Max, Daniel

0:00HostWelcome to Interceptor Beyond Podcast. My name is Arthur, and today our guests are Max and Daniel of the Spanish rock band The Mother Crew. We're gonna talk about crowdfunding their first album, going analog, and lots of other cool stuff. If you dig this episode, don't forget to subscribe. If you like what you're hearing, make sure to rate the show everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify. And now on to the show.

0:30HostHello guys, thank you very much for agreeing to this. Max, Danny, please introduce yourself to our listeners.

0:47Brazilian10 years? Nice. My name is Daniel, I'm Brazilian, I'm from the south of Brazil. I've been living here in Barcelona since 2015, and well, making music here with this guy in The Mother Crew. I'm the bass player of The Mother Crew band. And well, I've been maybe making music since 12 years old, making lots of kinds of music in Brazil. Like, well, I started with rock music, of course, and listening to Beatles, Van Halen, this kind of bands, no? And with the acoustic guitar, trying to have some distortion in my acoustic guitar, breaking it in little pieces of the acoustic guitar in order to have this distorted sound. And that it was something that really made me engage in rock music, really. Well, maybe one of the most important things for me in rock is the sound, really. Probably caught my attention.

1:45HostI read online that you have a PhD in music.

1:49BrazilianYeah, well, my PhD is not really in music, it's in anthropology, but my study was in anthropology of music. Well, to be more accurate, it's about anthropology of memory. And what I did was, I was, well, to explain what memory is in an anthropological interview, it takes long. But the question was, I was interviewing people, I was playing with them as well in the 90s, in the local rock scene in my city. And, well, just interviewing them about their memories about this rock scene in this period of our lives and in this period of this city. And it was really interesting.

2:36HostI wanted to first tell you how I discovered the Mother Crow. It was, I think, a year ago, and I discovered... If I'm pronouncing the names wrong, please come on tour here, play a show, and then kill me.

2:48BrazilianOkay, don't worry.

2:50HostBut Magara, yeah, is correct.

3:02HostI don't really speak Spanish, but I read your interviews with Google Translate and watched on YouTube videos with Google Translate. So I'm guessing, you know, my Spanish skills are maybe will improve after this interview. So, yeah, I discovered your album about a year ago, and it's totally awesome. Like, totally killer music, super analog, you know, like the really cool sound of the analog.

3:27?Thank you.

3:28HostHow did you achieve this sound?

4:48HostSo your goal was in the beginning to do it AAA, like analog, analog, analog.

5:19HostHow did you feel when they when you found out that the machine broke down, man, it's horrible. And you said it was in the beginning, right?

6:16HostDo you think it somehow influenced the recording of the album, like the sound? I mean, the emotional situation, I mean, in some cool way, maybe, or it was a negative impact?

6:59HostWell, shit happens. I mean, you can't really plan for this kind of thing. I mean, you can always in this case, you can always go to digital, but still, you never know. What was the concept behind the album? Was there a concept?

7:25HostHow would you translate the how do you translate the words for the non Spanish?

7:52HostI mean, I'm pretty sure everybody's asking you this, you know, maybe you're like, you're even tired about about this question.

7:59BrazilianBut Magara, it has to do, well, I remember the, I wasn't in the band and in the time they composed the album, but Magara has to do, I'm not, I'm not sure, but Magara has to do with all this energy that passes through us and passes through things and through animals, through plants, this kind of thing, very holistic thing, you know? Yeah, it's kind of like the, like the, how you have to do with the universe and all the energy in the planet and how everything is related to each other in the world, in the, in the universe.

8:35HostSo was it like a basis for choosing instruments? I saw that you used interesting instruments in the recording of the album.

9:34HostDid you use the instruments from the 70s era or you tried?

10:15HostWell, it's, it's the fun part. Everything, it should be actually fun. Well, except maybe not the business side. The business side is boring, but still, you know, you should enjoy it as much as possible.

10:50HostSo you mentioned that you're working on a new material or, I mean, it's almost, we're recording in December. The year is all over, right? So I guess you've been recording all this time.

11:03HostWell, I meant that you were working on new material.

