Drawing on two strands of L.A., Hispanic culture and punk, The Bronx and their alter ego Mariachi El Bronx have dovetailed album releases ever since. Mariachi El Bronx’s fourth album, Mariachi El Bronx IV, their first in twelve years, is released next week and as Caughthran explains, “We had the importance of a comeback record weighing on everybody. You want the songs to be right, you want everything that the band represents to still be there and to still have as much impact and meaning as it’s had in the past, if not more, in the present.”
Since the release of The Bronx’s sixth album, The Bronx VI in 2021, Caughthran’s life has undergone many changes, from the ups of the joy of getting married to the downs of the sadness of losing loved ones. “I was going through all this excitement and love. On the other side of that spectrum, I lost some family members. The older you get, you lose more people and there had a been a lot of sadness and death around us”, he explains.
“We tried our best to live inside of that inspiration, and to write about the people and the things that we love, and the people and the things that we’ve lost, but the record also served an escape from all that.”
Whilst they were recording the album, the L.A. wildfires were happening, and what Caughthran describes as the sheer chaos surrounding them inspired them to create a sense of joy and release from the bleakness of the outside world. “The album became this thing we could all show up to every day, and we could focus on putting something creative and beautiful out into the world. This record served many purposes; it really means a lot to me.”
Having spent a huge amount of his life on the road, Caughthran can’t wait to get back into a tour bus, where they’re heading to Australia in March, followed by shows in the U.S, and he’s hoping they can tour the UK and Europe this Autumn.
“I miss London a lot. We’ve done some post Brexit touring through the UK and Europe, its way more expensive and its way more annoying. You’ve got to go through all the all the checks and balances and customs seems to take a lot longer coming in and out of England.”
But despite the administrative hassles Brexit has brought, Caughthran describes it as, “The juice is worth the squeeze, it sucks, but we love the UK and we love traveling overseas. We’ve been doing it since the band started in 2003 and the world does seem to get a little bit shittier, but it’s the ebbs and flows of life and the music industry. Hopefully there’s an upside around the corner within the next decade. And regardless, we’ll be making music and we’ll be touring.”
Photography by Jerry Robinson
When it came to his Nine Songs selections, Caughthran spent a long time whittling down his final choices. “It will always be a nightmare for musicians, or for anyone who listens to music, to dwindle things down.”
His final nine are foundational to who he is, not just as a musician, but as person, They cover his love of punk, his enduring affection for metal in all it’s forms, as well as funk, but ultimately music is where he found his tribes and friendships, where the communal nature of going to concerts as teenager would be the inspiration behind both The Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx.
“There are so many songs that mean a lot to me, and there’s so many bands that have impacted me throughout my music career and my life in general. I tried to do a thing where I’ve got no repeats, there might be a repeat band but it’s never a repeat song. So what you’ve got here in this list, is a list that no one else will receive.”