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| Renato Gomez by Michael Bergner |
I Went Out to See the World (It's Just Springfield That Got a Little Bigger)
By Matt Chrystal aka Uncool Uncle Matty
From the suburbs of Springfield, NJ to the space-rock sounds of Serpentina Satelite and back down to the bowels of mother earth, the ever-evolving Renato Gomez continues to shed his skin and assume his true form as the poet laureate for those bound by the struggles of their mortal coil.
Renato is a poet of Peruvian descent, a ghost of NYC and a transplant to Barcelona, who has channeled his biting social commentary onto seven concise tracks. He's christened the project, No Mightier Creatures.
Gomez is not a messenger or preacher. He is more like an observer turned objector… one whose rose-colored glasses have not only slipped far from his face but have now been crushed by a parade of contemporary consumers, stomping by him on their way to the next sale or perhaps on their way up (or maybe down) the next rung on a corporate ladder.
On No Mightier Creatures, Gomez grudgingly plays a pontificator at the crossroads of the great contradictions and boundless absurdities of a life lived amongst modern society. Gomez may not be trying to fan the flames of our cultural dumpster fire; but, with his latest record, he just might have lit the spark that ignites the next rebellion.
No Mightier Creatures was one of my favorite albums of 2017. I was sent an advance mp3 copy and played it continuously, pouring over the lyrics and assigning my own meanings and agendas to each track. In 2018, the album was given a proper release on vinyl, and I fell in love with it all over again.
So, I wanted to close out 2018, by dedicating some space and time to its indomitable creator.
Throughout 2018, I interviewed artists who were friends (Dentist, Yawn Mower) and heroes (Black Angels, Jon Langford, William Elliot Whitmore) and strangers (Blag Dahlia, Wooing, Lydia)' so I thought it fitting that I end the year with Renato Gomez of No Mightier Creatures, as he has played the role of all three.
Gomez was my high school pal (way back in the 90s, grunge rock forever, ftw!), who has disappeared and then reappeared during several epochs of my life, and each time finds both him and me nearly entirely different people from when we last talked. Yet there's a familiarity, a bond, which makes each conversation seem like only days have passed instead of years.
Here's our most recent conversation.
Uncool Uncle Matty: First, what's in a name? Where did the name No Mightier Creatures originate?
Renato Gomez: It's a line in a poem I found some years ago while studying at NYU. I wrote the sentence on a piece of paper and kept it in my wallet, thinking that if, in the future, I had a new project, I could use it. I guess the name found me. It sounded exact to me back then. I'd suggest looking for the complete poem (by W.B Yeats). No meaning whatsoever.
UUM: What did the writing process for the No Mightier Creatures record look like? And, if you would, how about a glimpse into the recording process?
RG: My previous experience was mostly instrumental, so it took me a couple of years to figure out how to sing and connect words in a pop song format. By this, I mean verse, chorus and possible variants. I wrote all songs with an acoustic guitar. There were more than twenty demos at first.
I needed some time off from work in 2016 and traveled back to Lima; got together with my brother, Dolmo (guitarist from Serpentina Satelite), and we gave these demos some structure. Then, the rhythm section joined and we rehearsed for about 25 hours during a month period before recording. Songs got tighter along the way. The fact that time was a limitation -- I had to return to Barcelona -- gave us great focus.
We recorded about 15 songs in two days. The whole record was done live, what you hear on the LP are all mostly first and second takes. It had to be done on the spot, no time for fuck-ups. Some overdubs were included here and there, mainly guitar details or minimal solos, and vocals.
UUM: The artwork for the album provides a curious and abstract image. Your press release mentioned that the visual decay of European cities ignited and influenced your songwriting. Can you talk more about the influence of those visuals?
RG: Well, before I left Peru, I found these cables and boards on streetlights, their shapes were very familiar. They had some texts on them, and the strings were of plastic of different colors and tape. When I lived in New York, I did not see many of these or perhaps my attention was focused somewhere else; writing poetry from my body.
