“Besides driving, everything else on tour was managed by the four of us” – interview with Persefone

Andorra is a tiny nation between France and Spain. Do you know the saying “Good wine comes in small bottles”? Well, good bands come from small countries, and Persefone is one of them. We talked about their releases, upcoming projects and Greek deities when we met them at Wacken Open Air. If you are curious about them and want to know more, check out our interview below:

Hello guys, how are you doing today? 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: We are feeling great and at the same time super exhausted and tired. It’s a mixture of feelings, and we are super excited to be at Wacken again for the second time. We arrived yesterday from a long month U.S. tour. So, still not 100 percent recovered from the jet lag. Not super, you know, we still need to rest a little bit more. But at the same time, we are at Wacken, so we need to enjoy as much as possible. 

As you said, it’s your second time playing in the Holy Ground. How does it feel to be part of such a historical festival?

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: I mean, it’s iconic at some point. And being the fact that we are from such a small country as is Andorra, it feels great and crazy that we’ve been able to make it twice in this iconic and legendary festival, so it feels beautiful. 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: It’s hard to explain, right? It’s huge, and at the same time, it feels like a lot of people let you know and you cross all the time, like, people in the business that you’ve met previously, so it feels like, I don’t want to say like home, because it’s not, you know, like, a familiar place.

Absolutely, yeah. And not long ago you released your EP, “Lingua Ignota, Part 1”. Will there be a Part 2 anytime soon? 

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: Definitely. I don’t think anytime soon. But definitely, yes. There are some releases that we want to do before we continue with the “Lingua Ignota” thing. But definitely we are going to continue that idea in the future with another Part or even more. 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: We don’t know if just one song, one EP, one, I don’t know. So, something will be called Lingua Ignota Part 2, definitely, not now, but in some moments. 

Awesome, I can’t wait to hear it. As you said, you’ve been like, on the road, uh, with the US tour, and you’ve just come back to Europe. What was your favourite thing, being on the road in the US? 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: Uh, one of the best things was meeting the bands that we toured with, you know? Everyone was super nice to us, and we really made really good friendships there, you know? Because when you are touring for a month, obviously you have a lot of time to share, you know, experiences and life with other people. The fact that we were only four people out of six in the band touring, there also was definitely something special, something different that I think made us somehow stronger, you know, cause we did manage everything ourselves. We did the merch. We did the sound. We did the shows. Obviously, but not driving, but besides driving, everything else, what is involved in a tour, was managed only by the four of us and that I think is the most like a particular thing of this tour. 

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: And also the public. Crowds there feel different. Every crowd feels different in every country. We’ve been fortunate enough to play in many, many places. We’ve been in Asia; we’ve been in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe. When every place is great, and everyone used to be happy to see you and express their passion on the shows, you can feel like little differences. And I found people in the U.S. really grateful, uh, to have us there. Everyone was really, I don’t know, talking about the fact that we are really far from home. “Thank you for coming this long to play for us,” and things like that, which was a really beautiful thing. So yeah, definitely, I think that’s the best part. The people you meet and the crowd you have found there. 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: We have a really lovely and caring fan base, I would like to say. They really appreciate everything that we do, and so being able to meet them in person for the first time in some cities has been really nice.

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: Actually, we’re pretty close with the people that come to the show. We spend time with them. We talk a lot. We made some good friends out of people that were fans before. So yeah, that’s a different thing that happens every tour. I mean this one was no different.

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: Definitely, we can see that, you know, because when we have a good show and it’s thanks to the audience mostly, you know. Because we can play the best show ever if the audience doesn’t feel that way or there’s not the feedback that we are waiting for, you know. We can play perfectly, but there’s not the inspiration happening. But some of the shows that we played in the U.S. were probably the best shows that we’ve had. Like playing wise and this connection with the audience, like crazy. We had like a few shows where we were like just smiling and having so much fun on stage, and you could see the crowd having the same intensity and reaction, density and reaction. It was like, this is what we are here for, you know?

What do you think is the most essential, like the most important thing that an artist has to have in 2024? 

