On this warm Saturday morning in January, I am going from Lemoa to Dima to interview Pello Artabe and Peio Artetxe opposite Santuru. Christ’sThe vocalist and the bass player are at the entrance of the venue. He is from Artabe Arantzazu. Artetxe, from Aretza. Together with Alex Harillo and two other members, Ask Christ They created it at the beginning of the last decade. Eskean Kristö was the first effective challenge to the social control that Arratia society had imposed on itself for centuries. This cursed and harsh social control can be understood as the result of geographical isolation and entrenched Catholicism.
Ask ChristHe brought a breath of fresh air and a necessary direct attack on the outdated Arratian culture. They applied riffs and drums to a cultural fabric that was drowned in tradition, where nobody or almost nobody dared to move for fear of shame. That chapter fell by the wayside after the impressive releases of the band’s first two albums. “Begging Christ”-k (2012) eta “Nitrogen Kaldüz”(2014) after a precise kick in the ass sent all shamers down the cliff. Courage and shamelessness were the engine, and classic guitar-filled rock was the vehicle. The perfect blend to break up the secular, gray and methodical monotony of Arratia.
“In other hawks in the sweet” After a booming period that ended with the album (2018), in 2020, the quintet embarked on an ambitious plan, but unfortunately it drowned in that sea of contradictory decisions and prohibitions brought about by the pandemic. Beg Christ it was parked, because each member lived in a tip of the Basque Country. He survived as best he could without being able to hide behind misfortune.
At the beginning of December last year, the band released their first album Christ’s with the name: “Ahobetehortz”. Extremely rich in composition and daring in risk, this album represents a new step forward for the group in the concept of guitars. Don’t let aesthetics cloud your vision. Under the cover of absurd comedy, Kristona is a great machine for writing great songs and precise lyrics. Although they doubted themselves, Eskean Christ, now Christ’s, survives.
Why the name change of the group?
In begging the name of Christ began to be temporary and remained permanent. Then, with the pandemic, we experienced very difficult moments within the group. We have experienced many cataclysms. But we can say that we have learned a lot from the process; and as a result we needed a revival and an adrenaline rush and that’s where the name change comes from.
We are alive? Dano? you guys us
At least we are alive. It’s a statement of intent and something we want to say out loud to people, but also to ourselves. We didn’t know how to deal with the pandemic and we lost our strength as a team. Leaving aside the music, the venue and the band left us with a headache.
So you had a tough time.
Also, our hiatus, the hiatus due to the pandemic, came at the best moment for the band. We anticipated that we would make a big leap with the next album, because things went very well with the Beste Belaze Batzuen Gozoan album: we gave many concerts in important places and we started going outside the Basque Country. So we had a lot of energy and good feelings about a new project. We made the team… we connected the manager, the photographer, the driver and the technician. We thought we had another turn that would take us further when the pandemic came.
Are you seeing the light at the end of the tunnel?
We are working on it. We are trying to take the pulse of the situation. So far, we have used the concerts given during 2022 to find out where we are today and to position ourselves. Now, we have to see if we still have our audience and have a chance to recover our project.
Ahobetenotz is not an easy album. Not to compose, nor to listen, although the latter is easier. Do you think it is the most complete, the most elaborate work you did as a group?
Because of everything we mentioned, we worked in a very strange and chaotic way. He has had a lot of work. Kants have taken many turns and had a thousand different forms. Songs have appeared, disappeared and reappeared. When you make a new album, you always try to give your best and it’s the same with this album. But as in other albums the singles were seen in a clearer way, in the Ahobetehortz album all the songs are level and there are no fillers.
Are you happy with the album?
We are happy. But our next work will have nothing to do with this, and we have that next album quite focused.
Then it sounds like you’re not very happy.
Because we originally had other plans. But with the pandemic, starting with a record label and changing the name, we won’t say that we were forced to do anything, but we could say that we forced ourselves to make a more diverse album.
“One will think that there is no politics in our words. But there is politics even if it is not addressed in a direct way”
Is it hard to write words and put them into songs?
We believe that writing the words in the same tone of the radical Rock era does not contribute anything today. We work with words in a different way. We work on them with poetry. One will think that there is no politics in our words. But there is politics even if it is not addressed in a direct way. Of encasing… well we don’t know but we are not rappers. We don’t have that much space to express ourselves. Often, one powerful sentence is worth more than seventeen thousand stanzas. And also if you sew well with the melody you can create something of great power. We also attach great importance to phonetics and if we have to sacrifice some meaning, we do it if it looks nicer.
