After performing at Viña del Mar, Bacilos sits down to talk about their feelings about their performance, being huge Carín León fans, how their career has changed since they first started, releasing ‘Pequeños Romances’ as independent artists and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00The songs of Bacillus and the fans made Bacillus come back.
00:04It has been wonderful to make dreams come true.
00:08But it is also interesting that in life you realize that everything has a cost.
00:18Well, friends of Billboard, and from Viña del Mar, finally, today we are with Bacillus.
00:24How are you?
00:26Super good, thank you very much. What a good invitation and how nice to coincide here in Viña.
00:29Yes, thank you very much.
00:31How nice, we have really enjoyed you this week in different ways.
00:35We have seen you as jurors. How have you felt this week?
00:43As jurors and fans, because we have also had the opportunity to see artists that we admire a lot on stage.
00:50And obviously, we also admire the guys.
00:52To have the courage to come as a rookie and stand in front of the monster, that is not easy.
01:01It requires a lot of respect.
01:05Your first time as jurors, right?
01:08First time, yes.
01:10I know that the night you were here, you made us dance.
01:15It was a very... I don't know, it was a party.
01:19It didn't matter the cold, it didn't matter the time, but it was literally a party of Bacillus.
01:24Yes, it was very beautiful.
01:26After Marc, well, singing and playing after Marc is a responsibility, a challenge.
01:34But the people stayed, they stayed there on a cold night.
01:38We have a house full and the people were happy to see us again in Viña.
01:44We played the classics, we had a great time.
01:47And so we started an incredible week.
01:49Now we are still, as Jorge mentioned, as fans and as jurors, but enjoying every day.
01:55Speaking of that, that you are also as fans, yesterday I saw you dancing the dance of Huitlacoche.
02:04I want to know, obviously we saw that experience, but I want to know what you felt,
02:09because apart from the band music, it's incredible.
02:13It gives you a lot of energy, I feel.
02:17Was it your first band concert?
02:21Look, it was our first concert, Karim León.
02:23Yes, and he is an artist that I personally discovered recently.
02:28Because he is very young, right?
02:30Let's say his phenomenon started a couple of years ago.
02:3218, if I'm not mistaken.
02:34Well, two years ago was the first time I heard him.
02:37I downloaded the playlist, I got on a plane and I listened to it and I became a super fan.
02:42But in the life that we have, it is very difficult to coincide with colleagues and go to concerts.
02:47Suddenly being there in the front row and seeing the concert of an artist that you have been listening to for a while,
02:53it was great, because I already know the songs and it was incredible.
02:58And he represents Mexican folklore.
03:01He is not only a singer, he is a folklorist in some way.
03:05And then doing moments like the dance with the car was very fun.
03:10Very fun, because Latin American folklore is cheerful, it is fun and it is common among all.
03:15What Karim himself said, he said these roots music,
03:20this music that comes from the roots is very similar among all of us.
03:24You can dance that genre that I don't really know technically what rhythm it is.
03:29Dance it in Chile and everyone dances it.
03:33I don't know, from North America, South America and everything that is in the middle, dancing the same.
03:37No, no, how nice. He always says that he brings the musicians from Sonora, where he is from.
03:42I still don't understand what huitlacoche is, I once asked him and I didn't understand a thing.
03:47Huitlacoche is a fungus that is born in the corn and it is eaten.
03:52It is like a fungus that grows the corn inside the leaf and between the leaf and the grain.
03:58It looks disgusting because it is a fungus and you take it out and it is like a cream.
04:03It has a strong smell.
04:05Yes, yes, but it is delicious.
04:07I thought it was like a bird.
04:11There may be a bird that knows huitlacoche, but the huitlacoche that we don't know.
04:15That likes corn.
04:16Yes, yes, yes.
04:17But it may be a bird, who knows.
04:19No, no, of course.
04:21It was incredible. How did you feel being present and singing?
04:28It was a lot of fun.
04:30How often did you come?
