Thanks so much to Simó and Antoni! I know Simó for many years thanks to his current band Marlovers (and before Marlo) who I reviewed on my old blog Mira el Péndulo ages ago. But I wasn’t aware at that time, the mid 2000s, that he had been in other bands. Then I discovered The Aprons on a blog post by Adrià Papa Topo in 2009 on his blog Tweeranosaurus! A year later I was to find two more songs by them thanks to the Annika Records double-CD compilation “Your Wonderful Parade”. These songs, “Full of Love” and “A Beautiful End”, were gorgeous too! But what remained a mystery to me was why no one had paid attention to them, to such beautiful songs. Why no releases!!
So again I conducted the interview in Spanish, after a request of my Serbian friend Nikola who loves this band, so forgive me if there are mistakes on the translation (and you can read the Spanish version of the interview on this Word document). And I’m very happy with the outcome! I learned more about the band, and hopefully one day we all will be able to hear the rest of The Aprons recordings!
++ Hi! thanks so much for the interview! How are you? Where are you these days? Still in Mallorca?
Hi! Thanks so much Roque for remembering The Aprons. The band was formed by four people: two brothers (Antoni and Simó), who are very happy to answer the questions and remembering those days of the 90s, and a couple (Joan y Nuria). All of us continue in the island of Mallorca.
++ When was the last time you picked up your instruments? Are you still involved with music?
Antoni drummed, up to 20003, for Riviera (a post The Aprons band) and hasn’t played again. Joan (guitar and vocals) and Nuria (keyboards) abandoned the music scene in 2000 when The Aprons was no more.
Simó: I still pick up my guitar some days of the week. The band I play with is called “Marlovers”. We have just finished recording our last record. Without doubt we have written some great songs that we hope people like them. In any case it is always a pleasure to sit down and compose songs without any other pretense other than enjoying being seized by creativity, and sometimes, taste a pleasant pop melody.
++ Let’s start from the very beginning. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? And what sort of music was listened at home while growing up?
Simó: My first music memory is that I don’t have one. I can’t say those striking quotes that many musicians have of having 7 or 8 years old and they remember The Beatles in the Ed Sullivan show or the frenetic rhythm of the chords of the songs of Elvis in their home speakers.
My first instrument was the bass. I believe that I thought that it would be the easiest instrument to play and as my brother already played drums, well, we were the first rhythm section of the first band we had. It was your usual band of mates from college that try to play like their favourite bands. We called ourselves “Nuevas Criaturas”, a name we took from a poetry book by Jim Morrison. The vocalist was a fan of The Doors even though we didn’t get any close to sound like The Doors or a 60s band. I suppose we sounded more like a post-punk band, with a lot of distortion so the technical mistakes weren’t that obvious.
I learned to play bass, but to be honest I don’t know how to play it, thanks to Joan (guitar, vocals and lyricist). Joan was the typical musician that you see in every band that has this innate ability to make music. He was an exceptional guitarist and who could write great songs. Everything that I know I learned because of him, so I’m very grateful to him.
At home we didn’t listen to any music in particular. My first encounter with the music world was during my teenage years bewildered by bands like The Cure, early U2, Joy Division…
++ Were you in bands prior before being in The Aprons? Red Poppy was the band that came before The Aprons, right?
After Nuevas Criaturas, which was a five-piece band, we formed a band called L’Encruïa that had a very dark sound influenced by the noisepop of The Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine. Later, and not counting anymore with the vocalist and lyricist of the latter band, we formed a new band called Redpoppy which was influenced by the sound of C86 and Sarah Records.
To be honest Redpoppy and The Aprons were the same band. Simple, with the name Redpoppy we couldn’t sign to any interesting indie label so we “strategically” thought about changing names and so try our luck with a new name. In any case our luck, in relation to our expectations, kept being elusive.
++ Simó, you now live in Inca, in Mallorca. Were you always based there? Or where were you based? How was the scene in the island back then? Were there any like-minded bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Any sort of scene?
The band was based in the town of Inca, a curious name for a place in the Mediterranean. All of the band members were originally from Inca. The music scene of the island was very active. There were many bands and many styles and sounds. Most of the interesting things were in Palma, the capital of the island.
