By Belén Pizarro
Posted March 27, 2025
Maná is a Mexican pop-rock band that has been on the Latin rock music scene for nearly 40 years. With 11 albums, over 45 million copies sold, and a career of record-breaking accomplishments. They’re also known for using their platform to speak on social, political, and environmental issues, while advocating for the Latino community and culture. Their extraordinary career has led to their recent nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, being the first all-Spanish speaking act to be nominated. Following the nomination, the band announced a 2025 North American tour “Vivir Sin Aire.” They sold out their initial date at Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado on September 11th and due to high demand have just added a second date on September 10th. The Weekly Issue/El Semanario recently sat down with drummer, Alex González, to discuss the band’s nomination and Vivir Sin Aire tour.
Belén Pizarro, El Semanario: Congratulations on the nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, what does it mean to you and your bandmates to be the all-Spanish speaking band to be nominated?
Alex González: Well, it’s just unimaginable. I remember when I got the call, I woke up at like eight in the morning, and I had a text message from my manager. It said “Alex, congratulations, you guys are nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” I got out of bed I said “Holy shit! I can’t believe it,” you know to be honest it’s unimaginable. All of our idols, all the bands we grew up with idolizing and that we admire, they’re all there. You would’ve never thought in a million years that a pop rock band that sings only in Spanish would be nominated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So, first of all, we want to thank the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee for looking the other way and saying “Hey there’s this band that next year is going to turn forty years old, they’ve been doing it for forty years and had a huge impact in the music industry. Not only with the Latino community, but with the anglo community as well.” Also, with all the different things we’ve done with social issues regarding the dreamers, giving scholarships, or helping the farmers. So, it’s fantastic that they looked the other way. And you know it’s pretty punk, I would say, that we’re a band, even though we play pop-rock, Latin fusion, whatever, but [we] do it in Spanish. You know we never did the crossover in English, like some of our other friends that have in the music industry. We feel comfortable singing in Spanish and it’s also a very cool way to share our culture with such a huge Latino community that’s in the United States. So, again, we’re still blown away by the nomination. And again, we share this nomination with all the Latino community that’s been there since the beginning, when we went to play the United States for the first time in 1993. And if we’re eventually inducted, well I mean, that would be just unbelievable. But for now, it’s just a nomination and we’re just very honored so thank you.
Pizarro: The band is known to speak on social issues, particularly for the Latino community. What does it mean to be touring and nominated during this time of political and social unrest, especially for the Latino community, in the United States right now?
González: Yeah, it’s really terrible to see what’s going on. I know there’s a lot of people that are very afraid, but I can assure you, don’t be afraid. The United States is a country made of immigrants. We know there’s obviously situations where there are illegal immigrants working in the United States. I would say ninety-nine percent of those people are working as the power of the economy that the United States has. They’re doing a lot of the jobs a lot of people don’t want to do, [they’re] very, very difficult jobs. So, on one hand, we’ve been pushing for decades for an immigration reform. Washington [D.C.] has to find a way, because these people, all they want to do is work and provide for their family, a better life in a better economy. On the other hand, with the situation as it is, they’re racial profiling. If you look Latino, they can go and they can grab you and if you don’t have any ID on you like a passport, like an official United States ID, you can get deported. So, it’s very scary what’s going on. So, I understand that they want to raid criminals and people doing illegal things in the United States, and I get that. But the majority of people who are in the United States are hard-working people, people with maybe two or three jobs. So, they really have to sit down in Washington [D.C.] and I think we need more people in the Latino community to come together and work. Because these people should pay taxes, get in line to become legal immigrants, and at the same time let them work, let them go through the process. I think even for somebody who’s been living in the United States ‘illegally’—could you imagine how reassured you would be knowing you’re in the process of becoming a legal [immigrant], you could even sleep and not have to worry all about your future, your kids, or your family. So, there’s a lot of work to be done. But, I think the way they’re doing this right now is just instilling fear and terror into a lot of Latinos.
Pizarro: What does it mean for the band to be able to hold that space, as a Latino band that’s all-Spanish speaking, for the community?
