Vartra - Live Nisville Jazz Festival 2021

Recently I came across Vartra, a Serbian band that explores world fusion, dark folk, and extremely ethereal music that to me is ideal music to write for a film score. Founded in 2017 by Siniša Gavrić and sisters Ivana and Aleksandra Stošić, Vartra takes musical inspiration from Slavic and Vlachian folk themes and Native American drumming. It’s different, it’s out there, it’s downright magical quite often, and I’m pleased to have them over for a chat.

Zdravo, from the other side of the world! So nice to have you on the blog. Can you tell the readers a bit more about Vartra, the meaning of the band’s name, how the project came together and what the first years of the band has been like?

Zdravo! Thank you for inviting us. As you mentioned in the introduction, we are heavily inspired by the southern Slavic relics present in the oral tradition of the Balkan region. Even though the Slavic influence is most notable in our lyrics and style of vocals, our musical inspiration is drawn from a far broader pool. We are combining different indigenous musical practices from various regions (such as shamanic drumming, didgeridoo, middle-eastern instruments etc.) as well as the influences of musical subcultures we all grew up with (80’s and 90’s ambient, metal, post punk, gothic etc.). The name Vartra comes from the Sanskrit word for protection, defense, warding off – chosen to complement the ritual healing and protection spells from the Balkan region that inspired our early works. The band was founded through a friendly artistic collaboration of Siniša Gavrić and the sisters Ivana and Aleksandra Stošić. In the first year of existence, the founding trio was mostly focused on composing and recording the music that is now our first album “Luna Noua”. During this time, we also produced and recorded a few music videos for the songs with the help of the performers from Ivana’s dance studio “Twisted Dolls”. As the album slowly came together, there was a need to share this music with the world and other musicians were recruited to the band to bring the instrumental variety of this music to life on stage. The current lineup includes Stevan Momčilović (didgeridoo, rattles), Andrej Bunjac (djembe, other percussion), Ana Katić (violin, backing vocals), Julius Velker (drums, sound engineer).

Where did Siniša connect with the Stošić sisters?

After a decade of living in North America, Siniša returned to Serbia in 2016. He was friends with Ivana since 2010 and upon his return they started to live together as roommates. Being a frame-drum and rattle craftsman, Siniša incorporated handmade instruments into his music compositions and included Ivana in the singing/song writing process. Sometime in 2017, Ivana’s pole art troop decided to develop a performance describing a Vlach ritual from Eastern Serbia “Dubočke Kraljice”. The idea was to compose and use original music reminiscent of the Vlach rituals but with a strong rhythm suitable for dance. That was when Ivana’s sister Aleksandra joined them bringing her methodical approach to the table. In four months, the three of them worked to compose 60 minutes of music for the performance. The completion of this project marked the beginning of their creative teamwork and future collaboration. After the festival, they started composing new songs, eventually recruiting new members and kicking off a successful series of live shows in the years that followed.

When I first heard Luna Nouà, I was reminded a bit of Heilung from Germany although a bit less freaky, a bit more mystical, and even more accessible (to me at least). I think it’s deep and rich music that definitely paints a picture. If there were an art exhibit inspired by Vartra, what are some art pieces you would like to see in the exhibit?

That is quite a compliment. Heilung is amazing! As to the art exhibit, that is an interesting and tough question. We would definitely like to see photos depicting old traditions like for example the work of Evo Danchev (we really admire his work) or works of Damselfrau. Definitely photos depicting traditional festivals (example the carnival of Vevcani in North Macedonia, Busójárás in Hungary). If the more classical art work or concrete art pieces are in question, maybe Albrecht Durer’s The four horsemen, Viktor Vasnetsov’s Sirin and Alkonost. A few more could be Nymphs Dancing to Pan’s Fluteby Joseph Tomanek, Dancing Fairies by Johan August Malmström, and all such magical, pagan and simply natural (as in mountain landscapes) paintings would fit very well.

The cover work for the album is quite stunning. Who did the artwork and what was the inspiration behind that visual and the album itself?

