The Rising: Made In Mexico

It was a lazy summer day in downtown L.A., the evening was encroaching, and five guys were sitting at a bar. They stared intently at a smallish screen (smallish for a bar, anyway), fixated upon images of Mexico trying to edge out Portugal in a soccer game. Or, fútbol, rather. Se habla español aquí.

As the game went on, some light rachera music from the jukebox occasionally sifted through the speaker system. South-of-the-border knickknacks lay across a shelf atop the bar, making the scenery even more chewable.

A few more minutes passed, and five strangers stepped in. Even if they had planned it, they couldn’t have stood out more in the place. Young, thin, clad in colorful retro clothes and all smiles, the out-of-towners traded amicable glances with the guys at the bar. Visibly affable, their faces lit up the otherwise dark hole-in-the-wall.

Why were they happy to be there? Because it was an oasis for them. Not just in the sense that they needed any kind of refuge after spending all day in the car together, locked in traffic while heading down the coast of California. It was also an oasis because, just as the sports fans needed to get their fútbol fix, so these four culturally aware musicians (and one friend) needed to get their populist fix - and a big gulp of Mexican music, too.

The setting couldn’t have been more perfect for the crew, really, even though they spontaneously decided to go there. They’re obsessed with Latin American culture and, to top it all off, their name is Made in Mexico.

Hailing from Providence, Made in Mexico are not just passionate about making music - they’re passionate about connecting with people. About getting to the root of culture, where people and art intersect. They’re on an ongoing journey to find humanity’s soul.

Like political revolutionaries after a higher cause, they’re authoring a sound that indie-rock clubs haven’t heard much before, if at all. Made in Mexico are made of three parts reggaetón - that’s right, we’re talking Tego Calderón - two parts post-punk and one part salsa.

They’re spirited, sometimes even frenzied, in concert. At their show at the nearby Smell later that night, belter Rebecca Mitchell brought it as if she had been home-schooled by Janis Joplin and Kathleen Hanna. Jeff Schneider’s guitar spazz-outs deliberately kept the music off-kilter - and kept fans on their toes. Dare Matheson’s gonzo, wicked-fast tribal percussion-ing would have made John Bonham (or Animal) proud. And all the while, new bassist Ruby Wells kept the other tempests in check with her focused, single-note thumps.

Made in Mexico at the Smell, 7.25.09

The sum of their parts is an irresistibly danceable, exotic, crowd-unifying concoction that keeps you guessing till the very end. It is fun incarnate. And it’s culturally enlightening, too.

Shows didn’t always used to be this way for these musicians. Especially not Schneider, who previously played in Arab on Radar. The notorious noise-rockers were classic Providence punk-rock: really loud (like, come-on-stop-it-that’s-too loud) and supremely confrontational. We’re talking about a band that used to spit on its own audience during shows.

“Playing in Arab on Radar was great and all, but that was probably the most alienating music I can think of,” Schneider told the IndiePit Blog. “Honestly.”

Before Made in Mexico’s show at the Smell, when they were still at the bar we mapped out earlier, we huddled with the guitarist and his bandmates at the back of the place. The rachera music gently elbowed its way into the conversation, but it - and the setting in general - felt like a well-scripted extra character contributing to the discussion. Relaxed, sociable and somehow not at each other’s throats despite having been locked up in a car together all day, they hung with us for a half-hour or so, illuminating us about who they are, and laughing a bunch too.

Schneider agreed that AOR were more of an art-performance project, while Made in Mexico are a musical affair. His current band, as opposed to his old one, “is more of a shared experience. We want to know how people feel - and they’re definitely showing it to us at the shows. Most of the people haven’t heard the music before we play, and it’s kind of this visceral thing that happens when we start rocking out. It’s cool. I prefer that [to the AOR shows].”

Schneider’s mates can relate, because in some senses they have grown with him. (The bashful Wells is still new but seemed a welcome member of the family during the interview.) His metamorphosis into a musical extrovert - someone who is more focused on inspiring the crowd than antagonizing it - bled over a bit into Made in Mexico, which started out as a no-wave band.

“We definitely have veered off in a pretty extreme way,” Mitchell said, agreeing that Made in Mexico in some senses began where AOR left off. “Now we’ve all found something that has a punk-rock sensibility. This record [their second one, last year's Guerillaton] is so fun, and has been very freeing for us in a lot of ways.”

