Interview Alvaro Benito

Written by Sandra Baas

26.06.2010

“ I want Galgos to change job and become HOUSE DOGS AND NOT HUNTING DOGS"  From childhood, Alvaro knew that his first passion was football, however bad luck crossed his path and after several serious knee injuries and surgical complications he was obliged to end his football career. His talent as a musician propelled him to become lead singer for the group “Pignoise”. He devotes much of his time to searching for and composing the perfect song. This can be seen when you look at the sales figures of his chart toppers. The rest of his time is spent recording, giving concerts and taking music and voice lessons so as to be better every day. He has also begun to take his first steps in the world of voice interpretation and dubbing and yet still finds the time to enjoy his other great passion, working as a football commentator. Last April 27th, his new album was released “Year Zero”. A new album full of surprises and above all - good music! BG - From the age of 14 you knew that you wanted to be a great footballer, but at what age did you begin to realise that music was also essential to you? AB - I’m not too sure about that....no, the truth is that I discovered my passion for music when I was injured and had a lot of time on my hands so I amused myself by pounding away on a guitar. BG - What factors other than “Paco's Men, do you think have enabled you to achieve such success with Pignoise? AB - Well, I think that it’s due to a variety of things – being lucky, creating a different sound and hey, why not, - being talented? BG - Would you ‘pay the price’ again of singing a song that is not composed by you, in exchange for more fame, as happened with “Paco’s Men”? AB - Actually we didn’t do it for the fame, we didn’t know that the song would be so popular. You can never really know that but it is true that we knew that appearing in a series could be a great opportunity. However this didn’t happen, as the series was a failure. Luckily this didn’t harm us and we were able to exploit the best parts of the series and the theme tune. Fame is not what matters to us, but it's true we wanted the opportunity to get people to know our own music. Now with hindsight I guess I wouldn’t repeat the experience but I don’t regret anything, of course. We are grateful to the series, but we want to stay faithful to our own music. BG - In late April, your new album came out “Year Zero”., an album which you have stated is the occasion to highlight your artistic evolution, amongst other things . In what respects can be seen most notably this development? AB - We've all been taking classes to improve ourselves as individual artists. This is also an album that is the fruit of a lot of time, love and dedication. The sound is still the essence of Pignoise, but it´s been a much tougher work BG - You could say that the lyrics of your songs are often much more politically and culturally engaged than you would imagine at first hearing? AB - Well, I can tell you, I sing about what interests me and then people interpret it how they want to...that’s what seems to happen to my songs. BG - Your first single from Year Zero is entitled “It’s all the same to me”, which you have stated “deals with what you see all around you every day, and which talks about what people are becoming. Everyone goes about their business selfishly and without assuming their actions and nothing else matters”. Do you think this is the defining element of today's society and one of the reasons, among other things, for the neglect and mistreatment that animals endure in Spain? AB - Okay, I think we live in a society where people are increasingly more isolated, where we don’t know our neighbours as we live in fear and distrust, where we lock ourselves in our homes with our computers, surfing the Internet and more used to having virtual relationships with people than real ones. But despite this I do not think that "society" is entirely responsible for this. I think that the guilty ones are the people with little brains and a lack of education who abuse animals and probably also mistreat people. BG - You left Paco’s Men by fear of being typecast…Do you feel that the Galgos are typecast as hunting dogs to be disposed of when no longer "useful" or do you feel that some progress has been made and that people are beginning to realise that Galgos are also dogs who like ‘cuddles and couches’? AB - That's what I hope for with all my heart. As far as I’m concerned no animal deserves to be abused or abandoned. I love Galgos and as you say they’re ‘cuddles and couch’ dogs. I wish that the Galgos could change their profession and become ‘house dogs’ and not ‘hunting dogs’.. BG - What title would you give? to a song dedicated to and denouncing greyhound abuse in Spain? AB - LIFE’S A BITCH