Mexican Slum Rats on Tour
Surf punk and alternative quartet Mexican Slum Rats write songs electrified by California's landscape: smoldering coastal highways, skateparks, diverse neighborhoods, and the suburban sprawl of their hometown of Granada Hills, California. Their sound on albums like 2018's Magnum Opus and 2022's Circuit Hearts: I Wish I Were A Machine is both easy-going and raucously punk. With a vocal timbre reminiscent of The Strokes' Julian Casablancas, and a guitar sound that blends inspiration from Pavement and The Ventures, singer/songwriter Kevin Villalba is defining a new West Coast sound that's fast, reverb-soaked and rooted in his upbringing.
"A lot of our songs are about the good things in life and complex issues like being brown in a white neighborhood," Villalba told The Plaid Press in an interview in 2017.
Mexican Slum Rats Live in Concert
Raised on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Mexican Slum Rats chose their name as a nod to their Mexican-American roots and to subvert labels/stereotypes. Band members Kevin Villalba (guitar, vocals), Benjamin Schlesinger (guitar, drums), Brock McHenry (bass), and Andy Godinez (drums) met in middle school, bonding over a shared interest in DIY and death metal.
Mexican Slum Rats produced their 2022 album (Circuit Hearts: I Wish I Were A Machine) in Schlesinger's garage. Bandcamp loyalists, the quartet independently produce, distribute and promote their own music -- a DIY ethos that harkens back to pioneering bands like Pavement and The Fall.
