2023-08-13 04:00:58
Billy Villegas (Madrid, 1959) is one of the most present bassists in national auteur pop, well known for his work alongside Luis Eduardo Aute and Antonio Vega and his time, along with Tino di Geraldo, on “Cómplices”. A year ago he changed the Madrid mountains, where he had taken refuge from the big city, for the Florida neighborhood, in Oviedo, the city of his partner.
-What has brought you to the skirt of Naranco?
–My girl is from here and we take advantage of it. It was something we had been talking about for a long time. I had been living in the mountains for twenty years and every time I went down to Madrid I walked like a true stranger. Madrid has been evolving and from a distance you don’t know it, it’s a new city. Moreover, you can prepare a tour from here. He gained in quality of life in Asturias.
–And the Madrid mountains?
–With the covid it skyrocketed. There was nothing to rent or buy. Every time you took the car to go shopping you got stuck.
–And with what idea did you come to Asturias?
-With no one. Rubén Giorgis lives in Pola de Lena, who was my double bass teacher and is a symphony orchestra teacher. One of the ideas I have is to study with him again, taking advantage of the fact that I have him close. On the other hand, when I decided to come and live in Oviedo, Tino di Geraldo gave me some names: his sister Elsa Fernández, and Dani Casielles. Thanks to them I met Sil Fernández and Jacobo de Miguel, and blessed the hour! We talked about projects and the idea of doing a tribute to Antonio Vega arose, with the two of them and Elsa. We have already presented it in Gijón and we want to continue. It has been a very pleasant surprise. They are musicians with a level.
–An Asturian tribute?
–Yes, in that key, because Antonio’s band has always continued to get together to play his songs at least once a year. But lately it was diluting a bit, although we would have liked to never leave it.
–Did you accompany Antonio Vega throughout his solo career?
–In almost everything, from “I won’t leave tomorrow” to almost the last one. In the end it coincided with a tour with Aute and I couldn’t get hooked. He told me that nothing was wrong, he was a gentleman, a gentleman.
–A man seemed to stay afloat thanks to his music.
Yes, it was all I had. That special way of composing… It was a light for everyone.
-Now Luis Eduardo Aute is also missing, who died three years ago.
–Eduardo has been our older brother. In everything: poetics, attitude, intellectual… It was a consultation for life. It’s funny, because when they were there it wasn’t like that, but now I look for their songs. I’m on YouTube and I feel the need to listen to them. To him and Antonio, and not just for the tribute project. They have reached me a lot, perhaps because I lived with them for a very long time, but now they are a necessity.
-What song is it?
–From Antonio… “Lucha de gigantes” yes or yes, “La última montaña”, with that strength it had, “Océano de sal”, a magical song… And from Eduardo I am listening a lot to “Un ramo de viento”, “Las four and ten”, “The beauty”…
–Did Aute and Antonio Vega know each other?
–They met at a concert in Santiago. I took Antonio and told him “it won’t happen from here, let’s go see Eduardo”. They deeply admired each other.
–How did Billy Villegas start in music?
-In my brother’s gang was Rufo (Luis Suárez Rufo), Luis Pastor’s manager, he introduced me to music. They took me to a concert, it started to attract my attention and I started fooling around with the guitar. I didn’t get into bass until I started to take it seriously, to study at the conservatory.
– Your first group?
–It was a trio, instrumental music, “Soga de pozo”, because we rehearsed in the Pozo del Tío Raimundo. As she continued to be friends with Rufo, one day he offered us to play in a theater in Vallecas with the “Miraflor Orchestra”. That night “Suburbano” was also there and they saw me play. They were looking for a bassist, because his was leaving the group, so the following week Rufo called me and asked if I’d like to play with them. There I became a professional and then we became Eduardo’s official band.
How did you experience the Madrid movement?
–There was something that attracted me in that whole scene, but I was still influenced by other music, by jazz, by songwriters. It is true that I liked “Police” and also punk. In fact, with Tino di Geraldo and Pulgarcito we formed “Tapones Visente”, which was very punk.
What remains of those years?
There are songs left. Instrumentally they were a disaster, but songs were made. So there is one piece left. With little, much was done. You should suspend every one of them as musicians, but there are the hymns. And out of all the bands, I had a lot of relationship with “Golpes Bass”, I was a great admirer of Coppini.
–It was a “golden age”, as the program said, right?
-Recently I saw the programs of Paloma Chamorro again and it is amazing. I don’t think there was a television program in all of Europe that risked as much as she did at that time. It is a pity that today there is no commitment to music that is not through the triumphs. It would be obligatory for there to be a fixed programming of jazz, folk, author… Today there is a lot of talk about flags but there is no talk of Culture. And it’s scary.
#eighties #songs #remain #hymns