The record store that was the center for the scene was called “Runaway”. The store was run by Peter Terrassa, and many musicians and fans used to stop by. There you could find the first singles on Elefant Records and singles by many obscure indiepop bands that Elefant used to distribute. Later we would learn that these records were brought to the store by Joan Vich, who would end up forming the band The Frankeboties and many other projects and events within the scene. Also a venue called Sonotone popped up and at this place we enjoyed gigs by many indie bands from Spain and abroad that had never been in Mallorca like The Jayhawks, Luna, Gigolo Aunts, Los Planetas, Hefner…
However the indiepop style that we played with The Aprons was a rara avis in the island. Most of the bands played rock music, though of course there were some bands that made some pop with shoegaze influence like Honey Langstrumpf or there were many others that tried to sound like Pixies, Dinosaur Jr or Sonic Youth. The bands that were more successful in Mallorca were Sexy Sadie, The Frankeboties and The Cicely Satellites. I think The Cicelly Satellites actually supported us as their first gig. Afterwards they became very well known.
When the band split, around 1999 and the first years of the new millennium, indiepop started to have some recognition and visibility in Spain with bands like La Buena Vida or Los Fresones Rebeldes.
A scene with a coherent sound or some homogeneity didn’t really exist, and if it existed The Aprons weren’t part of it as our sound wasn’t in tune with Sonic Youth-like guitars or sounds that were closer to the Seattle sound. I don’t think there was a sense of belonging, most of the bands were on their own. Maybe, we thought innocently, that were were competing with each other.
++ How did The Aprons start as a band? Who were in the band?
As a natural progression we (Antoni and Simó) started to opt in favour of British indie bands from the 80s (Aztec Camera, The Smiths, The Bluebells, Orange Juice), C86 (The Pastels, BMX Bandits, Talulah Gosh, The Bodines), and the early nineties (Gene, The Beautiful South, TFC, The Pale Saints) and to discover indiepop bands that appeared afterwards in labels like Sarah Records, Setanta, Marsh-Marigold, Midnight Music, Creation…
We recruited a keyboardist (Nuria) iand in the summer of 1994 we started as Redpoppy. The lineup of the band was Joan Reynés (guitars, vocals), Antoni Reus (drums), Simó REus (bass) and Núria Mestre (keyboards, vocals).
++ Why the name The Aprons?
We chose The Aprons thanks to the song “Apron Strings” by Everything But the Girl. EBTG was, in a way, a band that projected everything an indie band could wish for: top songs, elegance, smart lyrics, social conscience… and as that wasn’t enough, they had achieved success.
++ How was the creative process for the band? Where did you usually practice?
The creative process for our songs happened mostly through the strings (guitar and vocals) of Joan. We all contributed our bit too. Sometimes some songs were contributed by Simó and there was one time Núria contributed one song (“A Beautiful End”).
For practicing we didn’t have many problems. We used part of a country house that belonged to our paternal grandparents in the outskirts of the city so we didn’t bother anyone. At least, that’s what I like to think.
++ And what would you say were your influences?
The influences were varied thanks to every band members taste, but in a way or another we agreed on bands that not necessarily were part of the indiepop canon like: Teenage Fanclub, REM, Belle and Sebastian, Ivy, The Cardigans, Gene, Luna, The Church, Lemonheads, Texas, Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush, The Smiths, Ride, Razorcuts, Style Council, Love, Pale Fountains, The La’s, Boo Radleys, Pulp…
++ During The Aprons time the majority of Spanish pop bands were singing in Spanish. Did you consider it? Why did you sing in English?
In truth, when Redpoppy started, at the beginning of the 90s, most of the bands of the Spanish independent scene were singing in English. The biggest success story was that of Dover. In a way, these bands wanted to distance themselves of the scene that had lyrics in Spanish and they were fixated with the bands and fashion from North America and the UK. The majority of them sang in English and copied, for better or worst, their idols. There were exceptions like Los Planetas, La Buena Vida or Le Mans… and many others, that had a bigger acknowledgement than those singing in English. Some years later, the opposite happened. Now most bands stopped singing in English and started to make their songs in Spanish. It is at this moment that the Spanish indie scene started to get a much wider recognition.
