Line is our brand new fellow in the RNR666 team.

She is from France, but will move to New York soon,
and will do big bites to the Big Apple of course.
Her first article was sent from Santiago de Compostela. Enjoy

from the cases of the annoying little girl

with the shortest interview of the history of humanity

The good wind brought me here in Santiago de Compostela on the 24th of July, the night before the Galician National day (even the Spanish king is present!). This region is the north-western corner of Spain, and it is certainly full of independentists, people strongly attached to their identity and language, how nice!

Cause even though we are in Spain, Galicia is not as warm as you could imagine, and that’s fine enough, I love a little breeze in summer nights. So here I am, after having been offered some fruity white wine and illicit substance, fireworks worthy of a war bombing, and MUSICA. Woooow a big stage and I can hear…wait a minute… that’s…ROCK’N’ROLL. Oooo yeaaah. I can see from far away a tiny woman, ginger short hair, blackly dressed like a proper rocker, perfectly screaming with her hoarse voice, what a talent! She is surrounded by 3 nice stylish men, guitar, bass, percussion, and she rules them the way it should be done.

I get to the first row (thanks to my many years of sneaking experience), and she’s not that small anymore, rather impressive with her strong tattooed arms, and it has its effect, girls are going craAazyyy around here. This is not any woman we can tell. I can’t understand all the words expelled through her mouth but my friend Xemma from AGAL (Associaçom Galega da Língua, id est Association for Galician Language) tells me that she’s a feminist slash, activist slash, independentist, and it shows, ooo… interesting. After playing pop rock’n’roll, she sings a lullaby that everybody in the public knows by heart, this is a SHOW. And among that, other little popular tricks, she adapts some traditional song in Galician version, e.g. Guantanamera. But the best part was about to come… BLUES!  Aaaa blues, how I love women’s blues and she definitely has the guts (and the sunglasses) for it! Power and Perfection are the two P’s coming to my mind while dancing as if I was on stage myself (by the way, my neck still hurts from all the headbanging).

Ok, my decision is taken. I need to know what’s behind the scene. I ask the nice and young security guy, he asks for me and I’m IN. Cool. But I have nothing prepared and I know NA-DA about them, or more precisely her, as she is THE big STAR after all. At first, she’s nice and polite, she welcomes me in her backstage, we sit on the couch and well you know my first questions were, hmmm, a bit, what’s the word for it? Ooo yeah, DUMB but, at least, it had the merit to make the air more clear

– Sso what’s your name?
– Maria Xose Silvar’
– Could you spell it for me please?

All this in the littlest shittiest Spanish I’m proud to speak. Ok… I went too far… but isn’t it the RNR666 spirit?, stained top and stoned face. She tells me nicely that she’s tired and need to eat so I could send her an email. The shortest interview in the history of humanity.

– C’mon Maria José, it was a test to see how patient you were and you failed!
Haha, not funny?

You may wonder where I find the arrogant courage to arras an artist, well this is kind of easy: knowing  that I have nothing to lose, indeed, I’ll never know what it’s like to be pressured by stupid people after a sensational stressful show, in other words, I’ll never be a rock star, thanks god my karma is safe!

Vale, her bassist seems to connect to my strange sense of humour, he tells me to follow him, Maria Xose disapproving eyes set on us. While he is putting order in between cables, I ask him a few RELEVANT beginner in the profession type of questions, yes, first times are always the best (…not true): so the 31 years old beautiful blond curly haired guy is from A Coruna, in the north of the region, by the cold Atlantic Ocean. He’s been playing in many different style bands before joining 2 years ago Sés. (It’s Maria Xose’s stage name. Not to confuse with S.E.S, the South-Korean girl group from the late 90s, no need to go checking, I sacrificed myself for you.) He enjoys much more small stages as he can’t really feel the people when it’s as BIG as it was tonight. (like a thousand people or so). He calls the security in between our exchanges… maybe he feels me too much: ” Hey man are my questions that stupid!” Ok, he allows me a bit more time… aaaa the local superstar system word versus the annoying little girl that I am is CRUEL.

Sooo, where were we? Oo right Fran (yes this is his name) doesn’t call himself an artist, no, he’s a PROFESSIONAL: ”but I don’t believe you, it’s written on your badge ARTISTA”.  HAHA got ya. He reveals to me the one word stuck in his mind while playing: ”ENERGY”, he has to give it ALL.

– And did you give it all tonight?
– Well it can always be improved.

oooo Fran babe, don’t say that, you know what was actually missing…a little mistake! Yes cause this band has for sure everything at the right place: Technique, Emotion, and the famous Energy he was talking about, all was well designed, interpreted, organized, leaving no space for Impros or Oopses. So if you are a performance lover, that’s for you dear reader!

Oooo nooo Maria Xose spots me, yes I’m still here gesticulating and laughing, she sends the security (or whoever those men in black are here for) they say:

”if you want an autograph you have to wait outside”

euuu, thanks but no thanks, it’s not my thing, or maybe on the chest then!!! ”Actually I’m writing for a music mag that’s why I’m here”  …well how I wish I had a badge… but as Fran taught us tonight: THE BADGE IS A LIE.

Meanwhile an anarchic rock band is playing, NAO, = NO in Portuguese, and a kind of antic sailboat. So I ship out.

Photo by Alberte A. Pereira. More shots from the event.