Vetusta Morla
returns , after the successful Same site, different place, with a new work, titled Cable a Tierra. A collection of songs that strengthen the genuine sound of the band from Madrid, but without giving up electronic experimentation, which they combine with traditional rhythms and melodies, from both sides of the Atlantic. Jorge Gonzalez, percussionist and head of Vetusta Morla’s programming, answers the questions.
–Is Cable a Tierra a metaphor of returning to the origins, to the roots, of connecting with the reality of this present
-Cable a Tierra is made up of ten songs, but that was not what we wanted to do from the beginning. As in our previous albums, we enter into a process of musical creation and composition, and there is a point where certain songs appear that connect with each other, in the most basic, in rhythms and melodies. And that perhaps can be specified when Punalada trapera and Virgen de la Humanidad appeared. At that moment, we understood that we wanted to tell something and we began to remove layers and select.
–In Virgin of Humanity we listen: We accumulate folklores and accents.
–Fortunately, we are living a moment, perhaps propitiated by younger people, in which a lot of prejudices regarding music are being eliminated, and sounds from 20, 30 years ago are being recovered. Ourselves, for example, when in the past we introduced very flamenco sounds, we stopped and redirected ourselves, to return to our more Anglo-Saxon sound. Something that we have avoided in Cable a Tierra, where there are melodies and sounds that take us back to our childhood. And to me, specifically, my grandmother comes to mind singing jacks. We cannot give up a culture as wide and rich as the one we have in our country.
–Curiously, after listening to it carefully, perhaps it is the work of Vetusta Morla in which the programming, the electronic, have more weight, but at the same time there is almost a recovery of very popular sounds and melodies.
–Yes, it is a very old record. But we are six people and that generates different layers, and in each context, some appear more than others. La deriva, for example, uncovered some lyrics that opted for the social, and others have been uncovered here. I started playing flamenco with David, while my friends listened to Soundgarden. In this album we sought to go to the root, to the melodies, and also in terms of sounds, and that is why we have resorted to musical instruments that are not usually very common, such as the guitar or the square tambourine, which we have added to the plugins, which we have raised considerably. And we decided to do it at home, in a very close studio, to mix it again with Dave Fridmann. Campi Campon, our usual producer, told us that Echate un cantecito, by Kiko Veneno, one of the best albums created in this country, It was mixed in London, by a producer who wasn’t tainted by the sound he was on. And that is what we have done. That is why in Cable a Tierra there is an exploration at the sonic level, which has placed us in a different place.
“For me, this album works a lot around emotion, both musically and lyrically”
–Word is the only thing I have, it can be heard in one of the songs on Cable a Tierra. Like in Same place, different place, music against restlessness
We don’t do it as activism. They are points of view, to see and analyze events and facts that surround us. For me, this album works a lot around emotion, both musically and lyrically, which are the work of Guille (Galvan) and Juanma (Latorrre). Sometimes they touch on closer topics, which can be understood as activism, but they are still a chronicle with a point of view: to portray reality as we are living it.
–Seventh studio album, by a band in constant growth. Is it becoming more and more of a responsibility to enter the rehearsal room to put together a new work
If I’m honest, and I speak in the first person, less and less. I think it has to do with experience. Curiously, this is the album that we have recorded in the shortest amount of time: in three months. It has passed through our hands very quickly and that is why it has that touch of freshness, which also helps to locate that basic point, to go to the root, that we were looking for. Maybe that’s why it’s been such a fun experience, and making a record so fast has been a unique experience.
–Where does Cable to ground come from, what is the origin, the spark
-Many times the albums arise because you have to return, because you need to return to the road, to the stage. In this case, the confinement, which stopped projects that we had just around the corner, such as playing in Mexico (Vive Latino) or in London (Royal Albert Hall), set us a return schedule, to promote new songs. We got together in the rehearsal room with what we call proto-songs, which in many cases are just ideas, and then we went to Reno, where we filtered about fifteen songs.
–As we speak, I am looking at the poster for the 2008 Sonorama Ribera Festival, where Vetusta Morla is written with a small typeface, and in June 2022 they have summoned their followers to a sports stadium –the Wanda Metropolitano–, something that did not star in a Spanish band since the farewell of Heroes del Silencio.
-Lo del Wanda is a concert by Vetusta Morla, created specifically for that day, and we intend it to be like a shot, like a continuous emotion. And the stadium is the result of a process of evolution. We started in the little cafe on La Palma, and when we moved on to Sol we considered it a big step, and then we went to Joy Eslava, then La Riviera, and the next step was the WiZink Center, and then La Caja Magica, where we put 40,000 people, and now this. But we don’t have it raised as a challenge. We have been lucky enough to grow over the years, to create a team that has grown alongside us.
