Unveiled earlier this year, the recent 12” record from Torrelavega’s OSOLUNA struck me with awful force. “OsoLuna” is a truly monumental album bursting at the seams with dramatic, heartfelt emotions, foggy atmosphere and grandness. This incredible journey through violence, limitations and inner-struggle deserves a lot more attention. Hence this interview and my great expectation for the better recognition of their abilities. Experience this amazing LP once again and read my interview with OSOLUNA below.
“OsoLuna” can be purchused via lifeisafunnything, Unlock Yourself Records, Dingleberry records and distribution, krimskramz, Koepfen, Theia Records, Walking is still honest Records, Nostalgia Records + Serigrafía, KTC Domestic Productions, Miusichole Records, Upwind productions & zine. Samegrey Records, Gato Encerrado Records, Girls Cartel Records, Lost State Records, and Suspended Soul Tapes & Records!
Photo by Adrian Alcorta.
Hey guys. Where are you from and where do you currently reside? Tell us a bit about your local area and closest neighborhood.
Hi Karol!
We live in Torrelavega, where we are all from. It’s an ugly, grey and industrial town in the north of Spain hahaha! It rains a lot through out the year but it’s very close to the coast (Cantábrico) and the Picos de Europe.
How about your local music scene? Is there a metal or a punk scene in Torrelavega?
In Torrelavega there’s a large amount of bands coming from different styles of music. I don’t know if there are more metal o punk bands. There’s a lot of young and not so young people playing in bands excited with what they are doing. The difficulty is finding places to play and rehearse in decent conditions. It’s a difficult task here but it’s been like this for more than 20 years and we do what we can to continue doing what love.
Considering the Basque country as the location of your hometown, do you guys feel Spanish? Can you explain it to the readers not acquainted with that topic?
Well Torrelavega belongs to Cantabria, The Basque Country is the region next to us, we are neighbours. I can say that in the Basque Country they have their own identity, history, language… with a sense of solidarity and fight in what they believe in. We sympathise with all those oppressed places and individuals around the world.
Ok guys, so let’s dive into your work. How did you end up performing such an intense mixture of dark, yet very atmospheric heavy music? What inspired you to follow this path?
Well, we like contrasts, music with emotion, music that comes from deep inside using different amount of intensity and textures trying to combine them both just like colours in a painting, we like using them to express in the best possible way what we aim for in each moment.
We like bands with intense and emotional melodies and in fact each of us like different styles which in a way helps us do our own part.
Are you involved in more musical projects? How do all these tie in with OSOLUNA? What priority is given to this band?
We all use to play in a band called HOOVERVILLE. The band broke up and one of the guitarrists started playing for a band called LA TUMBA DE NICOLAS CAGE (Nicolas Cage’s grave, in Spanish) that are not playing anymore nowadays. The other guitarist went to play for a band called TÉMPANO, currently active.
We try to pay the same attention to all the bands we are involved in. It’s all about having a good time and enjoying ourselves.
How were you drawn to music in the first place? What is your background?
We’ve always loved music as a form of expression. I woudln’t know how exactly we ended up in a band, I imagine for ways to have a good time and channel our concerns
Anyway, Musicwise Torrelavega is a place with a lot of initiative so this also could’ve influenced us. There was always a friend that played in a band and there were local gigs around so all this would get you into being in a band.
As I mentioned before, we were in another band called Hooverville for around 10 years. We released a demo but the band broke up shortly after that. We got back together about a year ago, december 2013, and we are really excited to work on new stuff together.
You have teamed up with 13 different DIY labels to support this release. How come? Why so many? Can you introduce them all and drop us a line or two about each one of them?
We recorded last august just for the sake of having the songs somewhere, we didn’t want those songs to get lost but then we decided to show our music to labels that we really like and look upon, labels that have released bands that we like and that certainly work and treat bands very well.
There are so many labels involved because we were looking for labels that are really excited to release our work and that met our requirements . All these were more than welcome to sail this boat with us.
We are really grateful for all their support. I never imagined it would be possible to release a vinyl. Take into account that this was our first recording and we had only played a couple of shows after 8 months as a band. Finally, we are going to release 500 vinyls in Europe and it will be out on cassette in the US. We’ll self-release 100 CDs as a limited edition.
