Erm, well... I've definitly been in a hip-hop mood lately. And too lazy to dig new bands I'd like to ask shitty questions too. Actually, it's been months since I took the initiative to write something. Bands are too lazy to answer too tho. Fuck 'em. No ideas, no inspiration at all. No suggestion from anybody. Nobody's reading blogs anyway. Fuck you.
It's been a while since I posted some "decent" content here. But I'm glad after a few weeks of "week-end playlists" posts which allowed me to fill the gaps (!) to let you read this cool SYNDROME 81 interview with Fab and Jacky.
It took me a lot of time to translate these pages of interview (thanks to them for being quite cooperative!) because of motivation and winter disease (...). I hope worlwide punx will read with interest these lines dealing with Brest's life, and the gang's habits. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago you were playing Soupeur Festival in Bordeaux at VOID // BDX with LITOVSK which is originary from French town Brest too. The city's called "Brest la Grise" ["Grey Brest"] and both LITOVSK and SYNDROME 81 share the coldness of their sound which is quite similar to the town's History; which "symbols", historical or personal events linked with your local experience can be considered as the catalyst of your songwriting?
Fab: First of all: Brest's nicknames are officially "La Cité du Ponant" ["The Ponant City"], "Brest la Blanche" ['White Brest"] (once, there was a "Rock sur la Blanche" ["White Rock"] between 1986 and 1995) or "Brest la Rouge" ["Red Brest"], it depends of the times... We called that song "Brest La Grise" because for a lot of people, "the weather's grey here in Brest". (First praised as Brittany's most modern city during the fifties and the sixties, known as "Brest la Blanche", because of the massive use of white coatings which were the cheaper efficient water-repellent, and because of its other nickname "Brest la Rouge", the town's reputation was soon tarnished.)
Seriously, it's quite a difficult question... I apologize in advance for my moments of distraction. Concerning SYNDROME 81's lyrics, if we focused on the texts dealing with Brest, I would say we mostly deal with local inspiring miscellaneous. For example "Brest La Grise", "Recouvrance"... Brest is really connected to alcohol, it is indisputable, and we are used to feast with miscellaneous reports in the local papers, the notorious "Wasted, he..." That's usually funny but sometimes it can be gloomy. For example "Une Vie Pour Rien" ["Live For Nothing"] deals with my aunt on father's side shitty and miserable life, with the peak of the sordid miscellaneous. Brest's a military city too, once the city was known because of its "sailormen on a spree", especially concerning Recouvrance neighbourhood. Plus, I think when we were working on some songs in Jaja's apartment, with a view of la Rade de Brest ["Brest's roadsteed"], the military harbour, the railway station, the trading port, that's pretty much where the "Désert Urbain" song's inspiration came from, the town's harshness, like took by a breeze, beaten by the stream. I think we must expand the scope: Brest, like Le Havre or Cherbourg is a martyred city, entirely pulled down during WWII. Then, the city does not own any Historical architectural aspect due to the need of quick and efficient rehabilitation, you need to read "Barbara" from Jacques Prévert. Recently I got this academic book dealing with Brest rehabilitation, I just started to read it, it looks fascinating. Military vessels are grey, the buildings are usually dull, the weather is often grey and rainy, effectively: this helps to Brest drabness. I think I'm deeply characterised by my town, I won't do some pop sociology but I think we're products of our environment. Uneventful cities, cities of sights kinda bore me, I like the direct impact of no-frills cities. That's pretty simple: honking guys in Brest do not last long. They are not so much posers in our town. We are pretty declining in comparison to the rest of the country, it pretty much develops our character. Finally, there are quite a lot of books dealing with local rock'n'roll, written by Olivier Polard et Yan Le Gat, and you better read their vision of the local spirit than focus on my own analysis. To sum up, I would say the weather, the post-war rebuilding and its geographic location can explain all I was dealing with.
Jacky: What can I add concerning the songs composition...? I'd say Brest's influence is due to this constant rain I observe where qui compose. It's raining during the entire year but I must admit from October to April/May it's a fucking disaster, this time during the year always busts my hump, this "winter depression", but in the meantime I hate the heat. Musically speaking, my contribution with SYNDROME 81 is largely influenced by some Swedish bands recreating their sensation of isolation. So Brest kinda influences me a bit when it comes to make music.
SYNDROME 81 definitly reminds me two American and English bands you covered quite perfectly on two different releases (NEGATIVE APPROACH and BLITZ, on your demo and the split EP with LITOVSK). What makes these two bands pretty exciting? Why did you cover "Nothing" and "I Don't Need You" translating them in French?
Fab: I'd say CRIMINAL DAMAGE's also part of our influences! They brought me to BLITZ. We didn't literally translate "I Don't Need You", we kinda freely adapted it. In my opinion the lyrics weren't that good, let's play the game and cover the songs in French!
