THE BRONX // Muy Picante Rock 'n' Roll

The saying goes there’s no rest for the wicked, and that certainly rings true for LA punks The Bronx.

MORE: TROPHY EYES: The Dreamers And The Doers // ALPHA WOLF: … And Out Come The Breakdowns // OUTRIGHT: Don’t Holler Atcha Girl
REVIEWS: TROPHY EYES: The American Dream // AS IT IS: The Great Depression // MANTAR: The Modern Art Of Setting Ablaze // DORO: Forever Warriors, Forever United

After performing at the sold-out Splendour in the Grass Festival and dropping by for a couple of sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne before they left, The Bronx have announced an East Coast tour in October with supports High Tension and Private Function.

With seven studio albums between the main band and their side project Mariachi El Bronx— an experimental combination of mariachi horns and punk rock—the band has steadily risen to new heights. Off the back of their largest album release to date last year, the band is coming to finish what they’ve started. Hysteria had the opportunity to chat to frontman Matt Caughthran ahead of their regional Australian tour.

The Bronx were recently here for Splendour in the Grass, and easily one of the top highlights of the weekend. Was it different playing an Australian festival compared to the U.S.?

Um, no, I mean it’s like festivals are usually pretty similar around the world, it’s more about like what type of festival it is, like Download Festival or if it’s like an underground festival or kind of like that vibe. Splendour was really cool, I loved it, it was way more of a … kind of a pop music festival thing than I thought it would be, but I mean we had the best time. It was a lot of fun, it just felt like it was a little too brief, so we wanted to come back and play some shows and get the proper club gig’s in.

Yeah … your music is definitely a very different genre to what’s usually booked for the festival, hopefully it will continue to open the door for heavier bands to be put on the bill. Between The Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx do find your music is kind of a gateway between genres?

We’ve always kind of been one of those bands that can play with anybody. I think that’s one of the cool things about The Bronx in the early days as well … we’ve done metal tours, obviously punk tours, we’ve done rock tours, we’ve done all sorts of different shit, it’s kind of the same thing with festivals. I think it’s cool that there are people out there that are constantly kind of looking to do things different and shake things up a little bit. We’re kind of stoked being that, playing that role, we like being the band that kind of sticks out, its kind of been our identity our whole career almost. I’m stoked to be the gateway band, I like being the band that’s a little bit in between. That isn’t a straightforward genre type of band, that only plays with bands that sound exactly the same or exactly like that band … there’s no fun doing it that way. Anytime there’s a chance to be part of something different or stick out a little bit we’ll take it.

Between both bands, you’ve got an impressive discography that shows musical diversity, in a way that constantly steps outside of the box. How do you continuously find inspiration and motivation to write your albums?

We love what we do, honestly just writing music, I mean of course there’s a point where it can be hard and it can be frustrating but as like an ideology… as a purpose, or like something you want to spend your life doing it’s not hard to want to do it I mean we love to do this, we were supposed to do this in our lives, we get excited about it. Now it’s like between three El Bronx records and five Bronx records, it’s almost routine. We get in a spot where we’re super excited to write the record, we write the record then we get super excited to record the record and then we get super excited to go travel the world and play it and then that comes back around then it’s like okay it’s time to settle in and look at things from a different perspective and start writing again and it’s really cool. We’re really fortunate that we get to spend our lives doing that because it’s super creative and has so much meaning to it and it’s that which we really love.

With it becoming almost routine does it ever get sort of hard to keep pushing the boundaries and keep your fans guessing?

Yeah of course, and the hardest part is you’ll like get to a point sometimes where you’ll be repeating yourself or something like that and you won’t even know it. There was a point when we were recording Bronx V and I was writing lyrics and it was like it sounds so familiar. It was like I’d written a slightly different version of lines I’d previously written. You gotta stay on your toes, you can’t get too comfortable because you don’t want to repeat yourself and I think the longer you go the harder of a challenge it is. You can kind of fall off the wheel a little bit, because if something feels good you’re like oh shit this sounds awesome but it might not necessarily be as good as it can be or as original as it can be. The more longevity you have you kind of have to push yourself to get past your comfort zone and really really try to pull something deeper out.

We’re really fortunate that we get to spend our lives doing that because it’s super creative and has so much meaning to it and it’s that which we really love.
[MATT]

With the release of your video Side Effects you made some really profound statements around struggling with identity, and battling with mental health, is that something you’ve personally struggled with, or the band has throughout your career?

