It is said that studying among priests marks life.

I have the impression that the French Revolution sent many religious men to Gipuzkoa. For example, I studied at La Salle, and we had to take lessons from them. The only options were ours or the Spanish Catholic National School, and being trapped between these two religious arms, they beat us both physically and psychologically from all sides. I admit that this had a huge impact on myself, and to be honest, I envy seeing my daughter receive a different kind of education. Constructivism, etc., will have their flaws, but I am convinced that they are better than our fundamentalist religious education.

Consciously or unconsciously, you would have received a musical education in your home. It can’t be a coincidence that the three brothers are musicians.

And in any case, it would be a great coincidence. Our parents didn’t play any instruments, but since my mother loved the hand sound, she pointed us to classes as a very young child. But the classes of those times were very tough, very directional, and they gave us backwards. Javier learned to play very well, but from morning to night, completely fed up, he stopped playing even though he later started again. Fermin spent a few years, and he also left him forever, although he had never collaborated with hand sound on some albums. My path was shorter, I spent three or four years and burned myself with the method and model of study. Today I teach guitar lessons and I try to take the students into account, but then it wasn’t like that, for the teachers we were just slaughtered meat. Thankfully we realized that music was more than just a hand sound.

What was music to you then?

The most important part of my life. I also endorse the saying that rock and roll has saved my life. At a very young age, influenced by our older brothers, we started listening to Víctor Jara, Paco Ibáñez, Kilapayoun and others, as well as Pantxoa and Basque music in the style of Peio, but for me discovering bands like Deep Purple and AC/DC was opening the door to a new world. Imagine, I still remember being in England when I was 15 and coming back with the AC/DC score book and a MXR distortion pedal. I used to plug the guitar and pedal into my brother Javier’s amplifier and take some amazing delights.

Did the atmosphere that was breathed in the street boil what was in his veins?

In our area a lot of punk bands started to come out and we also started to tune the first chords of Kortatu. Everything was in order when what some called “Rock Radical Vasco” was created to sell more albums. At that moment a giant wave was born. Free radios, fanzines and musical groups also came out from under the stones. The youth movement also took hold there, and we began to move on this giant wave. It was amazing, going to any town and I don’t know how many group concerts there were, a huge move. It should not be forgotten, however, that there were also very dark and terrible times, that we suffered a great repression, and that although there were very idealized days, it was not so much. Despite the beautiful years, they made us pay a very expensive price.

What place did the Basque have in all this salsa?

It is curious that, like Natxa de Felipe or Fermín, many people who showed up strong were new Basques, or that, as in the case of Ruper, they had lost the Basque language and had been recovering it. In the case of Kortatu, it is clear that it helped us a lot to start singing in Spanish. We sold 100,000 copies of our first album, and although many people accused us, it is undeniable that the fact that we started in Spanish gave us a basis for later. We were also aware of our shortcomings, and although Fermín announced that we would make the fifth album in Basque, we moved forward and our fourth album, Kolpez puntos, is in Basque. The Basque language has allowed me to experience very special feelings. It is very special to start speaking in Basque after more than twenty years of talking with the deceased father. Our daughters also learn Basque, and it can be said that in our house we have managed to reverse the decline of Basque.

In those times, was it necessary to be tough on the attitude of walking in your circuit?

We weren't kamikazes, but like everyone back then, we got kicks too. I remember, once we played in Vitoria, and the organizers told us clearly that whatever happened, we should not interrupt the concert. The greys were recharging over and over again, and we played and played there, honoring the helm of the organizers. Another time, a bottle of Fermini was thrown at him, and when I saw him bleeding on the floor, I jumped out of my gut and jumped into the audience looking for the culprit. The Germans in the front lines were gigantic and my intention was to give the culprit a header in the middle of the face, but I also saw that I wouldn’t get to that pair. Thankfully, I realized that a girl had thrown the bottle, hit Fermin unintentionally, and had every intention of helping him. Think about the kamikaze I was...

You would also have had all the will to help when you closed the Kortatu stage and went to Nicaragua as a brigadier.

