Q.— You are about to perform at FIZ once again—and this will be your fifth appearance. What is it about this festival that always makes you say yes to taking the stage? A.— Zaragoza as a whole is always an emphatic yes, and it is also a place closely linked to our entire career. In fact, from the beginning, many of the people behind FIZ have also followed a path very similar to ours as a band. We feel very connected to it; it is a bit of a refuge, a bit like home.
Q.— "La revolución sexual" is still working almost 20 years later as if it had just been released. Does it ever surprise you that a song can survive for so long and pass from one generation to the next? A.— More than surprising, it is fortunate. It is true that these things are often somewhat random. When a song suddenly gets a little out of your hands and becomes so danceable or easy to listen to for someone who has no idea what La Casa Azul is, I find it incredible. I still feel very connected to that song; it represents the band very well. I think music generally has that magical quality. I have always strongly disagreed with the comment people make when a song comes out and someone says at a particular moment: "That piece of crap—let's see who remembers it in ten years." And yet it often happens with songs that same person would have bet an arm, a kidney or even their life that nobody would remember.
For example, I don't know, "La barbacoa" by Georgie Dann or "Saturday Night" by Whigfield. And yet, many years later, even six-year-old children dance to them. There is something I consider a little random, but also that magical quality that makes songs with real substance endure, while others do not, and some songs without depth or intensity suddenly do.
"La Casa Azul is still not a mainstream band; large venues are not our natural habitat"
Q.— You have announced Fauna y flora subacuática for 2027, after several years without releasing a studio album. Does this work mark a different stage, or does the universe built over more than 25 years still exist? A.— I have never considered making any change, I don't know, like starting a new era in progressive rock or hardcore—never. For me, La Casa Azul's evolution has always been very organic, despite the apparent gaps in time between albums. There is a universe built on clearly defined foundations that evolve, of course, just as I evolve as a person and in every area of life, within a changing environment. Suddenly, there are things that interest me more at a particular moment, and I think that is where the more emotional element lies.
Q.— You are performing at FIZ at 12:20 a.m., after Carolina Durante. Is that late-night schedule your natural habitat, when the audience is ready to dance? A.— There will be all kinds of opinions about that. I think the band's natural time has always been a little earlier, because I believe there is a final part of the night when it is assumed that everything has to be very festive, and perhaps you are not allowed to develop a narrative that is more faithful to what the band is, beyond certain clichés.
I think Zaragoza has always been a place with an ambivalence that is not so easy to find: a great capacity to live in the moment and enjoy the party as much as one wants, but also a great openness to listening to what someone is offering you onstage, right? So the ambivalence lies partly in being able to follow that emotional narrative while also joining in the celebration when you are invited to. It is something really cool that you do not find everywhere.
Q.— What is the Zaragoza audience like? After performing at FIZ several times, how are you going to surprise them this time? A.— This will be the penultimate concert of the entire "La gran esfera" era, so it will be something of a closing to this stage. We will try to offer a somewhat condensed overview, because I think we are playing for an hour, of the band's more than 20 years of career.
Q.— In recent years you have performed for huge audiences, and in 2027 Movistar Arena and Palau Sant Jordi will follow. How does La Casa Azul change when it moves from a club or festival to a venue of that size? A.— Obviously, these are specific moments; it really is not our natural space. I consider La Casa Azul to still be a band that is not mainstream, but one with a perhaps more close-knit loyal audience, and playing in larger venues is not our natural environment at all. The few times we have done it tell me that it stays in people's memories. The way we approach it is obviously different, although what we always try to offer is a collective celebration. It is like saying: look, there aren't many of us, but those of us who are here have all come together and are having a good time. Many of the band's fans have always experienced it alone, and suddenly being able to meet other people and experience it surrounded by a large crowd means that this intimate experience gives way to something collective.
Q.— You share the bill with Repión, La Paloma and Marina Domínguez… How do you see the independent music scene? A.— Extremely well. It is true that I may get a little carried away with many things, but I have never felt that it is declining. Obviously, things change, and especially the way what we might call the industry or the "business" is managed is constantly changing. Perhaps that is sometimes what shapes the opinions of certain sectors about the current state of the underground in Spain, but to me it is a magnificent moment. I think there has been a certain loss of the musical prejudices that existed many years ago and have gradually disappeared, but I believe there is still a great deal of everything, everywhere.
What continues to happen, as it always has, is that anyone who wants to get into this will have to commit to it, and that requires time, dedication and enthusiasm. At least as a music lover, it seems to me like an exceptional moment.
