The exhilarating punk-rock that the Bronx (right) have played for the last seven years wears its debt to California's hardcore heritage proudly, like a Black Flag tattoo; the group even portrayed the Flag in the recent Hollywood biopic of Germs frontman Darby Crash. But their new album, El Bronx – recorded as Mariachi El Bronx – pays tribute to a different part of LA's musical heritage, swapping the revving guitars and bellicose roars for Mexicali horns, strings and romantic crooning.
"You can't walk down the street here without hearing mariachi music blaring out of someone's window," says guitarist Joby Ford. "As much punk as there is in southern California, there's about 18 times more mariachi."
Singer Matt Caughtran grew up in Peco Rivera, a mostly Mexican town on the outskirts of east Los Angeles. He was the only white kid on his street; his next-door neighbour was David Hidalgo, frontman for veteran Chicano roots-rockers Los Lobos. Hidalgo's sons Vincent and David Jr were Caughtran's best friends, serving as the rhythm section in Joby and Matt's earlier group, the Drips. "Matt also dated one of the Hidalgo sisters, though I'm not sure if I'm supposed to share that," says Ford.
"I was a kid who was interested in everything going on around me, anything that was interesting and new," says Caughtran. "I grew up surrounded by the Los Lobos musicians, and traditional Mexican music. I love the drama of it, and the way even a heartbroken love song has this sense of celebration to it, this richness."
The Bronx first performed in their mariachi incarnation when a local TV station asked the group to perform one of their songs acoustically. "Acoustic renditions of heavy songs always suck – I'd rather slam my balls in a door than hear one," says Ford, wincing. "So we decided to get in some friends who played horns, and play a song mariachi-style. We rehearsed for a day, and it felt so good I knew we had to record an album like this."
Bassist Brad Magers dusted off his high school trumpet for the album sessions, and the Bronx had help from Vincent Hidalgo, who played the guitarrón, a traditional Mexican acoustic bass; his father David also added accordion to a few tracks. "I couldn't bring myself to talk to him, because I'm such a fan," says Ford blushingly of the Los Lobos leader. "But I was secretly taking pictures and filming while he was playing."
"He's known me since I was super-young, singing in a horrible high school band," adds Caughtran. "We played him the songs we'd recorded, and he was blown away; he said, this is unbelievable! I almost started crying, because I knew then that what we were doing was the real deal. If Mr H likes it, then you're doing something right." Ford adds: "We're not a traditional mariachi band, and that's not what we set out to be. We just want to sound like ourselves, playing this music that we love."
Caughtran says he is enjoying performing in a vocal style he says owes more to Tony Bennett than to Henry Rollins, and discovering a new creative outlet that differs radically from the angsty catharsis of his punk-rock lyrics. "I feel like it's a part of me that's been buried for a long time," he says. "These songs celebrate the great things in life, like your friends and family, falling in love, and falling out of love."
The group have already played a handful of shows in their full mariachi flourish – they backed the Breeders for a rendition of Regalame Esta Noche at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May – and will perform in both their punk-rock and mariachi incarnations at this summer's Reading/Leeds festivals. "The reaction at our shows has been incredible," says Ford. "I hope we get to turn a lot of punk kids on to this wonderful style of music they might never have heard before."