Where The Waves Are Born (Asturias, Spain)

Interview with Where the Waves Are Born

https://wherethewavesareborn.bandcamp.com/

As a music fanatic in either a professional or leisurely sphere, there’s always the crown of pride you can sit upon your brows when seeking out a newly founded project bound to fascination and glee. Sundered is the second piece of the Spanish melodic post-hardcore six-piece, Where The Waves Are Born – which from appellation alone, beholds a mesmeric enchantment to the constructions of beauty and devastation. An upgraded extended play follow-up from Engraved, for myself, it was the first and only taste I needed before Sundered was the year’s relentless recommendation. Susurrations that can either wash fragile feet or crash and shatter glass souls is definitively what the two voices (Luigi López and Guille Rodríguez), two guitars (Miguel Ferreño and Victor Barrero), bass and set of drums (Javier Villamaña and Guille Menéndez) are; each pair locking horns yin and yang style in determined battle. Five months advancing from the EP’s water-bound shockwave, Where The Waves Are Born sat down and spoke to me about the maturity, compassion, and hopefulness that has come out from Sundered.

Metal Revolution: Where The Waves Are Born, it is fantastic to be speaking to you all at such an early point in your career. Thank you for joining me today.
WTWAB: Thank you as well for welcoming us! It feels great to be able to talk about our work in more detail, especially to a non-Spanish audience.

MR: I’ve always been a sucker for the history of band names. Where The Waves Are Born is such a mesmerising, let alone beautiful moniker. Who came up with the name and why call a melodic post-hardcore band it?
WTWAB: This is one of those instances where the name precedes the band, back when it was only Guille M. And Miguel jamming around. Back in the very early concept of it all, Victor casually threw the sentence around in Spanish and we felt it described exactly the vibe we were planning to go for: Something poetic, emotional, rooted in the international post-hardcore and melodic hardcore scenes that were thriving back then. We were unsure whether it would stand the test of time but almost 9 years later we are very happy with the decision and it still spurs some conversation.

MR: I have to follow with the imperative question that has been burning on my tongue for quite some time now. Two lead vocalists; how did this unique opportunity arise, and why did you proceed to forward Where The Waves Are Born with two differentiating vocalists as opposed to one who can do both?
WTWAB: From the very beginning we wanted to have a foot in various scenes and stay true to our metalcore roots, where a harsh/clean vocal combo was already a standard. Still, the stark contrast between Guille R.’s hardcore-leaning screams and Luigi’s pop-influenced vocals was not planned, more like an opportunity that appeared in front of us when Guille decided to join us and we simply went for it. Many people were skeptical at the beginning, but we are confident we made it work and it now stands as one of our most distinct assets.

MR: Much like the clashing vocal styles, the guitars, bass and drums in Sundered have a striking polarisation in melodic fruition and full-force rhythm. Has this style, highlighted in the EP, proclaimed the forthcoming sound of Where The Waves Are Born?
WTWAB: We actively chase that musical duality, enhanced by the vocal duo of Guille R. And Luigi. We embrace that ocean of possibilities and it feels truly magical when we let it flourish, like the big contrast between our songs ‘Coward’ and ‘Scandinavian’ for instance. We have new instrumentals already lined up where we kept dwelling in that blend of melody and heaviness. We want to play our strengths and establish a recognisable sound, so we won’t fix what is not broken so far.

MR: The poetics and lyricism of Sundered are unfathomably astonishing considering English isn’t your native language. Victor, Guille M. and Guille R. (the trio responsible for the six tracks’ lyrical content), tales of broken bonds, hopelessness, and loss that were powerful enough to make it into the record. What sort of lives have you all led that has make it here today, singing about these certain topics?
WTWAB: Very grateful for this compliment as we make a huge effort to embellish our lyrical content as much as possible despite the language barrier. The three of us generally throw many ideas together and Guille M. (Who lived in the UK for many years) arranges and polishes them. We feel very inspired by bands such as Counterparts, Holding Absence and Casey to name a few. Our lives are nothing outside the ordinary, but as most people we had our fair share of the life struggles you accurately describe and are still learning to live with the scars. We take these challenges as inspiration for our songs, and despite the bittersweet rawness and negativity tainting these lyrics we aim to transform these thoughts into something rather positive. We don’t particularly enjoy ending on a depressing note and we like to maintain a glimmer of hope at the end of it all.

MR: The sonics of Sundered fantastically harmonise the EP’s visualisations – something I wholly believe as an integral requirement of any music release. Javier, as both bassist and and the band’s art director, run me through the creative direction of designing the record’s cover. Did you complete the piece before or after the release, and how did this influence the overall outcome?
WTWAB: The cover of Sundered was made when half of the songs still didn’t even have their own name. Since Javier started to generate our whole image with Engraved (our debut EP), this imaginary related to art was always present. It’s a cohesive element that defines us aesthetically as a band. As an artist, Javier’s goal was to represent his personal vision of what Sundered represents, the lyrical or poetic tone that defines both our music and our lyrics and also the evolution that this EP represents both for him as an artist and for the band as musicians and friends. All of us in Where The Waves are Born see Sundered as a stage of maturity and we’ve all learned a lot from it.

MR: With the confidence and maturity expended in Sundered, what will hopefully be next for Where The Waves Are Born? Is it possible for you six to hint at a debut LP in the coming future?
WTWAB: We would love to release a LP someday, but we are still bound by current jobs and the physical distance between our members (Which we touch upon in our song “Distant”) making all things painfully slow. Planning on such a big scale still feels quite ambitious to us, so we intend to keep on rolling on this EP/singles approach for the time being. We are also planning something involving other bands that we are very excited about, but can’t really share at the moment. Hopefully it will work out!

MR: Any final words for what’s next for you six?
WTWAB: We are deeply grateful for your interest and feel honoured by the thorough dedication shown to learn about us and our music. We sometimes question the value of putting so much care into every aspect of it and it’s things like this that put a smile in our face and make us proud of our work. We are not going anywhere so we ask anyone reading to follow us and be eager for what’s to come!