Hot New Mexicans

By Bill Rohla
Contributing Writer

If you have nothing better to do on a Wednesday night (odds are you don’t) you should check out Hot New Mexicans at the Fargo VFW Basement March 9. Hot New Mexicans have been making plenty of headway lately across the punk scene. It isn’t quite fair to simply label them a pop-punk band as they have a lot more going on than just your standard three-chord riffs and catchy hooks, (though catchy hooks abound). Oftentimes their songs come across as a mix of pop-punk with an almost campfire song feel. This isn’t like Planet-it-X type folk punk though. Some songs call to attention the lyricism and crafty songwriting of Elvis Costello, other times Megadeth. Ok, so the Megadeth part isn’t true, but this band does have some chutzpah.

Hot New Mexicans latest release is a self-titled LP and comes courtesy of a split release on Recess Records and Houseplant Records and is their best effort yet. Their S/T LP seems to have the right mix of finely tuned songwriting with just the right amount of straight up punched in the groin quality rocking you look for in a solid release. It really is hard to pinpoint this sound. That is what makes them one of the better bands going in punk rock today; they are unpredictable. That also makes this one of the harder articles to write about a band. To put it simply this band is just really freaking good, and you’d be an idiot to miss it. I’ve used enough adjectives already, so forget about getting up early for work for one day and come to a punk rock show.
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IF YOU GO:
What: Hot New Mexicans with Babysitters Club and The Tall Boys
Where: Fargo VFW Basement
When: March 9, 10 p.m.