Aug 23, 2022

Interview: ENEMIC INTERIOR (Spain)


This is a punk quartet from Barcelona, Spain that you should check out right away! ENEMIC INTERIOR consists of Sergi Vilà Bori (bass and voices), Eduard Bujalance (guitar and voices), Sergi Alejandre (guitar) and Uriel Garcia (drums) and this line-up has recorded 5 songs, released by Flexidiscos on 25 February 2022 in cassette-tape format.

- Interviewed by Atandistorted (August 23, 2022)

1: Hello. How long has Enemic Interior been around and why was the band formed? Who is the line-up of this band and how did you guys meet and agree to form Enemic Interior?
The band was formed by Eduard Bujalance and Sergi Alejandre a couple of years ago. They have been very active in the Barcelona scene for many years; Eduard was part of Univers and is still playing at Aliment, Sergi founded the now online-only Dead Moon Records shop, head of the label Cønjuntø Vacíø and is the founder of the bands Wind Atlas and SDH, among other projects. The line-up was completed by Sergi Vilà Bori (bassist at Heather, and long-time friend with Eduard) and Uriel García, a sick drummer that Sergi recruited after having a 6-month punk project with him. After some sessions the style of the band got defined and we started to build up the songs together.

2: What are your reasons for this band being named as Enemic Interior? How does this name relate to your stance and identity as a band?
Back in 2015, Sergi Alejandre had an industrial project called Cadena. Together with visual and sound artist Coàgul they wrote L’enemic Interior, a pretty cool song. The words mean “the interior enemy”. We all got one of these. It is a matter of each one to discover it and to define its relationship with it. We thought it summed up pretty well the energy we achieved as a band; fury and introspection at the same time.

3: I have listened to your self-titled tape and found it to be a very good effort. Tell us a little bit about the release in terms of songwriting, musical arrangement, recording process, artwork and such?
We established some premises: short songs (less than 2 minutes), hardcore and punk tradition, a lot of chorus, memorable lyrics in our mother tongue (Catalan). Eduard is very good with vocal melodies and lyrics, Uriel plays hard, fast and has a nice taste for fills. Both Sergis are pretty melodic and balance it all. We recorded with a 4-track and only with a 57 microphone. Everything in a two-day session. We then sent it to Will Killingsworth, from Dead Air studios, who mixed it and mastered it. He did an amazing job. The artwork is by Sota, a designer we’ve always liked and that is close to us.

4: What can you comment about the collaboration with Valencia-based label Flexidiscos for the production & distribution of the tape?
Oscar from Flexi is well-known in the DIY punk scene here in Spain. He is always supporting new bands and setting up gigs. He was thrilled when he first listened to the songs so who better than him to release our music?

5: I love your music a lot. It's like a mix of several sub-genres, played energetically & full of anger! What is the exact definition for the music of Enemic Interior? Where do you get your influences & inspiration from?
We are 4 people in their early 30s and we all bring our baggage with us. The bands that inspire us are the ones who focus on the music and achieve something unique and atemporal, in this case, mainly in punk and hardcore. Blitz, for example, was one of the starting influences but we’ve been trying to polish our songs to make something that makes us feel ourselves. 

6: Why did you choose to sing your songs in Catalan? What topics & messages are written in your lyrics?
It is our mother tongue. We feel comfortable singing in it, it comes from our guts. Also it is nice to see the people singing with you when playing live. The lyrics are a mix of deep sensations and thoughts; a way of putting out our interior.

7: Briefly tell us about Enemic Interior's involvement in gigs and tours? Besides your own songs, what are some cover songs that you often perform?
We’ve been doing some gigs in Barcelona and surroundings, we are planning to visit more places in Spain these next months. We do not perform cover songs. Our shows are short: 15 min tops.

8: Give your opinions on the latest movement of the hc/punk scene in Barcelona? Recommend us some good bands, labels & fanzines from your area?
Barcelona have always had a pretty healthy scene; the people of MDA are always programming good shit, same with Meteoro, a small venue, and the people from La Plaga. We are also close to projects like Algara, Brux, Prison Affair, Baixa Permanent, Plataforma, Barcelona, Sistema de Entretenimiento among many many others. We also like this newsletter by D. Garcerán, about his experiences in the DIY scene.

9: What are your plans for the next recordings/releases and how do you expect the future of Enemic Interior?
The people from Under The Gun Records will release our first reference in a 7” that should see the light before the end of 2022. We just recorded six new songs that have been heavy-tested at our last gigs. We still do not know how are we going to put them out. 

10: Thank you for taking the time and your feedback for this interview. Viva La Punk zine is from Malaysia so hopefully Enemic Interior will start getting attention from the region here. Do you have any last words?
Never lose your faith.