ELDORADO interview GOLDEN (2010) - Bad Reputation - HEAVY SOUND SYSTEM

At first, can you introduce yourself and tell us in few words  your own career ?

My name is Jesús Trujillo, I sing in the Eldorado band.  I’ve been involved in groups and music since I was quite young... I started in college, when I was 14 years old and I have never stop since that moment!  I have participated in a lot of underground bands, some professional performances for TV shows etc.

I am from the Canary Islands and five years ago I decided to move to Madrid to find or create a band that could passionate me and connect with people in a large scale.

Quite quickly I joined Eldorado and we have been playing together and working our path very strongly to be able to create some music we could be proud of.

What are your own favorite styles and  influences?

As the Joan Jett’s song says, I love rock’n’roll, and I’m an inveterate rocker. But beyond styles and types what I really like are good songs, I don’t mind if it’s pop, reagge, jazz, rock... whatever. If the songs are good I dig any kind of music. The future and the past of the music are on the good songs, nor in the tendencies, nor in the hypes or styles, only in the good songs. A good tune can last forever.

As singer I love the great English vocalists from the 60’s and 70’s, like Eric Burdon, Steve Marriott, Paul Rodgers, Terry Reid, Robert Plant, Rod Stewart, and also the amazing Afro-american singers like Ottis Redding, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, etc... Too much talent concentrated in only few lines!

About the band :

The band is made up by four members: Javi Planelles, Artur Cabanas, César Sanchez and myself. Drummer, guitarist, bassist and singer respectively. My band mates have large experience with an endless amount of bands and they have played and recorded for thirty parties as professional musicians.

We all had this feeling of nonconformity with our lives, our artistic projects.  We feel something pushing us to go further and well... destiny joined us and very quickly we realised that the chemistry we had in the composition lead us to great songs. 

Going back some years, the first Eldorado album, “En Busca de Eldorado”, released in May 2008, was produced and recorded in August and September 2007 by Richard Chycki -Aerosmith, Mick Jagger, Rush etc- and mastered by Mika Jussila in Finvox Studios.  The album’s reviews were excellent.

During the following year we presented extensively the album along Spain and started the composition of the second album.  We decided to create both an English and a Spanish version out of it.

Our second album was also recorded with Richard Chycki producer, but this time in his studio in Toronto (Canada) in June 2009 and mastered by Andy VanDette in Masterdisk, New York.  After listening the band sound in this second album, Richard coined an expression that defined it: "New Vintage Rock". It is now the sound motto of the band. 

Regarding the band’s influences, I can tell you they are wide!

The number of bands is huge and for sure we will be forgetting to mention a lot of them, but I can mention Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Humble Pie, Pink Floyd, Gun’s&Roses, Janis Joplin, Deep Purple, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, Cream etc

Which artist you work with or you worked with impress(ed) you the most? 

My answer may seem strange but I would say Eldorado. The first time we played together was amazing. It was unbelievable fluid and easy. The ideas come quickly and their development was very organic, with the collaboration of all of us. From the beginning, we shared the same vibration and worked following this emotion. That’s the way the new album was composed and recorded. That impressed me because it is not usually so easy.

And it was incredible to work with Richard Chycki. He’s an amazing producer and it was a pleasure seeing him working. He can obtain an awesome instrument sound in just minutes, and he can push the musicians to extract the very best of them. One of my favourite memories of the recording was the terrific sound of the drums, in only minutes… he is a monster.

What about your promotion work and your relation with press at the moment ? Do you get a good feed back about your new album ?

Yes and we are really excited about it.

In Spain all the rock media are giving us an excellent support.  They really like the album and they are telling it loudly.

Also, we are receiving very good reviews from magazines and webzines in Germany and USA (where we have started some promotion).  Recently, Eldorado has been nominated one of the fifth finalists in two categories in the 9th annual Independent Music Awards program, which is one of the most prestigious independent music awards in the USA

- Best Hard Rock / Metal Album: Golden

- Best Hard Rock / Metal Song: The House Of The 7 Smokestacks

What’s the mood of it? What would you say to make people listen to it and buy it ?

I think we’ve done a good record, direct, deep, intimate but with a lot of attitude at the same time. It’s a band playing music like the old days, a drummer, a guitarist, a bassist and a singer playing and having fun together. No tricks.

As I said before, I believe in good songs and this record have a lot of them. We’ll keep working on that.

Where do you find your inspiration for music and lyrics ?

We are only four guys shut in a room trying to find something, you can call it feeling, vibration, chemistry... whatever.  Of course some days are better than others, but once we plugged, things start happening. The lyrics usually come from the images that the music suggests (clearly our personal experiences have an influence there), the only thing you have to do is put that images in words. I think our songs are like a collage, and the little images that construct it create the general feeling.

What’s your favorite new track? Why?

It depends on the day, but maybe “Atlantico” is my top one. This song came up in thirty minutes, the ethereal atmosphere of this track takes me somewhere, as if someone was whispering in my ear. It blows my mind, and “The house of the 7 smokestacks” is that kind of song that you love to play live, it’s very funny and powerful.  

Do you think you will bring something new in music with your new cd?

We think so. It is rock and roll for everyone; it doesn’t matter if you are a very cultured guy in music and your expectations are high or an occasional listener.

Let me explain myself. Our songs have several layers. The first one is the voice and their melodies. The whole people will savour our music just because of it, they are very direct and easy to like. But if the listener wants more, he can go deeper inside each song, and find small treasures in the structures, in the development of the songs, in the energy and feeling of the combination of the instruments and voice.

Will you be touring soon and what can the audience expect from you on stage ?

If you go to a show of Eldorado you’ll see a band playing from the heart. We love to play music, we love to get on the stage. Every night is a new experience that we cherish and it’s a pleasure to share it with the audience. We believe in Rock’n’roll.

Message to HEAVY SOUNDERS:

Our music is very easily accessible –you can listen to our band in spotify, myspace, last fm, ect-. And you can be informed about all the news, details of the band in our facebook. We invited you all to join us in a facebook page.

ELDORADO interview Jesus Trujillo - Janvier 2010

Chronique GOLDEN

Band:

Jesus Trujillo – vocals
Nano Paramio – guitars
Cesar Sanchez – bass
Javi Planelles - drums

Visuels :

www.myspace.com/eldoradorockband