Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast

Victor Puertas interview

• Neil Warren • Season 1 • Episode 142

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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
--------------------------------
Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com


Support the show

SPEAKER_01:

Victor Puertas joins me on episode 142. Victor grew up just outside Barcelona, discovering the blues in his early teens, splitting his passion between harmonica and keyboards. At 18, he travelled to the US and had the chance to meet his idol, Gary Primich. Back home, Victor formed the Suitcase Brothers duo 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 Brown and McGee, 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. This podcast is sponsored by Zeidel Harmonicas. Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.zeidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zeidel Harmonicas.

UNKNOWN:

Music

SPEAKER_01:

Hello Victor Puertas and welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be

SPEAKER_04:

here with you, Neil.

SPEAKER_01:

So thank you, Victor. You're talking to us from Barcelona and you were born in a small town near Barcelona.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, actually, I just moved back to my small town. It's pretty close to Barcelona. It's like 20 minutes. But I've been living in Barcelona downtown like the last 15 years thanks to a friend of mine that he was renting me an apartment there. And he's a musician too. So I had a special deal with him about the renting. Anyway, but I just moved back. to my old town and starting all over, I think, in a way. And you also spent some time living in the U.S. Yeah, that's when I was young. The first time I went there, it was more than 20 years ago. I was 18 years old, and my brother was living there in Texas, in Austin, Texas, and he invited me and actually a couple of friends, and we were there just to see the blue scene, just to enjoy the city. was amazing i think it's still amazing it's not the same anymore but i think there's no cities into the blues music anymore uh if you know what i mean but uh austin was a nice city uh in terms of blues music you you got everybody was living there 20 years ago and you got you had gary primich living there it was james cotton living there it was kim wilson in austin was kind of like uh the place to be a long time ago and uh and i went there especially for that was my main goal to meet my idol and to keep learning about the harmonica and about his technique and his phrasing and then after that I met somebody when I was 20 something and I moved I tried to move to Maryland and the only good thing about that trip it was meeting Mark Wenner from the Nighthawks he's kind of a legend on the harmonica music world. I was living 100 meters away from his house. So he treated me so good while I was living there. He took me to some of his concerts. And when he knew that I was moving back to Barcelona because I didn't have the green car, I couldn't stay in the country, he gave me a present. He gave me a harmonica mic, one of the green bullets that he had. And it was a very nice guy. You know, it's just a normal guy. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So it's a good pilgrimage. to the U.S. because you started playing the age 13, yeah? So you'd been playing five years. You were definitely into your blues and harmonica at that stage. Yeah, I was kind of

SPEAKER_04:

a harmonica freak and mostly a blues freak because, like my brother, I played music most of it because my brother, because he's a musician too. He's older, eight years older than me, and he was the one that introduced me to the music and especially to the blues music more most of the guys that i i've been meeting in my career in my life they used to come from the rock or the another kind of music you know i got into the blues right away i didn't i never to be honest i don't feel good about it saying this but uh i i didn't go through rock music through deep purple or any kind of rock music or even rock and roll i went straight to the blues We had a great blues radio show in Spain called Tren 3, which means like the train number three. It was hosting by Jorge Muñoz. He was kind of my teacher when I was a teenager because I was listening to his radio show every day, every, every day. And I was listening to Little Walter without knowing it was Little Walter. It was a big impact in my life.

SPEAKER_01:

At that stage where you're playing the harmonica, you Did you realize the harmonica was the thing for you?

SPEAKER_04:

I'm 43 now, and I still don't know what's for me, but I love harmonica. I play other instruments because I like it, but my first love and the one that I really, really, really love playing 24-7 is harmonica. I don't know why. Because

SPEAKER_01:

you also play piano, Hammond organ, and guitar, yeah? I wouldn't say I play guitar,

SPEAKER_04:

to be honest, but I like it a lot, and it helps me sometimes to to write some songs, and it gives you another perspective to write a song. But I play keyboards. There was a piano in my parents' house, and I used to play piano since I was 15 or 16. Like

SPEAKER_01:

you said, you were a blues nut. Did you have sort of formal piano lessons, or were you straight into playing blues piano, and how did you learn that? I'm not proud of

SPEAKER_04:

it, but I learned by ear. We in my family, I got to do it with my brother, and And then we have a sister who was smarter than my brother and myself, and she started a normal career, so she didn't become a musician. But she was a great piano player. She took piano lessons, and she studied the classical music with a piano. And I went straight to the boogie-boogie, listening to Honey Piazza, Rob Piazza's wife, and these guys, and of course, Pintop, and all the piano players. And I went straight to that. And it was funny because my sister is way better piano than I am. She can read everything. But she couldn't swing it. And it was like I couldn't tell her how to do it, to be honest. So, yeah, it's funny. So I'm not saying to play blues, you don't need to go to school because it's not true. But I would recommend to listen to hundreds and hundreds of albums

