WE LOVE UTA

The UTA is quite famous among the mexican misfits that wander in the underground looking for alternative places in Mexico City. The UTA used to be a venue downtown on Donceles St. pretty close to the Zocalo. This place occupied the second and third floor of a colonial house, above a big storage. You would enter through a small staircase, that would probably was like a Mezanine but amazinlgy redecorated with Siouxie and The Addicts memorabilia. Painted totally in black, it housed a medium stage and a dance floor, two or three extra rooms with coffee tables, a shop, services and God knows what more.

This UTA inspired me to write Dagger's Blood Red Kisses. The lyrics say:

He looks fine just like a lady
He is fun he is going crazy
He's got fine attitude
He's waiting for me
Dressed in black wearing white makeup
Flashy eyes and satin wardrobe
Dancing all the way down
He's calling me

You will be able to listen to this song next year, can't wait for this!


Sometime between 2005 and early 2006 the UTA closed and divided into two cafés. The one I will be talking about is UTA Re-Evolution, located in San Jeronimo St. also in downtown.

Dagger has played three times here, and played once in the original UTA. For me, the ghetto that the UTA houses was entirely new for me. Coming from a small city in the countryside, I could never imagined that there was nothing more other than a Metal and Punk scene as countercultures in Mexico City.

I remember well the first time I entered UTA. I was kind of scared actually, seeing all this people, living it up, wearing vintage dresses, tiny skirts, heavy make up, heavy hair do's, jumbo mohawks... But sometimes you trust the wrong people, the ones that work in regular offices and live a "normal" life, sometimes those are the psychos you know? And most of the time, the people that you think are the craziest ones, they're the sweetest.


And that's the most shocking thing. UTA audience has always been nice to us. And generally to all the bands that have played there. The audience is a respectful one. They listen, they wait, they slam, they even dance if the feel to. UTA is a venue where a new group of artists, musicians, and performers gather in this place to express their non-conforming lifestyle.

So we knew what to expect for last saturday 23, and we could never thought of any other place than the UTA to celebrate everything Dagger has achieved this year. We were prepared to have fun. And we did.

Our set list included two new songs we wanted to play there: Dagger Fuck You All, a punk song mostly composed by Pablo and You Break my Heart in Two, a very catchy song with a Joy-Division-meets-80s-cheesy-ballads influence, that I hope can record live one day.
These are some pics of the soundcheck. Fortunately, the sound engineer was there to help, and to do a good job. We constantly face the problem of guitar amps. Now we're not playing with bass, so the guitars must sound very clean but at the same time heavy. We are currently working more in Dagger's sound. Some people has told us that we sound great without a bass. I bet it's true.































Finally, you have here some pics of Dagger already onstage.
As you have probably noticed by now, my hair is pink now, and I´m definetely loving this. Oh well, that was quite a non-rocker statement. I don´t care. Hehe.
















































The set list also included Misfits' Last Caress. So Lord Murphy, who currently Djs at UTA every weekend, stood on stage and rocked with us. Murphy is one of the best Djs and I'm pretty serious! We will miss him at UTA.















The other band that played that night was punk rockers and Misfits lovers The Degenerates.

Here, a pic with Lord Murphy, who has worked very very hard to bring some of the best underground shows in Mexico City. He is one of the very few promoters that we entirely trust, and treats bands with full respect. We will miss you at UTA dearest Murphy.

Finally some pics after the show, we had a blow!

Mireya, as always, in fraganti baby!

MERRY XMAS ALL

So I finally got rid of that evil flu, and Dagger played UTA yesterday.

I will post a detailed review and pics, but you can keep this one hehe!

I'm already late to cook my special Pasta with Poblano Sauce for tonight!

Have all a very special Xmas with your family and friends!

Need Pain Killers

I've been ill for about four days now. I got this terrible flu out of nowhere, as I had no contact with any other ill person, but maybe that sick air that twirls Mexico City is the cause. If you get out to the street, you see all these people coughing. Here's a pic of all the medicine and pain killers I've got. Today I was so stoned by these, including a Tylenol Sinus pill I decided to take just to get out of the bed and finally do some Xmas shopping.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll get rid of these damn viruses as Dagger will be playing at UTA.

PARTY ANIMALS

I celebrated my birthday last saturday.

We partied all night long, and finished at 6 a.m. Today, we received complaints of our neighbours because of that. Hell, I guess you can't party at least once in a year? ONCE?

Anyway we had a blast!

And we are ready to still party next saturday night at UTA Re-Evolution downtown Mexico City. I will be posting a review for sure.

This is my cake, my brother cooked specially for me. It was made with a lot of Gansitos - which is kind of a chocolate twinky wonder, except it's tastier - and it was covered with whipped cream. I don't know what happened to his cake later in the night.

DAGGER VIDEO @ MANIFEST 2006

AND NOW MY FELLOW READERS, TAKE A LOOK AT THIS VIDEO FROM DAGGER @ MANIFEST 2006.
THIS WAS A HUGE FESTIVAL WERE SEVERAL BANDS PERFORMED IN MEXICO CITY, SUCH AS MORNING RUNNER AND THE DELAYS.

DAGGER PLAYED ON THE MAIN STAGE AND WE WERE THRILLED. THIS TOOK PLACE IN A HUGE VENUE, EL TOREO.

YOU'LL FIND ON THIS VIDEO AN INTERVIEW FIRST -BE PATIENT- AND THEN WE PERFORM "MEAN MACHINE".

IF YOU CAN'T WAIT GO TO MINUTE 2:20 AND "POTENTIAL DESTRUCTION" BEGINS IN THE BACK.

I PARTICULARLY LOOOOOVE MEAN MACHINE.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?

DAGGER FIRST VIDEO 2005

SO HERE IS OUR VERY FIRST LIVE VIDEO.

THIS ONE IS FROM ONE YEAR AGO, AT RUIDO VAGINAL EVENT THAT TOOK PLACE IN COLONIA GUERRERO - IF YOU EVER COME TO MEXICO CITY AND GO TO LAGUNILLA MARKET, YOU ARE PRETTY CLOSE - JUST DON'T WANDER AROUND THAT NEIGHBOURHOOD LATE PLEASE!.

RUIDO VAGINAL IS A COLLECTIVE IN MEXICO THAT IS FORMED BY GIRLS THAT SHARE THEIR WORK, SUCH AS PHOTOGRAPY, MUSIC, PAINTING, LITERATURE, PERFORMANCE AND DRAWING.

FOR ME, IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT GROUP BECAUSE THEY EXPRESS SOME KIND OF RIOT GRRLS MOVEMENT IN MEXICO, WHERE IT STILL PREVAILS A VERY POOR CONCEPT ABOUT WOMEN.

LET ME TELL YOU A BIT ABOUT THIS VIDEO.

DAGGER PERFORMS HERE "BEANER" AND "CROWD BEYOND ME".
TRY TO LISTEN TO THE LYRICS AND FIGURE OUT WHAT THE REAL MEANING IS [HAHA].

THERE WAS NO STAGE AT ALL, BUT A FABRIC DECORATION BEHIND MIREYA [DRUMS] AND SOME PANTIES HANGING WHICH WAS AN INSTALLATION. THESE PANTIES, FROM SMALL TO X-LARGE, SHOWED WITH PRINT LETTERS SOME IDEAS THAT ARE COMMONLY GIVEN TO WOMEN.

I DON'T REMEMBER ALL OF THEM, BUT THEY LOOK FUNNY IN THE VIDEO. IT IS LIKE WE'RE PLAYING IN SOME HOUSE ROOF OR SOMETHING HEHE.

ANYWAY, WE LOVE THIS VIDEO, WE ALSO LOVE THE SOUND, PABLO'S SOLOS AS WELL. IT BRINGS A LOT OF MEMORIES!

ENJOY!



FOR MORE INFO ON RUIDO VAGINAL, PLEASE CHECK THEIR MYSPACE

DAGGER IN TV

So we went last tuesday to "Adiccion Visual" show, in TV Mexiquense, a government television broadcast near the city of Toluca, in order to promote our next show.

This tv show is one of the most important for independent and undergound bands in Mexico. They don't have any restriction to have bands play live. Dagger played there almost two years ago, and we totally sucked of course as we were very very naive and lame (hahaha). Ex-Daggers can't blame me on this! You know it's true. I still can't play that video a friend recorded for me, I will post it someday, but until that moment comes, you can now enjoy some pics Diego, our roadie, took that day.















Although our tv appereance was brief, we tried to send our best kisses to the camera (haha just kidding). In fact we did!






























Anyway, we catch some pics with Los Pardos, a great Rockabilly band in Mexico City and friends of ours. Go and check this great band here.

HOT ROD HOT CHICKS STONER BBQ

Last weekend, I was jamming with Jenny Bombo and my little brother José (we are currently forming a rock band, but will tell you later) and Jenny gave me this dvd, "Hot Chick Hot Rod Stoner BBQ" to check out. She hangs out with Lori S., from Acid King, so I had the idea that this was going to be like a stoner rock documentary.

Hell I was wrong, or wasn't I?

I've seen it twice already! I was amazed to find really cool BBQ recipes I am definetely trying home -will cook that potpopcorn for sure!-, but the shocking thing was to find, or find myself in that video.

I mean, girls like me, actually cooking, having a good time, craving for what actually enthus them in life, in this case, rides, but hell! Not anything meant to be a girly, stupid, rock pose or Paris Hilton or sexy diva or whatsoever like thousands of girls I see in Mexico.

The thing is, in my country, you have lots and lots of ride addicts, but they actually listen to reggaeton and stuff like that. They run to see the last Fast And The Furious Movie! The only place I know where you take your car for tunning up is for the solely change of woofers and cheap chinese dash stereos!. It's amazing how, there are thousands of car addicts, and still, they can't get a clearer idea of what a real tune up is. And of course, what your ride deserves to listen to.

But still, the shocking moment is that I've never imagined, hell no, and of course I'm living in a third world country, yes, my Mexican readers, we are, to see these girls already mastering oil change, advanced mechanics and talking about cars like no man I know in Mexico.

I guess, you're not surprised. Macho land, you're thinking! You're right.

Then, the heavy metal videos, man, was I suddenly in my world! Those are what I call real rock bands, not the extreme metal current idea like we're used in Mexico, The metal heads here still think that virtuoso guitar solos and mastering grind vocals are the real shit! Ever heard of Fu Manchu for instance, High Tower, Alabama Thunder Pussy? Hell no, they have no idea!

I mean, I feel misunderstood I guess. But glad to find that I should had borned closer to California!

Anyway, I reccommend this DVD, give it to your little nephew on Xmas, and contribute to save Rock n Roll!