Evripidis and his Tragedies

Salicrunette & Evripidis doing The Night Of The Living Covers-Pictures

2011-05-05T05:55:00.001-07:00

Salicrunette & Evripidis doing The Night Of The Living Covers

2011-05-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

On Friday 29th of April, me and music journalist and friend Marta Salicrú did a special show at bar Robadors 23. I was actually just playing the piano and singing mostly harmonies while she had to sing her lungs out. The concert was part of a special event where music journalists have to turn into performers for one night and be judged by musicians in the crowd. Our fierce critic was Mireia Madroñero aka Miss Carrussel.

http://www.myspace.com/misscarrussel

Our show was a cabaret version of some of our favourite tunes ever. Here is the playlist:

Te Esperare-Pic Nic

Baby-Os Mutantes

Your Woman-White Town

Como Un Aviador-Family

All Of a Tremble-St. Christopher

Some Velvet Morning-Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra

(Remember) Walking In The Sand-The Shangri-Las

The Look Of Love-Burt Bacharach

Our Mutual Friend-Divine Comedy

Hounds Of Love-Kate Bush

Nothing To Be Done-The Pastels

Elisa-Serge Gainsbourg

You Think You´re a Man-the Vaselines

The show brought back a lot of sweet memories in me because my first concert as Evripidis and his Tragedies had taken place at that bar, exactly six years ago, on April 2005. And though Robadors Street, a seedy narrow lane packed with prostitutes, junkies, pimps and petty criminals, has been cleared a little bit since 2005 (due to the construction of a luxurious hotel and some new apartments) it still maintains this Barrio Chino aura that makes it unique. It was a warm spring night and although we were a little nervous at the beginning, we had fun and we paid an homage to some of the artists that shaped not only our musical tastes but our lives as well.

Thank you Marta, you have been a wonderful companion!

Drawing for a gig poster

2011-03-08T11:31:00.000-08:00

Me and Sergi Puyol created a poster for a collective concert of Evripidis and his Tragedies, Le Pianc and Villarroel at Moog Club in Barcelona. I did the drawing of this three-headed monster while Sergi did the design.

You can check more of Sergi´s work here:

http://sergipuyol.blogspot.com/

Comic strip for Colibrí

2011-01-19T12:29:00.000-08:00

photo by Ignasi Casas, cover by Sergi Puyol

Colibrí is the fanzine that features my first comic strip (well, it is not practically a strip but never mind) ever published, a story about the writer´s block I experience every time I have to do some creative work and how I try to sort things out by procrastinating heavily, getting desperate, looking for absurd excuses and-finally-finding a way to make things happen...somehow!

Colibrí was created by Toni Mascaró from APA-APA CÒMICS and illustrator and graphic designer Sergi Puyol. The initial idea of making a fanzine were Sergi would publish his new comic strips alongside the work of other authors has grown into a marvelous little treasure where you can find the work of many talented people, some of them trying their luck on narration for the very first time! The 300 copies of the first issue have already sold out and the 400 copies of the second one are going very well so hurry up otherwise you won´t get yours! The third issue is due to come out in March-April. On the 26th of January Toni and Sergi are doing a presentation of Colibrí 2 at my "Switch the Jukebox On!" night at Switch Bar in Barcelona, with special guests the groups Arponera and Villaroel!

learn more about it here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121181484616907&num_event_invites=0

Artists who participated in this Colibrí:

Elisa Riera

Sergi Puyol

Felipe Almendros

Clara Tanit

Evripidis Sabatis

Antoni Hervàs

Leandro Alzate

María Corte

Liz Prince

Markéta Michálková

Marc Bell

Sara González

Tommi Musturi

Mireia Pérez

Elena Barreras

Camille Vannier

Clara Artigas

Jonathan Millán

Cristina Spanó

Jessica Boston

Mirena Ossorno

Lamare

Read and see more about the wonderful editorial Apa Apa here!

http://www.apaapacomics.com/

Razzmatazz Book illustrations

2011-01-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

photo by Ignasi Casas

Some months ago I received a call from Sergio. Sergio works for Razzmatazz Club and he had just found some old drawings of mine in the office. He kindly asked me if he could use them for a special book they were making for the 10th anniversary of Razzmatazz Club. I had totally forgotten the existence of those drawings, I had made them ages ago and they were never used so I naturally said yes. Now I am really glad I did so because the book, thanks to Sergio´s beautiful design and the material, both texts (from musicians, djs, journalists or friends) and photos, is incredible and I am really happy to be part of it. It is a book celebrating 10 years of youth culture, concerts, cigarettes and alcohol, crazy dance moves, one night stands and once in a lifetime loves, razzmatazz and nights on the town, fun fun fun and music to top it all up!

Razzmatazz has been like a home to me. Even before I started working there as a dj, I used to go there every week. My memories of Barcelona will be forever linked to it. I still remember dancing my heart out to Arcade Fire´s "Rebellion (Lies)" as if there was THE ONLY song in the world that mattered and I still remember staying for hours outside the club, talking to people whilst "Such great heights" from The Postal Service would burst out of someone´s car, back in 2004, during my first months in the city. In the beginning I used to roam all five rooms of Razzmatazz looking for thrills, with starry eyes and a hungry heart, pushing my way through hundreds of wild kids, trying to make my own little corner of fun. As I grew older I started running away from the crowds and the electronic music and focused on the Pop Bar where I feel more at ease and the music is more of my taste plus the Torre Agbar view from the huge windows is magnificent.

