Gorka Urbizu temporarily said goodbye to the stage in November 2019, after two sold-out performances at the Navarra Arena in Pamplona, ??leaving the most successful Basque-language rock band in recent decades on stand-by, and at the top. Berri Txarrak. After 25 years and more than 1,000 concerts around the world, she needed to stop and think about a new musical start.
Now, four years later, the Navarrese artist returns with Hasiera bat (A beginning), a surprising first solo album, recorded by hand at the Teatre de cal’Eril in Guissona (Lleida) and which is having a sensational reception. This Saturday he presents it in the large room of Para.lel 62 in Barcelona (10:00 p.m.).
Some reviews have referred to the album as anti-commercial, although praising the bravery of the bet; However, the reception it is receiving from the public is very positive. Are you surprised?
It is not easy for me to define whether it is commercial or anti-commercial, but it is true that the way of publishing it has been atypical and that it had something of suicide. For me it was a big unknown how people were going to respond. I have been out of the spotlight for four years, I have returned by surprise, without warning and with a project that is clearly different from Berri Txarrak. I wasn’t very clear what could happen. I thought that a part of the public, those who were more attentive, could get closer little by little and that from there they could have more travel; However, the truth is that everything has gone very quickly. In the pre-order, all the vinyls ran out, in many cities we are doing three nights and we could do more, the tickets are running out… I am surprised, yes, and very grateful. In no way did I expect that we would do three nights in Iruñea, at the Zentral room, in Kubik (Vitoria) or two nights at Joy Eslava in Madrid.
Another characteristic that is being valued about the album is that it is very raw, an album without artifice, and at the same time very beautiful. Why is this nudity in your songs so surprising?
It is a very raw album, yes, and it is true that it is something that perhaps is not fashionable. I usually say that this album is a reaction to the times we live in. A reaction to a society marked by haste, stress, lack of direction, lack of grips… The world is very ugly, in general, very polarized. Individualism rules, the cult of the ego, denialisms, there is a rise of fascism… And the album is, to a certain extent, a reaction to all that, both at an aesthetic level and at the level of tone, of melodies… I propose a slowdown , taking care of each other in a reciprocal way. And I am realizing that many people needed something like that, a refuge in which to feel a kind of well-being. Everything goes in that direction, from the cover to the sound. It is a very artisanal and organic work, which can contrast with everything we see today: the dictatorship of novelty, of image, of haste…
It also demands taking half an hour to listen to it from beginning to end, recovering the concept of an album.
Yes, for me it is not an exercise in nostalgia; I demand a slowdown and attentive listening. It is an attempt to get out of that maelstrom. If you don’t have half an hour to listen to this album, it might not be your album. And nothing happens. Logically, I would prefer that people come and listen to this album, but that is what I propose. It is neither better nor worse. I usually say that we have Gulliver’s arrows and, although we may not be able to do much damage, by being aware and considering another way of making songs, we have already made some progress.
Throughout his musical career, with Berri Txarrak, Katamalo or Peiremans, we have seen him playing very different styles, although metal and rock prevail. Now he had the opportunity to start from scratch. How has the process of searching for the musical identity of his new project been?
It’s been a search, really. I have made some recordings, especially at home and in some home-studios, I have drunk here and there, I have been to many concerts, I have been doing nothing, a privilege that I also claim… I was clear that I did not want to make the obvious of the typical record, with the acoustic guitar, of the singer who comes from a big rock band, in quotes. And I like those types of albums by Pedro the Lion or The Weakerthans. In this case, I think production has a lot of weight. The role of Jordi Matas and company has allowed us to take the album to another place, and I like that. It has something special, also because of the process and place of recording. On the other hand, those of us who come from rock and metal give a lot of importance to energy, distortion, riff… I myself have lived for decades in the realm of the riff, and I do not rule out returning to the world of distortion because it is something that fulfills me and is in my DNA, but over time you realize that there are other ways to transmit. Intensity can be achieved in other ways. Also, personally, the craziest things I’ve done musically have been around that type of music; They haven’t been to go see Slayer. I’m talking about going to see The Weakerthans on a Tuesday in Switzerland in a van or catching a flight to Seattle to see Pedro the Lion. And you realize that they have been trips in which I was looking for that something special. I realized it after the fact, but it is very significant. At concerts we have put mailboxes for people to write their feelings, and people express that. I read all the messages, and many tell us that they needed something like this. In this very individualistic society, everyone thinks that they are the only one who feels a little lonely, and that is not the case. I think we are all a little lonely, a little lost, a little agitated by the rush.
