1. Hi Daniel. We begin with the usual question: How did Àrnica came to be?
Hi! Àrnica has begun in the year 2001 as a solo project. I begun making music almost out of a necessity of expressing a series of feelings or points of view about the modern world and the way current society works.
Back then the music style was very different than currently, mainly due to my very limited resources and instruments. My ideas at the time of composing and my inspirations remained the same, but now (fortunately) we count with more possibilities.
In the year 2008 Saúl and Carles joined Àrnica, contributing with new ideas and mainly the possibility of bringing the project to the public. Two years later Saúl left the band and currently I and Carles continue the project, achieving the purest essence of what we want to express.
2. Most people ask for musical references to the bands formation and identity, but i would like to go further and ask about literary references. Which authors or books influenced you when creating your music?
We don't have a reference author. In fact we get more inspiration out of personal experiences, ideas and our own concepts of how the world should work, although both I and Carles have authors that influence us at a personal level.
3. Recently you were in Aveiro at the Tormenta Celtibérica. I know that the audience loved your entrance and there were a lot of curious ones at the door, trying to sneak a peek. Do you keep good recollections of the concerts? Except for the sound technician, of course!
It is true that the sound technician did little for the bands... but well, these things happen and we have to learn how to deal with them. The band's and the audience's attitude totally made up for the technicians' ineptitude.
The Tormenta Celtiberica in Aveiro was a great event. The participants created a perfect atmosphere to unload all the celtiberian passion. Keltika Hispanna preformed one of their best concerts and their genius Terror Romanorvm left us dazzled. Cuélebre, as usual, presented us with a fantastic progression and besides, presented us their new vocalist! As for us, we managed to make the entrance we wanted, with deer antlers and torches, so as to perform our Ritual freely. To watch the public's receptiveness was fantastic. The Black Market was overflowing with people. A dense atmosphere... perfect!
4. I am aware that this has not been your first time in Portugal. You have been to the Black Market in Aveiro before and even performed in Sintra. Did you enjoy Portugal?
Yes. We have a very special bound with Portugal, or Occidental Iberia. Great friendships aside, the way you care for your legacy and culture is, for us, passionate. Musically, it has also been a vital reference for us: Sangre Cavallum, Karnos, Wolfskin (all projects by Reaping Horde in general), Azagatel, now Arde Fero, or Falcata de Fogo are projects which touched us deeply. The way you transmit all your knowledge of the Earth is exciting.
Portugal's knowledge’s are always special and very intense. The relationship created with the audience is very energetic. It is a total symbiosis in which we get back as much as we give. With this process, concerts grow in intensity and become true Rituals. The smoke saturated atmosphere, the scent of arnica carbonizing, music, screams and the heat make for very special evenings.
Up until now we played in Oporto, Sintra and twice in Aveiro and all of them were unforgettable concerts for us. We hope to be able to visit your homeland again soon.
5. Picking up on the concert theme, how did the Tormenta Celtibérica events begun?
Cuélebre and Keltika Hispanna thought of doing a joint concert. It was Keltika who invited us to take part but, in the end, it did not come to be due to problems in finding a place to perform. Sometime later the idea got to Barcelona (Àrnica was located in the count’s city by then) and we were able to perform the first event of Tormenta Celtibérica. At first it was supposed to be a single concert, then a concert in each group’s home city (Cuélebre are from Valência and Keltika Hispanna are from Madrid), at last the connection between the bands was so great that more events begun to happen, spread through the entire peninsula... it has been a very organic success, very free and has been growing in a very healthy way.
6. Your latest album, Lecho de Piedra, is also in prominence. You preformed some of its themes in the event. Tell us more of this album’s concept.
Lecho de Piedra (Stone Bed) deals with the idea of death in wild grounds, out in the open, in total freedom. We live and die in a constant search for commodity and comfort and forget our connections with nature. In the old days people, like animals, went off to the mountains to die, to meet with dignity the last phase of this plan, in solitude and silence.
It has been an offering made in a different way than that which we are accustomed to. There were distances and personal living experiences which originated a tense and tough set of actions. Lecho de Piedra grasps a thick fog in the horizon but also holds the certainty that we don’t walk this path alone. We have our drove, our clan, and a torch with raging fire which can rip apart even the thickest darkness.
7. You often use a symbol with a circle made of birds, in resemblance to a sun wheel. What is the meaning of this symbol?
The wheel of vultures is a symbol which has been with us for a long time. At first it has its concept, exposed in the song Corone de Moncayo in the Numancia MCD: “under the shadow if the black vulture” (“Bajo la Sombra del Buitre Negro”). The symbol, in all its forms, faces the ritual of the exposition to the vulture. Celtiberian warriors who fell in battle were exposed to the vultures to be devoured. It is a psycho pomp animal. It was a way to carry their souls to Litavis. This Ritual takes place in many ancient civilizations and cultures and can be found today still in places like Tibet. Thus, the laevorotatory wheel of vultures is a call to walk in life always ready to struggle, in all its aspects.
8. I also noticed that you use a lot of animal pictures, as in the cover for Viejo Mundo and the EP by Extremocidente, for example. Is animal life very important to you?
Definitely! In a way, exists in Àrnica a call to the most animal, most savage part of us. It is a call to seek the root of our own existence, the untouched core of every human being, where our true nature resides. Nature lost none of this core. It is savage, it can only be thus. Man fades in a devolution which is driving us to the twilight of our civilization. The most symbolic animals to Àrnica are the boar and the vulture. Both with a incalculable magical potential which we should preserve. Regardless, the European animal world is very well represented: ‘Gran Caballo Negro’, ‘Escarcha’, ‘Tu Miedo’, ‘Urogallo’, ‘Corona de Moncayo’, ‘Piel de Tambor’, ‘Marchando al Albor’, ‘Uro’, ‘Una Bestia Astada’, ‘Las Plumas del Cuervo’... it was in our 7” ‘Piel de Tambor’ that we explored and submerged in the most psycho pomp and cosmic aspect of the boar.
9. Thank you Daniel, I believe it is all for now. The last words are yours!
Thank you very much for your interest in Àrnica. I hope this to be the first of many times.
These have only been the first words...
Hi! Àrnica has begun in the year 2001 as a solo project. I begun making music almost out of a necessity of expressing a series of feelings or points of view about the modern world and the way current society works.
Back then the music style was very different than currently, mainly due to my very limited resources and instruments. My ideas at the time of composing and my inspirations remained the same, but now (fortunately) we count with more possibilities.
In the year 2008 Saúl and Carles joined Àrnica, contributing with new ideas and mainly the possibility of bringing the project to the public. Two years later Saúl left the band and currently I and Carles continue the project, achieving the purest essence of what we want to express.
2. Most people ask for musical references to the bands formation and identity, but i would like to go further and ask about literary references. Which authors or books influenced you when creating your music?
We don't have a reference author. In fact we get more inspiration out of personal experiences, ideas and our own concepts of how the world should work, although both I and Carles have authors that influence us at a personal level.
3. Recently you were in Aveiro at the Tormenta Celtibérica. I know that the audience loved your entrance and there were a lot of curious ones at the door, trying to sneak a peek. Do you keep good recollections of the concerts? Except for the sound technician, of course!
It is true that the sound technician did little for the bands... but well, these things happen and we have to learn how to deal with them. The band's and the audience's attitude totally made up for the technicians' ineptitude.
The Tormenta Celtiberica in Aveiro was a great event. The participants created a perfect atmosphere to unload all the celtiberian passion. Keltika Hispanna preformed one of their best concerts and their genius Terror Romanorvm left us dazzled. Cuélebre, as usual, presented us with a fantastic progression and besides, presented us their new vocalist! As for us, we managed to make the entrance we wanted, with deer antlers and torches, so as to perform our Ritual freely. To watch the public's receptiveness was fantastic. The Black Market was overflowing with people. A dense atmosphere... perfect!
4. I am aware that this has not been your first time in Portugal. You have been to the Black Market in Aveiro before and even performed in Sintra. Did you enjoy Portugal?