It is in Razzmatazz where I gave my third concert as Evripidis and his Tragedies and the first one with a full band. I remember Javi Buenavista, one of the chief responsibles of the club and a good friend, telling me: "I offer you a show but...why don´t you build a group all around you and your piano so that it is going to be a more vivid gig? After all, you will play at 3 a.m in front of drunken people!" Well, I did so and suddenly it was eight of us on top of the tiny stage of the Pop Bar! After that there was no way-back: I keep on playing with a whole bunch of musicians and friends whenever I can. We ended up playing at Razzmatazz a lot of times, either alone or supporting groups like Arab Strap ( who ended up wanting to beat us up because our drummer stole their whiskey!) or Psapp. I also ended up being one of the residents djs of Pop bar. Five years have passed and I have shared the dj booth with friends like Bonnie and Clyde or iconic musicians like Jarvis from Pulp or Kate from The Long Blondes. And I have had the time of my life.

I cannot pretend that things are the same. As the years have passed a lot of the people who used to hang out at Razmatazz have gone away to give space to a whole new generation of kids, fierce and hungry for fun as always. Some time they get on my nerves (maybe because I envy their naif ways and incredible energy) and sometimes they wake up the tenderness in my heart because they remind me of how I used to be, when I still used to lose myself in the night, fall asleep in the corners (once I fell asleep on the front row of The Horrors concert at the main room of Razzmataz-fact!) just to wake up half an hour later and keep on dancing, make out with everyone, spill my drinks on me, perform absurd choreographies, sing my lungs out and end up with the most horrible hangover, sometimes alone, sometimes no. Although I mostly go to Razz in order to work nowadays, from time to time, for the old time´s sake, I still let the Devil take me by the hand and I kiss the floor when my dj session is over, remembering my dance moves and singing emotional hits at the top of my voice.

Once a journalist wrote in an article concerning my music that I am an "Ave Nocturna", a night bird in Spanish. Maybe he is right. Barcelona has a lot of stuff to offer but it is in its night spots where a big part of my life here has taken place. Classic and essential for the music scene venues like Razzmatazz, Apolo, Sidecar or Moog, much missed legendary places like Mond Club and La Paloma, bars like La Penultima, Las Guindas or La Bata de Boatiné and one-hit wonders (or should I say one-season wonders?) like Indie or El Balcon de Aquilles have been or still are responsible for giving our city a spicy nightlife and for giving us a playground where we can dream we are whoever we want to be...until the dawn breaks and the mirror shows panda eyes the side of a Plaza Cataluña.

Thank you Javi, Julie, Cristian, Nuria, Paloma, Ariadne, Sergio, Albert, Marc, Mirella, Marta, Aleix, Dani, Aileen, Antonio, Carol, Paco, Ray, Laura and all those who work or have worked in Razz all these years for being such a pleasure to be with!

Handsome Devils

2010-11-17T12:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB31_P63-ng

All the streets are crammed with things
Eager to be held
I know what hands are for
And I'd like to help myself
You ask me the time
But I sense something more
And I would like to give
What I think you're asking for
You handsome devil
Oh, you handsome devil

Let me get my hands
On your mammary glands
And let me get your head
On the conjugal bed
I say, I say, I say

I crack the whip
And you skip
But you deserve it
You deserve it, deserve it, deserve it

A boy in the bush
Is worth two in the hand
I think I can help you get through your exams
Oh, you handsome devil

Oh, let me get my hands
On your mammary glands
And let me get your head
On the conjugal bed
I say, I say, I say

I crack the whip
And you skip
But you deserve it
You deserve it, deserve it, deserve it

And when we're in your scholarly room
Who will swallow whom ?
When we're in your scholarly room
Who will swallow whom ?
You handsome devil

Oh, let me get my hands
On your mammary glands
And let me get your head
On the conjugal bed
I say, I say, I say

There's more to life than books, you know
But not much more
Oh, there's more to life than books, you know
But not much more, not much more
Oh, you handsome devil
Oh, you handsome devil
Ow !

(The Smiths)

Devils of the Deep

2010-08-10T04:08:00.001-07:00

Those are the first drawings of a new series called "Devils of the Deep".
Ink on paper.

