Zoé performs at The Masonic in San Francisco on March 13, 2019. Joaquin Cabello

This week I’m off to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

There are a lot of Mexican bands I love. Some of them have to be from Puerto Vallarta, right? Wrong. It’s a city of about 225,000, which isn’t huge. It’s a resort town, which doesn’t lend itself to a bustling local arts scene. I’m sure it has artists, but none big enough for me to have found.

So I checked Jalisco, the state it’s in. There’s a huge music scene there! But it’s the center of mariachi, and I’ve got beef with mariachi. When I was growing up, the house on the other side of my back fence had an annual all-night mariachi party for someone’s birthday and it always fell during finals week at school. Every year, I had to take finals on minimal sleep. I can’t hear it without remembering that.

What I’m saying is that I’m going to do the boorish, uncultured American thing and talk about bands from Mexico as a country. But at least I’m aware I’m doing it, right?

Zoé — “Nada”

Hailing from Cuernavaca, Morelos, Zoé seems specifically designed to be in my wheelhouse. It formed in 1994, so the Seattle grunge scene was a major influence. This is great because I’m stuck in the ’90s. Its other major influence is Britpop. That makes for a weird combination, and I love weird combinations.

Really, it comes out like grunge psychedelia. That’s the best I can do at describing it.

Zoé took off in the U.S. quicker than in Mexico. It had trouble getting a foothold there so the band went to the Internet for support, which led it to Spanish-language radio on this side of the border. That turned into a record deal with Sony and, in true grunge fashion, an MTV Unplugged set.

Kinky — “Más”

I have sung Kinky’s praises before, since I saw its set at Bottlerock last year. Screen producers absolutely loved one of the band’s songs it. It was on “Alias,” “Man On Fire,” “NCIS” (so your dad’s definitely heard it) and even in a Taco Bell commercial.

Hailing from Monterrey, Nuevo León, Kinky has been around since the late ’90s and putting out really great and varied music consistently the whole time. The latest album was out just last year. If you get a chance to see the band live, you should absolutely do it.

Molotov — “Apocalypshit”

This song is from TV too. I’m trying to pick songs you may have heard. It was in the very first scene of the very first episode of “Breaking Bad.”

Mexico City’s Molotov is the rare good rap metal band. Rage Against the Machine basically invented the genre, but it’s been declining ever since. The secret, I think, is that it’s not a metal band with a mediocre rapper tacked on. Anyway, Molotov reminds me of the Beastie Boys. That’s the sort of vibe I get.

Mystica Girls — “The Conquest”

I learned about Mystica Girls because of my borderline obsession with Mon Laferte. But they’re a fantastic metal band even outside the few years she sang for them.

Also from Mexico City, they’re actually a bit hard to track down because they’re an indie band. So their stuff is on Spotify and Tidal and the like, but there’s not any details or photo. That’s a shame and makes me want to start a record company so I can sign them. Investors welcome.

Cemican — “Mixteco”

I am, as repeat readers of this column know, obsessed with folk metal, or even just metal with a non-Western cultural perspective. I especially like metal from cultures with a warrior history; I’m wearing a The Hu shirt as I type this sentence.

That’s why Cemican was an easy choice; it’s an Aztec metal band. The name means “the duality of life and death” in Nahuatl, which is just so incredibly metal. It’s from Guadalajara—that’s in Jalisco! It’s a nearly five-hour drive from Puerto Vallarta, but the same state! I accidentally got one! You guys, I did it!

Aztec culture is incredibly metal, so naturally, Aztec metal is at least as good as you’re picturing. They’re in my top five folk metal bands, and that’s saying a lot. I’m constantly on the lookout for new bands to add to the list and it usually takes years for them to rise in the Folk Metal Power Rankings.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis and tweet column ideas to him at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky or @BayAreaData on Twitter X.