{"id":130352,"date":"2026-02-11T19:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/130352\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T19:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:27:07","slug":"mariachi-el-bronx-vocalist-matt-caughthran-talks-mariachi-el-bronx-iv-new-noise-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/130352\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariachi El Bronx Vocalist Matt Caughthran Talks ‘Mariachi El Bronx IV’ \u2013 New Noise Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

An eight-year slumber has ended for Mariachi El Bronx<\/a> with Mariachi El Bronx IV out Feb 13 on ATO Records. The core of Mariachi El Bronx is its abrasive musical stepbrother, The Bronx: Joby J. Ford (guitar, vihuela, accordion) and\u202fJared Shavelson (drums), and vocalist Matt Caughthran, who is visually beaming, his smile penetrating from under his black \u201cLA\u201d baseball cap. Behind him are records, framed posters, and punk paraphernalia\u2014all basking in California sunbeams seeping in through the window. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it is all about the balance,\u201d says Caughthran. \u201cThe Bronx celebrated 20 years. That was a milestone. We released Bronx 6. Been around the world. We celebrated. It was a good time to switch gears.\u201d The band agreed. \u201cIt felt like the end of a chapter for The Bronx,\u201d notes Caughthran. \u201cIt was time to put it on the shelf.\u201d Reacting to my wince, Matt assures, \u201cOf course, The Bronx is still around, still playing shows. We will definitely be recording at some point.\u201d Caughthran refocuses, \u201cFor five years, the need for Mariachi El Bronx was becoming more and more urgent. We were really inspired and hungry to write a new record. Which is where you want to be. We came home from tour and dove in and started writing, started demoing. We were a little nervous. \u2018Would we still have that thing?\u2019 If the magic would still be there. But it was.\u201d Listening to IV, no one will be surprised at Caughthran\u2019s confidence in his bandmates. \u201cIt continues to be an incredible, unlimited source of inspiration, joy, and music,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mariachi El Bronx is a different vehicle for Caughthran. He gets to stretch different muscles from The Bronx. But does it come with a burden to be traditional mariachi? Does it involve research? \u201cIn a broad way, yes\u201d he replies. \u201cOne thing I wanted to explore on this album is in the song, \u2018Bandoleros.\u2019 The credos are traditional, narrative stories about historic battles, heroes, and public figures. It can be about current events. They\u2019re a musical newspaper. People can sing a song to know what\u2019s going on in their community. It\u2019s the battle hymn of the album. It\u2019s about going into to battle together. It\u2019s about brotherhood and being in a band. It\u2019s about having fun, being with your friends, and letting the chips fall where they may. Living fast and dying young.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The conversation leads to a breakdown of semantics and other verbal tools. He explains how myopic he is about syllables, how scrutinizing he is about word choices, and avoiding what he dubs, \u201cbecoming a slave to the rhyme.\u201d The discussions are of frequency and application. But he does not wish to be mired in these details. The big picture retains top status. \u201cThe aspect of storytelling is something that I am constantly reminding myself of,\u201d he concedes. \u201cWith the Bronx and with punk rock, I\u2019ve always come from \u2018I fuckin hate my boss. I hate the fuckin government. And fuck you!\u2019 and that\u2019s the song. It works but \u2026 it\u2019s got to be more poetic. It\u2019s got to have more depth. It\u2019s got to be more intelligent for it to be Mariachi El Bronx.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Caughthran\u2019s storytelling process is a particular foundation of approaches. \u201cIt\u2019s trying to find that balance of saying what you want to say and saying it in a way that I like. I don\u2019t like meandering or spoken word melodies. I find myself thinking too much about that. I find myself going to war with myself. As a writer, you need to know where your boundaries are. What your strong points are.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The raw sweat and spit of The Bronx could be recorded in a studio or in a closet on a four track. Down to basics, their sound bends to a paranoid, claustrophobia state, frantic and deterring. But Mariachi El Bronx\u2014creatively and logistically\u2014need physical space. Never mind thinking room, this band needs literal elbow room. But to Caughthran, \u201cRecording is the best part for us. Especially, on this album. Even going into it. There is so much, ya know? You demo stuff. Even in the demoing stage, you can start to lose your mind,\u201d he laughs. The word is pressure. For the band as an entity and, just as importantly, as a circle of talented, hard-working musicians. \u201cI wrote these songs multiple times, over and over, and different versions just to get the right feel. And making sure it wasn\u2019t something that felt good just to me. Making sure it felt right to the whole band.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

