Tara López

Author

In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón speaks with Dr. Tara López, author of Chuco Punk: Sonic Insurgency in El Paso (University of Texas Press, 2024).

Dr. López is an assistant professor of ethnic studies at Winona State University and the author of The Winter of Discontent: Myth, Memory, and History. In Chuco Punk, López dives into the rebellious sonic history of the city, drawing on more than seventy interviews with punks, as well as unarchived flyers, photos, and other punk memorabilia. Covering the first roots of Chuco punk in the late 1970s through the early 2000s, López moves beyond the breakout bands to shed light on how the scene influenced not only the contours of sound and El Paso but the entire topography of punk rock.