Interview with Barbott: Your New Favourite Indie Rock 5 Piece

Introducing...

Barbott are a Spanish indie rock five-piece who describe themselves as “seductive but mysterious” with a fresh sound that is plagued with powerful riffs and catchy choruses. They've broken the Spanish music scene and are currently experimenting with a plethora of styles as they expand their impressive musical portfolio. After receiving half a million listens on their latest release 'Cream' and tipped by Spotify as a band to watch, their sultry vocals and Arctic Monkeys inspired chords suggest they're destined for big things.

Meet the Boys

Hi Barbott, thanks for speaking with us. Your track 'Curves' has made a big breakthrough in the UK in recent months. It seems like things are going well for you guys at the moment. Can you tell us a bit about yourselves? "Well, we were all born in Barcelona in the 90’s. The original members of the band are Martí, Marc and Guillem. After trying with different people on the drums and the keyboards, Albert and Josep joined the band a year ago. Each of us has different points of view, interests and goals in life, but we all share the same passion - making music."

First Impressions of Eachother?

"Well...Marc has always been the diplomat in the band, he keeps a low profile but in the end, he is always the one who makes the important decisions when it comes to administrative stuff. It has always been like that, since the very first moment we met him."

"On the other hand, there’s Marti. Nobody respects him, but he is a good dude because he always drives us to wherever we have to go. Well, we respect him (secretly) sometimes. The first time I (Guillem) met him I thought “what’s wrong with this guy?” because he was very quiet all the time… but suddenly he would come up with a terrible joke that was not funny at all… it didn’t really make sense, and it doesn’t make any sense up to this day either, but we all love him the way he is."

<"Also, there is Albert, who thought that I (Guillem) was a prick at first because I talked way too much during the concerts and danced as though I were drunk. I discovered this recently. Now we get along well, though." Finally, Josep started playing with us 2 months ago, and we have never respected him and never will because he is Martí’s cousin and therefore inherits all the bad properties of Martí. I’m sure this is all sounding terrible but we love each other a lot, even though the truth hurts.

Influences?

Well it sounds like you're just about bonded now, anyway! You all come from Barcelona originally, would you say living there has influenced your sound? "We wouldn't say Barcelona has influenced us in the musical sense. If anything it has been the place where we met, the place where we were raised and therefore the place where we developed our ideas but our musical influences come from either the US, UK, Germany and even Sweden, which are more open-minded countries when it comes to music. The musical scene in Barcelona is a little bit weak when compared to Madrid, in our opinion."

Experimentation and Songwriting

Your sound is certainly open minded, that's for sure. It varies a lot between 'Cream', 'Triumph' and 'It's So Hard To Forgive'. It doesn't seem like you are confined to one style. Can you explain your song making process? Do you find you have recurring themes or do they vary song by song? "So far we have been experimenting, constantly. We've tried several styles but always try to keep our personal touch throughout - atmospheric guitars, well-synced drums and bass - but we are in the middle of the learning process. There’s still a lot of stuff we want to try… for example, we are currently mixing jazzy and electronic sounds for our new songs. I don’t think we will ever stay in the same genre. When it comes to writing, I (Guillem) create the general structure of the song - riffs and such - and then we get together and develop the whole idea. In addition to this, we have several themes… but it could vary more, and that is one of our goals for our next work." That sounds like a good plan for the future, just keep on experimenting and exploring new avenues.

Best Gig You've Ever Played?

We all agree that our favourite gig was in Sonorama Ribera, in Aranda del Duero, a little Spanish village. Real cool vibes, we couldn’t believe there were so many people there singing our songs. We had lots of fun and everybody treated us with a lot of love, it was unbelievable.

Good Guys Don't Party?

With 5 of you, you must get up to mischief...right? Do you have funny stories you can share with us? "Actually, we are good guys. We are not really the “let’s go get wasted” type, essentially because our academic and work responsibilities don’t allow us to do be like that… okay, well that's not entirely true... sometimes we do get wasted and that’s when Marc tries to steal the jacket belonging to the lead singer of The Drums during a supporting tour... but let’s just not talk about that. We don't talk about that..." I see...maybe we can save that story for another time!

Life Beyond Barbott

What do you get up to outside of the studio when you're not writing or performing music? "Guillem studies Mathematics and is currently getting ready for his MSc next year (hopefully in the UK). Martí is studying for his MSc in Particle Physics at the University of Barcelona - he finished Mathematics and Physics last year. Albert, the keyboardist, also studied Mathematics and Physics but he is currently working as a consultant. On the other hand, Marc finished studying Veterinary Medicine last year but he’s now working for our record label as an intern. This was surprising to the rest of the band because we thought he cared more about animals than about music. Turns out he didn’t. Finally, Josep did a course in IT science last year, but he is studying music because he wants to follow his dream of becoming a professional musician someday. "

What does the future hold for Barbott?

Are you working on anything at the moment? "There is so much love between us that time and distance will never tear us apart… there is just so much to do! Also, we are always working on something new, so stay tuned because you may get to hear new material sooner than expected..."

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