ELPASO: A Punk Story

by Benjamín Villegas, Jay Noden (Translator), Beto O'Rourke (Contributor)

In 2015, Benjamin Villegas traveled to Texas in an attempt to write the biography of a music group that could have changed the history of rock: ELPASO, a Chicano band from the U.S.-Mexico border with a punk sensibility, a long since-defunct crew, and little left to remember it by but a suitcase of fanzines and one-off recordings.

This is the story of one of the many bands that will never appear in rock n’ roll history books, but is at the core of the scene; a band that earned its stripes from sweaty fans and self-taught rock aficionados in basements, garages, and small venues across the country. This is the story of two kids who came together to embrace the punk ethos of the 80’s and be a part of the rock n’ roll revolution sweeping the US, a world of the Ramones, Black Flag, and, of course, ELPASO.

Genres: Fiction, Music

290 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2018

Reviews

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about a fictional band that could really have existed during those times. Benja Villegas really did his research! It always bugged me to see all these documentaries about Texas music ignore south Texas, and now I finally have a piece of media that not only just mentions the borderland scene but makes it another character.

[Edward Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toward the middle I found myself not liking the book but I soldiered on and realized that I had become emotionally invested in the characters. It was super funny about the person in the audience at the Axiom and their comment at the back of the book.

[Adrián Ciutat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilloso ❤️

[Ian Harrold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, and the songs are not bad either, on Spotify

[Kristen Holland Shear · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was never a big punk rock fan, but this is a fascinating read. Great look at the underground music scene.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you grew up in "the scene" of any city in the US, this book is about a band from your scene. I still don't know if this band really existed or is an amalgamation of bands from El Paso, but it's a good story that represents thousands of bands that get close but don't make it.

[Linda Stack-Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author and translator both nail the friendly infodump tone of music bios and the multimedia aspects of this pair with the emotional arc to absolutely amazing results.