Interview: Midnight Generation Finds Its Rhythm in Austin

The day after a sold-out show at Antone’s Nightclub and before their Sunday performance at ACL’s Tito’s stage, percussionists Samuel Marquez and Diego Bustillos from Midnight Generation sat down with Afterglow and discussed their inspirations, new record, and future plans.

Written by Joseph Gonzalez

Photo courtesy of Pooneh Ghana

The funk-based electronic pop of Midnight Generation electrifies its listeners. The group’s lively showmanship and entrancing beats get the whole crowd’s bodies to move. Touring with its latest album, Tender Love, the Mexican band made its way to ACL during its ‘Tender Love’ tour through North America.

Afterglow: How was your show at Antone’s last night?

Marquez: Oh, yeah, it was amazing. It's a legendary place, you know, so [it was] a lot of fun. It was packed. You can feel the energy.

Bustillos: And the place had great acoustics.

How do you find the energy to perform? Is it different with intimate venues versus festivals?

Marquez: It's really not different in the festivals than [intimate] shows. I think the venues are more intimate, right? The people can really enjoy the show. Sometimes for the festivals you don't have enough time to show all of your gear or ammunition. You need to be very energetic in the festivals. You need to hit the right spot at the right moment so that people can kill it, but we always feel the energy from the people whenever we play.

How do you feed off of each other and form chemistry when you play?

Marquez: I don't know. It's something that you leave to the time. It's something that flows normally.

Bustillos: We try to have it happen at every concert. It’s not easy.

Marquez: It’s not easy, but it's a natural chemistry. For example, Diego and myself, [we’ve known] each other since we were eight years old; we went to the same percussion school. So I think that that helps too.

How have you worked to develop your sound which feels current yet timeless?

Marquez: I think it's most of the music that we have been listening [to throughout] our lives. Diego loves salsa music, cumbia, but he likes Prince too, so some mixture of inspirations. It’s a vintage sound but we're never thinking about the sound. We just know that our sound is very [synthesizer heavy]. Too much synthesizer? Probably no, it's never enough synthesizers.

The band released two albums in 2025, Tender Love and Teacher. What’s the difference between the albums and why do you think the band has been so prolific this year as far as releasing music?

Marquez: Tender Love is the reason that we are touring the world right now, [but] we're always working on new music actually. In Paris, we went to a studio where we can record more stuff, and we're always creating music. Probably there's gonna be new music next year, but since we are touring, it's pretty difficult at some points.

This is your biggest tour yet. How has that experience been?

Marquez: We have been traveling a lot, so it's a great experience. I don't know if it's the climax or the highest point, hopefully not, but right now we are our best. As a band, everyone is loving our music and almost every single [show] that we have on the tour, it's sold out.

Midnight Generation’s music has a very visceral effect on the audience. What is your intention as far as what you want the audience to experience?

Bustillos: To feel freedom and let the music do all the work.

Marquez: We want people to feel free to do whatever they want.

What’s it like to be in the zone when you perform?

Marquez: It's like you're floating. It's like you are not thinking [about] what you're doing, and you're just feeling. For me, it's that. It's a good feeling. That's why we are here still doing this. I mean, we're not that old, but it's [taken] years to develop this as a musician.

How do you see the band evolving in the years to come?

Marquez: We're always trying to get a better sound in the recording, but I think that this experience, from this tour, it's gonna bring a lot of experience to us. It's been a total experience in our private lives and in our minds. I think it's gonna be [a reflection]. You will hear in the new record that resonance [from] all this experience.

Listen to Midnight Generation on Spotify and Apple Music.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.