Discos de destrucción: Días De Destrucción organizer Eddie Leal's top 5 Latino punk records
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Last year, organizer Eddie Leal (of locals Deskonocidos and Vaaska) gathered his favorite Spanish-speaking hardcore bands for the first-ever Días De Destrucción, a two-day festival arguing that Latinos—with their rich history of revolution and marginalization—might understand the language of punk better than any contemporary culture. This week, it returns to expound on that argument with an expanded scope, thanks to the help of Leal’s girlfriend, Dru Molina, and Chaos In Tejas founder Timmy Hefner. The fest includes more straightforward rock and garage acts—everyone from east L.A. vets The Brat to the Tejano-inflected Piñata Protest to Monterrey art-rockers XYX—playing shows Thursday at Beerland and Friday and Saturday at Emo's. As a primer on what to expect from the Mexican and Mexican-American bands playing this weekend, The A.V. Club asked Leal to share his own most indispensable Latino punk records.
The Brat, Attitudes (1980)
Eddie Leal: I really like the fact that vocals are more singy than shouty or screamy, which is what most people think punk should be. And Rudy’s guitar playing—the melodies are incredible. The whole LP only has five tracks, and not until maybe a year ago did they release an anthology with, like, 30 songs. When the new songs came out, I was happy to find out I liked those too.
The A.V. Club: This seems like a band that could easily have broken through if it had stuck with it—like X, or a Latino Blondie.
EL: Definitely. The LP’s real punk, but the songs on Anthology and even “The Wolf” on their MySpace are more singy. My girlfriend was like, “This could have been like The Go-Go’s.”
Los Crudos, Los Crudos/Spitboy split (1995)
EL: I’ll be quite honest with you: I don’t think I’ve ever even listened to the Spitboy side. Before I got a Los Crudos record, I’d read a review in [MaximumRockNRoll] or Slug And Lettuce or something, and it just sounded great—something like, “Intense energy, raw emotions, sung in Spanish.” That was the first punk band I ever heard from America singing in Spanish. I was blown away by it listening to it as a teenager, and I still am now.
AVC: Singer Martin Sorrondeguy used to take some criticism for giving all his songs really long introductions in English. What do you think about that?
EL: I think that’s a great idea. In Deskonocidos and Vaaska, we sing in Spanish, and I guess in some people’s opinion that’s political. But the lyrics are mainly just about my life and the economic state we’re going through. I personally don’t find it political. I don’t like to be preaching to people, but I can appreciate it in [Los Crudos]. That band wasn’t so much about being talented musicians as people playing because they had something to say. So I think it’s great that they would tell the people what they were saying. There’s always been Latino punks, but the reality is that the majority of [the fans] then were white people, so him telling them what the songs were about was definitely relevant to what they were trying to do.
Revolucion X, Politica Y Esparcimineto 7-inch (1995)
EL: That record was released by Martin in Los Crudos; he sent me a copy when it came out. I thought it was great. Really raw punk, in the vein of Los Crudos, but not musically—just more along the lines of really having something to say, rather than being musically talented. It had no information on it, so I actually thought it was from Mexico. Then I met a guy here in Austin, and it turned out he was the drummer for Revolucion X. He told me that the band was from El Paso, but the singer was actually from Mexico, and he would sneak over across the border to play. I think they’re one of the best bands out there, definitely.
AVC: So he’s still sneaking across the border?
EL: No, they haven’t played in a long time. I actually tried to get them to play the fest, but the drummer told me he couldn’t get a hold of the singer anymore. But if they ever want to do something, I’ll help them.
Peligro Social, No Religion (2006)
EL: Out of all these records, that’s the most like the kind of music I listen to—this sort of ’80s Spanish punk. By “Spanish punk,” I mean literally from Spain. Peligro Social is from California, but they play that style. It’s total melodic rock ’n’ roll punk sung in Spanish. Again, they’re not trying to be political. People might think that, but to me it’s a lot like our band. It’s sending a message, but about something that really affects you, not just a war in another country that doesn’t really affect you because you’re not there.
AVC: Do you think it’s a hindrance for a Spanish-speaking band to come from America, as opposed to Mexico or Spain?
EL: Absolutely. But also, in America, without a doubt, the bigger shows are always with foreign bands. A band from another place is the one you want to check out. Timmy brings down Japanese and Swedish punk bands for Chaos In Tejas, and those are always the biggest shows. And when we play in Mexico or whatever other countries, those are the big shows too, and the [bookers] tell me no one cares about the locals. Every country is excited to see how bands from other countries will be.
AVC: For a band like Peligro Social—who come from the Bay Area—do you think people might see their singing in Spanish as an affectation?
EL: I’m not too sure about that. Every time I’ve seen them, even in the Bay Area, there were around 400 people. I think singing in Spanish might even help a little bit. To some people, yeah, singing in another language is weird. Like when I tell my co-workers—who don’t listen to punk and are just normal dudes—that I sing in a punk band, and it’s in Spanish, they’re like, “What?” They can’t believe it. In their head, it’s impossible to be in a punk band and sing in Spanish. Like, if you’re gonna sing in Spanish, you have to be in a Tejano band.
Massacre 68, No Estamos Conformes (1990)
EL: This is one of the oldest Mexican punk bands. I got into them around ’95 off some tapes, because the actual vinyl is real expensive. When I was a teenager, that heavy, raw political stuff was what I was really into. But I actually just listened to this record yesterday, and it’s still great. Me and Timmy are trying to get them up here, but we haven’t heard anything. They still play locally, but it’s always weird—like at flea markets and stuff.
AVC: I’m not fluent in Spanish, but these guys are definitely pissed off about something.
EL: [Laughs.] Yeah, definitely. All of their lyrics are anti-government and about living on the streets and stuff. People I know who have seen them live say it’s crazy. They’re like The Exploited or Black Flag of Mexico. They’re the biggest band out there, in my opinion. When they play locally in Mexico City, like 1,000 people will go see them.
AVC: What is it about living in Mexico that breeds bands like this?
EL: The poverty has a lot to do with it, but this band is also from the ’80s, which is when I believe the economic situation was even worse. So they definitely had something to be pissed about. I like a lot of new bands, and these days I buy records that are more musical. I want it to sound good, for the guitars to have solos, stuff like that. But when I listen to ’80s punk records, they don’t have any of that, but there’s something about them that I will always love more than any new record, because I feel like the emotion was more real back then. Yeah, there are wars, and people are saying we’re in a recession, but nobody I know has really been affected. We all have jobs. We’re doing okay. Back then it was worse, and people were pissed off about things more. They had more to say.
AVC: What do you think most of the bands playing Días De Destrucción have to say?
EL: Of the bands we chose, around 75 percent of them are definitely political, but not blatantly political. It’s more about reading between the lines. The other 25 percent are just straight-up punk or garage, or weird bands like Piñata Protest, Ratas Del Vaticano, XYX. Those bands just play crude, noisy stuff. We like that too.
AVC: Do you think punk is one of the most universal forms of music out there?
EL: Yeah, definitely. [Laughs.] You don’t hear about Tejano bands in Europe.
