Photo by Rachael Shorr.
Pilgrims is set to, well, make a pilgrimage throughout 2026 with their forthcoming album Gemini and upcoming east coast tour. The Chilean / Colombian born, now Boston-based post-punk / darkwave act delivers on all fronts whilst wearing their influences on their sleeves. From classic goth ballads to Latino regional music, they’re combining a few distinct flavors into their own Gothic soup. And it’s working. Read all about Pilgrims in this edition of INTRODUCING.
Give us a brief about your band. Who are you and what do you do?
We are PILGRIMS, a post-punk/darkwave band, originally from Chile and Colombia, now based in Boston. PILGRIMS is Juls on Vocals and lyrics, Claudio on Guitars and Synths and Sean on Bass.
When did you first launch the project and how has it come along since?
We started in 2018, that year we released our first 4-songs EP. It’s been an amazing journey, with shows in several towns in the US and Europe where we’ve had the chance of sharing stage with great bands, many of them well known in our scene. We’re about to release our second album in February next year and can’t wait to see where that takes us.
What bands and artists influenced you the most and why?
We both share a lot of music influences, which are quite diverse.
Claudio: I’m a fan of bands like Dead Can Dance, Gustavo Cerati, Portishead. Each band has elements I love and use as influence, like Dead Can Dance´s atmospheres, Cerati´s guitar and Portishead´s dark beats.
Juls: I also love bands like The Gathering, Latino regional folk music and Latino popular singers from the 60’s to 90’s; I look up to musicians like Victor Jara and Cerati for their lyrics, and Juan Gabriel is to me one of the greatest performers ever.
If you could pick a single song from your discography to explain your music, which song would you pick and why?
Claudio: I’d go with “La Mar.” It brings together several elements that shape the identity of our sound: a strong baseline, atmospheric guitars and melodic and powerful vocals. And the rhythm and vibe of the song also has some Latino influences.
What is your most recent release and what is it about?
Juls: We just released the 1st single, “Glow” of our upcoming second album, “Gemini”. Sonically, Gemini blends together influences that go from the Spanish ballad to alternative rock, while still being fundamentally a post-punk and darkwave work. The lyrics are centered around our perspective as immigrants; not necessarily being super in-your-face about political contingency, as it’s also inevitable that we’ll bring our life experiences, views and culture.
Take us through your creative process. How do you compose a song from start to finish? Where do the ideas come from?
Claudio: I normally start writing a song based on a vibe I want to convey. It can be either a concept that I have previously discussed with Juls, a song that inspires me or her, a sound I start to play with in the studio… I craft a first mock-up and then Juls will improvise and come up with the central vocal line, from where we’ll define the direction of the song. After that it’s A LOT of back and forth, we’ll have worked in dozens of versions until we are ready to go to the studio to work on the definitive version. Still, we always leave room for more improvisation in the studio; there’s always cool ideas coming at that stage too.
What’s your current favorite song, band, or album within your scene? And vice versa, what do you enjoy the most that’s completely opposite of what you make?
Claudio: It’s a bit of an unfair question, haha, because there’s so much to choose from and it’s hard to compare between genres that are so different from one another. I’ll go with Disintegration by The Cure as my favorite album within the dark music umbrella. For non-goth music I love Kid A because I think it brought a revolution in rock music at a time it was thought the genre was dead; I really enjoy how Radiohead introduced electronic elements and dark atmospheres.
Juls: A newer band that caught my attention in the scene was The Neuro Farm. I believe they brought something fresh to the scene with a combination of well written songs, powerful vocals, violin(!)… I was really sorry to hear about Brian’s passing last August, but he left a legacy of music that’s beautiful, authentic and relevant. As for something completely opposite to what we do… OK, I’m sure I’m gonna lose some goth points here but this year I’ve really enjoyed the latest Bad Bunny album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos. I’ve never been a fan of his, but this album is so well done in everything that matters: the exploration of different genres, the production, the collaborations, the homage paid to Puerto Rican’s past and present.
What is on the horizon for your project? Upcoming gigs, tours, merch, videos, etc. Name it, link it, show it off.
Juls: As I was mentioning, we’ll release our second album “Gemini” in February 13th, 2026. We already released the first single, “Glow”, a couple of weeks ago and between now and the album release we’ll put out a couple more singles/videos. The next one “Alien” on January 16th. The new album will be available in Vinyl, CD and Digital format and will come with new merch. We’re currently planning an East Coast tour for the spring.
Gemini is available for pre-order HERE.
