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Victor Puertas interview
Manage episode 503356549 series 3646035
Victor Puertas joins me on episode 142.
Victor Puertas grew up just outside Barcelona, discovering the blues in his early teens, splitting his passion between harmonica and keyboards. At 18 he traveled to the US and had the chance to meet his idol, Gary Primich.
Back home, Victor formed The Suitcase Brothers with his brother Santos, who had given him his very first harmonica at age 13. For over 27 years the duo have been exploring acoustic country blues, with their latest album, a tribute to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, earning recognition from the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society.
Victor continues to perform in the duo as well as with other bands, where he showcases his deep love of the blues.
Links:
The Suitcase Brothers: https://suitcasebrothers.com/
The Suitcase Brothers albums on Bandcamp: https://suitcasebrothers.bandcamp.com/
Victor Puertas & The Mellow Tones on Bandcamp: https://victorpuertasmellowtones.bandcamp.com/music
Videos:
The Suitcase Brothers performing live at the FEN Festival, Berlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6115tQ6WU&t=3s
Victor Puertas & The Mellow Tones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oooYZqq_J7g
Harpin’ By The Sea workshop on Gary Primich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC63Zz-tDAE
Playing with Steve ‘West’ Weston: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rCkKFRJOIM&list=RD3rCkKFRJOIM
Konstantin Reinfeld at the Seoul International Harmonica Festival 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi73OEN_ZxI
Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com
Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB
Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ
Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
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Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com
Chapters
1. Victor Puertas interview (00:00:00)
2. Victor is from a small town outside Barcelona (00:01:31)
3. Spent some time in the US age 18, meeting various blues luminaries when visiting his brother who was living in Austin, Texas, at the time (00:02:06)
4. Went to Austin especially to meet Gary Primich, who is Victor’s harmonica idol (00:02:59)
5. Tried to move to Maryland in the US, where he spent some time with Mark Wenner, harmonica player from The Nighthawks (00:03:13)
6. Started playing harmonica age 13, a harmonica and blues ‘freak’ from then on in (00:04:17)
7. Brother inspired Victor to start playing music, and gave Victor his first harmonica (00:04:30)
8. Listened obsessively to a blues radio show in Spain, which exposed him to a lot of blues music when young (00:05:27)
9. Also plays keyboard and hammond organ, but harmonica is his true love (00:06:04)
10. Has played keyboards since age 15 and was self-taught, with sister also a good piano player (00:06:34)
11. Victor recommends listening to a lot of the music you’re trying to learn (00:07:46)
12. Some of the advantages of learning by ear (00:07:58)
13. Junior Wells harmonica instructional where Junior wasn’t able to communicate too well on how to play harmonica (00:08:18)
14. Shares the same birthday as Sonny Terry, October 24th, and performs a lot of Sonny Terry material in his duo with his brother: The Suitcase Brothers (00:09:02)
15. The Suitcase Brothers play lots of country blues (00:10:02)
16. Joe Filisko inspired Victor to play pre-war harmonica (00:10:25)
17. Paul Lamb and Adam Sikora are two other influential Sonny Terry style players (00:10:59)
18. 2023 album Love, Truth and Confidence: Tribute to Piedmont Legends Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee won an award from the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society (00:12:13)
19. Recorded the Love, Truth and Confidence album live to a tape recorder, overdubbing some guests later was the only change to the sound (00:12:57)
20. Some of the advantages of recording live to capture the moment and the value of including ‘mistakes’ in the music (00:13:36)
21. The blues scene in Barcelona helped develop Victor, but it’s not what it was (like lots of cities around the world) (00:14:19)
22. Twenty or so years ago blues artists in Barcelona had to travel to the border with France to buy blues albums (00:14:55)
23. The pioneers of blues in Spain one generation ago (00:15:23)
24. Mostly heard American blues on the Spanish radio station (00:16:28)
