This week, Mariachi El Bronx has released a new track, entitled Wildfires, via Soundcloud.
Photo credit: Owen Ela
About seven years ago, Mariachi El Bronx was started as a fun alter-ego side project for members of the Los Angeles-based hardcore punk band, The Bronx. Instead of their usual electric guitars, keyboards, and drums, the band picked up violin, acoustic guitar, trumpet, and an array of traditional Mexican folk instruments. They released two albums, and are now preparing to put out their third Mariachi album on November 4th, 2014.
Going into the studio to record Mariachi El Bronx III made the band confront their identity, notoriety – having opened for the Foo Fighters, and future direction, according to the Wall Street Journal blog, Speakeasy, which premiered Wildfires.
Bronx/Mariachi El Bronx vocalist Matt Caughthran told Speakeasy that the new album dealt with darker subject matter in the lyrics than the band’s previous releases.
“There were things that I thought I had already written out of my system. My dad passing away. Some slip-ups that really dragged me down. But I think that with this record I finally got those monkeys off my back,” he said in an interview with Speakeasy.
Wildfires is one of those songs where he excised the pain and issues that were dragging him into a downward spiral. But, on Wildfires, the darker lyrics are balanced out by the mid-tempo infectiously catchy Mariachi music; so, comprehending the story requires active listening.
In the chorus, Caughthran sings, “A wildfire swept over me, burning bright and out of control, a wildfire swept over me turning my insides to black, destroying everything in its path.”
It is a metaphorical song written in the summer of 2013, when the winds were fueling the fires that burned in northern Los Angeles County. And for Caughthran, the metaphor relates to his own actions and mistakes.
“There was a time a couple years ago when ego had gotten the best of me, and I made a lot of mistakes. That song is about being driven by something that’s stronger and darker than yourself,” he told Speakeasy.
But, in the bridge the song turns and becomes hopeful – even contemplative – with Caughthran singing, “How did I survive? Burnt, but still alive, a part of me has died from ashes I will rise.”
Check it out:
And, if you like what you’ve heard, be sure to catch the band on tour this fall in the US, Europe, and the UK.
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