Tag: The Parrots Los Niños Sin Miedo

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Parrots Release a Rousingly Anthemic Ode to The Modern Worker

Aclaimed Madrid-based indie rock/garage rock act and JOVM mainstays The Parrots was founded by Diego García (vocals, guitars), Alex de Lucas (vocals, bass) back in 2014. With a handful of independently released singles, the band which, at the time featured Garcia, de Lucas and Daniel “Larry” Balboa (drums) nosily burst into the scene, receiving attention for establishing a boozy, raucous and mischievous sensibility to their overall sound and approach.

Along with Hinds and Los Nastys, The Parrots brought Madrid’s garage rock scene into the international arena, eventually signing to London-based label Heavenly Recordings, who released their critically applauded full-length debut, 2016’s Los Niños Sin Miedo. Since then, the members of The Parrots have been busy with a relentless touring schedule, winning fans across the world with their sweaty and raw punk rock-inspired ferocity. But in that time, they’ve also managed to released a collection of singles that have found the act pushing the boundaries of their sound — while going through a lineup change.

Slated for an October 29, 2021 release through their longtime label home, the Madrid-based JOVM mainstays’ highly-anticipated Tom Furse-produced sophomore album, DOS reportedly represents a new phase for the newly-constituted duo: while revealing an act that has gained a bolstered sense of confidence in their creative processes and taking pride in surrounding themselves with those they love and those who inspire them, the album’s material sonically is a decided change of sonic direction.

“Most of the album was recorded in Wilton Way Studios in Hackney in periods between summer 2019 and the start of 2020. Because of lockdown, it ended up getting finished in Madrid with Harto Rodriguez,” the duo explain in press notes. “Recording at home was really nice because it meant we could call on some of our very talented friends to join us in the studio. Most of the record was written before the lockdown but that unexpected pause in all of our lives made us rethink some of it and finish bits off in a different way. Also, when we knew we couldn’t go back to London to finish it, we decided to invite a lot of our friends back home to the studio. That made recording feel almost like a celebration. Everyone we knew was fine; even with the global pause we could still find the bright spots and stay together.

“Most of the album was recorded in Wilton Way Studios in Hackney in periods between summer 2019 and the start of 2020. Because of lockdown, it ended up getting finished in Madrid with Harto Rodriguez,” the duo explain in press notes. “Recording at home was really nice because it meant we could call on some of our very talented friends to join us in the studio. Most of the record was written before the lockdown but that unexpected pause in all of our lives made us rethink some of it and finish bits off in a different way. Also, when we knew we couldn’t go back to London to finish it, we decided to invite a lot of our friends back home to the studio. That made recording feel almost like a celebration. Everyone we knew was fine; even with the global pause we could still find the bright spots and stay together.

Even though garage rock is kind of the core of all our influences, in the last few years we’ve been listening to lots of stuff that we’d kind of relegated to a second position,” the duo continues. “We rediscovered a lot of artists that we listened back when we first fell in love with music — bands like LCD Soundsystem and Gang of Four, lots of mutant disco. Tom really helped us there, he made sense out of the chaotic mashup of influences that we brought into the studio. And because we’ve always loved hip hop, we followed a different approach to putting songs together, using samples and sampling ourselves a lot. Beastie Boys, ESG, Devo, Los Zombies (the Spanish band) were all a very big influence on the tone of the record. Also the Spanish music scene has been changing a lot in the last years and listening to a lot of new Spanish artists has helped us break down some walls and made us create music in a more free way.”

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Maldito,” DOS’ a single that found Garcia and de Lucas retaining a great deal of the scuzzy and distorted guitar driven-sound and the rousingly anthemic hooks that have won them fans globally, but giving it a slick studio polish that included a dash of autotunes on the song’s particularly punchy hook. But underneath the slick polish, the song is a bittersweet meditation on the nuanced and conflicting feelings involved in letting someone go — including longing, regret, the uneasy acceptance of the difficult decision made and the consequences of that decision on you and others. Adding to the new, forward thinking sonic direction that they’ve taken, the song features a guest spot from the commercially successful Spanish emcee C. Tangana. 

ttle over four-and-a-half minutes, and is centered around a relentless motorik groove, angular blasts of guitar, shimmering synth arpeggios and a rousingly anthemic, chant/shout-along hook. And while arguably being one of the most expansive and boldly arena friendly songs of their catalog, “You Work All Day And Then You Die” is fueled by a growing dissatisfaction and disgust with the lines of bullshit about work and adult responsibility that we’ve been sold — and are either untrue or impossible to achieve. It’s an urgent wake up call that says busting your ass and working at a job you hate to barely survive, to buy shit that won’t make you happy when the world is on fire is laziness at best, lunacy at worst.

“We wanted to write this song for a long time. The sounds, the epic in it were something that we had wanted to express for a long time and couldn’t have done it without the help of our amazing producer, Tom Furse,” Garcia and de Lucas explain. “On the lyrical side, we’ve been feeling that people are settling and giving up their dreams for the ones people post on social media, we wanted to express that lack of individuality, how it’s easier to copy other models of success rather than follow your own. With this song we wanted to punch that trend (or feeling) in the face and remind people and ourselves that success has more to do with personal feelings and self care than social acceptance. We’ve always felt very comfortable being treated as outsiders in most circles and we are proud of that, fight back, don’t kneel and don’t try to be liked by everyone. Some things work for you but others may not. Why are people so worried about communism and stuff when it’s capitalism itself which tries to make us all exactly the same, boring with the same dreams and motivations?”

Directed by Joaquin Luna, the recently released video for “You Work All Day And Then You Die” follows four hemmed-in and abused workers, struggling with their shitty realities, at points going through their days like automatons fueled by stress, desperation, financial necessity and lack of better options. It shouldn’t be surprising that the video’s protagonists work soulless and degrading work — we see a cleaning woman, a line chef/busboy type, a store clerk and two suit wearing office workers. Eventually we see each of these workers become increasingly fed up and in a familiar yet somewhat absurd catharsis, act out in what little liberation from their hell that they can.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Parrots Release a Cinematic and Allegorical Visual for New Single “Maldito”

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.”