An obstacle that has surfaced in their dormancy is physical proximity. \u201cTake us now. We\u2019re living in different parts of the city. Some in different states. We\u2019re sending ideas back and forth. But it\u2019s not like we\u2019re getting together and really jamming these things out before we get in the studio. So, this record\u2014more than ever\u2014was everyone coming together in the studio and just locking in.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As if the corralling of eight adults was not sufficient stress, those individuals have independent lives. \u201cYou have ten years of a lay off. You have the importance of a Mariachi El Bronx record. No one wants to make a record that no one cares about. No one wants to make a record that isn\u2019t good.\u201d Then, Mother Nature rears her vengeful head, \u201cand on top of that, you had the fires of Palos Verde and Eaton Canyon happening right outside the studio. We recorded in San Gabriel\u2014where we\u2019ve done all of our records. With John Avila. He is our guy. Incredible musician.\u201d Returning to the stark state of recording, \u201c(we) had all these things, all these pressures coming into the record from outside. Plus, everyone has their own internal pressures. From things that are going on in their life and expectations that they have for themselves in this record. Whether it is as a songwriter or playing their instrument.\u201d With sympathy and respect for his cohorts, he supplements these tangibles with \u201cthe chaos of the world around us. The world has changed a lot in the last ten years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But IV establishes fluidity as it expands Mariachi El Bronx\u2019s canon. The songwriting is vivid, visceral, violent. Listening produces a vision of a lone, crawling body tattered and sweating in a desert sun, propelled by desperation and wanderlust. These are also tales of today reimagined in the realm of rugged bastards, drunks, banditos and \u201cgamblers, former playboys, warriors, lovers\u201d states the press release. The echoes of lives abandoned emanate from the haunting conduits of Keith Douglas\u202f(trumpet), Ray Suen (violin), Brad Magers (trumpet), Ken Horne (jarana), and Vincent Hidalgo (guitarr\u00f3n). Their instruments are hypnotic emissaries joining our ears to another existence bathed in sorrow, regret, and yearning; dressed with tobacco-soaked dust, dry spigots, and tumbleweeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moving as the emotional pith of this band is, the business will need to be done differently. Caughthran comments, \u201cThe music industry has changed a lot in the past ten years,\u201d impacting recording, touring budgets, album sales, and merch. \u201cThis is for every band on an independent label.\u201d The band\u2019s label, ATO Records out of Chicago was founded by Dave Mathews, and has built a reputation for its diverse roster that includes My Morning Jacket, Alabama Shakes, Amyl & the Sniffers, and Primus. Mariachi El Bronx will adjust and absorb the positivity resulting from writing IV. \u201cThat was our time to be together, block it all out, and have fun writing an album.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some miseries of the outside world penetrate, current ecological and political climates ensure they will. Caughthran cites present situations and issues for which he can verbally design an anachronistic guise. Repackaged allegories in old, precarious tales of Mariachi culture. \u201cIt\u2019s song by song for me. I obviously have my own agenda going into an album, things I want to write about. Ideas that I wrote down thinking they\u2019d be cool. And you usually attempt to get those in\u2014but one of the things I think is important when making an album is surrendering to the process. So, as a lyricist, I need to surrender to the music.\u201d And his bandmates supply a stunning, foreboding, and beautiful tapestry for Caughthran to adorn with his gilded gift of gab. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Mariachi El Bronx IV\u00a0is out Friday and you can preorder it from ATO Records<\/a>. Follow Mariachi El Bronx on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a> for future updates.<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Auzzy Nufable<\/p>\n

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