I went for six months and stayed four. It was very hard for me, and due to other stories, I decided to come back. Although the Sandinistas were still in government, it was the last breath of the movement. There were a lot of people from the Basque Country and Europe, and saying “Sandinista Nicaragua” in Europe was then a way to connect with people. Unfortunately, when I was there, they lost the election and I made my home quite desperate. This electoral defeat was the beginning of the end. We were on the border with Honduras and people kept asking us why we didn’t have weapons. At the same time, we had very close ties with the local people. In the evenings, just around the fire, we had the opportunity to talk about many things, which is priceless. I don’t know if it’s because the harsh circumstances make the good times even better, but when I think of Nicaragua, I think of what our grandparents said about military service: the good and bad times there.

On your way back from Nicaragua, you climbed on the wave with the Red Winters. The concert of Herrera de La Mancha or the Insumiso case of Mikel Anaesthesia seems like science fiction from today’s perspective.

The passage of time brings constant changes. It is useless to make nostalgic readings. The days of Cortatu and the Negur Rouge will not return. Today, we are at a very interesting political moment and the intentions must be put into consideration. It would probably be banned if we put in the plant a crazy intention like that of Herrera de La Mancha. Many things have changed. At that time, the Basque cause had much broader support in the Spanish State, and in the case of the Anesthesia case, the strength of the movement of inputs gave us immense legitimacy. But it has rained a lot since then, and associations of victims that did not exist then have built many walls. ETA’s death of Miguel Ángel Blanco, I think, created a bubble burst that has complicated everything. The struggle for the liberation of the Basque Country in the state lost much support, the wood intensified and the philosophy of prohibition that is currently in force began to prevail little by little.

Have you ever been intimidated by such prohibitions or Galindo's accusation?

After the Red Winters, when we were going to play with Joxe Ripiau in Madrid, our fellow journalists told us that he was broadcasting an email saying “van a actuar en Madrid los altavoces de ETA”. Imagine the political solution that Joxe Ripiau had, but nevertheless they went to break the concert, made repeated bomb announcements and mounted an incredible movement. Of course you're scared, but I've been through a lot more horror here. Galindo's is a matter of another plane. On the one hand you see that people are with you, close to defend you, to help you, and to boost your project, and on the other hand, you know that Galindo is involved in the shit and doesn’t have much to say. The fact that those who came out of our mouths were able to be signed by a large majority of civil society at the time also gave us enormous legitimacy. Great was the response we articulated, the concert was given by all the bands of Esan Leuzki, a sum of money united... It was very enriching, almost to thank His Excellency Mr. Galindo.

Although there is a lot of talk about self-production today, you saw a long time ago the need to create Esan Oz, your own record company.

It is no coincidence that the title of two of our albums has expanded Our Attitude and Our Idea. Our philosophy was to reflect our position and disseminate our ideas. In this sense we immediately realized that we had to control the steps we took, and for that we needed a tool like Say Out Loud. A lot of things have changed for labels today. Just as the Internet has transformed the political and economic landscape, it has also transformed that of culture, and today it is an indispensable element for understanding the market. Whoever looked at the sales data clearly saw that the wave was going to take over the industry, and now they're trying to get the money they used to get from the records out of the concerts. Currently, the discs are only presentation cards. Those who want to make money will have to shake their heads, and for example, in order to earn the money that the Colectivos took from the records, they will have to move forward with a project like Gu Gira. Without work and imagination there are no coins, but well, I think they can live with less, we can live, and hopefully or unfortunately we will have to live that way.

In addition to music, you are a forerunner in film, theatre and book making, but now fatherhood is what you want to live.

I made these incursions before I became a father. Now I'm in a different phase, I have young daughters, and I think it's very important to be with them. That's why I opened the parenthesis so as not to close it, and I'm trying to keep my mind on standby. Later on, it’s possible that everything will explode at once, like the bottle of champagne unfolded after shaking. I won't deny that I have a lot of ideas going through my head, but I'm convinced that I have to prioritize my father's work. Otherwise he won't make it up to me. Don’t think it was an easy decision. Last summer we were still playing and I realized that I didn’t get along with my daughters at home, I didn’t take the point. That's why I decided to pause, but I'm not on vacation. Parenting takes a lot of time and effort, and I also continue to teach guitar lessons. But creativity, at least as I understand it, has other demands, in your world, to get into your bubble and focus only on yours, excluding everything else. Today, I don’t know what will come out of me when I resume creating. I think I'll keep making songs, but who knows in what format. Maybe I’ll post my work online, maybe I’ll get a book... Time will tell.