Luis Gabriel Illades has made a name for himself as drummer for the famous (and, some might say, notorious), legendary queercore act Pansy Division who have shocked audiences with their TMI descriptions of gay sex. Additionally, Illades, alongside fellow Pansy Division member Joel Reader, has been a member of legendary punk band The Avengers since 2004, a band who were one of the very first punk acts to come out of California back in the 1970s. Now, after years sitting at the back of some of the most important punk bands in history, Illades is stepping out on his own with his new project, Vida Vella.
“I’d always been comfortable in the background as the drummer, compartmentalising my pull to speak and write,”explains Illades about his new project. “Once I stopped pushing this voice to the side I found so much to write about and the ability to bring together musicians from both sides of the U.S./Mexico border to collaborate in something resembling a brotherhood. I was really taken aback by the support and willingness to participate on Panorama from people I have been playing with for years. Never did I think that taking the leap to find my voice would be so well received and rewarding.”
Having grown up close to the border of the U.S. and Mexico in Tijuana, Illades’ bilingual background shows up in this project with songs in Spanish and English, with even the name, “Vida Vella,” being an almost Spanglish phrase from the region where Illades grew up. Vida Vella’s debut album, Panorama, due out on March 21 as the debut release from new label Beso Y Abrazo, explores universal themes from romantic vulnerability to the creeping fear of the apocalypse, making the album an intensely emotional rollercoaster.
“Outside of music, my work as a psychotherapist brought me to a place of finding common emotional themes regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status etc,” says Illades. “Finding the true common elements of the human condition and choosing to write about the emotional elements that we all share. This has been the inspiration for the lyrical content of this album.”
Today, we’re debuting the videos for Vida Vella’s singles “Being Born” and “Nacemos” off of Panorama, which are the same song in English and Spanish. With an almost sultry quality to the soulful track, it becomes a celebration of life and human connection. The video, which features a lot of scenes of people exchanging tender and emotional touch between them, seems to express that need for intimacy and, at the same time, a reminder that we’re alive.
“We filmed most of the footage in León, Guanajuato,” Illades explains about the video, “while we were in the studio and the footage is of various forms of couples showing a wide range of demonstrations of what intimacy can be: community, friendship, companionship, sensuality, camaraderie. The gestures of displaying one’s love and tenderness before thousands of people contrasted with images of the softness of human companionship and the display of singular fantasy and desire in one’s imagination. I’ve always been a fan of “in the studio: behind the scenes” footage and felt a lightness in sharing this footage that demonstrates a musical community coming together to create something tender and joyful.
“I’ve been touring and making records in the US and Europe for three decades and put together a team of some of my favourite American independent musicians over the years,” Illades continues, “while also bringing in some musicians I’d met in León and trying to put together a brotherhood of a project that best represents my existence and bicultural history. This song and video are a sweet demonstration of all the musicians: the indie rock band’s guitar and bass or the orchestration of violins, cellos, trumpets, tubas and saxophones that emerged as a result of meeting in the studio and quickly forming a communication between new friends from either side of the border. It was something special to bring together these gringo rockers, members of the Guanajuato State Band and other regional players.”
Check out the videos below.
You can preorder your copy of Panorama from Beso Y Abrazo. Follow Vida Vella on Instagram for future updates.
