TRUE COLOURS - The Nexx Big Thing

Spanish sensations Nexx went down a storm at the Gods 2001, where their exhuberant mix of covers and originals easily won over an enthusiastic crowd. The band's debut album, 'Colours', was recorded at the end of last year at Mastertone Studios in Runcorn with Pete Coleman at the production helm, and is due to be released spring 2003. Eva Montes caught up with the band in their home town of Madrid.....

Being Spanish I can't help but be proud of all of the AOR and melodic rock bands that are emerging from my country. None of the Spaniards could have ever imagined that Nexx, a band that started as a cover band, would be the first Spanish band playing the Gods (together with 91 Suite) and in signing with one of the best AOR and Melodic Rock labels: Now and Then Records. Hopefully, they won't be the last. The band have worked very hard to be where they are and have shown that wishes can, indeed, come true.

We caught up with all the band in Bernardo's house as we listened to the new album, and I must say I am very impressed at how good it sounds and how great the songs are.



First of all congratulations for signing with Now and Then. What was it like recording in England with producer Pete Coleman (Christians, OMD, ACDC, Paradise Lost)?

JOSE: It was a fantastic experience. Everything was great.

FRAN: Everything but the food (laughs).

J: Yeah, in Spain the food is great. We, as Nexx, had a great time together and meeting Pete, Graham and Andy, producer and owners of the studio respectively, was incredible! The recording was excellent, everything is positive.

F: The hotel was 5 minutes walking from the studio so we had everything in the palm of our hands.

PATRICIA: Everybody there was really nice. They made us feel like home.

J: They were very receptive, always trying to understand us because we don't speak a perfect English.

BERNARDO: Sometimes when you are recording you can feel in the air a hostile environment, maybe just because of the pressure, the nerves, but not in this case; it was easy to work with them because they gave us every chance, [and had] a lot of patience.

J: Saint Pete! (Laughs) We are not session musicians so we needed our time for everything to turn out great.

B: But Pete was encouraging us all the time

F: He was joking as well when there were tense moments, to ease us and help us to become more relaxed.

F: He has been very involved in the record. He played pipes on Arches of Faith , and also sang backing vocals in some songs. The other colaboration we had was with Graham's wife, Sue Woodcock. Graham is one of the owners of the studio and he is The Quest's keyboardist. We needed a female voice different from Patricia's, speaking a sentence for A Good Time Comes , so she did it. Very nice.



You have recorded in Mastertone Studios in Runcorn, near Liverpool. How was the studio?

F: The studio was great. It was very well decorated and the sofas were really comfortable....to spend hours and hours there.

J: All of us got a siesta there, even Jose Herrera, our manager.

F: We spent 32 days recording nonstop, 10-11 hours a day.



Is it very different to record in England or is it similar to record in Spain?

B: At this level, yes, they are moving forward though if you record in Spain with an international label with a good producer and a good sound engineer, the sound could be even better than recording abroad. In our case it is very different, we're on in an independent label and in England everything sounds much better at this level. Also, in big studios in Spain you can always feel an hostile environment. The producer and the sound engineer could be fed up, if not drunk. It could be horrible... So it is very different to record in England with Now and Then. For example, at Mastertone you are not allowed to smoke inside the studio, the equipment they had was really good too... it seems that everything they earn they invest in more equipment.



Is there anything funny to tell regarding your travel to England?

J: Yeah, when we were flying back to Spain we were caught by a windstorm and gales in Liverpool. I was travelling with Fran's keyboard that is 26 kg. Patricia was flying with the wind (laughs).

B: I am here to talk about MY RECORD. (Everybody laughs).



Okay, Let's talk about the record. Are you happy with the result?

P: Yes, we are very happy with Bernardo's record (laughs).

B: Well, seriously, we are very happy. Everything fits in its place thanks to Pete.

O: If Bernardo likes it that is good (laughs).

B: Well, there is only one thing left: the mastering, and that is 30% of the sound of the record.



You have recorded 12 songs. How many songs will be on the record?

F: There will be 11 songs and a small instrumental song. For this album we had prepared 17 Nexx songs. For example Time to Fly , Consciously , Hit Me , Hanging Around are not on the record althoug we will play some of them live.



