Things are little crazy this week. I’m heading out to Utah for a wedding in a few days and trying to get a lot done before I leave. So I’m gonna keep it brief (or try to). The Bronx are probably one of the best LA Hardcore bands since the original first wave of LA Hardcore. Do you sometimes lament being to young to have not seen Black Flag in their heyday? Or are you so old that you miss the second coming? Well then dumbasses just go see the fucking Bronx and quit yer whining. Me and Brother P took them in last year at Maxwell’s to a slightly less than sold out crowd. This year’s show however was packed packed packed. This was no doubt due to the fact that The Bronx would be playing two sets. One as The Bronx (duh) and the other as their alter-egos Mariachi El Bronx. Man the fact that this band can do two so utterly and completely different styles of music so fucking well each in their own right is reason enough to see them whenever and wherever they might be. Seeing them both in the same night gives you so much more of an appreciation of each.
Mariachi El Bronx were everything I expected them to be and more. The band recently added two new members: a violinist and a dude with some sort of humongoid Mexican bass guitar that I’m sorry I do not know the name of. They sounded great. Singer Matt Caughthran can sing his fucking ass off. He’s a charming fellow behind the mic too… all smiles and smooveness. You can check out the video below I took of the boys doing Cell Mates if you don’t believe me. If you consider your self a fan of music at all, pick up their self titled album now and go see them live and I guarantee you wont be disappointed. It’s something so different from everything else out there and so fucking right on point at the same time. If only they sold their mariachi outfits at the merch booth.
The Mariachi El Bronx were sandwiched between to other openers. The first were called Dead Country and they also hailed from LA. They kinda sounded like MxPx. They weren’t too bad I thought. The other openers were Violent Soho from Australia. Basically these guys did their best Pixies meets Nirvana meets Drive Like Jehu. All the songs were quiet then loud or loud then quiet or variations thereof (like every Pixies song you ever heard) but they were also loud and fast as hell ala Nirvana (who openly admitted to biting the Pixies in their heyday too). Basically if you were a fan of punky screamy 90s alt you’d probably dig these guys. Which I am and which I did.
After a change into more comfortable clothes and plugging in all their electrical instruments Caughthran and crew took the stage once more this time as The Bronx and blew the fucking roof off the place. The Bronx are like fucking audio napalm. Again if you haven’t seen these guys live do it now while they’re still around, they’re one of the best Hardcore acts of this generation or any fucking generation for that matter. The video I took does not do them justice. It’s been almost 24 hours and my ears are still ringing. From what I remember they played Heart Attack American, False Alarm, Shitty Future, White Tar, White Guilt, History’s Stranglers, Knifeman and Six Days A Week. The opened with Inveigh, and Transsexual Blackout (The Movement) which you can watch below as I was nice enough to record it for ya’lls. Matt really seemed to love Maxwell’s and the Jersey crowd and that means a lot. It’s nice to see a band that actually enjoys being where they are and playing to who they’re playing to. The crowd in turn lost their minds during the set and gave back as much as was given to them.
2010, Mariachi El Bronx, The Bronx, NJ, The FSS, and all that. All that. And I’m out!
Related Articles: Mariachi El Bronx – s/t Album Review
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