Cala Vento & Bacoa

Aleix and Joan, Joan and Aleix. An army of two. No need for anyone else. These two form a fresh, crisp and up and coming musical ensemble nationwide. They’ve edited their last album “Fruto Panorama” with BCore, pushing the boundaries for the emerging music scene. With a “sensitive guy” facade but a loud and proud attitude. A sound that oozes indie rock and melodic hardcore from the 90’s and early 2000’s but played almost in 2020. It’s a four steps cocktail of two voices, guitar and drums.

Which one would you say it’s been your wildest gig?

Well, all of them have had a certain edge to it, we’ve rarely felt like we should’ve stayed at home. We gotta mention though, if we’re talking wild, the Canela Party gig in Malaga last August. That was something else.

Where do you see things going after all the touring?

Putting together our best album so far.

Do you have any special collab in mind?

Sure thing! We are all about sharing the love. It’s just the two of us in the band… It can get pretty lonesome, so it’s always nice to get together with other artists.

You’ve always been considered underground but you’ve never been afraid to flirt with the mainstream. Which bands in the national scene you think can play both hands without losing their essence?

On an artistic level, all of them. We gotta start putting those prejudices a side. All music has the potential to transcend the underground. These bands just need to have the will to professionalize themselves. For us, that’s what the mainstream in Spain stands for. There’re other countries out there (Like the states) where you’ve got a pro underground scene. But it’s not like that in here because we lack a strong critical crowd in the music scene. We wanna make a good living out of this (Even though we’ve got other jobs) this is why we flirt with mainstream. Indie a side, the great albums that we remember growing up where extra mainstream!!

You speak Catalan between the two of you, the global music market goes English and you sing in Spanish.

We follow the market like any good craftsman pays attention to how the one across the road does the same job, but when it comes to decision making, we couldn’t care less about it. We’re moved by the wind. As a matter of fact, this upcoming year we’ll be performing a Catalan cover version in a TV3 show. This kind of things come up and you just jump on it. We’re comfortable at the moment with Spanish, it’s a pretty broad language haha.

You’ve performed in Mexico quite recently. I’m sure you’ll come back but , what will you tell to your grandchildren about this first trip?

Well, to begin with that Mexico is huge and there’s LOADS of Mexicans in it. We’ll most definitely mention that this guy called Arturo (shout out to Arturo) came to all three gigs in the DF. After our second gig he approached us and told us about his radio show “Toque y rol”, he wanted to have us as guests. Two days before leaving town we went to his place in “Colonia Narvarte” to record a show with another two collaborators. We recorded the show from a little desk in the corner of his living room with a small laptop and four mics. To be able to jam with these three guys and getting to know everyone that we met along the way was definitely the highlight of the trip. We know for sure that they’ll be there for us when we come back, with a big smile and loads of “salero”.

Aleix that fender of yours that gently weeps can also get fired up and light the whole venue up in flames. Can you share with us a basic in your pedal repertoire for anyone out there who wants to bite on that sound of yours?

The tighter your repertoire is the better, I’ve already got too many. That sound you’re talking about comes from the guitar and the amp. My Jazzmaster has this P90 pickups also known as V pickups. They reach those extra lows and extra highs. On top of that, I’m rocking my CMB (Centro Musical Barcelona) transistor amplifier built by the one and only Manel Ruiz (Even though he doesn’t take much pride in it).

And I gotta say Joan your drums technique can be quite hypnotizing. It’s got a hollow and compact sound, like a breakwater from your beloved Costa Brava. Your thousands of broken drumsticks wouldn’t agree with me (RIP), but I do appreciate your “out of the ordinary” progressions.  When and how did you realize that drums were your thing?

I grabbed the drumsticks for the first time when I was 9 and I just lasted 4 months in school. They made me play jazz constantly, and it’s not that I don’t like jazz but at that age I was into other stuff.

I got right back into it at 15 with a dear mate of mine, and from there on it was pretty much autodidactic, just like with the guitar. I think drums are my thing cause they go with my attitude, I’ve never played a song the same way twice. That would be very hard to handle with an instrument on the melodic side.

I read once an interview of you two where you talked about how hard it is to make a living out of music.

Hahaha that’s always been pretty funny to us. Folks out there think that just because we’ve got half a million views on Isla Desierta and we’ve played in a couple festivals we’re loaded. Well, turns out in the music business you gotta pay the middle man, and there are loads of middle men. We also are team players and the cake splits in many slices. It’s frustrating to see the amount of money that you generate and the amount that ends up in your pocket, but it is what it is and we’re not to obsessed with it. What you gotta do is enjoy the process, when you care too much about the pay check you stop having fun. Imagine you’ve got a whole family counting on your income, that can’t be of much help during the creative process.

What do you guys do out of the band?

Joan took Audiovisual Media studies and he’s done his gigs here and there, and Aleix is an architect and he’s also busy. If someone out there is thinking about building a house from scratch, hit me up!!

You guys wanna make a statement?

We just wanna shout out everyone out there, go out more often, look for gigs around you. Tickets are not as expensive as you think, and you’ll experience something of a kind. The music world doesn’t end at festivals. Also, to music festival organizers, please risk it a bit and go for unknown bands. We’ve been seeing the same headliners for 10 years or so and the public will get bored eventually.