Motorbike in Dani´s patio

2010-07-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

The other day, my friends Nacho, Maria and Pablo came to my place to record me playing at my flatmate´s my patio. We were all under a terrible hangover due to some serious partying (so common during summertime in this corner of the world) from the night before but we somehow managed to make it. Among plants, many of them tortured by the heatwave, I played some new songs. The is the first video of the series. The song is called Motorbike and it is about, well, being on a motorbike with someone you love...or at least fancy, cruising on the avenues. Enjoy!

http://www.vimeo.com/13441828

Won´t you take me for a ride

on that shabby old motorbike

and the city will change its face

won´t we cruise down the avenues,

won´t we run past the

people as they go to work

they look grey and dull as we enjoy

two-wheeled freedom for a moment

won´t you take me for a ride

on that shabby old motorbike

and our story could change its pace

you´d enjoy scaring me

jumping red lights and going full speed

I hope you do it for a purpose

so crystal clear so that, I, pushed by fear

will grab you tighter and feel

how your heart beats for me

so won´t we take ride?

won´t we take a ride?

on that shabby motorbike!

won´t you take me for a ride

nn that shabby old motorbike

so that holding you won´t be just a dream

I´ll rest my face on your shoulder

and go slightly insane with the scent of your neck

while churches, bridges, parks parade by our side

Why don´t we drive up the hill and seal our ride with a kiss

as the city lays below our feet

I´ll give myself to you

daydreaming is free!

Illustrations for "Autoplacer" festival

2010-06-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

These are some Ilustrations (and some chords indication) I did for "Autoplacer " festival that takes place in Madrid this Thursday first of July at Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Móstoles. A festival about do-it-your self ethics basically, where there will be concerts and where they will be giving out a fanzine of illustrations and a cd of inedit songs. Among the songs will be "Before it´s over" by Evripidis and his Tragedies, a song about, well... self sufficiency basically ;) ! Check out the lyrics above and you will see why...

More information here:
http://autoplacer.tumblr.com/

Save Cala Reona!

2010-05-11T07:11:00.001-07:00

Here is the drawing I made for a new project, curated by our friend Fran (of Ilustración fanzine), on the topic of the posible housing development on Cala Reona.

Cala Reona is an idylic bay in the Murcia province in Spain. It is the last virgin beach that remains between Cavo de Palos and the Natural Park of Calblanque, it is famous for it´s crystal clear water and is a shelter for various species of typically mediteranean plants and wildlife that is protected by law.

Lately there has been a reconsideration of plans to begin construction there, plans that were rejected ´80s and they had been revisited lately. Constructing on Cala Reona would destroy a site of extraordinary natural beauty, would threaten the existence of various plants and animals and would have negative effects on the nearby Natural Park of Calblanque.

you can read some more (in Spanish I´m afraid) here:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cala_Reona_(Cartagena)

http://www.asociacionanse.org/

http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/v/20100228/

cartagena/comunidad-rechaza-urbanizar-cala-

20100228.html

In the link below you can see more work made by a variety of artists, including Jeleton, Chuso Ordi, Antonio Juan Sánchez, Eulita, Pepo Moreno, Moco de Pavo, Delphi Deleas, Lucía Torres González, Jordirosa, José Antonio Delgado, Radioboy and me, Roque Lopez, Aitor Vieco, Delia Marín, Dofi and more...

http://fanzinecalareona.blogspot.com/

Special thanks to Fran for starting this!

The Crying Game (Continued)

2010-05-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

Today it was an extremely rainy day. It didn´t stop pouring since early in the morning. After having watched the sky weeping for almost 24 hours and after having listened a zillion times "The tracks of my tears" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, I made the first The Crying Game playlist with some of my favorite songs about sobbing and you can download it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F553CKIZ

The Crying Game

2010-05-02T12:22:00.001-07:00

Who said that pop music is happy? The other day, out of pure curiosity I started searching songs with titles where the act of crying appears somehow and I was hardly surprised by the results.

Pop music is truely a weeping man´s world, full of songs about bitter tears and tears of a clown, 96 tears and rosy star tears from heaven, tears for affairs and tears in one´s cup, tears that dry on their own and tears that run rings around the eyes, tears for the man on the moon and black tears, rain and tears and nothing but tears, golden teardrops and and two types of teardrops, crying games and crying times, crying in the chapel and crying one self to sleep, crying in the rain and crying a river, crying to heaven and crying the night away, crying for attention and crying one´s heart, crying for a shadow and crying all the way to the pawnshop, dancing with tears in one´s eyes and doves (& angels) that cry.

Obviously, people have always chosen to sing about emotional outbursts that involve heavy lacrimating. Love may be still pop music´s favourite subject but crying, being one of the side effecs, also rides high in popularity.

When stress levels grow too much, crying is the only way to let off some steam and lighten up. It has been said that through tears and mucosal secretion-remember all those snotty kleenex you leave all around in each outbreak- the body gets rid of a great amounts of hormones accosiated with stress.

Thus we all feel better after a good weeping session . I would also point out that crying, being a violent outburst, makes us feel human like beings, alive and kicking. No wonder that in a stressfull and quite mechanical and antiseptic world there are so many people who go to watch sad movies in order to be able to let go in the darkness of a cinema, people who listen on repeat THAT song that reminds them of THAT moment and can never fail pull their trigger or even people who go to funerals often, even to funerals of peope they do not even know to cry their hearts out. Some might say that those people do not have real problems and need to invent their little tragedies-and maybe this is quite true.

