Ceci Bastida

From her days as a teenager in Mexican ska punk band Tijuana No!, Ceci Bastida has been a star on the Mexican music scene. Now living in Los Angeles, the Tijuana native is quickly becoming a musical force in the U.S. Her first solo album, “Veo la Marea” (I See the Tide), dropped last year, earning her a Latin Grammy nomination, a featured spot at this summer’s Lollapalooza festival and comparisons to M.I.A. and Nelly Furtado. She sat down with veteran journalist Oscar Garza as part of Zócalo’s “Drinks With … “ series. Here’s Zócalo’s back-of-the-napkin recap of evening highlights.

Guest: Ceci Bastida

Interviewer: Oscar Garza

Setting: Las Perlas, 107 E. 6th Street, Los Angeles, Calif.

The vibe: Merry – and slightly boisterous, thanks to a conveyor belt of margaritas, spicy or plain.

Drink of the evening: “Disco Mariachi” (Ingredients: mescal, green Chartreuse, pineapple juice, orgeat syrup, lime juice. Mix at your own risk.)

Topics on Tap: Tijuana, the changing record business, recording, songwriting.

Works in progress: A new record, Lollapalooza over the summer, and KCRW’s World Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.

Moneyline 1: I was touring with Julieta Venegas a lot, and she was doing really well, and it was a steady job for me. So the idea of starting something new that I had no clue whether would go well or not was scary. But I had conversations with her constantly about me trying to do something on my own, and she said to me one day, “I want us to be old and to be friends. I don’t want you to resent me.” So she was saying just give it a shot.

Moneyline 2: At first, when I was recording, I think I was lying to myself. I knew that the sound wasn’t what I wanted, but for some reason I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. It was a good thing that I stopped and listened to it, erased a lot of it. It was the best thing I could have done.

Bastida’s Tip for the Road: I think what’s mainly been hard for me has been learning how not to hate a lot of the things that I do and understand that that’s part of the process. I think I learned that with my first record. It’s hard. It’s very emotional. But it’s a good thing.

*Photos by Sarah Rivera.