As soon as I moved to Barcelona, these objects came back, as if they were forcing a hidden message. I bumped into them everywhere I went, and so I started a series of photos of my findings, no particular order, nor date, nor reference. I dislike labeling things; giving objects a purpose is pointless.
These no-objects, missing pieces of unfinished repair, paralleled circumstances around me, economic, political, and social. History glanced through them, bounced back to me from them. I found there a trace to start writing using words again; photography brought me back to writing songs instead of poetry. I was able to start all over again. My last book dried me out; I had to change the role I was playing, the character or tone of my voice needed to change. Photography was a way of plunging myself back to words and music.
The picture in the cover was taken behind Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin around 2012.
UUM: Your previous band, Serpentina Satelite, was known for fuzzed-out jams, with some songs stretching towards the 20-minute mark. But, with No Mightier Creatures, the majority of the tracks are lyrically-driven songs that are neatly tied up in three to five minutes. Was it difficult to reign yourself in, or was this the change you were looking to make when starting this new venture?
RG: For sure, I wanted to do something I had never done before. I was looking for a more stripped down sound, no effects, no pedal over-use, and no extra layers of sound.
The three to five minute mark of a pop song is challenging. You need to be more accurate. The lyrics need to fit right, and emotion should translate. If you are not honest, it just won't work. If you don't believe the fiction you're telling, others won't go for it. You have to project reality. No pedal can save you from reality.
A pop song is another template for fiction. The physical limitations of a vinyl record, regarding time and the amount of space per side is also an interesting constraint for creation. My favorite albums only have 6 to 7 songs.
UMM: While the record was created with the help of a band, many of your initial live shows to support the album were solo sets. Are there plans to make No Mightier Creatures a proper band with a set line-up or maybe a rotating lineup of players? Or will you continue on with it being a moniker for your solo project?
RG: It would be really interesting to have a rotating group of people participating, actually. It could bring more options and dynamics to the music, but this is something out of my control at the moment.
With all modesty, I consider the record is as solid as it is because it is a group effort. I am more of a catalyst, I guess. I lead the songs, but the end result is that of a band. This is something I look forward to do again. A band is a group of people dissolved in music. No egos, only sound.
UUM: You have spent much of your adult life continent-hopping and have stated the album was worked on in Lima, Peru and Barcelona, Spain. But, from my multiple spins of the record, I automatically infer that much of the material draws from your experiences as a teenager in New Jersey and from when you returned years later to live in New York City. Is that the case?
RG: Well, perhaps there are references in the lyrics that could be read as if they paralleled my personal experiences, but this is not something I aim for. My existence has absolutely no importance.
The lyrics work more as fragmented narratives of events or discourses and social tension certain individuals might be going through somewhere along the western world. It's interesting to use characters, names, give the verses a face the listener could relate to. The record is an outcome of my personal explorations in language and music above all; it is more of an effect or symptom, a sharp object bouncing back at you.
Recently, a reviewer in Spain said that this record represented "a testimony of the hardships of Latino immigration in Spain." And I wondered which of the lyrics in the album said this is about the hardships of Latino immigration in Spain? So I asked the reviewer. He said something to the effect of, "Well, since you had lived in Spain for a while… and since you are from Peru ergo...."
A song is a song, period. If you think it's about Latino immigration in Spain, fantastic! But don't label it or brand it "Latino" because the author is a Latin-American immigrant. That's just reductionism, 2+2=4 mentality.
I repeat: my existence is of no importance. Music should always be larger than life.
UUM: The track "Springfield" details small-town hypocrisy where societal issues are bubbling to a head under the surface of a perfect suburban city. While I am sure this could potentially reference the Springfield you and I are most familiar with, is it safe to assume that this is more like the Springfield of The Simpsons TV show, meaning it can be "Any Town, USA?"