Yeah, it’s never been like a band issue, the band is pretty confident in who we are and what we’re doing. I definitely dealt with some issues, just kind of trying to figure out who I am sometimes, sometimes it’s just I get a little bit lost in stuff like that, in identity stuff, and just kind of like what I’m doing and why I’m here type shit… and I was also going through a little bit of depression on the last record so I kind of had to write my way through that, which was difficult but I’m thankful for it because that’s what music is there for, it’s vehicle you can use to express yourself and to push through things like that. I’m very fortunate because a lot of people don’t really have an outlet for stuff like that. It’s been a tough kind of haul the last couple years for me mentally but I’m in a better spot now so I’m stoked on that.

That’s really good to hear. Is there anything in the works for future music, or are you just focusing on touring right now?

The end of this year, is kind of the end of a major, major touring for Bronx V so we’re just kind of now starting to spin the wheels on what we’re doing next and I think we’re gonna be… uh… all signs are pointing to another Bronx record. So I think we’re gonna do Bronx VI, start writing around the end of the year, around December, January, February and then do some touring at the beginning of the year and maybe try and focus and see where we can fit a record in. It’d be nice to get another record in next year. That being said we don’t have a single song written yet but it’s gotta be a thought before it turns into a sound, that’s pretty much where we’re heading. We’re doing full-bore on tour till the end of the year and then it’s time to write a record.

The Bronx are such a high energy band in terms of the music, but also how often you guys tour and are working on music. Do you have some sort of self-care plan or routine that you have in place to prevent yourselves from burning out?

Yes and no, there’s only so much you can do sometimes, for example we only just got back from two months of touring and I came home kinda thinking that I was in a good spot, then I came home and man, just I just got my ass kicked, as soon as I got home my body felt terrible, I had like some medical things that I had to like dive into. It was a super bummer because sometimes you feel like you’re good and you’re strong but what we don’t realise is our body is kind of just hanging on by adrenalin for two months and you’re just smashing yourself on stage and you get home and everything kind of breaks down. You have to be conscious of all that and you have to take the good and the bad in life and the lows and sometimes it doesn’t work out quite the way you’d expect it too, but you gotta push through it. There are times when it does take a toll for sure, I mean burnt out is one thing, everyone gets burnt out, it’s when you get like jaded, like that’s what you don’t want to be I made a vow when I was a young kid that I’d never be that person no matter what I turned out to be doing, I definitely won’t be that person as a musician. Sometimes life is crazy life is fucked up, you get hurt, you get depressed, you get beat up but its all good because on the flip side of that there’s a lot of beauty in the world, there’s a lot of great things that can happen to you and to other people, you gotta take the good with the bad… you gotta take care of yourself, we gotta take care of ourselves so we can provide and tour.

You aren’t one to shy away from the crowd, and on your press release for this tour it mentioned ‘no barriers.’ Is that a sign that this tour is going to get more intimate than your previous ones?

It’s gonna be crazy, it’s going to be the craziest Bronx tour to Australia yet, I can guarantee that… We’re coming over there looking for trouble. It’s going to be a lot of fun, shows are going to be completely insane, we’re going to be smashing it. We’re in a really good spot as a band, everything’s sounding really good and everyone’s feeling good when we’re on stage it’s awesome. You know coming over there for splendour was great, and now coming back to do the real thing.

I noticed that despite having over 20 thousand Instagram followers, The Bronx are only following 1 account back… Taco Bell. Did you know Australia recently got Taco Bell?

Oh… you guys got a Taco Bell?! No… are you serious?

We do! It’s in Brisbane so when you’re playing at The Triffid, you’ll have to give it a go and see if it’s up to scratch compared to the OG.

Hell yeah! Taco Bell is the best, it will be done, it will definitely be done… that’s so good to hear!

The Bronx Australian Tour is happening this October.

Thursday, 18th October – The Triffid, Brisbane
Friday, 19th October – Cooly Hotel, Gold Coast
Sunday, 21st October – Great Northern, Byron Bay
Tuesday, 23rd October – Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Wednesday, 24th October – ANU Bar, Canberra
Thursday, 25th October – Metro Theatre, Sydney
Friday, 26th October – Capitol, Perth
Sunday, 28th October – The Gov, Adelaide
Monday, 29th October – Karova Lounge, Ballarat
Tuesday, 30th October – Barwon Club, Geelong
Wednesday, 31st October – Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne