Courtesy Tara Martin López
Española-based writer, scholar and educator Tara Martin López came up in Albuquerque enamored by the punk rock world, but it wasn’t until she caught legendary act Bikini Kill at Berkeley’s fabled 924 Gilman venue that it all made sense: The true ethos of punk rock runs in parallel with that of feminism, and women’s place in the genre is both long-standing and vital. She then picked up a bachelor’s from the University of New Mexico, a master’s from UC San Diego and a freaking sociology PhD from the University of Manchester, a school which has some excellent programming on subcultures. Today, López teaches sociology at Northern New Mexico College, and with an article about El Paso punk titled “¡Vamanos pa’l Chuco!” in the Journal of Texas Music History last year—and a forthcoming book about punk rock in the Southwest—López kicks off a pair of bitchin’ free lectures this week dubbed, aptly, Punk Rock in the Southwest (6 pm Wednesday, Aug. 25. Española Public Library, 313 Paseo de Oñate, -505-747-6087; 1 pm Saturday, Aug. 28. Santa Fe Public Library Southside. 6559 Jaguar Drive, 505-955-2820). Featuring punk panelists Erica Ortegon and Lindy Hernandez, López will get into the music, the community, the region and the love—so what were we supposed to do about this? NOT call her up? Fuck outta here.
OK, so why a lecture on punk rock and why now?
Because for so long, academia has unfortunately had limited ideas about what is valuable in regards to what we study, and it’s changing. That’s why I went to school in Manchester. Punk is an artistic expression of ordinary people, in particular women.
Right now we need inspiration, so it’s a perfect time to start talking about the role of women in punk. So often, women, especially women of color, are set to the side. So while I’m going to mainly talk about El Paso punk, there are many connections to women, and not only women who were in the punk scenes, but in the communities around them. Communities of color would especially support the punks and, in many ways, we need that right now. Our communities are so disjointed, and that’s the thing about punk—it’s inspiring. It’s do-it-yourself, it’s anybody-can-do-it. There are some really great artists and really great bands, but ultimately it’s about community. People are thirsty for that, especially women of color. We need to see ourselves in punk. In many ways, we’ve always been there, but it’s time to bring it to the forefront.
Do you think there’s something about the Southwest that particularly fosters punk rock?
I think there is a lot of cool subcultural artistic activity around here. I think about my grandma from Taos, she was a maid with an 8th grade education, and she was a punk. There’s a whole bunch of people of color, and the Southwest has its own subculture. I think it’s just a whole…The Southwest is, of course, a place of great expression, and punk rock is a community of great expression. Unfortunately, in mainstream understandings of art and subcultures, punk from the Southwest always seems like it’s erased except for in places like California. But look at Colorado, in Denver, and in Texas, like El Paso—and yes, in New Mexico. We have the historic traditions, but one of the ways of still expressing those traditions is through punk rock music.
Was there anything you learned while prepping that struck you as particularly interesting?
Oh gosh, there’s so much. I’m going to have to start with the first thing, which is that I’m not personally expected to have a punk past, but when something like that is broadcast, people who I never would imagine having a connection to punk come up and tell me ‘Oh, I’m a punk rocker!’ People start giving me their confessions of punk, I think. I’ve become, I dunno, like, maybe you could almost say I’m like a punk priestess or something, which is great.
I’m also finding more and more people of color who are involved in the communities. My next project is going to be all about subcultures from [New Mexico] and the Chicanos and Chicanas and Natives and Black people who were all a part of them.
Two more things would be that I think it’s so important to tell women’s stories. There’s a process of making women realize how important they really are. I’ve noticed that the women I interview are more likely to cancel interviews, or more likely to reschedule them, and oftentimes they’ll tell me something like ‘Well, I don’t really know much, and I’m not sure what I can tell you or why you want to talk to me,’ which is unfortunate. But then once they do start talking to me, the floodgates come open, and it’s beautiful.
Punk is about love and community, not only the ways [punks] describe interacting with themselves, but in how loving that community has been to me. And you know, none of this stuff is archived. Thankfully, [people] will come to me and say ‘Hey, I scanned 200 flyers for you, here you go, here you are!’ But how can you really go about preserving this? Either way, I know people through the punk identity that we have in common, and...that’s why half of the royalties from my book are going to go to El Paso. I’m still trying to figure out what nonprofit that money will go to, but I owe that city, and even if I only end up making $5, I’ll still give.