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And, you know, learning by ear, particularly in an oral tradition like blues, you know, that's the way all the people in the past learned to write. So I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And in many ways, it makes you more fluid, doesn't it? And able to get the feel rather than having lessons. And it's all a bit more rigid then, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I think you can do both. I still remember this in Junior Wells' instructional that he was trying to teach some harmonica, but he didn't know how to teach what he knew. And he knew a lot. He knew a lot. And anyway, I don't know if you know about this instruction about Junior Wells, but it's funny because he's trying to explain something that is inside of him. You know, it's the blues itself. I don't think that there were words to explain what he was playing in a way. And you can try to teach techniques and stuff and the tongue and the hands and blah, blah, blah. But then there's something you cannot teach inside of everybody. And that's something you can find. You have to find it your way, your own.

SPEAKER_01:

Another interesting fact about you and your blues connections is you share the Sonny Terry's birthday, October the 24th. Yeah, that's crazy. And then you do, of course, we'll get into, you mentioned your brother there. So this is your brother Sansosh, yeah, the one you're in the suitcase brothers with. Yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you guys do a lot of Sonny Terry stuff, yeah. And in fact, you won a kind of a Sonny Terry award with one of your albums, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, well, I would say I love Sonny Terry. I don't know if I do it good, but I love Sonny Terry. He's one of those guys you can be trying to play like him all your life and you're not going to get it. I love Sonny Terry. We love Sonny Terry Brown and McGee. We did a lot of other stuff in the country blues and Piedmont blues and all these kind of Sittas and Wiggins and Paul Richelle and all the pre-war stuff. We love so many kind of acoustic blues. But Sonny and Brownie were one of the biggest influence for us. Yeah, but there's so many. I mean, I went to the pre-war harmonica... because of Joe Felisco. I mean, Joe Felisco is another guy. There's many names in my short or long life, I don't know yet, that I have to thank, and Joe Felisco is one of them. Without Joe Felisco, I wouldn't get into the pre-war and the country blues that

SPEAKER_03:

deep.

UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04:

Then, of course, Paul Lamb is another guy that you have to listen to it if you want to learn some Sonny Terry stuff. There's another guy that I met a few years ago in Berlin called Adam Sikora. I don't know if you heard about him. He's amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

Adam was on my Retrospective for Sonny Terry episode, which also had Joe Felisco. Yeah, so Joe recommended Adam to me. So absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I know Joe Felisco, and he's like the master of masters. And then I met Adam, and this guy, he really sounds like, like Sonny Terry and everything he plays is unbelievable so yeah I'm just another guy trying to keep that tradition I really like traditional harmonica blues harmonica I'm not super crazy about fancy stuff or some other stuff on the harmonica but I admire so many players that they don't play blues but they play harmonica and I love them too when I heard so some other stuff. That's why I play keyboards. That's why I feel like, okay, I can go somewhere else with the keyboards and with the harmonica, I feel so good just staying there, you know, stuck in the blues. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So this album that you've been very modest about, so in 2023 with the Suitcase Brothers, you played Love True from Confidence, Tribute to the Piedmont Legends, Sonny Terry and Brown and McGee, which won you an award by the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society.

SPEAKER_02:

You look back at me That

SPEAKER_04:

CD, we did it because we stopped playing for a while when my brother moved to the States a few years ago, and he moved back here, and then we thought about, hey, let's do another one. And the difference with this lassity is that we recorded live we recorded with a with a tape recorder with two mics on it no mixing you could masterize a little bit you could you know change the low thing and the high part or whatever but you couldn't you couldn't mix at all it was a tape recorder that I found a second hand and that was it and it's pretty pretty natural in a way

SPEAKER_01:

yeah so no retakes or anything all just pure first take Yeah,

SPEAKER_04:

actually, we had some guests and we added it later, but everything was through the tape. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

it's interesting because, you know, during the podcast, I've seen a few albums which have won awards recorded in that way. So there's definitely something about recording that way, doesn't it? Which, you know, catches the moment and the energy rather than, you know, doing, you know, overdubs and all these sorts of things.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I mean, taking advantage of the technology is good and we have it there. why not but at the same time that the simplicity and the unique thing about doing something that you cannot do it twice that sometimes is good too and mistakes are part of the music too and music without mistakes is kind of weird to me