04:32We come to Chile every year.
04:34We do tours in the summers, January, February.
04:39For many years in a row we come.
04:41We play in communes, in towns from north to south in Chile.
04:45We always have a good time.
04:47Last year we went to the Festival of the Counts and this year I came from the sea.
04:50So there is a constant connection with Chile.
04:54But Viña, obviously when we play in Viña, the last time was in 2007, in the festival.
05:00In 2007, which was our last show before we took those long holidays of 10 years.
05:07But it was a reunion with the monster and there was a mutual affection and mutual respect.
05:14And we had an incredible time.
05:16It is very fun.
05:18There is a bit of anxiety, a bit of fear.
05:21But it is a very important stage and the people welcomed us in a very nice way.
05:27Speaking of these reunions, my first million is 23 years old.
05:33I don't know if it already turned 23 or if it turns 23 this year.
05:362003, 2004.
05:38I think more.
05:3921 years.
05:40That seemed to me...
05:4121 years?
05:42Yes, it came out in 2003, 2004.
05:4421 years.
05:46How has life changed?
05:48Because obviously it is completely different.
05:51On top of that, you had those long holidays.
05:57How has life changed in those years?
06:00Or that time you came to Viña?
06:04Our career as artists goes through different phases.
06:08When you are young in your first moment of fame and success,
06:14life is an incredible, crazy, confusing experience.
06:20Youth is an experience in itself.
06:22We all know that.
06:23All of us who are old can see what it is like to be young.
06:27That was a wonderful time.
06:30We did two Viñas during those years.
06:33The Latin American audience accepted us.
06:36They opened the doors for us.
06:37We were a novelty.
06:41That is a way of living.
06:43Years go by and your music either stays or ends.
06:51And ours, thank God, stayed.
06:53Even though we are not artists in the industry.
06:58We have come to be appreciated by our colleagues,
07:04by the new industry.
07:06Because Basilos really resuscitates thanks to digital platforms.
07:11Because we all realized that we sounded.
07:15Of course.
07:16You are part of us.
07:18Of course.
07:19But before that was not seen.
07:22Because if you weren't on the Billboard charts,
07:25you didn't exist.
07:26The parameters or indicators were a bit diffuse.
07:31They were not clear about what the Latin American people
07:34really accepted as music, as something of their own.
07:38Basilos is an interesting example of an artist
07:41who was favored by the algorithm.
07:44We were separated and suddenly they told us,
07:47you have so many millions of listeners.
07:50The people?
07:51Yes, the industry, our friends.
07:53Rosa Garriguez, Rebeca León.
07:56People we knew for years.
07:58They said, hey, you know what's going on.
08:00People from the industry, Walter Cohn.
08:02Everyone started telling us.
08:04People who knew us from another life, from another time.
08:07Do you understand what's going on?
08:09We talked and said, hey Andres, something is happening.
08:12Of course, because I'm telling you.
08:14Digital platforms do...
08:16In 2015 the numbers of Spotify really came out.
08:19So how many millions?
08:21But they're not playing, they're not promoting,
08:23they're not touring, they're not...
08:25No, no, no.
08:26They're doing their own thing, each one.
08:28But you have to get together, you have to come back.
08:30So really, in a way, the songs of Basilos and the fans
08:35made Basilos come back.
08:38How beautiful.
08:39Very interesting.
08:40I think we needed it.
08:41All of us.
08:42Because yes, because obviously they are part of the soundtrack
08:46of all of us, of the path that we have all been walking.
08:51And how did you like this new part of the industry
08:54that you see now?
08:56In this return of Basilos, so to speak.
08:59Although they already have a couple of years too.
09:01It's interesting.
09:02Yes, I think that the new system, let's say,
09:05allows artists like us, who are independent artists,
09:09to continue doing our thing.
09:11I imagine that before, being independent was much more difficult.
09:14If you didn't have a label, a support, a large structure,
09:18it was practically impossible.