11:24HostWere you all together in one city? You didn't have to do any Zoom, whatever, like live stream kind of things to record or to practice or?

11:59BrazilianIt was really restrictive here in Cataluña as well. Yeah, we had this break and it got us a bit in the process of this creative process, but we've been composing these new songs and maybe we will record it until, well, I don't know until when. But try to record it as soon as possible. The material is good, the material is, well, from our point of view, it's really good because it's maybe it has a new, it will show a kind of something new in terms of influences because new musicians got into the band, you know? And maybe probably people will listen to something a little bit different.

12:44HostIs it completely different or just like an exploration in a different sonic environment?

12:53?What do you think?

14:20HostSo is there like a concept also behind this album, the new material?

14:27BrazilianNo, it's I don't think there is a kind of sub concept, no?

14:59HostI saw in the credit section of the album that the music and the lyrics are written by Mother Crowe, like all collective. So is it like everybody's participating in the creation of the new material in general? Or do you have a strict roles or something like this?

15:22?I think that our singer was responsible for the most of the lyrics on the last record because of like band policies and stuff like that. We just choose to credit all the lyrics and all the music equally to everyone in the band, basically.

16:19HostIn this podcast series, I'm trying to ask questions that would be useful to other musicians. And I wanted to ask you, like you mentioned that everything is divided equally among the band, credit-wise, right? Have you written a split sheet, you know, like in case of royalties or something like this? Have you written it, made it, wrote it on paper? What royalties go to whom and how many?

17:54HostYeah, it's really important to discuss such things in the beginning, because it's always possible that the song becomes a hit and then there's actual real, like a lot of income and then it can be problematic to trying to decide who gets what after.

18:38HostSo did you manage to play any gigs, uh, in 2021?

19:06BrazilianIn the beginning, no, of the pandemics, no, or in the end of the confinement, I think.

19:11?Yeah, yeah, yeah.

19:12HostAnd how was this experience? I mean, it's pretty weird to perform to a camera. I mean. Yeah.

19:17?And a seated crowd, it's like, uh, first gig we did this year was also a seated crowd, but at least we had a hundred people.

19:37?Yeah.

19:52BrazilianYeah. When you play, when we play for people who is seated, it's like if you, people were judging you, you were in a kind of a, of a trial, you know, like, uh, like in university, for example, you know, because I was making this great in music, uh, and, uh, all the exams was kind of, okay. We had to give, uh, in the, in the end of the semesters, we had to, to give some small concert to the, to the teachers, professors, no? And, uh, they were kind of, uh, no, we were in a kind of a musical trial and it was, uh, of course, uh, the question is to be playing for people seated and 12 people seated. It was a bit strange because, uh, we weren't really in, uh, in the mood and, uh, the audience as well, because they were kind of, uh, as well, uh, how can I say embarrassed? Because it was a very embarrassing situation. And of course we were enjoying, but, uh, at the same time, it was a kind of, what, what is that? No, what, what, what have we been doing in this, in this, all this situation of a pandemic situation and the playing for 12 people seated. It was totally different. And if you compare it with the last gig we did here in Barcelona, it, uh, the sala upload, you know, the upload venue, which people were allowed to stay. They, well, they check everyone if everyone took the vaccine, uh, but people were allowed to be, uh, standing, uh, some, some of them without masks, some, some of them, uh, with masks. And, uh, but, uh, the feedback, you could feel the feedback from, from, from, from the crowd and it was, it was amazing. Uh, well, in the end for me, uh, in the end of the concert, the, the, the, the feeling was like, okay, fucking great concert because of, because all of this now, because it's, it's a kind of a ritual, you know? And the rock needs, uh, rock concert, they need this kind of ritual, you know, to play rock for 12 people seated. It's like, uh, okay, what are, what are we doing here?

22:14HostYeah, man, back then it was so weird. What I heard from other musicians, local musicians, they said the same things playing to a seated crowd is absolutely devastating. I mean, it's, people are still there, but yes, you're being, kind of being judged. I mean, it's not the same thing.