SPEAKER_01:

yeah absolutely so as mentioned going back to your roots in Barcelona so I know you sort of when you grew up in the Barcelona blues scene there's a good blues scene and you know some way you could develop yourself yeah yeah yeah it was a it is

SPEAKER_04:

still like I was saying there's no cities with the same how to say this with the same music scene anymore or that's how I feel when I when I travel but Barcelona was it was a nice more nice place in the in the back in the day because when I was 18 20 21 25 even 20 something there was a lot of great players and And they used to tell us how they used to get good albums, good blues albums. Because back in the day, they couldn't find it anywhere here in Spain. So they used to go to the border with France, and they used to buy the vinyls there. And that's crazy. And we're talking one generation in the past. Because I'm 43, I'm talking about guys that now they're 50-something, 60-something. They were the pioneers of... of the blues here in my country. And I'm talking about Big Mama Monse. I'm talking about Danny Nelo, who's, I mean, saxophone players here. He's the king here in Spain. You got the late Amadeo Casas. He passed away a few years ago. And those guys were the pioneers here. And then you got Ñaco Goñi from Madrid, Tonki de la Peña from Madrid, Mingo Balaguer. Those were the guys we used used to listen uh when when we started playing and mingo balaguer was from the caledonia blues blues band it was it was huge here in the in the 80s and 90s Those were our first teachers here in Spain.

SPEAKER_01:

You mentioned the Spanish radio station which played blues. Was that a mixture of American and others, as well as the Spanish blues?

SPEAKER_04:

Jorge, the guy, used to play... I mean, he used to play mostly American music. Sometimes he used to play bands from Spain, but not many. He used to do a special about harmonica trains one day, and then another day, a Texas guitar players and then yeah saxophones from Chicago from the 50s 60s or so so he was he was I mean he got everything so yeah about the blues in Barcelona we have a Barcelona Blues Society for a long time it's working it's working good people is really trying to make venues and do things for the blues audience or for the blues lovers and the only problem nowadays is There are not many places to play, actually. There's still people that love the blues, but we don't have clubs and bars and things like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, it's funny. I was reading something the other day, and it was about in the past, and it was someone talking about a music scene, and it was like the 1950s or something. And they were saying that now there's television. It's just different. Things have changed. And they were talking about doing a music club. and this was back then in whatever year it was and they're saying people won't come anymore because they just stay at home watching television it's like that that's just it's changed now it's different and i know we've been through through from some transitions and um covid and the internet and yeah it seems to just been hit and hit more isn't it

SPEAKER_04:

i totally agree yeah yeah i i cannot say it's because of covid because it wasn't if it's true that that the audience was going down and down in some places in barcelona and that's the that was the the mainly reason to to them to close the place but uh at the same time the government is not helping in barcelona it's hard to find a a place with all the permissions and stuff to to have music like live music and uh i don't know how to change that to be honest but uh but uh yeah we need more music for

SPEAKER_01:

sure we just keep playing it's funny though isn't it because you know big bands still seems as popular as ever and yet the ticket price is certainly in the uk you know the ticket price are really high there's always complaints that the ticket prices are way too high and yet that more kind of grassroots you know roots and local music scene has really suffered and yet the big expensive gigs seem to be still very popular but they seem to be missing that but that's obviously a crucial stepping stone to go from the local scene until you know upper level and then getting getting to that level seems to be missing these days right

SPEAKER_04:

yeah yeah well it's the same here that i got a friend here putting some posts on facebook talking about this like like uh in in small towns where We got these summer venues for the little towns. And they spend a lot of money in quite big names, like you said. But there's nothing in between. There's no, like you said, there's no local bands. They don't support local people anymore, to be honest. Barcelona became Primavera Sound. And then, you know, those humongous festivals that make millions or thousands of euros. and that was it. That's it. There's nothing in between, like you said. There's no little bars for, you know, duos and trios. I'm not even talking about blues. I'm talking about whatever kind of music you want to have. It's not easy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, we keep on fighting the good fight and playing, so keep getting out of there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01:

