Los Acidos interview
Los Acidos are a psychedelic rock band from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their album is super intoxicating piece of psychedelic music.
Who’s in Los Acidos and what do you all play? Have you made any changes to the lineup since you started or is this the original lineup?
Los Acidos are currently formed by Miguel Piermarini on vocals, guitar and occasionally harp, Sebastian Gentile on synthesizers, keyboards and choirs, Santiago Rodriguez on bass and Matías Rivara on drums and percussion. The band started in 2010 and has gone through a lot of different formations, but Miguel and Sebastián were always part of the band. We had a couple of bassist and drummers. From 2011 to 2013 we were inactive, but from 2014 to 2016 with the recording of our first album, we were in the the band’s first stable line-up. We decided to maintain fluency at gigs that way. Then the bassist that plays on our LP left and we started to play with Santiago, and a year after that the drummer also left and we started to play with Matías. They make a great couple and we have a lot of fun… so hopefully this lineup will stay for a long time.
What do you consider to be your first real exposure to music?
Miguel: Not sure, but I remember a record that my parents were listening when I was like ten years old or even less. It was the Beatles LP that my parents just got. Picture of both of my parents dancing just came to my mind, guess it was one of those compilations of singles… something like that. When I have been even younger my father got a classic guitar from my grandmother and used to play it quite often, so guess that would be the first. Then a few years after that boyfriend of my aunt gave me, as a birthday present, a cassette of Revolver, again The Beatles. I remember having thoughts about how this tiny object like cassette can give you Beatles any time you like. That felt really odd and good at the same time… well wordless really. My brother recording songs from the radio is something I also remember really good. Just waiting to record new music on my tapes.
Sebastian: Well I would consider my first concert in a musical exhibition was when I was 14 years old. In the neighborhood where I was born and lived during my childhood, La Boca capital federal in Buenos Aires. With some friends we put together a musical group for fun. We tried to make songs from other bands that we liked and we had some songs of our own. We did not know how to play the instruments well and we did not have musical knowledge. It was quite chaotic what we played, but we liked it and we had a great time, but we wanted to play good! I had a “Texas” acoustic guitar that I still have, as one of my first instruments along with a Casio keyboard that I played at my first recital. One afternoon there was a neighborhood festival in a square, we were invited, and we played. We did not play well, we played without meaning, without form. Musically our show was horrible but we had a lot of fun. I think it was a good start in my musical life and I take it as my first real and important exposition. As a band our first exposure to music (our music) was in between 2010 and 2012 shortly after having recorded our first single we went out to play in various places in Buenos Aires. Our main gigs were house parties mostly and small bars. In those years and long before joining together to play the concerts given by other bands and ours were our first experiences in live shows. Our first official presentation really was that set of gigs at that time.
When and how did you all originally meet?
The first members of the first lineup of the band met on different occasions. Since 2006 we had a link, Miguel, Sebastian and Francisco who in 2010 started playing the bass. There was a friendship, each one was with different projects and bands before we started with Los Acidos. We got together to listen to records, and to make music in a relaxed way. We met by mutual friends. Everyone before the band had their musical projects. In 2010 we got together to make the first recordings of the band, called Purpurea Somniferum. Drummers were constantly changing until couple years before our record was made. We played with Javier but now we are playing with someone else, hoping he stays! We really like Matías as a person and as a musician. We are very satisfied of how the band sounds with him.
When did you decide that you wanted to start writing and performing your own music?
At first we played covers. Still doing that in fact. But there is an intention of say something personal and had your own voice. We think that each of the members had different stages, we do not know if there is a specific time. We join together to play and the music in common was what impelled us and inspired us to make our own music. Los Acidos were very bearable from the music side, everything went naturally, joining us to play and that’s where the first songs of the band were coming out, everything was a feedback of all the participants so far. Each one contributes with his own personality when playing, writing and composing. And in the end everything amalgamated without us noticing. We think that the freedom that the band has makes that happen naturally.
What does the name “Los Acidos” refer to in the context of the band name? Who came up with it and how did you go about choosing it?
Miguel: I remember coming with the name from a film with Jack Nicholson. And from talking with the rest. I guess Sebastián and Francisco knew about how acid was resulting his character and person inside and outside the movies to me, then we started to call the group like that, guess being in the context of a band with the heart putted in psychedelic music is at least genuine.
Sebastian: The band name is linked to everything. Music, lyrics and experiences. We try to make these three things manifest on the album and live shows, so that everything becomes one, “Los Acidos”. I think the music speaks by itself.
What’s the songwriting process like?
Miguel: A lot of material is composed by jamming and making home recordings. Sebastián and I prepare some songs or start working on.
Can you share some further details how your latest album was recorded and released?
The recording was made in different places. Drums, some guitars and bass in a studio where we once worked, called ProNoise. Keys, synths, voices, choruses, percussion, guitar, overdubs, harp and stuff like that in our personal spaces for recording at our own home studios, with a lot of hard work. The first recording was quite messy.
Who is behind the artwork?
The cover of our album was made by Lex Percepied (a.k.a. Phatom Cat). We met him in a gig in which we played. He was DJ-ing and we were very happy with the music that he was playing. We had a lot of affinity right away, again the music had found us with the person that was going to design the cover of our album. Soon after he told us that he was a graphic artist, he had made a cover for a band called N-neurologico, a punk band from Buenos Aires with which we shared many gigs. We also liked that cover art, so we had not doubt about making our album’s art and that’s how it was. He also make our flyers, visuals, etc.
Is there any other material available for us to check?
All our material is available on our bandcamp, our main music is on the bandcamp of our label Captain Beefart Records. We also participate in a tribute to Syd Barrett with a cover of his song “Arnold Layne” that we call “Barley Wine”. Miguel also worked on the production of the entire tribute too and Sebastián plays keys in two tracks in the compilation, “The Gnome” by Humpback and “Dominoes” by Entidad Animada.
What are some future plans?
While we celebrate the release of our last record in different formats such as vinyl with the label Captain Beefart Records, a tape edition from New York with Dynamo Tapes label, other tape edition from Chile with Golden Dawn Recording, we are about to release it on CD too with a label from Peru called Necio Records. We are also mixing a single that is about to be released in a split edition with a band called The Kundalini Genie. It will be released in digital platforms and hopefully on a vinyl 7 inchs edition. By the end of the year we will enter the studio to record the new stuff we are preparing for our next record, probably an EP of four or five songs. We have a different drummer and bassist now so its gonna be quite different to the first, really curious and excited with that, we really like the sounding of the band now.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
We love so many albums, the first that comes to our mind are Something Else by The Kinks, Cauldron by Fifty Foot Hose, The Red Krayola’s The Parable of Arable Land, Ptooff! by The Deviants, July’s self titled album, After chabón by Sumo, Cure For Pain by Morphine, Ege Bamyasi by Can…
Some bands that we found lately and recommend: Kikagaku Moyo, The Kundalinie Genie, N-Eurológico, Mansión Manija, Sombrero, Las Robertas, Wooden Schjips, Metadrón, Flores de Sinaloa, Sir Robin and the Longbowmen.
Thank you. Last word is yours.
We want to thank you for this interview and all the support you always make with your magazine to the underground scene and we find inspiration and new stuff to listen a lot of times. Also we want to thank our families, friends and people who listen and support us for making all this possible.
– Klemen Breznikar
Great band 👍