By Dave Acosta / Special to El Paso Matters
Author Tara López, 47, is a professor at Minnesota’s Winona State University. Her heart and inspiration, however, are firmly rooted in the warmer landscape of the desert Southwest.
Born in Las Cruces and growing up just to its north, in the tiny unincorporated colonia of Doña Ana, López spent her formative years immersed in the cultural crossroads of the New Mexico, Texas and Mexico border. Her father’s deep affection for El Paso sparked her enduring connection to its culture.
López’s literary journey began in 2014 with her first book, “The Winter of Discontent: Myth, Memory and History,” which focused on women and trade unions – another topic with strong ties to El Paso’s long history of garment industry workers and their movement to resist globalization in the 1970s and 1980s.
For her second book, “Chuco Punk: Sonic Insurgency in El Paso,” López was led by her passion for punk rock to reveal another movement created by people who felt their voices were unheard, its key figures – some of whom were children of garment workers, its roots to the rasquache tradition – and particularly the women at the close-knit scene’s forefront.
“Chuco Punk” was released in June via the University of Texas Press American Music Series.
“Chuco Punk: Sonic Insurgency in El Paso,” by Tara López delves into El Paso’s punk scene.
López’s first encounter with the Chuco punk scene didn’t come in El Paso, however, it started in Albuquerque, where she frequented shows at local venue, The Launchpad.
“When I moved to Albuquerque I met people from El Paso who were playing in bands and had moved there as well – people like Mikey Morales, Ernesto Ibarra, Serge Mendoza, as well as Luis Mota who booked shows at The Launchpad.”
All had played integral parts in the El Paso punk scene before relocating, organizing and promoting backyard shows, playing in bands and adopting the do-it-yourself ethos that defined the U.S. hardcore punk scene – beginning in the 1980s with Los Angeles’ Black Flag and Washington, D.C.’s, Minor Threat, and their fiercely independent record labels SST and Dischord, respectively; and culminating in the 1990s at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. Gilman was a DIY venue that spawned multi-platinum punk bands such as Green Day and Rancid.
“The (El Paso) punk scene didn’t have a ton of resources but they created something that was outstanding,” López said.
The rebellious history of El Paso’s punk scene
“Chuco Punk” delves into the rich, rebellious history of El Paso’s punk scene – with a focus on the 1990s in particular. The book highlights the scene’s deep roots in the city’s Chicanx community and challenges the conventional narrative that punk is “white music,” while arguing that El Paso’s multicultural influences and music scene represent a powerful form of cultural resistance.
“These bands and the scene were contributing to preserving our culture. What (the scene) was doing was using its culture in punk rock,” López said. “It wasn’t whitewashed and it was really powerful. When I think about El Paso, I think about bands like Sbitch and At the Drive-In – they sound like the Southwest. The biggest band from my generation in Albuquerque are The Shins and they sound like the Beach Boys. El Paso bands sounded like the Southwest – and they sounded Chicano.”
And while At the Drive-In may be the most recognizable name for most readers, López chose the path less followed to dive a little deeper into bands with names such as Three Blind Bats, Sicteens, the aforementioned Sbitch – who’s dynamic singer Jenny Cisneros screams on the book’s cover – and other bands formed in working class neighborhoods of the Lower Valley, Central and the Northeast.
The book represents many hours of one-to-one interviews conducted by López with scene members about DIY venues such as the Arboleda House – a backyard in the Lower Valley – and The Rugburn – a small garage space on Alameda that local punks rented in order to throw all-ages shows. It includes research on El Paso’s music history, dating back to the 1940s Pachuco movement and the El Paso underground scene’s beginnings in the late-1970s and early 1980s with bands like the Rhythm Pigs and groundbreaking concert promoter Bobby Welch.
Women’s pivotal roles in punk community
Welch, who not only headed special events at New Mexico State University and the University of Texas at El Paso but kept one foot in the underground scene booking smaller acts at local venues, is just the tip of the iceberg for López, who sought to uncover the stories of women in the scene.
In doing so, she reveals that not only were women present in the scene as audience members, they played pivotal roles in El Paso’s punk community – as musicians, promoters, organizers, cultural producers and in some surprising ways, as well.
“Women were in bands, putting on shows, creating fanzines,” and they were also the mothers and grandmothers of the punks who allowed touring bands to crash on couches and made them breakfast before they headed back out on the road the next morning.
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“(Musician and promoter) David Lucey told me his mom would get mad at him if he didn’t let her know a band was staying over because she wanted to make them breakfast. How is she not part of the scene?” López said.
“Women were there, but it’s harder to find their stories,” López said. “A lot of that has to do with gender socialization, and that’s what is similar to my first book. Women will say, ‘I don’t have much insight,’ but they do. I just had to be more persistent. You have to see the entire network of music culture, you can’t just look to the stage (for their stories).”
Doing it Chicano-style
In López’s view, the concept of “rasquache” also demonstrates the close tie between punk’s DIY ethos and Chicanismo embedded in the DNA of those participating in the scene – encapsulating the spirit of making the most out of the least. This Chicano aesthetic, rooted in inventiveness and survival, mirrors the resourcefulness and resilience of the punk scene she documents. López’s exploration of this concept deepens the connection to El Paso’s cultural heritage, even as it informs our understanding of the El Paso punk movement.
“Even before I knew the term rasquache, I knew it was there – some people might refer to it as ‘Chicano-style,’” López said. “What the El Paso punks did is significant, it was keeping that piece of culture alive, even maybe without knowing it.
For López, writing “Chuco Punk” was more than just an academic exercise; it was a labor of love, a way to honor the people and culture of El Paso. She recognizes the city’s punk scene as a significant, yet often overlooked, part of the broader history of punk music – one that includes African American hardcore innovators like Bad Brains and L.A. Chicano punk legends The Plugz, whose founder Tito Larriva is from El Paso.
Through her work, López hopes to challenge preconceived notions and encourage others to explore the rich, multifaceted history of punk in the borderlands. López found inspiration by chronicling the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things
“It made me a better person,” López said. “Seeing what El Pasoans did in that scene made me say, ‘I better up my game.’ You can change things in a way that is cool. It’s hard work. It’s lonely. I spent six days a week writing and revising last summer but it’s worth it. Words do matter. These stories matter. It’s made me learn more about El Paso and our shared culture.”
Finding solace, inspiration in the Borderland
López’s ties to the Southwest remain strong. She frequently returns to New Mexico and El Paso, where she finds solace and inspiration. She will do so again Thursday, Sept. 26, at the El Paso Museum of History, where she will be interviewed by local businesswoman, radio host and one of the key women mentioned in the book, Marina Monsisvais.
López said there are still many stories to be told about El Paso’s culture – from the pachuco boogaloo sound of musicians such as Don Tosti, through the Chicano Movement of the 1970s, rock ’n’ rollers including Bobby Fuller and the most well-known band to emerge from El Paso’s ‘90s punk scene – At the Drive-In.
“As an outsider, I had an advantage (in telling the broader story), but I would like to see an insider go into more detail about individual scenes and the rivalries, the current scene, the queer community – there is so much more,” López said. “Not to mention the cultural innovations of the Black community in El Paso. For such a major city, I’m surprised there isn’t more out there, not just about music, but in general.”
Disclosure: Dave Acosta is one of the subjects featured in “Chuco Punk: Sonic Insurgency in El Paso.”
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