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“Nothing the world holds could match the love waiting for me in Mexico City.” — Morrissey

¡Órale! The feeling is mutual, Moz.

Mexico City-based DJ and producer Camilo Lara, founder of the electronic music project Mexican Institute of Sound (M.I.S.), and bandleader Sergio Mendoza (Orkesta Mendoza/Calexico) have assembled a supergroup of Mexico’s leading contemporary musicians dubbed “Mexrrissey” to pay homage to the iconic Smiths frontman at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles on May 11 and 12.

The love affair between Mexicans and Morrissey has been a long and symbiotic relationship for decades. With M.I.S., Lara cultivated a trendsetting movement of blending traditional Mexican music with more contemporary sounds and is now taking the world of Morrissey south of the border.

With Mexrrissey, Lara will explore the bond between Mexico and Morrissey, reinterpreting Moz’ well known solo and Smiths material with brass, accordion and other well-known Mexican elements traditionally found in mariachi music.

“I think for the people that know the songs, I’m sure that they will be amazed that the songs can go into these directions of cumbia and boleros and sound actually as if they were written in that style,” Lara said in a statement.

As a culture that has been known to revel in deep-rooted macho bravado and typically don’t let their feeling known, if you ask almost any Hispanic twenty or thirty something (including myself) living in Los Angeles about what Morrissey means to them, they’ll tell you how the former Smiths frontman’s melancholy ballads have been the theme music for breakups and lost love for decades.

“We try to get a glimpse of the poetry in Morrissey’s work and to capture the irony, the anger and the happiness at the same time that has been a challenge,” Lara said.

Joining Lara on stage will be a who’s who of Mexican artists such as Jay De La Cueva ( Moderatto), Ceci Bastida (Tijuana No), Ricardo Najera (Furland/MIS) and
Jacob Valenzuela (Calexico) who will bring their Latin influence and talents to the music of Manchester’s most “charming man.”

LA’s Skapeche Mode whose guitarist, Brian Mashburn and trombonist Tbone Willy were original members of 90s ska stalwarts Save Ferris (remember them!), and Part Time Punks DJ Michael Stock will be kicking things off at the recently opened 900-capped theater in downtown LA.

Having already performed two sold out tribute shows in both Mexico City and London, it goes without saying that Mexrrissey live will not be your typical Morrissey/Smiths tribute band, but a fresh new way to look at the songs that made you cry and the songs that saved your life.

The Regent Theater is located at 448 S. Main Street in Los Angeles. Doors 7:30 p.m./ALL AGES

$21 ADVANCE & $23. DAY OF SHOW

Tickets are now available: www.ticketfly.com

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