Reviewed on Tuesday April 7
Each new year usually means an inevitable tour from our favourite punk’n’roll band, The Bronx, or their mariachi alter ego. This year, the boys are touring their third record as Mariachi El Bronx, packing the matching suits for Bluesfest and a sideshow at the Metro. Opening with ‘Right Between The Eyes’, from the latest record, III, before launching into ‘Cell Mates’ from their first record, the night covered a huge selection of songs from all three Mariachi albums.
It’s amazing how the band has managed to live a dual life now for over five years, with what started out as a fun side project turning into a fully fledged band of its own. It’s been fun watching one of the hardest-working punk groups of the last ten years now working all ends of the musical spectrum, and being able to play jazz and even world music festivals with their rollicking Mariachi band. Their musicianship really shines when live, with the addition of a second trumpet, violin and guitarron making it an eight-piece band onstage.
The band members are still their ever-friendly selves, with frontman Matt Caughthran still swearing like it were a ‘regular’ Bronx show, and continuously mentioning how much the guys love our country and are thankful for its support over the last decade. They even dedicated a song to the first promoter to bring them out here, as well as to a couple of Aussie girls who’d emailed them about getting married in Canada.
In an almost two-hour set, the pace never let up and the bright tunes kept sweeping over the happy crowd. The band didn’t want to leave the venue and neither did we. One might rag on a bunch of (mostly) Anglo guys playing Mexican music as cultural appropriation, but when a crowd member gets called a racist for throwing a piñata onstage, you know these guys are in it for the right reasons.
