Polbo

by David Jeffries
First spotted in 1998, the band Polbo came together when five students from the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao began combining their love of '60s icons like the Doors and the Beatles and with the '90s sounds of Weezer and Nirvana. After two years of playing shows to faithful members of the Puerto Rican indie and punk scenes, the band cut a five-song demo to sell at gigs. Word of mouth and some positive reviews on the Internet kept the momentum rolling, but it was a slow build and it took until 2005 for Polbo's demo to land the group a deal with Universal Music Latino. The label issued their self-titled modern and retro-mashing debut in 2006. That year the album earned a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album by a Duo or Group with Vocal.