Interview: Pedro (AKA The Boy From The South)

About a month ago I got a message via my Instagram page from a musician in Barcelona, saying he is a fan of my blog and would I like to hear his music? He included a video for a song called ‘Amazing Man‘ explaining that Andrew Loog Oldham is a fan. (If you don’t know who Andrew L.O. is – this is the first couple of sentences of his Wiki page: ‘Andrew Loog Oldham (born 29 January 1944) is an English record producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 to 1967, and was noted for his flamboyant style.’)

I was impressed enough and curious enough to play the video….the musician goes by the name, The Boy From The South.

I actually didn’t get the whole way through the video on the first play as I needed to stop and take a breath! I was blown away and immediately got back to Pedro (The Boy From The South) gushing! I then played the second half on the video and gushed some more.

Pedro and I stayed in touch, with me offering any advice or help where I can. He travelled from Barcelona to London and a week later, made the train journey down to Camberley to see my band, Kodiak Island. We played a couple of sets at a great local bar, The Cabin so now Pedro and I have met and talked music.

I thought it would be a great idea to feature The Boy From The South in my blog, to help spread the word – so I e mailed over some questions…

Where are you from? Have you always lived there?

Coolest town in Spain! I’m from Barcelona born and raised, but i’ve lived in Madrid, San Diego and this recent years in London. I love Barcelona but music is taking me to more places now!! 

What is your first music memory – either when you first realised you were a musician and what music you first heard that made you stop and listen?

Seeing Bowie’s Rebel Rebel music video, my dad’s a huge Bowie fan and I remember it struck me so much! It was the first time (i was really young like not even 10) I saw something out of the ordinary, the make-up, the guitar, the eye-patch omg, that “i’m not sure if he’s a boy or a girl lyric”! And the next memory is 3 minutes later watching life on mars😂😊

I self-taught myself to play the guitar when I was 10-11 with YouTube. I always remember when I was a teenager that every day once in bed but before sleeping I always used to come up with melodies and stuff like that! But I didn’t give it a go until way later as a songwriter, but when i was 25 I wrote my first song in 3 minutes, played it to my mum and then there was a period of my life where I was writing a song a week almost for a year, so I craft it out a bit. 

Do you come from a musical family?

My mum released two banging albums when she was younger and she has the full degree of piano! But she’s more into classic stuff. My dad is musicless as a musician but he has amazing taste, and all the music memories from bands that I love came from him. Listening to Born in the USA in the car, rock the casbah, hells bells, come together. My dad taught me the ABC of pop music I guess.

Have you been in any bands previously?

Yes! at school with my best pals, we had a one-year run and almost sign to EMI actually. I was the guitar player only wrote solos! We were a kooks-wannabe’s mainly😂 We lacked personality a lot, but thanks to that experience I knew what not-to-do when you start a band! We lacked personality completely music-wise and we were totally disorganised.

Can you bring us up to date with The Boy From The South please? How many tracks you have released etc?

Yes! The last release is Amazing-Man, that song is opening loads of doors to me and thanks to that one and the last one Stereotypes we’re on the radar of big radios and a few management companies so I’m more focused on the contact-industry side but i’m obviously not stopping. We have a new one coming out september, gigs in Mexico, Barcelona, a couple release parties in the UK and material-wise I’ve got loads of tracks to go! (I have heard three new, unreleased tracks and they are fabulous – Jo)

So far there’s been two EPs out and I’ll release a third EP this winter compiling a few tracks, and after that–> straight for the debut record! which is already 70-80% finished!

The videos to ‘Amazing Man’ and ‘Stereotypes’ are fantastic, how did they come about and who else was involved?

I work with Redwood, a really cool young production company from Barcelona (they’re killing it they’ve done stuff with barça, coca cola).

They’re young, super close friends of mine and i usually come with the raw idea and we feed off each other. My friend Miguel Trias directs them and he’s the most creative dude i’ve ever met, he just spits ideas 24/7.

I’ve learned a lot, i had never been in big shooting before and both A-Man and Stereo we’re 60-70 ppl shootings.

We also hustle a lot to make it the most cost effective, get the right spots, and so far the outcome’s been wicked!

Barcelona actually is a huge city for music videos, films and i’ve met so many talented people thanks to those videos.

Wait for the next ones because they get crazier and madder😛😛

Are there any other musicians on these recordings?

No! i’ve done all myself, I play very badly all the instruments and sample a lot. In fact i’m left handed and the equipment in the studio is for right handed, so most of the bass lines, in fact all of them are played reversed, some guitar is played reversed, a mid mad but sounds wicked!

How does a song tend to start with you?

I’ll have a chord sequence usually and i’ll go for a run and come up with a melody, and then I need to know what exactly I want to talk about (otherwise lyrics can be very void and I hate that). Once I’ve got the theme the lyrics tend to come very quickly! But there’s different ways, I’ve made beats from melodies I listen in documentaries😂 melodies I listen on the airplane, it’s a matter of having that music sonar turned on 24/7!

How complete is a song when you start the recording process? Do you find you can be quite spontaneous in the studio?

Oh it’s all improvised, except the lyrics and the melody everything else is completely improvised. I don’t own any music gear apart from a guitar, so it’s a complete “let’s see how it goes” when I go to the studio! Usually I have a big spit of creativity in two hours where I get everything down, and then it’s just tweaking or making tiny decisions on stuff, which I hate!! (the first 2-3 hours when you get all the sounds down is the best part!)

You mentioned a recording studio in London to me – can you tell me more about that and how you came to find it?

Yes, 123 studios. Wicked studio in Peckham, I approached Brett the owner because Foals were recording there. When I first moved to London I literally went through my playlist on Spotify with my fav artists, and check where they had record my fav songs. I still have the Excel document with that😂

What is the set up when you play live?

The full set up is guitar. bass, a weird drum kit with no toms/cymbals but with a Roland SPD, an MPC sampler and a keyboard!

Who are your musical heroes?

Noel Gallagher made me start playing the guitar, but Damon Albarn made me expand my horizons a lot as a producer. And overall Neil Young is just my total heroe, I always live between that mix of acoustic and electronic but acoustic is usually the first step, and to make great melodies/chord progressions Mr Young is a genius (you only have to listen to Harvest to know!!). Also at the very top, bands like Jungle, War on Drugs, rappers like Pharcyde, Andre 3000, Biggie.. list goes on and on!!

What are your plans for the next year?

Full Album and gig a lot. With every release we double attention, and as soon as we manage to get in the circuit, i’m road-ready, young and healthy and i have a lot of weddings back home next year that i want to avoid!! and touring is the perfect excuse!! ha ha!

Anything else you’d like to add?

I adore music, it’s my gasoline and I’m giving my all to the project. I’m really happy with the outcome so far, and I can see people around me are excited, people get involved from different countries, ages, and that’s what I love the most. Meeting people with totally different backgrounds to you but having music as a common thread is amazing. I’ve made lots of friends already (like you!!) and everytime I think it that’s a huge positive thing for me personally. I come from a very close-minded background where people don’t even leave their neighbourhoods back home (i love it don’t get me wrong but it’s just not my vibe stay in my neighbourhood all day and never leave), and music for me is the vehicle to just scrap all of that and go fully open-minded and meet people from all walks of life!

Any photos you can share would be great please – childhood / family ones any of you on stage through the years?

Pedro aged 11

On stage in Dingwalls

Thanks so much Pedro – wishing you all the best for the future! X