Some might say that all the above are clearly acts of masochism . I would point out that maybe they are acts of hedonism because at the end of the day crying, just like laughter, feels good. And sounds good in songs. And looks good-have you ever looked yourself in the mirror after a good session of sobbing? The eyes have a distinct shine, their colour is brighter, the face looks calm, serene, peaceful. I could fall in love easily with somone who has just burst into tears in front of me. In fact I have.

Furthermore, apart from being a reaction to pain and stress, crying is a sign of helpnessness, a non-verbal and often unconscious cry for help towads the people around us. We are taught to be self sufficient since our youngest days but even the bravest, most proud person can sometimes feel like a scared ugly ducklin who needs to hide below the wings of mother goose and cry itself to sleep.

On the other hand, it is also said that boys don´t cry and big girls neither .The truth is that for a lot of people the pleasure of crying is denied. A friend of mine was telling me the other day that he is totally unable to cry. A question of culture or character? Is crying a guilty pleasure maybe? In the future are there going to be “sobbing shops” like “sex shops” where we will sneak with a slight embarassed expression on our faces just to pay to get into a cabin where they project sad movies and they play tearjerkers?

Could it be that crying is going to be like an illegal drug? Are there going to be crying dens like the opium dens, where people will gather secretly to tell heartbreaking stories and put on the saddest ballads by Patsi Cline or Irma Tomas?

Having said all that, I have to admit I haven´t shed too many tears lately. Maybe at some french movie, one of those where everything is romantic and doomed at the same moment and love can never win. Or maybe listening to some bittersweet song from some indie spanish pop band reminding me of summers long gone. Some could say that the luxury of talking about crying in only for those who don´t really have to cry, for those western-world middle class kids without serious problems, for those who have not been touched by real tragedies…and they are probably true.

But I just love pop music and I am old enough to say that I know all there is to know about the crying game, I had my share of the crying game, first there are kisses, then there are sighs…la la la. Just remember what the Caravelles sang back in 1963…You don´t have to be a baby to cry.

Exposition

2010-04-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBZO_yDtQ9E

This Friday 16 of April, at 21.00, it is the opening of my first personal exposition ever at SIX D.O.G.S in Athens. The exposition takes its name form that old song from Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans, a song that I have hummed so many times. I love the final part where, in between handclaps and crazy doo-wop singing, Darlene love moans "oh tell me why, why, why?". I believe it is an iconic moment in pop music´s history and I find it heartbreaking because, although expressed in a rather naive teenage way, it contains the eternal and unresolved mistery: Why do we always hurt the ones we love?

I will show some drawings inspired by this song and by love, lust and most of all loss. I will also play a concert The Night of the Living Covers with some of my Greek friends and afterward I am going to dj some music in order to lighten up the mood a little bit and bring those dancing shoes on the spot light. So, whoever feels like coming, it is free and it is Friday night.

Six D.O.G.S, 6-8 Avramiotu, Athens, Greece

The Night of the Living Covers: Duets

2010-04-08T08:34:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, the third of April, me and some of my friends prepared a concert called The Night of the Living Covers. Instead of going to the church to celebrate the Resurrection (it was Easter Saturday you see and although I am not religious at all I felt something tinging inside me, blame it to my Greek upbringing), we gathered at the bar of Le Meridien, a hotel at the Ramblas in Barcelona, to resurrect some of our favourite songs, songs that changed our lives and played their tiny but significant part in contributing in who we are right now. These are songs decidated to lovers from the past who are no longer by our side, dreamboats, unrequited love that made us wet a pillow or two, manipulative assholes who played with our nerves, secret affairs, painful separations, walks by the sea, magic encounters, lust, loss, teenage dreams that came or never came true, our friends, our mothers. These are songs that have haunted us, some of them since we were spotty adolescents that lived glued to the radio or to their cassette collection. Other songs may have been added to our "Haunt" list only recently, during those ipod days, but the spell they cast is not to be denied... One thing is for sure: Ghosts do exist and they can take the form of glorious melodies. And they can haunt you again, and again and bring back memories.

The concert´s second name was Duets, thus, in every song, one of my friends would come close to the Grand Piano, pick the mick and sing with me one tune at a time. Then he or she would go back to the audience and another one would take the microphone.

The songs we played are the following but since some memories of that night got blown away by loads of delicious strawberry -something cocktails, they are in random order!
He didn´t-The 6ths
This old heart of mine-The Isley Brothers
Johnny remember be-John Leyton
Underwear-Pulp
(with Elsa de Alfonso)

Tender is the night-The Triffids
Bitter tears-The Magnetic Fields
There must be and Angel-Eurythmics
(with Adrian de Alfonso)

What have I done to deserve this?-Pet Shop Boys
(with Luis Verges)

Young and in love-The Marvelettes
I´d much rather be with the boys-The Rolling Stones
I got you babe-Sonny & Cher
(with Ene Anoux)

Something´s got a hold of my heart-Gene Pitney
The sun ain´t gonna shine anymore-The Walker Brothers
Manoula mou-Manos Xantzidakis
(with Jordi Maranges)

The false contender-Camera Obscura
Interlude-Timi Yuro
Hand in glove-The Smiths
Bad romance-Lady GaGa
I´ll be your mirror-The Velvet Underground & Nico
(with Laura Antolin)

When the gig end I played some records and as soon as I discovered that the mic was still on we thrust into a spontaenous drunk doo wop-indie pop-karaoke untill the hotel manager came furious and ordered us to stop the music. I did as I was told but soon me and some other friends started playing the piano and singing and making quite a noise. Finally the manager came back and kicked us out of the five-star hotel. A fun night definitely. Thanks to everyone who came by and of course many thanks to all those who sang with me. Till next time!

