We started listesing to the powerful EBM/synth punk duo Puerta Negra thanks to the EP that Oráculo released a couple of years ago, the vinyl version of a cassette published previously by Detriti. We were surprised by María’s rough voice, her combative texts in Spanish and the sharp sound of their EBM. Last year, Andi’s label Synthicide released their new work, Playa Sola, in which they continue to develop their apocalyptic vision of the world. They are part of the incredible line-up for Sunday’s Ombra festival in Barcelona, a must for lovers of strong sensations and edgy sounds.
—The name of the band comes from a song by Los Tigres del Norte, called La Puerta Negra. Why did you choose such a name? Was the song by this Mexican band a kind of inspiration for you?
—Maria: It really didn’t have much to do with the lyrics of the song itself. It’s a song that was a big part of my childhood and the name was versatile in a way that it could be a metaphor for many things including the subject matter that we sing about. I grew up on the border of Tejas and Mexico and Norteno music was a big part of our culture and of who I am. Bands like Ramon Ayala y los Bravos del Norte, Los invasores de Nuevo Leon, Los Cadetes de Linares, Carlos y Jose were pivotal in shaping me as a child and helping me develop a love for music and dance very early on. More contemporary bands like Grupo Frontera and Yaritza y su Esencia continue to inspire me. Although I love punk, deathrock, metal, industrial, EBM, and freestyle, this is what I grew up on and it will always inform me creatively.
—You two met in a post-punk band in which Mark was playing. Can you please tell us more about this?
—Mark: Kinda the other way around – I met Maria after seeing her other band Vueltas (an exceptional band, I might add). A friend told me about a dark punk band in town who had lyrics in Spanish – truly a rare thing in Portland, Oregon – so we went to one of their shows and I was pretty blown away. I befriended Maria and we found we had a lot of other musical influences in common, notably Freestyle and Industrial. We’d talked about starting some kind of electronic band for a while and when the pandemic hit, we had the opportunity to really start down that path.
—I guess the 80s are a big influence on you, from the music of Ministry, the Wax Trax! label, Cabaret Voltaire or Skynny Puppy to the look of your covers. What do you find so interesting in that decade?
—Mark: I grew up in the 80s, and my mom was very into underground music, so that ended up really informing my aesthetic. I was heavily drawn to, for example, Neville Brody’s art and typography without having any context for it. That said, there’s no conscious attempt to emulate or recreate anything when we go to write music or commission art. I don’t think anyone approaches creative things like that. But influences and inspirations are unconsciously there somewhere in the process.
—Mark, what gear do you use for your recordings? Most of yours music sound very vintage.
—Mark: My setup has evolved over time. When Puerta Negra began, I was using a pair of Yamaha TX7s (DX7 expansions), DSI AS-1, and an Ensoniq ESQ-1, all sequenced with an MPC live – those are what you hear on Costo Humano. Then, Susan Subtract (HFF, Physical Wash, Lizard Skin) introduced me to Mutable Instruments’ Ambika, which was a total game changer. From then on, I used two Ambikas. For the recording of Playa Sola, since it was done at Infinite Power Studios, and they have unreal gear, we ended up using a combination of gear from the studio and some Ambika parts. Our live set though is all Ambikas, so not technically “vintage” but because the wavetables available in that synth are a lot of classic analog waveforms, it can sound pretty vintage.
—Maria, your lyrics are about immigration, colonization, etc. Do you think it´s possible to make people get more conscious with your music?
—Maria: The lyrics aren’t meant to do anything other than allow me to have a platform to talk about things that have always been important to me and that have impacted my life and the lives of my ancestors. Historically in this genre there hasn’t been much room for femmes, queer, or non-white voices to be uplifted in any meaningful way, so what I aim to do is to finally be heard and possibly inspire more of it. It’s so easy to say confrontational things in your songs when you are singing to mostly like-minded people. I feel most successful in this endeavor when I am confronted with major opposition by people who are incredibly offended when I piss on, tear, or wipe my ass with the american flag or say things like “fuck the police” or “abolish ICE.” There have been people who have tried to fight me after our shows because I am being critical of the USA or US imperialism and the devastating effects it has created in the world. When that happens, that’s when I feel I have reached someone.
—Although you are an American-based band, you sing in Spanish. Is it harder to find an audience singing in a foreign language?
—Maria: Spanish is a very widely spoken language in the USA (and Mexico) due to colonization. Spanish is also my first language. What I emphasize on this subject is that finding an audience is never the objective nor is it anything that has ever influenced any of my bands. That’s not the purpose or the message of the projects I am involved in. That being said, I do understand that it’s important on some level to have appeal. What I hope is that the right people, and the people who need to hear the music, will find it. I’ve never believed in making watered down, consumable, marketable, palatable “art.” At the end of the day I express myself in the truest, least filtered, and most sincere way and create things I truly believe in. It’s not about vanity or a popularity contest for us so it’s easy to not put much thought into whether we will find people who will like us. It’s more about do WE like us and are we representing ourselves in an honest way.
