How unknown Mexican rocker, POC, scored a piece of Guns N' Roses

MICHAEL BARAJAS

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• POC: 'Rise Above'

Recipe for success: become a ballerina; break your ankle just before the biggest audition of your life; add a dash of depression, reduce heat and simmer; become a songwriter; then get Guns N' Roses' guitarist and drummer to produce and play on your first album. Easy, right?

That's exactly what 21-year-old Mexican rocker POC Sáenz Reyes — opening for Cinderella July 18 at Sunset Station — did. Rise Above, her debut album (co-produced with her by G&R ax man Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and featuring Frank Farrer on drums) is available digitally.

"I was so screwed up [after breaking the ankle] that all I could do was write songs," she told the Current. Two months after sending a demo to Thal's manager, they flew her to New York and recorded the album at his Living Hell studios. Her whole stay in New York, actually, could not have been more hellish.

"We went through Hurricane Irene, my room completely flooded, there was an earthquake, a heat wave, and we were extorted by a psychopath," said POC, whose name is short for "pocta," the first sound she ever uttered. "All my money got wet, and only thanks to my fans, who sent me money via PayPal, was I able to return to Mexico."

Even though she has only toured in Mexico and parts of Texas, she already has more than 80,000 followers on her two Twitter accounts and hopes to make more fans in San Antonio, a place she has visited twice in the last month. For her major SA debut (she played a gig at Josabi's in May and a short set at the Falls with the Heroine), she comes with Austin Danger Valentine on bass, Mac Pérez and John Hernández on guitar, and Steveo on drums.

"My visits to San Antonio have been amazing," she said. "The weather is a little extreme, but San Antonians are real, very talented rockers. I hope they dig my stuff. I went through a billion natural and unnatural disasters to get here, so please stop by the show and check me out. You won't be disappointed."

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