Q&A: Plastilina Mosh
Despite their sporadic releases and refusal to cleave to one genre, Plastilina Mosh has become known as a major influence on the Latin alternative scene. In the 1990s, they were part of the first wave of rock bands to emerge from Monterrey, Mexico, an industrial city some critics have dubbed the Seattle of Mexico. They innovatively fused rock, hip-hop and electronica in ways that are still influencing newer bands like Kinky. Their standing was only cemented when they recently signed with Nacional Records, home to alternative heroes like Manu Chao and Nortec Collective. We caught up with lead singer Jonaz Gonzalez a week after All U Need Is Mosh dropped. He waxed eloquent on video games (loves them), his favorite bands (many), and who would win a fight to the death -- Plastilina Mosh or new Latin alt sensation Ximena Sariñana, who sings on their new release (guess who wins).
Tell us a little bit about the new album. How did its sound come about?
It's our fifth album, and I think it's a little more concentrated. It doesn't have as many interludes. Alejandro [Rosso], my partner, did the production. I think it is delineated in three pieces -- one is more pop/commercial stuff, another that is a bit more punk rock, and another that is a little more electronica, old-school, progressive, keyboard stuff. Every album we do, we don't premeditate. I don't know how to say it in English -- we don't think much about how it's going to come. We just start doing songs, we're just two guys that do the whole composition, so it's easier for us to experiment with different sounds, rhythms and stuff.
There are a lot of collaborations on the album. Do you find that your sound changes depending on who you're working with?
Yeah, I think a lot, because it's a direct influence from other people. Even if they do composition or not, even if they just play an instrument, we get a lot of ideas from them.
The two tracks with Adrian Dargelos of Babasonicos are very different from other songs on the album, but it seemed like a good mix.
We liked to work with him because we are big fans of Babasonicos, so when we were doing that song, we didn't have an idea for the lyrics. Alejandro had a really weak idea of not singing but talking, like a poem or something. We wanted something really arrogant, so I think Adrian was really perfect for that song. We talked to him and he was really excited to work on the record. I think it came out really well.
Was the talking sample on "Arriba Diciembre" from a movie or something?
Actually, it's a friend of ours, Antonio Rigo Righetti. We were recording in Texas in this really nice studio, and in the studio next door was this Italian guy who was doing this solo album. We became really good friends, so when he had free time, he would come to our studio and bring some beers and hear the progress of our record and stuff. At that moment, we were in the same trouble with this song like the song on which Adrian participated. I had this really silly poem in Spanish, but it sounds really crappy, you know. We were thinking about what to do with the song, and I looked around and this guy was sitting right there with his perfect Italian, so I just asked him to sing it. We translated it to Italian and he just started talking. This guy's a bass player. ... It's one of the more artistic things on the record.
You are known as a band that doesn't take itself very seriously, but when you started out, you dug Sepultura and [Alejandro] Rosso dug Coltrane.
Yeah, Rosso, he's really a jazz, classical guy, you know -- and I'm kind of more of a punk rocker. My band before Plastilina was punk rock. Both of us really enjoy music but I was more into the noisy kind of sh*t and Alejandro was more into the posh kind of sh*t.
It's sort of like you guys are clashing a little bit -- or is that where your creativity comes from?
Maybe, I don't know. We had really different influences, but at the end we get this way of working that we really share. I'm always trying to find new stuff, to learn it and have new things to do. Alejandro's the same way. When I come to the studio with a new idea, Alejandro gets really excited because it's something he would never think of and vice versa.
What are you listening to right now?
I'm listening to Ministry's new album, Cover Up. And what else? I buy a couple of old records, Men at Work, ACDC. There's a band in Mexico that I like a lot that's called Los Fancy Free, and another new band from Argentina that's called Panico Ramirez that I like a lot. What else? The Hives, Bloc Party, the Bravery, stuff that is in right now.
I understand you guys met playing Super Nintendo together?
We used to play together a lot, we still do. We didn't meet each other playing video games, actually, we met in the city's circuit of music. We became good friends, so we spent a lot of time together playing Nintendo and drinking beers. And then we started talking about doing some music like Ministry; we were both really into them. Alejandro was very into the electronica thing and I was very into the metal thing, so we tried to do something that emulated our favorite band. In the end, it didn't come out that way, but we're still having fun. We're now playing Xbox 360. It's really funny because I'm going to a tournament in Mexico City.
It's been twelve years since Plastilina Mosh got its start. It seems like there's a really strong Latin alternative scene right now. I wouldn't say you guys are like the grandfathers, but Monterrey especially has had a really big impact and you guys were at the forefront of that.
You know, we were one of the first bands to come out of that city, and now we're the last of that generation that's still playing. Yeah. We're kind of old. By now, I notice there are a lot of bands taking influences from us; that makes me really proud. But I don't want that name, I don't want to be the speaker for that generation of my city.
You don't want to be pinned down.
We're still having fun.
Okay, last thing. Lucha libre.
Okay.
A fight between you and Ximena Sariñana. Who wins?
Obviously, we will win. We are a lot better than she is. We will give her like a handicap because she is a good friend of ours, but we will beat her anyway.
Comments