Mexican Metal

Later that night at the rock show, I found myself caught between excitement at seeing metal bands in Mexico and dread at the cultural imperialism that entailed. The first few bands played mostly covers of Gringo songs, so it wasn't until later that I began to hear more creative, more original, more Mexican compositions.

One band in particular, Mexico Cabron, made me realize that people weren't just copying US metal, they were transforming and owning the music. In fact, Mexico Cabron played a screaming, deep voiced metal cover of the Mexican National Anthem, which it has to be said was made to be a metal song. For cryin out loud, the first line of the anthem translates to "Mexicans at the cry of war!" It doesn't get much more metal than that.

Normal Anthem.

METAL ANTHEM! Note: This type of music sounds terrrrrible on computer speakers, so dont judge me.

The mosh pits got going, and apparently I was knocking down people left and right, though I didn't notice because I was just moshing like I normally do. The difference is that in Mexico I'm a lot bigger than I am in the US, compared to the general populace.

My cousin Mayito's band Blasperma played last, and almost didn't get to play because the band before them went on for too long, but they put themselves on stage and rocked out for 4 songs. In fact, they rocked so hard they started a fight (a good sign in this genre). Blasperma was the youngest band on stage, and though most of their songs were (creative) covers, they still had a distinctly original feel to them. At the end of one song, the long haired lead singer let out a huge "AiAiAiAi AAY!"

My experience with a lot of my cousins and friends since I left Sonora has been one of flashes, a few days of their lives every few years. In Mayito's case, the my memories of him as a shy, funny little kid would have never led me to believe that I would show up one day and suddenly see him transformed into a local rock star.

Rock on Mayito, Rock on.