Awesome Norteño Punk Rock Glory!
Growing up in the Southwest was interesting for a girl like me. I came from a religious family on two spectrums: one half being Jehovah's Witness and the other half being Catholic. Holidays were only celebrated in the Catholic room of the house, but Harry Potter, Iron Maiden, and any other sort of "devil worshiping" icons were forbidden in the house entirely.
I don't know if you all remember a letter that was found written by a girl discovering punk rock for the first time. Let me refresh your memory:
(via consequenceofsound.net)
I only read this a few months ago, but suddenly my inner 13-year-old self was reborn and all I could do was listen to Very Proud of Ya and Number of the Beast.
When I was a sophomore in high school, I went on a journalism trip to Dallas, and the big "to-do" was go to the Galleria. You know, living in El Paso with our medicore mall...
the Galleria was exciting, especially since it had a Hot Topic! Yaaas!
Of course, I had to keep up my persona when I got back home, but in the bottom of my suitcase were hidden albums of Iron Maiden and bumper stickers of The Misfits and Butthole Surfers that I would put in my locker. Guitar World Magazines featuring Slipknot and Anthrax were hoarded in my backpack. I was a punk/metal head rocker disguised as a Creed lover...okay, so maybe I kinda enjoyed Creed a little bit.
So here I am today, and I still love me some old school AFI, Motley Cure, Pantera, and The Ramones. But interestingly enough, I also catch myself searching Spotify for La Mafia, Selena and Ramon Ayala. Ah yes, the inner Chicana will never die just as my inner punk and metal head will never die.
I married into a very Texan family, let me tell ya! And while I thought my husband, although white, was far more Mexican than me with his love of spicy food and Dia De Los Muertos, I find myself excited to introduce him to some good Tejano and Norteno music.
This is definitely my dad in me, and I remember him playing his air-accordian on his belly to Los Tigres Del Norte and Jaime y los Chamacos (Yes, that is a real band!). I know most of the songs by heart and find myself very nostalgic of the days when we would drive to San Diego and my mother and I would dread the next 12 hours of nothing but Tejano music. But not today.
Today I find myself going through my dad’s old CD collection, listening to Selena, Los Desperados, Mazz and La Tropa F.
I’ve promised my husband to take him to San Antonio’s Tejano Music Festival one day. Some of my favorite memories were at this festival with my parents, as my mother and I would laugh at my dad bobbing his head so cooly listening to his favorite Tejano musicians as well as at the old Mexican crowd acting like they were 20-30 years younger with a BudLight tallboy and cigarette in one hand and a margarita in the other, sloppily two-stepping in the streets. That’s our culture, and damn it! I’m proud of that culture!
Which brings me to the whole reason I started this post! Recently, to my pleasant surprise I came across a Norteno Punk Rock band from San Antonio (of course!). Yes, you read that right. This band takes classic Norteno sounds and mixes them with the upbeat and quick tempo of punk rock. If you listen to Norteno in itself, it’s pretty fast paced, so I’m sure it was easily fused with that of punk rock. But add a little bit of metal and some good guitar riffing and throw in an accordion! We’ve struck gold! Pinata Protest describes themselves as “a bordertown mashup of The Ramones and Ramon Ayala” (wearemitu.com). They remind me quite a bit of Café Tacvba, but it feels far more raw and surprisingly Norteno classic.
I'm not sure if I want to skank, mosh, or two-step!
I don't even know what to say about this! This practically makes my heart jump and makes me want to go hang out with my dad. Almost brings a tear to my eye.
Be sure to check them out in all their awesome-punk-rock-norteno glory.
