First off, just want to thank you for participating in this edition of Infidel Interviews. Could you start off by giving a little information about you to the audience? Whatever you feel comfortable with, but name, age, and where you live would be pretty standard?
Covered Faces is the Electronica-industrial-Instrumental project of the musician, programmer and producer of Bilbao Pablo Lázaro Vidal (a.k.a "Peibol )
How do you enjoy where you live? Is there a vibrant music community where you are? Would you say you find that your local scene influences your attitude and/or creativity?
Here, the music is very alive and it is very varied, it has always been especially in the suburbs. Musically is not that inspire me much though, but there is a punk group, afterpunk, electro Punk (The Butchers of the North, Post Morten Ejaculation, Munlet) that they have a great attitude and they do great, that really gets my attention.
They make their concerts fun. To be creative I do not need a local scene, with my musical and literary influences I already have the head in the clouds. All that if it is shares with good company and a cold beer makes the muses come for good or bad. Although I would like to be more industrial electronic scene here.
What do you feel separates your music from the rest of the music in the Industrial music scene?
I hope they are not too separated from each other. I do not think all Covered Faces albums are industrial music. The truth is that I do not think of a musical label when I'm going to start a song, that would limit me a lot. The thing is to have fun with the synthesizers and see where they take me. I try that in each album the songs have a sense and they are within a same style, for it, many times I have to undo or save those that do not understand each other.
What would you say are your favorite themes and topics that inspire you to compose? What draws you to those themes?
This question is almost answered with the following one. But even though all those themes can inspire me, I can not translate them into words within the song because I do not usually use voices, there are no lyrics. Yes, I have worked on some occasion with some singers because the song needed it. (Jessica White by Violet Tremors and Sophie Nadaud by Madame B)
Industrial and Attitude seem to go hand in hand. With global war, civil unrest, injustice, and political revolution being primary musical themes that dominate your music, how do you feel nowadays about the current state of world affairs?
It seems that every time we care less about everything. I see myself feeling more and more angry. We are getting used to it. This seems to have no limit.
There is lot of claims and signatures on the internet but on the street you do not see much movement. Everyone does their own thing here. It's sad. And among those who govern there is no dialogue. I am more sensitive to animal abuse, they can not defend themselves but we can, although we don`t do anything. We need to reset.
What do you see in the near, and far, future for your creative output?
My near and distant future I think will be very similar to the current one. Keep locking myself in the studio five days a week for 3 hours a day with synthesizers, drum machines and effects. Actually I do not believe in the muses, only in the daily work. In this way, I can have an album to present every year. Stephen King was asked in an interview how he was able to publish three books a year , Where did he get inspiration. He answered, "Improvising for 8 hours a day in front of his desk."
When you first started making music, was there ant sound or artistic/musical influence that you would say was your biggest inspiration to start pursuing the creative path yourself?
I started playing the bass with 14 years very influenced by the Punk that was almost the only thing I heard, my musical obsession was knowing how to play all the songs of Eskorbuto. Then with 20 years I discovered Skinny Puppy and everything changed my way of seeing music. I had to discover how all those songs were made, something that still seems impossible to me today. I bought a four cassette tracks, a Sampler and that's where my madness for noises, synths and effects started until now.
When it comes to your musical self and your real-world self, would you say that there is a separation? Do you find yourself getting into a character or mindset when you create, or do you find your music is a representation of your day to day self?
I do not think there is any separation. I think they are my two selves. I do not think much about that. I do not think they can be separated.
Are you musically self-taught? Or have you had mentors along the way to help you develop?
I get bored quickly receiving classes. I can not stand teachers very much. Yes, I have received them but as soon as I understand the concept I start to learn something else.
For me the best school is to listen to music, disk to disk opening my mind and having fun.
Otherwise I think that my songs would be something else, maybe better but I would get bored creating them. We will prove in another life.
When it comes to composing music, do you approach things with a clear vision in mind, or do you prefer to let songs feel themselves out? Do you have any particular techniques or tricks you use to keep yourself creative and consistent?
It depends on the day, there are times when I'm taking a walk in the street with my dog and a melody comes to my head, humming in my cell phone so I do not forget it and when I get to the studio I go around with the piano until I get something out from there. Then I go adding layers of synths and changing sounds, structuring the song. All this has to be very fast, if I do not get the idea. Other times I start to play chords or loose notes of some Synthesizer and experiment until I get to something that I did not expect to do, that is the sound what the song does not the chords. That happy mistakes arise. Lately I'm starting to create drum rhythms that work on their own. I do not know, I try to enjoy every day in the studio, that is not monotonous. I'm looking for something that surprises me.
When it comes to making music it can be difficult to balance atmosphere, song progression, musicality, and excitement. Do you have any tricks, techniques, or methods that you commonly use to help your music sound coherent and engaging?
