Chano

Hello, people!
This is L. Mariño Barrera, also known as Chano. I was born in Argentina in 1981 -too late for what I wanted to experience...-. I came to Spain in 1991 and began playing the guitar at home from time to time when I was about 14 years old. That's how I learned to play the guitar, the bass and -later- the drums, all by myself. But it wasn't until the year 2001 when I started playing in many bands up to now...
So, in the following lines, I'll try to write something about the bands I've played in and the ones where I still do. Maybe you like some of these bands more than the others, or maybe you hopefully like all of them. In any case, thanks for your friendship and your support.
See you!
Chano.
July 14th 2007
THE BEGINNING
Well, I don't know how to begin. Maybe I should tell you briefly that the first time I played live was in a theater in Madrid. I think it was 1998. I played the guitar with my brother Germán -who would be NOUS' bass player in the future- and a friend of him, Josete. We played some acoustic stuff. We tried to form a band, but we didn't even have a drummer -I didn't know how to play the drums yet-, so it didn't work.
That same year, Germán and I played again in a pub with another friend of him, Ariel. We did another acoustic show. I think it sounded better. But we never played again together.
I'm not sure about the time reference, but I think that it was the year 1999 or maybe 2000 when I first played a drum set. I met a sports mate who had a small drum set and a guitar, and we began playing from time to time in his house. I had no idea about how to play the drums, but I tried 'cause it was funny. I only used to hit the floor tom -as if it was the kick drum- and stepping on the hihat instead of hitting it with my right hand -which was bussy with the floor tom-. But some time later, I saw Ariel playing that drum set and that was when I realised how to play "correctly". That was the last time we went to my mate's house, maybe 'cause Ariel or somebody else broke some stuff there, hehe.
MY FIRST REAL BAND
The year 2001 was an important year for me. It was when I joined a real band. A guy from highschool asked me if I wanted to play the drums. I said yes and we played for a few months. That was when I began learning how to play the drums. We were called ZÁRAME and played some rock stuff. But in the last two shows, we used the name NOUS because I didn't like the other one, and I played the guitar and sang a few songs on a stage for the first time in my life, while the singer/guitar player performed on drums. Afterwards, we stoped rehearsing and everyone and everything disappeared as nothing had happened.
By that time, I joined another band as the bass player. I didn't even had a bass guitar, but I did it fine. We played some kind of hardcore, thrash or whatever. Anyway, it sounded perfect and I enjoyed a lot playing there. Unfortunately, after two months playing with them, the guitar player had a baby and we split. We didn't have a name -maybe a kind of joke name, LOS PICHAFINA, but it wasn't serious-.
MORE BANDS
That same year, my brother Marcos asked me to rent a rehearsal room to play with Germán and spend some time. We did it, and spent one year -or more- playing only covers -Ramones, Rancid, Green Day, Nirvana, etc.- in a kind of jam sessions, where everyone played everything. Then, in 2003 maybe, I asked them to try to play one of my songs and, one year later, we had 18 original songs ready to be played on a stage. Now the components were fixed: Germán on bass, Marcos on drums and me on guitar and mic.
So, in the year 2004, we played for the first time in front of an audience. I kept the name of the band NOUS . We played our songs and a few covers to entertain the crowd. We did a two hours show, full of punk rock music and beer. We haven't stopped playing since then, and we've also recorded a few demo CDs. I'll write about them in a future "Recording Stuff" section. By the way, we do punk rock stuff -some people call it grunge, but I prefer alternative punk rock-. By the way, I write the songs.
The same year 2004, I got in contact with Diana thru NOUS' website. She played the guitar and was looking for a drummer to form a band. So we met Rocío -voice-, Laura -bass- and Rafa -guitar-, we played some grunge stuff and fixed the band: VEIN . But one year later, Laura left the band and, although Aleks -of NOTHINK- played the bass with us in a few gigs, we split in 2006.
