Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Acústico sidecar

Punkers the Bronx get their guitarrón on in Mariachi El Bronx, in town Friday night.
Punkers the Bronx get their guitarrón on in Mariachi El Bronx, in town Friday night.

The 13 years Ken Horne played guitar in the Dragons made that dirty glam-rock band a vital part of San Diego’s home team. They released seven albums and played alongside Mastodon, X, and went on a tour with their musical heroes MC5. The Dragons paid their dues at now-defunct bars such as the Velvet, Bodie’s, Megalopolis, and the old Casbah. “We played the Bacchanal with STP before they were STP,” says Horne. “We once played this small place on El Cajon Boulevard called Grannie’s. Mario [Escovedo, Dragons frontman] lit off firecrackers in there one night.”

The Dragons, who broke up in 2005, did tours of Europe and Japan. They played South by Southwest ten times. But all those years did little to help Horne prepare for his current gig.

Horne plays the jarana, a small eight-string guitar, in Mariachi El Bronx. “It’s basically a folk instrument. We all had to learn to play acoustic.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Mariachi El Bronx is the ethnic, acoustic sidecar for L.A. punkers the Bronx. Horne joined that L.A. punk band when he came back from a two-year stay in his native Japan. “I paid a visit to Tokyo right after the Dragons. I had to come back because the longest you can stay there is two years at a time. Then your visa runs out.”

Horne was in the Dragons when he met the guys in the Bronx at their first public show in 2002 at the Troubadour.

“Around the time I joined [the Bronx], Fuse TV asked them to come up with an acoustic set. Punk doesn’t really translate to acoustic. So for fun they tried to write songs around mariachi.”

The result, seven years later, is the band continues to divide its time between two distinct entities. The third Mariachi El Bronx record was released last week.

Past Event

Mariachi El Bronx, Pounded by the Surf, Shady Francos

  • Friday, November 21, 2014, 8 p.m.
  • U-31, 3112 University Avenue, San Diego

“Right now we’re in the mariachi mode.”

Like another L.A. band, Metalachi, Mariachi El Bronx members wear the festive charro uniforms and are skilled musicians. But unlike Metalachi, Horne says the Bronx mariachis don’t camp it up. “We take the Los Lobos approach [to traditional Mexican music]. In fact, our guitarrón player, Vince Hidalgo, is the son of Dave Hidalgo of Los Lobos.”

Their local show is the last date of a West Coast tour. They head off on a European tour with Gogol Bordello that begins December 1. A rock-and-roll cruise with Flogging Molly follows in March.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Next Article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Punkers the Bronx get their guitarrón on in Mariachi El Bronx, in town Friday night.
Punkers the Bronx get their guitarrón on in Mariachi El Bronx, in town Friday night.

The 13 years Ken Horne played guitar in the Dragons made that dirty glam-rock band a vital part of San Diego’s home team. They released seven albums and played alongside Mastodon, X, and went on a tour with their musical heroes MC5. The Dragons paid their dues at now-defunct bars such as the Velvet, Bodie’s, Megalopolis, and the old Casbah. “We played the Bacchanal with STP before they were STP,” says Horne. “We once played this small place on El Cajon Boulevard called Grannie’s. Mario [Escovedo, Dragons frontman] lit off firecrackers in there one night.”

The Dragons, who broke up in 2005, did tours of Europe and Japan. They played South by Southwest ten times. But all those years did little to help Horne prepare for his current gig.

Horne plays the jarana, a small eight-string guitar, in Mariachi El Bronx. “It’s basically a folk instrument. We all had to learn to play acoustic.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Mariachi El Bronx is the ethnic, acoustic sidecar for L.A. punkers the Bronx. Horne joined that L.A. punk band when he came back from a two-year stay in his native Japan. “I paid a visit to Tokyo right after the Dragons. I had to come back because the longest you can stay there is two years at a time. Then your visa runs out.”

Horne was in the Dragons when he met the guys in the Bronx at their first public show in 2002 at the Troubadour.

“Around the time I joined [the Bronx], Fuse TV asked them to come up with an acoustic set. Punk doesn’t really translate to acoustic. So for fun they tried to write songs around mariachi.”

The result, seven years later, is the band continues to divide its time between two distinct entities. The third Mariachi El Bronx record was released last week.

Past Event

Mariachi El Bronx, Pounded by the Surf, Shady Francos

  • Friday, November 21, 2014, 8 p.m.
  • U-31, 3112 University Avenue, San Diego

“Right now we’re in the mariachi mode.”

Like another L.A. band, Metalachi, Mariachi El Bronx members wear the festive charro uniforms and are skilled musicians. But unlike Metalachi, Horne says the Bronx mariachis don’t camp it up. “We take the Los Lobos approach [to traditional Mexican music]. In fact, our guitarrón player, Vince Hidalgo, is the son of Dave Hidalgo of Los Lobos.”

Their local show is the last date of a West Coast tour. They head off on a European tour with Gogol Bordello that begins December 1. A rock-and-roll cruise with Flogging Molly follows in March.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Dim Sum Tour, Warwick’s Holiday Open House

Events November 24-November 27, 2024
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Eating dinner while little kids mock-mosh at Golden Island

“The tot absorbs the punk rock shot with the skill of experience”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader