Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

How is it that you started playing music? Have any of you played in other bands? Did you make music even when you were young? How have you developed since you started with the music?

Aida: My love for this crazy world of music came from a long time ago. I think I was born with it. The first instrument that I learnt to play was piano and since 2005 guitar came to my life and It’s the instrument that I play in the band. My first guitar was a Stagg Stratocaster. For me, was a big surprise and the beginning of all. I learnt how to read tabs and spent hours and hours of practice at home playing songs like Be Like That (3 Doors Down), Sweet Dreams (Marilyn Manson), Enter Sandman (Metallica). I took part on guitar contests in my city, going to final rounds and finishing in good places (2nd and 3rd place). It was there where my first band’s guitar player saw me and asked to be in his band where I met Carlos Jiménez. Since that moment we have been together in this world. I also play bass and drums. 

Víctor: Since I was a child (about five years old) I used to get fascinated with every musical video I saw on television, so, I started to ask my parents to buy me a guitar (but they didn’t buy me anyone, maybe they thought I was too young for an instrument or something like that). I was about eleven or twelve years old when I listened to Scorpions and I couldn’t believe what I was listening to. A couple of months later, a friend of mine showed me a song that changed my perspective about guitar and music too (it was ‘Always with me, always with you’ from Joe Satriani’s album ‘Surfing with the alien’). Since that moment, I decided I had to buy a guitar and learn how to play that song. I started to save some money, and a few months later I bought a cheap guitar with the help of my parents, so I started to play when I was thirteen, until the present day. 

Carlos: That’s a good question, I always loved music. Since childhood I was singing at home until I was sixteen, that’s the moment when I bought my first electric guitar. I never thought I could playing anything. About three years later (when I was nineteen), I bought my first bass, which is still with me and like the first day (my best buy ever). So that, I discovered my passion for bass guitars and now I enjoy pretty much playing them. Anyway, it is not until five years ago when I began to sing in a cover band. Those were my first steps, trying to sing classic rock songs. Later, came another band in where I was only the singer, but I met Aida Guillén there. Nowadays, I play the bass guitar and sing or at least, I’m trying.

David: I became involved in music when I was in the high-school (in 1995 approximately) when I met Victor in our first band (in which I started singing just for fun and have a good time with my friends). But, three years ago, I started to learn how to play drums with my father and some friends. One night, I was in a gas-station and I found Victor buying some stuff. We started to talk about music, the moments we spent when we played together with the other friends and I told him I was learning how to play drums. Immediately he said he was looking for a drummer to play some afternoons just for fun, and that was the beginning of this crazy project.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? Carlos Jiménez – vocals/bass - 33, Víctor Díaz – guitars - 37, Aida Guillén – guitars/vocals - 26, David Palacio – drums - 43  Where are you from?

Spain

What year did the band form? 2014 

What's your style of genre? Hard Rock/ Metal  

What inspires you? 

Aida: Well, to sum up rock, metal and punk hahaha. I have listened to a lot of bands like Metallica, Alter Bridge, Creed, Tremonti, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Boston, Ozzy, Pantera, Edguy, Blink-182, Iced Earth, Mötorhead, AFI, Rise Against, Evanescence, Within Temptation, etc. I’m the songwriter of the album, except for some parts or songs made by Carlos Jiménez (Hate, Wild) and Víctor Díaz (Intro). The rest of the songs arrangements have been made by the band during the rehearsals and recording sessions. I took the inspiration behind the album and songs after some experiences of life: love, how some things try to make you down and you fight for what you want, about hope… using Drop D to give strength to the songs and standard tuning. For me, talking about music inspirations, I think my biggest one to write songs is Mark Tremonti (Creed, Alter Bridge, Tremonti), it’s my favorite guitar player.

Victor: I could say that I have lots of musical inspirations in my personal life as a guitar player. Basically, I have grown-up listening to rock, heavy metal and thrash-metal bands like Scorpions, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Guns’n’Roses, Metallica, Megadeth...; metal bands like Blind Guardian, Helloween, EdGuy, Children of Bodom, Kreator, In Flames, or Spanish metal bands like Söber or Skizoo. But my great influence are solo guitar players like Joe Satriani, the great Steve Vai (which is one of my great inspirations when designing solos, chords progressions...), Neil Zaza, José de Castro, Simone Fiorletta, Marco Sfogli, Paul Gilbert… and the list could be eternal.  For me, the main inspiration behind this album and the songs could be a little bit of Alter Bridge (for a better understanding of Aida’s inspiration), Avenged Sevenfold, Sôber, Skizoo, Sentenced or Iron Maiden. Sometimes, it’s been really difficult for me to understand and add my parts or arrangements to Aida’s songs because I have never played in so ‘dark-metal’ way, I mean, so stoner or using minor chords or Drop D, but I really enjoyed it and I learnt lots of new things too. I’m happy with the experience because it’s been a challenge for me to make those arrangements in a very different style from mine’s.

