Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

Shock, didactics and community

  • Anyone interested in the Donostiarra scene knows Unai Pelayo, Pelax. After publishing a solo album, in 2015 he published his first album with Cowboys Orchestra. Since then, eleven projects and formats have matured, among which a four-theme EP with DJ Telmo Trenor stands out. On 15 October, the work Talka eragin da didaktika (Balkan Du) was presented in Le Bukowski (Donostia-San Sebastián), a work created by Kike Amonarriz. Together with Andoni Olaetxea (Nausea, Zozo), Iker Vázquez (Blaka, Liher) and Iñigo Ozaeta (Blaka, Nerabe), we had an interesting interview in Egia on ways to tell the truth.
Pelax taldeko kideak Donostiako Le Bukowskin (argazkia: Amaia Oca).
Pelax taldeko kideak Donostiako Le Bukowskin (argazkia: Amaia Oca).

They were afraid that the presentation of the album would take place on a Sunday, but playing at Le Bukowski was playing at home, and it was filled to the teeth with those fans who wanted to hear the work of the months. Pelax's are used to giving powerful concerts, and this was no less so. They began with Estampa and Sua dela esaten dute; with force and deep letters, that is, with the essence of Pelax. His opponent was the third song and put the whole room to dance. A precise and crazy battery that seems to be based on broken rhythms and samples, a song that will certainly become essential for the direct ones.

The four musicians have gone through the mud. In the last two years each has offered more than a hundred direct projects and have been able to reflect that experience in their new work. According to Andoni Olaetxea, the difference between the first two albums is evident: “Before, it was a Unai soloist project, and we added the band to it. Now the Cowboys have disappeared and we have become a group; although the base remains the same, of course.”

Iñigo Ozaeta:
“There was a time in Euskal Herria where the messages have been direct and explicit, and so far there has been a tendency to try to develop other types of messages. But bad hostility cannot be crushed.”

The shock is much darker than Cowboys. It departs at many times from Rock’n’Roll and classical blues, reaching more modern fields but without losing its base. Everyone agrees that Olaetxea's guitar has given the whole album that special charm. The maturity of the whole team is, however, evident. It's hard to see the couple formed by Vázquez and Ozaeta somewhere else, and it's impossible to do it elsewhere. The first one forcibly marks all the blows, the second one hits the bottom in the direct ones.

Within the design realized by Iñaki Rifaterra, Talka is a didactic whole. “When you brought the title I didn’t like anything – Vázquez confessed – but after turning the phrase around, I think it’s amazing. I have learned a lot from all the blows we have suffered in this process, and thanks to this phrase I better understand this time.” The same shock song, Pelayo wrote to his colleagues “for all the hard times we have passed.”

However, this album is similar to Cowboys. Habitus and Lotaile, for example, are a synthesis of the reasons for the album; the heavy rhythm of Dena delata can be compared with Zeuok from the previous album and Traba's dancing riff with the Turbio from the previous work. If you say it's Fire, you can say that Values have the same nature of hymn. The two discs have the same Intro and the same Outro, connecting both. “We are our greatest influence,” they say in laughter.

Photo: Eider Iturriaga

As for the letters, Pelayo is a bluesman, there is no doubt. “The blues has the needs of the wounds and I have them too much,” says a song from the first album and the second album shows the wounds and the angry ones everywhere. Ozaeta also sees it clear, “at one time in Euskal Herria there has been a predominance of direct and explicit messages, and so far there has been a tendency to try to develop other types of messages. But bad hostility cannot be crushed, and now we return from rage to singing, to singing the bad things that happen inside and outside.”

“Going onstage is a party for us. I always smile,” Vázquez confessed. On the stage of Bukowski the anarchic character of Cowboys was seen. Eneko Sierra and Jon Agiriano went up when they wanted to help with saxo and guitar. “Cowboys looked like this: two drums, three guitars, a saxophone... everyone did what they wanted. Now it can be said that we want to relax a little and be more faithful to the songs.” Following this group community philosophy, they have also participated in the album Beñat Antxustegi, Joseba B. Friends Lenoir, Olatz Salvador, Lander Ganzo and Xabier Viscay put their number.

Unai Pelayo “We
don’t want to be famous, but we don’t want to be forgotten either”

The work has only two objectives: “tell the truth and defend it live: that’s Rock’n’Roll,” says Pelayo. “We don’t want to be famous, but we don’t want to be forgotten either. In fact, achieving recognition is difficult in the Basque Country, if you do not do it according to certain interests. But things are changing. It's started programming more and more people with a different philosophy. But it's not easy, because you can't see Euskal Herria as a single scene. The underground Guipuzkoan, Alavés or the French Basque Country is not the same.”

Pelayo is a musician who creates hymns. Because music is two things: feeling and community, and songs make sense when they appear together -- it's a bridge between the two techniques. The spectators who have gone to Bukowski share more than a hobby; a way of living, a way of understanding the neighborhood and the city. Pelax sings to that and from there. And that's where he's brought us together and he's going to bring us together once again. “Songs serve to tell things as they are not.”


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