Previously, I’ve had the privilege of writing about Three From Nowhere’s latest EP, Back to the Basics – profoundly enjoyable work of classic psychedelic rock. In this opportunity, we got to talk to them and go in depth about their interests, process and the sound we love.

ARDENTLY Magazine: What inspired the formation of the band?

Marco Godinez: Well, we are three friends. Luis and Miguel are brothers, and we’ve known each other for around twenty years. Since we were kids, we’ve always liked the same type of music. Most of it was in English, and we couldn’t really understand it, but it influenced us heavily. We started talking about starting a band based on this common interest when we were around 18.

Miguel Medina: We started with covers.

Marco Godinez: Yes, we started with covers of songs with similar styles that we all liked. Amongst the first tracks we played together there’s a lot of Pink Floyd and Beatles songs.

Luis Medina: Pure old school, 60’s and 70’s. We’ve always had a taste for that. Along the way, we each studied music theory and with that knowledge we started creating our own songs. That was around ten years ago. A year and some months ago, we got together again and we could finally record in a studio all that material from the past. Nowadays, we have new songs and old songs—which are mostly fully recorded—so we try to combine the old stuff with the new stuff.

AM: How would you define your sound?

MM: Well, we have influences of old music and new music. We try not to get stuck with just the old stuff but combine it with new sounds to bring it to new audiences. We want them to rediscover this music so they can start educating their ears. That’s basically what we’re trying to do, mixing old music with new music and carrying the old school sound.

LM: Yeah, combining old and new, but making it ours. We love playing live because we love jamming, and that turns these songs into unique pieces that wobe repeated. We can play them again, but it’ll be different. After so many years, we have this connection.

MM: That’s part of the live presentations, the jam. When it’s live, some lyrics or cords might change, and that’s part of it. We try to change them a bit and never play them the same.

MG: Above everything, we like to produce new sounds that are not necessarily associated with these genres from sixty or fifty years ago. We want to impact on the new generations so they can draw comparisons between us and our influences. We want people to see that new music is being created taking the old stuff as inspiration.

I started paying attention to the music that I listened to back in 7^th grade. I used to bring my headphones and my MP3. With these guys, we used to go to the cyber to download songs. We would burn CDs and introduce each other to different songs.

AM: Why have all your releases so far been live?

MG: A lot of people think that recording live is a waste of time. For us, it involves the discipline of rehearsing three or four hours a week. If it doesn’t go right, we start from the top. We are going back to the basics, recording how people used to do sixty years ago, and we want to capture the unique sound of a live recording.

We don’t discard the option of doing studio recordings in the future, but for now I think this is what distinguishes us. This is what we like to do, jamming live.

LM: Yeah, this is what we like to do the most. When we’re recording, for me, it’s like another jam session.

MM: We don’t discard the idea of a studio album, but like Marco was saying, when it’s live you get to catch certain distortions or sounds that wouldn’t usually come out in studio albums. If you go to YouTube, the most viewed videos of artists like Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin are live sessions. In those videos, you can find cords and arrangements that never made it to the studio version. We want to capture that essence.

AM: Why are all your songs in English?

MG: Well, we are from Mexico and our mother tongue is Spanish. Starting in the 2010’s, we noticed a tendency of people wanting to learn more English. I feel like worldwide; it helps us connect with people. Through it, someone in Japan can understand our music even though they speak Japanese and we speak Spanish.

Personally, I also like singing in English more. As a vocalist, I find it easier to create choruses with the use of the vowels. For example, in songs like “Jackie”. Those sounds might be harder to achieve in Spanish.

AM: I’d like to know more about “Jackie”; how was it made?

MG: That’s among the first ten or fifteen songs we created. Actually, there’s still a video going around of the band we had before called Three Avenue Band singing that song back in 2015 or 2014.

LM: We hadn’t yet recorded anything in a studio at that time.

MG: Yeah, we hadn’t recorded anything yet. That was during the break we had in between studying and working. The song was born from a mutual friend we had who was a big rock fan. We used to really get along with her and her twin sister Carol. Actually, there’s another song called “Sweet Caroline” about her. They are our friends and they are both huge rock fans so we decided to dedicate a song to each of them. Jackie loved to play keys and we incorporated that into the lyrics. Sometimes when we rehearsed they even used to join us.

AM: How would you describe your creative process?

LM: When it comes to creating, I always go to Marco after coming up with a bass line. I show him the foundation and he starts to build chords around it. Then we go to Miguel with a solid base so he can add the drums to it and make it come together.

MM: And when it comes to building the complete song, the three of us start choosing what sections, solos and arrangements go, like organizing the song. We usually start with a riff and then build from that.

LM: Sometimes I want the bass to go first and then the drums and guitar come in. Sometimes it’s the opposite.

MG: It is a very organic process, we figure it out as we do it. For example, our song “Burning”, we came up with it in like twenty minutes. Then we rehearse it several times with minor changes until we are all happy with it.

AM: How is leadership handled within the band?

LM: I think it’s the three of us. I can come in with a bass line but Marco might not like it and suggest some changes. We work together to make it something we like.

MM: I think that the songs work because we trust each other, and everyone can contribute to what we are creating. There’s no such thing as “I didn’t like that, take it out.” We have complete freedom in the songs. If something sounds really bad, we’ll go back in our steps and start over, but it has to be a mutual decision. If the three of us are not happy with the song, it simply doesn’t come out.

MG: When it comes to lyrics, I am the one who usually writes them. I still show it to them, and consult until we all like it. For the instrumentals, we have complete freedom. We compose the song on a scale and build on it.

AM: Where would y’all like this project to go?

MG: Currently we want to keep releasing music. Both from our old catalogue and our new stuff. In the future, once we get a big amount of listeners, we’d like to tour around South America, Europe or the US. Above everything, keep doing live music.

Honestly, one of the reasons why we record live is because it is considerably cheaper than recording a studio session that might be thrice as expensive where we’d only get to finish two songs. This is also a way of proving ourselves, of demonstrating that we are doing what we can with what we have. If at some point we start touring and selling tickets, of course we’d love to professionally record in a studio somewhere like New York. Right now, we can only do it with what we have and hope it reaches the right audiences who can appreciate this music made with a lot of love and discipline. We all sacrifice so much so we can pay for four studio hours and in those four hours cleanly record multiple songs.

AM: Is there any final message you’d like to tell our readers?

MM: I appreciate that people listen to music from around the world. That they don’t assume that because it comes from Mexico it’ll sound bad or it’ll sound the same as all of the other bands. Sometimes you can find stuff that can surprise you and be beyond your expectations of what your country can create.

LM: You always find a hidden gem from every country.

MG: The three of us are music lovers. I’d tell to the people that they shouldn’t be biased by the number of listeners or the nationality. Give us a chance and listen to live music that is truly different.

If you’d like to see more from Three From Nowhere and support them, you can find their music on YouTube Music, Apple Music and Spotify. If you’d like to connect with them, you can follow them on Instagram.