A breakup, football, meeting someone in a bar in Malasaña, the existential crisis of a generation without a future or having a coffee. Carolina Durante finds inspiration for your music under the stones. And although the name may be misleading, this is not a female artist, but rather a four kids –as they titled their second album. they are Diego Ibanez (voice), Martin Vallhonrat (low), Juan Pedrayes (battery) and Mario del Valle (guitar). His third album, choose your own adventure (Sonido Muchacho, 2024), has received a great reception since last Friday among followers of the Spanish indie scene.
For their fans, this group represents an ’empty generation’, marked by a context of perpetual crisis –economic, climatic, political…–, but which nevertheless They look at life with irony and enthusiasm; a vitalistic nihilism. “We are part of the concerns that our generation has and that is reflected in our music,” says Del Valle. “I don’t think it’s so much a philosophy of life, but rather a mental structure, which is increasingly cynical or nihilistic.”
Diego Ibáñez: “I try to fight against my nihilistic tendency”
For his part, Ibáñez affirms that he tries not to be this way. “Even though we write the way we do, I try to get it out of my daily life because it makes me bitter, it makes me unhappy. I try to fight against my tendency, which is totally nihilistic“explains the singer.
The guitarist identifies two approaches to this nihilistic cynicism. “There is someone who is very afraid of the lack of meaning, there are no values and everything doesn’t matter, so I am an amoral person and it doesn’t matter if I get up and take a shower this morning or drink 17,000 beers. But I think there is also a nihilistic vitalism, which is taken with humorand I think it’s very healthy.”
Del Valle admits that he does not escape the ghost of uncertainty that runs through the generation Z. “There are social structures, like capitalism, in which “When something is suddenly destroyed, everything we had thought was the destiny of humanity is no longer so.”analyze. However, he agrees with the vocalist when he says: “In general, we like to do things and have fun“.
The rise of the extreme right in a fast-paced society
The third song from the new album, I had coffeeis idiosyncratic in its costumbrista lyrics, with Ibáñez’s energetic voice and an unbridled rhythm, which evoke the daily speed of a demanding economic system that prohibits stopping. However, they stopped. And they are back now after a one-year hiatus.
Mario del Valle: “It’s nice to miss. For us and for the public”
“We released the second album and since we came out of the pandemic we had not stopped playing. We had two options: or keep spinning with the same songs and put I don’t know how much money in our pockets, or we could stop and rest – which would be better for making music – and that way people could also rest from us. It’s cool that artists take a bit of hard work,” says Diego Ibáñez. “It’s nice to miss“adds Del Valle. “It’s nice for us and also for the public.”
However, although in this last stage they have not continued with the tour, They haven’t stopped working either.. “I don’t feel like it’s been a year of rest,” says the guitarist. “We’d have more rest if we weren’t so scratchy in the fucking head.“says the vocalist.
There are many achievements of these musicians, who rose to fame with their song Cajetanin which they sang: “They don’t vote for the PP, they vote for Ciudadanos”, a lyric that they have updated: “Now they vote for Vox, before for Ciudadanos“. A slight modification that represents the rise of the extreme right. The members affirm that this is one of their concerns, “but not only in Spain, but throughout the world,” Ibáñez clarifies.
“At a global level, there is a current of white supremacy that rescues symbols of ancient cultures such as the Vikings,” Vallhonrat points out. “All of this responds to an existential void that many people feel“, he argues, alluding to the nihilism that seems to characterize the current era.
From Vox to Codere, but far from the protest song
Carolina Durante still doesn’t have a song about these Nordic soldiers. In general, his lyrics are more implicit and respond to more personal than social experiences. “We are talking about a personal and individual discomfort, which at the same time is suffered collectively and which obviously comes from the contemporary socioeconomic situation, but in our way of making music there has always been a playful motivation and having a good time,” declares Del Valle. . “We are far from the protest song“, emphasizes the singer for his part.
Martín Vallhonrat: “When you express yourself honestly you will always see how politics covers everything”
This does not prevent them from including mockery of the right or even betting operators like Codere. “When you express yourself sincerely, you will always see how politics covers everything,” explains Martín Vallhonrat. “Even if we do it with sarcasm and without thinking too much about it, you will always be saying something that can resonate at a political and social level.”
In fact, several political representatives have echoed the lyrics of these four musicians, but it is at least curious that the colors of their parties sit on the right of the chamber in Congress. Thus, a representative of People’s Party cited during a control session not so younga song that talks about the apathy of an “empty generation.” Also those of the extreme right They boasted that now “Vox even reaches the groups”, regarding the change in the letter of Cajetan.
“You can’t control that,” explains Ibáñez. “Obviously you would like the person who cites you and the person who mentions you to be people similar to your ideas, but if I start to get upset every time this happens… phew.”
Cajetans and “trench wars”
At the same time, those of Carolina Durante admit that their audience can also be, precisely, cayetan. “Anyway, we’re losing them,” the vocalist continues. “It’s been a while and they no longer find it funny…Please don’t let the headline be that we are losing cayetans“, he requests while raising his hands to his face. “Let the headline be Please don’t let the headline be that we are losing cayetans“Del Valle jokes.
Martín Vallhonrat: “Not talking to people with whom you don’t agree greatly impoverishes the discourse”
“I think that we have always had a very transversal audience“, points out Vallhonrat, a reflection in which everyone agrees. In this sense, artists defend a stoic vision of coexistence with others. “Not having a dialogue with people with whom you do not agree greatly impoverishes the discourse,” says Vallhonrat. low.
“I think that Those who claim to have no right-wing friends live in a cave“, declares Ibáñez. “Besides, you can be right-wing for some things and not for others. People have contradictions,” he adds. However, the singer is clear: “I consider myself a left-wing person, without a doubt.”
The guitarist also considers that “trench warfare is a very sealed thing. Things can be talked about openly and critical thinking applied“. This does not mean that the band does not contemplate red lines. “There are very direct forms of violence and the level of anger and annoyance sometimes prevents dialogue,” says Del Valle. “We try to be sensible people.”
Male sensitivity: a hidden universe of emotions
Among their red lines, they mention racism, machismo or homophobia. Three forms of violence that do not affect Carolina Durante, who, unlike Carmen Mola, have always made it clear that they are not a woman, but four heterosexual white men.
Diego Ibáñez: “Why the hell shouldn’t I make more songs about football if it’s something that’s part of my life?”
“I talked about this with Luis, our manager. He said: ‘four straight guys, no more songs about football’. Why the hell shouldn’t I make more songs about football if it’s something that’s part of my life? I don’t aspire to to be nothing beyond what I like to tell and what excites me,” says Ibáñez.
And it is true that this group of “four straights” has written more than one song in honor of this sport, but their latest album, choose your own adventureshows a much more sensitive side, as they have already done in many of their lyrics. In reality, although they are deployed within a hegemonic masculinity, they allow themselves to explore their most vulnerable side, capturing it in music that excites both boys and girls.
Vallhonrrat comments that he showed the album to his friends. “They said it was like looking into a world of feelings that for them is more masculinewith which they don’t feel so identified, but they learn from it because men don’t usually express our emotions with this freedom, and I think that on this album we do.”
That’s what listeners Carolina Durante can be found in their new songs. choose your own adventureavailable now, is his most genuine work to date. With this release, the four artists give the starting signal for a new tour that will begin in Valencia and whose destination is Wizink Centerfrom Madrid.
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