Thank you. Our art performer Anđela Vujić designed the album cover. It features the beautiful Luna moth, that represents intuition. The first album has a lot of influences from the cultural heritage of the Vlach ethnic minority in Eastern Serbia. The song Flori is inspired by the Vlachian ritual singing on the morning of the holiday Cveti. The holiday Cveti traditionally celebrates the beginning of the spring. The song Primovara (Spring) depicts the dawn of the holiday Cveti before the ritual performance is about to take place. The lyrics of the song Luna Nuoă are part of the Vlach oral lore as well, as one of the incantations for health, sung to the new moon. Other songs include fragments of Vlach oral lore (Roša and Jo Čero), or of Serbian incantations (Mrza, Razija). Žal (Mojot Dom) is inspired by transcendental experiences and written by Ivana Stošić (Macedonian language).

Checking my blog stats, I don’t have ­­­­­­­many­ people who are from your neck of the woods. How would you describe Serbia to someone who isn’t familiar with the country?

It is a beautiful country. If you love hiking or just being in nature you should definitely check out some of our many mountains. There are many well preserved medieval monasteries and fortresses open for tourists. Due to the centuries long Ottoman Empire occupation of the Balkans, our cultural heritage is a mix of Slavic and Oriental, which you can hear in the music, see in traditional dresses and architecture, taste in the food. You can also visit the prehistoric sites on our territory reaching all the way back to the Neolith era. The 20th century left Serbia with a lot of traces from the socialism era (Yugoslavia) – just by walking through the streets of any city in Serbia you cannot miss these. Serbian people are generally recognized as friendly hosts, so welcome!

I read that the lyrics are inspired by Vlachian incantations and performed in (Wallachian) language, Serbian, and Macedonian. Most people won’t be familiar with these languages, though music often taps into something more primal that connects us. Ideally, what would you want your music to evoke in listeners around the world?

We believe that the perception is quite individual. What we would like to evoke are cathartic experiences as per individual needs and without the given context (meaning of the lyrics for example). One of newer to date yet unpublished songs, Jerovine, is sung in a crafted language for this very reason. On the other hand, we decided to base our songs on the incantations (spells) from this region, because they are an important relic of our culture and history and unfortunately close to be forgotten. This is our way of giving them a chance to survive.

What are some of the most peculiar places where you have fans?

Thanks to our social media – Twitter, Facebook, Bandcamp, Youtube and Siniša’s online drum shop on Etsy we have found fans all around the world spanning multiple continents. Besides the Balkans, we came in touch with fans from both North and South America, Russia, North African countries etc. In the current day and age, it is difficult to reach audiences without a serious marketing budget but we are happy that no one reached by our music was left indifferent by it and that the base of people enjoying our works grows steadily every day.

You describe your shows as a cathartic experience, almost a healing ceremony. Dark but in a way where the darkness is drawn away from the spectator. Can you tell us more about that and what the intention behind the music is like?

Repetitive drumming, chanting and dancing were the core elements in rituals since the beginning of civilization when it came to ceremonial/healing practices. Although one might perceive our music as “dark” listening it for the first time, we use the same approach by incorporating the primal, organic sound with the mantric drumming and through the repetitive, atmospheric sound and simplicity of harmony - we believe we part with the darkness. Similar to shamanic healing, where the shaman leads an individual to face and recognize their traumas and guides them to overcome and heal, each individual spectator can experience this process for themselves by surrendering themselves to the sound and atmosphere around.

How many instruments are there in the album? I ask because beyond some more common instruments, the band performs on handmade drums and rattles crafted by Siniša. Also, how long does it take to make those instruments and where did he learn how to do this?

A lot. Percussions make the majority of our sound. They range from handmade frame drums and rattles, sticks, darbuka, djembe, rainstick to bells, cymbals etc. As for the melodic instruments, we use flute, didgeridoo, violin, keyboard, saz, electric guitar and the most perfect instrument of them all – the human voice. Siniša learned how to make frame drums in 2006 while he was in North America, following the traditional drum making from First Nation Tribes such as the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh etc. The whole drum making process takes a couple days to complete. After coming back to his motherland, Siniša developed and perfected his own style in frame drum making that is recognized by many as stunning craftsmanship infused with great energy.

From: http://jdestradawriter.blogspot.com/2021/03/creative-connections-vartra.html

Dungen - Nattens Sista Strimma Ljus

This month Stephanie Nicole Smith interviews one of her favorite bands – Dungen. If you aren’t familiar with their catalog of work, perhaps you have been sleeping under a rock. Swedish bred Dungen are quite possibly the best living psych band. “Allas Sak” (2015) is their eighth full length album and possibly their best album, thus far. I asked bassist Mattias Gustavsson and guitarist Reine Fiske about their recording process, best & worst tours, favorite gear and other projects they are involved in at the moment. Read the interview below and be sure to follow Dungen on all things social!

