HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Porter is a Mexican
indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...
based in
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
, Mexico. Despite their uncommon sound the band got decent radio airplay on important broadcasting stations, their videos: "Espiral", "Daphne" and "Host of a Ghost" had a good reception in music video channels. "Daphne" was placed in the Telehit's Top Ten videos and, more recently, "Host of a Ghost". (October 2007). The band has overall acceptance among critics & the audience, which often labels their sound as weird, interesting and vanguardish.


History


Formation, ''Donde los ponys pastan'', and ''Atemahawke''

Porter was formed in May 2004. At the beginning they were an instrumental band, until Juan Son joined the band that same year. They then recorded the EP '' Donde los ponys pastan'', with 3er piso records, a Mexican indie record label. This EP was produced by Alejandro Pérez ''Orco'' (member of
Azul Violeta Azul Violeta is a Mexican band that was formed in 1988 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, by Hugo Rodríguez and César "Vampiro" López. Mixing funk and soul, these Latin rockers were signed by EMI in 1994 with the following line up: Hugo Rodríguez, ...
) and includes seven songs, among which are: "No te encuentro" ("I can't find you"), "Girl", "Daphne", "Bipolar" and their most popular song "Espiral". There are also two instrumental songs in this EP called "Interlude" and "Interlude Complicado". Later that year, Porter made it to the semi-finals of an indie rock band contest called ''0-music'', with the song "I can't find you". On September 3, 2006, they served as the opening act for
The Strokes The Strokes are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1998. The band is composed of lead singer and primary songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr., Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikola ...
at the
Arena VFG Arena V.F.G. is an indoor arena located in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, part of Guadalajara metropolitan area, Mexico. The arena can accommodate between 3,500 and 15,000 people. It is mainly used for sporting events and concerts. Name The arena is na ...
in Guadalajara. Porter performed on the 2007
Vive Latino Vive Latino - Festival Iberoamericano de Cultura Musical, known for sponsorship reasons as Amazon Vive Latino, is an annual music festival held in Mexico City. It is one of the most important music festivals in Mexico, featuring a great varie ...
festival, where the first copies of their debut album, '' Atemahawke'' were available. The album went on sale on May 15, 2007. Porter also performed for the first time outside of Mexico in Hollywood, California at Al Borde's Rock N' Bliss concert on October 12, 2007, and, in 2008, at the
Coachella Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorad ...
where
Natalia Lafourcade María Natalia Lafourcade Silva (; born 26 February 1984) is a Mexican singer and songwriter who performs in genres such as pop rock, jazz, and folk music. Since her debut in 2002, she has been one of the most influential singers in Latin Americ ...
joined them on stage during the performance of "Host of a Ghost". Their music has been classified as
alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...
,
indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...
, and
experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
. However, lyrics often explore
surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
and
space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...
themes combining English and Spanish languages. As an example, the 2007 track "Xoloitzcuintle Chicloso" contains Spanish words from
Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...
(the title comes from ''xoloitzcuintli'', a kind of dog, and ''tzictli'', gum, gummy dog); the whole story relies on a cat-alike dressed kid (Vega) and a talking dog (Chicloso). On the other hand, "Host of a Ghost" and "Girl" were written completely in English.


Break-up

After a hiatus and various rumors of disbanding, they dissolved after playing the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...
in
Indio, California Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. Indio is approximately east of Los Angeles, east of Palm Springs, ...
in 2008. Juan Son, former vocalist for Porter went on to focus on a solo project, releasing the critically praised '' Mermaid Sashimi'' in February 2009. Victor "Villor" Valverde (former Porter member) joined Juan Son's band for a time before working on his architecture career. The first new single from ''Mermaid Sashimi'' is titled "Nada". A music video was recorded for the song. Juan Son and his newly formed band recently opened for
Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jónsi, Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal soun ...
in Mexico City and took part in the Rock N' Exa concert in 2009. The song "Goldfish" was released as the second single from ''Mermaid Sashimi'', as with some of Porter's previous music it is entirely in English. Juan Son has mentioned in interviews that the last few months as a member of Porter were no longer inspiring to him. He admitted to being very lazy and playing with little or no enthusiasm. He said he got along great with the guys and still does to this day but he saw himself doing something else. His solo album has less guitars and live drums and more samples and a mixture of different genres. The other members of the band focused on finishing their education and their own solo project, most notably, Fernando de la Huerta in the band Vansen Tiger and Diego Bacter with his group Holger and solo work.


