The Last Bandoleros illustrate their vision of ‘Chupacabra’ with animated video

The Last Bandoleros released an animated video for the Tex-Mex pop rock band’s single “Chupacabra,” a song that shares their family tradition of the legendary creature of Hispanic folklore.

“We’re proud – and still a little frightened – to release a new video for the song today, the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month, to not only acknowledge and celebrate the many traditions that our family has handed down to us but also to give you fair warning should you decide to stay up late one night,” the band shared via their official Facebook page.

Diego Navaira of The Last Bandoleros stated, “When we were little, our parents had different ways to encourage us to stay on the straight and narrow. They had methods to get us to eat all of our vegetables, be polite at the dinner table and not argue with each other.”

The Last Bandoleros consists of three members, brothers Diego and Emilio (IV) Navaira, sons of late Tejano legend Emilio Navaira, and Jerry Fuentes.

Diego added, “Every family has its own version of these ‘motivators.’ And, especially when Emilio and I would refuse to go to bed, our mom and dad would pull out the most effective one of all: ‘El Cuento de la Chupacabra.’ Of course, to call it a ‘cuento’ (story) now may just be a coping mechanism because some, including our mom to this day, insist that the Chupacabra is as real as the San Antonio Riverwalk.”

The chupacabra is a legendary creature in the folklore of parts of the Americas, with its first purported sightings reported in Puerto Rico in 1995, according to Wikipedia. The name is derived from the Spanish words chupar (“to suck”) and cabra (“goat”) — the chupacabra is said to attack and drink the blood of livestock, including goats.

“’If you don’t go to bed, the Chupacabra will get you mijos,’ my mom would warn,” said Diego. “Suffice it to say, we’d jump into bed immediately and the dreams we’d have were something along the lines of our new video for ‘Chupacabra’ – a song we wrote around Halloween time a couple of years ago.”

The Last Bandoleros released their current album Tex Flex in June. The band plans to release a companion album, Tex Flex Folklorico, due out on October 28, 2022, the same day as their performance at The Tobin Center in San Antonio for a Día de Los Muertos concert celebration.

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