22:35BrazilianJust eye, eye expressions. No, people were like, I remember to in the last gig to be playing and to see some, some of, some of them, uh, people in the audience, uh, some of them with the masks. Then you could see that their eyes, the eyes gestures are like, Oh, I like that. But of course you couldn't see the smile or somebody just shotting at us. I don't know.

22:55HostUh, are you planning to with this? You tried a little bit of this live stream, right? Yeah. I've seen other bands who has the budget, of course, to do like a huge show. Are you planning to experiment with that further? You know?

23:09?Um, I think that's, uh, I definitely don't rule anything out for the future, but, uh,

24:04HostWell, probably we're, we're all gonna check out how those bands who have the budget, how they will do with that. And we'll see how it all goes together, but probably definitely some way people have to think about it at least of doing that. Uh, because we don't know anything about the, the situation, what's going to happen. So this is like a backup, but yeah, uh, regarding the life stuff, uh, I've seen recordings. I haven't seen you live, but I've seen recordings from the show and you look like super like, yeah. How you described perfect live. The energy is like going through, I mean, from, from the screen, it goes halfway down, you know, like not completely, but I can imagine like how it's in being seen live. Uh, and by, by the way, like who's doing this, uh, the Instagram account.

24:53?Oh, thank you.

24:54HostEverything is in a good direction. Goes good with the music, really spot on, like really cool stuff.

25:01?Thanks.

25:02HostAnd I also wanted to ask about still about the previous album.

25:07?Sure.

25:08HostIt was, um, crowdfunded, right? Yeah, that's correct. Well, crowdfunding is, uh, is a completely separate beast as I understand.

25:17HostHow was the experience for you?

26:31HostHow did you prepare for the campaign? Uh, how long it took you, how long in advance where you started thinking about it?

27:28HostCongrats. You have an album.

27:29?Thank you.

27:51HostNot many people even know that they should.

28:08Hostin this case you should, if you're doing the crowdfunding, everything should be right. Did you think how are you going to promote the album once it comes out?

29:02HostIf you put a little bit more, maybe people would not be there because I know that the promoting of an album or in general, the release is quite expensive.

29:25HostSo you chose this platform because of that.

30:01HostWell, I looked a little bit on the campaign that's what's, what's, what's left of it, you know? And wow. I mean, it looks like you really prepared, you know, and it was your first campaign as I understand.

30:14HostWhat was the biggest challenge? Promotion probably, right? Getting people to chip in.

30:28?You're just like, you're preparing a lot of content. You're doing a lot of work. And sometimes it feels like, uh, you're not getting any, any response or you're not getting the response that you expect. Or, I mean, it's just like, you just have to push, push through and like be consistent. Like every day. It's not like you can just say like, okay, so now we published a campaign. Now we just have to sit and wait for 30 days and see if we're going to make it. And like the, the challenge is that you have to be consistent and promote it every day through the band social media, through your personal social media, like talk to your friends about it. Talk, try to reach out to everyone who could be interested, you know? So, and, and that's like, yeah, finding the motivation to kind of like do it every day, even, even when you don't feel like it.

31:12HostOh, crowdfunding campaigns are really stressful. As soon as you started, you see this ticker of money going in, going slow. How was it actually? Slower? How was it gradual increase?

32:44HostYeah, I mean, the whole campaign was, I mean, that was successful is great. And the album looks cool. The vinyl looks cool. Everything is super, like so many details. The album cover is awesome. Like this is an album that you would like to own.

33:11HostAnd, you know, I have a traditional question that I ask everybody I know, music created. It's like, what do you think about audio cassettes?

34:19HostI was doing research recently, checking out who's offering cassettes and which labels are offering. Just for example, I went to Napalm Records, Nuclear Blast, all these major labels, and there are not so many cassettes there, but I found a lot on Bandcamp, of course. And what's interesting, a lot of electronic music. There was a band, I forget the name, but...

34:43HostThey're planning to release 400 audio cassettes.

34:47?Wow.

34:48HostWell, this is like some major impact. But I think majors will not be interested for now. They have vinyl, but cassettes will go more for independent local bands.