Did you deliberately seek to generate that balsamic effect that the public transmits to you?
I have never been able to theorize records a priori, but there is a reaction, perhaps involuntary, to that maelstrom in which we are all in a hurry. I’ll give an example, everyone releases the news on Fridays to enter I don’t know what playlist, and there we think: ‘we’ll publish it any day that isn’t a Friday.’ In the end he came out on a Monday, which was also Blue Monday, to finish going on the counterattack. In any case, for me it is incredible to hear that the album helps people. Sometimes, we musicians look for that, that our music has functionality, that it is worth something, even if it is to make people’s daily lives more bearable. So if it has helped some people feel better, it seems amazing to me.
With Berri Txarrak he was able to record with the late Steve Albini, Ross Robinson or Ricky Falkner, to name some very different producers. How has the recording process been different, with the help of Jordi Matas, on this occasion?
I like to change producers because for me it is important to know that I learn something every time we go in to record. I like to see the differences between one another when interpreting music, and I also enjoy seeing the similarities. For example, you mention Albini or Falkner, who are very different, but they have in common giving priority to the song or living the music from within and in a very intense way. In this case, there are many new features, starting with the fact that it is an album in which we started recording almost without having previously rehearsed. It’s something that made me very dizzy, although Jordi Matas argued that it brought freshness and that it gave the opportunity to leave for last that key pottery work that was going to give shape to the album. The theory is very nice, but it gave me respect because I was playing a lot with this album: I didn’t want to offer just anything. They have been very intense recording sessions, although now I am very satisfied. It is a very minimalist album, with perhaps few elements, but at the same time, and for that reason, there is a lot of work behind it.
Lewis Teixidor, the North American producer who reacts to records on YouTube, praised that production and how you can hear intimate details of the recording: a foot marking the quarter notes, the sounds in the patio where it was recorded…
It is true that there has not been an obsession with cleaning everything. It was recorded in an old theater next to the town square and, for example, the bells rang every half hour. Surely if you listen to the album with cases you will hear those bells and even dogs barking or children screaming. The foot Lewis mentions would surely be mine (laughs). There are songs like Besterik ez or Janela bat that have been recorded as is. We have recorded most of the songs live and, although there are some songs that requested an overdub, the basis has been live. The premise has been “let’s not lose that essence”, but that containment work has been hard. I had two things clear: that all the songs would be released together, without previews, and that I did not want to lose an enigmatic/hypnotic point that could surprise and fascinate the listener. The obsession with fulfilling these two premises required that there be no information about the album before publishing it, to look for that element of surprise and for people to approach the album without conditions, and, secondly, an economy from the point of view of The arrangements. There are few free things on the album and we have done a lot of thinking, for example, with the guitars.
He has said on some occasion that he is losing that ability to surprise and try to fascinate the listener…
I think when there is no mystery we are missing something. In the dynamics of hype and the image in which we live, we offer a lot of information about everything: what we are going to do, what this song is about, when we are going to publish… There is an extreme handling that takes away the mystery and soul of the songs. I don’t know who said that art without mystery is not art, and it happens to me that when I understand everything I lose interest, in part. The same thing happens with the letters. I am often asked to explain the lyrics, one by one; It’s okay, and I do it. But at the same time I don’t want to condition the public’s listening. For example, as soon as the album was released I was gone for a few days because I didn’t want to condition those first listens, and that gave it an interesting point. It is true that you pay a price, and you would probably lose listeners, but whoever listened to it those first days, listened to it truly and without conditions. At the same time, the first concert in San Sebastián was incredible because I had not mentioned if I would play alone, with a group, what I would play… A super special atmosphere was generated that is very difficult to achieve today, at a time when we have a lot of prior information and We even know the set list that they are going to play. This desire to generate a mystery this time I have taken it to the extreme: I released the album by surprise, after four years of silence, without advances… That factor may not be able to be maintained now, but at concerts I do demand attentive listening: “Leave your cell phone aside, enjoy the moment and you will have an experience that can move you inside.” Whoever wants to record it or make a story, that’s fine, but I think they’re going to lose something.