What are some of the other projects you guys have worked on and are working on?

MG: I was writing in a band called The Works, back in the early 2000s, before I left to study in Vietnam in the middle of recording our debut album. I’ve written and produced three records as Life on Earth! A project that sort of evolved, or expanded into Our Solar System, which has released two LP’s the last couple of years. One of them just the other week, actually! I also plunged into a solo project last year, called Hi Tom Low Tom, and released a cassette earlier this year. I also write and sing and what not in a pop band called AOP.

RF: The first band I was in was Landberk between 1991-1998. That’s when I started to actually work on trying to write songs, but it was always in collaboration with others. My older musical relationship with Stefan Dimle (of Mellotronen shop/label) led to us forming a one-off thing called Morte Macabre based on our love for soundtracks, mostly from 70’s horror films. Then we started Paatos, which I did one album with, then I got involved in Dungen and Gustav Ejstes a lot - that sort of took over. I have maybe written 5 songs on my own up to now. A current project called The Amazing, which is Christoffer Gunnrup doing the songs, is pretty much like working with Gustav. We get to be involved in the arrangements a bit, but most of it is already written. Anna Järvinen and her producer Mattias Glavå wanted to incorporate Dungen as backing band for her and since 2007 we all have been playing on and off with her, recording and touring her albums, now three in total. Lately, I have been involved with Elephant9 in Norway and I’ve also recorded with one of my absolute favorite bands of all time, the Norwegian band Motorspsycho out of my mom’s hometown of Trondheim. They deserve more praise I think. They have been going since 1989 and made about 20 albums by now.

Where did you spend your “coming of age” years?

MG: My coming of age was a ride! I moved away from home when I was 16 and got heavily depressed for years. I just couldn’t find my place anywhere. Totally lost! I was reading, painting and playing music non-stop as a sort of refuge. I started figuring things out, how to rudimentary understand people basically, in my mid-20’s. In a way, I feel like I am still coming of age.

RF: I was a kid playing guitar a lot, listening to my mom’s mix-tapes with a lot of 60´s music, playing along. My uncle and their cousins in Norway were very influential getting into music that, perhaps, was a little more demanding. I was an early Peter Gabriel-era Genesis-fan, as well as early Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd. Listening to that when everyone was into hardcore or punk has the typical “nerd” written all over it, but I found something in that complex and epic music. That deepened with the coming of the early 90’s when I sort of left my brief Mudhoney/No Means No/Nirvana period. I listen more to late 80’s, early 90’s music now than I did then, actually. School was o.k., music was always the escape in a way. Music became my muse, my sort-of language.

Where do you live and work now?

MG: I live in Stockholm and play music most of my time.

RF: I live just outside of Sodermalm in Stockholm with my amazing girlfriend and her 14 year old daughter and a rabbit named Oshi. I have always had a day job, but I just decided to quit in order to have more time for music. I’m also pretty fed-up of course. This year is quite busy, so I simply had to make a leap in this direction. We barely can make a living out of the music anyway, so I will work extra hours later this year I think - hope. Sometimes, I think the job has saved me from going out of my mind in a way, it demands certain routine in everyday life that you usually miss out on when you’re your “own boss”.

How long have you been in Dungen?  How did the name of the band come about? What does it mean?

MG: I started playing with Dungen sometime between 2001 and 2004. In the beginning it was just the odd gigs here and there as a substitute bass player. They were my friends! But since 2005 it’s been full time.

RF: I’ve been involved with Dungen since 2001. Gustav had the name already. It’s a place in Västergötland where he grew up on the other side of the small hill, or mountain, of Billingen, just out of Skövde. The name means “The Grove”, a small gathering of trees.

How would you describe your current band’s sound?

MG: Dungen sort of… rocks? Maybe the sound now is about some vague feeling of authenticity. Raw basic recording live in the studio as much as possible. Our live shows are a lot about the interplay between us, I think, and to create something ecstatic and ethereal. A release of some kind.

