Catalan Pop-Rock

When I first moved to Spain I put an ad on a website for musicians looking for bands. Bass players are of short supply anywhere in the world, but I was surprised to get 15 emails after the first day. Twelve of them were for metal bands (very popular here), one from a group in Madrid who wanted me to move there (not happening) and two others. The first was a Catalan pop-rock band that went under the name of the singer song-writer, Ismael Colomer. The other was a flamenco fusion band that I will discuss in the next entry.

They came to my house to 'interview' me for the 'position'. I liked the serious vibe and what looked to be a new opportunity. I had never played pop, technically, but I was ready to try it out. They came over and broke down that they had, and I quote, "lots of shows lined up that all pay really well". This will perk up any starving artists' ears and I was no different. I told them I was interested and we set up a time to get together.
The practices were good, but I was used to playing with stellar musicans in Seattle and these guys, although skilled in their own right, were far from stellar.
In the end I left the band and they continued on to record another album. I am still listed as a bass player with them on their Myspace though. Good times and experience, but the music did not move me enough to continue.

Here are some excerpts from my emails home in 2006 breaking down the experience:

Feb 14th

My pop-rock group went to the next big town north of here, Girona, to do an in-station session. At least that is what I thought. After a ride getting lost a couple times, and already pretty tired, we show up at this little TV station. Everyone, as usual is only speaking in Catalan so I am not really sure what is going on. I pull out my bass and start tuning up. The keyboard player/manager comes over and says, "oh don't worry about that, we aren't ACTUALLY going to play live. They are going to play our single from the record and we are just going to pretend like we are playing the song. “Can you try to play it just like it sounds on the album?" So the tape starts rolling and I am standing there playing my unamplified bass, without even a cord coming out to make it look real. Just for show I guess. We played one song, and then they were like, "alright, that's it, let's go home." I thought the music business in the US was strange.

March 9th

Played my first show in Spain at a big music store in Barcelona called FNAC. Packed house, horrible sound, but best of all, the band played well. Pop-rock, again, not really my thing, but I think we did a good job and hopefully get some more gigs out of it. A couple of funny moments though. Remember, this group sings and speaks in Catalan. I understand some words, but cannot hold a conversation. The lead singer, Ismael, brings up a guest vocalist (didn’t know this was coming) for a song called Crits de Guerra (Catalan: critical of the war), an anti-war number. This friend comes up and they are rattling off about this and that.

I found out afterwards that the guest had just come from the Catalan Independence rally and they were making rally cries and pumping the crowd up with independence slogans, etc. (Catalans want an independent country from Spain.) I am totally down with the revolution and everything, but was surprised at what a strange thing it was for me, as a North American, to be up on stage representing something I don’t really know much about. The guest couldn’t hold a tune either and was really nervous, so that didn’t help much either. We finished the set, I thought I was done and started unplugging my gear and suddenly the lead singer brings up another guest singer, his cousin or something, and he starts into our “single”. The whole band is still up there and starts playing. At the last moment I realize I am not even plugged in. Luckily I was able to pull it together quick, but I was a bit rattled there for a second. Overall good show, ok music, great experience.

Jun 12th

Played my first paying gig up in the Pyrenees in a little town called Camprodon. The lead singer from our group is from there and I expected a little party with some drunk locals hootin and holerin'. Well, I was wrong. Turned out to be a celebration for the recent european soccer championship won by FC Barcelona, the pride of Cataluña. There were definitely drunks hootin' and such, but there were also Ismael's loyal fans (many of which were 13-15 year old girls. It seems he is the sex symbol of Camprodon) singing along to every word. Also, we were supplied with a huge stage, a light show, and a bumpin' sound system. The highlight was watching 2 fifteen year old boys headbanging to pop-rock holding up the stereotypical devil hand signal. I chuckled to myself as I played the simple songs.

Afterwards I was asked to take photos with a group of kids, taggers I think, because they wrote there tag on my hand and I held it up for them to take a picture. There was also a sweet moment as an obviously disabled kid was fascinated with me while I was playing and his mom asked if he could take a photo with me. He was very excited, although he could not express himself verbally.

TODAY

I think back fondly of those days playing pop-rock around Cataluña. I learned a lot and saw parts of the country I would have never seen without the opportunity. I have not seen any of the members since we parted ways. I hope they are doing well and continue to play around town.