Can you tell us about your background and how you got started in music?
I come from a family of artists that been striving between pictures and melodies. Initially I chose visual art, but music seduced me at the end. I started as a singer collaborating with musicians when I was a teenager. A couple of years ago I started playing guitar and together with Sergi Cabanes formed Berlin based Pretty Average band in 2021.
Who are your biggest musical influences? How have these influences shaped your sound and approach to making music?
I really can’t describe myself as a musician, only someone who has listened very carefully the same music since I am a kid. I learned all 60’s Bob Dylan’s songs and now more to Lou Reed’s music. I got obsessed with New Order and The Smiths and could never go back after listening to LA Düsseldorf, Brian Eno, David Bowie, The Stone Roses… too many!
I guess listening to all these artists made me want to do something as impressive as they did.
What has been the highlight of your career so far? Do you have any good tour stories to share? And what’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
As a band, Pretty Average just released their debut EP in Refuge Worldwide and Urban Spree hosting 200 guests that weekend. We are very proud of it. We haven’t done a tour yet but soon many fun stories to tell. We are currently planning one for next September and October around Germany and Europe.
The worst jobs or concerts always happened because of a bad or not caring sound engineer at the venue we had to play that night. We had some arguments in the past with them, they destroyed our work and made us look like fools in front of a lot of people…
Can you tell us about the challenges you’ve faced in your career and how you’ve overcome them?
Nowadays being an artist means to invest a lot of money in your art and everyone expects you to work for little money or even free until you hit a certain level. As a solo artist or as a band we made a lot of efforts to invest money on keep doing our work and sometimes struggled economically. It is hard to overcome these struggles but if you believe in your work, it really doesn’t affect you emotionally.
What advice would you give to make it as a professional?
I am very persistent in my goals and what I need to achieve next to make my work better. I try to be constantly growing and evolving as an artist although never change my essence. Creative work come in waves of inspirations, but it is important to keep working or save new ideas to develop later.
Describe your sound to someone who has never heard you before. And what would you do if you weren’t a musician?
Our sound is powerful and fierce. It is a wall of sound that has many layers and swims in your mind to find escapes through distorted melodies.
I think being a musician or artist is a profession that is chosen. I chose it because I don’t see myself doing anything else.
What is the most important music equipment invention of all time – and why?
Probably since amplification came to the game most of my favorite stuff were done. After the guitars and voice got louder new sounds were immediately introduced such as distortion or effects in general.
Can you tell us about any upcoming projects or collaborations you have in the works?
We are currently planning to record an LP this year. Our Mourn is a body of work that conveys a collective grief inspired by the recent two-year-long confinement that was COVID-19. The songs track the emotional fallout of that period, and the confounding social situations that we continue to find ourselves in, both in Berlin and beyond.
Are there any new directions or sounds you’re exploring in your music right now?
I want to experiment and improve what I have done until now but more of an evolvement of my music instead of taking a completely different direction.
As a musician, what message do you hope to convey through your music?
I think my music is very melancholic yet empowering, I hope people receives it that way.
What themes or ideas do you keep returning to in your work?
My songwriting began to flourish once I moved to Berlin, where the city’s distinct scene identity inspired me to write lyrics that juxtapose melancholic moments with witty and even joyful anecdotes, treating familiar feelings of loneliness with sharp irony.
photographer: Dorje de Burgh