25. The Barcelona Blues Society works to promote the blues but there is a lack of venues in Barcelona these days (00:17:05)
26. People just don’t attend live music in the same numbers due to competing things for our time and also a lack of support from the government (00:17:35)
27. How the local music scene seems to be missing in the music world of today (00:18:47)
28. Gary Primach is the biggest influence on Victor playing the harmonica, and Victor shared a stage with him in Austin (00:20:19)
29. Victor is planning to release some instructional material on Gary Primich (00:21:38)
30. Victor’s favourite albums by Gary Primich are Botheration, Company Man and Mr Freeze (00:22:26)
31. The time Victor put into the harmonica in his teenage years (00:23:19)
32. First song that Victor learned on harmonica was a rock version of Mary Had A Little Lamb (00:24:15)
33. Brother Santos gave Victor his first harmonica and started playing his band when he was age 14 and planned to become a full-time musician (00:24:57)
34. Has worked as a professional musician since his mid-20s, which includes playing keyboards, hammond organ and teaching music in addition to playing harmonica (00:26:13)
35. Some of the similarities of the Hammond organ to the harmonica and the Electro-Harmonix B9 Organ Machine pedal is used by some harmonica players (00:27:01)
36. Started playing in a band with his brother called Blues 14, before they started The Suitcase Brothers (00:28:39)
37. Changed to acoustic style of playing when started The Suitcase Brothers (00:29:38)
38. Placed 2nd at the 2013 International Blues Challenge in Memphis with The Suitcase Brothers (00:30:41)
39. Represented Spain at the European Blues Challenge in Berlin in 2011 where someone described The Suitcase Brothers as sounding too American (which Victor took as a compliment) (00:31:58)
40. The Suitcase Brothers have released five albums (00:33:10)
41. Playing with your brother can be a challenge at times! (00:33:45)
42. A Long Way From Home album had guest appearances from Jerry Portnoy and Paul Oscher, and Victor became very good friends with Jerry (00:34:06)
43. Jerry Portnoy wrote the liner notes for the album, including the comment: “Victor's stunning, unparalleled harmonica genius” (00:35:29)
44. The Love, Truth and Confidence album was recorded to capture the amount of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhees songs The Suitcase Brothers played together (00:36:32)
45. The Suitcase Brothers are still playing together and plan to make an album of original material next (00:36:41)
46. Released two albums with the band Victor Puertas & The Mellow Tones, although that band is no longer going (00:37:17)
47. Victor has played with various other bands, including Chino Swingslide and Koko-Jean & The Tonics (00:39:07)
48. Plans to start a new band soon (00:39:45)
49. Has played with the Swedish band Trickbag, standing in for Steve West Weston, who Victor is good friends with (00:40:03)
50. Latest album is with Luca Giordano & the Netto Rockfeller Trio, which was recorded in Brazil (00:41:27)
51. Has done some work as a session musician, including on the soundtrack for the Spanish film: El Bola, which won four Goyas in 2001 (00:43:25)
52. Does some teaching but not at the blues school in Barcelona as that has now sadly closed down (00:44:23)
53. Recently taught at the FEN Festival in Berlin and also at another workshop with Konstantin Reinfeld and Filip Jers (00:45:09)
54. Ten minute question (00:46:10)
55. Mainly a tongue blocker but also uses some pucker (00:46:44)
56. Plays some blues chromatic (00:47:01)
57. Speaks highly of Antonio Serrano as a top chromatic player and his chromatic tuition book (00:47:44)
58. Victor is a Hohner endorsee and plays Marine Band Deluxe and the Crossover (00:48:52)
59. For amps and mics isn’t too picky, likes Gibson and Fender amps and crystal and CR element mics (00:49:17)
60. For acoustic mic uses a Shure SM57 beta and prefers this over the Shure SM58 (00:49:44)
61. Mainly plays in 2nd and 3rd position, with some 1st and 4th (00:51:27)
62. Uses Country tuning and interested in the Will Wilde tuning and the Going Up The Country tuning (00:51:58)
63. Overblows: uses them a little and wants to develop them futher and a story where Howard Levy demonstrated excellent overblows on an out of the box harmonica (00:52:32)
64. Effects pedals: delay and Kinder anti-feedback pedal (00:54:37)
65. Future plans include gigs in Europe, recording a new album and creating a Gary Primich instructional (00:55:16)
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