Diego García (vocals, guitars) and Alex de Lucas (vocals, bass) formed the acclaimed Madrid-based indie rock/garage rock act The Parrots back in 2014. And with a handful of independently released singles, the then-trio nosily burst into the music world, receiving both national and international attention while establishing a boozy, mischievous sensibility to their overall sound and approach.
Along with the likes of Hinds and Los Nastys, the members of the JOVM mainstay act helped bring Madrid’s music scene into the spotlight, eventually signing to renowned London-based label Heavenly Recordings, who released their critically applauded full-length debut, 2016’s Los Niños Sin Miedo. Since the release of their debut, the acclaimed Madrid-based have been busy: relentlessly touring the world, the band has won over fans with their sweaty and raw punk rock ferocity and mischievousness — all while gradually pushing the boundaries of their sound.
Garcia and de Lucas have been working on their highly-anticipated and long-awaited sophomore album. Reportedly, the forthcoming, Tom Furse-produced album will represent a new phase for the acclaimed JOVM mainstays with the duo gaining a bolstered sense of confidence in their creative processes and taking pride in surrounding themselves with people who inspire them. “[It] makes us feel very proud of ourselves. If anyone had told us that we could ever make our dream album exactly the way we wanted, we wouldn’t have believed it. It reflects all of our inner feelings and our influences, and we made it by keeping our circles of collaborators small with people we love and trust. This is what works for us.”
“Maldito,” the sophomore album’s first single finds them pushing their raw and melodic take on garage rock into more modern sonic territory with a slick studio polish and aass-driven motorik-like groove. While retaining a great deal of the scuzzy and distorted guitar driven and the rousingly anthemic hooks that have won them fans globally, the song finds the act experimenting a bit with autotunes — particularly on the song’s punchily delivered hook. But underneath the song’s slick polish, the song is a bittersweet meditation on the nuanced feelings involved in letting someone go including longing, regret and uneasy acceptance of the decisions that had to be made and their consequences on you and others. Interestingly, the song features a guest spot from multi-million selling Spanish rapper C. Tangana.
“There is a burden carried with every decision taken, not everything is as golden as it may look and therefore growing and changing implies pain and a feeling of emptiness that feels irreplaceable,” the band explains. ““For this song our inspiration came from things that were the closest to us, and that’s maybe the reason we were incapable to see them. The stop in the touring life and the time we’ve had to write has made us realize the distance we had created between our home and our people. Realizing this has made us feel closer than ever to our childhood references and to seek new ways to compose songs.” The band adds, “For a long time, we had the idea of writing a song with C. Tangana. We played him some demos and he loved them, so we spent some days in the studio to record the song.”
Directed by Rogelio for the renowned production company CANADA, which has helmed visuals for Rosalia, Tame Impala, Dua Lipa and countless others, the recently released video for “Maldito” is a gorgeously shot allegory that follows a lonely widower, who’s courted, followed and harassed by three characters as he goes about his daily routine through the streets of Madrid — a preacher, who apparently represents God/religion; a homeless man, who represents Death; and the Devil. The video manages to tackle the song’s themes while being funny. “We think the video for ‘Maldito’ is more akin to a movie than to a music video,” The Parrots say. “Filming it was an amazing experience and made us discover a love for acting.”