Jacky: As far I remember I came with the idea of writing "Que Dalle", as for "Pas Besoin De Toi". I'm a longtime NEGATIVE APPROACH fan, I've always like this very simple angry music with a hint of Oi! I discovered BLITZ later while listening to CRIMINAL DAMAGE and when you think of it, BLITZ were really precursory: since the begining they were playing some pretty aggressive Oi! for the time and then they turned into a post-punk band, you had to be daring to make such a transition! This band has always been ahead of its time, I like all of their periods. But, as to me, hardcore = punk = Oi! so SYNDROME 81 reflects all the cool aspects of US hardcore, well-hung Oi!, 2000s melancholic Swedish punk and good old French Oi! I'd like to cover LES COLLABOS "Tagadagada" in a future release.
By the way, why did you decide to sing in French?
Fab: I wasn't necessarily comformtable with this idea, when we released the demo I couldn't settle for ages. Jacky suggested to sing in French so he will answer. I've already tried a few times to sing in French in previous bands but never entirely. But it was kind like a challenge which was interesting. Right now, with hindsight, I guess it is pretty obvious to sing in French: the range of possibilities is pretty wide. I guess it'd be pretty hard to sing in English again, I would think I sing some more enabling stuffs, nevertheless non-English speaking bands can release good stuffs singing in English! It's true that nowadays singing in French is back but speaking of French emo/screamo scenes they mainly sang in French (AMANDA WOODWARD, ANOMIE, DAÏTRO, 12XU, BÂTON ROUGE, CHAVIRÉ...). Scandinavian people, Swedish people in particular like TOTALITÄR, MASSHYSTERI, HERÄTYS (they're from Sweden but sing in Finnish) already have this bias of singing in their native language, in Spain too... But you also have YOUTH AVOIDERS, they totally nailed it at Soupeur Winter Fest and they sing in English!
Jacky: It's been 10 years since we were playing hardcore sang in English with Fab, during the early days of the band I said I couldn't picture myself making consistent music if we decided to sing in English again concerning this very specific style of music. It was kind of a challenge like if we mess things up people would make fun of us. Fab is a litterature freak, I knew he'll take up the challenge. Concerning the lyrical approach, Fab has always written about Brest no matter it was for GRAYHOUND, THRASHINGTON DC, POLICE TRUCK. That's his business!
Are they other Brest native artists known for having dealt with Brest's sadness?
Fab: Speaking of music I would immediately say Christophe Miossec, the man's a part of the city. His life and his lyrics exude Brest's life. Our friends from SPRAYBACK also wrote stuffs about living here. NIGHT STALKERS, POLICE TRUCK, THRASHINGTON DC, THE WEDGE were indoubtely influenced by Brest, though it's not explicit musically speaking with some melancholic stuffs. You also have Paul Bloas's huge murals, who have painted big characters on forbidden neighbourhoods, really "Désert Urbain"! Pierre Péron's drawings are worthy of mention too, they aren't all gloomy but those dealing with dealing with Reconstruction are pretty interesting. I don't know much people coming from street art, but Brest counts some street artists with cool works, for example on the trading port and abandoned hangars. Julien Zerelli wrote like 10 years ago "Flip-Flap ou l'histoire d'une reconversion" ("Flip-Flap - the story of conversion"), it kinda reflected Brest's crazy life too! Other famous authors like Robbe-Grillet, Tanguy Viel come from Brest too. Authors who do not come from Brest also wrote about the city... The other day, my buddy Raph (NIGHT STALKERS/POLICE TRUCK) told me about Jean Genet's book "Querelle de Brest" ("Querelle Of Brest"), saying it was a great book, I haven't red it yet, it's about sailormen's decadent life, Recouvrance may be where the scene takes place even if the author does not come from Brest. There's Jacques Prévert's poem "Barbara" about Brest since the reconstruction, right now I can tell you I stole some details from that poem to write "Désert Urbain" in the blink of an eye!
A friend told me he went to Brest during summer 2015 with his wife and children and wanted to visit Recouvrance because of it History and also because of your song too. Why did you write a song about this place? Are there other reasons than coming from Brest which have made you write about Recouvrance?
Fab: Amazing, you must be dealing with Fabien from FACE UP TO IT! Personnally FUTI! stuck with me so I told him: "I know you, you were FUTI!'s singer!" We chated a bit but due to the fact I was selling merch after one of our shows, people were buying stuffs we couldn't talk easily so we both give our e-mail adresses and virtually discussed. I was really to meet Fabien cuz FUTI! was a band I liked within the French hardcore scene. I'm sorry, this has nothing to do with the question but I needed to tell that story!
Writing about Recouvrance seemed so natural, it's like Brest's rise and fall. It's like dealing with the Lower East Side when you come from NYC, a lot of rappers deal with neighbourhoods they love too.