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: I think that in 2024, and I’ve said this before, but for an artist, doesn’t matter which art we are talking about. The most important part is to understand that you don’t need to be perfect to be an artist because, in 2024, we are in this age where everything is digital and everyone is portraying themselves as perfect. I think, uh, it’s very important to embrace the fact that art is subjective, art is a living thing, you know, it’s an expression, and it’s okay to express yourself the way you are supposed to. Do not stress too much about it. Try not to be a perfectionist, you know, with all the output. Because perfection doesn’t exist at all. And that I think, is toxic and not really good for the artist. I think being an artist means that you’re brave enough to create something and put it out. And show to the world. And I think in 2024, people, artists need to connect with that bravery and say, “Okay, I did this. I know it’s not perfect. It’s not meant to be perfect. And someone is going to enjoy that”. Be happy with, you know, with all your flaws, and with parts 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: I think there’s too much make-up in social media, and obviously regarding everything that involves music, you know. And so what Carlos said, you know, everything needs to be perfect, the perfect take, with the perfect colour and angle for the video, or whatever. Sometimes it’s just about being natural, raw and sweaty, you know, and yeah, and real on stage. We try to do that. You know, when we played before, I would like to say that years ago we focused too much on the mistakes we made live. And now it’s not that we don’t care because we always make mistakes every gig, obviously. But it’s just so funny now because when I make some mistakes. Carlos is looking at me “What the fuck happened, bro”? And we just make fun, you know, the other day, in the, ah, where was that? I don’t know what scene it was, but I was like, Filipe was playing in front of me, you know, like headbanging and I’m trying just to impress him doing like fucking stupid things, like crossing the sticks and stuff, just to make fun, you know, in the song. One drumstick just fell and I started playing with one hand. The craziest situation in life, and it was so funny, and we don’t care, and we don’t give a shit about it, you know, but, like, maybe years ago, we were like, “Oh, fuck, what happened there, you know, this mistake”, and now it’s like, just a funny story, you know, like, we had so much fun on stage now, uh, and we just focus on this connection and this authenticity, you know, with the crowd and ourselves, that’s the important thing.

If I’m not mistaken, this year you’re celebrating 20 years of your career. The first record, I think, was released in 2004, right? Do you have anything, so like, a celebration show, perhaps?

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: No, but at the same time, we played in Andorra for the first time in 10 years. And it was like kind of a celebration of the band since it was like a gathering of friends and family. And playing there for the first time, we were offered to play in the music hall with the National Orchestra. So it was like a really different show from what we are used to doing, you know. And we recorded the whole thing. We had David Castillo, our producer from Lingua Ignota and Metanoia there, and it was a really nice evening, you know, with with friends, family, and some fans across Europe that came to the show. We could say that was kind of a celebration of the band’s history, you know, even if it was not meant to be like this is the 20th anniversary of the first album really. But it felt like that. 

What kinds of questions don’t you like to answer?

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: Oh, the stupid ones. No, I mean, no, not that, I mean, the stupid funny ones.

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: “Tell me about the name Persefone“, sure. But like we’ve answered this question so many times.

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: Sometimes you, you receive like so many. You can tell that the interviewer really didn’t put any effort into that. What do you have to say about your last album? Tell me about the story of the band. 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: Or just… “So, Andorra, huh?” No question. “Tell me about Andorra“. Bro… tell me a little bit about the US you know, it’s like, what kind of question is this? It’s weird, you know, we are always super nice with everyone. We try to be, you know, we know this kind of PR is important for the band, but we really like to have that conversation like we are doing right now and not feeling like this is an interview, you know? Just super stock questions and super everything is so studied. And even the answers, like, it’s better to just have a conversation with someone, you know? 

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: I think the answer is we don’t like to answer boring questions. Because people will spend their time probably reading this, so let’s talk about something that is interesting.

What is your favourite pasta topping?

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: I really like puttanesca. Pesto is good, but the garlic it fucks my stomach. The carbonara is good, I like the spicy one, the arrabbiata.

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: I love pesto and carbonara.

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: Bolognese is overrated, in my opinion. Whatever. I mean, I stay with those two. Puttanesca is the best for me. I do it sometimes at home. 

So, I want to play a little game with you, and it’s not about the name Persephone. 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: Okay, we want to win the game, okay? So, what’s the prize? 

We could actually maybe have some prizes. When you come to play in Italy, I will be very happy to take you to the best pizza place.

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: Oh, thank you so much. This is like the best prize. Food is the top-of-the-chain prize ever. We’ve played in Italy before, obviously, but not as much as we’d love to, you know? And we know we have a super lovely Italian fan base, because our third record worked really well in Italy, and it was released in Italy by an Italian record company. But we’ve only played in Milano lately. So hopefully we can do more shows there. We’d love to. 

I will give you some names of Greek gods and for each, you will have to maybe associate a song by yourself, a song that would appeal to them or maybe that they would like. Let’s start with God Zeus.

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: The fact that we did the second album based on Greek mythology, like, the whole thing, is something to do with that. “Katabasis“. 

How about the wife of Zeus? Hera. 

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: “Conciousness” 

How about Poseidon, the god of the seas? 

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: “Living Waves“. 

Apollo, the god of music. 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer: “Vacuum“. 

Artemis, which is the God of hunting. 

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: “Shin-ken Part 1“.

Thank you for taking the time to do this. Is there anything else that you want to add to our readers?

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: Enjoy your life, don’t think too much. Be safe, smile and eat a lot of ice cream. 

Sergi “Bobby” Verdeguer:Drink still water. Not sparkling water and ice cream every day. Try to sleep at least eight hours. That’s a very good tip. If you can. 

Carlos Lozano Quintanilla “Rüdiger”: And tell your mom you love her. And whenever you cross the street, look both sides.

Persefone have recently released a new EP, and you can listen to it here: