As 2012 draws to a close, we'll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. Our first entry in the series comes from writer Troy Farah, focusing in on new "math folk" band Me Vale Madre.
If you need to brush up on your Español, Me Vale Madre in English is slang for "I don't give a fuck." When guitarist Tony Patiño was six-years old, he was gifted a t-shirt with four pissing dudes wearing sombreros with the Spanish phrase written on it. It was, of course, the perfect name for a band.
"Spanish being the romantic and beautiful language that it is, takes this aggressive, lackadaisical and indifferent attitude, and makes it beautiful," PJ Waxman, Madre's guitarist and lead singer explains to New Times via email.
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Waxman, who currently is in the local act Yellow Minute also used to play in Valley buzz band Dear and The Headlights, says he doesn't "want to ride on the coat tails of past successes."
That's fine, because I sort of sense Me Vale Madre is going to be something big this year, making something truly unique that grabs the genre by the teeth, shakes it like a chew toy, and tears it apart. When Me Vale Madre opened for Gospel Claws at their album release a few weeks ago, they started in some traditional indie guitar, post-punk style, stretched it out into a shoegaze pastiche, and ended songs with noise rock thrashes that shook the stage.
Part of Madre's DGAF edge comes from their endless list of influences, the other half comes from their time in other bands. Patiño once fronted the post-rock progressive rock band Attack of the Giant Squid, Matthew Gilbert does a solo project called POEM and was once in Goodbye Tomorrow (now Alive in Wild Paint) and Mike Bell is the drummer in Lymbyc Systym, Knesset, and Spirit Cave.
Waxman says you can expect a full Me Vale Madre album by summer 2013, as they've been recording all over the place.
"Our recording process has such a wide musical source. Tony did some tracking at Flying Blanket recently, we have done a lot of recording at home and at friend's studio," Waxman says. "I did vocals at my house using some equipment that my old roommate, John from Black Carl has. He has a little studio of his own and produces really awesome vinyl/analog driven music."
Waxman promises to release a song in the near future, but their recording process is obviously complicated.
"It takes quite some time to really get these songs composed," Waxman says. "There are plenty of hours put into each song. It is really quite the process."