So you mentioned Gary Primark, who's a big influence to you. I know you You did a session at the UK's Hoping By The Sea where you talked through his playing and you picked out a couple of his songs. So as you said, you met him when you were over in Austin, Texas. You got to play with him as well, didn't you? You shared a stage with him at some point.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Still these days, for me, it's my biggest influence. I remember being 15, 14, 15, 16 years old, listening to a Gary Primitch over and over and over and over. My parents were like, oh, come on. I mean, there's so many other players, some other CDs to play, but I was obsessed about him and his playing. And then, yeah, I went to, like I said, I went to Austin. I met him there, and he was very kind. I mean, my brother was the translator there. My English was way worse. And I said, yeah, it was, you know, nothing important. It was not a fancy gig. It was a in a terrace in a restaurant and they invited me and it was the best day in my life to be honest and yeah half the recordings it was unbelievable to play with him and like I said yeah I love Gary Primich the way he plays I would love to work on some instructional about Gary Primich in the future in the very near future if I got time And yeah, I did some, some songs in the, with, with our, to our friends in, uh, Harping by the sea. Yeah. Harping by the sea. Sorry. Yeah. And it was, it was great. Yeah. I did some, uh, taps for, for the, for the songs. And yeah, I don't know if you like Gary Primmidge.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you like. No, I do. Absolutely. Yeah. Some of these songs, I, my favorite song of his is triple trouble, which I really love. So, uh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, so I do that, but Gary Primmidge, I haven't really, like, uh, I'm not been, you know, hugely into him, but I've certainly, you know, listened to him quite a bit and so yeah i should um i should check him out further so um what's your favorite uh album of his uh i have

SPEAKER_04:

my heart is between botheration i would say and company man maybe But I do like some of them. Well, Mr. Freeze, there's some songs there that I love them. Yeah, those three, I would say, those are my favorite.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, yeah, it's great to get into somebody like that. Yeah, you say become completely obsessed with somebody. I think that's an important part of developing, isn't it? You know, people listening, that's what you need to do, right? You need to really get into someone and obsess about them and really dig into how they play, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Because

SPEAKER_04:

for me, it was not a... When you get old, we all know that, but when you get old, you got other thing to do in your life. But when I was 13, it was music or playing soccer on the street with my friends and wasting my time on the street playing with my friends. And I chose playing harmonica. And for me, it was like a game. It was nothing serious. I didn't have my parents saying, oh, you have to do this for three hours. No, I was there for six hours. hours a day sometimes without thinking about it because I loved it and every day especially when you're 13, 14, 15 and your brain is like like a sponge it's like so fast now I'm 43 now I'm kind of lazy and my brain is not like a sponge anymore but yeah those days was amazing man I remember the first song that I learned I know this is a contradiction because I said I was into the blues all the time, but the first song I learned was from Mary Had a Little Lamb. The song was kind of

SPEAKER_03:

like...

SPEAKER_01:

So as you're saying there, you spent some time, obviously when you're younger, it wasn't until your early 20s you decided to pursue a career in harmonica, yeah?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, like I was saying, it was kind of like a game. It was like just having fun. It was not really serious. Since the beginning, my brother, he was the one that gave me my first harmonica, actually. And I started playing in his band when I was 14. And then I never thought about to be honest I never thought about being a musician I love music I love blues and I love all kind of good music but I never thought about hey now I want to be a musician never ever it was kind of like a natural thing I when I was 18 I stopped studying because I was not a good student and I didn't know what to do I started working in a hospital for several years and then I was combining working and playing and one day when I was 20 something 20 I would say 24 25 I I said hey let's let's try this like like a regular job and and it was pretty hard in the beginning because well it's always hard but but still going on and if someday I have to work doing something else I would be happy to because I like music that's that's that's the point I don't care if it's professional or not I mean being an amateur doesn't mean anything because you can be the best being an amateur you don't want to be poor yeah yeah

SPEAKER_01:

so so since you made the decision to you know pursue a career in music you've been able to make your living that way since then you've

SPEAKER_04:

yeah yeah yeah yeah i i never thought uh how long i was going to be working as a as a musician but it's still i'm still there and i'm 43 now and it's true that not only playing harmonic is is helping a lot i mean because i play other instruments and And I love teaching, too. I love to teach music. I record for some other people. And, you know, I like to do everything related to music.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's mainly piano and Hammond organ that you're playing, your other instruments.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, mostly keyboards and organs. Especially organ is one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_01:

So the Hammond organ is interesting because I've talked to a lot of people who play piano or keyboards, but Hammond organ kind of goes Some similarities with the harmonica, would you say? Yeah,

SPEAKER_04:

definitely. It sounds pretty

SPEAKER_03:

organic.

SPEAKER_04:

and all that kind of vibrato you got on the organ that you can choose what kind of vibrato or chorus. Those effects, they're very similar to the harmonica, to be honest. Actually, I got some friends, they use that pedal called B9, I think it's called. It's like a pedal you can use to sound like an organ.

SPEAKER_03:

B9 hey

SPEAKER_00:

what's happening y'all jason richie from blue moon harmonicas and i'm here to tell you that blue moon harmonicas are the way you can customize them yourself or you can get tom to do them the website is a rabbit hole we're talking about custom combs custom cover plates throwbacks refurbished pre-wars double reed plates anything you can imagine aluminum, ABS, plastic, phenolic resin, wood, any kind of comb you want, any kind of cover, Tom Halczak's your man. He's got you.

SPEAKER_01:

So in your career then, as you said, you played with your brother Santos, and you're in one of the better known duos called the Suitcase Brothers. Was that how you started out playing? You started playing with your brother in that duo or something else before then?

SPEAKER_04:

The first band was kind of a rock Americana band. I was just playing a little bit. And then, some months later, we started a band together called Blues 14. And actually, it was funny because it was called Blues 14 because my brother, when he was 20-something, he moved to London and it was a club called Blues 14. That's why we put the name of the band like the club in London. And that was a long, long time ago. I was 15 years old, 14, 15. It was a five-piece band, pretty electric stuff uh we used to play a lot of collins and and jimmy walgam stuff and and you know chicago stuff is mostly in and and then after a few years we we started thinking about starting a duo with my brother and we realized that there was so different kind of blues besides the chicago blues and we got into the um country blues the pitbull blues and all the finger picking stuff and in in a way we still It started all over because my brother used to play electric guitar and then he started playing with fingerpicking acoustic guitars and the way you play harmonica without amplifiers is different too. We started the duo when I was, let me see, 16. So that means, like, yeah, a long time ago. 27 years. 27 years, exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

When you were in the US, you entered the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2013 and placed second. So is that a big deal for you guys? Not really.

SPEAKER_04:

Not really. I mean, we did it because we wanted to do it and because my brother was living there in the States and it was kind of... It was kind of like a challenge. It was called Loose Challenge, International Loose Challenge. That was exactly the word for us. It was exactly a challenge for us to go there and see if we were doing the right way. You know what I mean? I mean, we were not born in the States. We are not Afro-Americans born in Mississippi or whatever. We are from a small town close to Barcelona from 1981. from 1973 so we were just you know to show what we do and to see the reaction kind of you know we were not expecting anything of course we were you know kind of nervous and everything to go to the semi-final first and then the final and everything but mostly it was just enjoying the moment freaking out that we were there in the finals that was it that was it that was the whole purpose yeah

SPEAKER_01:

yeah because stuff, yeah. But you've also entered other ones, like you represented Spain at the European Blues Challenge in Berlin in 2011, so.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah, we did, always the European, we try to do the same like in the States, so we did this European Blues Challenge they started a few years ago, and I think we did the first, maybe I'm wrong, but I think we did the first year with my brother, like you said, representing Spain in 2013, 11, and I think that was the first year for the European Blues Challenge, if if I'm not wrong. Yeah. And, uh, and we didn't do anything to be honest. I, I still remember, uh, there's a, there's a funny story. We, we met some guy from an English guy. I'm not going to say a name because to be honest, I don't remember, but he was a kind of a big fish, uh, on the, on the blues rock management stuff. And, and the guy, the guy came to us and say, Hey guys, you sound good. You're good guys. You, you play good, but you sound too American. Uh, And that was like, okay, thank you, I guess. He was saying it like, it's not exactly what you should do, but hey, we took it as a compliment. No,

SPEAKER_01:

definitely. And so you've had a few albums out with the Suitcase Brothers, the duo. Your first one in 2002, Living With The Blues. And then a few more, 2007, Walk On, 2011, Getting Out Of Town.

UNKNOWN:

...

SPEAKER_01:

And then an interesting one, 2015, A Long Way From Home, where you had Jerry Portnoy and Paul Osher, who was playing slide guitar on the album.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, we were not really thinking about recording too much with my brother, because that's another point. I don't know if you've got siblings, but playing with your own brother, it's not easy sometimes. It's very special and very unique and very good in many ways, but in other points it can be difficult. So that's why we didn't record that many albums. That one in the States is very special because, yeah, I met Jerry Portnoy a few years before that recording and we became really good friends. He was very supporting my career.

SPEAKER_03:

¶¶¶¶

SPEAKER_04:

More than a blues harmonica idol, he became a really good friend. And so we decided to say, hey, let's see what he says. We got the no already. So let's see what he says. And he said yes. And he came to Austin, Texas to record with us for free. I mean, he never asked for any money, which is unbelievable because it's Jerry Porno. And then when we were there, he had a really good relationship with Paul Usher so he said hey Paul you want to come to play a few songs and then we had Paul Usher actually Jerry while he was there he tried to bring James Cotton to but that was impossible can you imagine James Cotton Jerry Pornhub and Paul Usher in

SPEAKER_01:

the recording so Jerry wrote the liner notes to that album in which he described you as Victor's stunning unparalleled harmonica genius so that's a pretty high praise from Jerry there

SPEAKER_04:

well I don't know. Maybe he was drunk. I don't know. I didn't pay any money to him. Very nice guy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and then we talked about the 2023 album, the Love, Truth and Confidence ones, this tribute to Sonny Terry Brown and McGee. So that's a couple of years ago. Any more plans? Are you still playing with your brother or is it, like you say, he's back now in Barcelona near you, is he?

