
Zoé
Mexican Rock Band Zoé Want To Be Heard All Over The World
For two decades, Zoé has carried a piece of Mexico's modern rock sound across many parts of the world. Their psychedelic, rock en Español, pop, synth sounds have captured fans in areas of the U.S., Latin America and European countries like Spain.
Listening to Zoé is like going through a galactic trip into romantic relationships and self-reflection; the journey entering light and dark moods—just listen to "Love" and "Dead." And it works. The band has maintained and grown a strong fanbase, with over a billion visits on VEVO and two million streams per month worldwide on Spotify.
Formed in Mexico City in 1997, Zoé boasts some of the best modern songwriting in the Spanish language and a solid marriage of sounds. Even when they opt to go acoustic, they leave what is at the heart of their music: poetic verses, an innovative blend of instruments and frontman Leon Larregui's deep, enchanting voice.
Over the course of their career, which include six studio albums and collabs with Enrique Bunbury from Spanish iconic rock band Héroes del Silencio, the Mexico City band has garnered GRAMMY nominations and Latin GRAMMY wins, but it is their latest album, Aztlán, produced by Craig Silvey & Phill Vinall, which has won them a GRAMMY for Best Latin Rock Album (their last nomination was in the same category for 2006's Memo Rex Commander Y El Corazón Atómico De La Vía Láctea).
While the group continues to hold their signature sound close, Aztlán takes the band to a mythological place of the past: the birthplace of the Mexica people who would rule the Aztec Empire and would inspire the country's name. The album was intended to be an invitation into their culture and a statement among political and social events happening around the time of its conception.
"It is an invitation to discover the beauty and richness of our culture, and look inward so we can recover that Mexican dignity and pride," Larregui said in a statement. "This reflection to the past is with the hopes that as we reinvent ourselves in the near future we continue to maintain our ‘Mexicanness’ in a globalized world."
The quintet is pushing full-throttle into a globalized music industry where language is no barrier to mainstream success; they recently started a tour with some fellow North Americans: Canadian bands Metric and July Talk. The tour marks the first time the band has hit the road with English-language acts.
Bassist Ángel Mosqueda spoke to The Recording Academy on a stop in San Antonio, Texas about their tour, what the band's first GRAMMY win means for the band's growth, the socio-political inspiration behind Aztlán, what has kept the band going after so many years, and much more.
Where were you when you found out about your GRAMMY win?
Emocionados por este gran logro para #ZoéAztlán | "Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Rock Album" en los @RecordingAcad #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/aFSFW97IRi
— ZOÉ (@zoetheband) February 10, 2019