Recouvrance is a symbol of Brest. Within the collective imagination, it's the quintessential den of iniquity. When you say you're going to Recouvrance, you said it all. "We ended up in Recouill'", for the inner circle. Once, we had a good time going to every local hangout on the main square with friends, going to different bars for each round, it was pretty cool, we started pretty early, we met two old scenesters with whom we spent the night, it was pretty crazy. One of them paid for all of us during a good part of the night, all in cash, don't know where he had the money, he gave us money for the cab to go to a night bar on the Left Bank, and when the bar was closed, same deal: we got back to Recou to finish the night at 5:00AM eating pizzas in a restaurant drinking rosé, it was crazy. And this guy started to talk about gloomy stuffs like what is it to know what killing someone is... This is how we set the stage. Debauchery place... Historically speaking, it is a gateway and a way out of the Arsenal, it was formely a place with a lot of life, with a lot of bars where former Arsouille workers and sailormen, came to throw their pay. It was also the prostitutes neighbourhood. The Navy's activity has shrunk and led to a reducing staff concerning the Arsenal, so the neighbourhood has pretty changed, not mentionning the tramway's relocation yards in Brest. Miossec also sings about Recouvrance in his songs.
Plus, when you come from the Left Bank, you take Recouvrance's bridge which overhang the Penfeld, Brest's river, and the Arsenal which edges the docks and lead to the Right Bank Recouvrance. Then you turn on the right and take Borda street where remain minute traces of Brest's nightlife. Here there were restaurants which were opened until late at night, we already ended up there a few times in the early morning when there was nowhere to go, here you could find old-school prostitutes who could tide you over selling you beers. Here you can reach the historical jail from Brest, Pontaniou, which was basically a Navy prison from the middle of the nineteenth century and became a house arrest since WW2 which remained in operation until 1990. Can't tell you how outdated was the building in the end, by the way some rockers from Brest have enjoyed the flair of this prison but no defamation here, sorry! The prison's still here, don't know what they're waiting to rehabilitate it. Actually it's a pretty good symbol for the neighbourhood, we switched from a greeting marine life to a degrading neighbourhood and somehow to a sad party mood, a neighbourhood falling apart. Even though this place continues to deteriorate it's still a debauchery place in Brest. What makes me laugh is that the Town Hall recently recovered some of the Arsenal's buildings and is gonna build a new area, up with the times to make Brest the new Barcelone (just kidding), seriously the city does not need this! Near Pontaniou there is Saint Malo's street, Brest's last cobbled street, one of Brest's only historical details the Town Hall totally neglected but for decades this lady Mireille and her association called Vivre La Rue ("Let The Street Live") carry on a smear campaign to save and rehabilitate this street. I'm done with the walk in Recouvrance! But you know, dealing with Recouvrance is a serious political issue for me! Indeed, we sing about this fantisized Recouvrance which once made the entire city live in the song "Recouvrance". We also sing about the symbol of this falling Brest because of a really impoverished neighbourhood. You also have some iconic places like Saint-Martin, Guérin's place or Bellevue which AL KAPOTT claimed to be locals. To conclude, on one hand I'm pretty surprised this track means something to people who do not come from Brest but in the other hand it's an anthem dedicated to dying cities, or at least lose a part of their History, and those which make you wanna commit suicide and actually I think it is universal! Shit I do not like to say things like this, like if I wanted to intellectualise SYNDROME 81, does it sound a bit pretentious?
From remember, three 80s bands coming from Brest captured the minds of street punk and Oi! aficionados, particulary one of them which featured on the Chaos En France V/A Comp: LES COLLABOS (1982-85), CRIMINALS DAMAGE (1983-?) but also because they were the spearheads of French R.A.C. street culture, I'm of course dealing with BRUTAL COMBAT (1982-?), one of their bass players also featured in CRIMINALS DAMAGE.
What do you think of each band? Did they really mark their time and local minds? Fashion detail: this famous CRIMINALS DAMAGE and BRUTAL COMBAT bass player, if he still lives in Brest or is still alive, still sports his "down the street deli" uniform: big gut, great Gallic mustache and big glasses?
Fab: LES COLLABOS and AL KAPOTT (even if they came lately they really marked the time and the minds) became closed to those of us who were playing in THRASHINGTON DC. Those I know have always supported us as individuals, we pretty often meet them at the bar, during shows or at Fred's (COLLABOS) tattoo shop. I won't speak about BRUTAL COMBAT. I'm not interested in that band, I never was. I let people who are obsessed with the eighties being obsessed with the eighties. Of course, they left traces and they sometimes are mentioned during chats but I do not care about where is the bass player, the singer right now, full stop. All I can say is that COLLABOS and AL KAPOTT guys and their mates are cool dudes. Back in the days, they were the first guys from Brest listening to BLACK FLAG and stuffs. I have a great respect for LES COLLABOS who wrote Brest's first hardcore song "Agenouillé Dans Les W-C" . Sometimes it's funny when eighties punks tell you tales of that time!