-Meanwhile, Diana and Laura formed the band REZNIK with Lolo on drums. I used to perform one of their songs on drums when Lolo invited me to. I did it in a few shows of them. They do some brief instrumental stuff.-
Two months before, Alfredo -coming from the band SPERM- got in contact with me and asked me to play the guitar with his new band LULLABIES : Mónica -voice-, Alfredo -drums, Adolfo -ex bass player from THE SUNS- and I. I listened to the demo CD he gave me and I liked it, 'cause it was something new for me, different from every band in town and their live show were -simple past- quite good. After one week rehearsing, I played my first show with them, on guitar and singing backing stuff. It sounded good, despite I was completely drunk.
After a few months, there were a couple of songs that Alfredo couldn't play on drums and sing at the same time. So in those songs, I play the drums and sing the backing stuff while he plays the guitar and sings as well. We do some kind of "stoner"-pop.
In October 13th 2007 I played with them for the last time. They just didn't like the fact that I could play in other bands, so I was practically forced to leave the band.
Now, in 2007, I joined the band NO ALOHA as the drummer -and singing backing stuff as well-. They had been playing since 2005 and I had seen them live many times. NOUS had also played with them in a few gigs. But one of the guitar players and the drummer left the band, so Gus -guitar- and Eva -bass and voice- phoned me to do them the favor of playing two shows with them. Jose -of MURDO- joined at the same time. But later, those two shows turned into three and now I'm the official drummer. That was cause of a little trouble with the previous band, but now everything is okay.
In one week time, I was already playing live in NO ALOHA and, one month later, we were recording two new singles and filming a videoclip. By the way, we play punk rock!
Well, this is mainly what I've done -and still do- in my life.
I'll try to upload some of the stuff I make, such as home recordings, videos and pictures. But give me time! Thank you.
See you soon!
Chano.
July 15th 2007
I think it was July 2008 when I joined another band, a tribute to Nirvana. Our first show was in August 2009 and we performed under the name of Nevermind, but nowadays we're called KURT COBAND . By the way, I play the guitar and sing.
In September 20th and 27th 2008, I played the bass and sang some backing vocals for the band ME AND THE ARMY -where my brother Marcos also plays the drums-. Two songs, "Berlin" and The Distillers' "Coral Fang".
In October-November 2008 I joined IDIOTERNE playing the guitar and singing back-up vocals in order to give them a hand in the release of their first album. Our first show together was on January 8th 2009.
In January 2009 -maybe December 2008- I joined a few people to perform a tribute to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. We're called FUNKY MONKEYS IN THE SEX MAGIK . Our first show was on February 5th 2009. Oh, I play the role of Anthony Kiedis.
NOUS, Demo I
January 2004
This was the first time I recorded in studio. It was Christmas time and I was in Germany for the holidays. Philip, my brother's girlfriend's brother -SCREAMERS' singer and guitar player by that time- told me that Manu -also guitar player and singer of the same band- had a home recording studio, and he asked me if I wanted to record something there. We recorded two songs: "Alms" and "Sunday Afternoon". I chose the tempo for the tracks -as there was no drum set in the room- and began playing the bass -with the strings set for left handed people-, then I recorded the guitars and finally the voice. Manu chose the drum samples for both songs. We did it all in two days.
NOUS, Demo II
September 2004
This was a totally home recording. I put some cheap microphones on the drums and connected the mixer to the computer. Using a crap of software, I recorded: "Beautiful Nothing", "Wanted", "Versus", "Alms", "Sunday Afternoon (Acoustic)" and "Scarecrow". The last song is a kind of prove that we can do hardcore punk, too. Well, I think it took me one day to do the drum tracks, and maybe two days to record the rest -plugging the guitar and the bass directly to the mixer-. By that time, I had no idea about recording nor editing, so the tracks are played live, there is no "cut and paste" in the whole recording. I like it because it is pure and also for the mixture of musical styles.
