Interview | Introducing…Ninette and the Goldfish

With beautiful EP, Words From the Deep Down, released earlier this year, we thought it was high time to take a peek into the goldfish bowl….

Hello, please introduce yourself and your music to the uninitiated.

We’re Nina Thomas and Cesc Mayor, and together we make Ninette & the Goldfish, a half-French, half-Spanish band working on a folk-rock project established in Barcelona.

Tell us a bit about your latest single.

Our single, ‘Brave Guy’ is a song that was born in a very important point of change in our lives. It implies a change of attitude towards our way of making decisions and it’s the most spontaneous song we’ve ever done, but also came out pretty much blossom.

What was your best ever gig?

Our best gig ever was probably the one we did in an emblematic concert hall in Barcelona called Luz de Gas. We’re still not really used to playing in front of the crowds, and it is kind of hard to get a concert hall full of people in our city, but we made it that day with around 300 people motivated and absolutely connected with our music. It was just magic.

What’s the worst thing about being a musician?

The worst thing about being a musician must be the expectations one puts on the response of the crowd, the media, the programmers, etc. You might just get caught into a vicious circle that can really put you down with negative energy, making yourself look at absolutely everything with jealousy, feeling like being in a constant competition. It is very important to free yourself from the pressure and try to make music because you want to, and not to prove yourself. But if you do make the music you want and feel, we don’t think there’s nothing bad about being a musician.

What inspires you?

We believe more in the inspiration at the performance than at the creating moment. When composing it is more a matter of essay-error, since the song takes form through the work (even though the lyrics can come in a very spontaneous way). The real inspiration appears at the performances where it’s crucial to be connected to the other musicians, to the audience and to the music itself. I guess that what inspires the most is the magic that happens on stage.

If you won a billion pounds what would you do with it?

Cesc: I’ve always thought that everything I do for a living isn’t transcendent. No one needs music to live, so I guess after buying a house and getting a crazy guitar collection I’d probably look for an effective way to help out other people, which is the only thing that really matters.

Nina: I’ve never really thought about these kind of things, but I suppose I would buy a house, with a recording studio and probably start my own label to help starting artists that I admire get noticed.

Which of your songs is your favourite and why?

Cesc: My favourite song is the latest we’ve been working on. We’ve recently being in touch with the rock side of our music, and this song, called ‘Misfit’, has got me absolutely fascinated. But well, I like them all.

Nina: It is hard to think of only one song, but I would say that from Words From The Deep Down I’d have to choose Brave Guy. And that’s why it’s the single. For me, it’s just what the album needed.

What are you plans for the future?

We’d definitely like to record an LP, with no rush, no pressure. Something well-constructed. We enjoy the process of recording and we learn a lot from doing it. We would love to find a producer that could just peek in our brains, help us and could understand our music. And of course it would be absolutely perfect to find a label that could allow us to do so. Since we’ve seen that our music is not such a great thing in our country, we believe that the only way of doing that will be spending time away from home. And we just love the idea.

Finally, we’re always looking to expand our musical horizons. Do you have any recommendations of bands or artists we should be looking out for?

Indeed we do. Other than the names that you have already heard such as Bon Iver and Gotye, there are some amazing bands pretty much unknown outside of Spain that are quite a big deal. For instance, Seward, a band that has one of the most powerful sounds we have EVER heard. Or Edith Crash, a French girl who is pretty much a whole rock’n’roll band in one person; and other bands like Standstill or Zahara, which have a longer trajectory in the Spanish music business, but still astonish us.

Photo credit: Erola Arcalis; Dylanne Lee