The Aprons continued singing in English. I couldn’t say why. Maybe it was just inertia. The band didn’t get much recognition, perhaps due to that we never thought about going with the trends of the time. Also, singing in Spanish would mean for us a considerable effort to adapt our music that we never really considered it.
++ I remember that Adrià from the band Papa Topo shared in his blog the song “Glowing Field” by The Aprons and it was gorgeous. Where does this song come from? And what’s its story?
I think that “Glowing Field” was one of the best songs the band recorded. It was recorded on the last recording session in 1999. At this time The Aprons started to show great skills to create good pop songs but it didn’t last much longer. I can imagine that a record packed with songs like this one and recorded in good conditions would have been the perfect ending for The Aprons.
That song was Joan’s. So I can’t really say what’s the story behind it.
++ Did The Aprons publish anything? Some demos, right? How many were they?
There were no releases by Redpoppy or The Aprons. No indie label trusted in our music. Nevertheless we released one Redpoppy song on a compilation of bands from Mallorca in support of the war victims of Bosnia that was put together by the owner of the record store Runaway. We contributed with our cover of “Cling Film” of The Sea Urchins. As an anecdote, one day, Peter from the Runaway store (the meeting place for those in the scene), commented us that he received a letter from the English Society of Authors demanding their royalties! Peter didn’t know we had made a cover. Very little people knew The Sea Urchins, at least in Mallorca.
++ And what is the tracklist for those demos? How many copies were made?
There were four demos:
1st demo “Swallow” from 1994 with 10 songs: “The Sun”, “Cloudy Sky”, “Swallow”, “Everything”, “Thinking About You”, “Only”, “Calamar”, “The Cold is Blue”, “Cling film” (Sea Urchins) and “Crazy people” (Luna). Released on cassette.
2nd demo “Songs from Liliput” from 1996 with 5 songs: “Hold You”, “Inside My Sorrow”, “Little Pretty Thing”, “Verona” and “Keep Smiling”. Released on cassette.
3rd demo “Autumn Time” from 1997 with 4 songs: “It Never Comes”, “High and Low”, “Full of Love” and “Beautiful End”. Released on CDR.
4th demo “Polaroid” from 1999 with 8 songs: “Why Can’t I Sleep Tonight”, “Hold Me”, “Light Up”, “Glowing Field”, “Sleep the Clock Around” (Belle and Sebastian), “Twenty Five”, “What For?” and “My Dreams”. Released on CDR.
++ And where were they recorded? Did someone produce them? Any anecdotes from the recording sessions?
The 1st demo was recorded at Sound & Art studios in Pollença. The 2nd demo at The Independent Republic of Sound that was ran by Toni Noguera of the Mallorca band Los Valendas. The 3rd demo was recorded at the Urban studios that belonged to Rafa Rigo. They were just recordings, we didn’t have enough money to get them produced.
The 4th demo was a technical feat for the time. During 1999 two friends, Pep Ramis and Joan Florit, recorded us with the help of only one computer at the same place that we practiced. Even though the sound quality gets affected by this, the quality of the songs and the good vibes that the band had while the recording sessions ended up in being one of the best recordings of the band.
We started to record the 2nd demo the day after we attended the 2nd Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (FIB), not even giving us time to rest after many days of unending concerts.
++ In your demos there were covers of “Cling Film” by The Sea Urchins or “Sleep The Clock Around” by Belle & Sebastian. What other covers would you have loved doing? I imagine those two songs are among your all-time favourites?
I remember we played more covers when we played live. I think some by Teenage Fanclub, The Beatles and The La’s.
These are favourite songs indeed, and there many more too.
++ Two of your songs appeared on the Annika Records compilation “Your Wonderful Parade”: “Full of Love” and “A Beautiful End”. These might be the most known songs by The Aprons. I bother you again, what inspired these two songs?
I would say that there aren’t really any known songs by the band. There wasn’t a fanbase who could like one song more than another.
I couldn’t really say much about the creative process for those songs. I’m sorry.
++ And how did you end up included in that compilation? How did you know Gregorio from Annika?
At the start of May 2000 we (Toni and Simó) went to the 4th “Entrega Premios Polares” party (organized by the radio show Viaje a los Sueños Polares by Luis Calvo) to see play live Saint Etienne, Birdie, The High Llamas, La Buena Vida and La Casa Azul.
