Colombian rock/metal band heavily influenced by Mastodon, Baroness, Coheed & Cambria, Børeal released its debut EP Las Mariposas Agitan Sus Alas on october 2020. We were lucky to discuss with the band about the released of Las Mariposas Agitan Sus Alas, its future and also about the local Colombian scene. A nice discussion that we share today.
.
> Hi Børeal ! First, can you tell us who are you ? When did you create your band and how ?
Hi Laure and hello to all the readers of Can You Hear the Music?, thanks for inviting us. Well, it all began back in 2018 where the entire line-up of the band gathered around conversations of making enjoyable music without big pretentions. Ricardo had many ideas that he shared with all of us and we built over them. Technically speaking, Børeal is a quintet from Bogotá – Colombia who shared many common stories, who have walked over this city for around 30 years and who realized that nothing is immutable in this vast universe. Ricardo Linares is the guy who writes the music and the master musical mind behind Børeal while he is not playing guitar and doing backing voices; Diego Vargas is the guy in charge of the rhythm and drumming; Ivan Baquero is in charge of the other guitar; Jei Vera plays the bass and do backing voices as well; and Camilo Rodríguez (Milo) is the guy who do the clean singing and all other harsh vocals besides his managing role of the band.
.
> Your debut EP Las Mariposas Agitan Sus Alas is availabe since october. Can you tell us how did you worked on this production ? Do you have a process to compose ? Who brings the first idea and who decides that the song is ready ?
It is our debut EP and we all hope that everyone is enjoying it despite we sing in Spanish, which is like a cousin from French language. It was recorded in White Bull Studios (Legacy of the Fallen) here in Bogotá and mastered by Den Hadjichristou (Parkway Drive, Protest the Hero, Intervals) in Canada. The whole recording process took about two months. The songwriting starts with Ricardo. He is a creative machine who is always thinking and breathing music. So the first step in Børeal is the strings, the guitars. After that, bass, drums and voices are free to deliver ideas, and we all, as a team, consolidate them. Typically the voice is the last instrument to assemble. We all decide when the song is finished, it happens when we all feel satisfied, when we all enjoy the song.
.
> How was your EP received in Colombia ? Has the worldwide pandemic had an influence ?
It has been well received so far, good critics not only here in Colombia but in France as well and other countries like Italy, Portugal and Mexico. See the pattern ? Latin languages. The pandemic has influenced in a positive way because it gave us the time to be focused on recording instead on playing live, and of course because of that, now we have 4 new songs for the first full-lenght to be released in 2021, hopefully.
W
> How is the rock/metal scene in Colombia and in Bogota ?
The rock scene is quite open to new sounds and every day a new band is created. On the other hand the metal scene is more traditionalist, tipically you find death & thrash metal well played but there is an opportunity to improve speaking about reception of new trends. Bogotá has the best venues and concentrate more bands than other cities. Even though Medellín is the place where Colombian metal was born, is Bogotá the city with the highest budget for rock/metal.
W
> Actually can you play your EP on scene ? Or its impossible because of the pandemic ? If no, how do you feel aboute it ? Frustrated ?
We had the chance to play it entirely before it was recorded and before the pandemic, but in these pandemic times : yes, we feel frustrated. We love to play live our songs and actually what rock bands tipically do is schedule a concert to release the recorded work and sell copies. As we are self-promoters and self-producers, we have in mind for the immediate term (February 2021) to play live to formally release our recorded work with a concert, of course if the pandemic doesn’t get worse.
.
> Do you know french music ? If yes, have you got any inspiration with some rock/metal french bands ?
Yes, we are pretty aware of the French music. One of our favorite bands is Gojira, masters of the French prog-metal. Another band that we like a lot is Uneven Structure. Our music has some things of post-rock/metal as well, we like Alcest and Les Discrets. And yes, we know other artists like Manu Chao, who is quite popular here in Colombia, David Guetta, Zaz, Céline Dion and of course Édith Piaf to name a few.
.
> Now that your first EP is out, what do you hope for the future ? Do you think to a first LP ?
Yes we do! We always consider three time spans in our plans :
– Immediate term : Anhedonia’s videoclip
– Short term : Promotion of Børeal’s debut EP, looking to sign a record deal, more songwriting, and the release of our first full-length
– Long term: Repeat the previous bullet and look for promotional tours.
.
Thanks to Børeal to permitted us to discuss with them ! It’s always a pleasure to speak with some foreigns bands about music.
Børeal : Merci beaucoup de nous avoir ouvert cet espace et de nous laisser partager notre musique avec de nouveaux auditeurs en France. Notre musique raconte des histoires de ce que nous observons, de l’univers et de notre évolution en tant qu’êtres humains. Nous soutenons pleinement votre travail et le travail de diffusion de musique que fait Can You Hear the Music? C’est vraiment précieux. Nous espérons être bientôt en France!
.
www.facebook.com/BorealCol