A trick may be to have a song structure. It depends on what you are looking for there are many types. Normally for many beautiful sounds the song has if it does not have a structure it ends up in my Recycle Bin.
Do you spend a lot of time crafting your own sounds? Or do you value song crafting and effects tweaking more? Or do you find it's a balance between the two? What' your relationships with presets? When you make music are you primarily a hardware or software oriented musician? Or do you do a fusion of both? Are there any particular instruments, programs, or effects that you would say are vital to you making music?
I was thinking about many synthesizers, hardware and software rhythm boxes but what I really can not miss is Cubase. I think with it I could make music with few instruments. There are times when having many things causes us to end up losing. Less is more.
The sketch of the song I have to finish in a couple of hours and then I'm adding brush strokes.
Do you ever find it difficult to balance the creative and technical aspects of musical creation? How do you strike the balance for the need to craft and tweak your effects and sounds, in contrast to actually just getting the song itself created with structure and melody? What sort of element of creation do you prefer, the sonic shaping or the song creation?
I enjoy improvising a jam session with all the instruments of the studio. Knowing that I will not record the result. It's when I'm most relaxed. I totally evade and I can spend hours without stopping.
Do you find that when you are working on projects where you ended up learning new techniques during the process?
Yes, you always learn something new every day in the song process. I love it when I get to a place where I did not expect it. Many times I am surprised to hear a song of mine after a while and I do not recognize myself. It is not valid for my creation process to watch videos on YouTube from other producers explaining their techniques. Or the famous masterclass.
Playing live shows, recording new tracks, attempting to go live the life that gives you the experiences that inspires it all... it can be difficult to balance the time. Do you have any particular methods that you use to keep yourself focused or balanced in your direction?
I do not give live concerts, so all the time I dedicate to music is in the studio. That gives me a lot of time to be focused and active constantly. I do not find it difficult, I enjoy every second. There is time for everything if you are constant. Walking is my favorite sport
to open the mind.
If I did, it would surely be something more like a dark play. I think the visual aspect is important in these styles. Apart from this few live electronic groups transmit to me what they hear on their records, most of them seem like karaokes of their own songs. Well, there is a group that recent ly has surprised me in live concert it’s call “ IAMX “.
Have you had any particular moment(s) that you would like to share, that you would consider to be a crowning achievement in your musical career so far, or moments that you would say truly continue to inspire you to pursue your artistic path?
I could tell a thousand stories here so that everything would be nice and pompous but there is none in particular. What I can most inspire is to share different concerns with other artists and see their points of view. The rest of it fleets. People inspire me, they never stop surprising me.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have had to overcome in your musical career?
When I work for other artists as a musician and want something in particular. I have to get into another person's skin and look inside to see how he/she feels about his/her work. For this I have to know well or spend time with that artist. Something that in the end is very nice because you usually make a friend or reaffirm a friendship.
Outside of Industrial music, what other genres could you see yourself composing music in? Or should I say, do you see yourself inspired by? Do you have any other musical projects that you are involved with, or do you have any other musicians or artists that you collaborate with in some capacity?
Yes, I have a solo project like Peibol, with more electro punk style. In this project, I have letters and it is more intimate and delicate. I expose myself a lot. All day I'm writing notes of everything that goes through my head or I listen to the radio, newspapers, books and all that ends in my songs. But the truth is that I do not enjoy singing. I need to get all that out and I have to capture it somehow. Since, at the moment, it is too big for me to write a book.
Another project in which I am involved with my friend Txarly Usher is Opium Tea, it has some dyes of organic electronica, more acoustic. With pianos, organs and things like that. We like Nick Cave's jacket but it's very big but we're dreamers jejej
If you could collaborate with any musician or artist, dead or alive, who would it be? And what in particular draws you to want to collaborate with thedm? What sort of new bands have come out in recent years that have caught your attention? Is there any bands out there you see yourself, or would like to, remix or collaborate with in the future?
David Bowie, Nick Cave, Trent Reznor, Cevin Key. The one that I would most like to collaborate is no longer among us and I would die if I only passed by my side.
From new bands I'm staying with Bestial Mouths and Youth Code are very fresh they are giving a new look to this type of music.
I do not look to the future, what comes if it makes me vibrate I will take it hard and we will continue advancing
Outside of music, what are some of your favorite past times and emotional engagements?
Read everything that falls into my hands. I like to go to the traces where there are old things, discs and out-of-print books. Enter the old bookstores and get lost among their books. Travel to see museums. Go through the streets to see how people live, eat typical of each city or town. My greatest emotional commitment, even if it is a weakness, is the family without them I am nothing.
Thank you so much for participating in this episode of Infidel Interview. Any parting words for your fans, or my audience?
Thanks for the support. Reset: The future wins.
Follow their latest activities on their official Facebook:
Download their music on their official Bandcamp:
Stream their music on their Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/12xH07PFM8Q0eGp5J6lMka
or on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/coveredfaces