The CEDISH team had the pleasure of working with two student interns during the 2025 and 2026 academic years in support of The Sounds of San Antonio. Marisela Cruz and Jamie Thomas blogged about their experiences and reflections on the project, sharing what they learned, the work they contributed, and the impact the internship had on their academic and professional development.
If you’ve ever driven down North Main Avenue near San Antonio College, you’ve probably spotted the iconic purple building that is Hogwild Records. Behind those walls filled with punk, grunge, and heavy metal posters lies the cornerstones to San Antonio’s heavy metal music history.
Established on March 1, 1982, it has become an ever-evolving part of San Antonio’s music scene. According to MySA, Hogwild is considered “one of the oldest standing record stores in San Antonio.” However, the San Antonio Express-News notes a friendly rivalry: Hogwild is the second-oldest record shop in San Antonio, trailing Flipside Records, which opened a decade earlier. The store was the brainchild of a twenty-something Dave Risher, who opened the shop with help from a few friends. A major part of Hogwild’s soul is its longtime manager, Steven Alejandro, who has been working there since the 1980s. If you want real history, Steven is the guy who knows all.
Steven went to Thomas Jefferson High School and was made aware of Hogwild's hiring opportunity from his mom. She mentioned “That the record store you like, they are going to have a booth at this fair. You should see if they need any help.” Low and behold after Steven showed up to the fair and offered his assistance, Dave kept him busy eventually offering him a job at the record store in the mid 80s. Steven successfully managed the cash register during a News Year's Eve sale event at Hogwild, prompting Dave to seal the deal on Steven’s employment.
“I was always connected,” Steven exclaimed about Hogwild's staff. “The thing with Hogwild is that it becomes a family and it becomes a group of friends, like a fraternity without the hazing, or with the hazing. But you are friends for life.”
As Steven mentions in his interview with the Sounds of San Anto oral history project, San Antonio’s music scene is a diamond in the rough. San Antonio is often described to be a sleepy and boring town according to Steven, but there have been rare glimpses of major bands who have performed in the city. The Dead Kennedy's, Black Flag, Sound Garden, and The Clash. At a significant moment at the Majestic Theater in the 80s, Steven recalls he may have seen The Clash before they imploded and broke up.
“They hadn’t toured for a long time; they were warming up for a concert appearance at the US Festival. So, it was like a rehearsal for the big concert festival,” Steven detailed about The Clash’s nearly accidental performance in San Antonio.
The Clash was on their way to San Bernardino, California for the US Festival in 1983. Steven described this festival to be the 80s answer for the lack of Woodstock. According to Steven, The Clash’s guitarist Joe Strummer approached Joe Ely, who the New York Times nicknamed a Texas-Born Troubadour, mentioned that The Clash has played all the major cities in Texas, and they were looking for new cities to perform at.
Steven described Joe Strummer and The Clash as, "[They] want to play those towns that are mentioned in songs.” So, The Clash played in El Paso, Laredo, and San Antonio. “They wanted to play mythical cities, and it was by that luck I got to see them perform.”
“We never got a lot of shows so to speak, but when we got them, there was this level of appreciation,” Steven described about San Antonio experiencing notable band concerts.
San Antonio kept alluring bands to play since there is no place like this city for Rock and Roll. Especially punk rockers, as Steven put it San Antonio is a working man-small town-city, and punk rock is all about sticking it to the man. Compared to other over-saturated cities San Antonio has maintained its cool counterculture vibe. Hogwild managed to survive through the puritanical panic of the 80s, the rise of streaming, and the death of the mall record store. Steven attributed this to the city's reputation for being a hard Rock mecca, filled with undeniable music lovers.
Steven put it best when he said that he missed how connections were made before the digital age.
“What I do miss, working here, is how we connect. I miss struggling local bands putting up their flyers here; they still do that, and we have them here, but it is not the same. And coming in to meet each other,” Steven reminisced.
Although times have changed and people are connecting more virtually; places like Hogwild have continued to be a space for people to bond over their common passion, music. Living through an all-encompassing digital age, analog music and the experience of live music keeps people grounded. Hogwild is the wall flower in this small town we call San Antonio.