Piñata Protest

"Tex-Mex punk rock y desmadre desde San Antonio, Texas"

Last week I caught up with Àlvaro Del Norte of Piñata Protest to talk about their latest album, "Necio Nights", amongst other things. Piñata Protest is a Tex-Mex punk band from San Antonio, Texas and they are currently touring and promoting their new album! The band consists of: Àlvaro Del Norte (vocals and accordionist), Richie Brown (vocals and electric bass), Chris-Ruptive (drums and vocals) and Regino Lopez (guitar). The style of music this fasted-paced band plays fuses punk rock with tex-mex music, cumbia, huapango, and many other Norteño rhythms. The band embraces both sides of their heritage through their music, lyrics, album art, and the fact that they sing in both English and Spanish. They have traveled around the U.S,, Mexico and Canada and they are set to play a few shows in Spain. Not only that, but during their career they have played with musicians like Brujería, Molotov, and even Ramón Ayala!

The new album, "Necio Nights", from Piñata Protest not only features several musical guests, but it  "captures a maturing band now fully rooted with its musical identity but that continues to explore and cross their boundaries without diminishing their energy in any moment."

In my interview with Àlvaro, I asked him about what he thinks of la frontera and what it means to him considering the band's name and the music they play. Not only that, but he happened to be in El Paso at the time the interview took place. "To me, it's a place where two worlds come together. It's a very unique mix that doesn't exist anywhere else. Even the U.S.-Canada border has it's own culture. I was born on the border of Nuevo Laredo (Texas) and you know, I spent most of my life there. Not anymore because of the way things are, but I am fond of border towns and I relate to people on the border. They seem to get it better than other people." 

Agreeing with his statement, I asked him how being from San Antonio, a hub of cultures yet predominantly Mexican-American, has affected their music and the genre they play. "A lot of the Norteño music that influences our sound is considered border music and punk-rock is more American. The band is a reflection of those two worlds coming together." There is no doubt that the band reflects those two things. Not only that, but they have been around for ten years playing their music and it's no easy feat. I asked Àlvaro how the band has been able to keep itself together and has been able to keep doing what they love. He responded by saying, "things keep getting better and we keep growing. We are going to Spain in a couple of weeks and I am very excited about that. To the motherland! Sometimes I feel like I am crazy for continuing this for ten years, but you know I love it so much. I love playing shows and moving people emotionally. The adventure of it all like touring and not knowing what is going to happen is the best. It's always an adventure and it's fun."

We then transitioned to talking about the album and Àlvaro mentioned that, ""Necio Nights" is our third album and we released it last month. It's the album we have always wanted to release. In terms of the production we are very proud of it. We wanted to make it something new and add to it. We are happy with it and we have received great feed back from it."

​I am glad people have received this album well. It truly is a treat! A huge thanks to Piñata Protest for their time and great music! Follow them on Instagram @pinataprotest to keep up with what the band has going on!