Reunion and ''Moctezuma''

On December 4, 2012, during the announcement of the Vive Latino 2013 music festival lineup, it was confirmed that Porter would meet to perform at the festival. In 2013, several days before their performance, they released their first new single since getting back together, "Kiosco". A few months later on June 8, Porter performed again at the first annual Loudblue festival presented by Ballantine's. Two days prior, the band announced on their Facebook page that Juan Son would not be joining them on stage, instead the musician David Velasco would be filling in. There were no specific reasons cited for Juan Son's absence. July 17, the band announced: "We would like to inform you all that Juan Carlos uan Sonwill not be participating with Porter for an indefinite period of time. We spent 5 years hoping to meet again, but now we are only four on the journey. We are writing new music which in September we will share. Soon we will announce new dates. We appreciate the unconditional support. Porter forever." In 2015 they released a new album, ''
Moctezuma Montezuma or Moctezuma may refer to: People * Moctezuma I (1398–1469), the second Aztec emperor and fifth king of Tenochtitlan * Moctezuma II (c. 1460–1520), ninth Aztec emperor ** Pedro Moctezuma, a son of Montezuma II ** Isabel Moctezuma ...
'', and toured to promote it during 2015 and 2016. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' considered this one of the top ten latin albums of 2015.


''Las Batallas''

On November 28, 2018, the band released the EP ''Las Batallas del Tiempo'', a teaser for the band's then upcoming third studio album. ''Las Batallas'', the band's third album, was released on May 24, 2019. The album's promotional tour would be cut short due to the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.


''La Historia Sin Fin''

With the promotional tour for ''Las Batallas'' being cut short, Porter announced that it would begin work on a new album. On May 5, 2021, the band released a new song and music video, "Sonámbulo". The song is set to appear on the band's fourth studio album. The album's second single, "Sol@", was released on August 13. The band's fourth album, '' La Historia Sin Fin'' (''The Endless Story'') was released on February 25, 2022.


Musical style

Their sound consists of a mixture of electronic and acoustic beats, rock guitars, sound loops and (before Juan Son left the band) the singer's distinctive
tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
voice and high pitch vocals. The band had cited artists such
Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
,
Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jónsi, Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal soun ...
,
Caifanes Caifanes is a Mexican rock band formed in Mexico City in 1986. The group achieved commercial success during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The original lineup of members consisted of Saúl Hernández (vocals and guitar), Sabo Romo (bass), :es:A ...
,
Zurdok Zurdok was a Mexican rock band based in Monterrey. It was formed in 1993 under the name Zurdok Movimento, changing it several years later to simply Zurdok. It was one of the most important bands in the Mexican rock band scene at the end of the 1 ...
,
Röyksopp Röyksopp () a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of childhood friends Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland who formed Röyksopp during the Bergen Wave. After experimenting with different Electronic Mu ...
,
Café Tacvba A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...
,
The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...
and
Mecano Mecano was a Spanish pop band formed in 1981 and active until 1992. Mecano became one of the most successful Spanish pop bands of all time. The band is still the best-selling Spanish band, with over 20 million records worldwide. They were cons ...
as influences. In fact, portions of songs from several of these influences and others have been included in live performances of their songs.


Band members

;Current *Fernando de la Huerta – guitar, synthesizer, programming *Víctor Valverde – guitar, piano, keyboards *Diego Rangel – bass, synthesizer, programming *David Velasco – lead vocals ;Former * Juan Son – lead vocals *Juan Pablo Vázquez – drums ;Touring/session musicians *José Luis Mejía – drums *Aarón Steele – drums *Gunnar Olsen – drums *Sergio Mendez – drums Timeline


Discography


Albums

*'' Atemahawke'' (2007) *''
Moctezuma Montezuma or Moctezuma may refer to: People * Moctezuma I (1398–1469), the second Aztec emperor and fifth king of Tenochtitlan * Moctezuma II (c. 1460–1520), ninth Aztec emperor ** Pedro Moctezuma, a son of Montezuma II ** Isabel Moctezuma ...
'' (2015) *''Las Batallas'' (2019) *'' La Historia Sin Fin'' (2022)


EPs

*'' Donde los ponys pastan'' (2004) *''Las Batallas del Tiempo'' (2018)


Music videos


References


External links


Porter MySpace profile
* https://www.facebook.com/oficialporter {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter Mexican indie rock groups Mexican alternative rock groups Musical groups from Guadalajara, Jalisco Rock en español music groups 2004 establishments in Mexico