Matt Caughthran grew up listening to his sister's heavy metal records, music that to this day remains the great love of his rock 'n' roll heart. What he never expected was that one day another kind of music would cross his path, capable of blowing his mind. From childhood, Matt knew two brothers, Vincent and David Hidalgo. But it wasn't until high school that he and David became friends; They were united by their love of punk rock. And it wasn't until then that Matt realized who the father of these two boys was. "The first time I went to their house, I had no idea who their father was," said the singer-songwriter. "Of course I knew of Los Lobos, but I didn't realize the magnitude of their talent and their incredible musical mastery; I was blown away." Indeed, Matt was a close friend of the children of David Hidalgo, multi-instrumentalist and lead singer of Los Lobos, the influential Chicano band that blended rock, blues, traditional Mexican music, Tejano, country, and folk. For Matt, going to concerts by this group, which originated in East Los Angeles in the 1990s, “was an incredible time.” “They have a huge influence, especially David, the way he sings and the way they alternated between English and Spanish,” said Matt, who grew up in Orange County, in Southern California. In 2007 or 2008—Matt doesn't remember the exact year—they were asked to perform an acoustic version of a Bronx song for a television appearance. But instead of doing something simple, they looked for a way to do something more creative and drew inspiration from Los Angeles and its vast musical culture. “Our guitarist, Joby [J. Ford], wanted to try some mariachi patterns and rhythms for this acoustic version, and that's how it all started,” Matt said. By “all,” he means the birth of Mariachi El Bronx, the side project of The Bronx that fuses traditional mariachi music with punk rock and hardcore. Since 2009, they have released three albums, and in February they will release “Mariachi El Bronx IV,” a twelve-track album from which “RIP Romeo” and “Forgive or Forget” have already been released. On Tuesday, “Bandolero,” the third single, will be released, before the full album premieres on February 13.The arrival of this production marks the end of a ten-year hiatus for the group, who were quite busy with music, touring, and projects with The Bronx. Furthermore, Matt didn't want to make an album that didn't properly represent the music for which The Bronx was founded. “We played some shows now and then during those ten years, but to be honest, we tried not to play too much because we didn't want to become a cliche or a band that only plays on special occasions or anything like that,” he said. Matt and his bandmates, including Vincent Hidalgo, who plays the guitarron, wanted this new production to be as special as possible before dusting off their charro suits, hoping for a triumphant and powerful return. “We care deeply about what we do,” said the vocalist. “We firmly believe that what one creates and shares with the world, whether good or bad, will last forever, so we take that very seriously and it's something that matters a lot to us when creating.”