Chingon

Chingón is Spanish for Bad Ass. Chingón is also the name of the new band started by maverick film director Robert Rodriguez. From Santana to El Santo, from The Good, The Bad, The Ugly to Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Rodriguez has sought to fuse the iconic imagery of Mexican culture and music with the visceral tone and vision of the Spaghetti Western. Throw in a big dose of electric mariachis and rock n’ roll and you’ve got Chingón’s Mexican Spaghetti Western.

Rewind: Robert, grew up in the American melting pot of San Antonio, Tejas- the third of 10 children- a village unto itself. While cutting his teeth making short-form films in the Eighties, the young Rodriguez was immersed in the Latin- influenced rock-n-roll of Los Lobos, Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Cruzados, and Carlos Santana. While that era came and went, the music left an indelible mark on the young director.
Fast forward: The early Ninties, Robert had just made a huge splash with the Indie- film benchmark El Mariachi, and was on the hot list of everyone in the industry. Instead of going straight for the standard biggest names as he was making his first major studio film Desperado- he went back to his roots and drew up a wish list of his biggest influences. Like a kid in a candy store he brought in Los Lobos, Carlos Santana, and Tito Larriva of The Cruzados/Tito & Tarantula fame to juxtapose incendiary music with his cinematic vision. The music from Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Once Upon A Time In Mexico (Where Chingón made it’s debut) became critically and commercially acclaimed. Given his all encompassing talents: directing, writing, producing, editing, and even composing his own orchestral scores - it was natural for Robert to also start making his own music influenced by the very artists he listened to AND employed. This was readily apparent not only with Once Upon A Time In Mexico but with Quentin Tarantino asking Rodriguez to score Kill Bill 2 as well as have Chingón contribute songs to the soundtrack.

Record: With the DVD release of Kill Bill Vol. 2, Tarantino has included a 12-minute live performance by Chingón, which has already captured critical accolades: “Tarantino has made a wise decision in letting Robert Rodriguez, his best friend, do the music for Vol. 2. … It adds significantly to the tone and atmosphere of the movie. One of the most delightful DVD bonus features is Chingón, Rodriguez’s musical group playing selections from Vol. 2 at the premiere party” (REEL TALK Movie Reviews).

Play: Chingón is comprised of some of Rodriguez’s closest Austin musical compadres. Rafael Gayol (Charlie Sexton Sextet, Bob Schneider) on drums, the Del Castillo Brothers from buzz band Del Castillo on guitars, Alex Ruiz on gitano vocals. He utilizes the dramatic gritas of Texas Chanteuse Patricia Vonne on “Severina, “ enlists cult rock icon Tito Larriva on “Alacran Y Pistolero,” and presents the lush vocals of actress Salma Hayek on “Siente Mi Amor.” Robert Rodriguez provides compositions, guitarista machine gun fire (much like his character “El Mariachi”), vocal stylings and everything else. “Malagueña Salerosa” and “Cucka Rocka” brandish a blistering guitar attack colored with Gypsy-tinged vocals. These songs alongside other chingónes “Fideo del Oeste” (“Mexican Spaghetti Western”), “El Rey de Los Chingones” (King of the Bad Asses”) melds a musical concoction that is both cinematic and primal in its attack, while the infectious “Se Me Paro” kicks the album off to a ferocious start.

Chingón will be performing select dates in the U.S in the Fall of 2004 in support of Mexican Spaghetti Western, and you can bet more music and more movies (including the red hot SIN CITY) are in the works for both the band and Robert Rodriguez. Now that’s Bad Ass.