Midnight Generation, Mexico’s electro-funk sensation, channels a magnetic rhythm born under borderless skies and a funk-fueled pulse that moves through every synth, TalkBox riff and late-night groove. From the deserts of Chihuahua to dance floors worldwide, theirs is the wave you feel before you hear. What began as a jam session between friends in Northern Mexico has grown into one of the most compelling acts to emerge from the country’s alt-funk scene. Fronted by Fernando Mares, the band’s decade-long journey from local music dens in Chihuahua to global stages feels like the result of passion meeting alchemy. “We weren’t thinking of this,” he says. “We were just having fun.”
But somewhere between the echoes of Nile Rodgers, the discovery of house in Guadalajara, and an intuitive love for disco’s golden age, the band found their voice: a sound built on collaboration, curiosity, and raw emotion. Their hit single Don’t Wait Up, from their latest album Tender Love, didn’t start in the studio – it started on stage as a loop and a vibe that captured the crowd before the track even existed. The track quickly took shape to capture the bittersweet moment when a once-solid love begins to drift as a gentle farewell wrapped in disco beats and self-discovery. The black-and-white video, directed by Emilio Pichardo, adds depth to the track’s emotional pull, and has since racked up thousands of views and love from fans across the globe. That spirit of improvisation and connection is what drives them still. “We just make what we like… you just have to vibe to it and be yourself.”
Now, as Midnight Generation heads into a new era of touring and sonic exploration, their message is simple yet powerful: be open, stay inspired, and keep evolving. Whether singing in English or experimenting with the intimacy of Tan Cerca in Spanish, they’re not chasing trends, they’re channeling emotion. In their world, music isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence.
We sat down with Fer ahead of an epic DJ set at ZeyZey Miami, presented by Live Nation and Tigre Sounds, to share the journey behind the synths and soul that have carried Midnight Generation to places they never imagined.
TIGRE SOUNDS: The band is going on a decade. When you look back to those early moments when you were dreaming, rehearsing, conjuring up everything, take us back to how this amazing project and electric sound came to be.
MIDNIGHT GENERATION (Fernando Mares): Well, we actually weren’t thinking about this, to be honest. We were just having fun when we started. It’s really cool to realize that we’re doing a Europe tour and an American tour and also Latin America – that we are going to add some shows there. I’m really happy to be here.
TIGRE SOUNDS: How have your roots in Northern Mexico and your time in CDMX influenced how you’ve crafted your unique sound? And how would you describe Midnight Generation’s sound today?
MIDNIGHT GENERATION: I used to listen to the Bee Gees, Prince and Nile Rodgers when I was a kid. My dad used to drive and put on that music and I really enjoyed it. But when I grew up, I started to listen to rock and different kinds of genres. Then when I went to Guadalajara or Mexico City, I discovered this house disco style and that blew my mind. I started to feel that I had to explore that kind of music, so that’s how it started. We built the first album influenced by Nile Rodgers and all the things that we could do.
TIGRE SOUNDS: Midnight Generation feels like a creative family. How do your bandmates shape the sound and vision of the project? What does collaboration look like behind the scenes and how does each bandmate contribute?
MIDNIGHT GENERATION: Each time it’s different. Sometimes we start from an idea, sometimes we just start jamming between us. For example, “Bica” (Luis Carlos Valderrama), our keyboardist, is really skillful but sometimes he flies away a lot, so I have to try to keep him down to earth. Haha. What I do is take the whole general perspective and try to bring all these cool ideas that we all have and bring them down to a song. It’s really cool to collaborate with every one of the band and it’s been amazingl to be playing throughout these years because we’ve learned a lot and we’ve been changing our style and trying to find new sounds. You can see it in our new album and we’ll definitely keep on changing.
TIGRE SOUNDS: Speaking of flying away, Don’t Wait Up has just gone into heavy rotation across sets and borders. Did you ever imagine it would become this big? And how did that track come to life?
MIDNIGHT GENERATION: It’s really hard to know it, but to be honest, I knew it. Because it started from a show, before a live show. And I had this idea starting to play like this with the TalkBox. When we played it live, it was under another song, but the people really liked it. And then we put a video out which got a lot of views, and people started saying, “What is this song?” At that moment we didn’t even have a song! So we created the opposite way – we started the song after we had something. So it was an interesting experience. It was like alchemy.
TIGRE SOUNDS: You’ve collaborated with some incredible acts. What are some Mexican and non-Mexican artists you have on repeat right now, who really inspire you?
MIDNIGHT GENERATION: I like a lot of different kinds of music. To mention some, I listen to a lot of Anderson .Paak, or Berhana. He’s another artist that I really like. Khruangbin… I don’t know, there are so many artists that I really like. The special vibe that Prince has – this album called Controversy. It just blows my mind.
TIGRE SOUNDS: What is that feeling you carry in your sound – is it intentional? Or do you just make your art?
MIDNIGHT GENERATION: Yeah, I think we just make what we like and how we see music. We try to bring a good vibe into that music. We try to give people a positive message. And that’s it, to be honest. It’s not something that you have to think a lot about. You just have to vibe it and be yourself.
TIGRE SOUNDS: You’ve always sung in English. As a Mexican band, what inspired that choice, and how did it feel to release “Tan Cerca”? How does it feel to start exploring other languages, or even music without words?
MIDNIGHT GENERATION: Yeah, well, we’re 100% Mexican – but our music doesn’t always reflect our roots in the most obvious way. As you can tell, I’m not fully fluent, but I’ve always loved how funk and disco began – and that sound is in English. That’s why we naturally leaned into it. But we’ve also been curious about what it would feel like to bring that energy into Spanish. Before Midnight Generation, I wrote a lot of songs in Spanish, and I think Tan Cerca is a really special one – it’s full of emotion.
TIGRE SOUNDS: What’s on the horizon for Midnight Generation – musically, visually, spiritually?
MIDNIGHT GENERATION: As we will be traveling a lot, I think we’re going to find a new way of composing and recording. Because it’s really difficult when you are traveling and also focused and composing. It’s a lot. But I think we’ll have the time and desire to do it. So we’ll definitely come up with really cool ideas and a really punchy sound. Every time we play live, we get inspired – by our music, by the people, and by other bands. We’ll see a lot of music in a lot of countries.
Midnight Generation reminds us that music isn’t always planned. Sometimes it finds you mid-jam, in a memory, or under the lights of a crowded room. From the dance floors of CDMX to the global stage, their sound continues to evolve without losing the spark of where it all began: joy, freedom, and deep creative flow between friends.
As they prepare to take their music across borders and into new hearts, they’re not just touring, they’re transmitting energy. Whether it’s a TalkBox hook or a late-night groove spun into a club-ready remix, Midnight Generation is here to move us – emotionally, physically, spiritually. And as Fernando says, you don’t have to overthink it. You just have to vibe to it.
Photos via Midnight Generation.
