Interview with ‘Paralitikos’
http://www.myspace.com/paralitikos
http://www.musikaze.com/paralitikos
Nattsol: Let’s start our interview from the pre-’Paralitikos’ period, I mean the band ‘Vacaciones en una Silla de Ruedas’. What was this band? How did the band members gather together?
Ricarditiko: The members gathered together in 1989 in Ricarditiko´s bar. They were mates of Sunday’s hangovers. “Vacaciones en una silla de ruedas” was one of the names that the band had before adopted the name of “Paralítikos”.
Nattsol: You began in the late 80’s. It’s very interesting to know what the atmosphere about deathrock and post-punk in Spain was then. Could you try to reflect it?
Ricarditiko: There weren’t so many bands of that style then, but the ones that played then were better . More creative for being less commercial. But one thing better than now then was that there were more places to organize concerts and people cared more of the music and cultural matters than of the superficial things.
Nattsol: Now the question is about turning ‘Vacaciones en una Silla de Ruedas’ into ‘Paralitikos’. Tell me, please, how and when it happened and what the initial difference between these two projects was. (And what does the band’s name mean?)
Elizia: There was no difference between “Vacaciones en una silla de ruedas” and “Paralitikos”. “Vacaciones en una silla de ruedas” (that means Holidays on a wheelchair) only was the name that the band chose to start the project, but the first concert they played was under the name of “Paralitikos” (that means Paralytics). As you will have notice the meanings of the two names are very similar, but “Paralitikos” is shorter and easier to remember, too.
Nattsol: What were the most important and interesting moments in the life of the original ‘Paralitikos’? May be, some funny ones? :)
Elizia: I think that something important in Paralitikos´ history was the fact of compilated in one cd (Recopoilacion de resurreccion) the two previous tape recorders because was as the returned of the band and most people knew the band for that compilation cd.
Nattsol: How and when did it happen that the original band’s line-up decided to split? Do you still keep in touch with the past band members?
Ricarditiko: people that formed the band in 1989 dindn´t have any interest of keeping on playing because they did it as a hobbie and not as something more serious. That´s why the line-up has changed a lot of times. Some former members left the band because they got married, others for different opinions, and others only were mercenarians that played for a while. So I´m the only one who continues with the project since the beginning but I write the lyrics and create the music, so the sound of the band in that sense hasn´t changed.
Nattsol: Ricardítiko, you formed the band ‘Vampiros en la Habana’ in 1997. There’s just a short mentioning of it in the ‘Paralitikos’ bio. So could you tell some more details?
Ricarditiko: Vampiros en la habana was a project that I created when I moved form the place I was living (Santander, north of Spain). But it was a fun project and we played covers from other bands, such as misfits, Eskorbuto, The cure, primitivos, the cramps, and songs from Paralitikos, too. lol
Nattsol: How ‘Paralitikos’ was resurrected?
Ricarditiko: It was a creative resurrection because of the musical scene was full of commercial bands.
Elizia: When I first joined the band in 2005 I had very little time to prepare the songs wih them before playing in a concert in Madrid, but in spite of that fact, it was a great experience to me, and dayly Paralitikos continues meaning something stronger than a passion . That´s Paralitikos for me. And that´s the reason why I involved since the first moment in such a special way with the band, trying to do the best, and do it in the best way I can, and learning new things related with music and manager aspects in order to improve Paralitikos and have a better level and things like that. Since I joined the band I have been always busy with several aspects of it, I am the one who take care of our webs, and promotional issues, and more, and that´s another reason why Ricarditiko and me shared feelings and continue playing together against all the misadventures.
Nattsol: The works of resurrected ‘Paralitikos’ seem more mature than the works of the original line-up. In your opinion, what has changed? And what is the direction the band moves?
Ricarditiko: The band moves without a specific direction, only following the guidelines of the creativity.
Elizia: The last CD “Roma no paga traidores”, is harder and more critical. With more directed lyrics against the social system. The cd we are preparing right now, that is going to be called “La Senda de los Antiheroes”, has critical lyrics, too, but with a lot of goth and dark atmospheres.
Nattsol: You use your native language for your lyrics. What are they about? Would you like to try writing in English?
Ricarditko: the lyrics are inspired on the cruel reality, in poems or tales of some writers as Becquer, Poe, Lovecraft, Byron, Baudelaire, Larra, Nietzsche, Bukowski, … They are in general decayed and sinister lyrics.
Elizia: We preferred to write the lyrics in our language because we can express what we want in the best way. People express in the language they feel more comfortable with in order to transmit their ideas. Anyway, the language your lyrics are written is not the most important in music.
Nattsol: What are the band plans for the nearest future?
Elizia: as I told you before we are preparing our next cd, “la Senda de los Antiheroes”, and we have a lot of songs to include in it. Our plans now are to play in several gigs here in Spain, play pour new songs, too, and start to record the cd.
Nattsol: Are you involved in some other activities, connected with dark music? What role does it play in your lives?
Ricarditiko: paralitikos is the ony band we dedicate our time, and we have a lot of things to do with it ;)
Nattsol: What can you tell about the Spanish dark scene nowadays? Do you have some friends on this stage? And apart from it?
Ricarditiko: the Spanish dark scene nowadays has a lack of creative and original bands that is a symptom of the speculation in the dark music scene itself.
Elizia: in spite of that fact, we have a good relationship with bands such as Lobos Humanos, Error de Visión, Phantom Vision, …
Nattsol: What other music except ‘goth’ you like?
Ricarditiko y Elizia: Punk and post-punk music in general, but we are open-minded with other styles.
Nattsol: Are you interested in other art aspects except music, such as photography, literature…. Do you have favorite art actors? Or may be you’re personally involved in some of these aspects?
Elizia: of course we love art in all its aspects, photography, literature, films, painters,…One of our favorite actors is Vincent Price, well known for his roles in horror films of the 60´s, 70´s and so, of the director Roger Corman. Writers, the ones we mentioned before are the ones we enjoy the most.
Nattsol: So you play deathrocky music, use deathrock/post-punk image. But who are you in the backstage life?
Ricarditiko: We are a post-punk band, not a deathrock one. And our image reflects our personality. But image is not what we give more importance. We care more for technical aspects in music.
Nattsol: And traditionally, your final words.
Ricarditiko y Elizia: thanks for the interview and we´d love to be in a future playing in your country for you. Thanks to all the people that support us.
Questions: Pall ‘Nattsol’ Zarutskiy
“Grave Jibes Fanzine”