RF: That is for others to decide, I think. We usually get lumped into the psych bag, which is both right and wrong, in a way, it easily puts a stamp on the music. Gustav and the Dungen thing has always been very song-based with possibilities for improv and the odd craziness. Gustav has a strong sense for the structure of songs and he is a master in recording, producing, and creating a certain soundscape with his records.

What bands do you draw inspiration from?

MG: I like Can a lot. And early Kraftwerk, Amon Düül II and the whole german Kraut thing. I am really into the idea of sustained intensity by minimal means. Lately, I have been listening more and more to Ralph Lundsten.

RF: There are so many, The Beatles, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Tame Impala, and Kevin blew me away when I first heard it. I wanted to join the band sort-of. There was just an immediate click. He sent their first EP to Gustav to eventually work on the mix in 2008, or so, but Gustav thought the sound was already there. Now we are playing with them in New York this June. Amazing! I’ve always been very affected by Radiohead. Their guitars have a serene and very unique weave that is always breathtaking. I’m sort of a record collector and I’ve been into the Scandinavian psych/folk/prog scene of the late 60’s and 70’s since 1990, or so. I guess me and Gustav are the ones mostly affected by those players and the records they made. I’m also into a lot of the garage and beat/psych scene from the 60’s to come out of the U.S. New unearthed stuff still keeps popping up in these reissue times. The U.K around 1971 was just amazing. There were so many bands that made these amazing albums. I’m fascinated by the sound on those records too, some of them sound like they were recorded in cardboard boxes with tons of reverb; stuff like Egg, Arzachel, Julian’s Treatment, East of Eden, Van Der Graaf Generator, Comus, Trees, C.O.B., Blossom Toes, I could go on forever. Brazilian music, Aphex Twin, Fleet Foxes…

Who were your main early influences on your sound?

MG: I don’t know if I even have a particular sound! The bass playing on Van Morrison’s ‘Astral Weeks’ was an early influence. Also, Bella Linnarsson in Mecki Mark Men, and Jojje Wadenius on the Pugh albums.

RF: Kenny Håkansson, Hank Marvin, I guess, and Terje Rypdal. Jimi Hendrix, of course.

From: https://originalfuzz.com/blogs/magazine/114991556-five-minutes-with-mattias-gustavsson-and-reine-fiske-of-dungen?srsltid=AfmBOorYmmpalBcOjVYg82ZdPKzL6-lLJ_1_mrQMYG-xuSNAH1bH5Qa1

Laboratorium Piesni - Hé Oyáte

Laboratorium Pieśni (Song Laboratory) (world/ethno/spiritual/mystic folk music) is a female group of singers from Poland, created in 2013. Using traditional, polyphonic singing they perform songs from all over the world, mainly: Ukraine, Balkans, Belarus, Georgia, Scandinavia, Poland and many other places. They sing a capella as well as with shaman drums and other ethnic instruments (shruti box, kalimba, flute, gong, zaphir and koshi chimes, singing bowls, rattles etc.), creating a new space in a traditional song, adding voice improvisations, inspired by sounds of nature, often intuitive, wild and feminine. The traditional songs are often brought from their source – different regions of Poland, Europe and world, by the members of the group - having their unique history and evolving in the course of work. Finally, they are performed in a new form – traditional or enriched.  From: https://medicinefestival.com/labatorium-piesni/

Future Clouds & Radar - Dr. No

A relatively unknown but intermittently astounding indie pop album that answers the question: What happens when you give a power pop refugee with unbounded musical creativity access to a studio and the latest technology, but no editor? You get a sprawling double-album that ranges from glorious baroque pop music to silly self-indulgent experimentation, peppered with a handful of insanely catchy earworms.
Robert Harrison is the co-founder, singer, and guitarist for Cotton Mather, a crunchy power pop outfit active in the late 90s and early 00s (and recently returned after a long hiatus). During that band's time off, he recorded a ton of material with various musicians under the moniker of Future Clouds & Radar. Musically, think edgy, post-Beatles psychedelia-tinged pop like XTC side project Dukes of Stratosphear, Jellyfish, Beagle Hat, and the Pillbugs. Shades of Guided by Voices and the Kinks crop up as well.
As noted, given the seeming lack of limitations, it's a bit of a gleeful, kid-in-a-candy-shop mess; it could have been pared down into a fantastic single LP. As it stands, it's more in White Album (or Wowee Zowee) territory, but if you work your way through it you're going to find plenty that grabs you. Personal favorites include they joyously tuneful "Build Havana" (sounding like singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston with a bubbly electronic beat); the mid-tempo psychedelic pop of "Hurricane Judy"; the orchestral Beatlesque flourishes of "You Will Be Loved"; the galloping riff-rocker "Holy Janet Comes In Waves"; the relatively straightforward sunshine pop balladry of "Our Time"; and the skewed, Fountains of Wayne on acid "Altitude." But the two dozen or so songs here kinda beg for you to jump around and program your own faves.  From: https://www.jitterywhiteguymusic.com/2020/08/future-clouds-radar-st-2007.html

