Interview conducted by @loretosocorro to @irenedriveoficial
Armando is a man with an indigo and serene gaze. He has a great training as well as a lot of artistic travel throughout America.
Irene is pure carefree and the contagious laugh of a party friend, but also a sensitive woman with very clear ideas.
Irene and Armando are Irene Drive, and It is at the root of "drive" itself that I want to stop because "drive" equates to push, to guide, and to move. That was what I felt when I met this artistic couple: a verve like the bubbling of the sea made of Canarian-Venezuelan music, words and passion.
Irene, listen to Irene Drive It is to open a door to sounds that are familiar but which, at the same time, are a discovery. Can you define the style Irene Drive?
The main core of our project is pop, without having a closed style, but rather we are mixture, miscegenation and more than anything we are what is emerging topic by topic, when we work together.
Each of the songs has a different musical touch, sometimes less pop and more rap. Big Bang, for example, it's pop too, but with eighties nuances.
Armando, what winds brought you from Venezuela?
My grandparents are from here and I already had a family around here. One day I wanted to go to Ireland to study and a cousin suggested that I visit the island. Upon arrival I fell in love with this land and I love the talented people here and the day-to-day life in the Canary Islands.
How does it work Irene Drive when creating?
We are composing together, we talk a lot and we reach a consensus. One suggests to the other and so it flows.
As for the lyrics of the song Big Bang, it was given to us by a friend and musician named David Roma @davidromamusica.
The Great Big Bang gave rise to the Universe and the Big Bang of Irene Drive, what kind of explosion is it?
Everyone who interprets it as it comes to him, as he feels it. The song describes what are two parallel worlds that know each other, merge and love each other, like us.
Within our differences we have a lot in common and we blend in to create music.
How was that evolution from the first meeting to the first demo?
We met at a local Jam Session in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. I heard Irene's great voice and I was blown away. We hit it off right away -the cloudy sky turns bright just when Armando gives us his smile, while he continues recounting- And since I had a studio nearby, we met there and began to do, experiment and get to know each other musically within the studio. The ideas came up without difficulty and we saw ourselves doing our own things in a short time. Playing and testing we did Match from the beginning and we went to Full.
Apart from discovering Irene you also produce, since when did you dedicate yourself to music, Armando?
Music is in my life since I have memories. When I was little my father played music and videos of the Beatles. I loved the band and admired the guitarists. I began to ask for an electric guitar insistently and finally, when I was seven, they gave it to me. I didn't stop until today and of course, I listen to a lot of music continuously: weird music and also pop, The Killers ... I like the folk of my land like the joropos, mojivals and all the South American music that has varied rhythms of string, percussion and that has influences Afro, indigenous and European.
Are you considering singing too? -Armando blushes while Irene lets out a knowing laugh-
Well, well ... there is a song that has my voice but my thing is the guitar: electric, acoustic, the cuatro.
Irene expresses herself with an enthusiasm that infects: «I have been very lucky to find it. Until I met Armando, I had not entered music nor did I consider it. I am a nurse… I have always been clear that my profession would be that of a nurse and look at what things are ».
Do you sing to your patients?
Yes. I sing to my patients ...-he laughs and hums- «I love you more than my eyes ...» and patients immediately change face and relax, that also heals.
Why were you singing in the place where Armando heard you?
Because that place was set up by my sister and I was playing, testing microphones ... I have always liked to sing at home or in barbecue pits but in an informal way, without thinking that all this was going to happen.
And singing informally, was it a seed?
I used to listen to and imitate my favorite jazz, soul, or reggae songs depending on my mood, but just for fun. It is true that my whole family is very musical. My mother played in Canarian groups and I have a paternal influence of flamenco music, although it was when I met Armando and groped in the studio that I was encouraged.
Since you learned to sing, have you been self-taught?
Well yes, I learned at home growing up surrounded by music and it is true that I considered going to singing classes; but in the end I thought that if we have recorded this and like it, it is because it is appreciated that what comes out of me is natural.
What difference to Irene Drive from other Canarian groups?
First of all, we are a duo and in the Canary Islands there are few.
Machines are used in our concerts BackControl, which are machines that launch sounds and that not many people do and, above all, that we do not classify ourselves in a closed musical style since our mind travels when it is in the studio. If we try a sound that we like or an unusual instrument, we use it. We rehearse with new styles and music all the time.
How to Live Aligned with Irene Drive we would like there to always be something of the land between the sounds of our songs.
How do you remember Irene Drive's debut in December 2019?
It was December 28 at the brewery "Throw Eggs" @echarlehuevoscerveceria, from Vegueta. Being with people live was incredible, we felt the warmth of the audience and we were very wrapped up.
Right after we were going to get into a circuit of Canarian groups through the theaters of all the islands. On March 15, 2020 we had to record on set in Tenerife and on the 14th they confined us. We had to stop.
Was it a pause that made you angry?
It was a regret, and if there was anger we have transformed it to take action and go to Barcelona to record with the producer who signed us, and to lock ourselves in the studio to create and produce songs that we can continue recording.
We have the advantage that as we are not a large group we have not had buts to see each other, to meet and record.
Are concert dates already coming out?
Something is moving: August 27 at the brewery Throw eggs in Vegueta and on September 24 in the Miller Building, also in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
¿Irene Drive edit on physical or digital disc?
All digital. We use social media and Spotify. From Big Bang and find me we have also released a videoliryc (video with lyrics). Every month and a half or every two months a theme of Irene Drive.
How do you succeed in the Canary Islands? , Does insularity weigh?
To a certain extent it weighs because the peninsula is where the record industry is located, but the attitude of working hard and perseverance is where you have to focus. The idea is to find the possible means to connect with situations and with people.
Armando -Irene points out- he does well in this world and has been knocking on doors and showing off the finished product during this time.
Irene, as a singer, what are your future plans?
I would love to sing a song of mine in English. Also in French because I like to pronounce this language and I enjoy learning the letters by heart. When it comes to concrete plans, I neither think nor imagine my future. I live my day to day and the truth is that I do not consider where I am going to be or what I am going to be doing in a while. I am a free seagull ...
Is there a hunger for music?
We want to go on stage and start, and even more so now that we have edited and have recorded a video clip. People also, especially those who know that we have gone to record in Barcelona, ask us when live… There is an appetite for live music on both sides.
