Melenas on going international and the importance of female representation on stages
Press photo by Jose Delou (@jose.delou)
Spanish indie-rock band Melenas sat down with us during their Europe tour in Mainz, Germany. In our conversation, we tapped deeper into their sound and songwriting, their experiences as an all-female band in an industry where women are still underrepresented and what it's like for them to play international stages as a spanish-singing band.
The quartet consists of Oihana Herrera (keyboardist, guitarist and vocalist), Laura Torre (drummer), María del Amor Zubiaur (keyboardist) and Leire Zabala (bassist). Based in Pamplona, a rather small town in the north of Spain, right at the border to France, the four of them got to know each other by always attending the same concerts, quickly realizing their mutual passion for music and interest in pursuing a band themselves.
Their name Melenas translates to ‘mane’ or ‘long hair’. For the four of them, the decision was based on a necessity: “We had been rehearsing for two months and it was about time to choose a name”, recalls drummer Laura. María adds: “We needed a name and all the other options were…” “...terrible. Bad ideas for sure” Laura concludes. However, the name also carries a rebellious and feminist message.
Cover art of their self-titled debut album ‘Melenas‘
They explained that back in the 60s when wearing long hair symbolized rebellion against societal norms, ‘Melenas’ was derogatory slang aimed at hippies who wore their hair long. When they started out as a band, being women in music, the band also faced dismissive looks. “We also all had long hair back at the time”, Laura throws in. So reclaiming ‘Melenas’ wasn’t just a decision on a name, it also gave them a direction of self: “When you start off, you don’t even know your identity. The name is the first thing you choose but then you’re not even a band yet”, vocalist Oihana reflects.
At this point of their career, they have solidified both their identity and their distinctive sound, which can best be described as navigating between dream pop and krautrock; or simply as ‘magic’ as bassist Leire put it in a more straightforward characterization. They’ve been working together in this constellation for nearly a decade now, gaining more and more international popularity in the last few years. In 2021, they won the Music Moves Europe award, given out by the Council of Europe for the best emerging talents of the continent. A fairly big deal, considering this award previously went to names like Dua Lipa or Rosalía. When asked if they expected this kind of international attention when they first started off, a collective “not at all!” moved through the room. However, they got to realize that their music resonated with audiences beyond the border of their native Spain early on in their career: “On bandcamp around half of the albums from our first album were sold abroad. And that was right at the beginning!” remembers Laura. “We were super surprised”, adds María.
Their following two albums were released through Chicago-based label ‘Trouble in Mind Records’, strengthening the base for international success: “They distribute their music all over the world so that makes our music accessible to other places”, Maria acknowledges. “The first time we were truly aware how well our music resonates and the connection people have to it outside of Spain was when we played at the SXSW”, Laura continues. “At that festival we realized that our music works internationally and from that moment on we started doing more shows abroad and that connection was always there”.
What sets Melenas apart from other groups, and what made their international success so unexpected to them, is the fact that all of their lyrics are written in Spanish. This means most people in international audiences, me included, don’t understand the meaning of their songs. But that doesn’t make a big difference for Melenas:
Oihana: The feeling on stage changes from one place to another, it doesn’t matter where the people are from.
Laura: It’s always been amazing for us because we are aware that people don’t understand the lyrics. But there is still a connection. They may not understand the words but the music makes this connection regardless and it’s like they understand what we’re talking about in a way, because of the rest of the music. And we’re having a great connection with the audience, they all seem very happy, so we are happy too!
Oihana: Yes, it's about what it feels like listening to it. There is more to the music apart from just the lyrics.
This view evokes parallels with the approach of bands like Cocteau Twins, who intentionally sing in gibberish, allowing the music and the vocals to outline the setting but still leave room for individual interpretation. Melenas, similarly captivate listeners with their hypnotic arrangements, creating an immersive experience that transcends language barriers. Sometimes you don’t look for songs to carry a specific message, a feeling is enough - brain off, feelings on.
However, unlike Cocteau Twins mysterious lyrics, Melenas do offer context to their songs. In times of google translate, deciphering the meaning is only one click away. And that’s a click well worth it because it allows for an even deeper connection to the music. The lyrics are quite meaningful and their beauty is visible even through google translate. What's noticeable when getting familiar with the specific themes of the songs, is that they only add onto the feeling the composure of the music already translates. This makes sense, because Melenas aim to do exactly that with the way they write their songs:
I’m really curious to know what your songwriting process looks like to create this unity of lyrics and melody.
Oihana: So normally, we first work on the melodies and the whole instrumentation, and after that we think about the feeling of the songs and choose an idea based on that. Then we get to the lyrics.
