It moves you.
And that’s exactly what Enrique Platas wants his music to do. “This is my art,” he says. “It creates a mood.” True to his word, Platas takes the listener on a unique, rhythmic journey in every song. Studio recordings and live shows alike flow and pulsate with beat and rhythm, drawing his audience into a dialogue with drums.

When he was four years old, Enrique Platas attended a party with a live band in his native Mexico City. Fascinated by the drummer, he crept forward and stood as close to him as he could, listening and watching. He was fixated on him for the rest of the night. The next day, he began beating on pots and pans with wooden spoons.
It’s not hard to see why Latin and Afro-Caribbean rhythms have influenced him so heavily during his career. Mexican music, even contemporary rock, is flavored with salsa, merengue, reggae, and even samba and bossa nova.
So it was natural that Platas played these rhythms in both his formal training and in the underground rock scene. He studied drums at the Veerkamp Institute in Mexico City and by age 13 snuck out of the house regularly to play with various bands. At that time, rock was effectively prohibited in Mexico. “That was a really hard time for me as an artist,” he recalls. “First, I was too young to be out. Second, the music I loved was strictly underground- we couldn’t have a gig without constantly looking over our shoulders. And on top of that, I didn’t own a drum kit.”
But he persevered. In college at ITESM Querétaro, he was prominent in the Cultural Diffusion Department, which showcased student musical and theater performances. With other members of the department, he twice shared the National Song Prize and produced four shows. He also met the other members of Sector 7, and together the group released Para Sentir under Sony Music. Guitarist Javier Calderón went on to play for Aleks Syntek. Platas spent a few years as a session drummer for Sony, playing with the likes of Sabo Romo (of Caifanes) before moving north of the border.
Today, Enrique Platas plays and records in San Diego, California. “It’s a cool place to be a musician,” he says. “There are so many venues, and the crowds have great vibes. I have a lot of fun interacting with them . . . that’s what it’s all about: sharing an experience with the audience.”

by Jesse Rutherford

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