That freedom has allowed the group to adopt a sound that is radically different than the one it started with. If you get the first album, Zodiac Zoo, you might even think it were by a different band with the same name.

As Made in Mexico’s sound has become more audience-centric, audiences have in turn reacted more emotionally at their shows.

“They definitely interact with us differently now than they used to,” she said. “There’s not much of a wall between us [and the audience]. There’s nothing aloof about what we’re doing now. And people have been responsive and dancey.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely danceable, but it’s not like we’re doing traditional music,” Schneider chimed in. “It’s still a lot of punk rock, it’s pretty aggressive still. … We’re almost a garage band, where it’s real stripped-down and there aren’t many effects.”

“It’s propulsive,” Wells added.

Get a taste of what they’re talking about with this free sample of “Guerillaton“:

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Mitchell insisted that the time is right to import their unusual blend into clubs, because punk-rock fans are ready for it. They’ve been hungering for diversity, especially since so many show lineups consist of bands that more or less sound alike.

And that brings us to the big question that we probably should’ve answered by now: What is up with Made in Mexico - who, again, are from Providence - sounding like they really did grow up in Mexico?

“We felt like we had to come up with something new,” Matheson said. “To let all our influences filter together. We were listening to a lot of reggaetón, and even some Afrobeat from the late ’60s, early ’70s. We mixed all this together with a lot of our other influences from our earlier work.”

“We’re coming from a music-first perspective,” Schneider weighed in. “We check out a lot of stuff, but we definitely listen to a lot of Latin music. Like punk, there’s just something that’s the real deal about that music.”

As time goes by, oh so quickly, the band is finding itself headed even more in that direction. Since Wells joined, Made in Mexico have already come up with three new songs that are even more geared toward reggaetón.

With such a shared obsession over Latin American music and culture, you’d swear they had all lived there together at some point. Nope. In fact, Mitchell and Wells haven’t even been to any Central or South American countries. Schneider and Matheson have traveled to some places separately, the guitarist to Venezuela - with a health delegation called Witness for Peace - and Mexico; and the drummer to Cuba, where he took lessons from a drum master, and Guatemala.

(Here’s one for the books: When Matheson came back from his illegal trip to Cuba, he got caught with Cuban cigars and rum. But the authorities - and this was in Texas, mind you - let him go scot-free, with his contraband. A tip of the hat to you, sir.)

Schneider and Matheson came across as hyper-aware of Latin American political, economic and cultural issues. A good reflection of their awareness is evidenced in the Guerillaton album artwork, a massive collage that layers pictures of figures and scenes from Latin American history over photographs of the band - and, for good measure, hardcore lefties like Bill Ayers and Noam Chomsky.

“We have shared interests in the history of our hemisphere, and the history of the relationship of the U.S. and Latin America and Central America, and where we are today,” Matheson said. “One of the themes of the artwork and the album is human freedom.”

(We’ll have more on the thought-provoking artwork for an upcoming installment of “Fine Print.”)

With all that said, Made in Mexico are being extra cautious not to preach. Well, at least, they’re trying their best.

“We have no real agenda we’re pushing with the band other than trying to open people’s minds a little bit.” And even though Guerillaton has some songs that could as well be played at a Latin American protest rally, “This is as neutral as we could get it. [But] I don’t ever want to come across as preachy or telling people what to do.”

And these are words you can mark. As Matheson was upfront about his Cuba story, so did the musicians ‘fess up that they’re running a little late on their deadline for a previously planned 7-inch split. Two of those three recently recorded reggaetón-heavy songs are due to be on it, along with tracks from Vancouver punk-surfers Shearing Pinx. The release was supposed to be out before the tour Made in Mexico were on during the interview (they said their show in Vancouver, which took place a few days before, got an A+ reception).

While some fans and writers might criticize them for making such a sharp turn, the reality is that the band is about as authentic as it gets. The group’s radical step in a new direction wasn’t forced, even if it was planned; this is a band that’s trying to get to its core being, and to take its audience somewhere new and special.

Made in Mexico are on a journey. Maybe next time we meet up with them, they’ll be playing Hindustani classical music. Who knows what’s in their future. But until then, all the power to them. And power to the people too.