Here are a few photos by El chico de la leche. More photos by Daniel Riera will be uploaded soon!

Big Hair

2010-03-09T05:34:00.001-08:00

More monstrosities

2010-03-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

2009-10-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

Luna

2009-10-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes she's a terrible flirt
Causing mischief and mayhem wherever she can
Sometimes she's a woman that hurts
Sometimes she is a man

(Marc Almond)

De tus palmas al Abismo (or what happens when you listen to the new Extraperlo single all night long)

2009-10-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

I spent the night listening to that new song from Extraperlo "De tus palmas al abismo " (Discos Doble Vida). I love how it sounds, dreamy and tender and a little lost. And how dramatic is the title! Being unable to sleep anyway, I felt free to imagine this Abyss that opens before you when the one you love stops holding your hand.

http://www.myspace.com/extraperlo

Waves in Love

2009-10-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Maelstrom

2009-10-06T10:43:00.001-07:00

Edgar Alan Poe

2009-10-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

...Because not being able to sleep properly produces monsters inside your head.

Adieu!

2009-09-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

This Friday I am going to throw an earlier Autumn (remember that old Field Mice song?) party for those who are not yet ready to say goodbye to summer of 2009. It has been amusing, wild, crazy, dramatic, sweet and bitter but never boring. It wil always have a place in my heart and I hope in your hearts as well. So you are welcome to join me in dancing to The Beach Boys,Jens Lekman or Orange Juice and remembering (or imagining) warm nights under the stars, long walks by the beach, wild snogging behind rocks....all those things that make you feel a little bit nostalgic when September comes...Goodbye Summer of 2009!

Straydogs

2009-08-14T04:42:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Athens, my hometown and I can´t help noticing again how many straydogs roam the streets of this city. You can see them every where-waiting outside restaurants and bars, crossing avenues when the light is green (yes, they actually do that a lot of them!) and sleeping lazily on the sun. You could think that it´s a pity that all those dogs have to live on the street without someone to provide them love and care but you would be surprised when saw how fat are some of them!
No wonder I wrote a song called straydog then. Since I was a kid I would always bring straydogs at our suburban flat. My parents were not always happy about it. Most of those dogs did not stay long...they would stay in our garden for a couple of weeks maybe, maybe longer, and then they would dissapear, never to see them again, leaving my heart broken. Two of those straydogs stayed longer: Timmy stayed for a year and a half and Mabrook stayed for...I do not even remember, something like 10 years. Sometimes they would go during the mating season and they woul leave me a ball of nerves...till they would re-appear, tired, thin, hurt and full of fleas but always willing to be part of the family again. Both of them were lost for ever during mating season. Instead of thinking that they travelled too far from home and got lost or even worst, that they got hit by a car, ate poison or died from general post-mating weakness, I prefered to believe that they simply found true love with some cute elegant bitch and that they leaved happily and free everafter, roaming the streets all day, chasing cats and cars, laying on the sun and barking at the moon.
I tend to get drawn by people who remind me of straydogs-people who have this hopeless and lost quality on their faces and personalities, people who give the impression that they do not go anywhere in particular. People who leave unexpectedly and return with a needy look on their face and offer affection but you should watch them out when mating season arrives. Sometimes I even get to think that maybe I am a straydog myself , lazy and wondering, looking for cats to chase and a moon to howl to.

Recently we did this videoclip with Manolo Vasquez. The song is from the first record. I post it here, with the lyrics, after having encountered dozens of happy straydogs yesterday. Their eyes were full of love, need , yearning ... and full of freedom as well. Well, at leat till Winter comes along, they will do fine . Then it will be a whole diferent story I guess. Who wants to be alone when days are cold and rainy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2GUOIK0nXs

When we met you had a straydog with you, tied on a leash
you asked me to take you home, I said I could not possibly do it
'cause my parents wouldn´t ever want
a straydog, filthy and full of fleas on their sofa
but I couldn´t resist your brown eyes
so I took in both of you, I took in both of you
through the back door

you were a straydog yourself
you were found in the park looking hungry and lonely and beaten up
I took you home, tied your wounds, gave you a warm bath and two arms
to hold you through the night
they say when a stray dog looks at you
in his brown eyes you can see his past, his gratitude
and unconditional love....and that's how you seemed to look at me
that's how you seemed to look at me
that's how you seemed to look at me.

I had finally a friend to spend the winter with
you liked to play a lot and lick my salty tears
I even put you in my bed, much to my parents complaints
but soon you turned out to be more of a capricious poodle
than a friendly mongrel and started showing your teeth!
I thought I'd found unconditional love but this straydog bit me hard
so I gave you a kick in the arse, so I gave you a kick in the arse
I gave you a kick in the arse and I let you go...

