“We wanted to focus more on making songs that are easy to get into”

Toundra They are an instrumental rock institution in our country and with a rare international projection for a long time. The Madrid quartet resets with its most adventurous album“Seven” (Strelka Recordings, 26).

(You can check his tour dates at the end of this interview).

A nineteen-year career goes a long way, but time seems to have accelerated since his previous and celebrated “Hex” (22): Esteban J. Girón got off the boat, and another friend of the scene, Jorge García (Adrift), has entered. In addition, the band is committed to self-publishing in a work with more weight of analog synthesizers in which they have tried to be more direct.

I’m at their location in the south of Madrid, surrounded by amplifiers, guitars, effects pedals and the classic Korg MS-20 mono synthesizer. Three-quarters of the band is with me: in addition to the aforementioned Jorge, there are Alberto Tocados (bass) and David López “Macón” (guitars).

They just played at Desert Fest in Berlin, and also at a festival in Morocco. (David) “The experience was impressive. They are opening up to this music, and it was like going back to the nineties”. The tour for the new album will begin in the fall “at our own pace. We want to be very selective”.

“On an ethical level, Spotify does not seem like the best company to us, but people are there”

Alberto also explains what the group has experienced in recent years. “In year 23 we had a tour scheduled, but Esteban no longer saw himself in the group. We decided to take a break that lasted a year and a half. The three of us were clear that we wanted to continue. So we reconfigured the idea of the band. When the time came to bring in a fourth person, Jorge was the most logical person, because he has played with David in other groups and has collaborated with us artistically. He is also a graphic designer and artist.”

In groups, departures often have to do with expectations “that do not crystallize”. (Albert) “You see that the effort has not taken you to where you wanted to get, and the flame of desire may go out a little. My expectation has always been to accept what came and, above all, enjoy. Those of us who have fit into that philosophy have been one hundred percent”. (David) “There have been many years of hard work, and I think that for an instrumental group, many things have been achieved. It was time to continue in a relaxed way, because that is what life has led us to: the majority of members of the band already have children. It is about trying to unite both lives.”

The new formation breathed a vitality that has ended up being essential in their seventh album, whose title follows its numerical tradition (in “Vortex” there was the V, which is five in Latin, “Hex” is “six” in Greek…), although for the first time “stopping nonsense and reclaiming our language.”

With the entry of Jorge the dynamics of the band changed. (David) “The first song we recorded at the venue was very exciting. I was listening to the recording at the venue for several weeks. It was about recovering a little enthusiasm, and the album was like that. It came out very easy.”

The cover, the work of artist Mercedes Bellido, symbolizes resurgence after a disaster. (Jorge) “We love what it looks like, and we also wanted to give a different pictorial vibe to the album. It’s a different LP starting because I’m there, and we wanted to explore that concept of something that grows from what’s destroyed. You can extrapolate it to the group and whatever you want. When something explodes, there’s always the hope that something will come out of it.”

Another novelty is the weight of the synthesizers. (Albert) “Before we used synths more for arrangements, to round out the songs, and this is the first album in which some began to be composed from synthesizer lines or sequences. We really wanted to do it, but it had always been a bit difficult for us because since you are with another instrument, it is difficult for you to enter into experimentation.” “Synthesizers like the MS-20 -duck- They have many sounds. Through the guitar amp it still sounds very rocky and powerful, but with another expressiveness.” However, David clarifies that “There are not as many as we expected” and Jorge concludes that “That path is opening up. All Daft Punk songs have something of MS-20, Air… it’s very iconic and cool. With Loma Baja I started to get into this vibe, and it’s another spectrum.”

The bassist admits that after almost two decades it is “very difficult” finding new things within an instrumental rock group. That’s why change the dynamic “It reminds you of the beginnings. We had that feeling of entering the place super excited, bringing up songs and listening to them at home. We have made a clean slate.” (Jorge) “Suddenly everything is a little new for everyone.” They have brought that freshness to an album in which they seem to have left the rest behind. (Albert) “We have still put in a lot more of each of us. It has been a more democratic thing. All ideas have had a place and have related to each other very well. It has been like the beginning of a group in which anything goes.”

Although it has an experimental point, for David “It’s an album of songs. The last three were more conceptual with long, well-developed songs. We wanted to focus more on making songs that are easy to get into.” (Albert) “We already had that experience with Exquirla’s album con el Niño de Elche: we found it comforting to create a song based on repetition, choruses and a more classic structure.”

What has not changed is their historical relationship with the Catalan producer and technician Santi García (Viva Belgrado, Biznaga), in whose Ultramarinos studio they have recorded almost their entire catalog. (Albert) “Santi is a master and he has great control over us. Once we recorded a single with another person and it seemed to us that it was less organic. We are very comfortable with him”. (David) “He makes you sound like you were in the rehearsal room, and that’s magical. Sometimes you record and you don’t recognize yourself. We’ve always recorded with him.”

“There are bands that can no longer afford to fly with their equipment, touring has become difficult”

Everything has led them to self-publishing. (Albert) “It is true that at the beginning Warner put money, but here we want to return to our true beginnings. When you have a certain journey as a band and a certain number of followers, taking this step is much easier. We are very happy”. (David) “In the end, we have always sold the albums ourselves on tours. We bought copies from the record companies, damn it. We realized it. We are more relaxed, we are doing things the way we want to do them. And we are going to sell the albums. At FNAC two will be sold, as they have been sold all their lives.” What interests them is to move the LP at their own pace and “put it at the fairest price possible.”

The pandemic was a very hard blow for the band, which had to cancel the tour of one of its most special projects, the soundtrack of the silent film classic “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” on your anniversary. Not only that: Alberto adds that the vinyl “They began to be sold at knockdown prices in large stores.” And they don’t want to go through there again.

Not everything is negative. Thanks to digital platforms, especially Spotify, “One hundred percent of the digital is ours. On an ethical level it doesn’t seem like the best company to us, but the thing is that people are there. You’re not going to deprive them of your music either.” (David) “We are also on Bandcamp, we give other possibilities. That freedom comes from releasing the album on your own.”

The geopolitical tensions we are experiencing have hit tours hard. “The plane tickets that we have paid to play at festivals in Europe in recent months (Germany and Belgium) had an exorbitant price. There came a time when you didn’t know if it was going to pay off. There are bands that can no longer afford to fly with their equipment. The most profitable thing is to do several dates in a row, but there will always be weak ones. A festival can compensate for them, but it has become difficult.”

The competition is also fierce. (Albert) “The Internet has generated a large number of small and medium-sized bands and there is a lot of competition. It is easy for when you go to play in a city another band of your style will play. And there is not enough audience. In Europe it is true that there are more than here, but if you compete with a larger or well-known group, it becomes very complicated.”

Demographic realities prevail. (Albert) “In Europe the people who listen to us are now forty or fifty years old. Streaming services give you very detailed statistics. Most of the people who listen to us are between thirty-five and fifty. I think it’s because it’s guitar music. Urban music is very powerful now, in the same way that our generation grew up with guitar music.” (David) “In Morocco, on the other hand, it was all kids in their twenties. They are the ones who are into that now, they like beer.” (Jorge) “We’re curious to see how the album fits in, if people like it, if it attracts new people. It seems complicated to me, although you never know: kids are suddenly crazy about Korn or Deftones. We’re expectant and excited. We don’t have super high expectations.” (Albert) “Before there was a management plan, and you ended up playing in unnecessary places. Now we are going to do what we like and what motivates us.”