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There is a burgeoning psychedelic rock scene rising out of Chile and The Holydrug Couple are at the forefront!
Based in Santiago, members Ives Sepúlveda and Manuel Parra have definitely been on the grind weaving together an incredibly intricate bluesy sound.
GroundSounds recently caught up with Ives for an exclusive interview, check it out below.
For those just discovering The Holydrug Couple, how did you to come together and start making music?
Mmm it was 2009. I met Manuel since we were teenagers. I used to have bands in High school, and Manu always liked music and drums a lot. He always kept saying to me that he would buy a drum set and we’ll form a band. Until this year, one day he sent me a text message: ” I bought a drum set, come to my house and let’s play”. I went and we started jam, and It went so good that we decided to form Holydrug Couple.
How did you guys decide on the name The Holydrug Couple?
Manu came with the Holydrug word I think. Then I found that it was too short and cryptic, so I added the word couple.
Can you tell us a little bit about growing up in Santiago, Chile? What is one thing everyone should see and eat while visiting?
In fact I grew in a small rural town, 3 hours from the city to the south. I had no neighbours, or cable tv. Only a dog and thousands of acres of woods, hills and rivers. I came to live in Santiago when I was 18 years old. Everyone should go camping, there’s millions of beautiful places here to see. From the mountains to the beach. And for eat, I love toast bread with avocado.
Can you tell us about the creative and writing process for your track “Everyone Knows All?”
It came last year while practicing the set for the European tour. I was like, ”let’s jam a new thing now??” And everyone went, ”yeah, allright”. Manu start to count and we all start to play a very similiar version of the actual song. I was singing this melody and the rough version of the lyrics instantly. Then, this year, some weeks ago I decided to remake it for the RSD Release.
What is it about psychedelic rock and blues that attracts you guys to this sound?
From blues I love the simplicity. Lot’s of blues songs works with only a voice and a guitar, and sometimes only a clapping. So you have to be very efficient on the melody to be catchy. There’s something on the chord progression and the repetition on the voice melody that I love. And on psychedelic music, I like the way that anything can happen with it, specially more on psychedelic pop, that it works with more conventional structures, it pretends to be catchy and popular, but you can look at it with a lot of different perspectives, you know? The arrangements, the mixing, the recording process, the studio work I mean. That’s what I love of psychedelic music.
What do you guys enjoy most about performing live? Can you share any crazy stories about being on stage?
I really enjoy very much when it accomplish that perfect sound, when we all are playing very into it and we all are in the same focus. When you start to play a lot, I mean everyday for 2 months, you realize that there’s nothing that you can to do that everyday. You can play technically a 100%, there’s no problem with that, but sometimes something happens and it feels that everything flows perfect and everyone are very inspired.
Once, here in Chile, in a small show, people were so turned on with the music that they didn’t let us get down of the stage. I mean there were guys pushin us up to keep playing, it was kinda violent but also funny.
What are you guys currently listening to?
A lot of 70’s soul ballads. Shuggie Otis, Aretha Franklin, John Lennon. Everything that sounds dreammy and spacey and slow.
What was the inspiration for your track “Quetzal?”
The Quetzals are this kinda mythical birds for the Aztec civilization. I wrote it like it were a song for a movie. It has this creepy and ancient feeling, I imagined myself walking through the woods in the year 400 to meet some native aztecs, surrounded by Quetzals making noises. The water sound I sampled it from a field recording that I made in a lake in the very south of Chile.
What people, places and books have inspired you guys most?
I don’t know, that’s always changing. Sometimes you feel very inspired by a thing that 6 months later you found nothing. I feel happy being looking all the time on everything you know? Good things and bad things are inspiring, and that came for on most everything that you live.
What is next for The Holydrug Couple? What can fans look forward to?
We are at home recording new material, a new album for this year, and another one for 2015.