Carlos: Well, I grew up listening music from the eighties, my older brothers were always listening to lots of types of music. They listened to bands from Depeche Mode to Iron Maiden, Queen, The Police, AC/DC, Scorpions, Manowar, some spanish rock bands like Baron Rojo, Leño, Heroes del Silencio, and a lot of electronic music. Personally, I could say that I have a wide range in the music I listen, but the band that most inspired me is Metallica without any doubt. They’ve got something that I haven’t found in other bands, so, when we are playing new Aida’s ideas, I always try to put my trash metal touch hahaha, I could say I love playing thrash metal, the speed, the emotions... I think (or at least) I like to think that all our influences are present in our songs, in the way you are listening to our songs you can say, ”hey, this part sounds to me like (insert any band here), but not completely” so, I am very happy with the album and also very excited with the new ideas from Aida and Victor. 

David: I started listening to punk, grunge and rock bands like Nirvana, Guns’N’Roses, Offspring, Bon Jovi, Scorpions, AC/DC, Accept, Metallica, and so on. But, nowadays I have some new influences like Blink182, Motorjesus, Five Finger Death Punch… Retaking the question about my inspiration behind the album and the songs, maybe there’s a mixed-inspiration of all my influences and also my band partners asks or indications, because we always talk about what drums we would like to introduce in every song or what kind of rhythms could be better in every part. In my opinion, it’s a combination of my influences, my band mates and what I want to do, because I let my mind free to play what the music suggests me. 

Do you have other interests of work outside the band?

Aida: I’m technician in image lab, technician in artist photography and technician in graphic design. I won some photography and graphic design contests (it’s my other job). One of them was about The Big Bang Theory in a tv channel from Spain (neox) making the design of one of the scenes. I’ve always been interested in extreme sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surf, bmx, and so on. I practise skateboarding but now I can’t spend a lot of time on that but It’s always there. I like videogames too, enjoying the classic games and also the new ones. Movies like The Goonies, Back To The Future, Indiana Jones, Star Wars and tv shows like The Simpsons, X-Files, Mr. Bean, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Big Bang Theory are others of passions. Finally, spending time with family and friends that I must thank to support me always.

Víctor: Well, outside of music and apart from the fact that I work as a teacher (with the terrible problem that I’m a terrible workaholic and the greatest procrastinator I have ever met),  I have a huge amount of interests like computers, technology in general, photograph (I really enjoy those moments outside with my camera looking for birds or nice places just for the pleasure of shooting the photo and process it at home with my computer, it’s relaxing for me). I also enjoy video-games (since I was a child), sit-coms and action movies. And of course, I have to say that three of my greatest passions outside of music are my dogs (french bulldogs that rock really hard!), I love taking pictures of my dogs. But the thing I enjoy the most and I love to do it’s spending time with my girlfriend, family and friends! Thanks to all of them for the patience they have with me, and also for supporting me, I really appreciate that.

Carlos: Well, I’m a computer technician, so as you can guess, I love technology (everything related to that). I began with computers when I was twelve years old, so I think it is my vocation hahaha. I always loved video games, computers, mobile phones and repair them of course. Besides, I enjoy playing online games with friends, they call me the “beta tester” because I’m always testing new games hahaha. I like playing football and skating in in-line skates too. I love sci-fi movies and tv-shows (Star Wars... you know and that kind of stuff). I like to spend time with my girlfriend and friends, specially I must thank my girlfriend for supporting me and holding me, it’s not an easy task.

David: It is a good question. My interests outside of music are motorbikes, sports and meeting people. I enjoy going out with my bike to lots of places and clubs. Meeting new people there, going to concerts...Those little things that make me happy!. One of my interests is spending time with my family who support me in this crazy musical project so, thank you so much! 

What made you decide to make this music? What are your songs about? Who does the composing and writes the lyrics?

