Criaturitas, verlos es quererlos.
Concierto: Hayseed Dixie (Página Web, My Space)
Lugar: Sala Caracol
Fecha: Jueves 25 de marzo
Precio: 18 € (Ticketmaster)
Asistiremos: Si
Conocimos a Hayseed Dixie buscando algún concierto que pudieramos reseñar en el blog. Para ello nos pusimos en contacto con un promotor que nos ofreció un entrevista al grupo. Desde luego, antes de aceptar nos pusimos a oir los discos de este grupo de Hilbilly Rock. A pesar de nuestras dudas iniciales, nuestra sorpresa fue mayúscula al oir las originales reinterpretaciones que hacían de éxitos de los AC/DC, Kiss, Queen o, inclusive, de los Scissor Sisters.
La verdad es que es un concierto para pasárselo bien, el rock en clave banjo es uno de nuestros grandes descubrimientos de los últimos meses, para hacer el ganso viendo este originalísimo grupo tributo, nosotros desde luego vamos a dar saltos como locos.
Puesto que ellos son, con mucho, un mucho más divertidos que nosotros, os recomendamos que leais la entrevista que les envíamos y ellos tuvieron a bien en contestarnos (os quedamos debiendo la traducción):
Efecto Túnel: A couple of years ago, you toured Spain for the first time. How was the experience?
Hayseed Dixie: It was so good that we are back this year for more! We had no idea what to expect the first time, because we have never sold many records in Spain, but the live shows were great. And Madrid was a much nicer city than I expected. I’m not sure what I expected, but Madrid was very nice.
ET: You were invited by Cliff Williams, AC DC ’s bass player, to a tour wrap up party at his place. How was meeting such legends? Did you get to meet the whole of the band? And, more important, did you get the chance to see what an AC DC party looks like?
HD: An AC/DC party is very much like a party at your best friend’s house. Cliff was sneaking around the side of his house to smoke cigarettes with us where his wife would not see him. Everybody sat on the back porch and played music and drank beer until we fell out of our chairs. They were really nice guys and very down to Earth.
ET: Have you had the chance to meet any more bands you’ve paid tribute to?
HD: Gene Simmons said he thought our Kiss record was great and that he “couldn’t wait to get the royalty check.” At least he is consistent.
ET: Since the release of your first album, 7 years passed before you gave us the chance to listen to your own compositions. Now’s the time for Killer Grass. Is it new songs, or another cover album?
HD: Killer Grass is about half our songs and about half our re-interpretations of songs you probably know.
ET: You seem to tour a lot. Do you get the time while touring to write new songs?
HD: While we are touring is usually when we do write songs. Or at least that is when we start the songs and sometimes I finish them once the tour is finished. Nothing interesting really happens when I’m sitting around my house – but a lot of wild stuff happens on the road, and that’s the stuff that makes for interesting songs.
ET: Is the touring life taking its toll? Do you ever fear you’ll die drowned in your own vomit? Just kidding, folks. I’ve seen your tour schedule and it would kill Bon Scott, if he were still alive!
HD: We don’t really know how to live any other way. We have all been doing it for most of our adult lives, and so if we spend more than a few weeks off tour, we start to wonder what to do with ourselves. I think that if we were going to drown in our own (or someone else’s) vomit, that would have happened years ago. By now, we’re all pretty professional about it and we all know how much we can drink and how much is too much. None of us mess with drugs these days . . . other than a bit of herb now and again.
ET: Killer Grass includes Eine kleine Trinkemusik. Is it what it looks like? Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik?
HD: That’s exactly what it is!
ET: Killer Grass includes a bonus dvd in which you try to teach the basics of bluegrass playing. Are you some kind of bluegrass preachers, on a mission to turn us all into hillbillies?
HD: We’re on a mission to turn everybody on to the banjo! I think it is the most happy and most energetic sound in the world. And we have had a lot of people ask us how to play it. It takes a lot of time, just like any instrument, to get good at. But we thought it would be fun to give a few lessons.
ET: What albums do you listen to the most while touring? Anything interesting or plain indispensable we should listen to?
HD: I ride a motorcycle on all of the tour, so I have my iPod to listen to while I’m riding. I always keep Rammstein’s “Reise Reise” album loaded up (I love that record), as well as most of the early Rush albums, Dead Kennedys, Frank Zappa, The Bad Livers, Neil Young’s “Weld” album, The Stanley Brothers and Hank Williams Junior and Senior. There are lots of other records that come and go, but those never leave my iPod.
ET: You seem to speak the two most international languages: rock and sense of humour. Could be the reason that something as specific as a bluegrass band works outside the USA?
HD: I guess so. I think that even if somebody doesn’t know much banjo music, they will have to smile when they hear the way we play it. And I also think that the energy level we have live should be fun for anybody to watch. None of us take ourselves very seriously, but we are serious about trying to play well. We’re just not very serious about anything else – I think a rock show should be fun. I have some very strong opinions about politics and history and economics, and I’ll be happy to talk about those if we are just sitting at the bar, but that’s not what we do on stage. At the bar we talk, on stage we rock!
ET: We’re looking forward to seeing you live when you play in Spain . Thanks for the fun and the good music. Good luck with Killer Grass.
HD: Thank you for letting me write in English. I know just enough Spanish to get into a fight, but not nearly enough to get out of the fight. If you’re at one of the shows, please do come up and say hello.
El comentario final no tiene desperdicio: “Gracias por escribirme en Inglés. Sé el suficiente español para meterme en una pelea pero no tanto para salir de ella”. Absolutamente genial, si esto no los ha convencido, seguro que su fantástico Bohemian Rapsody (del disco que vienen a presentar) lo hará:
