"I AM looking out my window right now, and I can see Mexico,” says John Convertino, drummer of Calexico.

In both place and style the American six-piece straddle the border between the United States and its nearest southern neighbour, with a Tex Mex sound resembling an indie band crashing head first into a spaghetti Western.

Speaking to The Guide from his home in El Paso, Covertino says: “When I was in High School I had an art teacher and her advice was paint what you see. Do not paint an ocean with waves crashing across the shore if you live in Oklahoma.”

Calexico did the studio sessions for latest album t Edge of the Sun in Mexico City, and the band are even named after for a town in California which sits on the border of the US and Mexico. 

“Place does have a big influence on our music, but it does go both ways,” he says. “You can draw on your environment and be inspired by it, but songs also just have a way of making their way out.

“If you are just allowing things to happen songs will also just come out of nowhere. You love it when that happens, it is a lot less work.”

The 20-year veterans take their Tex Mex sound around the world and they say their songs always reminds them of home.

“I will never forget, one time we were playing in one of the most northern parts of Norway,” says Covertino. “We were playing right be the sea, it was overcast, cloudy and freezing cold – despite being the summer.

“But we were playing Minas de Cobre and it just immediately makes you think of the sun, heat, tequila and a tumbleweed rolling down a dusty road.

"The contrast is just so vast it feels amazing and you can almost feel the warmth from the music.”

But while the band embrace the close relationship with their brothers and sisters over the border, Covertino says the current climate in the states is one divided, a topic they explore in the song Bullets and Rocks.

“Living in El Paso and being white I am actually the minority, it is 70 per cent Latino, and I love it,” he says. “I love it here, I love living here, I love being close to the border, and I love the culture.

“Some people would say they need to build the wall bigger and keep Mexico out of the US, or keep Canada out of the US.

“You have extremes on both sides all about wanting to keep people out and, for me, that is just wrong, it goes against everything this country was built upon.

“The US is a country of immigrants, so how can you just say ‘no, no more’.”
He adds: “The fear machine has been in full operation since 9/11 and even if you go further back.

“I spoke recently about the song El Paso by Marty Robbins. He wrote that song in 1969 driving through El Paso on his way to Phoenix.

“In those days there was not even a border fence, let alone a wall. Maybe you would show your ID when you crossed the border, but people passed back and forth all the time.

“There has been a time in recent memory when people were not so afraid, and hopefully we can get back to those days.”

With lyrics on the track such as ‘security built a lie, a wall, wrapped round and around fortitude’, Covertino says a culture of fear extends even into Europe.

Calexico were touring in Greece when the terrorist attacks during the Eagles of Death Metal show at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris left more than one hundred people dead.

“It was so close to home because it happened in a rock venue with a band playing,” he says. “You do have a moment when you think s***, it could happen anywhere.

“But that of fear which overtakes you is exactly what the terrorists want. You just have to fight it, you cannot let it rule you, and as long as you do not let it rule you they are losing.”

But while Calexico have eight studio albums under their belt and are traditionally a touring rock band, they have also changed gears as they worked on soundtracks for the films The Guard and Circo.

“A lot of times when Joey and I get together in studio it is so blank and we have to create something out of absolutely nothing. That can be pretty tough,” says Covertino. “But if you have a movie with a director and an image to play to it is pretty fun.

“When you look at the image you have all these questions which come flying at you and you can start throwing ideas down.

“The scene is lyrics and telling you what I going on and we have been really lucky to be able to do it."

He added: “Hiring a band to do a soundtrack is going to give you a different vibe to your movie.”

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