González: Well, this tour Vivir Sin Aire, what we want to bring is first of all hope. We want to bring a positive message, we want people to go to the shows and celebrate the Latino community. This is not about throwing fire on the fire. It’s totally opposite, you know, there’s millions of legal Latinos that work and live in this country and putting food on the table. And there’s another section of the Latino community, that yes, is ‘illegal’, but they’re also working, putting food on the table. First of all, we have to celebrate that entire community, because at the end of the day it’s a hard, hard-working community—I can assure you one of the hardest working communities in the United States. So, it’s a celebration. It’s like saying “Hey, after the storm, the sun always comes out.” So, we’re here, let’s make our presence celebrated and let’s continue to promote our culture. Again, Maná is not only a band from México, Maná has become a band of the Latino community, because we’ve toured all of Latin América since we started. So, there’s this nostalgia [for] people that maybe lived in Latin América that now live in the United States, and when they see Maná it brings back a lot of memories. Or their kids get to see a band that maybe their mom or their dad saw when they were living in another part of Latin América, or the Caribbean. Or they grew up in the United States listening to Maná. So that’s the message, not to be afraid, in the United States there’s always been problems and situations, and civil uncertainty and unrest. But there’s always a solution. And I think there’s more people that want to find solutions than the people that want to divide and want to create conflict.
Pizarro: Also, congratulations on selling out at Red Rocks here in Colorado and adding a second date.
González: I love Red Rocks! And don’t get me wrong, I love everywhere we have played in Denver. But the thing is that for the band, there’s this connection with Red Rocks. When we were starting as a band, well we were already a band, but we were still in that process, there was this amazing concert we would watch over and over again, which was U2 live at Red Rocks. We always dreamed about playing in Red Rocks. So, the first time we played, could you imagine? We couldn’t believe it. And then we went with Santana and that was amazing. I even have in my office [an award from playing Red Rocks], and this was Maná, September 2nd, 1998. That’s when we went by ourselves, and it was amazing. So, again, to go back and play such an iconic venue between these amazing red mountains and these red rocks! And two nights. So, this is the important thing, tickets go on sale for the second show Friday [March 21st]. And it’s very important to make sure everyone goes to Ticketmaster.com where the tickets are being sold, or
LiveNation.com. And don’t buy from scalpers, none of that. We always try to take very good care of the prices so everyone can go see us.
Pizarro: What would you say is the best part of touring and performing live?
González: Just that adrenaline of being on stage and seeing the fans. And again, the last six years we’ve been touring, we’ve noticed there’s this new young generation, kids that weren’t even born when we started our band and playing. And now you see this young, new generation going to our shows and it’s amazing. And then you see people from our age. It’s just a beautiful mix of culture and people. And I love playing live and just feeling that tsunami of love and energy. And we receive that because the band always gives one hundred percent on stage. You know, maybe you might feel sick, you might feel tired, you might’ve not slept well, you know there could be a lot of factors; but you know, you always, as a musician and as a band, you always say that’s not the crowd’s problem. The crowd is here, they saved up their money, and we’re going to give them the best show possible. So, we always want people to leave a Maná concert with a fantastic experience and with that feeling of wanting to come back again and see us when we’re back in town.
Pizarro: Thank you, and to wrap up, what can fans expect from the band in the next coming years or so?
González: Well, on this tour the important thing is that it’s a brand new production. I think it’s one of the most amazing productions we’ve had, regarding what we’re going to do as far as the lighting, the special effects, and as far as the way it’s going be set up. We’re playing for more than two hours, it could go to two and a half, it depends on the crowd. We’re going to be playing a lot of the hits, but the cool thing is that we’re digging into the bag and pulling out a lot of songs that we’ve never played live before. Or maybe songs that we used to play many, many years ago that people want to hear again. So, we’re putting that puzzle together, which is great. So, I can assure you that it’s going be a tour with a lot of energy, adrenaline, messages, and just positive vibes. Again, we just want everybody to say “Wow that was awesome!” and that they’ll want to go see us again. And as far as new music, because always people are asking. We’re going to be coming out this year with a duet album that we’ve been doing for like the past three years. It’s been slow, but it’s finally going to come out. It’s called Noches de Cantina. And these are Maná songs or hits that we recorded with friends of ours, people that are well known in the Latino music industry, they’re good friends, and they’re also like Maná. So, hearing all these different duet versions, it came out really nice. You know, if fans want to hear the original versions, they’re there. But this is a little bit more Mexican, a little bit more, I don’t want to say unplugged, but a combination of Mexican, unplugged, and electric. But the idea is basically in the near future is to write new music. When and how and when that’s going to happen? Well, it’ll come naturally. The industry has changed so much that we’re debating: do we put out an album or do we release songs? So, we’re just analyzing that, but we definitely want to sit down and write. I know Fher has written songs, I have songs written, I know Sergio too. So, it’s just about finding that moment and that time. But right now, all the energy is focused on this tour. And who knows maybe we can surprise everybody with a new song. Who knows. But yeah, there will definitely be music in the near future.
Belén Pizarro is an Independent Reporter for The Weekly Issue/El Semanario.
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