Interview: Seis Cuerdas

Dan McAvinchey: Martin, what was the driving force behind your 2018 recording, "Sep7imo"?

Martin Etcheverry: We felt it was the right time for us to make a new album, "Fusion" our previous album had been released in 2012, since then, many things happened musically, also on a personal level, but for some reason, it wasn't the right time to record a new album up until 2018. The songs started to come together, and when we listened to the demos we felt we had a strong album, so we decided to do it.

Dan McAvinchey: Martin, how would you say "Sep7imo" differs from your previous six albums?

Martin Etcheverry: That's an interesting question... the big difference is that on "Sep7imo" we decided to record less guitars, we did significantly less overdubbing and left more room in the mix so each guitar had its own space. Another big difference is that we recorded most of the basic tracks live, and left some of the "mistakes" in there. Also, another interesting approach was that Ezequiel did some percussion using the body of the guitar - we have never done that before.

Dan McAvinchey: Ezequiel, what you think is responsible for the incredible musical synergy between you and your brother Martin on "Sep7imo"?

Ezequiel Etcheverry: Well, thank you for the nice compliment! The fact that we are brothers in our case plays a big... wait, a huge part in our chemistry when we play. We really don't think why or how things happen musically between us, but they just happen - and we feel very blessed for that. Martin brings a guitar riff, i put a melody on top, and the next day, it s the other way around. We make a great team and the best part is that it's very natural.

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Dan McAvinchey: What were your personal musical goals for the project when you started?

Ezequiel Etcheverry: We just wanted to create a strong album, but even more organic than our previous releases, and I'm very happy we have achieved it.

Martin Etcheverry: When you compose and play music for a living, you want that music to be heard among many other things, so releasing another album in our career is always a new goal.

Dan McAvinchey: Technically, is it a challenge for you to play the material on "Sep7imo"?

Martin Etcheverry: Mmmm... to be honest, any Seis Cuerdas' song from any of our albums is a bit challenging to play live due to the amount of guitars on the recording, so we have to pick the ones that can be stripped down to two guitars and still keep the essence of the song. The good thing about it, is that when we play them live, the energy between us is such that you can hardly notice the difference.

Ezequiel Etcheverry: It's funny because in the process of doing that I end up playing parts that Martin did on the album and he plays my parts! Hahahaha!

Dan McAvinchey: How did you two divide up the songwriting duties?

Martin Etcheverry: Like we said before, one day I write a song, next day Ezequiel does and one day we both throw ideas around and compose a song... there is really no system.

Dan McAvinchey: What were the methods used to write and record the songs on the album?

Ezequiel Etcheverry: It's a very simple set up. We record each guitar using two microphones, one to capture the body of the sound and the other more for definition. We run everything on Pro Tools.

Martin Etcheverry: As for the writing process, whenever there is an idea floating around, we record it as a demo and then shape it into a full song. Sometimes we get carried away and end up writing very long songs!

Dan McAvinchey: "Contra Viento y Marea" is over eight minutes long, who is the songwriter for that track?

Ezequiel Etcheverry: I believe Martin came up with the main riff and we took it from there, i added melodies and pieces here and there.

Martin Etcheverry: Yeah, we did get carried away on that one! Hahahaha!

Dan McAvinchey: How has the response been when you've perform your new tracks live?

Martin Etcheverry: It's been quite great actually, we did an European tour last September/October to support the release. We played in countries we had never played before like Russia, Latvia, Lithuania - and the response was amazing!

Dan McAvinchey: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us about your remarkable careers - so, what is next on the horizon for you both?

Ezequiel Etcheverry: 2018 was quite an interesting year for us, many good things but also many challenging things happened, so we expect 2019 to be a more settled year. We are building our tour itinerary as we speak - Europe and Eastern Europe will be on the schedule.

Martin Etcheverry: We did a video for the song "Caras Mas Caras" (you can watch it here) and we are planning to promote it everywhere we can.

Ezequiel Etcheverry: Also, we will most likely cut a few more videos to promote the songs from "Sep7imo". (www.seiscuerdas.net)

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LA-based flamenco/metal guitar duo Seis Cuerdas have already built a remarkable career with seven albums to their credit, including their most recent release, "Sep7imo". Brothers Martin and Ezequiel Etcheverry have strong technical chops and a near-telepathic chemistry between them that really drives their music.

Dan McAvinchey recently conducted a virtual interview with the Etcheverry brothers to discuss their 2018 album, live performance, and songwriting and recording methods.