09:20Today, the distribution is digital, the promotion is digital.
09:24So it allows you to do your thing and be able to connect
09:28with the whole world at the same time, immediately.
09:31So that's very important.
09:33On the other hand, this is much faster.
09:36So suddenly, for artists who are calmer or slower,
09:41not so cybernetic, that generates so much content,
09:46it's something that maybe we can't keep up with.
09:50But it's okay, because what we've noticed is that
09:53this new generation that knows how to use these technologies
09:56of communication, of contact with the artist,
09:59have discovered Basilos in this way, in a cybernetic way.
10:04So we see in the shows this new generation of fans
10:07who are children or were very young when we played
10:11in Caraluna, in Millon, more than 20 years ago.
10:14So now they have, for the first time, the opportunity
10:17to sing a song with Basilos live.
10:20So there's a reunion with the fans as always,
10:24a new reunion with these fans.
10:26New faces.
10:27New faces, new ages, new spirit.
10:30How beautiful.
10:31Last year, you released the album Pequeños Romances.
10:36Obviously, it had the Basilos label.
10:40What have you prepared for this year?
10:42Have you prepared something?
10:44I know that sometimes music goes so fast
10:46that it's hard for us to enjoy it.
10:49The problem is that music goes so fast.
10:52In principle, our plan is to continue showing
10:56what that album was, what the album is.
10:58Because we are independent, so we work in our own way.
11:02We see how we do it, we go by different forces
11:07from the artists who are signed with labels.
11:10But you never know, because everything goes so fast.
11:13It seems like a possibility of a collaboration.
11:15Or someone thinks, let's do a version in another genre
11:18of this song from the album.
11:19And the path starts to change on its own.
11:24And you react depending on how things go.
11:27Because it's a very fast medium.
11:29It's a medium in which the plans change very quickly
11:33because the form of communication is instantaneous.
11:36The meetings and the ability to record something with someone
11:40or to create something.
11:41It's a new world.
11:42It's a very interesting world.
11:44And what you have to be is ready.
11:47What you have to be is in shape.
11:49To take.
11:50Exactly.
11:51We are athletes and we have to be in shape to play.
11:54Hey, do you want to play a tennis game with so-and-so?
11:56Let's go.
11:57Or do you want to go to this championship?
11:59Let's go.
12:00It's more or less the same.
12:01We are in shape, we are working all the time.
12:03We have a band.
12:04We are one of the survivors, let's say, of live music,
12:07of the bands that play our instruments.
12:11People sometimes think that André and I are the two singers of Basilos.
12:14That's not true.
12:15We are owners of a brand called Basilos.
12:20But we are part of a band.
12:23We have a band on stage.
12:24André plays the bass.
12:26I play the acoustic guitar.
12:27I sing.
12:28There is a drummer.
12:29There is an electric guitarist.
12:33Everything that is heard on the records is there.
12:35That's how it is and that's what we do.
12:39So, we have that formed.
12:42That team of work is active.
12:43We are ready for any eventuality.
12:45To go out.
12:46Exactly.
12:47If you had, for example, three people who told you,
12:50right now that we have been in Viña,
12:52look, let's record.
12:55Who would you like?
12:57That it was like telling them ...
13:01The three shows,
13:03apart from the shows we saw last week,
13:05there is Mark, there is Carlos,
13:07there is Karim, there is Yatra.
13:10But it's a trap.
13:11Some I don't know.
13:14But they are.
13:15Well, also.
13:16They would encourage us to do a regional agenda.
13:20Yes.
13:21If they were not here,
13:23we would be thinking,
13:24in a way,
13:25to be on the list of Basilos.
13:29To do something with Carlos Vives and Basilos.
13:31Carlos Vives would be very funny.
13:32They have never done it, right?
13:34Yes, we did a version of Caraluna.
13:36What happened is that it was in the year of the pandemic.
13:38Then all that was entangled.
13:41Nothing big was made.
13:43Because you know,
13:44what happened, happened.
