Three years ago, FADER headed to Mexico City for story on the city's then burgeoning rock scene. It has since burgeoned. Chikita Violenta, a large part of the story, have signed to Canada's Arts and Crafts and just completed a tour in the US. We asked them to check in with their impressions of the States, which they have below, in both English and Spanish. Check back soon for part two.
MOLE BLUES
As is common knowledge us Mexicans only eat tacos because that is the only food that exists in the mother land... not really but the street tacos are way more awesome that the weak 'highway food'. It's seriously bad... it is kinda ok on the first day, the burger tastes great, and so do the fries, or pizza, or the sub, or whatever. Yet, on the fifth or sixth day, you start to crave the good stuff that we get easily in Mexico besides tacos obviously... fresh fruit or at least something homemade. Don’t get us wrong, they’re out there, we know it, but driving on the Interstate as a touring band it is not very likely we'll run across it. Its all McD's territory.
I guess we can diversify and tour in a taco truck right?
¡¿QUE QUÉ!?
We’ve hit it off with the Barbiradicals (We Barbarians from the Long Beach, CA.) They’re great people… and an awesome band. We think the West Coast "vibe" is more similar to us Mexicans more than the rest of the US for sure, including Texas and other bordering states that also have big Mexican communities, the way Californians understand humor and overall human relations is more in tune with our way of seeing things. In general more laid back and open and the best part...they think our jokes are funny: ¡Que en Cuba la pahcanga se acabo!
ENVIDIA, DE LA BUENA
Las bandas mexicanas entendemos el rock de manera algo distinta que las bandas norteamericanas. Más bien, lo abordamos desde otra perspectiva. Se debe, quizás, a las prioridades que, en general, le asignamos al hecho de tener una banda y buscar obtener reconocimiento cuando arrancamos. Son detalles difíciles de enumerar; sin embargo, son estos detalles los que parecen dar cuenta de gran parte de la brecha que hay entre ambas escenas (la mexicana y la norteamericana). La increíble oportunidad girar durante dos o tres meses—tocando más de 50 fechas—sin salir de su país cuando a penas arrancan un proyecto musical a sus 22 ó 23 es una escuela que enseña demasiadas lecciones y forja músicos de primer nivel, en sus respectivos nichos, desde my temprano. Curiosamente los vuelve, ante todo, más humildes y sensibles al complicado mundo de la industria musical. Saben cómo desenvolverse en un escenario y enfrentar imprevistos con facilidad y seguridad. Saben trabajar en equipo y aprovechar todas las oportunidades de ingreso que la banda puede tener más allá de su presentación o el show. Montan y desmontan un escenario completo en menos de 15 minutos sin titubear, todos los días, durante 40 días seguidos.
THE AMERICAN CROWD
As Latin Americans, we think we are too cool for school as an audience and that we rock out more than any other crowd in the world. We often say shit like “Everyone that comes to Mexico to play falls in love with our people because no one can match how loud and passionate we are.” That might be true at some extent but everyday in this tour the crowds have been so awesome that they are proving our 'theory' wrong one gig at a time. To our delight, the peeps we've ran across are quite like no other crowd we’ve experienced. They scream, they rock out, they head bang, they dance and, most of all, they listen (not just with us, with all the bands). Pretty amazing.