The buzzed-about Spanish group talk lo-fi rock, language barriers and their upcoming debut album
After a year which has seen them leave their native Madrid to the tour the world, playing an exhausting run of 16 shows during Texas festival SxSW alone, and record a debut album in their downtime, four-piece girl band Hinds have more than justified the 'ones-to-watch' status granted to them 12 months ago. Originally conceived by singer Carlotta Cosials and guitarist Ana García Perrote, who discovered their musical talents playing covers in their spare time, the pair have since been joined by bandmates Ade Martín and Amber Grimbergen, and honed a garage rock sound that’s both raw and refreshing. Now, with their defiantly titled debut album Leave Me Alone about to drop, we sat down with Perrote and Cosials to discover more about their swift ascent.
On starting out…
Carlota Cosials: “We started out playing Bob Dylan and Velvet Underground covers together, but it was when we started to write our own songs more recently that we said, ‘Let’s do this – let’s rock!’”
Ana García Perrote: “Just over a year ago we toured for the first time, and then we had so many offers to tour again that we quit everything else that we were doing.”
On finding time for creativity…
CC: “It was tough writing songs while touring – not sleeping or having any free time. When it comes to creativity you may find a three-hour slot. You might produce something during that time, but you might not.”
AGP: “The album was the most important thing, so, although we were exhausted, when we got back to Madrid we just didn’t sleep for four months while we wrote it.”
On the new album’s sound…
AGP: “We really wanted to create something raw and real. We make so many mistakes, and sometimes we play out of tune, but we feel it captures a moment. We’d get drunk to record some of it, which I think you can hear sometimes. We do the same when we write songs and play live, too. It relaxes us.”
On performing in English…
CC: “Sometimes we feel trapped in the language – either we have what we want to say in Spanish but maybe it doesn’t exist in English, or sometimes the image in English is so perfect for what we want, but there’s no way to translate it – it’s two different worlds.”
AGP: “When we first picked up guitars and started to make melodies the words that came were English – it sounded better in our ears. Grammatically we make mistakes all the time but, hey, that also happens to English people. If they can do it, so can we!”
On why they make music…
CC: “We were making music for our own enjoyment so it started as a selfish thing, but then you begin to realise how cool it is to play something personal that people appreciate.”
AGP: “It’s amazing to see 500 or so happy people at our live shows, not thinking about anything other than having fun. The power of music to frame moments is very powerful.”
Leave Me Alone by Hinds is released on January 4, 2016.