...but then we met again,after a long long time and once more
you were with a stray dog / you asked me to take you home I said no no, no I couldn't do it! 'cause my flatmates wouldn't ever want a dirty canine full of fleas in our home
but as far as I'm concerned, I'd still let you in
I'd still let you in through the back door ...through the back door....
through the back door...how could I say no to a straydog?
how could I say no to a straydog? how could I say no to a straydog?

have a beautifull summer everyone!

New drawings

2009-07-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

We need more Summer Parties

2009-07-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows I cannot get enough of summer parties. So here is the poster of one that I am throwing this Friday at Plastico Bar in Barcelona.

Give Paris one more chance

2009-06-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

This Thursday I am playing alone at Pop In in Paris. It is a pitty that no-one from the band is here , not even Marisol who had been with me last year...but...it is sunny outside (the other time was gray November) plus there are sales (If only I had the money!) and my friends Jeleton are here.
I have always been in love with Paris. Since I was a kid I used to read some books my mom had, full of color pictures of the City of Light. I would study the map thoroughly and I would memorise all the famous monuments and their location. I still remember some things; don´t ask me where this boutique or that cool hangout is but I can tell you about a dozen of churches, palaces and parks. All those things I would imagine as a kid: a young Luis XIV looking out of the windows of Louvre, the biggest palace in the world, being discusted of the dirty, infected city and planning to move out to Versailles. Elegant perfumed aristocrats wearing powdered wigs and meeting at Comedie Francaise, seducing and plotting like in "Liaisons Dangereuses" . The mob of Parisians taking in the fearfull Bastille prison. The bohemian absinth-drinking Paris of Baudelaire , Rimbaud and Toulouse Lautrec (and not the one we saw at that rather naff movie called Moulin Rouge). The Catacombs below the Opera, where the Phantom would reign. Paris in the 20´s, Paris in the 30´s, 40´s, 50´s, 60´s, jazz, chanson, Edith Piaf and Gilbert Bécaud, the existentialists, rive gauche, subterannean bars, Coco Chanel, YSL, Dior, sidewalk cafes, Bonjour tristesse, Au bout de suffle, Bande a part, Juliette Greco, Truffaut, black turtle necks, Gainsbourg, B.B, Francoise Hardy, France Gall and the story goes on and on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjNkrlLiJQg

Writing this, it is getting dark. I am going out soon and the Paris lights will engulf me and injectme some of their magic...ok, enough with all this dreamy shit, I guess I will just go down the corner, at Pop In, to hang out with Denis and Alex and drink.
So I guess I´ll give Paris one more chance, as Jonathan Richman had once sung...The home of Piaf and Chevalier must have done something right to get passion this way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ68UD_I5KY

bisoux!

2009-06-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

This is our new video "Abroad" directed by Jordi Cussó. One sunny Sunday we took the van (with a beautiful, old and totally out of tune piano in it) and went to the woods and fields just by Montserrat mountain in Cataluña. The day was gorgeous and the poppies were in full bloom. Some friend of mine told me that the poppies have a strong opium connotation...well...hmmm...I will just say that those red-and-black flowers offered a splash of drama-and-passion on the otherwise green world that surrounded us that day. Like blood drops on a floral mantle maybe.
Hope you enjoy watching it as much it as we enjoyed making it.

http://blip.tv/file/2242310/

Gracia (I heart maps)

2009-06-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

A healthy dose of pain IV

2009-06-05T02:24:00.000-07:00

Hombre caminando

2009-05-30T09:04:00.002-07:00

This is the trailer of a short film for which I have composed and performed the music alongside Marisol Simó (vocals) and Mark Ribera (vocals, musical saw).

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578337000#/video/video.php?v=101083843065&ref=mf

HOMBRE CAMINANDO

Con VÍCTOR MASÁN

Dirigido JORDI CUSSÓ
BSO EVRIPIDIS AND HIS TRAGEDIES
Director de fotografía BORJA LÓPEZ
Animaciones BAYARRI

You made a monster out of me

2009-05-26T16:28:00.001-07:00

El señor Pestañas

2009-05-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

A healkthy dose of pain IV: Stuff I´ve found

2009-05-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

It is funny how you end up finding things you had forgotten they even existed. My personal belongings are piled everywhere in my room and on (and below) my desk. They form layers and layers that were constructed continiously through time. That makes cleaning up an experience that resembles an excavation. I found some relics today. Three drawings I had done on found papers while bored at work or at class. They belong to happier although maybe less exciting times. The koala and the Ferret area recurring themes of course.
Those drawing made me sigh twice , they were my healthy dose of pain for today...and then life goes on I guess. Until the next excavation.

A healthy dose of pain III

2009-05-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

All those summer parties

2009-05-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Primavera Sound festival is about to happen once more. Four days left and we will be roaming at Forum Park in Barcelona like animals of prey. And this fills my heart with the sweetest anticipation AND fear at once. Why should be that way?

