Full transcript. División Mi-who?

Where the hell is Matamoros?

Alex Luque: Matamoros is a small city near the frontier with Brownsville, Texas. So people can know, Tijuana is on the east part of the coast and Matamoros is on the other part of the coast. It's in Tamaulipas.

What's a fun Saturday night in Matamoros?

Javier Blake: Just drink!

Luque: Um carne asada, man.

Kiko Blake: Yeah...

Javier: Like a barbecue.

Kiko: Carne asada, carnes asadas.

Luque: And five dollar all-you-can-drink bars.

Javier: Yeah.

Kiko: Yeah! Yes. Go to South Padre Island.

Javier: But mostly, five dollar bars.

Why did you move to Monterrey if it was so much fun in Matamoros?

Javier: To look for some more fun. But the thing is, the four of us went to college to Monterrey and then the band continued playing over there. And big things started to happen there.

What happened during the four years you were gone from the music scene?

Kiko: We went on to do personal stuff. Some of us finished college and some of us went on to work and family business. We got personal stuff to do so I guess it was time for us to do what we had to do in that time and leave music aside a little bit. So when it was time to come back, we felt like it was. We wanted to be together again and make songs again so it was very natural and we were glad we were back together.

Do you feel like you’re playing catch-up with new the bands you’ve influenced, like http://www.myspace.com/allison ">Allison, Thermo or Delux?

Javier: Well, we never saw music as a competition. For us, there's no competition except ourselves and what we can do with our band. But it's true, this style of music really blew up in Mexico. And for that reason, over there we are looked as a – how do you say it?

Kiko: As a pioneer kind of, in that sound.

Javier: Yes, as a pioneer band in that sound.

Luque: We were kind of the first band of melodic punk rock in Mexico that started singing in Spanish. Actually, it was pretty weird for us, the first time we went to play in Mexico City back in 1998. All the bands there sang in English, and that was like – Wow. I mean we are from the frontier, the American culture, whatever and we sing in Spanish.

Javier: Over in Mexico most of the rock bands all know each other.

Kiko: We're like a big family.

Javier: Yeah, we really like hanging out with those guys.

Ricci P.: All the bands are very nice people. When you see them, they're all very nice people.

Coming over to the U.S., did you get hassled at the border?

Luque: We only passed through a really tight search – strip search if you want to call it – because they only took our shoes. They almost took my pants off. We've always been able to cross to the U.S. since we were little kids because, again we live on the frontier so they already know us.

What are the differences between Mexicans in the U.S. and in Mexico?

Kiko: I guess the latino audience here is more energetic. I guess it's the feeling of being away from your country and someone coming from your country and playing music (in Spanish). I guess people are looking forward to that, looking for bands like us. We are trying to come here and work as hard as they do. To gain a space here, no? So I guess here, the audience is pretty energetic.

Javier: And the main difference I think, is over in Mexico since all the bands are in Spanish, the audience kind of separates in music styles. And people over here that like Spanish rock they like all the kinds of rock. From Latin rock to punk rock or heavy metal or rap music in Spanish so it's like they enjoy all the kinds of music. They don't divide it. They say latin rock and in there you can put a lot of styles.

Will rock made by Mexicans ever be big in the U.S.?

Ricci: It might be, I think. I don't know. There's like a lot of bands but I think that in Mexico, people listen to North American music. Maybe in North America it will happen one time.

Luque: Yeah and it's happening with the reggaetón. For example, Ricky Martin, if you want to put it like that. People are getting open to that kind of Spanish music, so maybe rock can get big here too, you know?

Ricci: We might have a chance. Not us, but someone who might have like a chance.

Luque: Maybe not in Oklahoma, but yeah.

Would you like to live in the U.S.?

Javier: We grew up as Luque said, on the border so more than liking it, it's like we feel comfortable being here. We enjoy the good things of America. and sometimes – being a Mexican – you can't deny that sometimes you get a bit of a hard time. But it's okay, we love this city. We like LA, we like Austin, Texas, the places we visit. Yeah, we could live here with no problem.

Kiko: I think it's the same living in Mexico, we're used to it. We love Mexico but it's harder for us – being Mexicans – to come over here but it would be nice though.

What's it like being on a hip hop label?

Kiko: We don't know – We like all styles of music. We know Toy. You know, Toy Hernández, he's always been in this hip hop thing. I guess it's the same work. We don't feel different. We feel like we're just like everybody trying to make it and it doesn't matter if it's a rock band or a hip hop band or reggaeton or whatever. So I guess there's no problem with that and we like hip hop.

Javier: We like mixing stuff, it's more interesting for us. We produced our last record, Defecto Perfecto with http://www.myspace.com/tetragamatron ">Maurizio Terracina, he used to play in a Brit-rock band called Zurdok. We're – as you said it – on a hip hop label, the record got mixed by a friend of ours, Sacha, who has worked with electronic pop music like Cerati and Kinky and all that kind of stuff. So we like not staying in just one line but try to work with different styles so we can get something different.

What are you working on right now?

Javier: We're thinking of starting to record in maybe July of next year.

Kiko: Next summer.

Javier: Yeah next summer so I don't think it will take four years.

All: Hopefully not.

What are you listening to?

Luque: I don't know. Lately we listen to a lot of different styles of music. For example, right now I'm listening to a lot of 80s heavy metal. I listen to everything. I don't try to close myself to just one style.

Kiko: Me too. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of hip hop. East side-based hip hop. Young Jeezy, Young Dro, Young Buck, the new Jay-Z. And also all types of rock and roll - The Arctic Monkeys, Jack Johnson, the new Clipse cd, Dipset. I don't know, a little bit of everything.

Javier: I'm not listening to anything 'cause a friend of mine lost my iPod so I've been out of music for a while - so I can't answer that very well.

Ricci: I've been listening to a lot of classic rock. I've been listening to Led Zeppelin and from that I've been listening to a lot of rap or new artists like Lady Sovereign. She's a girl from England, I think. A lot of music.