Theia Records from Asturias and the Basque Country, Nostalgia from Galicia, Miusichole Records from the Basque Country, KTC Domestic Productions from Asturias, Gato Encerrado from Burgos and Walking is Still Honest from Andalucia are all the Spanish labels that are supporting us. They are all committed DIY labels and have released really good bands such as La Parade, Viva Belgrado, Diana Lagarto, 1991, Ura, Burning Bright, except for Nostalgia Records which start off as a label with us hahaha!!
Another label that starts off with us is Krimskramz from Germany, it belongs to another label called Shivery MMXXII Productions where our friend called Heinzel is helping us with all the logistics. Also in Germany, Lifeisafunnything Records, with Marcus, who is a great guy, is helping us a lot with the release and works with bands such as Iselia and Miles & Feet amongst other bands.
Also Koepfen Records and Dingleberry Records from Germany that have released bands like Shizune, Rivers&Tides, Viva Belgrado… In Russia, Unlock Yourself have released bands like Burning Brigth. In Italy , Upwind Productions (We have a deal, Pastel, 52 Hertz) and in Ukrania, Samegrey Records.
All of them are involved in the release of the Vinyl Record edition and we are extremely grateful for their support. Some of them have even had to do a lot of effort considering the situation in their countries where they live, so this means a lot to us.
Three very interested DIY labels from the US showed up too. They are in charge of releasing the album in a cassette format. This was thanks to our friend Stephanie from Girls Cartel Records, that was very excited to be involved with this project alongside Lost State Records and Suspended Soul Tape & Records that have released bands like Monoliths, Setsune, American memories, Soul Glo, Old Soul, Bad Dinner…
What we really like about all of them is their DIY philosophy, their desire and excitement to go ahead with this project. This is more than enough for us and we feel blessed.
Does the relationship with other musicians and supporters teach you anything about developing a band and your work? Can you tell us a bit about your creative heroes?
We’ve been together for a year and we’ve only played 4 shows. We haven’t really had time to be involved with other bands, at least in the way you mean. Regarding our Creating heroes, I have to say that each of us has a different style and all though there are a lot of bands we like we still have our own influences. Bands like ENVY, AUSSITOT MORT, BURNING BRIGHT, JUNGBLUTH, ALPINIST, AMPERE, KAOSPILOT,…. Have influenced us quite a bit in our way of creating. The list would be too long and different hahaha!!
Back to the LP, can you tell us more about the lyrical part of the album? What was behind your decision to set this particular set of stories in it?
Our lyrics aren’t very direct, we like using a language that invites the listener to think about life, all type of relationships, where the abuse of power causes all type injustice (relationships between an individual, other species, education…). Respect, limitations, fear, emotions, feelings and thoughts. Inviting you to get out of the comfort zone, winning the battle against the fear that stops us from doing what we really want to do in life, the power of union to reach out for a common objectives and making the world a more respectful , fairer and better place.
Do you have a goal or a mission worth achieving with this band?
We don’t consider ourselves as musicians only friends that want to hang out together and use music as our way of expression. This is something we like but not in a professional way, we haven’t been educated as such, we are self-taught so we speak. We want it to be fun and the same or everyone who enjoys what we do.
Our aim is simply to have a great time and use our music as a way of expression . Always going for DIY, collaborating and sharing, away from the “rock world” from the managers, promoters and all that paraphernalia. We like to have close experiences where we can really interact together.
Are they any writers who have exerted a strong influence on your way of thinking about this world?
Well, I wouldn’t be able to say who’s influenced us the most, we like reading about anything and as I’ve said before, specially about things that makes you think.
Ok guys. Finally, what next? Is there some new music or touring on the way?
For the moment we haven’t really thought that much about it, we’ll see what comes along. We might end up touring around France in July but it hasn’t been confirmed yet. We have to take into account that the four of us work and we have to try and combine our work with our hobby, not an easy task, but something will crop up because we are really looking forward to this and we’ll definitely look for some time!! We would love to travel around Europe and specially around all those places where they have supported us a great deal. We’d love to share this in person too!!
Great! Thanks so much for your time guys and good luck with your future endeavors!
Thank you! We really appreciate your support and for spreading the word. Salud IDIOTEQ!
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