If you thought the song itself was an anthem for the young, loud, and snotty creatures of the night, wait until you see the video. The above description might as well be the tagline for the feature film adaptation of the Nastys story; coming to a two-bit bar (rather than a theater) near you.
The Madrid-by-way-of-Tormello outfit got director Larry Balboa to illustrate “Fumar, Beber y Romper” in a way few songs have when it comes to their videos. It’s everything you would hope for such a wild song. Basically, it’s a Mexican revolution/Western movies-meets-a punk rock West Side Story on acid. There’s a long form narration and visual effects, and everything’s is going off its respective rocker. They even got Spanish nu-soul hopeful John Gray to make a cameo appearance.
To honor the exclusive release of this video, we exchanged a few words with Los Nastys via email to know a little bit more about our heroes. We talked about nightlife, life in a small town, and higher education. Read on and then watch “Fumar, Beber y Romper.”
How did you come up with your sound?
Well, it was a matter of turning the amps all the way up until they almost blow up. We tried having the vocals be heard but everything was too loud for that to happen. That’s when it started to feel good.
You have been very prolific. How do you keep releasing so many songs?
We don’t want to throw away any song we write. If we do songs we like and we like playing together…we have this outlet to spit out everything that happens to us during the week. Perhaps we are too sentimentally attached to them.
Do you think in terms of career goals or are you planning on playing until you get tired of this?
We act rather than think things through. Instead of getting together to decide what to do, we just go for it. We have been playing guitars for such a long time that we don’t know what else to do. We play for whoever wants to get close to see us, hear us, and happily punch each other along.
You dropped out of school when you formed Los Nastys, do you think you’ll go back?
We’re sorry to let the system down, but law school and advertisement are out of the question. We decided to drop out because, frankly, you don’t learn anything at all and you only watch as some people start to turn into sharks. Instead of that, we’re majoring in films and sound; that’s good, right? And Golo, our drummer who doesn’t get talked about enough and has incredible hair, is studying English and French. Omar does posters and graphic design.
How was it growing up in Tomelloso? How did it affect your band?
It’s a town where we always waited for the weekend to come so we could go out with our friends, drink, and listen to music we had discovered during the week in an exciting setting, like if we were having a hell of a time. That’s where we met Golo…we met Omar in Madrid but he moved to Tomelloso shortly after. We all now live in Madrid where we still do the same thing.
It seems like a big inspiration for you are wild parties.
It’s at night when you see everything, and it’s better than what you see during the daytime, when the news is on. Our sound is informed somehow by that sense of excitement that we live through, fast times, and weird dreams.
Who are some of your favorite bands?
From Spain we love The Parrots, Deers, Los Wallas, Juventud Juche, Salvaje Montoya, Novedades Carminha, Diego García, El Pardo. And from Mexico, Los Blenders, O Tortuga, and San Pedro El Cortez are some of which we listen to the most, along with Ave Negra and Las Robertas from Costa Rica.
Are your songs inspired by the current crisis that’s going on in Europe and Spain?
Yes. Not like the crisis by itself, but how it’s reflected on our feelings. We could be singing about eating shrimp, driving Hummers, and wearing grills, but we won’t do that.