You have composed a lot of songs in a short period of time.

J: When they told us Now and Then was interested in the band we started composing more songs.

F: We came from the Gods in November and we had composed 8 or 9 new songs by Christmas.



What is your process of composing? Any leader?

B: No leaders. Everybody has their role.

P: We come up with an idea and we say if we like it or not, we change it if it is convenient and necessary and when everybody likes it, Bernardo speaks (laughs).

B: I say: I don't like it, I don't like it, I don't like it.... umm I might like that." (laughs).

P: It's a joke. We work better together. For example, maybe one day I go to the rehearsal room and my mind is blank but the person next to you can come up with an idea, or maybe I can come up with an a idea while the other one's mind is blank.

F: Yes, I used to bring some harmonies for the songs, and they used to destroy them! (laughs).



You were a cover band and now you are composing your own songs very easily. Do you want to forget about the covers? I ask that because you haven't included any on the record.

P: No, we will keep on playing them live because we like them.

F: We didn't include any because we cannot sing or record a Harem Scarem song as good as Harem Scarem themselves!



Who are your influences?

P: I didn't know AOR very much. I didn't know Mitch Malloy or Harem Scarem for example. I had heard songs but I didn't know who sang them. Of course I knew Whitesnake, Europe, Vixen... you know, that kind of succesful bands from the 80's & 90's.

F: It depends. We like different bands. We could go from Deep Purple to Marillion or Stevie Wonder!



Have you been in other bands?

P: All of us but Bernardo.



I remember I met Jose when he was doing an AOR and melodic rock radio programme and I didn't know at that time that he liked playing .

J: While I was doing the radio programme I also had a band called Farenheit. It was Patricia, Oscar and me on the band. We played some AOR songs but we mainly played pop-rock. We also played covers: Europe, Queen, Toto, Roxette.

F: I also had a band before but playing keyboards you also have other opportunities like doing some things for TV, soundtracks, etc..

B: This is my first band and it has been very easy.



Patricia, how long have you been singing? You have a great voice.

P: I started in the band Farenheit with Oscar and Jose, I think it was 4 or 5 years ago and I am also singing in an orchestra which plays through the small villages of the deep Spain during the Summer.



At the very beginning, Nexx had another singer. Why didn't they use you originally for the band?

P: I don't know. The first demo was recorded with me but it is funny because I wasn't in the band. I knew they were looking for a singer and I contacted them because I was interested!

F: We didn't say anything to her because we didn't want to disturb her. She had a lot of work with the orchestra and other projects.

O: Also, at the beginning we were looking for a male singer, but no one we tried could sing the covers we were playing as these girls.

F: We had two great female singers before, Laura and Dinorah, but it didn't work out, although both of them had great voices. But we were still looking for a singer in that time. At the following concerts we wrote on the adverts that Patricia was singing that day with us but that we were still looking for a vocalist.



I think it is cool to have a band with a female singer. It is different.

F: Well some people think the opposite. They say that they don't see a band of this style with a female singer.

J: We had to choose the covers we played among high pitched ones, as we play them in their original keys. Apart from that, in our songs it's quite difficult to make some of the backing vocals higher than Patricia's.

F: But I also think that a band with a girl singing is maybe more visual.... people pay more attention. Now, there are few female fronted bands in this scene.



Do you think you have succeeded very easily? It is not easy for a Spanish band to make a record, and even more difficult to record it with a foreign company like Now and Then.

J: I don't know. We have been working for 3 years as a band, two yearswith Patricia.

P: We all know we have been very lucky regarding this record. But we also know that we have been working very hard and that we deserve it.

B: Another important thing is that we all get along well but I have met many bands and the members don't get along well so that cannot work out. This discomfort is transmited to the audience.



And all this was down to good fortune. Skyline didn't play the first Nemelrock because the singer was sick and you replaced them. The guys of Fireworks saw you and they were very impressed with your show. And the rest is history...

O: Yeah, we won the lottery there! By the way, Skyline are a great band.

J: And that day was when we met Harem Scarem and Harry asked Patricia if she wanted to sing with him.