35:33HostHow is the music scene in Barcelona? You know, it's considered to be one of the creative centers in Europe. You said you come from Sweden, Brazil. Yeah. Were there some things that surprised you that was strictly a Barcelonian thing?

35:47BrazilianOne of the things that more caught my attention is the diversity of this scene. Barcelona, okay, talking to a Brazilian, every city in the countryside in Brazil is huge in terms of territory, and Barcelona is, for me, it's a, I would not say, I would not say it's a small city, but it's a very dense city in terms of population. And you have, in this, for me, this is my, the way I see Barcelona in terms of a general scene, is a small place with a huge diversity in terms of music. Music from lots of parts, many parts from the world, Latin America, Brazilian musicians playing here, jazz musicians from the United States playing here, us playing rock music here. One of the things I most like is that, okay, I don't go a lot because of the money, of course, to rock gigs every week. But every week, if you want to go to a rock gig, you can go because you always have a rock gig here. You have people playing soul music, you have lots of, yeah, as you can see in these venues, like Salah Upload, for example, in one week, you can have a rock concert, you can have a soul music concert, and you can have some jazz and salsa, all kinds of music, because it's, of course, it's a very cosmopolitan city in terms of many people from many parts of the world living here. It's interesting, well, in general terms, no?

38:28HostWhat venue would you recommend for bands that play your type of music? Because some musicians, you know, they will know you, and maybe there are some venues that you would recommend that they would contact that would be in a similar genre.

38:43?Yeah.

38:53?champion of like rock music. It's a small, small venue that was called Rock Sound.

39:02BrazilianIt's really the center, the center of the rock scene here, you know?

39:06?Rock Sound. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

39:07BrazilianThe place, the venue, which everyone who likes rock and go to rock gigs, or if you don't like to go to rock gigs, you go to a bar to listen to rock and to stay with your people, you know? It was this bar. And this bar just...

39:48HostAnd now what venue would you recommend?

40:13HostYou mentioned that you don't have a label at the moment, right?

40:17?Exactly, yeah.

40:18HostIs that one of the goals? Do you want to be signed?

42:12HostAre you going to change with all the experience from the crowdfunding and recording and considering the labels? How does it affect you in thinking about the release of the coming album?

43:36HostAre you still planning to do the vinyls? Because what I know from the situation with vinyl in the industry right now, there's a lot of delay. Everybody is trying to do vinyls now, and it will take longer than before to press something.

44:25HostMaybe try tapes.

44:28HostMaybe just a limited edition of 20 copies. Who knows?

45:00HostYeah, and don't forget about the lawyers. Always read the contract, please.

45:35HostI think that streams for independent artists, a small one, is just a promotional tool.

45:43?Yeah.

45:44HostOf course, later down the line, you get money from the royalties and streams. Yeah. But in the beginning, it's no way. The only way to get the income is merch sales, five gigs. We'll see how it goes with the streams, how it goes further down the line. But still, the physical stuff is winning. It's the only way at the moment.

46:06HostSo now you're focused on working on the new material, finishing it up, and then recording it next year sometime.

46:22HostWhich one was it?

46:27HostI'm just trying to plug local names.

46:43?and recorded our last record. I think that's something that's really, really important.

46:57HostOh, no. The space is really important. Everything. Everything physical is important. The instruments, the atmosphere, everything is going into the music. You can feel it with every note.

47:09HostWell, we're out of time. The hour goes really fast.

47:14HostWhere would you like the listeners to follow you, or what would you like the listeners to do?

47:53HostYeah, I will also include the links in the show notes of the episode, so people can check out.

48:00?Thank you.

48:01HostIn the end, I put the song. What do you want to put?

48:16HostIt's an excellent record, and people should check it out. And there's still vinyl copies left, I think.

48:24HostWhich means limited edition, highly valuable stuff.

48:44HostMax and Daniel, thank you very much for your time. It was a pleasure.

52:10HostThank you so much for listening to Interceptor Beyond Podcast. If you want to quote the show, you can find the transcribed version of this episode at the website, interceptorbeyond.com. Don't forget to subscribe, and if you like what you're hearing, make sure you're sure you rate the show everywhere you listen to podcasts.