5 questions for GRANDE MARLASKA
The super-judges sang their first songs as Garzon. That was until the thick, white-haired super-judge, affected by the vapours of kryptonite, got his knickers in a twist over it. That was when Malela, Roberto and Pepo, creators of intelligent, simple, bare and irony filled pop songs, looked to the stars in search of an answer. They quickly came across what they were looking for. It was time to leave Garzon behind. They would now become Grande-Marlaska. "El momento de hacer", calls us to stand shoulder to shoulder, to participate and to win. Do you still think that’s possible? Are things so bad that we need to send out an s.o.s?
Roberto- We don’t know if it’s possible or not, but it’s definitely necessary to do so. If the capitalist economic model continues to push itself in detriment to all social, political or ecological concerns, then a scary future awaits us. The thought of winning is really only romantic license. We have no desire to attain power, but of course, we had no intention of shouting "El momento den convencer" either.
We’ve spoken about the title track of the record but your lyrics, in general, could hardly be described as been overly political or as being part of the ‘hip’ left. Are things so bad on the Spanish pop scene for a group like Grande-Marlaska to be defined as being political or social-pop?
R- But does a band need to be ’hip’ left, the pop scene be as it may, to be classified as political? Artists like Woody Guthrie, McCarthy or Negu Gorriak were never ‘hip’ lefties but nobody doubts they were political. I believe that lyrics can really improve if you are a bit more precise with them. As we have said on other occasions, a good song can be more dangerous than an anthem done in a rush. That said, we’ve never considered ourselves a “political” band. The fact that we do not remain indifferent to our surroundings is a different thing altogether.
The sound on the record is a very live one. It’s like you’re rehearsing and you’ve played the song really well. That’s how it sounds to us at least, but you’ll probably tell us now that you’ve spent a month in Madrid and Miami perfecting the record!
R- (Guffaws) Naw, you’re spot on. The record was recorded over seven afternoons. And live, too. We always record like that but the production work was really too noticeable on the "Otra Fuerza" EP. It was too polished and too distant from our live sound, so we decided we’d produce as little as possible and try and record live and in a single take. Pepo says you can hear little cock-ups in each song. I really like that. It gives a really live sound to the record.
You’ve always put your music on internet- right from the very start. The record has been released under the creative commons license. What do you think of the new musical-bible MySpace?
R- The same as with all tools. The key is in how they are used.
One more question to finish off with. What do the Super-judges listen to?
R- We listen to all sorts of music. Dub, hardcore, soul, pop, folk, jazz, punk, hip hop, reggaeton, etc... Malela listens to a lot of classical stuff, too and she also takes part in a choir as well as directing another one. I’m listening to Glenn Mercer and Burial’s latest records at the mo and Pepo has got a bit hooked on Burial as well and is also listening to a hardcore band called Sinking Ships.
Roberto- We don’t know if it’s possible or not, but it’s definitely necessary to do so. If the capitalist economic model continues to push itself in detriment to all social, political or ecological concerns, then a scary future awaits us. The thought of winning is really only romantic license. We have no desire to attain power, but of course, we had no intention of shouting "El momento den convencer" either.
We’ve spoken about the title track of the record but your lyrics, in general, could hardly be described as been overly political or as being part of the ‘hip’ left. Are things so bad on the Spanish pop scene for a group like Grande-Marlaska to be defined as being political or social-pop?
R- But does a band need to be ’hip’ left, the pop scene be as it may, to be classified as political? Artists like Woody Guthrie, McCarthy or Negu Gorriak were never ‘hip’ lefties but nobody doubts they were political. I believe that lyrics can really improve if you are a bit more precise with them. As we have said on other occasions, a good song can be more dangerous than an anthem done in a rush. That said, we’ve never considered ourselves a “political” band. The fact that we do not remain indifferent to our surroundings is a different thing altogether.
The sound on the record is a very live one. It’s like you’re rehearsing and you’ve played the song really well. That’s how it sounds to us at least, but you’ll probably tell us now that you’ve spent a month in Madrid and Miami perfecting the record!
R- (Guffaws) Naw, you’re spot on. The record was recorded over seven afternoons. And live, too. We always record like that but the production work was really too noticeable on the "Otra Fuerza" EP. It was too polished and too distant from our live sound, so we decided we’d produce as little as possible and try and record live and in a single take. Pepo says you can hear little cock-ups in each song. I really like that. It gives a really live sound to the record.
You’ve always put your music on internet- right from the very start. The record has been released under the creative commons license. What do you think of the new musical-bible MySpace?
R- The same as with all tools. The key is in how they are used.
One more question to finish off with. What do the Super-judges listen to?
R- We listen to all sorts of music. Dub, hardcore, soul, pop, folk, jazz, punk, hip hop, reggaeton, etc... Malela listens to a lot of classical stuff, too and she also takes part in a choir as well as directing another one. I’m listening to Glenn Mercer and Burial’s latest records at the mo and Pepo has got a bit hooked on Burial as well and is also listening to a hardcore band called Sinking Ships.
