The man from Granada is in good shape in first blood (Pentatonia Records, 23), his ninth solo work. An album that drinks from the deepest musical heritage of the United States, but in which at the same time shines its strong and clear authorial imprint.
The solo career of Jose Ignacio Lapido It is already approaching the quarter of a century. And no, no symptoms of drowsiness or wear are perceived. The guitarist and composer of 091 continues to philosophize about the great questions of existence through the rudiments offered by the comings and goings of rock and roll. Nobody expects stylistic swerves in the records of the Granada native, marked by a strong and clear authorial imprint. But there must be something differential in the songs of A primera sangre, the ninth album that he signs with his name and surname (counting on the epé Luz de ciudades en llamas), because the reception has been enthusiastic. Many rank it as his best album since the huge Cartography (2008).
The album was almost published on Friday of Dolores.
With so much disposable music playing in the background everywhere and at all hours, every time I feel closer to the brotherhood of silence.
In viticultural terms, has it been a good harvest of songs? It seems that the album has fallen out of favor.
In the future it will be remembered that the harvest on the 23rd was scarce, due to the drought, but excellent in quality, especially in the southern zone, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. Color, flavor, aroma… good rock and roll.
I talk to colleagues and everyone places it on a par with Cartography (2008).
I believe that I have progressed adequately and I am getting closer to an honorable retirement. At that crucial moment, fanfare will sound if the last record you make is awesome. If not, no one will remember me. They will judge me, and I will judge myself, by the last words and notes I write. That is why I cannot rest on the laurels of the present.
It’s a cliché: ask a musician about his maturity. But this is your first work after turning 60. And you address topics such as the passage of time, the vital perspective of someone who has more of the past than the future…
I turned 60 a few days before entering the study. The thought that came to my head was: “What the hell am I doing here instead of playing petanque?” There, in the studio, surrounded by electric guitars and fucking amps. I couldn’t think of a better place to be.
There are constants such as self-referentiality. Eighteen years ago you spoke of yourself in the third person in In another time, in another place. Now you mention “the ingenuity of the one who imagined storms.” A reckoning with yourself or an affectionate literary game?
I have guillotined myself several times in literary fiction. But I’m a fan of Bo Diddley, who was constantly appearing on his own songs. It is not necessary to believe to the letter what the singers sing. My songs are beautiful lies made with demolition materials from my own life.
“I am getting closer to retirement with honors”
It’s curious, because that record already throbbed with that look at one’s most remote past; it happened in When the night hits the heart. I think about it and you were then the same age as I am now. Which leads me to another reflection: we are celebrating our birthday, but the recorded song remains there, stoic in the best of cases.
The perception of time is very curious. When the Zeros separated in 1996, I was 34 years old, and even then I thought I was too old for this. As the Jethro Tull song said: “Too old to rock and roll, too young to die”. He had already recorded eight albums and had given hundreds of concerts. Now, at 34 years old, there are many indies starting their careers. The important thing is that at 20, 34 or 60 you are able to make songs that make the listener cry with emotion.
By the way, that vintage varnish that Quini Almendros contributes with the steel guitar is always a delight.
Totally agree, it’s delicious. Quini is a master, with the guitar and with the Steel pedal. His contribution is wonderful in the two songs in which he has collaborated. It’s not the first time he’s played on a record of mine and he always leaves that touch of quality that’s hard to beat. Full thanks.
How determinant has been the fact that Raúl Bernal produces it? His recent solo epée also has details, shall we say, less conservative.
It has been fundamental for the record to remain as it has turned out. He encouraged me to face the new songs and made things easier for me to overcome doubts by giving me the appropriate musical solutions. He has been like an orchestra conductor who has found the perfect plane for all the instrumentalists that we have participated in. Jacinto Ríos and Popi González are also deserving of all the praise, since they have shown an elegance and class beyond any doubt in their interpretations.
“Raúl has been like an orchestra director who has found the perfect plane for all the instrumentalists who have participated”.
I have been pleasantly surprised by certain rhythmic and timbre innovations. The clearest case may be the dance i think i missed something. There are resources from the Latin roots of West Coast rock. On the first listen I even thought of Eric Burdon’s stage with War, with that Spill the wine).
Dearest Eric Burdon, as the Burnings used to say. Well… The song was born from the riff. I had thought that it would be the guitar, but then I decided that it was better that the bass had the leading role, allying itself with that rhythm of Hispanic roots and with the percussion. It has been, as you say, very West Coast due to the mixture of rhythm with guitars with slightly psychedelic scales. The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash did it. The electric piano gives it its sixties point too.
