Ariel Root: “Getting old isn’t nice but no one likes to die”
He speaks alone (Warner, 1997) is her third solo album Ariel Root (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1960) But apparently it may be the first. Reviewing the photos in the attached booklet, Ariel emerges with his head back, sitting in front of a study table, wearing a message on the back of his sweatshirt: “We’re all going to die.” (“We’re all going to die”). The coolest Porteno lived in Madrid in the 1990s – speaking in movie terms Orange – a sequel to what was the first part of his solo career with He speaks alone, which these days celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new release full of extras and with a tour supported by the same band that accompanied him in the 1998 shows (Tito Davila on keyboards, Ricardo Marin on guitar, Jacob Reguilon on bass and Pablo Serrano on drums) and that at the moment stops in nine Cities of our geography. Some ‘suicide’ have second chances.
s. At the time, while promoting this album, I read you saying that “Being in rock for 21 years is just a pretty catchphrase.” Today, when the album is 25 years old, do you think being in rock for 46 years is still like that?
R was found. I don’t know if the title is good now (laughs), the past is pulling away from me. On the other hand, it has a lot of advantages. But on the other hand, getting old has a very bad effect nowadays. I think 21 was better than 45.
Q: “And nothing is sadder than remembering the dreams of the past,” say the lyrics to “Después de toast.” Is it sad to get old?
R was found. No, it’s not nice to get old but no one likes to die. It will be a phase of my life. I think that over time, some dreams that seemed like utopias have come true.
Some dreams have come true, like getting back on the road, having a band, seeing my kids grow up, seeing them well, feeling good about myself… overcoming those real misfortunes that life has.”
Q: Like what?
R was found. Getting back on the road, having a band, seeing my kids grow up, seeing them well, feeling good about myself… so scared, all of a sudden they started happening and put things in their place too.
Q: Were things slow to set in motion?
R was found. Things are put in place and suddenly they are out of place and you have to put them back in place. This is what life is about.
Q: “Hablando solo” is your first solo album after Los Rodríguez, but your third if we consider the two albums you recorded after Tequila: “Debajo del puente” and “Vértigo”.
R was found. Yes, I prepared a little more for this one and didn’t make the mistakes of the past. I was a little rushed (well, unknowingly), which couldn’t be any other way.
Q: “Under the Bridge” wasn’t that bad…
R was found. It’s not because things went so badly, but because I felt bad defending them. He was not prepared to take on the position of sole speaker and advocate. It was a lot more important for me to go from Tequila to being single, much more than it was to go from Los Rodriguez to He speaks alone.
s. In fact, the album title “Hablando solo” is actually the name of an unreleased song by Los Rodríguez.
R was found. Yes, with my first post-Tequila solo album, I wanted to completely break away from the sound and form — shall we say — completely. And yet He speaks alone It is more continuous.
Q. ‘Baile de illusiones’, the song that opens the Hablando solo, is pure rock and roll.
R was found. Yes, but that’s not all rock and roll. Yes, there’s The Attraction, the great British pop wit. Then there’s the songwriting, which isn’t classic rock and roll styles either, but a little more research and elaboration, but that was there too with Los Rodríguez.
Q: The song “Vicios caros” was when I was 10 or 11 years old. Do you also have post tequila break up material?
R was found. Well, it’s one thing to own matter and another to know how to defend it. I have started to learn a new trade from this record. It’s true that at some point with Los Rodriguez I could have done a song, but I didn’t feel the weight of the show on me. I also could not compose a few songs myself, as it happened later. And above all, I sing my own repertoire. In terms of songs, I salvaged some songs that would have been weird to be part of the Los Rodríguez album, but we were so excited about the new material and new songs that they stayed there. Expensive vices I suddenly re-discovered with The Rota, a band I created with Guille Martín between the last tour in Los Rodriguez and the last tour in Los Rodríguez with Joaquín Sabina. Almost a year passed between those two things. We broke up at the end of the summer, but Sabina suggested we go on tour with him the following summer. So we kind of froze the project for that whole time. Since I didn’t have much to do, I took advantage and called Joel: “Hey, do you want to go out and play? Let’s put together a band.” I started to recover and compose songs and there I started playing Expensive vicesAnd Confessions of a pizza eaterAnd The dance of illusions And Last Supper. I composed those songs for The Rota.
Q: What happened to Fito Paéz and The Attraction during the recording of “Hanging from the Moon”?
R was found. no more. Vito reached out with a cold, slightly touching voice. It took me three times to sing it and one to play it on piano with The Attraction, because it’s a song we play together. All that is heard on this recording, except for the guitar solo, is the original recording of that night.
The attractions had a very relaxed and creative way of working, and I learned that; With Los Rodriguez we were more concerned.”
Q: Was live recording the way to work with The Attraction?
R was found. Well, with Los Rodríguez, we actually recorded live, and that’s what was recorded at that time. It’s true that there was electronic music and everything, but I want to say that was the time when going to record a rock album meant learning the songs, locking yourself in a big room where you could play to your heart’s content; The art of the microphone, which was so important and that makes this recording at the moment (if you listen to it on vinyl) is still relevant. Then you count to four and start playing. But there were songs that lasted a whole day until we found the arrangement. The attractions had a very relaxed and creative way of working, and I learned that; With Los Rodriguez we were more concerned. We tried playing songs that played in a completely different way. For example, order hanging from the moonwhich is very special, was released near the end, after recording the song with a much more pop arrangement.
Q: When did you first learn that The Things weren’t going to be the live band?
R was found. All along, from the very beginning. They told me that if I still had a very important concert, we would attend it. But, of course, if he needed to make and strengthen a band, he would not leave them for an important concert.
Q: There are musicians who prefer to play live with the same band they recorded with…
R was found. Me too. And if it’s the attractions, I won’t even tell you. But they didn’t give me the numbers. The band I put together for the concerts is the band I’m now going to take on the tour, which is another reason to celebrate. It was a band working as a band. In fact, we’ve been together for as long as tequila lasted.
s. Does the band make the sound recognizable? I’d say yours is stoney, something more standard.
R was found. There was everything. I listen bone And it doesn’t have a “stoney” sound. I think I make rock rock and it seems to me that’s my defining characteristic and that’s what I like to look for in an artist: that he has his own personality, of course.
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Q: So, does one look the same despite the years?
R was found. no. Now I sing better (laughs).
