Mariachi el Bronx was probably conceived in August of 2006 in Los Angeles' infamous "Downtown Rehearsal." It all started as a way to flip the Electric goes acoustic performance garbage, because that's never good. We were invited to play live on television but decided that a cheesy acoustic version of our song was not what we wanted to do. The Original El Bronx line up, or at least as it appeared on TV. featured guest appearances from Zander Schloss ( Wierdos, circle jerks) and Keith Douglas (Mad Caddies). The project triggered something inside all of us that was unexpected. It's almost impossible to explain, but it felt like discovering a second soul within you. We instantly started writing new songs. The body of this record was written all over the world. As the Bronx played, El Bronx wrote. Inspired by the jungles and beaches of New Zealand, "sleepwalking" was one of the first songs written, along with "my brother the gun." The music for Quincenera was written under the German summer sun. And so on, and so on. Once we were home the territorial pissings of punk once again worked their way into our lives as we completed writing what was to become Bronx III and Mariachi El Bronx. we discovered that we had more than enough songs for a record, now it was time to cement the sound. Vincent Hidalgo, son of David Hidalgo (los lobos, latin playboys) joined El Bronx in late 2007. Vincent really helped bring everything together. as a unit we poured our heart and soul into every song, musically and lyrically. Jon Avilla (Oingo Boingo) was picked out of a prison line up to produce the record. It was at his studio in the San Gabriel Valley where we put the finishing touches on the record. What had started as an act of rebellion had become something bigger than the sum of its parts. Alfredo Ortiz (beastie boys / money mark) plays percussion and an unnamed string quartet that did us a "solid" but wouldn't give us their names due to contractual obligations to the television show "American idol". Mariachi El Bronx touches on many facets of mariachi music, the most well know being norteno as well as jorocho, wasteka, bolero and corridos. It may seem strange for a band that blasts the audience into outer space every night to take this direction, but mariachi music is every bit as much of a soundtrack to southern California as punk. They are seamlessly intertwined.

The band will perform in a variety of different ways, sometimes incorporating mariachi into their punk set, sometimes 2 nights at a venue performing each band respectively, often times having one band open up for the other. Check your local listings.

We very much enjoyed making this album, and we hope that you receive the same enjoyment out of listening to it.

- Mariachi El Bronx (the Bronx)

Matt Caughthran - Vox
Joby J. Ford - vihuela
Ken Horne - guitar
Brad Magers - trumpet
Vincent Hidalgo - guitarron
Jorma Vik - drums