Lea este artículo en español aquí: https://deadrelativesmagazine.com/2024/08/28/exta-carcel-mental-pista-por-pista-cdmx-punk/
ALEX (VOX): I like to wear skirts and makeup, my femininity is very exaggerated. I’ve even received insults from the punk community here in Mexico that I look like a clown or a drag queen for wearing a lot of makeup. Mexico is a super macho and super misogynistic country. They think that only prostitutes and trans people wear it, so the exaggeration of femininity is frowned upon… Because it cannot be controlled, because it is too much.
But we can find strength. I am non-binary, so I believe that there is a femininity that is aggressive and strong and that yes, it exists.
Perrito (drummer) and I have been through very difficult times together and we decided to form a band together in CDMX, after not playing for 3 or 4 years. He used to play in ZOTZ. Then we invited Johnny (bass), who is Italian and Mexican. He had a band called Sect Mark in Italy, and Alan (guitar) played in Sacrificio. He continues to play in Malcria, apart from EXTA. I also used to play in Moscamuerta and Viruela.
I think we are a very energetic band. The guys know exactly what they are doing and I trust their tastes completely. Each one has his own process for composing things, but in general, everything has a lot to do with the mood, practicing in the rehearsal room. From there I listen to the riffs — I make a very strong phrase at the beginning with the idea of what I want to talk about, a specific topic. With that, I start writing.
We have a song called Narcoestado, which talks about the violence of growing up in Sinaloa. I am from Sinaloa and Sonora, my family is spread out between those two places here in Mexico, which are in the north ofthe country. And the whole world knows that theyare the violent places where El Chapo was from. When I was a child I grew up for many years during the Calderón administration, which was super violent, dude. I saw many hanging bodies, severed heads, arms, legs like that day after day.
I was in several anarchist collectives, queer collectives, and some feminist ones. Falsx Aliadx is a criticism of the hypocrisy of professing one thing and doing another, when your words are not consistent with your actions. I mean, how do you say you act like us, but you don’t live like us?
The EP is called Cárcel Mental because almost all of us in EXTA have been psychiatric patients. The song of the same name is a critique of psychiatry, of taking medication, of psychiatric institutions, of how it feels to be disconnected from reality all day. It talks about being sedated and not being able to connect with others, because you feel too much fire. It also talks about the time when I was part of protest groups, and going to destroy the city center. And you know what? All that violence, I say, is justified.
It talks about wanting to burn everything down, that may the foundations fall down and things start over in a more fair way or the way you think they should be. And then there’s Ascó; it talks about street harassment, harassment on social media, harassment in general, by men, women and queer people that have also touched me. Like I said, leave me alone, okay?
There’s another one called Identity, which talks about being non-binary, how we have to meet a certain standard of androgyny or how the body should look to validate you as queer or as a person, or whatever you identify as.
Punk, I feel like it’s a more binary place, more for men. And I mean, it’s been a little difficult to take space in spaces that normally belong to men, right? I can tell you the truth is that they’re not willing to let go. So, obviously, if you as a dissident go out and challenge that and do whatever the fuck you want, there will always be people who won’t agree. It’s a super stupid cultural thing. But that’s why we’re punk, because there are things to protest about and punk’s about speaking your mind.
I think that at the end of the day, music and art in general, well… There are punks who say that what they do is not art, that it’s anti-art, that whole discussion. But I think that when you have the need to express yourself and say what you have to say, it’s because you crave community and you need to connect with other people who feel the same. It was really cool, all of a sudden, when I realized that there are people who know our lyrics. I’ve seen bootlegs of patches being made in Chile. It’s sick to be able to connect with people from other places and for them to identify with us or feel similar. Or for the music we’re playing to make sense to them — what is being said, the tension, is felt in our music.
-ALEX.