RG: Couldn't have said it better: small-town hypocrisy where societal issues are bubbling to a head under the surface of a "perfect suburban city." This is what I mean by narrative or portrait. A song is a fiction. It is effective when it presses the right buttons. And you are right, but it can be "Any Town, Anywhere" these days, not only in the US.
UUM: The coda to the song exclaims, "I went out to see the world, it's just Springfield that got a little bigger." I was wondering if you could expand on that.
RG: Consumerism spreads. Gentrification is one of its strongest tentacles; blocks in a neighborhood are appropriated by real estate. Middle class is deleted. Money rolls in and cleanses minorities. The neighborhood sells more if we keep it white and unpolluted. This model replicates itself everywhere these days, pathetically.
UUM: Are you saying that the more you have traveled, the more you have seen that suggests injustice and hypocrisy are global problems? Or are you saying the U.S. culture of consumerism and corruption is spreading?
RG: I am not saying any of those things. I think this is what you are getting out of what the record is bringing to the table, and that's just excellent. I appreciate very much your interpretations. I have no intention in preaching. If you preach, you become a politician. All politicians are scum. And I think these are good questions, but it is up to others to answer them. This record is not mine anymore.
Just one thing: Let's not be so naive, at this stage, everyone is aware that US culture has been shoving its nose all over humanity for quite a while already. And not all the results have been necessarily friendly; the shit hit the fan quite a while ago.
UUM: You previously stated that concepts and ideas for the No Mightier Creatures record date back three years or more, yet your sentiments conveying anger and frustration in regards to gentrification, big business, consumerism, and the trampling of human civil liberties captures a pretty accurate snapshot of today's America. Now that you are living in Barcelona, on the outside looking in, what are your thoughts on the political climate in today's America?
RG: I honestly have no fucking clue. But what I think is interesting is that someone with a complete different background could gather together a few facts and point them out from a distance and be somewhat precise. Technology and social media bombardment can make you have a very strong opinion about the war on terror for example, but you might have no fucking clue about what's going on around the corner. Maybe I'm just being manipulated and this record is the result of social media overuse in a globalized cluster fuck.
But, I mean, we all know that extreme right scum has come up to the surface because your shit fuck president has given them a face to revere. Your president is the materialization of a scheme of values and decadence that has been building up forever. The Blob finally took a more precise shape and sound. It moves. It speaks. It is stupid. All the racism, misogyny, chauvinism, war, violence in your country has finally funneled into one big piece of human scum.
UUM: How does "Trump's America" compare/contrast to where you are living now in Barcelona?
RG: Where I live now there is also conflict centered on nationalism and identity. The Spanish government is corrupt and leans with no prejudice to the right. Catalonia wants to distance itself from this idea of Spain. There is a background history behind this choice that dates back to when Franco was in power and all the atrocities he committed against the Catalan people.
Yet, what I sense is that, in the Catalan effort to be an independent republic, there is also a big sense of exclusion and segregation that has been ignited, mainly, by economic crisis. To me as a foreigner, the lines dividing "independentism" and fascism are very blurry. Personally, I find it pathetic that people still believe in concepts such as nations and borders and flags; a blurry geopolitical soccer game. It saddens me to see so many young people engaged in these discourses.
The one thing that I am sure about all these scenarios is that immigration has no place in any of these nation / reality projects. And I have absolutely no hopes.
UUM: No hopes? Oh man, I was just going to ask about your hopes future…
RG: This is today. Let's do as best as we can with what we have. Refuse and resist. Support your local communities. A little change can happen anywhere.
UUM: Ok, so focusing on the present… Any plans for you or No Mightier Creatures that you can share today?
RG: No plans. More coffee very likely.
The album No Mightier Creatures is available now.
Very limited quantities of vinyl editions are still available.
For more info on No Mightier Creatures please visit: www.nomightiercreatures.bandcamp.com.
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