Simó: In between bands they played music. At some point a familiar song was playing. It took me a while to understand what was going on. That feeling that you know the song but you can figure out which song it is. Suddenly I tell myself, “but it us”. I couldn’t understand how among so many well known indie songs, “Full of Love” by The Aprons” was being played to a multitude of people that was attending the event. What was going on? Where was the candid camera?
Later we got close to the DJ that was playing the music. We tried to talk to him even though the music was so loud that we couldn’t understand each other. That DJ was Gregorio Soria.
After the failed release of the Redpoppy mini-CD with the Efervescente label we changed our name to The Aprons. We recorded the fourth demo and with the addition of our 3rd demo we made a new and last demo that we gave away to different labels. One of these demos ended up on Annika Records hands. Gregorio really liked that demo. And even though it was never possible to release The Aprons as an Annika record, Gregorio included The Aprons on his compilation “Your Wonderful Parade”. The songs he picked were recorded in studio.
++ Are there any more songs that remain unreleased?
Doing a quick roundup, 5 songs have been published in compilations. The rest of the songs remain unreleased.
++ And there was never interest from labels to release your songs?
To be honest there were some interest. There was a time when a label showed up, one we didn’t have a clue about. It was called “Efervescente” and it was related to a band that we kind of knew that was called Inoxidables. They kind of approached us though there wasn’t much of a predisposition to work with them on our side because how things developed with them. We had agreed to release a mini-CD for Redpoppy (at that time we hadn’t changed names yet). So we went to record new songs the fastest we could. We recorded our 3rd demo and that demo plus a song from our previous demo were going to be our first release. The band were part of a compilation from this label with two of our songs “Hold You” and “Inside My Sorrow”. The label was new and didn’t have much experience.
One day we were asked to play a release party for that compilation in the label’s hometown, Salamanca. Un día nos llamaron para participar en el concierto de presentación de ese recopilatorio en la ciudad del sello, Salamanca. However, the record by Redpoppy, was not released yet. The band had recorded new songs, mastered them, designed the artwork, etc. We asked for some sort of travel expense money because we needed to fly from Palama to Salamanca. Their answer didn’t go well with us, so we decided not to go. In the end the label didn’t release our record.
There were some other contacts with labels but they didn’t prosper.
Looking at it with the perspective of years past, it surprises me that with the quality we distilled no indie label supported The Aprons. Today I’ve been playing some songs and I feel the songs haven’t aged, honestly. They could have been recorded in 1986 or 1996, or even in 2006 or 2016.
++ In that post I mentioned earlier by Adrià, he said that you were planning to release all your songs on a label you were working on, April Eyes Records. What happened to that idea?
The project of starting a new label named April Eyes Records, for the time being, is still waiting to be activated. Maybe later it can become a reality.
++ If you had to choose your favourite song by The Aprons, which one would it be and why?
Simó: “Glowing Field” is a beautiful pop song, with a solvent verse and a good chorus with the right arrangements and the necessary instrumentation. There is nothing missing nor nothing that is left over. Also its duration is of 2:50 minutes.
Antoni: “Full of Love” is pretty and, in particular, it reflects the sound and style of Redpoppy/The Aprons. I also like a lot the song “High and Low”.
++ Tell me about gigs. Did you play many? Are there any in particular that you remember?
The band didn’t really show themselves much in public. I can’t say how many gigs we played. No more than a dozen. Once we played in Madrid, in the Maravillas venue, which was the indie venue par excellence. It was a gig related to a demo contest, a battle of the bands. At that time they were very trendy these contests aiming to discover new talents. We played alongside a band from Valencia called Polar, who were great to meet. They sounded a lot like Galaxie 500 or Luna.
In another occasion the band supported Los Fresones Rebeldes. That was a great experience to meet the band members of Los Fresones who in some way we knew them through our fanzine April Eyes.
++ Were there any bad gigs? Any anecdotes you could share?
There were good and bad gigs. For sure we learned that it was indispensable to bring a sound guy if you wanted to sound decently when playing live. The Aprons, most of the times, didn’t have one.
++ When did The Aprons stop making music? Did you continue making music on your own? There’s Marlovers, right? In which other bands have you been involved with?
