Autor: pvillavecchia

Addison de Witt – ROCK «Excellent work, more than recommendable, The kind of boy that can become a star».

Barcelona native, Pablo Villavecchia, and his band of ‘Appleheads’ are back with their sophomore album, Alessandra, which the talented young singer-songwriter has named after his girlfriend. The new record continues to display the vintage aesthetic, inspired primarily by The Beatles, which the band have morphed into their increasingly modern sound. Now, Pablo and The Appleheads are releasing the new infectiously catchy, guitar led single ‘Zaida’ in the run up to the album.

Encapsulating a style that falls somewhere in between indie and pop, Pablo and The Appleheads look back through the history books for their primary inspiration, taking influence from the likes of classic acts such as Oasis, David Bowie, The Police, Radiohead, and The Beatles, who they are often compared to.

However, Pablo has had music running through his veins even before he was born, with his mother being a singer and songwriter for jingles and adverts, whilst his father was the saxophonist in famed Spanish rock band, Loquillo y los Trogloditas. Ever since he could walk, Pablo was dancing to VHS tapes of his favourite bands, but it wasn’t until he was 19 that he began to take music more seriously, writing his own songs and learning the guitar. With his mother as his teacher, Pablo transformed into a prolific songwriter, covering topics as diverse as love, politics and the party lifestyle.

Pablo was keen to admit that before meeting the love of his life, Alessandra, his life lacked direction as a human being and was lacking in terms of real love.  But now, after the formation of Pablo and The Appleheads and constructing their second record, Pablo notes that ‘meeting her meant the culmination of the album, as well as my unsatisfied love story, which was finally satisfied in a fantastic and unexpected way’.

Alessandra is a collection of the tumultuous feelings of being a young songwriter, often reflecting the Pablo’s inner-self in a highly introspective manner. Pablo notes that the album presents something that is both creative, fun and destructive at the same time, with songs such as ‘Rock’n’Roller’ and ‘Zaida’, whilst tracks like ‘Alessandra’ and ‘Revolution II’ display a totally different, more poetic, love-fuelled side of Pablo and his song writing.

During the mixing of the album, famed Spanish producer, Roger Rodés (Brett Dennan, Seu Jorge) came onto the scene and became what Pablo describes as ‘the producer of my dreams’.  Pablo explains that ‘He made the record sound better than I ever imagined a record of mine could sound. He brought to life a vintage touch, reminiscent of the classics, but at the same time it used modern techniques and that for me is what makes a producer great. He needs to get what is in the artist’s mind and make it even better, capturing it and turning it into reality.’

As many listeners may wonder, the name Pablo and The Appleheads was actually inspired by René Magritte’s iconic painting, The Son of Man, which portrays a suited man with an apple for a face. Not only this, but although Pablo’s musical background is rooted in classic bands that he grew up listening to, he is inspired deeply by more contemporary artists too, such as Elliot Smith, Death Cab For Cutie and Arcade Fire. As a result, this collision of modern sounds with vintage influences culminates in a highly-crafted mix of old and new that borrows elements from the best in the business.

The new video for ‘Zaida’ is set for release August 4th.

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Barcelona native, Pablo Villavecchia, and his band of ‘Appleheads’ are back with their sophomore album, Alessandra, named after his girlfriend. Pablo notes that ‘meeting her meant the culmination of the album, as well as my unsatisfied love story, which was finally satisfied in a fantastic and unexpected way’.

The album is set for release on 31^st August, with the track ‘Zaida’being revealed in its run up. The song contains characterful vocals sung in a simliar style to The Kooks’ frontman Luke Pritchard; beautiful, melodic riffs on acoustic guitar drive the song forward as well as its quirky lyrics (Zaida, she’s flying like a spaceman).

The imagery conjured feels slightly conceptual, a more subdued version of character-driven songs such as Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust’ or The Beatles’ ‘Michelle’. Aiming for a sound that lies between indie and pop, the band admit to taking influence from the likes of classic acts such as David Bowie, and The Beatles as well as Oasis, The Police, and Radiohead.

Pablo created a relationship with music early on in life, with his mother being a singer and songwriter for jingles in advertising, and his father the saxophonist in famed Spanish rock band, Loquillo y los Trogloditas. It is no surprise that by the time he reached 19 he was writing his own songs. With his mother as his teacher, Pablo transformed into a prolific songwriter, covering topics as diverse as love, politics and even drugs.

The band’s name, Pablo and The Appleheads, is inspired by René Magritte’s iconic painting, The Son of Man, which portrays a suited man with an apple for a face.

Although Pablo’s musical background is rooted in classic 90’s bands that he grew up listening to, he is inspired deeply by more contemporary artists also, such as Elliot Smith, Death Cab For Cutieand Arcade Fire. As a result, this collision of modern sounds with vintage influences culminates in a highly-crafted mix of old and new that borrows elements from the best in the business.

You can connect with Pablo and the Appleheads on Facebook, Twitterand YouTube.

The music video for ‘Zaida’ is set for release 4^th August.