SPEAKER_04:

He's here in Barcelona. They moved back here a long time ago and then we've recorded this tribute to Sonny and Brownie.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I am We

SPEAKER_04:

recorded that album to finish like a circle. You know, we were playing so much Sonny Terrenbrand we decided to record something and now we want to continue doing stuff together actually we're still playing together we've been in Berlin a few days ago and we're going to Galicia this next Friday and then we got something in Czech Republic Germany again so we're still working we still love each other and the idea is recording something original for the next one and maybe tape recording too because it's pretty cool but I don't know if it's going to be that crazy vintage.

SPEAKER_01:

So cool. Yeah, great. So you guys are still playing together. Good to hear. So you've been in a few other outfits as well. So you've also got your Victor Pruittas and the Mellow Tones, which is more of an electric blues band.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I used to have that band. I'm not active anymore with that band. I play with the guys from time to time, with the guys that I had in my band, but I don't have the band per se. I don't have the Victor Puertas and the Mellow Tones. I stopped that because I started playing with other projects, playing organ especially and keyboards, and I stopped with my own band because I felt like that. We did a couple CDs and it was good, but now I want to do something else. Actually, I'm trying to put some new band together with some other players because I miss playing electric.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but that was an electric band. You were constantly playing electric harmonica with that Melotones band.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that was exactly the songs that I wanted to play those days. We used to play a lot of J.B. Lenoir. We used to play some traditional Chicago stuff. It was a five-piece band with two guitars, kind of trying... fabulous standard verse uh idea in a way yes but very traditional very traditional blues blues chicago blues band and we did a few a few things we we went to norway a couple times we did friends a lot and two albums together

SPEAKER_01:

As you said, you played in various other bands. You played with Chino Swingslide, which is a good name for a blues guy, and Coco Jean and the Tonics. I think you played a lot of Hammond Organ with them, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, actually, these days, I would say this last year with the Suitcase Brothers, Coco Jean and the Tonics is one of my mainly bands these days. but like I said, I want to start this new band, because I really miss playing Bobby Blanche stuff and Little Walter, all the classics, and getting the mic and getting some feedback from the harmonica.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and then a few other things you played in as well, but another interesting thing you've done is you've played with the Swedish band Trickbag, who Steve Westwesson, who I had on the podcast very early on, he sort of regularly plays with them, but you stood in for him a of times

SPEAKER_04:

yeah with Steve I met him I went to London just to go to one of his shows actually and again the same thing it was pretty cool he invited me to play a little bit with him and it was nice I mean Steve is one of my favorite players here in this part of the world he's the way he plays is it's very musical it's very natural it sounds like nothing you know it's like natural for me the way he sounds in which is not easy With Steve, we met many other times. And in one of the shows they have with Trickback in Norway, I was playing with Crystal Thomas, with a singer from Louisiana. And that was the moment they told me, hey, we got a gig. Steve cannot make it and you want to do it. And I was so happy because Trickback is another one of those bands you have to listen to.

SPEAKER_01:

And then your latest album you've released in 2024, Nighttime Boogie, with Luca Giordano. and the Neto Rockefeller Trio.

SPEAKER_04:

This is recorded in Brazil, yeah? Yes, actually, yeah. That's one of the last CDs. Luca Giordano is an amazing Chicago guitar player. He used to play a lot with Chris Kane he back up Jay Thames he's always backing up a lot of great artists and we met in France a few years ago and he said hey you want to come to Brazil because he travels a lot to Brazil he goes there once a year at least and he told me like hey want to do a record together and I said of course and we went there I met Neto Rockefeller there he's a great guitar player from Brazil and we're recorded with his trio, Neto Rockefeller Trio and Luca Giordano, and they invited me. And it was great. It's just a bunch of blues songs. Luca got some originals. I think I got one original, too, and we mixed everything together. It's a nice CD. Nice

SPEAKER_01:

going over to Brazil to do that, eh?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, yeah. It definitely was my first time there. I went there before to Argentina to play a few shows in Buenos Aires and then Chile, but Brazil was completely unknown for me even the same for Italy I've never been in Italy and two years ago was the first time for me and Brazil and Italy became one of my favorite places to be because people is amazing food is amazing weather is really good so

