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Mariachi El Bronx comes to the Stone Pony on June 26th
Particularly for someone who once out-screamed a chainsaw, Matt Caughthran has a pretty sweet voice.
Caughthran is the singer for two very different bands: a punk one called The Bronx, and its unlikely alter ego, Mariachi El Bronx, which brings its English language mariachi-style songs to The Stone Pony this week, along with Gogol Bordello and Flogging Molly.
The transformation from screaming punk to melodious mariachi was somewhat accidental for the band members, who are neither of Mexican nor Bronx heritage.
"It's a very abrasive kind of animalistic type of sound," said Caughthran, 36, Because the Los Angeles-based rockers were amused by the rivalry between the coasts at the time, they ironically named themselves The Bronx when they formed in 2002. On a competition televised on Fuze, WHEN WAS THIS? Caughthran measured his voice against other loud sounds, shouting louder than a chainsaw.
"It's not necessarily the loudness that I want to be remembered for," said Caughthran. "I want people to think that I'm speaking some good stuff and that I'm singing the truth and you can tell — whether it's Bronx or El Bronx — that I'm coming from an honest place and that I'm stoked on my life and that I'm not sitting on my ass and taking it for granted."
About six years ago The Bronx got an opportunity to record one of its songs acoustically. The members tossed out the idea of adding mariachi horns and were pleasantly surprised, eventually deciding to create a Mexican doppelganger, embroidered suits, bolo ties and all.
Mariachi El Bronx
Where:
The Stone Pony Summer Stage, 913 Ocean Ave, Asbury Park
When:
Friday, June 26th, 5:30 p.m.
How much:
$38 in advance; $42 at the door. For information, call 732-502-0600 or visit
The new band enlisted horn players and on guitarron, Vincent Hidalgo, an old friend and the son of Los Lobos's David Hidalgo. The band took to YouTube to re-learn their instruments and their craft.
"We had to really put in the time to make sure that people didn't think we were [dissing] the music or the people or the heritage," Caughthran said. "[We decided to] just be ourselves and work hard and honor the music and do it the right way and see what happens — and it ended up that people dug it."
The band brought along some Bronx fans and also mariachi fans looking for something new and different, Caughthran said. It even got the band on the Late Show with David Letterman, which Caughthran — a long-time Letterman fan — said "was one of the coolest experiences of my life."
The band's latest, Mariachi El Bronx (III), continues to refine its upbeat, surprisingly catchy sound, covering topics from love to the misuse of organized religion on "Sticks and Stones."
Caughthran admitted that he was initially "super-scared" to write songs and sing in a mariachi style though he had heard it his whole life in his native southern California.
"For me punk music is about the honesty and the truth of it," he said. "It's about the heartache, the anger, the pain and self-expression, and just getting it out. For me, it's the same with mariachi music. It's songs from the heart, songs about sadness, songs about joy, about hope and about real things. It's an honest style of music."
For Caughthran, with three mariachi albums under his rhinestone belt, the switch has allowed him to find a way to express another side of his personality.
"I hear nasty electric guitar and I want to talk about how [screwed] up the world is and how [screwed] up I am, but that's not an accurate depiction of my life. It's not all just that. I'm a very fortunate dude....For some reason it was hard to get all those things out in The Bronx. It was hard to speak on those things....El Bronx ended up being the vehicle for all that stuff."
While the group has alternated tours of both groups and even swapped personas in the same day, they never switch between The Bronx and El Bronx in a single set, Caughthran said, in part because of the costume and instrument changes that would be necessary.
At the start of The Bronx, he said, "I didn't care about singing, I didn't care about anything, [but] when you build something together, it's not just you anymore. You have to respect other people's work ethic and other people's sacrifice and what they put into it....As soon as I got serious and kind of flipped the script on singing and started to enjoy it, I made it a goal to be the best that I could. Everything changed for me."
Marty Lipp may be reached at martylipp@hotmail.com. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.