Laura: And it's true that many times the music takes us to the places we want to talk about. The music gives a general sensation and we start talking ‘I think it’s cool if this song talks about [...]’ - and usually we agree!
Your third album ‘Ahora’ introduced a new sound - It’s packed with synths, a lot of harmonies and is less acoustic than previous projects. How did that change in direction come about?
Oihana: It was natural, absolutely. We made this cover of Grauzone and by that time I had a new synthesizer and we made this song only with synths - we had played a bit with that in a couple of songs from the previous album as well. But we were super happy with the result, had a lot of fun playing it and loved the new atmospheres created. So we wanted to explore that further and introduced more synths and more electronic drums and fun elements that felt right. In our first albums, we were also still learning how to compose and how to play all the instruments together. It felt like we were ready to go further with our style.
Was it an easy process to translate this new sound into live performances?
María: Well, it took some work.
Laura: Yes, it was pretty hard. We rehearsed a lot during summer and I think that was critical to do, it was very important. Everything has to be very on time, because we have drum machines and loops, so we also use a metronome now. That was new for us. So it's a little bit more complicated than it used to be but once we get used to it, it pays off.
And it's a cool challenge - especially because you’ve been together for 8 years already - as a way to step up the difficulty level.
Oihana: Of course! And it gives you new energy - the new sounds, the new live set. It’s also a lot of fun.
‘Ahora’,the title of your album translates to ‘now’. What meaning does the title carry for you?
Laura: We chose the title because we realized that all the songs of the album underlined the importance of the present moment, in the sense that that’s all that we have. We can always think about the past and the future but the only thing we really have is now. It’s about what we do with our time, what we keep about our past and what we don’t want to keep.
Oihana: And how you want to spend your time and who you want to spend it with. The title makes us think a bit more about staying in the present moment.
I want to talk a little bit about what it's like to be an all female band in an industry that is still very much dominated by men. Do you think it was harder when you started out as a band to be taken seriously in the industry because you’re all women?
Leire: Yes, but it was different back then.
Laura: When we started off, we definitely didn’t feel like we were taken seriously.
Oihana: You could feel people looking at you suspiciously - Like what are they going do?
María: It was really frustrating.
Leire: As women you have to demonstrate more than men.
Laura: Yes you have to prove yourself better and you feel very observed. But now, at this point in our career, we have grown as a band and also with our confidence and we don’t have this feeling anymore.
Oihana: But it was hard to fight against feeling insecure, especially because you don’t have a lot of confidence when you just start off. It doesn’t matter if you're a woman or a man or whatever. You have to work hard to get more confident.
You said it was different when you started out. Can you see that there has been a change in the industry in the last few years?
María: Yes, totally!
Laura: When we started there weren’t many all female bands, in Spain at least. But in recent years there has been an explosion of female bands. We are really happy seeing that!
Oihana: And there are now more female bands also because they actively made space for us to play at festivals.
Laura: Yes, Spanish festivals have a program and they try to get the quota of female representation up and equalize the line-up. They try to make it 50/50.
Oihana: And seeing other women on stage is so important and inspiring. It makes you feel like you can do it too. And that’s a powerful thing. When I think about it, that is also why most of the bands I follow and listen to are female bands.
Laura: It’s so important. But also, while there may be more female musicians on stage in general, there are other parts of the industry where you don’t see many women: behind the stage, managers, producers, directors. There is still a lot of change needed.
Some of you have played in bands previously to Melenas but you have been together for such a long time and it looks like we can expect more from you in the future. What makes Melenas special for you?
Laura: All of us are super committed to it, we love the band! It’s really valuable and special for us and I think that is because of us together as a team and also because of the music. Because the songs are great and we love them. We believe in the music we do and in what we do in general.
Oihana: And the experiences we’ve made really keep the energy up to continue doing this. Because we have a lot of fun - I mean, we work a lot, we work A LOT - but then we also have a lot of fun. We have the chance to travel and experience things together as the four of us that we love. And I think that having similar objectives definitely helps. We invest a lot of time of our lives into this so you need to be at the same page. If each one of us would want something different, it wouldn’t work.
Laura: Also, we have great feedback. We have fans and people that follow us and write great things about us. These things are super important to us and show us that we’re on the right path.
Oihana: We also have a great team working with us. It’s the four of us on the stage but we are surrounded by good people.
You are going to tour Spain in May, are there any other projects listeners can expect from you soon?
María: We do have a surprise.
Oihana: That is going to happen in May.
Laura: Yes, there is going to be a release of something that has been our secret. And we will play some festivals in the summer and will have more dates probably in the autumn. So we are going to continue touring and playing!
Interested in seeing what this suprise looks (or sounds) like? Follow Melenas on Instagram and Spotify.