Some time ago they left the pandemic confinement that saw them born, and for this reason Klaus Stroink, Guillem Boltó and Rai Benet have called their new album Homas (on sale this Friday), eliminating Stay, alluding to those months in which their music He crossed confinements and borders to send a message of hope in the worst moments of the coronavirus. Consolidated as a band, they propose an eclectic sound that takes them from pop to electronics, going through festive and danceable rhythms that make them instantly recognizable with songs like Quiero más or La nòria, which threaten to sound at many summer festivals.
It is precisely this musical variety that characterizes the Barcelona trio, as they themselves have discovered during the year they have spent working on the album. “Since the first day we have tried to play many styles, many different languages and genres”, explains Klaus, who defines what they have done in all their works as “a personal investigation”.
On this occasion, they wanted to focus on a single style, to look for something that would characterize them, but they have found that "by trying to give up some things we have ended up doing the same thing that we would have done if we had not tried to give up anything", explains Guillem with a smile. . "The conclusion is that we have done what we wanted, and perhaps that is our hallmark." A label that has led them to record in several studios, adapting to the multiplicity of genres that this fresh and summery album goes through.
This variety is also noticeable in the language of the songs, Spanish, Catalan and English. "There are styles that go with a language," explains Rai, giving soul or boleros as an example. However, that doesn't stop them from testing whenever they feel like it. "Everything can be done in any language, politicizing a way of communicating between people is absurd," says Klaus convinced. “Each language has a character, saying I love you is not the same as saying I love you or I love you”.
The Homas are clear that the best they can offer with their music from Barcelona is “the festival of miscegenation”, a proposal that shows everyone that “mixing is brutal musically and idiomatically. If you feel like explaining something, do it in the style you want and with the language you want”.
For this concept of miscegenation they have had two exceptional maestros, Manu Chao and Rubén Blades, with whom they worked on their previous EP, Here2Play. In addition to playing El silencio together, the founder of Mano Negra advised them on how to deal with the (sometimes dangerous) media to convey the desired message. He warned them that "promoting records is also part of artistic expression: what do you want to explain or not, what do you want the journalist you are talking to to explain," explains Guillem.
For his part, Rubén Blades ordered them to take care of themselves if they want, like him, to reach 70 on stage. And that implies not getting carried away by vices, something that Manu Chao also recommended to them. "What you learn from someone with so many years of success like Rubén Blades is perseverance, you need to be constant," explains Klaus, recalling that it took them a year to record "only" 14 songs, the ones that make up the album. But when you add up all the hours worked “thinking about the issues, having a lot of mistakes and successes and reviewing everything you do”, time goes by at full speed.
That is why the trio has abandoned their parallel projects and has focused on making the most of their time and, as their teachers recommend, avoiding vices that are not always as one imagines. “We have the image of the artist's vices with alcohol and drugs”, explains Klaus, to remind us that there are other vices, “such as the mobile or the Play Station”. And he remembers how Manu Chao told them stories of artists who weren't artists after spending eight hours playing Fifa, “if he had spent these eight hours making music now he would be a brutal artist”.
This is not the case of the Homas, who in summer embark on a concert marathon visiting some of the main festivals, such as Cruïlla, Cap Roig or Canet Rock, performances where they trust that their vagueness plays in their favor because "they don't You know if you'll like it or not”, an opportunity to rediscover this band, as so many millions discovered in confinement.