Are you a comedy fan?
We are comedy fans but there are also moments when we embrace drama. We are very emotional and we want to reflect that emotion in our words. But we would say that irony rather than comedy is the appeal we use best.
Do you still want to offer some kind of portrait or costume narrative?
yes Especially fans of the customs of Bizkaia and Arratia. It is a commitment we have had with Arrati since the first album. We are very proud to be Arratians and it is something that is always remembered when we are away from here. Even though the guitarist is from Santurce and the drummer is from Galdacao, the band is from Arratia.
Are you afraid of writing too hermetic words?
And what will we do? An easy letter? Simple? Use clichés? We can do it. They tell us that we are not understood even in the family.
You play with dialects and words.
A lot Three or four dialects of a song will appear. We are in love with the northern sound. It is very poetic.
Pello, you sing better than ever. The effort is noticeable.
It’s something they keep repeating to me. I don’t know how many years I’ve spent singing badly. I do not know. I don’t go out that much. I have understood that I have to take care of myself more and although in the past I played in a more aggressive way, nowadays we focus on the concerts.
It’s curious, but here you are, Pello and Peio, both of you, answering questions as if you were the only person. Apart from a music group, are you a group?
Totally This venue sometimes gives a ring to the venue. We are very different from each other. Pello writes. In a very poetic way, he does a great job of stitching together melodies and songs with words. He often says that it is not music, but it is not true. Maybe he practices music in a more instinctive way, but there is music. And then everyone has their role. Harillo is a fine arranger and brings many ideas to the venue to improve and embellish the songs. Aritz has the ability to work with production devices and also to organize songs.
All this needs to be addressed.
Yes, we try to be democratic. Hence the mention of the ring; often, because disagreements are not between two people. Disagreements are between everyone. Artistic disagreements, yes. We have learned over time and today we believe that we better match our strengths.
Also in terms of influences, is this your biggest album? You move from many different places.
It’s a very diverse album, yes. Eclectic There are many changes. We call ourselves rockers, mainly because of our attitude. Musically we deal with many different styles without problems without losing our eternal attitude.
Do you think that aesthetics can somehow hide the depth of the message and the musical proposal?
We dislocate people. Also criticism. We measure aesthetics and use them intelligently. We look for you.
“Musically we deal with many different styles without problems without losing our eternal attitude”
The aesthetic for this album is very marked.
Yes, we wanted to restore the image of a time in our history. Album covers of the 60s, concert posters, election propaganda… Urretxindorra, Zoroak, Pantxoa eta Peio, Gonzal Mendibil… Also from the 70s: Niko Etxart’s first album, Errobi…. Typography, image… that’s where we chose to go.
How are you carrying out the mission of walking through the desert to the sound of rock n’ roll?
Jose Mari from Bizardunaka told us: “¿Sois los últimos Mohicanos?” It is difficult and after the pandemic, even more difficult. We feel that there has been a big change in a very short time. It seems that in three years we have moved to a parallel universe. When we released our first album, rock n’ roll still had a bit of space, as well as a young audience. We were moving on the edge of the disappearance of rock. All that has been lost and in this last stage there has been a huge change. Today there is great diversity. The first rock bands were the compass and today the reference is elsewhere.
Can rock n’ roll ever be written outside of the patriarchy? Do you try?
Until now, the profile of the rock and pop star has been male. But today we can say that it is female. Men have sung about love or sex from their perspective. And all that has to change and we all have to go deeper into that.
Akarrusin is an exercise around that?
Yes, it’s a criticism of big men.
Rock n’ rollari barre, rock n’ rolla eginda…
At the press conference for the album we were asked if we hardly ever move through swampy ground. Because people might not take us seriously. And our answer was that we would almost become Mojinos Escozíos. We don’t know Our biggest reference has always been Niko Etxart. We love how he combines rock n’ roll with humor. What a beautiful way he does that. Even the Bearded ones we mentioned earlier. Maybe those were more provocative. Itoize also had some songs. If you delve into our music, you will easily see that we are not Mojinos Escozíos.
NEXT CONCERTS:
– February 16 > Youth Center in Mons
– February 25 > Dock, Bilbao + T-shirt
– March 3 > Doka Cafe Theater, Donostia Nevada
– March 16 > Jimmy Jazz, Gasteiz Nevada