Palenke Soultribe Interview: SXSW 2010

Combining their Colombian flavor with rock and electronica, Palenke Soultribe is in a category all their own. Spinner caught up with founding member Juan Borda before the group's SXSW debut, and discussed the band's formation, their oddest performance and how they create their distinctive beat.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Well, there are a lot of specific Colombian artists that Americans have probably never heard of, but on the other side there is a wide variety of influences for each of us. One of the guys is kind of younger, so he is influenced by Nirvana and the '90s sound, and the other guy is really into pop punk. But personally, I liked the Beatles first, then Pink Floyd and the Police, then got into electronica. That's the good thing about bands -- not everyone has the same ideas, so you can bring them together to form new ideas. If you are a solo artist, everything is only coming from one person.

How did your band form?

The first start of the project was in Colombia. I met one of the guys [Andres Erazo] and he signed a contract with Universal to produce and moved to L.A. I went also, to study at UCLA. Then after a year of performing together, we met our drummer [A. Zulaga]. Since then we have done two albums.

What are your musical influences?

We try to get a lot of influences from our homeland of Colombia, and combine that with influences such as rock music, indie music and punk.

How did you come up with your band name?

Palenke, although the real word is spelled "palenque," was the name of the black slaves in the 17th century that were escaping from the Spanish. They were able to bring all of their culture, music and traditions to the small villages they formed in the jungle. They say it was the first free territory before the surrounding countries. As for Soultribe, we just feel like we are a collective of musicians based on the soul, wanting to do great art. We are not trying to be big rock stars in a band.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

When we first started out a couple years ago, we came to New York to play in this place that was almost like a basement; it was raining and we were all wet. We got to the show and there was no sound system. Seriously, none and everyone was drunk and the place was packed. So the promoter brought in some really small, toy-like speakers that were horrible. But we just knew we had to do it. Well, once we got out there -- you know, people in New York are crazy -- and they were really into it, jumping around and even taking videos of the show. We all had a good time but I still hope that never happens again.


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