As the charismatic front-man and songwriter of Barcelona based indie-pop band, Pablo and The Appleheads, the talented young musician is one who looks back into the history books of music for his influences. Classic acts such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have always provided inspiration for Pablo who was raised in a musical background, his mother being a singer and his father being the saxophonist for famed Spanish rock band, Loquillo y los Trogloditas, but having grown up during the 90s, Pablo notes artists from this era as some of the most influential for his songwriting. Here are his top 5 bands of the nineties:

1. Nirvana

“For me, Nirvana were the ones to change the whole destiny of where music had to go and to where it went from the nineties on. They were the ones to introduce rock back into the mainstream with something as revolutionary and sincere as the tortured songs of Kurt Cobain. I remember when I first listened to ‘Nevermind’ and just wanting to listen to it again. Those simple and at the same time, very original arrangements- how they changed from clean guitars and more mellow vocals in the verses to distorted ones and screaming in the choruses. I never heard someone whose scream was so particular and beautiful as Kurt’s.

That is one album where every song is a hit. Kurt’s song writing was so melodically talented, that everything comes out from him in a really natural way, not overthought. From that work I’d personally go with ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ as maybe being the top hit of the decade, ‘Lithium’ as my favourite Nirvana song, for its originality in the chord progression and in its melody and lyrics (really genius ones), and ‘Something In The Way’ as being maybe the most depressing, and at the same time beautiful song I’ve ever listened to with just 2 chords. Their 3rd and last album ‘In Utero’ was an album that kept up with the level of ‘Nevermind’. Maybe it was not a great evolution in style, but I don’t think it ever pretended to be. It just pretended to be what it was, a great rock album with a great collection of great tunes.”

2. Radiohead

“The first song that attracted me to Radiohead was ‘Idioteque’ from their album ‘Kid A’ while I was on mushrooms with some friends back in 2002 (a very weird experience with no philosophical backup). With Radiohead we can really see how a band evolves unstoppably and with no limit from their very Nirvana-esque first album ‘Pablo Honey’ (the fact that it has my name does not make it one of my favourites), to the rock masterpieces ‘The Bends’ and ‘Ok Computer’, which in my opinion are the best albums of the decade. Then there was ‘Kid A’, in the beginning of the 2000’s, where they started to experiment with electronics. And that’s what Radiohead means to me. Fearless experimentation with incredible taste, with enough hits to be rock legends. Extremely depressing at times, but in a way, you like to feel that sadness and anger. Political contestation. Real Artists after all.”

“They’re probably the band, besides the Beatles, that I would say has influenced me most overall. In my opinion the most original song of the nineties was ‘Paranoid Android’ and the best one was ‘Karma Police’.”

3. Oasis

“With Oasis, we can safely say after a period of American domination with grunge, the more classic English sound influenced by Lennon and the Beatles came back into scene. It’s the only time where I’ve heard a ‘pop rock’ mainstream band to have such edgy distorted and loud guitars. It’s a marvel how they managed to have the most catchy, well-rounded composed songs in maybe 20 years of rock, and at the same time fit them with such taste into a quite radical type of production.

Noel was definitely a hit machine maker and Liam knew how to sing those hits with unmatched attitude and nerve. He’s definitely one of my favourite singers of all time. When I first heard ‘Champagne Supernova’ I knew I was in front of something really special.”

4. Blur

“I first bumped into Blur in 1997 (when I was 10) after a friend of mine from school showed me their untitled album of that same year. It was so powerful. At that age I was principally attracted to them by the worldwide hit ‘Song 2′ which for me is the perfect example of a brit grunge song. After that, and with time, I’ve kept on going to that album, which in my opinion is a rock masterpiece in terms of originality and production as well as song writing. You can see the acting capabilities of Damon Albarn who changes his tone and personality depending on the song, in a way that I have only seen done by the Beatles. They take you from one world to another. I love the fact that from all their albums you can always expect great tunes that will remain to be ‘Blur’, but that can play with different styles – for example, ‘indie-disco’ songs like ‘Girls and Boys’ to rock anthems like ‘Beetlebum’ or ‘Coffee and TV’, to very English cockney Madness style songs such as ‘Parklife’ and deep psychedelic depressant ones like ‘Strange News From Another Star’.”

5. The Verve

“The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, which I later discovered to partly be a sample from the version by Andrew Loog Oldham’s Orchestra from The Rolling Stones’ ‘The last time’, I must say is one of those times where the new version is way better than the original. It’s the only time where I’ve seen a pretty mediocre song turn into an anthem – it’s a bit sad that they don’t keep any of the rights to that one after the genius lyrics and adaptation they made. That song was what made me discover the amazing album that is ‘Urban Hymns’, along with other great Brit pop tunes as the deep, mellow ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ or ‘Lucky Man’ and ‘Sonnet’.”

“What I like more about the band from Wigan is their airy kind of psychedelic sound, mixed with a very characteristic acoustic strumming and Ashcroft’s sharp, nasal voice, which makes them and their best album in my opinion a very pleasant listen and at the same time, very intense piece of art.”

You can check out Pablo’s new single ‘Zaida’ here:

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