This Thursday night (May 4) from 10 pm to 1 am EDT, WHRB brings you the Mexican punk/rock orgy sponsored by El Jefe's Taqueria! Featuring a diverse set of punk and rock acts from Mexico including De Nalgas, Pastilla and Hummersqueal.

Thanks to Karel from De Nalgas, Victor from Pastilla and Chris from Hummersqueal for talking with us before the orgy!

How did you get into punk/rock music? When and why did you start making music?
De Nalgas: We started in punk rock listening to some American/UK bands like Bad Religion, Rancid and Green Day. The political message of the album American Idiot was the introduction for us to bands like The Clash, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Misfits, etc.

Pastilla: I got into rock music at an early age, my dad was a huge rock fan and even had a band back in Mexico city in the early 70's. I got to listen to all his vinyl and that's how I got into the Beatles, the Stones, etc. I started making music in a very natural way. I was barely 3 when I was making out melodies and would put words together and sing about stuff that was happening like cholos breaking into our apartment lol. My dad still has that recorded somewhere. By the time I was 10 all I wanted to be was a Beatle. When I was 11 I went to my first show. I saw this Argentinian band call Soda Stereo and in that moment I knew I wanted to be a rock star.

Hummersqueal: In my case my mother used to listen to things like ZZ Top, The Animals or Creedence Clearwater Revival, so maybe I got it from there. My band mates also grew up listening to rock and metal music. Also, I think you always have this friend, old brother, etc., that shows you a band, and it makes your brain explode.

I think we all started [making music] around the age of 13, 14 years old. We started playing because we wanted to connect with people. I think that’s what makes us a band; we all wanted to connect with someone.

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What are some of your influences (bands, people, ideas, etc)?**

De Nalgas: Living in Mexico City is a very clear influence to what we do. You can see in the streets everyday inequality, insecurity, and a lot of topics we like to sing about. We prefer to sing about that; all the people here talk about the bad government that we have but only a small sector in underground music sing about it.

Mexican band Molotov was the very first band that showed us that you can talked about these topics and have fun at the same time.

Pastilla: Some of my influences are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Brian Jonestown, Los Pasteles Verdes, Los Solitarios, Christian Death, The Cure, Pavement, Gustavo Cerati. I'm influenced a lot by Lennon and his thoughts, his songs. Jesus the man, as funny as it sounds lol. Just any Revolutionary figure. Whomever is against the machine, capitalism, etc.

Hummersqueal: All of us have different musical tastes. We grew up listening metal bands like Megadeth, Slayer, Helmet. Grunge things like Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains. But also, the way we make music is influenced by American and Mexican eighties pop and rock music. We were and will always be a DIY band. We believe in hard work.

What do you hope people take away from your music?

De Nalgas: We hope that the message that the songs have are not only the bad words. We love that our fan base is more about kids/teenagers under 18 years old, because we believe that generation is the one that can make a real change. We hate that here in Mexico all the clubs/venues that give us a chance to play our music you need to be 18+ to get in. Sometimes we have to make our own DIY house parties so all the fans and friends under 18 can get in.

Pastilla: I hope people learn to enjoy rock in Spanish. We're Mexican American and we are part of this huge culture that maybe lots of us don't really know or understand. My music might give anyone a taste of what we live, an insight of what we go through in life.

Hummersqueal: We hope they use our songs to express what they feel, and to know someone out there thinks the same way they do.

What is the Mexican punk/rock scene like?
De Nalgas: The "punk rock scene" is always very active, but, to be truthful, nowadays we have more of a POP punk scene, and we don’t like that. We know that punk rock is not only talk about politics or social problems; we think that punk rock is more about attitude than any other thing, but a lot of bands here in Mexico love the easy way to make music talking about love, and “teenage problems” and all that.

We think that if you have a speaker and a microphone, at some point in your career, you have to use it to help people open their eyes and see all the problems that we have as a nation.

But some bands don’t like to touch these topics, and some others fear talking about this because of censorship.

It’s funny that our greatest punk rock bands in Mexico (Syndrome, Rebel D’) are not “located” in the punk rock scene… a lot of punk rock bands are located in the "ROCK URBANO” scene, we think that Rock Urbano is the only real scene in Mexico.

Sadly, the “punk rock scene” in Mexico only tries to imitate the things that happened in the US in the mid 80’s with bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, etc. but they are not real, only played a few great shows, made some money, have some “likes on Facebook” and then go back to his works and that.

Pastilla: The Mexican punk/rock scene is great in Mexico City although I feel most of the bands try too hard to sound like American/British bands. I mean it’s ok to have the influence but it’s another thing to take parts from songs and make them yours just by singing it in Spanish. I feel like the new generation of bands are kids with ok sound but with a great marketing team behind them. The scene in LA is even worse. Most Spanish bands sound outdated, still playing 80's rock and stuff. But you have to understand most immigrants coming from Latin America come from the provinces where regional music is what most people listen to. I can go on and on about this.

Hummersqueal: We stopped playing regularly in 2013, but the scene in Mexico City is always growing. In Mexico City, there are millions of bands. All kinds of bands. Almost daily you can go to a club, party or garage to catch a good show.

Best show you’ve ever played?

De Nalgas: Vive Latino 2016 was rad, the biggest one and the first time we had prime time in that festival, the biggest one in Mexico.

But in Vive Latino 2017 we had a “surprise” jam with Marky Ramone as a very special guest and that was insane, playing with a legend that you love is completely a dream come true.

Also, we had a US tour in 2016 as the opening act for Molotov. They are a huge band here in Mexico and in the states too. All the venues were sold out every night in places we never imagined that we could bring our music, like Chicago or House of Blues in Las Vegas, and to see one, two or ten people that knew our songs was a great experience.

Pastilla: Best show I've ever played, I don't think I've had it yet but maybe our show last year at Zocalo in Mexico City where we gathered almost 80k people. It was just like being in a dream.

Hummersqueal: We love them all. But maybe our 3 “Vive Latino” shows were some of the best. You don’t get to play in front of thousands that often.

Don’t miss De Nalgas, Pastilla and Hummersqueal on the Mexican punk/rock orgy this Thursday night, May 4, from 10 pm to 1 am EDT!

*Article photo of De Nalgas at Vive Latino 2017 with Marky Ramone

Amanda Glazer is a DJ and Online Content Director for Record Hospital