hurrengoa
audience: enjoying adulthood to the full arkaitz villar   Audience, who by now have become veterans of the Basque music scene, are one of those bands who haven’t lost their initial energy. Having recorded the soundtrack to Amerikanuak (2010), they then spent some time touring it. In 2013, they released the Mistress Game EP and the LP Big Affair. They recorded this last one in the USA with John Agnello. On this one you can listen to Country of Tambourine, one of their best songs to date. The year 2013 has been the most active in your 15 years as a band.

Yeah, and as well as all the other stuff, we also did the music for the documentary Euskara Jendea, plus we were involved in Corcovado’s Canción de Amor de un Día project. It certainly hasn’t been a normal year for us… we kind of sized up the opportunities that came our way, and once we saw they were right for us, we just fired through it all. We’re getting braver.

With the soundtrack to Amerikanuak, you put together a bit of a spectacle for the live show and you took it around a different type of live circuit. You have now returned to the type of songs and showrooms that are normally associated with you.

The Amerikanuak show was a very demanding one, and technically a very complex one. Each show was a whole heap of work and we really had to concentrate to get it right. We didn’t set the pace and rhythm of the shows, the images did. That meant synchronisation, in-ear monitors, click tracks, etc. Now, we have gone back to a more classic live show, where we mark the rhythm and pace of the gig. That said, Amerikanuak has left its mark on us. For instance, it has shown us the importance of the light show, and in that sense, we really value Jon Mentxaka’s work. We
are still using videos live, but they certainly don’t take centre-stage the way they used to.
As far as the public is concerned, well, it’s certainly true that their attitude towards us has changed, and they seem to see us as being closer to them, we’re not those ¨weird guys from Gernika that sing in English and play complex music¨.

You still seem intent of continuing your journey through the classic musical styles: rock ‘n’ roll, blues and country music are the big stars on this record. And then there are the Blind
Willy and Dylan versions.


We are not the most modern bunch (laughs)… but, whatever, I would say that if you listen to the record, the sound is quite contemporary. What I mean is that we’re not, in any sense of the word, a revival band. We know how to look back, musically speaking, but it certainly wouldn’t be fair to categorise our music in those terms.

John Agnello’s work has made you sound fuller and the songs have gained in strength.

Yep, the record sounds really strong. There were no sort of complexes in the making of the record. While it’s 100% Audience, it does have something that separates it from all the other records we have released so far. In the beginning, we were a bit concerned about John Agnello’s possible commitment, but he got really very involved in the project. He worked with us as if we were Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile or Dinosaur Jr.

There are a couple of protest songs on the album, say, Protest and Country of Tambourine.

That’s right, and if you take stock of what we are living through at the moment, maybe we should be protesting even more. All the same, the band is a parallel reality for us, it’s a sort of paradise where we get to escape from our everyday obligations. So maybe that’s why protest songs have never really been our thing, well, at least protest in a political or social sense, I mean.

A new life is the last song on the record, but this type of song is often used as the opening track. It’s got a special kind of energy.

Its inclusion on the album was in doubt right up till the last moment. In fact, we had to rearrange a few parts of the song while we were in the studio. Sometimes songs can just get stuck, and even though you can see that there is potential in the song, it’s a hard slog to get it over the line. So that’s why we are particularly happy with how this one turned out. Most reviews give it a special mention and we are fully conscious that we don’t have anything else like it in our repertoire. A new path, a new life…

The backing vocals on Well (Bif Affair) and Buruko bazterrak (Mistress Games) really grab the listen’s attention. You have managed to create a really special atmosphere with those voices.

There is a certain tribal element to them alright, especially on Well. It sounds like Native American Indians were looking to leave their mark on the record, and as you have mentioned, they add a special spiritual air to the song. In general, we feel that we have really taken a big step forward as far as the voices are concerned.