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The Loveless
CousinsFirst,
let’s talk about you. Can
you tell us who are the members
of the group? Where are you from?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
The members are: Nestor Pardo (vocals
and rhythmic guitar), Ramon
Corona (Main Guitar) Quique Pardo
(bass) and all three are from La
Coruña, coastal city in northern
Spain.
Marcos, Moon River trio
The Moon River Trio is a project
born out of The Nitemares’
nucleus. Meaning the same
musicians except the drummer. The
goal was to best enjoy the"harmonious"
outcome than the "rhythm".
The Moon River Trio are Marcos
Sendarrubias, voice and rhythmic,
Diego Araoz, guitar and Jesus
Sanz, bass. We all come from the
Madrid area (suburbs or center).
The vinyl album came out in
November and the cd version (21
songs) has just been released
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
Well, Los Raw Meat are Oscar
Novell, singer and guitar, Marti
Gallén *, guitar solist (Marti
left the band in February 2009),
Alvar Ferrer double bass and Juan
Garces drums. We are all from
Barcelona, but Oscar and Alvar
have been living in Berlin for a
few months ago.
What
are your past and present
influences?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
Well, we all got different tastes
but we have all been influenced
by blues, Rock-a-Billy, Gospel,
Country, Hillbilly, R & B,
etc., that each one of us brings
up in its own way of playing.
Marcos, Moon River trio
Our influences, as those of the
vast majority of musicians from
the Rock & Roll 50's, were
basically the same. The classics.
At present, or rather since
several years, the influences
that we could receive at a
personal level were for each of
us quite different. Jesus is the
one who has kept untouched his
orthodoxy, Diego opted for a more
jazzy line marked by guitarists
like D'Jango Reindhart, Oscar
Aleman, Charlie Christian, ... ..
As for me I listen and enjoy lots
of music, I wouldn’t know
how to tell without looking like
a snob or make a fool out of
myself but those who influenced
me the much were only the major
vocalists.
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
Our influences are very diverse
and different from one another.
We would be lying if we were to
say that our influences are based
on classic Rock & Roll from
the 50's only. But obviously our
roots come mainly from the Rock
& Roll of the late 50's and
then the new upsurge of bands in
Europe in the 90's. But if we
talk about influences, or what
turns out involuntarily when
composing or when playing....
then surely more than one would
be surprised, because we would be
talking from the most classic to
the most "punk" of our
music.
Can you tell us a little
more of the scene in your region?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
In the north there are few
interesting and hard-working
bands, among which, The Honky
Tonkin Boozers, a band that began
as a rockabilly Trio, to become
an R&B with saxophone and
trumpet band. We can also mention
The Hound Dogs, an awesome band
from our city. You can check them
out on myspace.com. There is also
Mr Whiz from Vigo, or Freddie
Fano from Asturias.
Marcos, Moon River trio
In our area, the scene is very
rich. All year round on most week-ends,
we have festivals or concerts.
Some appearances are fixed for
years, others are circumstantial,
but generally we can say that we
have more rock & roll than we
can enjoy. The bands that make up
the local scene are Megatones,
Jackpots, Peter King Band,
Massapecqua Trio, Lucky Dados,
Rocket Pockets, Insaciables,
Cavernas, Blue Ridge Rockers,
Hulahoops, Kike Jambalaya,
Imperial Surfers, Coronas,
Inalaketch Surf, Faraones,
Silvertones, Charlie Hightone
& The Rock-It’s……
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
If we talk about Barcelona, as
far as bands are concerned, it is
worse that ever from our point of
view. Influent bands like Born
Losers have disappeared recently
and the rockabilly scene hasn’t
seen any new band since we
appeared. It seems that with the
Doo Wop things are moving a
little bit, but still,
considering we are talking about
Barcelona, it is surprising there
aren’t more bands around.
Exceptions are The Fabulous
Ottomans and Ella & the
Nightshouters
Moon River trio
And in Spain ?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
There are many bands in Spain!
Each time, we’re on tour
with a different one – the
list would be endless. However
you can check it out on www.rockers.es
in the bands section. Among the
most successful: Charlie Hightone
and the rock-its, Raw Meat, Moon
River trio, and many others.
Marcos, Moon River trio
The rest of the country is pretty
lively through the local scenes
and more specifically with the
big and important festivals that
take place, as High Rockabilly,
Screamin 'Festival and the
Rockin' Race Jamboree.
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
In Spain in general we believe
that the scene is quite healthy,
there are many bands and the best
festivals in Europe. It is true
that as everywhere else, there
are some bands with a lot more
international exposure than
others and that sometimes it
seems that there is nothing else,
but I think this last year we
have seen a big step forward
finally breaking this fear of
putting national bands into big
Festivals and that from now on
the way might be easier for those
who will come behind. I do not
think it will be limited to the
three or four main bands.
The Spanish scene today
can be defined as a birth or a
rebirth?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
None of them, the Spanish scene
has always been there, you can
ask people like Los Brioles. As
far as I’m concerned, the
Spanish scene never died nor went
through a revival… it just
moved to another level but still
true to rockabilly music.
