GimEnez Bros.
GimEnez Bros. is a new kind of ambient / instrumental duo- thoughtful, multi-talented and confident. With the debut radio single 'Agatha Christie On Stage' running up the charts, GimEnez Bros. is in a unique position to re-define the genre.
LAUREN: Let's just get this out in the open- What is the craziest thing that has happened to you in your music career?
GIMENEZ BROS.: Well, probably one of the craziest things that's happened to me is falling asleep in my dressing room shortly before I go on air on a live show. This happened at the beginning of the 90s, on the Valencian radio-television channel “Canal 9” (Comunidad Valenciana, Spain). At that time I was playing with a quartet (Drums, Bass, Guitar and me to the synthesizers) in that channel in Joan Monleon's Show, a Monday after an intense weekend in terms of performances, I really arrived without resting to work in the TV, and after the makeup session I fell asleep and locked up in the dressing room until 15 minutes before the live. My colleagues were banging on the door but I didn't wake up until just before the start of the show, with the head of the show already on, I could hear the banging on the door in the distance, and it gave me just enough time to get on stage for the start of the show.
LAUREN: Your song 'Agatha Christie On Stage' is receiving a positive listener response on radio. What was your initial reaction when you first heard your song playing on radio?
GIMENEZ BROS.: It was very rewarding, we were very proud of it, and we wanted to tell all our friends and family about it right away. The truth is that it is very satisfying after a job well done that you can win this contest, even more so if the people who listen to the composition like it, really the prize is double. We know that we are on the right track and this fact gives us strength to continue working on future projects.
LAUREN: What was the inspiration behind your radio single?
GIMENEZ BROS.: The composition is original for symphony orchestra, piano and electronic rock group. It is a work conceived, composed and recorded for the image, produced and recorded by "GimEnez Bros" with a very personal structure and fusion of styles and instrumentation.
The structure is a kind of variation of two themes (exposed by the piano and the electric guitar), with an introduction and an end or "coda", very contrasting between them and of very diverse styles (classical music with tonal, modal and at times atonal language, new age, symphonic rock and electronic music tints), with significant changes of texture, colour, character and tempo. Where, as in A. Christie's novels, emotions or sensations of mystery, intrigue, surprise, action, suspicion, disagreements, tension, etc., come together.
The work aims to pay humble homage to the most important British writer and playwright of the so-called police and crime novel genre, and to her very peculiar narrative style, with its surprising spy and detective stories; where her stories are developed in what is called the whodunit, which allows the reader to test hypotheses and, in short, to try to decipher the identity of the guilty party before finishing the reading of the story.
LAUREN: It is often said that great art arises from difficult experience. Is there something in your life experience thus far that you would describe as the ‘catalyst’ or ‘fuel’ for your desire to create music?
GIMENEZ BROS.: In the beginning when we were teenagers, music was like a game, we had fun playing and creating songs with our friends in different musical groups of all kinds (pop, rock, dance orchestras, classical groups, electronic music, etc.), but with the passing of time, the professionalization and specialization in different areas (interpretation and composition) and musical styles has made us have a more real perspective, reaching the point of not understanding life in any other way than being involved in musical composition one hundred percent.
LAUREN: How would you characterize yourself as an artist/musician?
GIMENEZ BROS.: We are very curious musicians, our eagerness to learn does not stop, that's why we defend ourselves well in different musical disciplines. We are influenced by many and varied musical styles, composition for audiovisual and performing arts demands, such as "classical" music (post-romanticism, neoclassicism, minimalism, etc.), Jazz (swing, big band, fusion, etc.), "commercial" music (pop, rock, electronic, new age, etc.). The truth is that we consider ourselves very eclectic as musicians and composers.
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LAUREN: What has your experience been like working with the other people on your team?
GIMENEZ BROS.: Between siblings there are usually no big problems when it comes to work. Although we live in remote cities (Mallorca and Valencia, Spain) we both have our own home studio, and we share projects and can move them forward separately.