Even we started like a cover band in 2015, we went to battles of bands in which you had to carry own songs , It was the beginning of the project. We played in concerts in different cities in and out of our province. The songs are written by Aida Guillén, with some parts from Carlos Jiménez (Hate, Wild) and Víctor Díaz (Intro). Arrangements are made during the rehearsals as a whole team.

Nomad4 first album (N4) includes 11 songs. Most of them have been written by Aida Guillén with some additions and arrangements from Carlos Jiménez (like Hate or Wild). In first moment, the album had only 10 songs, but we decided to include an introduction for Hate, so that, Víctor Díaz made one with the same chord-progression. In general, arrangements are all made by Nomad4 as a band. 

N4 starts with an intro-track (Víctor Díaz) connected with the next song of the album, Hate (Aida Guillén - music, Carlos Jiménez - lyrics). Get Out (which is one of the first songs that we’ve played together with Hate). The order of the tracks inside the album is the same one than were written. You can find songs more Hard Rock style, like Memory Remains, Rise Today, Wild and more Metal style, like Nightmare, Faces, Fight or even both genres, like Circles and Way Back Home. 

The song with more changes since it was written maybe is Circles (Aida Guillén). Aida: ‘Circles was initially with different music and lyrics. The lyrics are almost the same like at the beginning but the music was changed until I found the sound that I really wanted, with influences from Creed. The solo are an improvisation that we improved while we were practicing the song at rehearsals’. 

Different stories and experiences of life with a message are in the songs, like Nightmare, for example. We think that all of them are songs in which you can be identified or reflected with. 

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Aida: I use to start with the music and lyrics later or both, sometimes I think the lyrics before. When I practice some songs and tunings, I do some riffs and I say… sounds good and it’s the beginning of a new song, parts like an intro, a verse, a chorus, solos…  and I start to work on the rest of the song.  

Have you done any covers live? Yes and we’re still doing some covers live like Metallica, ACDC, Bon Jovi, Five Finger Death Punch, The Offspring, Steppenwolf. Judas Priest.  

What language do you sing in? English 

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? People from all styles of Rock. Punk and Metal music. We hope reaching to more people and let them to know our music, enjoy with us. 

What ages are most of your concert attendants? All ages 

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We have a setlist, sometimes we put a new song on it. It’s the same order than album. Between our songs, we play some covers of bands that we’ve said before.  

What was your first gig like? What was your latest gig? Wild Band was a time of learn and be the band that we are today. Our first concert like Nomad4 was really awesome!  We were playing more than 2 hours playing our first album and some covers and people like it! So we’re happy of that.  

Where have you played live this year? Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We have played in Fenix Motor in Campamento, San Roque. It was first gig of the year, next one in Los Barrios 4th August, 7th October in Sevilla. Now we are negotiating and scheduling several concerts for this summer and autumn.  

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Where can people buy your merchandise? Well, 4th May (May the forth) was the date that we released our first album physical (You can get it on Factbook). Since one month, digital in iTunes, Google Play Music, Amazon and Spotify. We’re think about merchandise for future. 

What do you think of my work? How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Good job, no doubt it. It’s a good way to let the people know your music and your work. 

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Don’t give up, fight for all you want.  

Do you have any new material? What are your plans for the future? Actually, the thing is that we have a lot of new songs for the future (a new album that’s for sure). Aida can’t stop writing new songs for the band. She said that there are almost twenty new songs ‘in the oven’ and still writing more!. Victor has a problem with the free-time: he hasn’t got any of it, but we all know he’s composing new instrumental songs (and also new riffs just to include lyrics to them). Carlos is writing down new ideas, riffs and lyrics (be sure of that). So, from now on, we’re going to have a sit, play them and put those ideas together. That means we’re thinking about a new album but now, we have to show and play our first one. Maybe in some concert we’ll play a new song, but that’s a thing you have to go to of them to discover it. You’re all invited!

What are your web sites?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nomad4official Bandcamp: https://nomad4.bandcamp.com iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/es/album/n4/id1242537036

Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Nomad4_N4?id=B5oxusfjsgakghl33jp7lfa3wby&hl=es

Amazon: https://www.amazon.es/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_es_ES=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=nomad4 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6ngDgi1uCrMftP3Mnm0VNt  How can people reach you?

People can reach us on fb and will be an honor to attend them. 

Do you have something to add? Thank you so much Robex for this interview!