Yes drama! The number of Valencian bands that leave it is beginning to be dramatic. The next one will be Funkiwis, who says goodbye in Rock City at the end of October after twelve years of musical career and five albums behind them that they have defended on stage with a very powerful live performance.. They are legion, eight musicians who met at Valencian rehearsal venues when they were barely 18 years and joined forces to forge a project of hard funk who later got carried away with rock and flirted with hip hop, metal or reggae, without looking for anything specific but finding almost everything. Mixing the serious with the fun, satire and jokes with social criticism, Funkiwis leaves another young corpse in a Valencian music scene and tells us why Lluís Senent, one of the band's vocalists.
This year they said goodbye to Zoo, The Deluge, Skirted and Maluks, like Smoking Souls did before, The Root, January or The Deaf Bitch, among many others. Why do you think so many established groups with loyal followers end up leaving it??
Well because there are many days, months and years of composition, tours and recordings, and in the end, Members of a group may feel physically and mentally exhausted. Between life on the road, which can be very demanding, and having little time left for personal life, Things get complicated as the years go by.. Besides, over time, The musical tastes and artistic visions of the people who make up a band can evolve in different directions.. Sometimes, personal priorities, whether family or professionals, can affect the continuity of a group. Add to that working in an industry like music, of frenetic times and high demands, where it is very difficult for bands that are (at least in part) independents staying afloat financially.
In your farewell statement you say that “music is a long and complex path full of expectations that are rarely met.”, where you keep hitting yourself against a wall”. What was that wall? Why have you left it??
The wall has always been the pressure to meet the expectations of our fans, of the industry and our own. Continuously, This prison has paralyzed the divided, and it has made us question if we were on the right path. After so many years touring rehearsal venues, recording studios and stages, and sharing our music with so many people, We feel that we have reached a point where we need to close a group stage. The life of a musician is intense. like any person, We have changed and evolved a lot over the years, Our musical influences and artistic visions have also evolved, as well as the vital projects of each one. We made this crude decision because we believe it is important to be honest with ourselves and also with our followers.. We realized that we wanted to be the ones who chose the moment when Funkiwis ended, that he would not end up dying from his own weight.
When the group is more active, when you play best, you sing and compose, the party is over. How to digest this contradiction?
Life is an endless number of cycles that continually begin and end., in all areas of our life, that make us evolve until we die. There are times that, simply, inertia makes you grow and leave things behind to experience new things and continue learning and enjoying until your time comes. Precisely because we know that we are in a great moment, We believe that it is important that people remember us with that vibration and not with a deteriorated or worn-out version of Funkiwis..
The lyrics of your songs contain a good dose of social criticism, but there are those who think that Valencian music has lost punch protesting in recent years. Do you agree with this approach??
It is true that the Valencian music scene has changed a lot in recent years., and there may be a general feeling that you have lost a little of that “punch” protest that previously characterized many groups, at least in our area. However, I think it is important not to generalize. In the end, Music is a form of expression and each group or artist is free to approach it however they want.. Although it is true that certain absurd restrictions by the justice system have had repercussions on freedom of expression and that may have conditioned new bands or artists when choosing their branch of protest.. Also, public tastes are changing, and more and more frantically. This, linked to the “comfortable” political situation that we have experienced in recent years, may be the main factors. What will come in the future, probably rather close, we can imagine it.
The Chikos del Maíz say in the song “Echoes of a future past”: "Yes, worth, that we have screwed up with lyrics full of patriarchy”. You are eight men on stage, Are you aware of having screwed up with lyrics full of patriarchy??
We have been around for a long time, some since 2006, and others joined later. Evidently, growing up in a society where patriarchy is so entrenched, and more when you are a teenager, no matter how good your intention was, your ignorance makes you wrong. It is more than obvious that, even without wanting it, our lyrics have had a reflection of the patriarchy. The music, like any form of artistic expression, It is a reflection of society and the people who create it., but it also has great power to influence them, and having a group, It is our responsibility to use influence consciously and respectfully.. As musicians, we must be open to criticism and dialogue, always. Not being teenagers, we have also had to learn and reflect by listening to some opinions and being self-critical.. We changed certain words in some songs live, trying to rectify as much as possible those possible more patriarchal expressions or phrases. But without hesitation, We are part of a patriarchal society and, especially younger ones, we have screwed up.
It is common for you to give twists to some songs during live shows to keep things fresh and surprise the audience.. Are you preparing any surprises for the farewell in Rock City?? Guest artists?
We have a live show worthy of a farewell (That's what we think). With songs that were left out when we released the new album, and that we have recovered to play again after many years. In the end, We will end up playing about two hours of repertoire in which we review our entire career, from start to finish. Since we can't touch them all, We have selected the thirty that we think best represent us.. We have decided that it will be a concert without collaborations, purely Funkiwis, without additives.
Louis, Funkiwis is over, ¿no drama?
No drama, but yes drama. We still have the last dates, I think we haven't internalized it yet., so for now we are fine. “What are you going to do next” already appears in our conversations.?”, or we begin to think about it internally each one. we will mourn, but it will be a bittersweet mix of joy and sorrow. Joy because, as I told you before, We have decided to finish the project at a very good time. sadness because, obviously, a very important part of our lives is gone.