Yes. We have a very special bound with Portugal, or Occidental Iberia. Great friendships aside, the way you care for your legacy and culture is, for us, passionate. Musically, it has also been a vital reference for us: Sangre Cavallum, Karnos, Wolfskin (all projects by Reaping Horde in general), Azagatel, now Arde Fero, or Falcata de Fogo are projects which touched us deeply. The way you transmit all your knowledge of the Earth is exciting.
Portugal's knowledge’s are always special and very intense. The relationship created with the audience is very energetic. It is a total symbiosis in which we get back as much as we give. With this process, concerts grow in intensity and become true Rituals. The smoke saturated atmosphere, the scent of arnica carbonizing, music, screams and the heat make for very special evenings.
Up until now we played in Oporto, Sintra and twice in Aveiro and all of them were unforgettable concerts for us. We hope to be able to visit your homeland again soon.
5. Picking up on the concert theme, how did the Tormenta Celtibérica events begun?
Cuélebre and Keltika Hispanna thought of doing a joint concert. It was Keltika who invited us to take part but, in the end, it did not come to be due to problems in finding a place to perform. Sometime later the idea got to Barcelona (Àrnica was located in the count’s city by then) and we were able to perform the first event of Tormenta Celtibérica. At first it was supposed to be a single concert, then a concert in each group’s home city (Cuélebre are from Valência and Keltika Hispanna are from Madrid), at last the connection between the bands was so great that more events begun to happen, spread through the entire peninsula... it has been a very organic success, very free and has been growing in a very healthy way.
6. Your latest album, Lecho de Piedra, is also in prominence. You preformed some of its themes in the event. Tell us more of this album’s concept.
Lecho de Piedra (Stone Bed) deals with the idea of death in wild grounds, out in the open, in total freedom. We live and die in a constant search for commodity and comfort and forget our connections with nature. In the old days people, like animals, went off to the mountains to die, to meet with dignity the last phase of this plan, in solitude and silence.
It has been an offering made in a different way than that which we are accustomed to. There were distances and personal living experiences which originated a tense and tough set of actions. Lecho de Piedra grasps a thick fog in the horizon but also holds the certainty that we don’t walk this path alone. We have our drove, our clan, and a torch with raging fire which can rip apart even the thickest darkness.
7. You often use a symbol with a circle made of birds, in resemblance to a sun wheel. What is the meaning of this symbol?
The wheel of vultures is a symbol which has been with us for a long time. At first it has its concept, exposed in the song Corone de Moncayo in the Numancia MCD: “under the shadow if the black vulture” (“Bajo la Sombra del Buitre Negro”). The symbol, in all its forms, faces the ritual of the exposition to the vulture. Celtiberian warriors who fell in battle were exposed to the vultures to be devoured. It is a psycho pomp animal. It was a way to carry their souls to Litavis. This Ritual takes place in many ancient civilizations and cultures and can be found today still in places like Tibet. Thus, the laevorotatory wheel of vultures is a call to walk in life always ready to struggle, in all its aspects.
8. I also noticed that you use a lot of animal pictures, as in the cover for Viejo Mundo and the EP by Extremocidente, for example. Is animal life very important to you?
Definitely! In a way, exists in Àrnica a call to the most animal, most savage part of us. It is a call to seek the root of our own existence, the untouched core of every human being, where our true nature resides. Nature lost none of this core. It is savage, it can only be thus. Man fades in a devolution which is driving us to the twilight of our civilization. The most symbolic animals to Àrnica are the boar and the vulture. Both with a incalculable magical potential which we should preserve. Regardless, the European animal world is very well represented: ‘Gran Caballo Negro’, ‘Escarcha’, ‘Tu Miedo’, ‘Urogallo’, ‘Corona de Moncayo’, ‘Piel de Tambor’, ‘Marchando al Albor’, ‘Uro’, ‘Una Bestia Astada’, ‘Las Plumas del Cuervo’... it was in our 7” ‘Piel de Tambor’ that we explored and submerged in the most psycho pomp and cosmic aspect of the boar.
9. Thank you Daniel, I believe it is all for now. The last words are yours!
Thank you very much for your interest in Àrnica. I hope this to be the first of many times.
These have only been the first words...