2023-08-04 10:21:26
After more than 25 years of recording career, the valencian band The Red Room He has managed to put together a veritable battalion of loyal followers. Aragon is a good example of this and their concerts in the community usually hang the sign of no tickets. Therefore, the incorporation of him to the poster of the third edition of the Brizna de Ayerbe Festival was a safe bet. In fact, their presence at community festivals is recurring and last year, for example, they were also at Amante de Borja. The group will open the Brizna this Friday with a concert in which they will play songs from their last two albums ‘Años Luz I’ and ‘Años Luz II’ (both released in 2021), but in which there will be no shortage of great ‘hits’ already converted into hymns for thousands of followers.
“We always look for a balance between new songs and the songs that we know we have to play. Plus, we like to do it. In the end, Before we are musicians we are music fans and when we go to see a band we also want to listen to some specific songs. Luckily, in the last albums we have incorporated some of those classics into our repertoire, like ‘1986’, which is already being asked for a lot”, the band’s guitarist, Pau Roca, points out to this newspaper.
This was the case on their last visit to Zaragoza in October of last year, a city where, as Roca acknowledges, they feel “very loved”: “We have always had a lot of connection with Zaragoza. We published our first album with a label from there (Recordings in the Sea) and we went a lot in that first period. We love playing in Aragón, that’s why we go so much (laughs)”.
Those who go to the Brizna this Friday will be able to listen to the songs of ‘Años Luz’, an album originally conceived as a double album but that due to the pandemic it was published on two CDs separated by just five months. “As in the end they were recorded at different times, they are different,” acknowledges Roca.
Indeed, the former has a different sound record (with more presence of synthesizers), while the latter is brighter and more hopeful. “Our records -explains Roca- are like photographs of the moment the group is living. And basically what we do is record the best ten-twelve songs that we have at the time. The coherence we will see later regarding the themes or the sound, but what we prioritize is that we like each song individually, more than the concept”.
In this sense, Roca assures that they have never known how to “measure well” which song is going to like more or less: “We would not know how to make a ‘hit’ consciously and intentionally; when it has come out it has been naturally. We don’t know how to set those things. I think the key is to do what you like best in the best way possible.”
With this formula, the Valencian band has managed to keep its original followers, but it has also added new ones. “Onboarding new listeners is vital for any band to keep going., because otherwise you run the risk of becoming one of those nostalgic bands paying homage to themselves, and that’s always dangerous. Several generations already come to our concerts, including 18-year-olds with their parents. It’s dizzying, but it’s also very satisfying,” he underlines.
songs as shelter
Undoubtedly, one of the keys to his success has been to defend songs as a refuge tooth and nail, claiming the therapeutic power of music and getting the public to identify with their themes. “In the end, what one aspires to is to generate in others what the songs of others have made you feel, and that is the maxim that we have followed,” says Roca, who ensures that the band has the rope left to a while.
“We continue to have fun and get excited about the songs we do, so that’s a very good sign. Fortunately we have never been a group of young aesthetics. Our songs worked when we were in our twenties and I think they still work now that we’re on our way to turning 50. The other day I was seeing Iron Maiden in Barcelona and, damn, I still believe them,” says Roca with a laugh, who assures that If they are still together after so long, it is because in the most difficult moments they have known how to prioritize the project before their own individualities: “The key in the end is that we do what we like and see it as a privilege.”
New album in 2024
A good sign that the group is still alive and kicking is that they are already working on their next album, twelve songs that they have started recording in a studio near Valencia. “We already have three or four very finished songs and we will start releasing ‘singles’ after the summer or before Christmas with the idea of releasing the album next year. As for the style, I couldn’t tell you because sometimes we think we’re doing something very groundbreaking and then people recognize us instantly. As soon as we get together, we sound very much like The Red Room and I think that’s one of our greatest virtues.. We have made super-acoustic records and other super-heavy records and we still sound like us, so I couldn’t tell you”, says Roca.
Both he and Jorge Martí (vocalist of the band) will take advantage of their visit to the Brizna to present their respective new books: ‘A Day in the Life’ and ‘Ultimate Love Song’. It will be on Saturday at 12:00 pm and later they will offer a small acoustic concert. “I really liked the experience. It is a very absorbing but very beautiful process. In fact, I am already involved in another book,” concludes Roca.
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