“Physical damage” (Sonido Muchacho, 2023) is the second album by Monteperdido and a great leap in quality. Despite preserving the frenzy, the DIY essence and its characteristic “pessimism”. The group gives a boost to his career this time and is ready to take on the world.
Suffer, but with pleasure. Monteperdido They have a very clear philosophy of life: you have to embrace the bad moments in life and then enjoy all the good things that life has in store for you. Just out of the rehearsal room where they prepare the songs for their tour. We talked to them about new challenges, the importance of being honest in today’s music industry and surrounding yourself with a good human team.
“Daño físico” is an album in which you are always at the emotional limit, always on the edge.
(Bego) Well, the lyrics are mostly written by me and it is the way I live and I like to express myself. On the other hand, it is true that we wrote the album in three super frenetic months and that also influenced when writing certain lyrics. But well yes, we talk about suffering as a way of living. We think it’s nice because if you don’t suffer then you don’t experience good things either. You have to appreciate everything, living on a plain is a hassle, you have to live ups and downs.
This way of thinking represents a generation that has been placed and imposed certain things and that in the end is dealing with mental health problems that they do not show. It’s almost like a summary of the consequences of a drowned generation that has passed from bubble to bubble.
(Bego) Yes, in fact we are among the first generations to become aware of this type of problem. But, in addition, also one of the first to normalize and not silence this type of thing.
(Dani) We always talk about the generation that we have lived in, but I am seeing new generations of artists who make music and continue to talk about the same thing, suffering and commenting on this topic. So, maybe it’s not so much generational anymore, but we are a little focused on this all over the world. You come across nineteen-year-olds like Rojuu in which his lyrics and his way of living music is much more pessimistic and painful. Pessimism is a young thing.
You capture very well in your songs that anxiety that is generated in the music industry by saying things like “you have to do the best lyrics in the world because it’s a great song”. At the level of expectations and facing this release, how have you seen yourself from one album to another?
(Bego) The truth is that after playing the other album many times we have realized the parts that are lame and how we feel live. For this reason, on this album we have decided to make songs faster with the intention of having a much more powerful and much more concentrated energy. There is also the idea that the concerts are better, that people enjoy more and that there is a very action-oriented, powerful atmosphere. Therefore, the sound and speed have changed. It’s all been so crazy, we wrote this in three months, we pinned it all down in ten days, we recorded it and left it as it is. We are very happy.
(Dani) And what you say about the lyrics is because we had no experience in having a management behind us, a booker behind us, a label behind us that sets deadlines… And now suddenly we have an infrastructure behind us that doesn’t impose on you, but it does It requires some times and deadlines that is an extra anxiety.
(Bego) It really is that if it is not like that, it is not possible to do great things. You need someone to be poking your ass to get the best of you. That work under pressure that really is fucking capitalist torture.
It is noticeable that there is a much more defined sound, that everything is more outlined. There is more sound contrast because at the end there is much more light than on the previous album. The placement of the voice and the way of singing are also surprising. But the good thing is that your essence is still alive in lyrics that maintain that darkness.
(Bego) The lyrics are pessimistic but why am I complaining. Pessimistic, but also happy. In other words, suffering with pleasure, nothing happens guys, I’m bitchy but that’s life, we take it philosophically. And what you say about the vocal change, well yes, singing like that has suited me more. Also because I have felt that the music matched much more with how I feel and then I have felt more comfortable singing like that to be myself.
And once you have already vomited everything and with the disc out. What relationship do you have with the themes?
(Bego) I personally listen to them in the car every day on loop. I’m very happy.
(Dani) For me, it’s the first time that I’ve heard the entire album and it surprises me as if I were hearing it from a group that has nothing to do with me, an external group, and that feeling is very cool because you can enjoy it.
(Bego) At first I saw him as a deck of failures and now it’s like the failures seem fine to me, like I’ve gone blind, you know. But hey, that seems to me to be very good for my mental health, so perfect.
Although the album talks about very general concepts. How many staff are in it?
(Bego) Literally everything is personal experience, in the lyrics I have not changed anything in my life. There is not a single invented thing, not even half a sentence, everything they say is something real, although we are still not giving all the information.
Sincerity is one of the most important things for a musician. You can be very good, but if you are sincere, you are better. And on the contrary, even if you are a bad guy, you know that at least you are expressing yourself as you are and being honest. Being honest is the most important thing.
What plans are there to move the album?
(Dani) Everything is very very new for us, we are doing a lot of interviews and we are not used to it. But yes, super happy with it. We really want to tour with him and see how people react to all those songs that were not previews of the album.
(Bego) We gave ourselves a lot of shit selecting the singles, but we think that in “Daño físico” there are many more super cool, dark, intense, beautiful and very powerful songs.