VEIN, When Beauty Meets Abuse
This was the most professional recording up to that time. We took all the equipment with us and went to a house far away from the big cities. In a couple of days, we recorded: "Gone Now", "Aubergine", "Out of Place", "Thirsty" and "Old Wood". This was the first time -maybe the second, I'm not sure- I used the click to record the drum tracks, most of them in one to two takes. The producer, Miguel Lorenzo -Influx Sound-, told me that I seemed to have always used a metronome -Actually I don't even have one yet, hehe-. The drum set is the same as NOUS' "Demo II" recording, a Tama Swingstar with some old Zildjian Scimitar cymbals. By the way, I wrote the lyrics for "Gone Now".
NOUS, Demo III
August 2005
This songs come from a ten-days recording session, in a studio in Móstoles -Madrid-. The producer was Andy C. -drummer of some death metal bands like WORMED-. In those days I recorded 13 songs, the drum tracks -as Marcos could't follow the metronome-, a few bass tracks, the guitars -I used a Fender Toronado borrowed from Rafa, VEIN's guitar player- and the voices. I remember using a 80W Valvestate amp for the guitars. The drums were from Andy's band, but the cymbals were our old Scimitar. The songs we chose for this release were: "Claire's Mom", "The Garden of Happiness", "Versus", "Earth Revenge" and "Alms". By the way, the crowds screaming in "Versus" are only Andy and me, doing it once and again, hehe. I'll keep writing about this recording session in "Demo IV".
NOUS, Demo IV
May 2006
After everything had been recorded, Andy found "a kind of freezer noise" in the songs, but he didn't know exactly where, so he used a big amount of compression to put it out. Actually, I couldn't hear any noise at all, but he was the producer. After all, I still think there is too much compression and the songs would probably sound better without it. But there's no way back now -By that time, I had no idea about production or anything else-. Well, the tracks we chose for this demo CD were: "Pathetic", "Dunno", Wanted" and "Beautiful Nothing", a selection of good punk rock songs. By the way, Javi V.B. -a friend of Andy- recorded one of the screams for "Beautiful Nothing".
NOUS, nous
July 2007
This album is a kind of compilation. It contains the thirteen songs recorded in the Mantis Studio sessions -four of the songs yet unreleased: "The Garden of Happiness", "The Smiley Factor", "Just For You" and "Sunday Afternoon"- plus two songs recorded in 2007 in Ondas Escolares -Alcorcón- under the production of Daniel Richter and his pupils. Most of the old songs were re-edited by myself, I added some extra stuff as backing vocals -on "The Wrong Way Round"-, effects -on "Beautiful Nothing" ending, for example-, cello -on "Sunday Afternoon"- and cut some of the songs I thought they were too long, you know. This time we included "Just For You", which proves that we can do pop rock, too. But the most important stuff are the new songs: "Moderate Rock" and "I am Jesus". Marcos was supposed to record the drum tracks, but he surrender, so I did the hard work. Germán was also supposed to record the bass tracks, but his flight took off before he could do it, so I did it as well. I recorded an instrument a day. On drums I used our old Tama Swingstar with a Mapex ProM snare drum and Paiste 201 cymbals. I used my Fame bass -MusicMan imitation-, Germán's Behringer head and Peavey box. And for the guitar tracks, I used my Squier Jagmaster and my Marshall VS265 amp. As an anecdote, I had to do a lot of takes for the screaming parts on both songs. Well, when I got into the car to drive home, I felt the taste of my blood in my throat. I think it was the second time in my life it happened to me. Yeah, I know, I can't sing. But I think it's worth it!
By the way, I did all the art designs for NOUS' booklets. I used to draw a bit of everything when I had a lot of time, but I stopped drawing when I completely got into music. NOUS also has the last drawing I made in 2006. Probably it's a kind of self-portrait. Could be.
NO ALOHA, Drowning the Fish
November 2007
This EP contains the first two songs I recorded with NO ALOHA, "Rocking You" and "You Tune Me Tune", and includes both videoclips -"Rocking You" filmed by Javier R. Santamaría, "You Tune" by Eva López- and also a remix of "The Date" by Assman. We recorded the drums and the guitars at the same time, then the bass and the voices, all in just three to four hours. I used some Paiste cymbals, 201 hi-hat, and maybe Alpha crash and ride. The snare I used was Marcos' Tama Superstar 14"x5,5".