Piñata Protest

Punk rock like abuela used to make! Piñata Protest is a Tex-Mex punk band from San Antonio, Texas, built on two worlds that shouldn’t fit together: punk and Tex-Mex. They take the conjunto and norteño rhythms of South Texas and northern Mexico, add the three-row button accordion, and play it with the speed and attitude of punk rock and ska, singing in Spanish, English and Spanglish about politics, identity, drinking, love, religion and racism.

The band was founded by Mexican-born singer, songwriter and accordionist Álvaro Del Norte, with Regino Lopez on guitar and vocals, Richie Brown on bass and vocals and Chris-Ruptive on drums, plus trumpet and güiro on record and on stage. Their shows get crowds moshing, skanking and twirling their dance partners.

For more than ten years they’ve toured the US, Canada, Mexico, Spain and France with acts like Molotov, Reverend Horton Heat, Mariachi El Bronx, GBH, Brujeria and fellow Pouzza del Carmen band Voodoo Glow Skulls, and played Punk Rock Bowling, SXSW, Punk in Drublic, Muddy Roots and Flogging Molly’s Salty Dog Cruise. Their music is in films including Me Estás Matando Susana (2016), which they also wrote music for, and they even have their own beer with Freetail Brewing.