Pablo Memi, before the final goodbye to Ratones Paranoicos: “We are at peace”

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Pablo Memi was a visual rarity and an undeniable musical delight in the early years of Ratones Paranoicos. In that transition from the ’80s to the ’90s, that of enigmatic graffiti and irresistible rock records between grime and sophistication, this bassist stood out with a James Dean look plus an exquisite groove pivoted from a Höfner bass.

Memi maintains that halo these days, in which the band made up of Juanse (guitar, vocals, special leader), Sarco (guitar) and Roy (drums) will begin a tour that is promoted as a “goodbye forever.”

The starting signal for this final tour is very precise: Saturday night on the North beach of the Mario Alberto Kempes, within the framework of the closing night of the Bum Bum Festival.

Now, is the Mice one a goodbye forever, Pablo?

“Don’t know. Probably yes, but after we finish Vélez, we’ll see what happens,” answers Memi, alluding to the show that the band will offer at Amalfitani next September.

“Who tells you that we will meet again later. Because our relationship is good. If it weren’t like that, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing. At this point, do something like that with your band for money or because it’s convenient? No. Now everything is for pleasure,” adds the founding member of Ratones Paranoicos who, in 1998, left the historic group due to having been completely exhausted by tours, albums and foreseeable tensions after a hectic journey.

Frantic tour narrated exhaustively in Rocanrol Cowboys, a documentary available on Netflix, and which took this project from the small rehearsal rooms of Villa Devoto to the wide stage of River to support the Stones, with whose first producer, Andrew Loog Oldham, its members spoke from peer to peer.

Juanse and Pablo Memi, concentrated during a Ratones Paranoicos show in 2008. (La Voz/ Archive)

“The history of Ratones, like our friendship, went through many states. And at this moment, reality indicates that each one has resolved their problems with the rest. At least, that’s how I see it,” says Memi when making a synchronous cut of this story, which she rejoined in 2007.

“We are at peace with each other. We have a good relationship, we enjoy playing. That is the most important thing, that there is still exchange and that it is enjoyed, that we are not hostages to a commitment. I’m having a great time in the band,” she confesses.

Paranoid Mice: Sarco, Juanse, Pablo and Roy. The photo is from 2008. (Paranoid Mice Press)

“In a little while I will go to rehearse and I will do it with great joy. Furthermore, years and experience made us play better. Over time you start cleaning, removing the surplus, and you go to synthesis. The truth is, the band sounds very good, very groovy,” says the artist who always made it clear that the Mice go far beyond the crude copy of the Stones.

–Can a new album come even though it is inadvisable to publish one?

–A new album could be made. In any case, as you say, the recording situation is strange for me. Because recording, editing, going on social media… I don’t make much sense of it. I enjoy playing live a lot more. I also don’t understand that about recording in layers, with Pro Tools. If you play live, you rehearse, why separate everything in the studio? If there is no interaction, there is nothing. My criticism is that a lot of bands sound the same for that reason. They sound like Pro Tools. Anyway, it wouldn’t be the most urgent thing to record. Maybe we record all the rehearsals, we listen to them again… That could be an album.

–Shall we desacralize the anecdote that, I don’t know if it was Oldham or who, he proposed you as Bill Wyman’s replacement when he left the Stones?

–It was like a joke. In reality it was (the British guitarist) Mick Taylor… Since we hit it off with him right away, we rehearsed and shared situations, and since it was the time when the Stones were looking for a bassist, he said to me “Why don’t you show up?” But it remained as an anecdote. Anyway, for Mick Taylor to tell you, it’s no small feat. Then I mentioned it to Andrew and he said “Why not?”

–On an image level, in the first Paranoid Mice you stood out like a James Dean, even when the band wavered between the Stones and Lou Reed. Why did you decide on that position?

–I really liked the cinema of that time, Rebel Without a Cause and Blackboard Jungle. I really liked Nick Jameson, Eddie Cochran, Elvis… Of course I was a fan of the Stones, but more of his music than his image. For the Stray Cats, on the other hand, I bought the entire combo.

–At one time you tried yourself as a producer. Will you continue doing things in that role?

–Look, a band has its own ideas and, sometimes, matching them with yours as a producer is not easy. Clear. Juanchi Baleirón is a kingpin in this matter, because he has a friendly personality. Congeniality. He has good vibes and takes her to work. It wasn’t that easy for me and, precisely for that reason, I don’t have much interest in producing. There came a point where I didn’t enjoy it.

Juanse, that great friend

–How easy or how difficult was it to carry out a career with a special leader like Juanse?

–We are friends and I admire him for his creativity and energy. There was a time when, in my early twenties and success, egos soared and toxicities were abused. So, we had to live through difficult times. But we remain friends and I maintain my high regard for him as a person and artist. In particular, I struggled with the cliché that a rock and roll band, at the peak of its success, had to be accompanied by drugs and things like that. Later we all grew older and those issues were resolved. And now we are at our best, because we had a really good time. There is no other interest than that.

–Höfner, the German brand, is looking for the bass that McCartney used in the early days of the Beatles. Won’t it be yours?

–I hope, I hope (laughs). I bought my first Höfner in 1981, in a business called Casa América, which no longer exists and was on Avenida de Mayo. They had four, at $300 each. It was my first own bass, because, at first, I used a Faim that Juanse lent me. I enjoyed it to the fullest. And beyond the fact that it was the bass that identified McCartney, it also referred to early rock & roll because it has some double bass. Little sustain, quite percussive… It was designed to be a transportable and comfortable double bass. It is a great instrument. I would not change it for anything.

–What does “La Mona” generate in you?

–Absolute respect. Because you have to see what he generates under the stage. In a Cosquín I could see how people approach him in a devotional plan. On the other hand, such a long career of frenetic music, with so many albums and so many shows, also leads you to the most absolute admiration. It is a pride to share the stage with someone who breaks the barriers of genres like La Mona, with someone who represents the idea of ​​crossover like few others.

Live

Ratones Paranoicos will play at the Bum Bum Festival, to be held on the North Beach of Mario Alberto Kempes, on Saturday, January 13. Doors are scheduled to open at 3:45 p.m. For tickets and information about services and access, go to the event’s Instagram.

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