SPEAKER_01:

yeah you've also done some session music recording and you recorded on various soundtracks and also I think on a movie there in spain el bola uh is it is that right el bola

SPEAKER_04:

el bola yeah the actual is called like uh it was el bola is like uh bola means like the ball like the the ball and it was like a nickname for for for the main character it's an old movie actually in the states they got the oscars in spain the the we got the the goyas and goyas are the the most the best awards you can get in in a in a movie in Spain and this this movie took like five of those go yes I think five or six best music best whatever and and amazing yeah yeah we did a few a few other soundtracks but that one yeah you never know why but that was a big big thing for us

SPEAKER_01:

and then you mentioned I think you did some teaching so you do do teaching you still doing teaching in Barcelona in the blue school in Barcelona though yeah

SPEAKER_04:

not anymore actually the Blue School is not there anymore. I wish it's going to be another one someday soon. But I do teach from time to time. It's like I got some students from the States and some students from Spain too. But I do it from time to time when I got time. I'm traveling a lot and I can't complain. But the main reason is because, like I said, in Barcelona, it's not that easy to work anymore. So I'm traveling a lot and I don't have time. Yeah. No, no. Good.

SPEAKER_01:

Good. Good for you. Traveling, playing. That's a, it's good to hear. So, um, but you, but you talked to the, the fan festival in Berlin. Uh, did you do that in the most recent one?

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. Yeah. Uh, we did that. Uh, when we did the fan festival with my brother, I, I, I did some workshop, but I did another one a few months ago, uh, in May with Constantine from Germany. Yeah. Constantine Reinfeld. Yeah. Yeah. Constantine Reinfeld. What a, what a beast. Yeah. and and philip year those are real harmonica players yeah fantastic and that was that was that was beautiful to to share the the master the master class with them

SPEAKER_01:

i've interviewed them both on the podcast so yeah they're fantastic as you say yeah so great players really unbelievable players

SPEAKER_04:

i the the level of knowledge of the instrument is it's just yeah fantastic yeah so

UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

So our question to ask each time, Victor, is if you had 10 minutes to practice, what would you spend those 10 minutes on?

SPEAKER_04:

I would say breathing is the main thing. Breathing and the tongue muscle. That's something I would work. Like Joe Felisco used to say, you never master, you could be your whole life trying to do the right bending. So I would say just bending correctly and precisely. That would That would be my routine for those 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_01:

So you mentioned the tongue there. So are you mainly a tongue block player or do you pucker as

SPEAKER_04:

well? Yeah, mostly tongue blocking. And I combine with puckering too. I like both sounds. It gives you different sounds, different ideas too.

SPEAKER_01:

And I've heard you playing some chromatic blues harmonica.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So you do play some chromatic, yeah?

SPEAKER_04:

I do, so I try. Of course, I like all the classics. Carrie Bell, I like Little Walter, I like a lot of Fra Piazza and William Clarke. There's so many that I listen to. Dennis Gruenling, for sure. There's many, many others. And then, at the same time, I try to play other stuff. Here in Spain, we got, I would say, one of the best chromatic players in the world. It's Antonio Serrano. And on top of being the best harmonica chromatic player, he is one of the best guys ever. He's humble. He's very humble. And he got a great instructional for beginners for chromatic in a way of understanding the chromatism and very easy exercises for people like me. The chromatic is not my main instrument. And there's great, great stuff in his book.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, Antonio's great. Also had him on the podcast. So yeah, Antonio. Oh, man. Fantastic player. Yeah, fantastic player. Yeah. So we'll finish off now by just talking about the gear that you use and move into this last section. So you're a honer and Dorsey. So obviously you're playing honer harmonicas. What's your favorite honers to play?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, they are my favorite harmonicas. Yeah. I tried many others and honer, crossover, Marion Bandelux. Those are the ones that I use. I got some special 20s I like, depending on the style I'm playing. I like the Special 20 and country tuning, but mainly those harmonicas. And in terms of microphones and amplifiers, I'm not super picky. I like vintage stuff. I like Gibson's amps. I like Fender amps. I like Crystal Elements. I like any kind of CR. There's some new mics. Actually, I'm going to do some videos about Johnny Sanson's mics that I have to put some videos about it because he sent me and they are really cool mics. So, yeah. When I'm playing acoustic, I normally use a Shure 57 Beta. That's my favorite for acoustic. Yeah. For a live show.

