By Dave Harrison
Last week, we told you about the French pop invasion, but there's another wave of American-inspired music crossing our southern border from Mexico. It may sound like something from the latest New Found Glory or Plain White T's album, but the poppy melodies are all sung in Spanish — this is Mexipunk. Allison, one of the Mexipunk mainstays, shared with us their thoughts on what it's like being America's latest import and whether a multilingual musical following will ever spread Stateside.
"Music is universal, music has no language," bassist Manolin Allison said. "We can sing a Portuguese, English, Japanese song; with any language, it's music." While the band's latest release, Memorama, is almost entirely in Spanish, they have not ruled out writing English lyrics in the future. "We are thinking about it," frontman Erik Allison said, but he also feels that "the American crowd is going to become more interested in Spanish music." Today, with the United States being even more of the proverbial melting pot than ever, bands like Allison could prove influential in the two neighboring countries finding a musical middle ground.
In the last year, Allison have performed several Warped Tour dates and opened for Paramore at South by Southwest, two uniquely American experiences. As for the rest of the summer, they will continue to divide their touring time between the United States and Latin America in support of Memorama.