European punk and hardcore scene was never better. Every day I discover new excellent bands like Bates Motel, skatepunk from Valencia, Spain. I talked to the band for my zine, so read it.

Hello and welcome to my webzine! For starters, how would you describe BATES MOTEL to the readers of this zine that haven’t heard your band yet?

First of all thank you for giving us a voice and being interested in our band. Bates Motel is a skatepunk band from Valencia, Spain, influenced by technical bands such as Mute or A Wilhelm Scream, without forgetting the most passionate side of punk rock.

How come the name Bates Motel, were you fans of the Psycho movies? Weren’t you afraid that the makers of the same titled TV series would sue you?

To tell you the truth the band name comes from a Mute song. “Bates Motel” was a theme that united us all from the beginning, the start of something big. We never feared that the show would take measures because we understand that we come from very different places. With this said, we are followers of the show. We send our regards if they are reading, haha!

How did you get in touch with the underground music scene? Why is this diy underground scene and ethics so beautiful?

Since we were teenagers we’ve felt very attracted to the underground scene of our city. For years as public, and finally as a band. We grew and lived the best years of our lives being a part of this movement, so when we ended up as a band we were all excited for playing at places and with the people that we shared this moments with.

As for the second question we consider that the underground scene, regardless of where it’s from, it’s always full of truth and passion. Almost nobody is there to follow a fashion or a pose. All of us have something in common; our principles, and very concrete emotions. Being surrounded by people who think and feel the same as you helps everything flow and makes underground a safe space for everyone.

What is more important in your music, the lyrics or the riffs, what comes first when you are making a song? Where do you get your lyrical inspiration?

We believe it’s important for both things to be at the same level. It’s something we’ve worked very hard on in our last CD. The riffs and the atmosphere we tried to create with our music has to compliment the lyrics and what it conveys to achieve something authentic and sincere.

We usually compose the instrumental part first, and the voice comes after, although there’s nothing written in stone when it comes to music.

If we talk about our lyrics, the basic has always been transmitting sincerity. At the time we live in it’s easy to fall on topics. We try to talk about ourselves and express how we feel every moment, about our personal situation and our emotions. That is something people feel in every live show. There’s no claims, we just try to tell the truth.

How big is the scene in your hometown? Are there venues and clubs and fanzines, bands?

Unfortunately the current situation of our city is very delicate. Valencia has always been known for having big bands and good punk and hardcore concerts, but lately the lack of support from the people and the big discord between fans and genres makes it unsustainable to keep a promoter or to work with medium and big bands from other parts of the globe that come on tour. Luckily we have festivals like the Quimera Fest or promoters like L’Alqueria Negra that try to fight this situation. You know, nothing is lost is you don’t stop fighting for it.

 

How is living in Spain in general? What is your opinion on the things that went down in Catalonia?

The situation in Spain is unsustainable in many ways. Historically we come from a 40 year long dictatorship and a political transition that didn’t live up to its name, relegating the powers and privileges of those who had impunity during franquism. Each time we’ve tried to lift our heads as a country, we’ve been shut down. Currently we are in a position never seen before in our democracy. The corruption splashes disproportionately our government, corrupting the institutions from the inside, and the people, in their majority, keep voting the same party. At the same time, we have a problem in Catalonia that has never been treated democratically. There’s people who want to vote freely and give their opinion and the only thing the Government does is opress them in an unforgivable way. There’s a lot of people uninterested in politics, and that is precisely what the right wing has been trying to achieve throughout the last years, this way they keep a bipartisan and accommodated system that agonizes without representing the people at all. We live in a fictional reality and a lot of people want to leave. We all ask ourselves: How can we change this? We believe we should never lose hope, but lately the situation can surpass anyone.

What do you think about the rising right wing tide in Europe? Did the recent terrorist attacks only increase the hatred among people?

It’s alarming that the same triumphs in the right wing 80 years ago are repeating themselves. That took Europe to an abyss and the world to a Second World War. The rise of this ideology always tells us that something is wrong. It’s a problem that extends all over Europe like wildfire. We will see where it leads to this time and we hope it doesn’t go beyond. Fascism is, first of all, beyond bearing. About the terrorist attacks, we believe it to be something that both politicians and the media have used in their favour to increase hate towards immigrants and refugees, and of course that has its connotations in society, that, unfortunately, we know is very malleable and easy to manipulate by those up above. Attacks happening are always a tragedy, but we need to understand that it’s not the refugees’ fault, but fanatism’s, promoted by interests alien to the people that tries to run from their countries because they are being killed by the same weapons that kill us.

When are you planning to release the new material? Will it be different compared to the stuff you have done until now? How was the feedback on your last album?

We just released a new album on June through some record labels from Europe and Japan and we are delighted with the welcome it’s having. We have been able to work with very professional people and it has been two very rough years getting the project forward, you know, a lot of sacrifices, but it’s worth it. We’d like to go on tour through Europe and play in the big punk festivals in the old continent, but it’s not always up to us. We’ll make everything in our hands to take our music everywhere we can.

Our next work will be, of course, a turning point. We are already composing new material, although it probably won’t come out for a long time, because there’s still a lot to live with “High Expectations, Higher Deceptions”. What is sure is that it will be an album full of social and political complaint in its lyrics. This hasn’t been a topic we have discussed a lot to this time, but it would be a crime not to manifest and claim what we feel through what we are most passionate about: composing and playing songs.

English lyrics vs lyrics in Spanish?

We agreed at the beginning to sing in English so that we could reach more people with our music. We don’t want our music to have frontiers and the English language allows us to be heard by people and to be understood both in Spain and the rest of the world, and that is something wonderful.

There’s people that follow us in Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, and that is something that would probably cost us more to achieve if the language we sang in was Spanish.

That’s it for the first time, thank you for your answers. For the end, tell me one thing. What do you guys know about Croatia? Maybe you’ve heard from some Croatian band from our scene?

Croatia, as all the countries born from former Yugoslavia, has a very curious recent history. We all know it’s very famous for its islands, but is it true you invented the necktie? Hahaha. We’ve heard something from Noisefight and Fast Response and is awesome. We would like to tour Croatia in 2018, so that´s a good opportunity to know better your music.

Thanks a lot!

https://www.facebook.com/BatesMotelVLC/

https://batesmotelvlc.bandcamp.com/