Tim SchumannEvery once in a while, a show comes down the pike that just everything clicked, I mean, you leave the venue feeling high, a high that only you could have only obtained at a stellar musical event and that certainly was the case last Sunday night when Pinata Protest rolled into El Paso and landed at none other the Rockhouse, now make no mistake, this band is no stranger to West Texas, they seem to make it at least once a year and always draw a crowd, a real fun band to watch, its as if the Ramones and The Texas Tornados were one band, Tex Mex meets Punk, if you will, this would be my second time covering the band so I knew what to expect, I knew I was in for a definite treat.
Also, on the evenings card were four locals in support and I must say, what a great job putting this show together, it was a evening of Ska, Punk and Tex Mex, local support was Sin Buenos, La Chapuza, Minor in Cryptozoology and OHMIOS, all four put on a great show from the 5 piece brass section of La Chapuza, to the front man of Minor in Cryptozoology, I didn’t get his name, but that guy puts on a show, the crowd loved him for sure, can’t wait to see them again, but for me OHMIOS really stood out, a three piece that consists of Samuel Alonso on bass, Gabriel Bustamante on guitar and Victor Chong doing the honors on percussion. They reminded me of when I saw the Ramones in 77, one song right after another, each song two minutes or less, but two minutes of in-your-face punk rock, yeah, you could say they have a new fan, I truly enjoyed their show.
Pinata Protest hit the stage at 11pm, but not before Ms. Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero sang two songs and played a guitar as a solo act, but she was here the last time they played here, she danced and played the maracas then. After that, all hell broke loose, front man Alvaro Del Northe is all over the place, cowboy hat and accordion doing Mexican punk, rest assured it is a real show, he’s hard not to watch, Richie Brown on bass is a madman as well, a real rocker. Songs like DUI, California Girl, Ruins and Crusty Cumbia were the order of the evening, the crowd loved them, sang along to every song, knew every word.
Living on the border, shows of this caliber go over really well here, they are always fun, packed and its always my pleasure to cover them, yeah, when I left the show Sunday, that’s the feeling I had, that was fun and left a smile on my face that lasted for a hot minute, those are the shows I like and I’m sure you will too.
Alvaro Del Northe- Accordion/Vocals
Chris Ruptive- Percussion
Richie Brown- Bass
Regino Lopez- Guitar
James Villa
