Porter, one of the most critically acclaimed bands In the Mexican rock landscape is heading back to the United States for a mini-tour that includes stops in San Diego, the Roxy in Los Angeles and will also partake on the mega concert, Ruido Fest in Chicago.
After taking a long break, Porter reunited back in 2012 to play at Vive Latino, after being together on stage, the members of the band decided to continue as a band; although, lead singer lead singer Juan Son decided to leave the band and was replaced by David Velasco. In 2013, Porter released a new single titled “Palapa” and in 2014, a new album, Moctezuma was released.
To know more about their reunion tour and album, we spoke via telephone with guitarist Fernando de La Huerta and here we share a bit of our conversation:
Al Borde (AB) – It has been a while since you’ve played in the U.S., how do you feel about it?
Porter – We are really excited about it, this has been in the plans for months so we are very eager to share our new music with so many people from Latin America and, of course, our Mexican compatriots.
AB – Tell us about this new album Moctezuma.
Porter – Two years ago we began this search for a new sound and we were happy to find a concept in which we could bring all these different ideas we had going around in our heads. One day we took a trip to the Mayan Riviera, Cancun to be more precise, and we were in awe by all that Mexican culture that we have deep within and we decided we would experiment and try to make music based in those ancient times. We never thought of ourselves as a band that would play regional music, so we imagined ourselves standing in that environment, traveling back and coming back with fresh ideas that go along with what we normally do and we took those sounds and rhythms and turned them into contemporary sounds. We began to investigate stories, legends and anecdotes of the real Mexican history and we realized there was a great richness where we could pick from to make this album and we found the process very interesting and the curious part is that even before we started this whole process, we already had decided on the album name and based on that we tried to conceptualize the sound of the album.
AB – Listening to the album, it feels like a very visual album, as one listen to the songs, one is transported to a different environment, was that the intention?
Porter – We work a lot with imagination, we would sit around before picking up our instruments and we would tell ourselves “Let’s imagine we are in a certain place”, for example on the song “Murcielago”, we imagined ourselves being out in the fields and we were Aztec Indians seeing the Spaniards for the first time; what’s going on? Who are this new and different people? and that’s how we began this trip of conceptualizing ideas that took us into these places which also gave us the liberty to experiment and we had no barriers.
AB – How were you able to transfer the concept of the album onto the live stage?
Porter – The stage and the studio are two very different dynamics, but we have always loved being in front of an audience and playing live so we had to take what we did in the studio and make it connect with the audience and we wanted to see into people’s eyes and we wanted everyone to connect and feel the energy and vibes that we feel on stage so we decided to play smaller venues where that connection can be felt.
Porter will be playing the Roxy Theater in West Hollywod with Elsa Y El Mar opening the show. Tickets can be purchased at the The Roxy Theater website by following this link: The Roxy Theater.
Porter can be followed on their official website at: www.porteroficial.com and also on their facebook page.