Hey Elbow - Martin

Swedish experimental pop trio, Hey Elbow just released their debut album, Every Other, and it’s been running through the Grimy Goods speakers non-stop. With a unique marriage of ethereal sounds and distortion, Hey Elbow’s eccentric blend of music makes for quite an exquisite debut. The group took its curious name from an aerobics warm-up exercise they were introduced to during a live concert by The Knife. But that’s not all that curious about them. The trio comprised of Julia Ringdahl (vocals/guitar), Ellen Petersson (horns/electronics) and Liam Amner (drums) has no clear cut leader or front-person among the group. Instead, the improvisational influences of their jazz background foster a more collaborative, free-flowing approach to cultivating their unique sound that could intrigue any passing listener.
The poignant vocal swells and galloping beat of “Martin” followed by the fiery, punk number “Rael” got my gears grinding and was a real eye opener at the top of the album, both served up against a backdrop of brass and electronic drone. “Ruth” felt like a call to arms of sorts with its multi-layered call and response vocals and deep primal beat, faintly reminiscent of the stylings of tUnE-yArdDs, before catapulting into a swift and unexpected tidal wave release of energy and breath at the end of the song. The slow choral chant, blurry synths and brassy wails of “Naksno” offered up another striking moment – the kind of song I could envision myself swinging and swaying to live with a serene smile and stomach-full of vodka. Hey Elbow thoroughly impresses with their masterfully constructed, but never confined, rich and ethereal sonic creation. Every Other is music to dream to, music to wander off to, music to lose yourself in and escape the real world, if even for a half an hour.  From: https://www.grimygoods.com/2015/04/28/hot-band-alert-swedish-experimental-pop-trio-hey-elbow/

Gary Wright - Dream Weaver - Midnight Special 1976

If you’re of a certain age, the Sunday night of September 9th, 1956 is seared indelibly upon your memory, because it’s the night Elvis Presley first appeared on CBS Television’s The Ed Sullivan Show before 60 million viewers, changing your young life forever. If you’re of a younger age, the Sunday night of February 9, 1964 is the one you’ll never forget, because it’s the night The Beatles first appeared on CBS Television’s The Ed Sullivan Show before 63 million viewers, changing your young life forever.
But if you’re my age—which is to say you were born at the tail end of the Baby Boom—the Saturday morning (and by that I mean 1 AM) of April 9, 1976 is the moment that changed everything forever, because it’s the night Gary Wright appeared on CBS Television’s The Midnight Special. And just as was the case with Elvis and The Beatles, I wasn’t the only kid who would never be the same.
I would guesstimate that there were sixty-three other kids across the country who watched in awe as Wright, the American keyboardist who made his name in the English band Spooky Tooth, played his smash single “Dream Weaver” before cavorting across the stage with his portable keyboard as he “rocked out” to his other smash single “Love Is Alive.” And I would venture that all sixty-four of us wanted keyboards we could wear around our necks. Gary didn’t play a keytar that life-altering night but he was a keytar pioneer, and had he been playing one I dare say we’d all have gone out of our little minds.
I knew a visionary when I saw one. I may not have known that Wright had befriended and absorbed the Eastern religion of former Beatle George Harrison after playing keyboards on Harrison’s 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass, but you didn’t have to be a holy man to realize Gary was a sublimely spiritual being, one who had pierced the veil of Maya through means of pure keyboard karma. I too wanted to hop aboard the Dream Weaver train. I too wanted my very own astral plane. That wasn’t Gary Wright on stage that night—it was an avatar of Krishna. He wasn’t playing music—he was preaching an escape from samsara rebirth to the masses.
Like Krishna, Wright was a charioteer, and his chariot, of course, was 1975’s The Dream Weaver. One night Krishna appeared to Wright in a dream, wearing pretty much the same white suit with celestial necklace Wright wore on The Midnight Special, to say, “You will spread bliss by producing a very special album, an album that will transport its faithful adepts to the supreme abode of the all-pervading.” He added, “It would be really cool if you used only that holiest of holy instruments, the keyboard. Although I guess real drummers would be okay. And I wouldn’t object if you were to bring in Ronnie Montrose to play guitar on track five. It’s a real rocker.”
And who argues with the eighth avatar of Vishnu? Nobody who doesn’t want to answer to Hanuman, the shape-shifting monkey god and commander of his very own monkey army, and who served informally as Vishnu’s consigliere! Gary immediately set to work, in his native New Jersey of all places, on the songs that would make up the third, and most bliss-inducing, of his solo albums.
When I say The Dream Weaver was produced using mostly keyboards, I’m not implying that Gary was a one-man keyboards band. No, Wright’s band included two additional keyboardists, David Foster and Bobby Lyle. Three keyboardists! The album’s lousy with ‘em! And while all the keyboards leave the LP with this Space Age meets New Age aura, it doesn’t have an iota of Wendy Carlos in it. Wright’s a rocker at heart and a pop songwriter by trade and the results are what Robert Christgau, writing about another one of Wright’s solo LPs, once (dismissively for the most part) dubbed “cosmic-commercial.” Like his mentor George O’Hara (Google him!) Wright had one foot firmly planted in the spiritual world and the other in the material world, and maya or no maya, a gold record is a gold record.  From: https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/graded-on-a-curve-gary-wright-the-dream-weaver/