Jacky: I like to chat with the old timers, they always some cool tales to tell you. What's weird is that they pretty much all hung out together whereas they had different political views. I guess customs change with the times... For the record, BRUTAL COMBAT boys still hang out in the aera but they settled down but I got no specific information about this fat mustachioed.
Bordeaux, where I've always lived, has also a funny nickname - "La Belle Endormie" (The Sleeping Beauty). I've always thought this nickname was pretty obvious, for example concerning the punk epiphenomenon: not much booking crews, old stories of suspicious and rivalries that cannot be lost on every town... But, when you attend to a show like this Soupeur Fest where bands like SYNDROME 81, YOUTH AVOIDERS, CHEAP RIOT, GASMASK TERRÖR, FAUX and LITOVSK co-stared, this nickname becomes meaning less: diverse audiences because of bands with different styles, people coming from other French cities, friends from everywhere, smiles on every face... Anyway, great party!
What was your feeling about this time together, on stage, backstage or at the bar of the club? Do you think during this kind of events glee all these different ways of thinking specific to these different street cultures elites intrinsic to punk become meaningless?
Fab: It was like playing between two road rollers, shivering. GASMASK TERRÖR and YOUTH AVOIDERS are war machines, I haven't seen GASMASK TERRÖR for ages and YOUTH AVOIDERS for almost two years and the level they reached is just crazy! I was shivering during LITOVSK, Brest's best band of the year! I really love them!
This event made me think about what my man David from Lyon once told me: he does not need to see American bands performances anymore, they can stay home because he'd just seen in a few weeks French bands killing it on stage (TRAITRE, GASMASK TERRÖR, ZONE INFINIE and so on). Since Soupeur Fest, I know what he meant. And it was a pleasure to see a lot of people again and meet a lot of people too which it's often the case speaking of punk High Mass! BY the way, getting back to French singing: it's amazing when you switch on a karaoke mood when the audience knows the lyrics, it's exciting when you sing and pretty relaxing because you're voiceless because of your shitty physical condition, it's more than appreciable haha!
Some of you played/play with THE NIGHT STALKERS, THASHINGTON D.C., POLICE TRUCK, COUPE GORGE, LITOVSK (the list goes on!), why do you think SYNDROME 81 is different from these different bands?
Fab: We were the first ones among the other bands you mentionned to try to sing only in French. Apart from that I see no difference: each band tries to play a specific aspect of hardcore and punk so obviously they're pretty different, but only LITOVSK had the good idea to not include Jacky in their line-up! I think with SYNDROME 81 he explores his sensitivity and inner demons (like alcohol haha!).
Jacky: LITOVSK let me record them, it's worse haha! Each band has specific influences so there are not that much similarities apart from my face. But it's still hardcore/punk so the differences remain on the form rather than the content. To answer to your question, SYNDROME 81 is by far the more melodic band.
Who are the other bands coming from Brest we must listen to?
Fab: LITOVSK, LITOVSK and LITOVSK.
Jacky: LITOVSK, LE MAMOOTH (garage punk), SECTEUR PAVÉ (melodic Oi!) but nothing more to listen to...
2015 was a pretty solid year for SYNDROME 81 with the release of "Désert Urbain" EP (on Destructure (France) and Foreign Legions (USA), the split 7" with LITOVSK (on Backwash Records, Destructure Records and Emergence) and you also got a track featuring on "La Force Dans La Oi!" (UVPR Vinyles) with TRAITRE, RIXE and OUTREAU.
What do you think of each release? Are you satisfied with these three releases, even proud of your work? Speaking of the "La Force Dans La Oi!" comp, what is your opinion about the other songs featuring on that record?
Fab: Speaking of "La Force Dans La Oi!" Volume 2, we pretty much all know or have met each other for years, so it was pretty consistent to do it together. It's Ben from Une Vie Pour Rien who managed to release the record, whom I don't know. I'm pretty satisfied with the results, Ben released a pretty neat record! Speaking of this compilation, I had a crush on TRAITRE, their track is so amazing, and better than what they ever recorded. Personally, I'm really glad for having released three records this year. It was pretty harsh because of our schedules and the geographical distance (Brest/Ouessant/Rouen). Luckily, Jacky has recorded everything, without him everything would have been impossible. He spends a lot time and energy doing this. Speaking of the SYNDROME 81/LITOVSK split 7", we share a musician and Jacky is in charge of recording us since the early days so It was pretty natural. Since their begining, to their disappointment, I really like LITOVSK, so I was really motivated to make this record happenned. So far, this is their first and only song sung in French and the result is so good. Too bad they do not want to try to sing in French sometimes because it sounds really good on this track. And THE BURIAL's cover is also really good, to be honest I did not know this band before and it was great to discover them, it was less conventional than our cover and I like to discover new bands through covers! And what is even cooler in my opinion concerning this specific record is that we both recorded a track dealing with Brest and it wasn't premeditated because we did not discuss about it. Pretty cool coincidence! Finally, the EP on Destructure was a great opportunity because Nico [who runs the record company] and I know each other for more than a decade, back in the days when he was playing with HIPPIES OF TODAY, and it's amazing he released one of my bands's record! I was selling his records in my little distro... So this record came out naturally and Nico's work is really good! Plus, we asked Vincent (All Cats Are Grey) we knew at the same time to do the artwork and we really enjoyed the result! Anyway I think it's just great how people who know each other since more than ten years manage to work together! Concerning the tracks, I let the people judge, I think we try to benefit from all sides on this EP while trying to be consistent!