SPEAKER_01:

And so you're playing off the mic, so you're using hand effects with that? With the 57,

SPEAKER_04:

when I play acoustic, like with effects, using effects with my hands and being a little bit far away from the mic, I use the Shure of 57 beta

SPEAKER_01:

yeah and you prefer that obviously over the 58 then for the for the acoustic stuff i think so i try both but

SPEAKER_04:

maybe because i maybe because i get used to but uh definitely the beta it's it's brighter but at the same time is is it works good for for the harmonica to be honest because i the harmonica can can raise very high high frequencies and sometimes we don't want that on the harmonica but if you cut those those high frequencies in the in the beta you get a very cool sound for the harmonica. So I'd rather, yeah, I'd rather the better ones. 58 or 57? I would say 57 first, but both are good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think 57 is supposed to be more of an instrument mic, whereas 58 is more of a vocal mic, isn't it? So it makes sense that it would work better with the harmonica. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course, it's similar to the 545, which Paul Butterfield used. I think those two mics are pretty close, aren't they? So yeah, It makes a lot of

SPEAKER_03:

sense to the 57 there.

SPEAKER_01:

So what about different positions? Do you play much beyond first, second, third position? Yeah,

SPEAKER_04:

yeah. First, second, third. I like the fourth. And those are pretty much it. I mean, what I feel more comfortable, of course, is second and third. And then first, depending on the stuff I'm doing. But with the chromatic, it's only third position. Yeah. That's pretty much it. Do you use any different tunings? Well, I want to get into the... Of course, I want to try some Real Wild. I never tried that. I want to try the one that changed the seventh draw. But what I use mostly is just a regular diatonic and then country tune with a fifth hole half step up. And that's pretty much everything. Well, I got some minor too, but I don't use them that much. But I really want to try some other tuning. And what about overblows? Do you use any of those? I heard about that. No, I'm just joking. No, of course. I try hard. It's true that when you master the overblow, you can do it with any kind of harmonica. I remember being in a Howard Levy workshop. As a blues freak, I was like, yeah, Howard yeah yeah blah blah blah too many notes i was completely goosebumps all the freaking masterclass it was unbelievable it was unbelievable it is it's not about what kind of music it's not even what kind of instrument the guy sounded so smooth and beautiful and everything he did was so unbelievable so

UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04:

about being a blues freak it's fine but the thing is if you play good you can play whatever and I'm saying that because I remember Hall& Levy taking a marine band out of the box one of those really bad marine bands without screws you know and he did a double overblow with a 4-5 at the same time and everybody was like okay I mean it doesn't matter harmonica it doesn't matter the custom It doesn't matter. It's about you and your tongue and your mouth position and what you do. So I do really try playing overblows. I use them very, very, not very often, to be honest, but of course, depending the music you're playing, you really need them.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, sparingly for when you need that particular note. Yeah, that's good. That's the way I do them too, very occasionally. And what about any effects you use? any effects pedals or any other effects? No, not just

SPEAKER_04:

the delay, to be honest. And I love the anti-feedback from Kinder. Yeah. The classic from the... Everyone loves that one, yeah. I've never actually tried that one. Oh, man, that pedal is just unbelievable because it's not only anti-feedback, it gives you a different sound, to be honest. And when you're on the road and you cannot use all own amp or your own mic those kind of pedals are the you really need a pedal like that to work

SPEAKER_01:

so yeah just last question about your future plans what have you got come up you've already mentioned you've got some gigs coming up around Europe and I'm thinking about a new album with your brother

SPEAKER_04:

yes so exactly what you said I'm gonna have a few days off finally after a crazy summer knock on wood to be honest uh but i'm gonna be a couple weeks off and and then i have these gigs with my brother with the suitcase brothers we're gonna be in czech republic and berlin i'm gonna do some or another days ops in the states visiting some friends and uh and then my idea is recording a new album uh with the new quartet here in barcelona in a few months and and keep working as like i said i want to do this this gary primage instructional if if i if i find time to do it and keep working on the harmonica for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, thanks so much for joining me today. It's been great to speak to you, Victor Purtas.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, thank you so much for the invitation and thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01:

Once again, thanks to Zydle for sponsoring the podcast. Be sure to check out their great range of harmonicas and products at www.zydle1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zydle Harmonicas. A big thanks to Victor for joining me today his love for the blues and for the harmonica really shines through both in the way he talks about it and the way he plays I'm especially looking forward to the tutorial book he's working on about Gary Primich if you haven't checked out Gary's music before it's well worth a listen he has such a distinctive and inspiring style as always thanks for tuning in not all of Victor's albums are on Spotify but you'll find some of the tracks we talked about on the episode playlist and you can explore more of his music over on his Bandcamp page I put the link in the show notes. To close things out, here's Victor playing Kidney Stew on the Suitcase Brothers album A Long Way From Home.

UNKNOWN:

MUSIC