Melodic Magazine had the opportunity of interviewing the Uruguayan Rock Band No Te Va Gustar as they celebrate 25 amazing years of their career.
Interview was done with band member Denis Ramos in Spanish, and has been translated into English for our readers.
Melodic Magazine: For our U.S readers who will be learning more about you guys, can you let us know why the band decided to go with the name “No Te Va Gustar” (You’re Not Going To Like It)? It’s clear several liked the band, especially when knowing that this year marks 25 years of the band being together.
Denis Ramos: Exactly! Well back in 1994, there was a different name that the band went by. It was real bad, so bad that we don’t speak of it anymore, haha. When the band was getting ready for their first performance, the host of the venue had asked the drummer, “What is the band’s name?” and he responded with “No Te Va Gustar” (You’re Not Going To Like It) because he was referring to how bad the original name was. Therefore, when it was time to perform the host had introduced the band as “No Te Va Gustar,” and that’s how the name formed. After the public’s reaction with the name, it was just hard to change it to anything else.
MM: Oh wow, and now here you are celebrating 25 years of an amazing musical career!
Denis: Exactly, 25 long years that have been very good to us both personally and musically
MM: We are aware that you joined the band in the year 2000. When joining the band, did you and the other members ever imagine being together for this long, and that you would be loved by several?
Denis: Honestly, no. We never really dreamed or thought that we would be able to make it. We had no idea that we would survive this long. Especially in Uruguay where the music market is both small and difficult to break. The dreams actually started coming in one by one as we got bigger and bigger, so we started working harder in order to achieve them. In the year 2002, we had the opportunity of being able to play outside of our country, and we performed in Argentina. From there, we slowly started conquering more land as we got the opportunities to perform all over Latin America and even some spots over Europe! It’s truly an honor, and we are so proud to be able to represent our country in so many different spots.
MM: Truly amazing! In celebrating 25 years, the band recently released a live album back in April named “Otras Canciones” (Other Songs) where you guys revisited the band’s history by performing live renditions of past songs. What was the reasoning in selecting this approach for the latest album?
Denis: Hitting the 25-year mark in our career, it truly made us believe that it was the perfect moment to release a recollection of the band’s discography. We decided on the name, “Otras Canciones” (Other Songs), because we selected tracks that weren’t played in our past concerts. While showcasing our past, we wanted to make a bigger emphasis on our B-side tracks that never really had the opportunity to be performed. They were the “Otras Canciones,” which is why the live album goes by that name.
MM: We had the opportunity of hearing the album, and we absolutely loved each song! But with such a big discography, did the band have a difficult time in deciding which track was going to be on the new album?
Denis: Actually, it wasn’t hard on deciding which track was going to make it onto the album. The hardest thing about the album was recreating and giving our older tracks a new sound. With the reinventing of each track, we wanted to keep the essence of each song while letting it feel fresh and new with its new arrangements. This is what honestly was the hardest for us when creating “Otras Canciones.”
MM: You guys truly did that! In hearing the album, each song really did feel fresh and new with its production!
Denis: Thank you! This would have not been possible without the help from Hector Castillo. He is a wonderful producer who helped us produce our last album as well. We definitely formed a great team with Hector, both in real life and when concerning music. It made sense to work with him again, with great chemistry we were sure that the results would be amazing.
MM: Will it’s clear that the results were amazing indeed, can you let us know more about the process of changing the arrangements?
Denis: This was really accomplished with the help of Hector. He is such a modern producer, and all these new sounds just come so naturally to him. The band instantly gravitated to his talent and skill. Hector did such a great job in helping us create a new fresh sound, while still letting it stay true to our music. We loved working with him. We all were really inspired to do our best with the selected songs. I can definitely say we are proud with how things turned out.
MM: In hearing the album, one will notice that there are quite a few features throughout the record. How did the collabs come about?
Denis: All the artists that we invited to help with “Otras Canciones,” were invited because we admire them so much and have been such wonderful friends to us. We also wanted the songs to fit perfectly with the invited artist as well. Julieta Venegas’ voice fit and blended so well with “Chau” (Bye). We actually met Draco Rosa in Las Vegas when we were there for the Latin Grammys, and we asked if he would be down to collab, and he said yes! It was such an honor working with him, especially knowing how well known he is throughout Latin America. We also met Flor de Toloache in Las Vegas, an all-female mariachi band who we had previously collabed with. We made such a great team in the past, so it made sense to work again with them for our recent album. We also worked with Catalina Garcia, Hugo Fattoruso, and Jorge Drexler who all truly added a special touch to our past songs.
MM: With such an amazing long career, can you let our readers know how much the band has changed through the years?
Denis: Well the band actually started as a trio in 1994, but as the band integrated several new genres to our sound: we added more percussion, more wind instruments, added another guitar and even incorporated the keyboard. We are now a total of 9, and we believe that it is the ideal number for the sound that we achieve to produce.
MM: Following tradition, the most recent album still excludes track number 13. Can you explain to our readers why No Te Va Gustar has always excluded a 13th track from the albums? Is it because of bad luck?
Denis: Haha, well we aren’t superstitious when it comes to the number 13. Although that’s not the case for everyone. When creating the first album, the band decided that it was best not to include track 13 so nothing negative could ever be associated with it. After the first album, it just stuck. We kept it for the second, the third, and eventually it just became a tradition to not include track 13 in any of our tracks.
MM: Oh wow, there are a lot of superstitious people out there, some really believe that number 13 is all bad luck! Haha
Denis: Exactly! Haha, so we didn’t want them to have any negative thoughts, which is why track 13 doesn’t exist.
MM: In celebrating your 25 years, not only was the live album released, but also a biography of the band’s history. What was the reasoning behind releasing a book?
Denis: Well in hitting the 25-year mark, it was the right, special moment for it. We took almost two years in creating the book! We interviewed friends and family, we also requested pictures and any files that were associated with our past from everyone we knew. Each member of the band was interviewed as well. We really wanted to show a true and honest history of the band to our fans. We didn’t just include the good moments, but the bad times were included as well. We wanted to be as sincere as possible, and to allow our fans to see a side that they might have not seen from us.
MM: I know the band is celebrating 25 amazing years, but what’s next, what can we expect for the future?
Denis: Well, we are about to embark on a real long tour. We will be touring for about a year and a half. We will be starting at home in June, and then from there we will head out to Chile, then all of Argentina, Paraguay, Columbia, and by the end of the year we will be performing in different cities across Mexico! In next year, we will be hitting the United States. We are really excited for what’s to come!
Head over to the official site to see No Te Va Gustar’s upcoming tour dates!
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