With other artists it is perhaps more complicated sometimes, the collaboration, not flowing equally the understanding although generally there are no big problems and usually they contribute good ideas to our project which enriches us musically and culturally.
LAUREN: Did you come from a musical background? Are there other musicians in your family?
GIMENEZ BROS.: Genetic inheritance is common in the arts, in our case the parental influence is evident.
Our father was a musician by birth, but (for work reasons) when he lost his father as a child and in the post-civil war period in Spain, he had to work in order to survive, he was never able to develop as a professional musician, although he had the conditions and musical skills to do so.
Nowadays, at the age of 84, he plays daily the Spanish guitar, the bandurria (a Spanish instrument similar to the mandolin) and the clarinet. He usually plays in several groups of retired people (wind bands). He is our great support that we have and have always had. Nowadays he is still our engine, and he follows all our musical projects actively.
LAUREN: What do you find most rewarding about being an artist? What do you find most challenging?
GIMENEZ BROS.: The most rewarding thing is to create our own compositions, it is a very personal activity that hooks you and does not let go until the completion of each project in which you are immersed. It also has that addictive component that because we are so perfectionist makes us spare no effort to take time from where it does not exist until we are satisfied with the compositions we set as a goal.
Perhaps the most challenging thing is to be able to transmit, communicate and influence the feelings of the people who listen to our compositions. Being able to get people excited seems to us one of the most rewarding and challenging things we can do.
LAUREN: Who are your role models in music?
GIMENEZ BROS.: They are many and very varied, but to mention some composers that we like and have influenced us through time, as far as OST composers are concerned we could talk about Ennio Morricone, James Horner, Michael Giacchino, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Danny Elfman, Michael Nyman, Jerry Goldsmith, Alexandre Desplat, Bernard Herrmann, Alberto Iglesias or Alan Silvestri, among many others.
In other styles we can mention The Beatles, The Cure, U2, Nina Hagen, The Art of Noise, Kraftwerk, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, etc.
LAUREN: Describe your best or most memorable performance.
GIMENEZ BROS.: It wasn't exactly a performance, it was two collaborations that we made as musicians and arrangers in two works of the great soprano Monserrat Caballé, together with professional symphony orchestras.
In 1996 we collaborated on the CD "Our Christmas Songs" with the Branderburgische Philharmonie Potsdam.
In 1998 we collaborated on the CD "Con todo nuestro corazón" with the SWR Rundfunkorchester Kaiserslautern, both released by BMG Classics (Berlin, Germany).
This great experience marked us a lot as artists, we learned a lot, working side by side with the great diva was really an impressive experience, in a moment of the recording Montserrat Caballé made a turn of voice staying in a very high and soft note, which in the operatic world is difficult to achieve a moment as magical as that, after finishing the recording was applauded by the whole orchestra.
LAUREN: What advice would you give to young, aspiring artists out there who are unsure and need guidance?
GIMENEZ BROS.: That they prepare and train themselves properly and without rushing, along with a lot of work behind them, "success" will come of its own accord if their music is really worth it or brings something different to the current music scene.
We could also point out that they should listen to a lot of music, if possible live. Live music produces in the artist the ability to be more imaginative and creative.
LAUREN: What's next for you as an artist? Is there an album in the works? If so, what can you tell us about it?
GIMENEZ BROS.: The current projects are very varied, on the one hand in the OST section we are working on a feature film called "Walk-in" and a short film called "Velvet" by Spanish filmmaker Antoni Caimari. And in the concert section, a composition for symphonic orchestra inspired by the animated short film "Bacchus" by the director Rikke A. K. Planeta, a composition for soloist Euphonium and string orchestra "Concerto vitale" and a composition for symphonic orchestra and electronic media inspired by the novel "Into the crypt" by H.P. Lovecraft.
We have in mind to publish a musical album gathering our most famous compositions of the last years, but it is still a project, there is nothing defined.
LAUREN: That sounds great! Thank you for giving us more insight into your life as an artist. I wish you much continued success in your career!
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