Jacky: The best idea a band can have is to buy something to record their materials and stops expensive studio sessions punk bands like ours can't afford. What a blast to piss you friends off trying different takes again and again!
What's SYNDROME 81 2016 schedule?
Fab: Killing rock'n'roll with our next release on our friend's Jérémy from Lille record company Build Me A Bomb. He started the "Single Serie" collection with SHORT DAYS featuring on the Volume 1 two, three years ago, we were cool with the idea and asked him if he could add us to the thing. The idea is to record a 7" with a really representative single of what we usually do on A Side, and cover or record something different from what we usually do on B Side. TRAITRE will be releasing Volume 2 on March 2016, and we will be Volume 3. It must be available on May 2016, the cover art is done and we recorded and mixed the tracks. We also hope to record some songs for a split record, if our schedules match, with our Swedish friends from URBAN SAVAGE. Then we will keep on working more seriously on an LP to make it happen in 2017 on Destructure.
Final word?
Fab: Thanks for the interest, it was one of the most interesting interviews I had the opportunity to answer to. I hope that reading it you'll feel as much entertainment than I did while answering to it.
Jacky: I'm surprised with Fab's quality of answers, this prick isn't lying!
I've spent a great time yesterday at Novö Local Venue (Bordeaux) so much so that I woke up in a great mood this morning and wanted to pass this on to my few followers! Have a great week-end! Just click on the different links bellow to listen to the songs.
PS: I'm about to translate two new interviews with some really different French bands, I hope I'll be able to publish them the first next Wednesday!
I tried to read JUANITA Y LOS FEOS's biography on this website Lafonoteca but, unfortunately, the memories of my Spanish lessons in High School 10 years ago aren't sufficiently efficient to understand more than numbers, bands names and some words quite similar to French language (like 4 titles on latest LP "Nueva Numancia": "No Debería", "En La Casa De Tu Madre", "Revolución Caníbal" and "Noche Mas Negra"... I felt very sorry, especially as this long text seems definitly trustworthy!
- So, first things first, I'd like to know if you could tell me a bit of History: who are JUANITA Y LOS FEOS? When did you start the band? What was your projects, expectations? There are so much things coming to my mind when I'm listening to your three full-length albums I've just discovered - like why this band seems so timeless, with its 60s pop/garage/surf band name, its new wave melodies and sometimes lo-fi moods, its connexions with punk and hardcore, Spanish band of brothers and side-projects...
Juanita: We started the band more than 10 years ago with absolutely no expectations beyond having fun and play music together with some friends. We all love music but each one of us have his own style and influences and I think that´s what makes us so unclassifiable.
- It's early 2016 right now, how's the band doing? I red somewhere you had been on a hiatus during a certain time (before the release of your latest record I believe?), did it yield positive results? Are you planing interesting things for a near future (tours, a new record)?
Well, we always say that our future is uncertain, but the true is that we're not playing at all at the moment. Our bass player moved to Copenhaguen and we don't feel like continuing the band with someone else, neither wanted to stop playing music so all of us have side projects. Me and the guitar player Fa have RATA NEGRA and soon releasing their first LP, the bass player Angel has PELUQUERIA CANINA and Drums and Keyboards, Adolfo and Hector have AFILADOR [really cool!].
We also think that is better to retreat while on time than just die. This summer we had an incredible tour in US and Mexico and we all feel that would be the perfect ending.
- Do you think about the labels you'll put on your records when you write songs? Because every record sounds different from the other, even Discogs website put different kinds of music on each release to describe the music you're playing. Is that something you absolutely don't give a fuck about considering you're just feeling good about your songs?
We always record at the same studio, but we have different ways of mixing. We really wanted different things with each record so I guess that's right what we wanted. I don't think the labels have anything to do, we've always recorded and mixed our albums before even considered to release them with an specific label.
- I've recently ordered your latest LP "Nueva Numancia" (released on La Vida Es Un Mus Discos) and I must say this is my favorite record among the three LPs, I really like the production (as to me it is definitly the most successful), I believe there are much more feelings transmitted; in your opinion, does this record sound different from your previous releases? If so, why?
We're also always trying new things. We over produced "Pesadilla Adulta", we loved the result at first, but I always thought that it sounded too good for us, not completely honest with the way we sound when we played live, so in "Nueva Numancia" we tried to correct than and have a more realistic sound, and we're really happy with the result. Also the things we say in the lyrics of "Nueva Numancia" are more serious less trivial than in the previous records and I think that you can feel that also in the music somehow.
