Get ready to dive into the world of Spanish midwest emo with the incredibly talented band, COMIC SANS. Hailing from San Sebastian, this five-member group is here to shake up your playlists with their latest release, “Éramos Felices y No Lo Sabíamos / Ojalá Fuera mi Cumpleaños.” This album is a rollercoaster of nostalgia, packed with heartache, friendship, and the bittersweet essence of adolescence.
COMIC SANS draws inspiration from midwest emo legends like AMERICAN FOOTBALL, TINY MOVING PARTS, and MARIETTA. They’re on a mission to bring this genre to Spain, making waves alongside contemporaries like YAWNERS and CALA VENTO. After their self-produced debut album “John Lee” in 2021, they switched to Spanish and crafted their second album “Éramos Felices y No Lo Sabíamos” at Ultramarinos Costa Brava. With their signature arpeggiated guitar and trumpet melodies, COMIC SANS is the fresh hope of the genre, blending nostalgia with youthful energy.
With the release of Éramos felices y No Lo Sabíamos, Comic Sans is waving the flag of small, important, intense, different things. And that adolescent urgency in all the lyrics, so innocent and at the same time so sharp. Comic Sans just need luck on their side because they have everything else to become a generational group, just like Nueva Vulcano, Carolina Durante, Hinds, or The Get Up Kids.
In our interview, COMIC SANS opens up about their creative process, the inspirations behind their poignant lyrics, and their journey through the Spanish emo scene. We discuss everything from their intriguing album cover, the origins of their band name, to the deeply personal themes that permeate their music.
We also delve into the tracks that make up their latest project, exploring the stories and emotions behind songs like “Costuras,” “La Venganza de los Sith,” and “Ojalá Fuera mi Cumpleaños.”
Each song is a chapter in their musical diary, reflecting their experiences on tour, the trials of young adulthood, and their love for their friends and hometown.
COMIS SANS are: Álvaro Manzano (Vocals/Guitar), Iker Munduate (Vocals/Backing Vocals), Endika Galdeano (Bass/Backing Vocals), Jon Almuedo (Drums/Backing Vocals), and Ion Ander Serrano (Trumpet). Éramos felices y No Lo Sabíamos is out now via BCore Disc, We’re Trying Records and Through Love Records.
See our full interview blow.
That house on your album cover looks like the perfect getaway for a horror movie. What’s the story there? Did you record the album in a haunted forest cabin?
First of all, Hi! so happy to be here, thanks for the interview!.
The cabin in the woods, definitely looks like the perfect setting for a horror movie, but the story behind it maybe is not so thrilling hahaha. That house is our old guitarist’s house in finland, he took some photos and, when we were looking for the album cover we all thought the same “well, we want to do an emo album, every good emo album needs a house on its cover” so we chose that one (not really epic hahah).
We recorded in Ultramarinos costabrava, maybe the best studio in spain, commanded by Santi García, who we all admire for the bands he played in and also because of the bands that he has been recording for a while.
The place is the most opposite thing to a haunted house, one of the tiniest yet most amazing studios ever. Also, it is located in sant feliu de guixols, a beautiful village in the costa brava, beach, sun and cold drinks. Maybe for the next album we’ll look for a more terrifying location.
“Comic Sans” – bold choice. Were you going for the most hated font in existence to match the most loved tunes, or is there a deeper joke we’re missing?
Someone said that our lyrics were a bit naive and non serious, and this same person said “well, guess that’s exactly what a band called comic sans would have to do” ahahah.
The name idea came to our singer, Manza, when he was at work. He used to work as a bartender in a restaurant and had to write the menu, and we still didn’t have an official name so, while he was choosing for the font to write the menu, he remembered the existence of comic sans, and it was just love at firs sight. Also, Manza’s brother’s old band had a song called comic sans, so it looked like a perfect reference.
Your lyrics could be the diary entries of a teenager who just discovered existential dread. What kind of headspace do you have to be in to write this stuff? What themes do you find yourselves gravitating towards when writing new music?
Well most of the time we write from what happens to us, so I guess that despite being in our twenties we are still like teenagers who just disovered existential dread jajaja.
When we write new music we usually talk about what concerns us emotionally, most of the time we talk about friendship or love relationships, and how they are affected by the things that happen to us, mainly things like job insecurity, being young and not knowing exactly where we are going, etc. Also we like our lyrics not to be too serious, because we all like to have fun and not to take ourselves too seriously.
Each track on your latest album tells a different story. Care to share the cliff notes on a few of these chapters?
Well we have a bunch of breakups and heartbrakes in Costuras, Si todos los lados del cubo de Rubik fueran iguales, and Coche de Micho
Also we have the good old nostalgia from childhood in Canción triste para un asteroide or Pro evolution soccer 6. Combined with existential dread in Edwin y los Amigos, El final de una canción que no puedo reproducir or Gogeta super sayan 4.
If one’s looking for more happy songs, that talk about hanging out with our friends and loved ones we have Comic Sans, La venganza de los Sith. Also, we have Ojalá fuera mi cumpleaños that talks about being young and broke and trying to spend time with your friends.
How important is the physical presentation of your music to you, and how does it enhance the listening experience?
Of course we believe that it is super important to keep making physical records. I think that when you listen to an album, being it a cassette, vinyl or cd, you listen to it in a different way, you don’t just put one song like if it was a playlist. I think that the streaming services, which have some advantages, carry also the problem of the fast consumption of music, everything that is released nowadays is mostly singles!
How has your neighborhood and your local scene influenced your sound, and do you have any local rivals or besties in the music world?
Of course we have tons of very good friends in our local scene (no rivals for now, but we’ll see), and obviously they have a lot of influence in our sound. We are all super fans of Nogato, an emo band from Madrid, and now we are besties, also we have our friends from Bernal, Boys kissing boys, or Llacuna, who have been playing emo in spain for a while and we love.
Every scene has its quirks. What’s the most uniquely weird thing about your local music community that you think the world should know?
That’s difficult to answer without insulting anyone jajajaja
Haha, fair enough.
We know 2023 was a goldmine for new talent. Discovered any hidden gems in your local scene that our readers should check out before they become too cool for us?
If its about 2023 releases, we must say Boys kissing boys and Bernal who released an EP. Also, even that is not of the same genre, we love Tatxers and their self titled album
If your music was a prescription, what would it be for? And would there be any hilarious side effects?
Our music is perfect for the treatment of different symptoms such as: soul emptiness, unhappiness, heartbreaks, boredom and the need for twinkly guitars.
Side effects? Maybe you become too cool for your gang and they abandon you, also you could break something if you dance too hard.
Future plans – aiming for world domination, or just hoping to pay the rent next month? What’s next on your grand master plan?
Paying rent would be awesome. By now we’ve a few releases to come, and we are working on our next album while playing a few songs. World domination can wait, hope that not too much..
When you’re not making music, where do you get your dose of creativity? Any weird hobbies, strange films, or books that people wouldn’t expect you to be into?
We are all kind of normal in that sense? We play videogames, watch scify movies, etc. jajajaj Maybe most of the creativity is taken from real life experiences, like hanging out with friends and stealing their funniest quotes for a lyric.
Thanks so much, guys! Feel free to add anything you like and take care. Cheers!
Thank you! It was super fun to answer your questions, hope we can visit USA at some point, cheers!
Great! Come to Poland, too, cause we’re located in Warsaw, haha! All the best, guys!