To sum it up, for example in our
case, all the young crowd wants
is to see some serious rock n’
roll on stage… this way you
get to meet loads of young people
you would have never seen at gigs.
Marcos, Moon River trio
The Spanish scene has always been
there. There have been up’s
and down’s but the result of
what we have now is neither a
birth or a rebirth. Let's say
that it’s the perseverance
of the fans of rock & roll in
this country, especially those
who have taken initiatives and
have fought against all odds to
make a scene worthy. Now nobody
remembers what we owe them.
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
I wouldn’t describe it as a
birth since in this country we
have always had a rockin scene,
proof of this are the national
festivals that have been around
for a number of years and before
those, others. Nor as a revival.
I think these last two or three
years which coincided with the
The Raw Meat, there have been
several factors that have been a
breath of fresh air to the
national scene. One factor is
that bands from the 80's came
back, another is that there is a
new wave that comes from other
scenes, first with the custom
culture thing and then more and
more faithful to the rockabilly
music. If you add to it, like in
our case, that all that those
youngsters want is wild rock
& roll on stage, then you
have a good combination to meet a
lot of young people you had never
seen before among the public.
Many notorious
international festivals and
record labels are in Spain, is
this good for the national bands?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
Yes, of course it helps out to
know better the situation in
Spain. There are a lot people
like Guille from Sleazy records,
who are supporting a lot the
scene. High Rockabilly has also
begun to do so now, and the
others too, have supported other
people like the bull records, or
skinny records.
Marcos, Moon River trio
I do not think notorious
international festivals are good
for national bands. Not that they
are bad, but they do not hire
bands here and the international
public opinion may think that it
is because there is no national
band who matches the level to
appear on the posters of these
festivals. In the past High
Rockabilly have hired three
expert bands , I hope and pray
that this example will spread and
be repeated in this festival and
others.
Now regarding labels it’s
different. There are only two
labels known internationally,
Sleazy Records and El Toro
Records. Knowing the type of
promotion they lead, they
typically do not know where is
the advantage of international
repute. Let's say there is a
benefit for the image of the
distribution that perform these
labels. In any case this does not
include the total number of bands
that are in this state.
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
Well, it is neither good nor bad.
The choice of the label depends
on the distribution conditions
you are interested in and the
potential the label has, whether
Spanish or Zulu. As far as we are
concerned, we are very happy with
Sleazy Records and the vast
majority of the Spanish bands
work with them, there must be a
reason. Regarding festivals, I
suppose that it is good to have
three or four major festivals in
our country that the entire world
outside our borders knows and
talks about. But I think it is
much better now that at last the
national festivals are also used
to promote Spanish bands as well,
since it is a great opportunity
to be known and seen by many
people from other parts of the
globe. I think the High
Rockabilly has had a great vision
and great courage in deciding to
program daring bands in its
festival. At last we, Spanish
bands, are made known to the
international scene and Jose has
been able to see it at the
appropriate time. Not forgetting
festivals such as Rockin Race
which has always taken into
consideration national bands, but
this is already known, however
the test was in a important
festival with a more purist
criteria, which I think was good.
Los Raw Meat
Do you believe, as a
musical group, that the Internet
promotes or harms?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
It’s definitely a good thing!
Being non profit making, we are
delighted that people are free to
download our album if they want
to.
Marcos, Moon River trio
Undoubtedly provides us benefits
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
No doubt it favours us and we
must take full advantage of it.
Your best memory as a
musician?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
All the adventures and stories we
had on the road…. Which are
many but only few of them can be
confessed hahaha!
Marcos, Moon River trio
Singing for three hours at dawn
in the streets, in a freezing
cold, alongside Jan Svenson, Pep
Torres, Miguel A. Garcia and
Lidia Sobrino. Doo wopp Acapella
all night in Barcelona. It was
magical.
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
There are lots of good memories.
On each trip there are many that
are worthy of being remembered.
Surely the 309 we improvised in
Stockholm with Jan Svensson and
the dinner we got into a local in
Cerdanyola, in a very weird
concert, but the dinner based on
typical rural Catalan food,
grilled potatoes with all i oli,
etc etc ... It was a luxury.
Well, and the broth that we took
in Bilbao which saved us from
extreme cold, we drank 2 litters
if I remember correctly ....
And as Spectator ?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
Quique and Ramon are not here to
answer but I am sure that their
best memory was when they saw
Ronnie Dawson in the Rockabilly
rave shortly before he died. I do
not have it very clear.
Marcos, Moon River trio
I have many but stick with me the
first time I saw The Comets.
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
Lil Luis & The Wildteens at
the High Rockabilly from several
years ago, I saw the light (Oscar)
and Hi-Winders in the High
Rockabilly 2008.
A last word?
Nestor, Loveless Cousins
Love
Marcos, Moon River trio
Take care and Rock & Roll.
Oscar, Los Raw Meat
What you see on stage from a
concert of Los Raw Meat, do not
try it at home.
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