- Does each rehearsal and recording session before a new release need to sound in line with the "spirit", the mood you feel at the time you write music? Concerning "Nueva Numancia", this is definitly something I've noticed regarding the coldness of the record despite this dancing rythm, like if there is "post-punk motivation" behind this record. What do you feel about this?
I just never wanted to make pop music. "Pesadilla Adulta" sounds quite pop, and wasn't the way I felt at all so in "Nueva Numancia" the sound and the lyrics are exaggerated against that other kind of sound, is like a reaction to what we did before. Is not that we wanted to do specifically post punk, but definitely we didn't want to sound as pop as in the other album and I guess that's what came out of it.
- What do the songs lyrics usually deal with? Since I only know the band for two days and already asked my pal who runs the local distro dealing with La Vida Es Un Mus Discos to order a copy of "Nueva Numancia" for me, I only had the time to discover that this specific record deals with gloomy stuffs. Is that what the band is all about concerning the lyrical aspect?
I've always find more interesting those kinds of things. Personally I'm more interested in dead and devastation than rainbows or unicorns. I'm not a pessimistic person, I just find it more attractive as something to talk about. But, as I mentioned before the lyrics were more shallow at the beginning, more...comical maybe, anyways, the dark twist have always been there I guess.
- Who got the idea of putting this giant piece of meat in the middle of "Pesadilla Adulta"? Personally, as a vegan, being in front of such a thing would be my own pesadilla [yeah, I really wanted to put that one].
At the time Angel and Anibal had a design studio together called "La Camorra" and they were in charged of the artwork. We would have to ask them about that, but I think that, as in the lyrics, is the element that breaks with the delightful landscape in the background and turns it into that nightmare. If it was only delightful wouldn't have been interesting in my opinion. However, it has anything to do with being or not vegan. I think even meat lovers would be grossed out by that image.
- Speaking of the visual identity of the band, each record cover is different from the others. Why did you chose this way of representing your music? By the way do you think a record cover must have an obvious link with what the band is dealing with? Especially when a band like yours, like I said before, deals with dark things but your covers are really crazy, in a fun way!
We are all connected with art somehow. Anibal and Angel had their own design studio and so does Fa. I've studied fine arts and worked on design and advertisement for a while. We took turns to design the covers, that's why they all look so different, but somehow we feel that they're connected to what they talked about. "Nueva Numancia" specifically, the drawing in the cover made by Fa, represents what I talked about in the songs. We also like to design our merch and I screen print it.
- Who are the different artists you worked with for your visual identity? Where can we find other examples of their arts?
As I mentioned, our visual identity is pretty much DIY, Sam Ryser designed our t-shirt for the tour last summer, and Abraham Díaz the poster for the tour as well. http://awfulgraphics.tumblr.com/ for Abraham, but Sam doesn't have his own site. The best is to google him or go to his online store http://dripperworld.storenvy.com/ where you can see some of his work.
- What I like when I scroll down JUANITA Y LOS FEOS Facebook page is that you often post some links to other Spanish bands you like or are friend with, some of them even play in JYLF, I picked up for example RATA NEGRA, LA URSS, CARNE (really like this band and their ST EP), AFILADOR, LAS VENAS just to name a few. What do these bands have in common? Why do you want to share their music, besides the fact they might play good songs?
We love going to shows and we of course like to support our music scene, all the bands that you mention are either our friends or bands that we play in.
I'm close friends with the guys of LA URSS and they put shows together as LA CORPORACION so we like to support what they do.
- Why did you chose to sing in Spanish? I'm surprised that in France where I live, as far as I know, most bands decide to sing in English (except bands like GASMASK TERRÖR who decided to entirely sing in French on their latest LP, ZONE INFINIE or VIOLENCE CONJUGALE who all have in common the coldness of their sound).
I understand that the main punk influences comes from English speaking countries, but I find quite ridiculous to suddenly try to express yourself in a language that is not your own. It's cool having influences but it's your job to adapt them, transform them and turn them into something yours, something original.
- Do you think that's a reason among others why USA Maximum Rock'N'Roll editors and contributors are fond of JUANITA Y LOS FEOS? I've noticed they've always been into legendary Spanish punk bands, as much as they are also into Finish, Swedish of Japanese bands by the way, but I've always thought people in the worldwide punk scene were more open minded about bands singing in different languages, what's your opinion about that?
Well there's a lot of spanish speakers in the US, but I think that they might like to see the reflection of those spanish punk golden years in ours somehow. Not that I like it but we've always been compared with lots of that bands. Personally I rarely listen to bands that speak other than English or Spanish. I don't think that's because I'm not open minded but that what gets to us, is just that.