For 3 days and nights I am going to live the same old story over and over again: I will be out of my head , with friends, watching concerts, drinking heavily, dancing and forgetting that the world outside Forum keeps spinning. For 3 days my life will be almost ideal, a real work of art coloured with music, love and drama. Yes, you´d better watch out you poor indie pop kids: Primavera Sound is not for the faint of heart! In fact, as far as I am concerned, the Forum Park and its special "geography" is the perfect setting for movie-like scenes: I have fallen terribly in love swinging with someone under the stars and I have fallen out of love on the concrete ground. I have said hellos on a grassy slope and I have waved goodbyes outside the bathrooms, I have snogged on the grass like a teenager and I have cried like a baby behind the reeds. I have gone out of my head, ecstatic, dancing to Jens Lekman or whoever, surrounded by my best friends or I have felt lost, dizzy and completely alone, without being able to watch any concert. Oh, I am sure all you festivals goers know the score already. You can spend hours wondering around, doing practically nothing, wasting your time...but then, sometimes, even going to pee can be a wonderful adventure straight out of a children´s book!
Another year then....another year of fun fun fun and tears of course. Emotions ride high, especially when you feed your poor body with molotov cocktails and weird combinations of substances instead of sandwiches and fruits. And there are plenty of songs to make a soundtrack and underline the best and the worst moments. So cry baby, cry and let those tears be tears of joy or infinite sadness. Summer is on its way. Old lovers are fading fast although they still can make your day a little bit greyer. And new loves are on their way.
I think of Catharsis, a vital element of the Greek tragedy. Primavera Sound can give you even this sense when it starts raining at 5 in the morning and you still dance heroically to some old rock 'n´roll song. Or when you tell someone who doesn´t love you anymore that you will never forget him but you will let go because what´s the use in trying?
Three days of absolute fun and then a week of the bluest blues. Every year is the same story. And still we do it. Even when I make calculations and the sum of the embarrassing moments is too high , I still believe it was worthy. My friends from Athens will be there, my friends from Alicante, Valencia, Madrid will be there, my Barcelonian friends will be there...and you, with those sunglasses , your tired face and THAT empty stare...I am pretty sure sure that you too will be there...dancing and kissing. All those summer parties, OUR summer parties, nothing could make them fade away...

All those summer parties that we used to share
I can hardly recall a thing,
that surely means that I was there
dancing and kissing
you don´t know what you`ve been missing
all those summer parties that we shared
no-one could make them fade away

with our fists in our pockets moving nervously
with a spring in our step and our dancing shoes on
we waited for this all winter long and nobody can stop us now

night is falling quickly stars above our head
the sea-breeze cooling our faces ,
noone dreams of going to bed
so give me more of those screwdrivers
and if i go and overdose
they´ll say it was for the sake of sex n drugs and rock n roll
what a shame...

killing time on the grass before the next concert begins
my friends look pretty though slightly dazed
they laugh at this stupid grin on my face
and then Jens comes on stage
and then the Black Lips come on stage
and then the Vampire come on stage
and my head explodes!

let´s twist again like we did last summer
clap and shout and shake it all out , it´s the time
to dance the night away

all those summer parties
left you with an empty stare
8 am trembling with your shades on
that surely means that you were there
dancing and kissing
and poor thing you´re already missing
all those summer parties
now let´s catch the bus before we colapse and try not to miss our stop!

...till next weekend!

you can listen and download the song free here:

http://www.barcelones.com/cancion/

xx

new album tracklist

2009-05-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

This is a rough sketch of the new album´s tracklist. The songs are not in the definite order but...you may get an idea!

A healthy dose of pain II

2009-05-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

A healthy dose of pain

2009-05-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

EVERY TIME YOU FELL TOO DAMN SECURE
EVERY TIME YOU FEEL TOO FULL OF YOURSELF
TAKE A HEALTHY DOSE OF PAIN
IT WILL GROUND YOU AND MAKE A BETTER MAN OF YOU
CARESS SOFTLY YOU GRANDFATHER´S BERET
REMEMBER HOW HE USED TO TAKE YOU IN HIS ARMS
SING YOU SONGS AND SLIP MONEY IN YOUR POCKET
EVERY TIME YOUR MOM AND DAD WOULDN´T WATCH
AND HOW MANY TIMES YOU WENT TO SEE HIM IN THE HOSPITAL
JUST ONCE!
THIS HEALTHY DOSE OF PAIN WILL STRAIGHTEN YOU UP

EVERY TIME YOU FELL TOO DAMN SECURE
EVERYTIME YOU FEEL LESS HUMAN
TAKE A HEALTY DOSE OF PAIN
IT WILL GROUND YOU AND MAKE A BETTER MAN OF YOU
TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR PARENTS FACES
NOTICE THE LINES THAT ARE FORMED UP THERE
EACH ONE STANDS FOR EVERY NIGHT THEY´VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU
WITH ALL THE LIGHTS ON
NOW YOU KNOW YOU DON´T HAVE TOO MUCH TIME LEFT
TO GIVE THEM ANY MORE SHIT…

TAKE A LOOK AT THOSE PHOTOS THAT YOU TOOK
WITH YOUR LOVER ON THE SUMMER OF 2000
HE LOOKS SEXY AND BOY YOU DO LOOK HAPPY!
BUT WHERE IS HE NOW?

