Victor Puertas interview
58 minutes Posted Aug 30, 2025 at 7:00 am.
Victor is from a small town outside Barcelona
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
Went to Austin especially to meet Gary Primich, who is Victor’s harmonica idol
Tried to move to Maryland in the US, where he spent some time with Mark Wenner, harmonica player from The Nighthawks
Started playing harmonica age 13, a harmonica and blues ‘freak’ from then on in
Brother inspired Victor to start playing music, and gave Victor his first harmonica
Listened obsessively to a blues radio show in Spain, which exposed him to a lot of blues music when young
Also plays keyboard and hammond organ, but harmonica is his true love
Has played keyboards since age 15 and was self-taught, with sister also a good piano player
Victor recommends listening to a lot of the music you’re trying to learn
Some of the advantages of learning by ear
Junior Wells harmonica instructional where Junior wasn’t able to communicate too well on how to play harmonica
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
The Suitcase Brothers play lots of country blues
Joe Filisko inspired Victor to play pre-war harmonica
Paul Lamb and Adam Sikora are two other influential Sonny Terry style players
2023 album Love, Truth and Confidence: Tribute to Piedmont Legends Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee won an award from the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society
Recorded the Love, Truth and Confidence album live to a tape recorder, overdubbing some guests later was the only change to the sound
Some of the advantages of recording live to capture the moment and the value of including ‘mistakes’ in the music
The blues scene in Barcelona helped develop Victor, but it’s not what it was (like lots of cities around the world)
Twenty or so years ago blues artists in Barcelona had to travel to the border with France to buy blues albums
The pioneers of blues in Spain one generation ago
Mostly heard American blues on the Spanish radio station
The Barcelona Blues Society works to promote the blues but there is a lack of venues in Barcelona these days
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
How the local music scene seems to be missing in the music world of today
Gary Primach is the biggest influence on Victor playing the harmonica, and Victor shared a stage with him in Austin
Victor is planning to release some instructional material on Gary Primich
Victor’s favourite albums by Gary Primich are Botheration, Company Man and Mr Freeze
The time Victor put into the harmonica in his teenage years
First song that Victor learned on harmonica was a rock version of Mary Had A Little Lamb
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
Has worked as a professional musician since his mid-20s, which includes playing keyboards, hammond organ and teaching music in addition to playing harmonica
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
Started playing in a band with his brother called Blues 14, before they started The Suitcase Brothers
Changed to acoustic style of playing when started The Suitcase Brothers
Placed 2nd at the 2013 International Blues Challenge in Memphis with The Suitcase Brothers
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)
The Suitcase Brothers have released five albums
Playing with your brother can be a challenge at times!
A Long Way From Home album had guest appearances from Jerry Portnoy and Paul Oscher, and Victor became very good friends with Jerry
Jerry Portnoy wrote the liner notes for the album, including the comment: “Victor's stunning, unparalleled harmonica genius”
The Love, Truth and Confidence album was recorded to capture the amount of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhees songs The Suitcase Brothers played together
The Suitcase Brothers are still playing together and plan to make an album of original material next
Released two albums with the band Victor Puertas & The Mellow Tones, although that band is no longer going
Victor has played with various other bands, including Chino Swingslide and Koko-Jean & The Tonics
Plans to start a new band soon
Has played with the Swedish band Trickbag, standing in for Steve West Weston, who Victor is good friends with
Latest album is with Luca Giordano & the Netto Rockfeller Trio, which was recorded in Brazil
Has done some work as a session musician, including on the soundtrack for the Spanish film: El Bola, which won four Goyas in 2001
Does some teaching but not at the blues school in Barcelona as that has now sadly closed down
Recently taught at the FEN Festival in Berlin and also at another workshop with Konstantin Reinfeld and Filip Jers
Ten minute question
Mainly a tongue blocker but also uses some pucker
Plays some blues chromatic
Speaks highly of Antonio Serrano as a top chromatic player and his chromatic tuition book
Victor is a Hohner endorsee and plays Marine Band Deluxe and the Crossover
For amps and mics isn’t too picky, likes Gibson and Fender amps and crystal and CR element mics
For acoustic mic uses a Shure SM57 beta and prefers this over the Shure SM58
Mainly plays in 2nd and 3rd position, with some 1st and 4th
Uses Country tuning and interested in the Will Wilde tuning and the Going Up The Country tuning
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
Effects pedals: delay and Kinder anti-feedback pedal
Future plans include gigs in Europe, recording a new album and creating a Gary Primich instructional
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Show notes
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...
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