New album, new stage.
porterone of Mexico’s most beloved bands, continues to release new music and this year returns with Ritualsan album that was published in May 2026. In an interview with David Velascowe talked about the reception of the album, part of the creative process, the importance of learning to release songs, the construction of a new live show and the moment that Mexican rock is going through.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: Let’s talk about Rituals. In this time that has passed since it began, has the reception of the album been what you expected?
David Velasco: I feel that it is definitely not what we expected, but there has been a very favorable and very good response, well, regarding the topics that, just as we talked about in the last interview, well, they are topics like the current situation of society, how we are, well, there experiencing difficult times, as always. So, seeing that people connect with that and share that vision with us, well, it’s cool.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: Did you expect something more positive?
David Velasco: No, because I feel that, let’s see, one always has super high expectations. Well, at least I, I mean, like I record a song and say: “Bitch, I would love for this song to have 80 million views.” plays like reggaeton fans have in a day.” And this song that came from my soul, that talks about how we are running out of water and that I think is going to connect a lot and is going to have 80 million views, well it doesn’t have 80, it has 3 million.
So it’s not very good and I feel that, that is, in that sense, the reception has been very positive, but, well, it is not aligned with the great expectations that I had, before or during the recording process and so on.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: The forms of composition have changed, it seems that they are subject to how the consumption of music changes. In some examples, they talk about trying small fragments of music and measuring how well they do on social networks and then launching what was well received. How do you see it?
David Velasco: Yes, I mean, I just think it’s very valid, but I definitely don’t share that way of working, because it would be like looking for, well, nothing more than the medal. And that everything works, that everything is viral and I think that you take away that part of humanity by talking about something that you felt, by talking about something that you think is important. So, I think that porter It is characterized by that. Because we like to touch on topics that not many dare or not many believe is important to talk about.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: Of course, Porter is a very human band in composition, that is, it is very attached to social issues. In your case, how hard is it for you to release a song so that it moves towards a new album?
David Velasco: On this album, above all, it was an easy process on the one hand, because we went to Sonic Ranch two weeks with pre-production already done and in those two weeks we managed to work on eight songs. The idea was that the album would have 10, so those other two songs that we couldn’t bring to the same level as the others, it was like: “Hey, should we continue working on them here or what should we do?” And at one point it was like: “Hey, we have to let go. What we managed to record there are eight songs, they are the ones that are ready to be mixed and mastered. We’ll see later what we do with those other two songs.” In other words, nothing is lost, they are there, they will come out later. So, I think that over the years we have learned just that.
There was a song, “Ritual” In fact, most of the band said like: “No, that one’s missing it,” and every time I heard it I said: “That’s cool, that’s it for me.” And as if, that is, the times also led us to say: “That’s how it stayed and that’s how it is, and that’s how it turns out.” So, I think that the years have helped us to be a little more detached in that sense.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: I imagine a little that, if you go back to the song a lot, you will always find some detail that can be improved.
David Velasco: Fairly. And saying improve something in a song, well yes music is very subjective, that is, you like it more, you like it less, this one, yes. Like you have one… Let’s see, because there is something very important: I feel that many times this wave of being so perfectionist is fear that it is not going to work. So, you have to be very honest and say: “Wow, I want to keep working on the ball because it’s not there,” or “I don’t want to get it out,” or “I want to make time and delay all this because I’m afraid it will come out and not work.” And having that level of honesty with yourself later is very difficult.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: When we have spoken with producers, they tell us that there is a very strange barrier that sometimes ends up limiting the creative project more, rather than expanding it, by returning to the small details that were actually already ready.
David Velasco: Because it comes from fear, because fear will always limit us and love will expand us. So, I think one has to be very attentive to whether working and continuing working and working on the role comes from fear or love.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: Speaking of listening to yourself, how much does Porter listen to Porter? For example, Rituals.
David Velasco: I just listened to it yesterday and I have to say that it is the only album that I can listen to and say: “Yes, I mean, this whole album is something that I would listen to if I hadn’t done it.”
Indie Rocks! Magazine: That’s why it’s important that you also like what you’re doing.
David Velasco: Precisely, yes. It was a very clear search on this album, like: “Wow, let’s do something more rhythmic, let’s do something more danceable, with African rhythms” and the truth is that it seems to me that it is an album that preserves the essence of the band, but is also very different on a sound level.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: Some live performances are coming. Have you reviewed some shows you’ve seen live to get ideas, inspiration to bring it to Porter’s staging? What festivals do you go to as a music consumer too?
David Velasco: Well, I definitely think that I draw a lot of inspiration from Prodigyin Manu Chaothis, I like suddenly, I don’t know, watching that video in Russia of Prodigyhe Manu Chao when he came with Radio Bembaand yes, we have just been these months, the World Cup and this summer when we all stopped, we have been like tripping in generating a new show. So, to begin with, there is going to be a new way of accommodating ourselves on stage, we are trippingthere are visuals, lights, and yes, like just in these months we have been working on that.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: Is there a particular show you’ve seen live that you’ve liked recently?
David Velasco: I recently saw Bombay Bicycle ClubWell, this wasn’t such a super-bastard show at a production level, but, it still sucked me. There is an artist from here in Guadalajara, a friend, this one, who also suddenly his staging is super cool and he starts lying on the floor, and I don’t know, this one, like yes, it’s not always the giant show that inspires me.
Indie Rocks! Magazine: Porter always shares festival posters with other great Mexican bands. At what point do you think rock music is in our country?
David Velasco: I think it’s at a moment… that is, life is a paradox and there is always an ambivalence in everything. But let’s see, what Swarm have filled out a Sun Forumthat Siddhartha has filled it, I feel that maybe 10 years ago, 20 years ago it didn’t happen, or it happened with one or two bands.
So, I feel that on that side people are consuming music in Spanish, Mexican music, I think it is great and there is also the challenge for the new generations, that then the spaces are very small, the showcase or the sideboard is for artists who are already established and not for new projects. So, there is like that ambivalence of whether there is great support and great consumption of the people at the national level, but already in the mainstreamin what is recognized, and I feel that it is necessary to look at those projects that have not yet taken off, that there are very good things.
To me, for example, Saint Venus I love it, this whole new wave of punk, it’s Ray Coyotewhich is a band here from Guadalajara that fascinates me, um, so I do think that in that part it is necessary to, well, create spaces for and platforms for, so that we all have a little piece.
Don’t miss the next presentations of porter in Mexico!
Play the album Rituals here:
