Friday,\u00a0Mariachi El Bronx,\u00a0the alter ego of punk rock legends\u00a0The Bronx,\u00a0will release\u00a0Mariachi El Bronx IV\u00a0 (ATO). The Los Angeles band\u2019s first album in over a decade celebrates the rich Hispanic music and culture woven into the fabric of their hometown through 12 songs that follow gamblers, aging playboys, warriors, and lovers wrestling with the complexities of contemporary life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today they share the final single ahead of the album\u2019s release,\u00a0\u201cSongbird,\u201d\u00a0a track that confronts a creative hurdle many artists face: writer\u2019s block. Frontman\u00a0Matt Caughthran\u00a0was deep in a period of creative exhaustion when longtime collaborator\u00a0Vincent Hidalgo\u00a0\u2013 son of\u00a0Los Lobos\u2019 David Hidalgo\u00a0\u2013 hit on a pulse-quickening guitar line in the studio.<\/p>\n
Caughthran and the Hidalgo family\u2019s musical orbit goes back decades. He first met Vincent and his brother David Jr. in high school, where the three began playing music together, laying the foundation for a creative relationship that\u2019s now spanned more than 30 years. After decades of collaboration, the spark was instant and to Caughthran, Vincent\u2019s riff sounded like a hummingbird flapping its wings \u2013 the same bird he\u2019d been watching outside his writing window as he stared down a blank page. The block faded instantly as lyrics poured out of his brain: \u201cI was staring at another empty page \/ Feeling every single second of my age.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n