When The Aprons split, as it usually happens, there was on one side the couple (Joan and Núria) and on the other side the brothers (Antoni and Simó). To be honest, the internal dynamics of a band is complicated and if there are romantic relationships between the members it is even more complicated. For me, when a band doesn’t have much appreciation or recognition and the relationship between the members is not solid and you don’t share the same concerns it is very hard for the band to keep going on.
Aside from the already mentioned, there was a band in between The Aprons and Marlovers that was called Riviera. In this band there was the rhythm section of The Aprons plus three other members that would later be part of Marlovers. This band did sing in Spanish. Its sound was very much alike to British pop. There were two demos, in one of them there was a cover of “Crushed” by The Popguns in Spanish.
++ Did you get much attention from the press or radio?
With the first demos we got airplay in Radio 3 in Julio Ruiz’s show “Disco Grande”, that at that time he was doing a sort of “Top 40” of new talents, “La Lista Grande de Maquetas”. That show had a lot of repercussion. All the Spanish indie bands before releasing any records had been played on that show.
We got a few reviews too on the music press. I remember that on the magazine “Spiral”, who aimed to create a scene and was directed by the Elefant Records people, we got a devastating review. So devastating that it was almost funny. I suppose that because they lauded and complimented in excess all the bands and records from the scene they had to compensate in some way.
Our last demo, “Polaroid” was reviewed on the Rockdelux magazine sometime around December 1999 or January 200o on an article about new up and coming bands and a year-end review of what was happening in the Spanish indiepop demo scene.
++ What about fanzines? You used to do one too, right?
We did get some mentions and probably even interviews on fanzines. I can’t remember clearly.
Toni and Simó did a fanzine called April Eyes. Everything was so different during those days. Because of interviews with bands like Heavenly (this time in person as they were playing at the first FIB festival thanks to the help of Joan Vich) or through mail with Keith Girdler of Blueboy, The Softies, Matt from Sarah Records (coinciding with the end of the label and eager to tell many anecdotes), Chitty and Carlos of Moving Pictures, it was all well worth it.
++ Today, aside from music, what other hobbies or activities do you have?
Simó: I love running on the mountains with my two Beagle dogs and my friends. Mallorca is a privileged place for this sport. I practice running on an amateur level though sometimes I do longer distances. Sometimes too I write some fiction though so far I haven’t finished anything that I feel is good enough to be published.
Antoni: Buff! My first and foremost hobbie is adding more records to the record collection I share with Simó. That’s my greatest passion. And activities? well, on weekends I got to see my son play football or go jogging (though many kilometers less than my brother Simó, who is like a wild goat around the mountains), Mi principal hobbie es seguir ampliando la colección de vinilos, que compartimos con Simó, es mi gran pasión. Y actividades, pues los fines de semana ir a ver jugar a futbol a mi hijo, o salir a correr un poco (menos kilómetros que Simó, que es como una cabra silvestre por la montaña), or hiking around the Serra de Tramuntana….
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would be the biggest highlight for The Aprons?
I don’t know, maybe being the first band in Mallorca, maybe in Spain, that in 1994 did a cover version of a Sarah Records band.
++ How is Mallorca today? Has it changed much? And if one was to visit, as a tourist, what do you suggest checking out? What are the sights not to miss? Or maybe the traditional foods or drinks that one has to try?
Mallorca has changed a lot during the past years, probably more than what The Aprons band members have changed. I would recommend visiting the area of the Serra de Tramuntana to any visitor to the island. It is a hilly area where the most important mountains of the island are located. There are many picturesque towns like Deià or Sóller. During the summer there are many tourists everywhere. Before if you visited areas that weren’t that known you wouldn’t encounter tourists, but today, with the internet, it is very possible for them to get to places that not even the locals know about.
The traditional cuisine is succulent and varied. I would recommend the “arròs brut” (a rice in broth with vegetables, meat and mushrooms), “tumbet” (a vegetarian dish made of eggplant, potatoes and tomatoes), and ensaimada (made out of water, sugar, eggs and lard) accompanied by a good red Mallorquin wine.
++ Thanks again! Anything else you’d like to add?
Thanks a lot Roque, and thanks for such a great blog like this so we can continue sharing our passion for music.
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Listen
The Aprons – Glowing Field