He has always claimed to overcome self-limitations at the level of style, especially so as not to miss out on musical proposals that may be interesting. Berri Txarrak was above all a rock, hardcore and metal band. Are you managing to attract Berri’s followers with this new project?
I think sometimes we get obsessed with it and I myself have fallen into that trap of thinking: will Berri fans like it? In the end, I guess people who only like metal and distortion within Berri’s range won’t like it. And it’s normal. At the same time, many people have told me that it is a “very Gorka Urbizu” album, and I think there is no break. It is another stage in my journey in which there are new developments, there is an evolution and there are also common elements: the way of writing, the voice… That already helps maintain an identity. In any case, I don’t worry too much about it.
And does the stylistic range that it usually covers cause you any problems? Months before presenting this album he produced Leihotikan’s last album and performed a song that was pure melodic hardcore…
My problem is that I like too many styles (laughs). I have always been against orthodoxy. It doesn’t lead to anything. Being the most harcoret among the hardcores and listening only to what is coming, as far as I know, from Washington D.C. and it’s straight edge… it seems very good to me and you will be an expert in all that, but you are going to miss a lot of very interesting music, made with the heart. There is good music in all styles, that’s why I say that I have already forgotten that obsession. I understand that department stores have to classify reggaeton, cumbia and rock, but classifications are always limiting.
Since the farewell of Berri Txarrak, with those packed houses at the Navarra Arena in November 2019 and a pandemic in between, the Basque music scene has been renewed. What proposals would you recommend to someone from Barcelona or Valencia who is interested in what is happening there?
It is true that a lot has changed, and it was necessary. We needed fresh air. The scene has atomized, and it is a cultural ecosystem in which we continue to have the usual problems at the level of the public, the media… Let’s say that we have our limits, but at the same time, since there is not a large industry, very interesting things come out. , although this may be a trap. To mention some proposals, I would say that there are two interesting focuses. The first around Iruñerria (the region of Pamplona), where there is an effervescence of interesting bands like Ibil Bedi, Chill Mafia or Tatxers, a group that I really like. And another interesting focus is in Bilbao-Mungia, with bands like Toc, Ezezez, Txopet, Lukiek… There are also many other proposals beyond those focuses, of course. If you ask me, is rock dead? For me, no, and it’s not going to die. They are cycles, and the key is where the focus is today and what styles are given visibility. The priority today goes to other styles, urban ones we can say. And that’s it, I think it’s very good, if only to get the rest of them on their way. In any case, yes, the scene has been renewed, and that is very positive, although we could reflect on audiences, media reference, presence of Basque… But there are many interesting bands, without a doubt.
Finally, tell us about the band with which you arrive this Saturday in Barcelona and with which you are doing the tour.
I am accompanied, first of all, by Jordi Matas, producer of the album, and Joan Pons, co-producer. When they told me they wanted to do the tour with me I saw that I had already half the work done. The album has a very solid sonic concept and it is a language that must be learned and understood. It’s not just about playing, but about understanding the vibe. And then Amaia Miranda, a guitarist from Leioa, and Mariana Mott, also from Biscay, joined. A match has emerged, as we jokingly say, that is very nice. We are all very excited about the album and we feel that something very special is happening because people are welcoming us with open arms. It amazes me that people sing Katedral bat (Berri Txarrak song) the same way as any song from the last album. I am very grateful.