- Apart from the bands you're promoting on JYLF Facebook page, who are the other bands or releases which have attracted your attention during 2015?
We all love Sheer Mag and really enjoyed playing with them at Berserk Town in LA, VEXX, INSTITUTE, SUDOR, OBEDENCIA...
An interview with Will.
(I do not own any of the photographs featuring here, please refer to this website for the credits)
WEED's a really cool indie band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Somehow, they have nothing to do with the last I've done an interview with but, I mean, who cares? This is exactly what this website is about: just sharing good music, good bands, great guys opinions.
I stumbled upon "Running Back" chilling on SYSTEMATIK's singer Instagram. This guy, who sings in a pretty cool old school hardcore punk band (like classic 80s Midwest hardcore punk sound) recently posted a picture of the "Running Back" tape version, adding it was his morning/breakfast music.
Usually, I like to discover bands who are fond of these 90s "musical values" (you know, like indie/pop/grunge/shoegaze things) through hardcore punk musicians because they're quite rightly "not musicians", or not very talented musicians. Thus, they won't spend hours talking about "how this new band they've recently discovered sounds like MY BLOODY VALENTINE or JESUS AND MARY CHAIN..." or try to intellectualize the music like Internet newbies, you know... That's why this "morning music" reference convinced me to listen to your latest record.
- What's your opinion about that?
That's interesting - I also oftentimes look through what the punk/hardcore heads are listening to when it comes to indie music too, because it seems to come from a more pure place than whatever is being forced down the indie hype pipeline by the PR guys or whatever. My personal taste runs the gammit but as far as going to shows, given the option between a hardcore show and an indie show I'm picking the hardcore show 9 times out of 10. The energy level just isn't there when it comes to the internet crap and it's not fun to be around... so anyway, I think we're all pretty aware of the fact that we'd like to have some crossover with the punk bands even if we don't necessarily fit in aesthetically or musically. I always really like seeing diverse bills too, I'm thinking about like the MILK MUSIC / GAG tour or the BIG ZIT / TENEMENT tour, that kind of thing really appeals to me.
- Do you consider yourselves as (good) musicians? When did you start playing instruments and thinking about forming a band?
We all played guitar growing up - I'm gonna say in the 12 to 14 year old range? None very talented... our drummer was definitely the most talented musician but he quit after recording "Running Back". Oh well...
- I felt pretty enthusiastic about asking you questions about the band and your latest release, but I decided not to listen your previous releases or look for informations about how and when did you form... So if you mind I'll let you the freedom of telling me your bio and describe your different releases? Is "Running Back" different from the other records you've put out?
I think "Running Back" has some cool songs but overall none of us liked the way it turned out. The first LP was called "Deserve" and it seems like the consensus among the band and the fans that the first one turned out better. "Running Back" was a lot of fun to record - we did it a bit differently, went to an island off the coast of Vancouver and sequestered ourselves for 4 days with an engineer, but it came out a bit too clean for our taste. Not heavy enough?? Then early on we did some EPs that are a bit dirtier that sound cool to me now. We're working on a new one now that will be called "Born Wrong Love" (not sure what it means but I like it)
- You decided not to publish the lyrics of your songs on your bandcamp page. Why?
What do you usually deal with? Song titles on this record are pretty enigmatic: "Muscles", "Stay In The Summer", "They Don't Ask Me"... Since I didn't purchase "Running Back" anymore I don't know what your lyrical themes are...
Weird I actually thought the lyrics *were* on the bandcamp... I think they were at one point. We should put them back up... Most of the lyrics are about friendships and relationships that dissolve and erode... mostly not romantic stuff, but sometimes there's a heartbreak song or something along those lines. But especially with "Running Back", about 90% of the lyrics are about this one particular friendship getting destroyed.
- What can you tell me about the cover art of "Running Back"? We need some instructions about this photo-montage? Who's the artist?
I do all the artwork for the band. I think the "Running Back" jacket is my favorite piece of art I've done for WEED. Can't remember exactly how it came together. I use a lot of my dad's old hunting magazines and car magazines for the collage sources. I believe the couple kissing in the folded piece is a former college football star. Can't remember his name. But anyway this piece (and all the rest) was put together very quickly and without much thought - if it feels good keep it, if it feels bad move it around or throw it away completely.
- Hope that people usually do not consider WEED as an "artsy band" because I love your different video clips or the photos your tour manager took during one of your trips in 2014... Do you really work on the visual identity of the band? In your opinion, what creates this visual identity?
Kevin who plays guitar in the band is a fantastic video artist and he does a lot of the music video work for us. We always mean to make more videos but get slowed down by the other parts of life besides the band. As for the photos, it's always great to look back at the documentation, what happened on tour. Hard to find a balance between documenting the trip and enjoying the moment at the time... but I think we do OK. We make a lot of different T-shirts, which I think people understand is a big part of our visual identity. T-shirts are cool.
