asked to do an acoustic thing for Fuel TV
Fuel TV
Fuel TV is a U.S. cable and satellite specialty channel that launched on July 1, 2003. It focuses on the cultures of such extreme sports as skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, motocross, surfing, BMX and FMX. It is a unit of Fox Cable Networks and is currently available to 26-million...
, and it's like nothing sucks more than rock bands playing acoustic rock songs. You know, it just sucks. So we did a song mariachi style, and it just opened up this whole thing where we were like 'This is awesome.' So we wrote some songs, and it just became." He speculated that Mariachi El Bronx might tour with The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
after the album's release, calling it "a whole different outlet – we can go tour with bands The Bronx couldn't go on tour with."
The first Mariachi El Bronx song to see release was a cover of Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
's "I Would Die 4 U
I Would Die 4 U
"I Would Die 4 U" is a song by Prince and The Revolution, and the fourth single in the U.S. from their 1984 album, Purple Rain. The up-tempo dance song was a top 10 hit in the U.S., reaching number 8 on the Hot 100....
", released on the tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
Purplish Rain
Purplish Rain
Purplish Rain is a compilation of Prince covers put out by Spin magazine for readers of its July 2009 issue. The album contains cover versions of songs from Prince's 1984 Purple Rain album, in the same track order as the original....
in June 2009. The following month the band announced that Mariachi El Bronx would be released on September 1 through Swami Records
Swami Records
Swami Records is a San Diego based independent record label specializing in punk rock, indie rock and garage rock that was founded in 2000 by John Reis...
, who had released the vinyl version of their second album, 2006's The Bronx. In July Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
exclusively debuted the song "Quinceniera" as streaming media
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
on their website. The website Clashmusic.com then offered a free download of "Slave Labor" in August, the same month that Wichita Recordings
Wichita Recordings
Wichita Recordings is an independent record label located in London, founded in 2000 by Mark Bowen and Dick Green. Its most notable signees are Bloc Party, The Cribs, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Her Space Holiday, Los Campesinos! and Peter Bjorn and John...
released a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
for "Cell Mates" in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The band launched a full album stream on Purevolume
PureVolume
PureVolume was the first independently run website of its type, allowing for the upload and stream of music files. It was created in 2003 by Jennifer Welch , in conjunction with the Unborn Media team; Brett Woitunski, Nate Hudson, and Mitchell Pavao; all from the University of...
, followed by the premier of the music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Cell Mates" on August 28, 2009.
Track listing
Band
- Matt CaughthranMatt CaughthranMatt Caughthran is an American singer, best known as the frontman for Los Angeles based punk band The Bronx. In addition to The Bronx, Caughthran is involved in a side project, The Drips. Caughthran has also recorded a number of tracks with Bullet Treatment which can be found on the What More Do...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Joby J. Ford – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vihuelaVihuelaVihuela is a name given to two different guitar-like string instruments: one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings, and the other, the Mexican vihuela, from 19th century Mexico with five strings and typically played in Mariachi bands.-History:The vihuela, as it was known...
, jaranaJarana huastecaThe jarana huasteca, jarana de son huasteco or jarana is a string instrument.It is a guitar-like chordophone with 5 strings. It is smaller than the guitarra huapanguera and usually forms part of the trio huasteco ensemble, along with the quinta huapanguera and violin, taking on the role of the...
, ukelele, requinto romanticoRequintoThe term requinto is used in both Spanish and Portuguese to mean a smaller, higher-pitched version of another instrument. Thus, there are requinto guitars, drums, and several wind instruments.-Wind instruments:... - Vincent Hidalgo – guitarrón, jarana, guitar, requinto romantico
- Ken Horne – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Brad Magers – hornsHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, backing vocals - Jorma Vik – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
Additional musicians
- John Avila – charangoCharangoThe charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...
, backing vocals - Francesca Fernes – violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- David HidalgoDavid HidalgoDavid Hidalgo is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Los Lobos. He is also a member of the supergroup Los Super Seven and of the Latin Playboys, a side project band made up of some of the members of Los Lobos...
– accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, tresilloTresilloTresillo is a letter of the Latin alphabet, based on the numeral 3. It was invented by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century in order to represent the uvular ejective consonant found in Mayan languages....
s, guitar - Bruce Lee – violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Alfredo Ortiz – percussion
- Liza Piccadilly – violin
- Lia Teoni – violin
Production
- John Avila – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, recording, engineer, mixing engineerMixing engineerA mix engineer is the person responsible for incorporating all the different recorded elements of music to make the final version of a song. These mixing professionals have many years of experience and training with audio equipment which has enabled them to master the art of audio mixing... - Gavin Lurssssen – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- William V. Malpede – stringString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
arrangement and conductingConductingConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...