Friday, Mariachi El Bronx, the alter ego of punk rock legends The Bronx, will release Mariachi El Bronx IV  (ATO). The Los Angeles band’s first album in over a decade celebrates the rich Hispanic music and culture woven into the fabric of their hometown through 12 songs that follow gamblers, aging playboys, warriors, and lovers wrestling with the complexities of contemporary life. 

Today they share the final single ahead of the album’s release, “Songbird,” a track that confronts a creative hurdle many artists face: writer’s block. Frontman Matt Caughthran was deep in a period of creative exhaustion when longtime collaborator Vincent Hidalgo – son of Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo – hit on a pulse-quickening guitar line in the studio.

Caughthran and the Hidalgo family’s musical orbit goes back decades. He first met Vincent and his brother David Jr. in high school, where the three began playing music together, laying the foundation for a creative relationship that’s now spanned more than 30 years. After decades of collaboration, the spark was instant and to Caughthran, Vincent’s riff sounded like a hummingbird flapping its wings – the same bird he’d been watching outside his writing window as he stared down a blank page. The block faded instantly as lyrics poured out of his brain: “I was staring at another empty page / Feeling every single second of my age.” 

The video for “Songbird” was directed by Blaise Cepis, adding, “whenever I direct a music video, I’m just trying to make something 11-year-old me would’ve stayed up late hoping to catch on 120 Minutes or Headbangers Ball. Thankfully I found 8 kindred spirits in mariachi el Bronx, who were the most incredible collaborators and were down for anything. I had such a great time with the band and the insanely talented gorgeous cast, I think 11-year-old me would approve.”

Mariachi El Bronx tour dates 

February 14 – Black Box – Tijuana, BC – LOW TICKET WARNING 

February 15 – M-Theory (In-Store Performance) – San Diego, CA

February 17 – Amoeba Records (In-Store Performance + Signing) – Hollywood, CA

March 3 – Forum – Melbourne, AUS

March 5 – King Castle – Newcastle, AUS

March 6 – Roundhouse – Sydney, AUS

March 7 – The Tivoli – Brisbane, AUS

July 8 -11 – 2000 Trees Festival – Cheltenham, UK

* support from The Mainliners