Immersed in the recent release of Taburete’s fifth album “Matadero 5”, Willy Barcenas defends everything the band has achieved despite the prejudices and labels that have haunted him since they became famous and which he says means that colleagues across the industry refuse to cooperate. with them.

“Some artist came to us and admitted that he was afraid to collaborate with Taburete because of what his fans might say,” the band’s vocalist laments in an interview with Europa Press.

He does not understand that these decisions are made by artists, but respects that “everyone is who he is, and gets wet what he wants to get wet”, while specifying that he “would not do this”: “If the group, which has nothing to do politically. He offers to cooperate with me, and I like the song and the band, I do it.

“I can understand that there are artists who are afraid, but I think that you need to go through life with a couple of balls,” he says, advocating the expression of free opinion: “When you have an opinion about something, although it may be bad for you to say it, you have to say it, you have to be honest about what you think and that you don’t care what it affects.”

In this, Stool has an advantage, he says, because they are used to criticism “from the very beginning.” In particular, he says that he is the one who “wets” the group the most, especially on political issues, and does so freely because those who are going to criticize him are already criticizing him.

Thus, he manifests himself in the current politics in which he loses “interest and faith” and which makes the “bar fight level” discourse ugly and points to Podemos, who, according to him, “used political violence for many years” , but “now that it comes to him, he regrets it.”

He cites complaints of political violence against Equality Minister Irene Montero by Vox MP Carla Toscano, expressions which, he clarifies, “he obviously does not support”. “I don’t know whether to call it political violence or disrespect, but political violence has been practiced for a long time,” he concludes.

Faced with all the criticism the band can receive, as well as the prejudice and labels that surround them, Barcenas assures them that they remain positive, everything they have achieved: five albums in seven years and long tours. This year they gave 72 concerts.

However, he admits that while Stool would have grown “slower” without all those labels, it would also have reached more people. “We would be more mainstream without the prejudices that many started and are getting smaller,” he chides, to warn that there are people who are “already crossed” by family ties and will never try to listen to them. .

On top of all this, the band’s vocalist has focused on the recent release of “Matadero 5”, a work that highlights the diversity of styles and which, he says, is well received by the public.

Regarding the ten-song album, he emphasizes that it marks a period before and after in the band due to the discovery of styles, as they play flamenco or electronic themes, which they have not tried before: “Creating such a diverse album in which each the song is different from the previous one, which makes it very fun.” It is flamenco who weaves his favorite song, “The Penultimate Kiss”, in which he talks about the last kiss he was able to give to his mother, Rosalia Iglesias, at the entrance to the prison.

This song, one of the “most sincere and personal” he has written, is an example of how music has helped him “get through hard times” and “get over all the bad things”, which he also achieved through composition and concerts. , bill.

He also notes collaborations on the album with Dúo Dinámico, Omar Montes, José Merce and Miguel Campello, although he acknowledges that he was left out of the collaboration Leiva was longing for when he decided not to participate because he had just released a collaborative album. For the future, he states that he would like to have the opportunity to collaborate with artists, among whom the Latin American Mon Laferte or Natalia Lafourcade stand out.

With the songs on this new album, Taburete hopes to reach more people and have them listen to all the pieces if possible, which, however, Barcenas knows, is made more difficult by his musical style. “Currently, getting as many plays for a pop song as his hit “Sirenas” is is very difficult,” he adds.

In his opinion, urban music “dominates everything today”: “It seems that if you don’t do this, you can’t get on the radio, play in discos, everything, everything is very closed to this style, and I’m sorry for that.” However, he is confident that rock will return in the future because he believes that musical trends are cyclical.

On the other hand, vocalist Taburete defends the band’s musical freedom by working with his own record company, which allows them to “run everything”. Despite offers from transnational corporations, he remains independent: “My advice to artists is to try it yourself, and don’t sell your future for an advance.”

Finally, regarding the future of Taburete, he says the goal is to keep the stable position of the “consolidated group” that it has been given. Personally, his dream is to “keep playing shows every year” and “make a big hit in Latin America” ​​where they already have an audience.

Before starting their next tour in March 2023, which will see them return to the WiZink Center, they will release a new song to promote their sixth album. And this is what Barcenas makes it clear that Taburete does not stop, and sentences that a musical career without a band did not cross his mind.

“The only reason for the breakup could be that we had a bad relationship, but we are a group of good friends that we like,” he explains, although he hopes to create an alternative project that is compatible with the group and in which he can record rock, blues or American folk, as well as Mexican corridos.