Anteros They returned at the end of the year with Montenegroand EP incredible that we completely fell in love with it. Something already common every time they publish new material, we are not going to fool ourselves. We chatted for a while with Victorguitarist and thinking mind of the band.
Hello Victor! Here Beto from the magazine Science of Noise. It is a pleasure to talk with you. Congratulations for Montenegroa great EP to close 2023. New year, new life? How has 2023 been?
¡Hola, Beto! I’m wondering the same! New year, new life without a doubt. 2023 has been like every year, a horror, but here we are… <3
It’s normal that every time you publish something the level is super high. Celestial bodies we loved it. …And in the peace the darkness we fell in love. Now we have Montenegro which continues right where the last album ended. It is something like an extension of it. I’m wrong?
Thank you very much for seeing what we do with such good eyes! Montenegro It was not intended to be a musical continuation of anything we had done so far. In 2021 I started recording demos from home. She hoped to share them with the rest of the group at the venue and from there, naturally, it would end up being another album.
As time went by, we saw that due to personal circumstances of each one, we would not be able to function as usual; Always I was living in Malaga, Rubén I was making the new album They live y Endika Was missing. So if we wanted to have new music in the near future, I would have to do the bulk of the work myself. On a stylistic level I tried to be more concise, make choruses and avoid adding arrangements and guitars that didn’t contribute. I wanted to do something more direct and detach myself a little from everything “post”.
Another characteristic shared by EP with the previous album is the careful use of artwork; both images have been created by Medusa Dollmaker. This new design seems beautiful to me. How can we link this new image of artwork with the music that hides?
Our “negative” or “pandemic” album is this one. In the case of …And in peace the darknessthe artwork and some songs touched on the topic of my father’s death ten years ago, but in no way was it negative. Montenegro It is the consequence of the pandemic and the thousand ways it affected us in our lives. The way I see it, the lyrics are much harder, raw and direct.
Respect to Medusaignoring the talent he has, I will always be in favor of working with people from “here” more than with people from outside.
One of the songs that I liked the most Montenegro is “Elurra / Heriotza”. In it there is a fundamental role of Endika Pikabea reciting in Basque a beautiful tribute to her recently deceased grandmother. From here we send a big hug to Endika. In the song, we also have trumpet by Marçal Coll and guitar help by Pablo Porcar. What does this song mean to you and the depth it has in part thanks to additional aid?
In this specific case, I did both (trumpets and the guitars of Pablo) at home, and they were the interpreters. In the case of Marshall, it was the most logical thing, because none of the group played the trumpet. In the case of Pablowe have been friends for many years, I collaborated on the first EP of He saved us (his group) and I was excited for him to be part of my musical nonsense.
Not only are there collaborations in this piece, we also find them in “Frágiles” and “La hoguera”. Additionally, Eloi Martínez is used as the fifth member of Ànteros with his keyboards. How and when do you decide that you are going to need help on this or another song? Or are they just things that happen without further explanation?
Work with Eloi We already see it as a natural step; finish the topics and pass them on to see if they see something that can add. Total freedom.
In the case of “Frágiles”, it was a series of technical problems that made me write to Ruben Ramos (The Sanchosex Cohen) to collaborate on the choruses. In fact, the vinyl version does not have her collaboration (it occurred to me to call her when the vinyl was already in the factory – I’m very smart-).
I usually talk about collaborations with Rubén and we’ll see if it makes sense or not.
The album has been out for two months now, plenty of time to know the public’s reception and to see, with a certain distance, how the song has turned out. Are you happy with all this or perhaps now you would have preferred to release a longer album?
I am very happy with the reception and, indeed, it has more than fulfilled its purpose; We have something new on the street, we have played together again and I am certain that I will never want to do anything “solo” again. I can not complain.
In the best of scenarios I would have loved to come out with a full-length in 2023, but to tell you that I had three more songs almost ready, and not seeing how complicated the process was being. I preferred to stick to an amount of work that we were capable of carrying out and that whatever came out, was worked with care.
Continue in Aloud, a label with which we have a very good relationship. What level of demand is there with them? Do they give you wide sleeves when it comes to timmings And regarding the format of the publications? I say this more than anything because of the issue of publishing a EP…
Aloud It is not a typical label and we are not a typical band either. In the end things work because I think we have similar profiles. In the case of Aloud, they release bands that they consider genuine or that have something to contribute to their vision of music. It is a label that is driven purely by music and does not focus on economics. Our case is similar, we have a group out of the need to make music and not to meet a series of goals or make money.
Focusing on this EP, currently it seems that the number of reproductions on platforms rules. Shorter songs, more singles, more of everything. Music is changing and yet, far from mainstream We try to pretend that what happened in the past still works. You who have been in the world for many years, how do you see the evolution of music as a tool for mass consumption?
My feeling is that everything is very ephemeral, everything happens very quickly, even people’s attention is very diffuse. We live in years in which creating an event in Facebook and run an ad campaign Instagram, you were able to reach people, now everything is a mystery. Where is the public? Do you know what the bands are doing? Does it make sense to release an album? No idea…
Something similar happens with the issue of festivals… another goose that lays the golden eggs. Bands that perform exclusively at a festival, others that only pass through our country if they go to a festival… others that refuse for years and return in style (like Machine Head)… The big bands that are getting richer and the bands smaller ones surviving as best they can. How does it affect you that a large part of live music consumption derives from festivals? What opinion do you have regarding all this problem that is growing?
Individually, each of us and as a group, we have played at festivals, and in general they tend to be a showcase to reach more people, or at least, a “fact” and something else… Now, my personal opinion is that it is undoubtedly that festivals have become beasts that are difficult to feed, and that in the end, we have to resort to examples like the ones you mention so that the benefits add up. I couldn’t tell you much more because I don’t like to consume music that way.
If you had to choose a song to win over people who don’t know the band yet, what would it be and why?
“Elurra/Heriotza”. It has all the hallmarks of what we are.
What plans are there for 2024? Are we going to be able to see each other live many times? (Something we would love, of course!)
We will play what our agendas allow us (in fact, in some concerts we will go with Edu of Sidewalk to the bass because Always will be working). As you get older, everything becomes more complicated…
For some time now, in the interviews we conducted, we asked artists “What was the first album you bought with your own money?”. It surprises me!
Tragic Kingdom de No Doubt and the first of The Corrs (they both fell together).
We have always been told that the world is a place of dreamers. Realistically, what dream do you most want to come true as a band?
Rehearse on Tuesdays all together.
Well, Víctor, it is a great pleasure to be able to conduct this interview. Congratulations on the new album. Thanks for your time! Hugs and see you soon!
I say the same and thank you for giving us space to tell you.
Rock in all its extensions
