The poetic and metaphorical language that we have heard before in Love of Lesbian has given way to blunt declamations, colloquialism, everyday onomatopoeia and even tacos in a new album titled ‘Salvation Army’where the Catalan band has drawn a melancholic self-portrait, oscillating between resignation and anger, very back from everything in general. “Hence the more direct language, although trying to be brilliant with each verse was exhausting, and even arrogant,” laughs the singer and lyricist Santi Balmes. «It is evident that on the album there is a cry for the place we are heading as a society. Because there comes a time when you start to feel very out of it all, due to a combination of factors. On the one hand, all my cultural idols are dying; On the other hand, technological uses have me completely confused… It’s like I say in the song ‘The Day Starman Ran Away’: «I never wanted to leave the 20th century, now my car barely gets lost, while I get lost in every occasion.” What worries me is how it will affect the new generations not having known anything other than this digital world, because fraternal and family closeness have become something incomplete, without epidermis in between. Now everything is a “let’s see if we can meet up one day…”
In the early stages of promoting this new work, a statement taken out of context, or perhaps just misinterpreted, has made it seem that Love of Lesbian have been going through serious internal problems lately. “I think the journalist misunderstood us, but hey, there’s no harm in it, because in the end the interviews become psychoanalysis sessions,” says Balmes, who wouldn’t see it as a bad thing to have external help in such a case. “Me neither,” says guitarist Julián Saldarriaga. «After a lifetime thinking that I could always take care of myself, I went through a difficult time and needed help, I did therapy for four years and it did me very well. Why can’t it be the same at the group level with a ‘coach’, like my beloved Metallica did?
In any case, if one day things get muddy, they will always have their ‘Salvation Army’, their fans, to take away the nonsense with their infallible recipe for volleys of love fired from the dance floor. Furthermore, this time almost in small committee because instead of Wizinks, Sant Jordis or Bernabéus, Love of Lesbian are going to tour venues like La Riviera or Razzmatazz. “There is something that happens in a room of 1,500 people that does not happen anywhere else, and it is the incredible feeling that you have everyone trapped, that no one has disconnected, that no one is there by chance,” says Balmes.
That will be in Spain, because first they are going to tour Mexico, which also has its own peculiarity. «We are going to be there for a whole month, and the thing is that we are going to open new places there. Eighty percent of the dates are places we’ve never played before. The idea is that people from those places do not have to drive eight hours to go see us in Mexico City, but that we are the ones who go to them,” explains Balmes. “When they see us in Chihuahua, Mexicans are going to wonder what the hell we are doing there,” jokes Saldarriaga, who then gets serious to describe the “beautiful history” they have with the country. «They tell us that there has not been a Spanish group with such a connection with Mexico for decades. They give us the example of Hombres G as a reference, which is crazy.
I think one of the best songs on the album is ‘Contradiction’. And it seems that being contradictory has never been so frowned upon as now, when it seems that absolute truths must be upheld all the time. Or absolute post-truths…
(Santi Balmes) It’s true. Man, if you are in the world of politics, and then you don’t lead by example and they catch you in a hotel, who knows how… I guess that contradiction is not going to be very well received (laughs). But in the vital aspect I believe that almost all of us are contradictory, and I don’t trust too much those who are not, or rather, those who say they are not. They scare me. I get the feeling that whoever says it is not, is because their contradictions are very unspeakable.
How do you handle combining music with content creation?
(Julián Saldarriaga) Good question. A few days ago, I saw a photo of an artist with a message that said: “I thought my job was to create art, not content.”
(Santi Balmes) Exactly. But it’s funny, because then you see a veteran who should be super burned out, like Paul McCartney, and the guy doesn’t stop doing things for networks. Ringo Starr the same, Mick Jagger the same… You follow Jagger and you’re crazy, but how could you have become an Instagramer? Maybe that rejuvenates them in some way, I don’t know. I think it should go with each person’s character. Some enjoy it, and others do it more obligatorily, because we have a group, we release albums, we give concerts and we need to have that badulaque open twenty-four hours a day. But so, at least for me, there is a part of the mystery that is lost. Sometimes it would be cool to do like in the Pope series starring Jude Law. When he meets with a commercial agent from the Vatican, he looks at her and says: “The merchandising is over.” The host.
(Julián Saldarriaga) The series is very good.
(Santi Balmes) Yes, even if it’s just for the visual aesthetics, you have to give it a chance.
This is the album with the most collaborations, by far. In that they have been more 21st century than 20th century.
(Julián Saldarriaga) The only thing missing is Jude Law.
(Santi Balmes) We have done whatever it took to have Zahara, Eva Amaral, Leiva and Jorge Drexler. With Rigoberta Bandini it has been easier because she records in our studio (laughs). In principle there were going to be fewer, but new reasons always arose to invite someone else and form another Salvation Army.
There are no more urban ‘lesbians’ left, they all live in towns. And I think that has also influenced this album.
(Santi Balmes) The escape from large urban spaces, seeking authenticity in closer environments… well, I’m not going to tell you that it hasn’t had an influence. This way you have fewer but more continuous and solid friendships.
Is there still snobbery in alternative pop, not to use the word ‘indie’ ambiguously?
(Santi Balmes) There is still a lot. It’s very hard how many people you keep meeting who say the typical phrase “you used to be cool.” Now other bands that are more in the spotlight due to hype are suffering more. We are almost a classic and there is beginning to be a minimum of respect. But for us there were a couple of years that were very complicated in that sense. Here comes the topic of festival posters. But the thing is that whoever organizes a festival can think of bands that sound great in their head, but when it comes down to it that person is a promoter who is risking their money.
(Julián Saldarriaga) We were not to blame for everything that happened around us. We are a music group that makes songs, and we do not decide how many people have to listen to us or buy our albums or our tickets. That is foreign to us. We don’t make songs to sweep the sales charts. Santi’s lyrics are very accurate, but they are not easy for the mainstream. We have songs that are seven, eight minutes long… We have never made it easy because we believe that there are many people thirsty for a ‘challenge’, for not having everything chewed up.
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