Dan Peralbo and El Comboi come back with “Fine Thing” (The Yellow Gate, 23), his new EP. After almost a year without publishing new material, the Barcelona-based band presents us with five new songs in which electric guitars are the main protagonists.
Before delving into his new songs, Dan explains the moment in which he decided to take up his solo career in music after being part of various bands in Catalonia. “At the age of eighteen I moved to London, where I played on the streets and in the pubs of the city. There I sang my songs and covers of groups like The Beatles. When I returned home I settled in Barcelona and I wanted to record the songs that I had been singing in the street and that’s how Dan Peralbo came to be”. But, despite having started this path independently, the artist from Torrelló realized that he needed more people to shape the project, and that is how El Comboi was born. “It was a totally natural thing. I have always played in bands except when I was in London. My way of working is as a band and it’s very important that it’s them. I love them, I don’t want anyone else.”
“We do a very fun live show and, in addition to rocking, we do a lot of shows.”
Once they are jointly constituted, Dan Peralbo and El Comboi they managed to win the victory of Sona9. “It was very cool because it opened many doors for us. Suddenly our name was already in the imagination of the Catalan music industry”. And, although in all this time they have been publishing various singles and EP’s, the boys have also dedicated themselves to doing something else out of the ordinary. Specifically, a musical film with some of his songs and a complete album of Christmas carols. Some very wacky ideas that don’t just come from the creator, as Dan tells us. “These crazy things come from the whole band”. Although what they have returned to the scene with is an EP called “Fine Thing” in which we can find five very guitar songs. “We wanted to make a rock album in which electric guitars predominated and the lyrics continued to have a youthful and humorous touch, but with the desire to burn everything. It is a style of music that in Spanish there is a brutal offer, but it seems that in Catalonia it is difficult for there to be groups like these that sing in Catalan and we wanted to be the ones who threw the sword “. And despite the fact that four songs are in Catalan, they publish a song in Spanish for the first time, “Michael’s Children”. “It seemed good to me to do it in Spanish, it is a style of music that is very well received in Spanish and we wanted to wink at the rest of the country in some way. We still do more because it’s cool and we feel comfortable and there’s no problem”.
If there is something special to highlight about their new work, it is the way in which they have recorded it, since the whole band has done it entirely live. “We wanted to make this record while preserving the essence and imperfections of the live show. We are not great musicians, we wanted everything to be as natural as possible since we don’t do it perfectly live and the record couldn’t be a ten. But I do believe that the essence had to be what had to be transmitted above all, we wanted the album to be energy, essence and bad host “. It seems that the music scene in Barcelona is getting more and more guitar bands, a movement that is being born according to Dan himself. “A very curious thing is happening and I think we have to thank Heliogàbal from Barcelona here. It is a bar where all the musicians meet, share things, have beers and it seems that this is creating a movement. I had never seen anything similar in Barcelona, we are uniting among the musicians, collaborations, friendships are coming out… It is making a lot of union ”. Now it is their turn to officially present these five new songs, although they have already been able to premiere them on stage. “We have been very well received both at the concerts, as well as on social networks and on Spotify and such. We are very happy and we hope that this will only make it go up”. But without a doubt the great presentation concert took place in that very special bar for them, the Heliogàbal, where they managed to hang the sold-out sign. “People want us and that is something that is very cool”. But from now on they face a few months full of concerts that encourage everyone to go see them. “We do a very fun live show and, in addition to rocking, we do a lot of shows.”
Apart from the fact that they just presented their new work just a few weeks ago, they already have their future project in mind. “There is one thing that characterizes us and it is the issue that we do not want to stop. We don’t want to go a year without releasing music and that’s how it will be. The album just came out and we’re already thinking about the next one, the next single and the next crazy thing”.
A national artist: The Squirrels
An international artist: The Kinks
A record to listen to in the car: “Easy Beat” de Dr. Dog
An album that everyone should listen to: “Dioptria” by Pau Riba
A song to cry “Good night” by Els Pets
A song to dance to: “Can’t Stand Me Now” de The Libertines
dream collaboration: The Blues Brothers
Your most special song: “Angelina Jolie”
A place to listen to your music: live
Describe Dan Peralbo and El Comboi in one word: Gas