Members: Julio Gudiño (vocals), Fernando Heftye (synthesizer, guitar), Carlos Medina (guitar), Carlos Farah (drums), Santiago Fernandez (bass), Mario Bringas (sampler, guitar)
Sounds like: Little Jesus, Fishlights, I Can Chase Dragons! There’s a family resemblance…
You should listen to the Plastics Revolution because…This is the kind of pure-hearted, cynicism-free music the world desperately needs right now.
The curious case of The Plastics Revolution takes place over a decade. Shortly after finishing high school, the six-piece Mexico City outfit kicked their casual jam sessions into full throttle, producing two stellar albums. The catch? College studies and career opportunities led several members out of the city and away from the band. Though they’ve continued sporadically releasing music, hometown shows are a rare occurrence for the Plastics, who have dubbed themselves “la banda fantasma.”
“Our initial idea was to start an electronic music project,” says Fernando Heftye, the Plastics’ synth player and one of multiple guitarists. “That’s why we chose a rather imposing name – we wanted it to sound like The Chemical Brothers.” The band’s polished, radio-ready indie pop is far from imposing, though, with recent singles “Archivo Fuente” and “Teen X” highlighting The Plastics Revolution’s keen sense for earworms.
The band has received radio play, awards, and performed on high-profile stages, most recently opening for Two Door Cinema Club, but it’s geography that has kept The Plastics Revolution from fully combusting into the mainstream. For several members, Plastics has become an ironically famous side project. “Juls [Gudiño] studied at Berklee, and stayed in Boston for seven years,” explains Heftye. “I went to Leeds, in England, for about three. We were both away studying music production. And around this time, when we were all scattered in the wind, numerous projects emerged. While at Berklee, Juls met Santi Casillas, now singer for Little Jesus, and introduced him to Charli [Medina] our lead guitarist, who also plays with them. Juls also operates his solo project I Can Chase Dragons! And I have my own, Fishlights.”
Despite the distance, the band has continued working remotely, sending riffs, beats, and vocal stems to each other eventually resulting in their new EP, Seres Extraordinarios. The mini album finds Plastics in their element, churning out danceable bangers about the innocence and magic of fiery young love. As with past records, Julio Derbez created the artwork for the EP, which depicts small, alien-like creatures that each characterize the distinct identity of the songs as the extraordinary beings.
Seres Extraordinarios is a lyrical departure for the band, as it incorporates more Spanish than previous records. As vocalist Julio Gudiño explains, the band’s language dynamics go beyond their experiences living abroad. “Mexico is sort of a cultural backyard of tendencies coming out of the U.S.,” he notes. “We consume so much of their music and TV, that for many of us, those first creative currents were in English. Though we started our career recording songs in English, the feedback we got was that we should expand into Spanish.” On the band’s long-distance relationship, he notes, “We’re living through a very special moment where we’re all in the same city again. We’ve been best friends since we were 14 or 15. We would go over to someone’s house outside of town to hang out and make music, so we’re really excited about going back to that original format.”
With new music on the horizon and everyone back in town, the phantom band of Mexico City is once again taking corporeal form and reclaiming their place in the musical food chain. The release of Seres Extraordinarios and their recent buzzy headlining show with Big Big Love and Madame Récamier are laying the groundwork for the Plastics Revolution’s musical renaissance. Most important of all, with the band together again and no looming travel or time constraints, we can expect the Plastics to reacquaint themselves with the teenage giddiness that made them indie idols in the first place.
