Bala: Volume and Energy

BALA are a band consisting of two friends, who have been playing together for the best part of the last decade, with one sole goal – to make a lot of noise. Screaming together, having fun and playing at a loud volume has led to two successful releases so far, seeing them reach California, Japan, Australia and the UK with their blend of grunge, hardcore and stoner rock and metal. We caught up with the pair as they prepare to release their third album, Maleza, via Century Media.

“We were always just the two of us from the very beginning,” says Anx [guitar, vocals]. “We didn’t really think about another option, we were happy like this – we never really thought about having a bass player or second guitar; this has too many advantages!”

It’s incredibly difficult to put a band like BALA into a box, or describe what their sound is like to someone who’s never heard them before. Each song on Maleza comes thick and fast, with a punk-like attitude and vocals which range from NIRVANA-style grunge to NOVA TWINS sass to PETROL GIRLS’ screaming rage. It’s all wrapped up together in a mixture of fun, anthemic tunes.

“We listen to almost every kind of music. We love music and we have a mix of influences in our heads. When people ask us, ‘what do you do? What’s your style?’ I don’t really know how to answer! A mixture of influences that I can name would be NIRVANA, L7, BLACK SABBATH, MELVINS, BIKINI KILL, SONIC YOUTH…”

Their sound has evolved a lot over the years, and it wasn’t always as polished as it is now. “The first album was like an experiment. After that, we were sure we wanted to be heavier, to be louder. This last album represents us a lot more. You can hear really different songs on this last album. We have one punk song, one stoner song, one metal song. The common part again is the volume and the energy, but they’re more varied.”

For those of our readers who aren’t fluent in Spanish, we got the band to give us a break down of the kind of themes and issues they’re singing about on their latest release. “It’s a mix of different topics. For example, the last single, Mi Orden is like a trip from darkness to light. It’s a metaphor for when there’s something wrong in your life and you want to get out.”

“The second single is a really happy song about enjoying and forgetting all the shit in your life and saying ‘okay, I’m just going to enjoy today’. The first song on the album (Agitar) is a poem written by Lua Mosqueda who is a really good writer and also a friend. We love what she writes and we asked her if we could use her text. And it’s about marking the limits on a relationship. And we have a feminist song about helping a friend out and platonic love between women – so it’s a real mix!”

“When it’s my turn to write,” says V, “I usually write about my life or about experience. I’m changing now, because our earlier songs are all about me being mad at the world and being aggressive and I’m trying to lose that. This album has some really optimistic songs on it. But mostly I talk about me. About my life and what happens in my head and all that.”

For those of you not in the know, the Spanish rock scene has a big misogyny problem. “We have a really long way to go,” says Anx. “It’s an important topic. Things are changing but yeah, there’s a big problem.”

“We had a situation with an interview yesterday where this guy asked us questions which were about everything other than the album,” says V, the only band member who was present at the time. “I had to ask him, please consider if you would be asking me these questions if I was a man! If I was a man, this interview wouldn’t exist.”

“And we still get people telling us, ‘oh you’re really good, you play like a man’. It’s frustrating. And on one of our first singles, the comment on the YouTube video was ‘you must be on those days of the month’,” Anx sighs. “I was mad about this comment. I don’t care when people don’t like the band, that’s okay. But these kinds of sexist comments are just really ugly.”

When searching for BALA’s music, you’ll first be struck by how, well, striking their artwork is. The cover of Maleza displays a whale’s jaw, propped open with a stick, against a plain smoky black background. It’s earthy, primitive, intimidating; much like the music BALA makes. They’ve used the same designer since the beginning of their career, someone who is a close friend.

“We have really professional friends. We’re really lucky – we always try to work with friends for the videos and everything. And when we told this guy we wanted him to do the artwork, he asked us some questions – not about the design, just completely random, like what kind of films we like. And when he showed us the first artwork we were like, wow. How could you read our minds?”

This sense of community pervades the band’s entire ethos. “The band has grown up, we can’t deny it, but our spirit has always been do it yourself. We live in this community, everyone who has a band knows each other and supports each other,” says Anx. V adds, “this alternative underground scene here it’s huge. It’s amazing. When you’re lucky enough to grow, help your friends grow too. It’s easy to forget about your friends when you have access to bigger opportunities. But I’m growing thanks to your work. So let’s keep growing together.”

Maleza is out now via Century Media Records.

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