- Where I live there are tons of cheesy bands trying to be "sound like this or that...", do you know what's the secret to be, I don't know like true to yourself when you wanna start a band with a specific musical identity?
Everyone has influences. We didn't set out to be a DINOSAUR JR band or anything, but we were all into that kind of shit and it probably just filtered out naturally. I think the important thing is just writing songs. I wrote some songs and put them through the lens of our band WEED. All of the members shared some influences and figured out what would sound cool and heavy and it turned out to be "Deserve" and "Running Back".
- I've diagonally red these "do not ask this during interviews" mention on your blog, just saw this detail about asking stuffs about the band's name; I actually don't do drugs so I just don't give a shit about that choice. But, I must admit I really like four letters band names, I think that's THE perfect idea. Just listen to the prononciation of the name "RIDE", for example, it sounds really really cool, you don't have to listen to the band, you already know it's a blast. Just reading that name you know it's kicking butts. Like "WEED" actuality. "Man I'm going to see this band WEED, FADE are opening for them tonight... C'mon!" Do you have a theory about these four letters band names too?
I don't do drugs either - never tried hash myself, and the others in the band either don't smoke or smoke once in a blue moon. Kinda wish we hadn't picked the name WEED but most band names suck and I was young when we picked it... anyway, it's brought its fair share of attention which is cool I guess. As for the four letter names, yeah it's cool because those words are just easier to remember. Who's the other one I'm thinking of.... RIDE, yeah... I guess DIIV is a four letter word but I'm not really a fan of theirs. Short names are cool and if you pick one it has to be really creative, as time goes on all the band names have been picked already.
- It's like, you know, there was a shitload of 80s hardcore bands names in two words: URBAN WASTE, NEGATIVE APPROACH... I've recently asked some questions to CHEAP DRUGS for example, my own band was called SUEUR FROIDE (French for "COLD SWEAT")... If WEED were actually a hardcore band, what should be it name? Your song "Never Leave" could be a good idea in my opinion...
Hmmmm NEVER LEAVE could be cool. I have a list of band names on my mind for any new projects that pop up, I feel lucky to have used some of my favourites on bands that are actually now active. I'm playing bass in a band called CRAZY BUGS and I just started a new hardcore band called COURTROOM that I am singing in. If those ones were not available, what else would be good...? I didn't know about the band PAINTED SHUT but I wanted to use that before I knew they existed... before COURTROOM was settled we were going to called it KNOCKED OFF, which has a good youth crew feel to it?
- Do you think this band CHEAP DRUGS is used to be fucked up on cheap drugs? Cause I really don't care if you smoke pot, I'm sure it is some good shit if so, but these guys in CHEAP DRUGS seem pretty cool, I'd like to recommend them some good cheap drugs not to become reckless dudes... Safety first, guys.
Don't know much about drugs or the band, but if you're going to do drugs at least buy the expensive shit so you're safe??? Seems reasonable...
- Speaking of hardcore punk, I'm glad you put in your recommendations on your bandcamp page some link to "Con La Muerte A Tu Lado" by GENERACION SUICIDA, adding "this is just the best". I'm fine with that, this record is really cool. How did you discover this band and record? Why "this is just the best"?
I found out about GENERACION SUICIDA when I was on tour with another band I'm in called INFIDEL (that one is with Isaiah who is in SYSTEMATIK). It was a brief, kinda crappy tour but we got to LA and this band blew us all away and took really good care of us. When WEED went down the next trip we asked them to play with us and they said yes, they might regret it because they're so much cooler than us, different scene, but they were still really nice to us.
- What about this other band DILLY DALLY? What is this band?
I think I should take this one down... saw them on tour in Toronto and thought they were incredible, but I'm not feeling their latest output, plus they weren't very nice to me when I emailed them, if I recall correctly. Cold shoulder. Cool style though. Awesome vocals. Don't really like the artwork on their records.
- I also red you run a small newspaper in Vancouver, what is it? Like a fanzine or something completely different?
By the way, I've never paid attention if musical scenes and subcultures like current indie/90s revival were into fanzines? If so can you recommend some of them?
Yeah I work at a comic store in Vancouver called Lucky's - we started doing a little monthly newspaper called "Dunk" which is supposed to cover the underground comic scene here and then lots of music scene reports... but my energy for that publication comes and goes. I think it might be done now? Now I'm also doing a zine called "Humans Can Lick Too" which all about punk and rock in the Pacific Northwest, and I think I enjoy doing that a lot more! Less pressure, since it's not a monthly commitment, just whenever I have the time and interest.
As for others, yeah I think there's definitely a scene, not so much with the indie crap but certainly with punk. The big ones that come to mind are "Nuts!" which was in Olympia but now in NYC, and "Cretins of Distortion" which I think is in Ohio... both very inspiring and a great way to find out what's hot in different regions. I read them both cover to cover any time I get my hands on them, looking up every band mentioned, and I try to stock them at Lucky's as much as possible.