13:45Yes.
13:46We re-recorded Caraluna with Carlos.
13:49At the same time that we re-recorded Tabaco Chanel with Morat.
13:53And they both came out at the same time,
13:54but it was in the middle of the madness of the pandemic.
13:58But they are there.
13:59If you want to listen.
14:00They are there on the platforms.
14:02Basilos and Carlos and Basilos and Morat.
14:06How beautiful.
14:07And they went on tour too.
14:09Last year they were also here.
14:11Or they have a Movistar in Chile right now.
14:14Yes.
14:15Where are they going?
14:17We never stop.
14:19We are on a constant tour.
14:21We did a very interesting tour in the United States,
14:24in Canada,
14:25we went last year.
14:26This year we were in Paraguay,
14:28we were in Argentina,
14:29we were on a picnic in Costa Rica,
14:31we were in Guatemala,
14:32now we are in Viña.
14:34In two weeks we will be in Movistar in Bogotá.
14:37Ah yes, in Bogotá.
14:38In Bogotá,
14:39Movistar in Bogotá.
14:40The next day,
14:41March 14,
14:42in Medellín,
14:43in the Teatro Metropolitano.
14:45We have a small tour of two weeks in Mexico in April.
14:50We go to Spain on the weekends of June,
14:53Barcelona, Madrid,
14:54festivals,
14:55and the Guitar Festival in Barcelona.
14:58And we return to Chile on July 31 for the Movistar in Santiago.
15:03So, as you can see,
15:04we don't stop.
15:05And among those dates that I mentioned to you,
15:07there are a few that I don't remember,
15:09but we are still on our way to Latin America,
15:11constantly on tour.
15:13We continue to promote the album Pequeños Romances.
15:16Today we are working on a specific song,
15:19which is the notes of my psychologist,
15:21which are listed in some countries.
15:23People like a lot what we did,
15:26because it is something very,
15:28very vain on this album.
15:30So, we continue.
15:32We continue doing our thing and playing a lot.
15:34I love it.
15:35Well, no,
15:36thank you for being here with us.
15:38How nice to have enjoyed you live again,
15:41to have you here,
15:43and we hope to see you soon in Miami too.
15:46There we are.
15:47From time to time.
15:48From time to time, yes.
15:50Because how difficult, right?
15:51It's difficult.
15:52It's difficult to be away from home.
15:54Yes, it is.
15:55You have to be very careful
15:57with what you ask for in life.
15:59You know what I was going to ask you?
16:01How has been the life of an artist
16:03and living from songs?
16:08Well, it has been wonderful.
16:10I mean, to achieve,
16:11to make dreams come true.
16:13But it is also interesting that in life
16:15you realize that everything has a cost.
16:17Totally.
16:18And this has been difficult,
16:19especially in the phase of raising children.
16:22It's difficult.
16:23Yes, I really,
16:25my respects obviously to the artists,
16:27because yes,
16:28the energy they have to have,
16:30like the attitude,
16:31the face they see,
16:32because,
16:33imagine,
16:34I mean,
16:35you have a lot of eyes all the time.
16:37More and more,
16:38because when we started,
16:39no one had cameras in their hands 24 hours.
16:42Nowadays,
16:43it's a camera for photos and videos,
16:45constantly,
16:46everyone has it on their phones.
16:48So,
16:49yes,
16:50it's a job.
16:51But,
16:52in general,
16:53I think we are enjoying it more than ever.
16:55We enjoy the stages much more.
16:57We are much more grateful.
16:59We know the effort the fans make
17:02to be in a show,
17:04to pay,
17:05to be there,
17:06to move,
17:07to organize.
17:08So,
17:09we have a great time on stage
17:10and we enjoy each show.
17:11And every time we release a new song,
17:13it's something very special for us.
17:15And,
17:16we are having a great time.
17:18It's like life.
17:19Learning to live in the present
17:21and enjoy it.
17:22Exactly.