Aleppo Pine Interview

Interview:

Thank you very much for agreeing to do this interview! Can you introduce yourself? When and where was Aleppo born?

First of all thank you for showing interest in our music, your website It's Psychedelic Baby is really out of sight!...amazing!...Psychedelic Die hard freaks' heaven! Aleppo Pine was born around 2008 in Barcelona through Enric Chalaux. He assembled a group of musicians with the idea of recording an album that would display his love for psychedelic folk rock music. In this first incarnation there was a tabla and a flute player that along with the sitar and the cello would bring a very distinctive ethnic sound to the hole. Aleppo Pine was born as a "studio band" with the intention of going live after the completion of the first album "Holy Picnic".

Tell us about the beginning?

The beginning of Aleppo Pine as I stated earlier was an ambitious studio project that was born from the concept of Enrique. The early stages were hard as it happens normally. Many musicians came along the way and left for various reasons. The nucleus of Enrique/Carles/Tony who handled guitars, sitar, theremin, tabla, bass and flute endured however. Enrique gave me a call after unsuccessfully finding a male vocalist for some time. The idea had always been to have both a male and a female vocalist in the band. Furthermore it was clear that the band needed multi-disciplined musicians who would bring the more the best to the multi instrument musical approach Aleppo was looking for. I was happy to bring along my singing, guitar, tambourine and arrangements to the mix. The songwriting was almost all completed.
Things in the band changed very much when we started going live and nowadays
only Enrique and me remain of that early line-up.
Now is the real thing. Dani on bass, Silvia on vocals and keyboard and
Gabriel on drums complete this more down to the bone band that is sounding more and
more rock I must admit.

Why the name Aleppo?

The idea comes from the love,beauty and mystery that surrounds nature in general, the name doesn't have to do in fact with the city of Aleppo in Syria. The thing with Aleppo is that it gives name to a very common pine tree in the Mediterranean region that is technically called pinus halepensis, also known as Aleppo Pine.

What are some of your influences?

We are big time freaks of the sixties and seventies so you name it but...Our drummer could be locked for 10 years in a 2 square meter room with Pink Floyd sounding neverendlessly then come out and still ask for more. Enrique is obsessed with obscure and rare psychedelic bands along with all the back catalogue of the sixties, Comus, Quintessence, Affinity... I am in that league too but my preferences differ...Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, The Move, The Youngbloods, It's a Beautiful Day...Dani the bass player is all over that too... Silvia is the popiest... but that's ok because we're all poppy too!...We all love the Beatles of course. We all have very similar tastes and I think there's is hardly anything in between 1955 and 1975 that we don't like... except Gabi... well you know...Pink Floyd, Pink Floyd and more Pink Floyd!...Ha!Ha!Ha!

Were you in other bands before forming Aleppo?

We have all been playing for quite a long time now with more or less luck...always obsessed by that not always so popular music. Enrique was quite successful with a band called Stay, with Frenetic Souls. I played some very interesting stuff but our album stayed in the mixing room before going separate ways. I am presently involved with a local funk soul orchestra, The Slingshots. Dani has always been involved in rock bands, Silvia is a very good songwriter who did some fine pop rock with The Fishes. Gabriel has played with a large number of bands too...In Spain it it is not easy however...

You have some new songs out. Can you present us this songs?

We are currently still presenting Aleppo's first release, Holy Picnic. We are very pleased with the album but since only two members remain of that line up we are delivering fresh new compositions not included in the album in our live appearances too. We are happy with this mix and are excited with the results. The album, we think is a very fine effort and the end result was really up to our expectations. It was recorded in several houses, rooms etc... all put together and finely produced and mixed by Roger Rodés, one of the best in Barcelona in the business.

 
Are you doing any touring/concerts? Are you satisfied with it? Share an interesting experience you had from concerts...

We are quite active for the moment but eventually not professional, we all have to keep our day jobs...we're still in the point where we're happy not to loose money with music...that's already a lot in Spain if you do your songs totally out of the mainstream.

How about some future plans for the band?

The immediate plan is clear, play and play to get better and better and hopefully very soon have the means to record a follow-up that we think can be even better and definitely show the talent of the present members. It will be more a band effort, from the rehearsing room and from the stages to the recording studio as opposed to Holy Picnic.

What is your opinion about psychedelic scene these days?

I don't really have an opinion on that but for what I have seen many bands that carry the psychedelic flag nowadays do basically stoner rock and although we love Sabbath and Kyuss we are very distant to that. I must point out the Swedish guys Dungen, that is really good...

Thank you very much for your time and effort. Do you have anything else to say about the band or yourself, that I didn't ask?

No. We'll just let the music talk... I would like to thank again people like you for doing such a great service for music that you will hardly listen on the radio. It is all very authentic, little
money but lots of love!

Thanks!

Roger

Interview made by Klemen Breznikar / 2011

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