Something similar happens in Bad thoughts: robust blues, but at the same time graceful in arrangements and rhythms. That Dylan file movement came to mind not so many years ago, when he allied himself with Los Lobos.
The rhythm in this song is very important. The rhythmic lightness had to contrast with the heavier guitar riff. I played Popi recordings from the fifties and he caught it instantly.
Is it just me or do you feel looser singing?
Raúl and I, before recording, worked a lot on the tones, trying three or four different ones on each song to see which one was the right one. In addition, I imagine the experience of playing solo with my guitar in the concerts I gave during the pandemic that helped me to better control my vocal expressiveness.
“I imagine the experience of playing solo with my guitar in the concerts I gave during the pandemic that helped me to better control my vocal expressiveness.”
And the imprint as a guitarist. Did you give Víctor Sánchez a break for the recording?
Now, since guitar solos and solo parts are not in fashion, there are few guitarists who have their own sound. It’s all very standard, homogenized pedalboard sounds. I am from the old school and I like the guitar to have personality. You used to hear Clapton, Wilko, Hendrix or Peter Green and you knew they were the ones playing. I have intended that the record reflect my personality as an artist who sings, composes and plays the guitar. For that I had to take care of all the guitars myself, but Víctor is still in the band and will be on tour.
From the beginning of the tour in Murcia you meet the band again. A happy return to the electric format?
Yes, totally. It’s been five years since I went out to play with the whole band and we’re all really looking forward to it. These have been very hard years for everyone, but especially for our guild. Let’s get even on this tour.
Years ago you announced a blues record. And you are fulfilling it in a successive tract…
It is better not to announce anything until you have done it. I also said that I was going to write a book of poems. As the song said: “Don’t listen to me today, I’m just talking in my sleep.” I want to say that sometimes it is not as simple as wanting to do something: you have to materialize it. My love for the blues is infinite, but from there to seeing myself with the necessary creative force to make a monographic album of the genre goes a long way. However, as you point out, I have never stopped writing in the blues key. Malos pensamientos is on this album, and there was another one that was left out and that was very good.
Americana and electric Chicago blues are traditions that you embrace with pleasure, and that you even invigorate in these times, which I have sometimes heard you define as “in tracksuits and rubble”.
I don’t spend much time reflecting on what I am within the music scene. I just do what I know how to do. I would say that there are few or very few left who do things like me. That’s not good or bad, but it is so. He is looking for someone with 60 tacos who composes his own songs, who remains faithful to stylistic schemes that are not even remotely fashionable and who, on top of that, has managed his recording career for almost twenty years. I don’t think you will find many. Even so, my album has been on the best-selling album chart for three weeks, what do you think?
The other day I heard Lichis say that “the loser’s glamor has been lost.”
I already said it in a song years ago: no one kisses the loser. But the truth is that what people and the media have always been attracted to is success. Let’s not fool ourselves.
“I already said it in a song years ago: no one kisses the loser. But the truth is that what people and the media have always been attracted to is success. Let’s not fool ourselves”.
As a columnist you were an acid observer of political news. Now your work would multiply…
I stopped being an observant acid because they did not pay me as I thought they should pay me. Does the observation seem acid enough to you? Political news is not always full of juicy news to comment on and show off, it depends on the columnist… If there is no relevant news to comment on, you make it up. It’s what I did. Literature is invention.
We tend to focus on the United States, but songs like at night the truth a harmonic sense is maintained very close to Los Angeles, pioneers of Granada pop.
Los Angeles are present in my music from the beginning. Agustín Rodríguez Ampudia was the producer of the first single I recorded in my life, in 1981, with Aldar. And Popi is the son of the great and long-awaited Poncho, and he’s been with me since my first solo album, in 1999. The Los Angeles style and vocal harmonies are a great influence, no doubt about it.
It’s like the Beatles, who are intuited in the sound of the chorus of From when I was not born.
Yes, that figure of guitar and piano in unison is very Beatle. What can I say, the Beatles are always there above our heads, lighting up our lives.
The source that never runs out: looking to the past to create the expression of the present. Are you already thinking of new songs?
Yes, from the moment I sent the record to the factory I started picking up the guitar to see what would come out, and some interesting things have come out. It’s a matter of not giving up trying and that those ideas crystallize into real songs.