AND IF THAT´S NOT ENOUGH

LISTEN TO ALL THOSE MIXTAPES THAT GOOD FRIEND OF YOURS
GAVE YOU BACK IN THE NINETIES
YOU HAD PLANS OF CROSSING EUROPE BY TRAIN
AND GROWING UP TOGETHER
IF ONLY YOU HAD UNDERSTOOD , IF ONLY YOU HAD UNDERSTOOD
HOW SAD SHE WAS
SHE´D STILL BE IN YOUR LIFE NOW….

YOU´RE THE LATEST ADDITION IN ALL THOSE THINGS THAT MAKE ME SIGH
I CALL YOU UP FROM TIME TO TIME
JUST TO FEEL THE DISTANCE IN YOUR VOICE
IT´S THEN I KNOW THINGS DON´T WORK OUT ALWAYS HOW WE´D WANT
BUT THIS HEALTHY DOSE OF PAIN GIVES ME STRENGTH….

TO CARRY ON!

HEALTHY DOSE OF PAIN GIVES ME STRENGTH TO CARRY ON
HEALTHY DOSE OF PAIN GIVES ME STRENGTH TO CARRY ON
HEALTHY DOSE OF PAIN GIVES ME STRENGTH TO CARRY ON
HEALTHY DOSE OF PAIN IT MAKES OF ME A BETTER MAN FOR SURE

Why do lovers break each others´ heart? part III

2009-05-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

Our Love was a Tsunami

2009-05-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

OUR LOVE WAS A TSUNAMI
IT WAS BORN IN UNKNOWN DEPTHS
AND CAUGHT US ON THE BEACH ONE MORNING
THE SEA JUST SLIPPED AWAY
EXPOSING ALL THAT WET SAND
WE RUN TO PLAY AND LOOK FOR SEA-SHELLS
THEN WITH A MONSTRUOUS ROAR
THE SEA CAME BACK
DARK THUNDERING TERRIBLE………

BUT WE WERE SKILLED SURFERS
AND RODE THE TIDAL WAVE
WE RODE IT INLAND
AS IT WAS DEVASTATING
AND TOTALLY ERASING
WHATEVER THAT HAD EVER BEEN BEFORE THE DAY WE MET
WE ROSE ABOVE THE HOUSES
ABOVE THE TREES AND HIGHWAYS
HOTELS, DEPARTMENT STORES
AND IN BETWEEN CHAOS AND DISORDER
WE SAW THE FACE OF GOD
AND HE WAS MAD YES HE WAS MAD
BUT STILL WE THOUGHT THAT WE COULD KEEP ON RIDING
FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES

IF ONLY WE HADN´T FORGOTTEN
THIS WAS NO COMMON WAVE
IT WAS THE GREAT TSUNAMI
AND THE SEA JUST SLIPPED AWAY
AS SUDDENLY AS IT HAD EMERGED
AND LEFT BEHIND JUST PAIN AND DEATH
AND EVERYWHERE THERE ´RE TRACES
OF OUR VIOLENT LOVE
BUT WHERE IS THE LOVE ITSELF?
OH I GUESS
IT WENT BACK TO THE UNKNOWN DEPTHS
WHERE IT HAD BEEN BORN
AND LEFT US ALL ALONE
LOOKING FOR TRACES
OF THE LIVES THAT WE HAD BEFORE THE DAY WE MET
AND IN BETWEEN
CHAOS AND DISORDER
WE SAW THE FACE OF GOD
AND HE WAS MAD, YES HE WAS MAD
BUT NOW WE GOT THE HABBIT TO LOOK FOR WAVES TO RIDE

FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!

Why do lovers break each others´ heart? part II

2009-05-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

Why do lovers break each others´ heart?

2009-05-15T03:37:00.000-07:00

Ls make the world go round...

2009-05-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

I started growing plants again
So I´ll have someone to care for
But they don´t last too long in my hands
Somehow they all dry out and die slowly

Love lust and loss
these dry leaves remind me of
Love, lust and loss
And that you don´t come round here no more

What if we were last year´s favourite couple and
we had our fair share of heads turning when we´d kiss
what if I raved so much to my mom about you
Soon darker times would land upon our hearts

Love, lust and loss
Both-way betrayals would loose our knots
Love, lust and loss
now we are walking different roads

I found an sms I hadn´t erased goddamn
It said you were at work, tired, in need of sleep
I didn´t make me shed a tear they´ve all run dry
But it surely made me heart skip a beat
Love, lust and loss….

Somehow I got used to live without you
But I must confess I have my low moments
When I miss terribly your arched eyebrows
Your perfect teeth and your small soft hands

That couldn´t keep us together!
Love, lust and loss
They couldn´t keep us togeteher
Love, lust and loss
They couldn’t hold us together
They were just too small
we weren´t made for each other after all

Your baby doesn’t come around here no more
Your baby doesn’t come around here no more
so I´ll just water my plants
and let go…

those Ls make the world go round after all