Last year’s album, 9 Dead Alive, enjoyed global success (peaking at #22 on the US charts). It was a concept album, a celebration of individuals who’ve passed away but whose lives still resonate in the 21st century and with Rodrigo (Sanchez) and Gabriela (Quintero).
While the duo are enjoying a little break before bringing their ineffable live show to Australia, Sanchez is acclimatising in Norway – the perfect preparation for Australia. “I’m working on a project; I’m not here for the purpose of working on it I just wanted to be here,” Sanchez chuckles. “My girlfriend lives here and I decided to begin working in the studio.”
So are Rodrigo y Gabriela getting ready for another release already? “No, we’re doing a lot of different collaborations this year; I’m all over the place,” he says. “I’m trying to concentrate on a few at the moment. We have about eight coming up. It’s interesting to be working on such different styles of music.”
Sanchez and Quintero have built an insular creative environment – they not only write and tour with just the two of them, but they often record on their own – so collaborating must be both a welcome relief and challenge. “It’s all a learning process but the kinds of collaborations we’re working on aren’t usually set up via our record label,” he says. “They’re friends and musicians that we know and we respect and we like each other’s work… It’s a good time for a lot of musicians to be off. I got a little too excited and contacted a lot people, but it’s great because we don’t really have any deadlines.”
While Sanchez is excited about all of his collaborations, he does have some friends in high places and a few projects are to be kept under wraps. “I don’t know if you know metal – Marty Friedman – he was part of Megadeth for a while, I’m doing some stuff with him,” he says. “There are a few things that we are not allowed to say – I know that is stupid – but they are big stars so we keep those quiet. We are also working on the soundtrack for a documentary for Jaco Pastorius that Robert Trujillo [Metallica] is working on… There are just so many different styles of music – some of them we are not so comfortable with, for example we are more comfortable with the metal – but it is really great for us.”
Life on stage began on the street – busking in Dublin – infectious and insanely energetic live shows are how this duo was born and the ethos they follow to this day. They’re nothing if not an utterly brilliant lie. Nonetheless, when you’re playing in excess of 100 gigs a year, it becomes so important to remain spontaneous. With this the band’s sixth time in the country, I ask what they have planned for their live shows. “It’s funny, because when we are touring through the year we tour and then we do the festivals here,” he says. “But when we come to Australia, it is usually only once every two years and the festivals are when it feels to us to be the off season and then in the middle we’re doing some of our own so we go with the flow with it all even though it feels all a little different. We’ve played the Byron festival before so we think we will go with the flow and feel the energy of the audience. We won’t write a set list; actually we haven’t been writing a set list for a year. It’s cool, we invite fans to tell us what they want to hear and we like the atmosphere; we feel more a part of the show. We were like that and we’ve been touring for 15 years, so you can get close to getting bored. Having a set list can send you crazy because you can over focus on what you’re playing. You know it so well that it’s like you cannot move and you’re not connecting with what you’re doing.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