It must be a dream for you - to do covers of Harem Scarem and then one day to be able to sing with them in the same stage!

J: It was really curious. We were finishing the Harem Scarem cover and then started with more covers. Then a person asked us if we could play again the Harem Scarem cover again because the band was there and wanted to hear it. So we did it and it was great!

P: Well, it was cool. I liked some Harem Scarem songs but I didn't know them that much. I didn't know what they looked like but Jose was really excited because they were his favourite band. I decided to ask for an autograph and they asked me if I wanted to sing Sentimental Boulevard with them. I said yes but I didn't know which song that was. I studied the song all night (laughs) and the next day was when I realized that I had to sing with them and I said to myself, Oh my God, what have I done? (laughs).



How was the experience playing the Gods?

P: Amazing!

J: We thought we were going to play and then go as if nothing had happened but the response was incredible! People started to get closer to the stage, at the front, to support and encourage us. Well, you were there, and all the Spanish friends.

O: Thanks to you and the Spanish people, the rest of the audience started to support us as well.



After your show a lot of people wanted your autographs!

P: It was unbelievable! Jose Herrera (our manager) told us backstage: "Hey guys, you are not going to believe what is waiting for you out there!" We thought they wanted to throw tomatoes or something like that!

J: People even wanted to have their passports signed!!

O: Even a Japanese fan asked Patricia if she had sang with Harem Scarem. When Patricia said yes they were really impressed and shocked.

P: Yes, taking advantage of someone else's fame (laughs).

B: The response from the audience was fantastic and the guys in Now and Then saw it too.

F: We even sold all the demos we brought. We didn't expect that. Firstly we brought 40 demos but then we had to go to the hotel to bring 20 more! It was sold out in a couple of hours!

P: We thought the best thing would be to throw the demos to the people while we were playing because we didn't expect that reaction at all.





Talking about Jose Herrera, Saint Jose Herrera, as I call him. I suppose you are really grateful to him, aren't you?

BERNARDO: Yeah, he is the sixth member of NEXX.

Yeah, Jose Herrera has done a great job. Thanks to him we have seen a lot of AOR bands here and melodic rock in Spain is emerging again because of his efforts.

B: Yes, and he is doing all of this because he loves the music, not just because of money. People should know that. He doesn't mind to lose money.



You have a web site that is updated every day.

F: Yes, I am the webmaster. Our web site is http://www.mejorsordos.com/nexx. Internet is very important for the band. We recorded the demos and we promoted them on the Internet. We had very good reviews from websites from Italy to Australia, from Brazil to Japan. So, thanks to this our name is quite well known. We used to receive e-mails from all over the world, which it's incredible for us, as we didn't have an album until now!



Nexx is known in Siberia as well, right?

F: Yes, the last e-mail was from a small Siberia radio station asking for a promo. We used to send demos to this kind of radio or webzines on the Internet and we used to sell the demos at the concerts. With the money we earned we paid for part of the rehearsal room. Now we don't sell them because we are waiting for the album to be released. Now we prefer that people asking for demos can listen to the record instead because the sound will be a lot better.



How do you see your future? Do you see yourselves living from the music?

J: Well, we have a second record with Now and Then and then we will see.

O: It is very difficult to live from music, even more if we talk about this music that is not in the mainstream. Living from music would be the same as winning the lottery.

J: We have never thought about it. We make music just because we like it.

B: We are very satisfied with the record we have done. We like the sound and we hope people will like it as well.

O: And we hope to play in England and other places.



Anything else you want to say to the fans?

O: We want to thank everybody for their support.

B: We hope and we wish people like the record as much as we like it.

F: We have good vies about the record. People on the Internet, from Spain etc, are looking forward to it and we hope it sells very well.

J: We hope to reach as many people as possible, not only AOR fans.

F: Yes, when friends of ours come to see us at the concerts, they bring more friends who don't know Nexx and by the end they like the concert and the songs as well.



We wish you all the luck in the world with the album and I can't wait to have it in my hands. Thanks so much for your time and please don't change.

J: We won't change. Having a record with Now and Then will make us work even harder from now on.