In ‘The house of the bomb’, that mental place where “the problem is age“, the young practitioners of the religion of surfing watched as” the old” planted on the beach their folding chairs and took out their cheese and ham sandwiches, alien to the youth cult, in what in their eyes was a vivid portrait of decadence. Now, Brighton 64, in its new video for this song from 1986, they have turned the tortilla around: time has passed and the ” old ” are them, although they end up pulling muscle and splicing the song with a furious ‘remake ‘of’ Make love‘, their review of’ Walking the Dog’, by Rufus Thomas.
The new version of ‘La casa de la bomba’, a theme that was inspired by Tom Wolfe’s book of stories (’La banda de la casa de la bomba y otras crónicas de la era pop’, 1968), retains that spirit of “reflecting generational conflict”, Albert Gil points out, although now with a more leisurely ‘tempo’ and tasting more the words regarding the supersonic baptismal version. “In its origin, the song had a piano pattern a bit bugalú, but with our urgency of then we played it more accelerated. Here we have returned to its original spirit, ” explains the eldest of the Gil brothers, aware of how difficult it is to compete with your own myth. “We can’t beat that 1986 version, but we can change his gaze a little””
Mods ‘ laietanos’
Along with this re-recording, another eight, and two new songs, make up the new album of Brighton 64, sarcastically titled ‘More of the same’, which goes on sale this Friday. Record commemorating the 40th anniversary, which the band will present on April 22 in Upload. The new takes transmit instrumental solvency with respect to those times when, at the age of 18, they entered the studio “trembling with fear”. They had premiered on the tables of the Magic, on November 21, 1981, supporting Telegram, at a time when, dressed in their parkas and adoring The Who and The Jam, they felt alone in post-Laietana Barcelona. “We went out on the street mods dresses and we didn’t know anyone like us.”
Brighton 64 suffered its viacrucis discográfico: de Flor y Nata a Twins, and from there to EMI, shuttle of ‘La casa de la bomba’. “There we played the sky, but the label never bet hard. We’ve always been an awkward group.”, estimates Albert Gil, remembering the day they got up from a meeting in Madrid because they proposed a name change. “A week later they called us and we moved on, because Paco Trinidad saw clearly that ‘La casa de la bomba ‘was going to be a’hit’”.
Purity and concessions
Songs like’ Barcelona blues ‘(re-recorded now with its original lyrics in Catalan) or’ En mi ciudad ‘ recall the unmistakable Barcelona anchorage of the band in those early 80’s of “tierra de nadie”, recalls Albert Gil. “We knew that in Barcelona there was a lot of chicha, but it did not transcend as in Madrid, where they made the party a professional way of life”, observe. Perhaps having to combine music with other activities, such as teaching, has helped Brighton 64 to preserve purity. “If we were 100% dedicated to the group we would have had to make a lot of concessions, and we haven’t made any.”
Brighton 64 gave way, at the end of the 80s, to Brigatones, without trying to keep at all costs a brand that would not return stably until 2011. “Now there are groups that last a long time, but then the bands were born, separated and left a nice corpse, so that’s what it was up to us to do”, he explains singer Ricky Gil, fascinated by The Chords ‘”meteoric career“,” which lasted only two years” and recorded one album and eight singles.
That” urban youth energy ” is still being invoked in this mature stage of Brighton 64, settled with the involvement of another historic member, keyboardist Jordi Fontich, and two modern signings, Eric Herrera (drums) and David Ab Moderna (bass). The original drummer, Tino Peralbó, hung the drumsticks, but his son Dan (who leads a band, Dan Peralbo, winner of the last Sona9), appears in the new video of ‘The house of the Bomb’. The saga continues.
