Photo by Miqui Brightside
Leave me alone. The name of the debut full-length album by Madrid-based all-girl band Hinds may reflect the youthful energy infused in the music, but it certainly doesn’t represent the listener’s sentiments about it. There is no way you will want to leave this nimble, garage-rock treasure alone. We caught up with the kick-ass female foursome on the road. FV
HOW DID HINDS COME TOGETHER?
Hinds actually started as a duo, Ana [Perrote] and Carlotta [Cosials], in 2011. On a beach roadtrip to the south of Spain, we started to play covers with just two guitars. We played some shows and started to write songs after a few months. We were going to play in a contest in Madrid, and they needed a full band for it… so we found our drummer Amber [Grimbergen] via Facebook and gave Ade [Martin], who was our best friend and used to play gitar, a bass for her birthday so she couldnt say no to joining the band..haha!
AND YOU JUST RELEASED YOUR DEBUT ALBUM. CONGRATULATIONS! CAN YOU TELL ME A BIT ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE?
Well it’s our first album and we recorded it last April in Cadiz, in the south of Spain. It was a pretty hard period for us, as we had been touring most of the year, and we really can only write at home. A lot of songs were written in a rush at Carlotta’s, without sleeping and eating…haha, but we made it! The album has 12 songs; 12 different faces of love we know. It’s very intimate and we’re very happy about the way it turned out!
SINCE YOU’VE BEEN TOURING NONSTOP, ARE THERE ANY FAVORITE PLACES YOU’VE PLAYED?
About one month ago we played a festival in Hong Kong called Clockenflap which was awesome; the team and tHe crew were the nicest people in the world and the festival itself was amazing. We also did a few dates supporting a band called Glass Animals last October in the U.S. After we had played our official show in Kansas City in this huge, gorgeous theater, we ended playing at a house party full of students afterwards which was a pretty crazy experience!
HA. VERY ALMOST FAMOUS! ON YOUR MANY TRAVELS, HAVE YOU MADE ANY FOOD OR DRINK DISCOVERIES?
When we were in Bangkok last February we tried a lot of street food there and we totally fell in love with chicken satay and the fresh mango juice.
DO YOU HAVE ANY PRE-SHOW FOOD OR DRINK RITUALS? LIKE A SHOT OF TEQUILA BEFORE YOU HIT THE STAGE?
We always drink beer, at least two per person, to feel more relaxed and comfortable… tequila shots work better after the show.
ANYTHING YOU REALLY MISS WHEN YOU’RE ON THE ROAD?
We really just miss proper food so much. It’s sometimes difficult to have good food on the road because you only have limited time to stop and look for something. But pasta, the thing we miss the most is pasta. We love pasta, any kind of pasta.
WHERE’S THE FIRST PLACE YOU WANT TO EAT WHEN YOU’RE BACK IN MADRID?
Restaurante El Vegetariano, an amazing veggie restaurant downtown then beers at a bar called Sidi where they always give us huge plates of tapas too that are so good.
