Interview translated to English by Laura Montiel. (For original Spanish version, see earlier post)
Rx: Where did the idea of Kike Suárez y La Desbanada come from? What were you able to achieve here, you could not before?
Kike: My music, now I compose in a more global way. Until now, I had only managed to couple my lyrics with the music some one else had done. Now I compose lyrics and music, although I don’t play anything, I repeat them out loud until I memorize them, then I teach them to La Desbanada, they do their part with no interference, and we all finish the song together.
Rx: If you had to define your music in one word, what would it be?
Kike: In one word: my own. In two words: Cabaret Rock. In three words: Authors Rock, Melodramatic popular song.
Rx: Which artist (dead or alive) from any country, would you like or have liked to work with? Why?
Kike: Alive, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen o Neil Young (I would also like to work with Lou Reed, Jagger/Richards and even Dylan, if he made the effort) the dead ones; Johnny Thunders or Jimmy Hendrix. With Tom I would do a good Polka de aires Europeos, with Leonard an Ode pop, lugubrious and beautiful melody, only voices, acoustic guitar, some chords, with Lila Downs, Lhasa and Danya Kurtz doing the chorus. With Neil Young anything he’d like to do, a Rolling Stones song with Johnny Thunders, and one of the Velvet with Jimmy, both songs in Spanish of course.
Rx: In general terms, what is the message you wish to convey with your music?
Kike: There is no specific message; I speak about my feelings and sensations. Now a day, I don’t write songs with political or social content like I did years ago, now, I mostly speak about my self or my people (my children, my woman, my colleagues). Most people I know use drugs in everyday life, and that, even when it hurts, is a vein.
Rx: How do you get inspired to write a song, because every artist has his/her own method?
Kike: Lately, by singing the melody and some of the lyrics in the air, I repeat it until I memorize it, then I show it to La Desbanada, knowing is going to be one of the themes. My songs often speak of a feeling specific to a concrete fact: the birth of my daughter or a friend selling speed.
Rx: Is there a place in the world (or a group of people) you would like your music to reach, or do you just make music for your self?
Kike: The music starts with me and I’d like the world to like it….I sing to a few, but it’s a universal vocation.
Rx: I know you had other musical projects in the past, but what projects does Kike have right now?
Kike: What’s eating me right now is the release of “Carta Blanca” the Kike Suarez y La Desbanada debut album, I hope is out on the streets before Christmas.
Rx: What has been the response of your music in the U.S. or Latin America? Have you given concerts in such places or plan to do so soon?
Kike: I am only known in Spain, and very little. I don’t know what kind of acceptance my music would have out there. The very fact of this interview surprises me and flatters me (a matter of well understood globalization, I suppose)
Rx: What would you say if there was a new genre of music (a genre that has been inspired by Enrique Bunbury, Nacho Vegas, Carlos Ann) and which I have labeled as “Friki Rock” or “Circo Rock?” For me this “genre” would go beyond the word “Rock” and would focus on identifying sounds that incorporate the violin, and the accordion; like Tango.
Kike: Cabaret Rock, that’s what I tell the promoters to put on the street signs. I have not used the violin yet, and only half the songs in the album are played with accordion. You have mentioned three people: Bunbury, Vegas, and Ann, whom I respect very much, as a matter of fact I am a fan of Vegas. Speaking of, I suggest that you search the Madrileño web radio program, (Estacion Sonora) they have edited a double compilation of their favorite people, and you can also download free www.estacionsonora.es, many Friki rockers you’ll like.
Rx: Thanks Kike, and hopefully you come soon to the United States. Good luck with your tour. Congratulations!
Kike: Thank you Rx, it has been a pleasure. If you find some promoters in California willing to pay for our stay and some pizzas, perhaps we could pay our own trip…if not, come to Spain, you will have a good time.
© Rx's Music Fusion (By a World Collision)
