 Metal
Rules Mexico
By Toby Marsh
Rock
and Roll is alive and well in Dolores Hidalgo. San Miguel rockers
could take a lesson from our neighbors to the west. A collective
called the CRD (Comunidad Rocanrolera Dolorense or the Dolores Rockn´Roll
Community) was formed in 1983 to bring a series of heavy rock shows
to the Ágora de La Alameda—an enclosed amphitheatre/basketball
court in the park—and they are still going strong. These bills
usually feature a mixed bag of acts mostly heavy metal with a little
punk rock and some more melodic middle-of-the-road rock thrown in
as well. These shows attract rock fans from all over the bajío.
The crowd is always starved for something heavy and greets every
act that even tries to kick out the jams with much appreciation
and enthusiasm.
Sunday December 7th was a cold night to rock outside but apparently
only the sissies stayed home. The CRD sponsored a show headlined
by La Otra Cara De Mexico. A diverse crowd of a few hundred rockers
ranging in ages from 6 to 65 braved the elements and was rewarded
with a fun night of rock and roll.
 San
Felipe punk trio Circle Inner (not to be confused with the reggae
act Inner Circle who perform the ¨Bad Boys¨ theme from the
TV show Cops) kicked the show off with a bang. And like a real professional
rock journalist, I missed half their set. I did manage to catch
their back-to-back Sex Pistols (I think it was “Anarchy in
the UK”) and Ramones (¨Psychotherapy¨) covers which
were played with much gusto. The original material the band performed
reflected a more metal influence. The singer/bass player Alan sported
a Judas Priest ¨Painkiller¨ back patch on his jean vest
so I know these guys aren’t afraid to mix a little ¨metal
meltdown¨ in their punk rock. We are in Mexico, where you don’t
get heavy without a little heavy metal, and that’s fine with
me. I hope I get to see this band a lot more often.
 San
Miguel doom and gloom vampires Subconscious were up next. This band
was a little too gothic for my tastes. Their songs were too slow
and keyboard driven to keep a healthy circle pit maintained. Subconscious
were a trio, a quartet and a quintet at different points throughout
their set. Two girls who played keyboard and bass, who sat on the
side of the stage when they weren’t being utilized, joined
the three guys on gtr/bass/drms with the bass player singing. This
band has potential to rock my world if they follow these three easy
steps: 1. play all the songs double time, 2. include both girl members
during the entire set, and 3. turn the guitar and bass up louder
than the keyboard.
The Forensic from Tampico, Tamaulipas, were the heaviest most metal
band to play all night and the crowd ate them up. This band would
have fit in perfectly in the bay area metal scene of the mid 1980´s.
I bet these guys have worn out a few copies of Metallica’s
¨Ride the Lightning¨ and ¨Master of Puppets.”
If the Exodus reunion tour makes it this far south, The Forensic
would be the perfect opening act. I dug this band and I hope they
come back this way soon.
La Otra Cara de Mexico was the headliner and crowd favorite that
evening. They are more of a melodic rock band than a metal band
but they still had a mosh pit going strong through the entirety
of their set. I bet Air Supply could scare up a mosh pit after the
crowds had two plastic liter bags of beer each. Most people there
seemed to know all the words to at least 7 or 8 of the songs the
band performed. They were a little mellow for me but everybody was
having such a good time that it was infectious.
San Miguel got a rare taste of the super heavy shit the night of
Sunday, December 14 when Argentine grind metal masters Terrorist
brought their world tour to El Rincon del Alebrije. Terrorist was
too heavy for much of our local crowd who didn’t know what
to make of the constant barrage of blast beats or some of the less
than 10 second long songs. After the set I asked the drummer if
the Terrorist tour was going to the US. I wanted to tell all my
friends at home not to miss them. He said that they couldn’t
get their visas processed to play shows in ¨the land of the
free¨ because of their name so they had to skip the states and
go straight on to Europe.
This
is truly America’s loss.
The local metal crowd is not to be taken lightly as they wrecked
havoc on the bar’s furniture causing the bar staff a little
extra stress. Heads were banging, fists were pumping and the air
guitars were all bludgeoned to death. These are the people I’m
counting on to destroy our town’s image as Sun City south
or the Mexican Palm Beach.
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