Mai jos un interviu cu cei britanicii de la A-LIX.

Republik: Hello guys. I read that you started as a band with a huge tour of two
years, and then released your debut album. Usually it’s the other way
around:) Can you tell us a little bit about this experience? What’s it like
to be at the beginning as a band, and to travel all around the world, how
did this influence your music and your path as a band afterwards?

A-LIX: Before we started playing together as A-lix, both of us were in Barcelona
playing separately with solo projects (Vincent playing as Alix in his
electro-punk one man show, and Lorena playing her own pop-folk songs). At
some point we started sharing stages supporting each other until Lorena
chose to join Vincent’s project. She left her folk universe behind in order
to add her energy and electronic music passion to Vincent’s great tunes she
had been enjoying from the crowd (She’s also known as Miss Enemy dj
-www.myspace.com/djenemy_luli).
So came the time to rehearse together and it didn’t take too long until the
brand new formation was ready to rock. We always felt very confident with
what we are bringing, and our attitude had its impact seducing bookers and
promoters from different countries we contacted to play.
Once you have played your tunes several times in front of different crowds,
your sound takes its best shape and that’s the best moment to record a first
album. We did so in Barcelona (where we met and where we knew the right
people to help us in the process) and once we had the album in our hands we
decided to move to Glasgow to promote it and launch the band in such a
fantastic musical city.
There is a big difference between the gigs you play before and after
releasing an album. People take you more seriously when you’re presenting an
album rather than just playing songs that haven’t been recorded yet. The
album helps a lot to spread the buzz about you so you get bigger gigs to
play and promoters start contacting you rather than you chasing
them…finally you start getting paid to play and that’s the most satisfying
sensation in the world.
Starting a band is always something spontaneous, you don’t think about it,
you just do it because you need to express yourself with music and you love
it so much that you do it as a way of life. Everything becomes secondary to
music.

Republik: Your concert in Glasgow was voted one of the best gigs in UK in 2008.
What it takes to have a great gig?

A-LIX: You should be able to offer a great gig everywhere but it’s true that the
audience, the type of place, and the country you are playing in, all
influences your inspiration and vibe when you play.
Here in Glasgow we find one of the best crowd we’ve ever played for. People
here are interested in music since they are children (it’s not surprising to
find a little 5 years old boy with his electro acoustic guitar at
therehearsal studios). Going to see live bands in the UK is as usual as
going to have some “tapas” in Spain or a “beer” in Germany.
People here find very exciting our attitude on stage. We’re two bouncing
guys with loads of energy when we play so this surprises the crowd and they
let you infect them with enthusiasm.
Also, A-lix lyrics are in English and we have to say that playing in an
English speaking country is very inspiring because people can enjoy the
meaning of the words beside the vibes of the music.
Finally, all this together helped us to be considered one of the best live
acts in the city.

Republik: There are a lot of myths on how bands find their inspiration for
their work. Can you tell us the most unusual/unpredictable creative process
you’ve ever been thru.

A-LIX: A lot of inspiration for the lyrics can be found in the streets – where we
are constantly told to buy -, on workplaces – where we are told how to
behave -. Our speciality is take these elements, twist them around until
they mean exactly the opposite of their original, commercial aim.
Any kind of strong feeling, love, anger or the desire to dance can be good
material. Sonic Youth / Mogwai for instance is a great source of inspiration
to express these feeling musically with walls of distorsion.
Humour is also a great motor of inspiration and we admire Neil Hannon (The
Divine Comedy), Morrissey or Jarvis Cocker for the ironic views of life.
For one of our songs, “A Practical Course About Love” we took the lyrics
from the introduction of an English book for foreigners where we replaced
some key words with the word Love therefore turning the English class into a
Love class.

Republik: Tell us a few good clubs for gigs in Europe.

A-LIX: Razzmatazz in Barcelona is certainly one of the best place we’ve ever
performed. Sala Bikini in the same city has one of the best sound system.
King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow is a top class venue. It’s quite small &
all the big bands like Oasis, Radiohead and more played there when they
started. 13th Note cafe is always special too. A 80 person capacity club
downstairs with a wonderful artistic management and the best table-football
in the bar upstairs.
In Paris, La Cigale is a really beautiful venue for music in an old theatre
and good sound. Still in Paris, much smaller is Le Pop In, a bar/venue held
by some people absolutely committed to indie music.

Republik: A music festival you’d recommend.

A-LIX: Glastonbury Festival near Bristol is always very special although the ticket
is getting more and more expensive.100.000 persons gather to create a new
provisional town. There’s even a cinema, a church and loads of “mental and
physical healing fields”. It’s also traditionally a mystic place.
If you prefer to avoid the mud Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona is also
one of our favourite.

Republik: Tell us please some rather unknown bands that you listen
in your playlist these days and think that are worth our readers’ attention.

A-LIX: A great way to discover very good new Scottish bands is to get the
impeccable compilation from Edinburgh-based promoters LIMBO at
http://limbolive.co.uk/
Isabel La Alcoholica www.myspace.com/isabellaalcoholica
Baby Bones http://www.myspace.com/babybonesglasgow
Any Color Black www.myspace.com/anycolorblack
OVNI www.myspace.com/ovni1984