Birdeatsbaby - Deathbed Confession

Having walked the high wire between punk and prog for nine years, Birdeatsbaby have foregrounded their progressive leanings while retaining a punk ethos on fourth album Tanta Furia. “In the beginning it was a punk cabaret kind of thing,” explains singer and pianist Mishkin Fitzgerald. “Quite theatrical and not very heavy, but as the band has progressed it’s got bigger, better, heavier, darker. I now feel we’re close to creating that perfect sound that I’ve been looking for the whole time. It’s definitely progressive but it’s also classical, punk rock, goth and I like it that way,” she says, citing Muse and Queen as key influences.
The Brighton four-piece, completed by Hana Maria on violin and vocals, Garry Mitchell on bass and guitar and Forbes Coleman on drums and vocals, also showcase multi-layered string arrangements in their music, adding to their unique sound. “We’ve got two violins, cello and double bass. I’m a sucker for strings so having Hana, this virtuoso violinist, in the band is incredible.”
A gospel choir (The Dulcet Tones) appear on two tracks on the new album, including the politically charged Mary, which Fitzgerald describes as “basically the ‘Hail Mary’, but with all the words changed”. In the accompanying video she stars as an authoritarian preacher. “It’s about feminism and religion,” she explains. “The Church has abused its power over the years to oppress women so we’re taking the prayer back. I was brought up very much in the Church. I would sing hymns and play organ and piano there so a lot of my early writing influences came from hymns. Then, much to the disappointment of my parents, I went to study music in Brighton but secretly I was just forming a band.”
Third album The Bullet Within was Kickstarter funded in 2013 to the tune of £11,000 by fans (who are affectionately dubbed ‘The Flock’ by the band) who continue to bankroll ventures on a subscription basis. Fitzgerald reveals just what that means to a fledgeling outfit attempting to fly the nest. “Now we’re using Patreon. We’ve got a really strong group of superfans helping us with our touring and production costs and every expense that comes from being a DIY band. We have all the control, all the freedom. If we want to put out a metal album next time, we can. We’ve recently covered Tool’s Sober, which we’re going to put out – one of my favourite songs of all time. We don’t have to answer to anyone and that’s just beautiful.”
The devotion of The Flock has already paid for European and US tours, as well as a Mishkin Fitzgerald solo show in Mexico City, where the fans were plentiful. “I’ve never seen so many people know about our music,” the singer muses. “It was just weird in a really cool way. We’re going to do another American tour next year and go down to Mexico. It’s why we named our album Tanta Furia as well, a little nod to our Mexican fans.”  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/introducing-prog-punkers-birdeatsbaby