Cover photo: Babeth Letter
Behind the name Principe Valiente, we can find a Swedish dark pop (now) duo that started their career in 2005 with a more shoegaze sound and has ended up getting closer and closer to a melancholic dream pop as it can be seen in their fifth album, In This Light, released this year. About this last work, among other things, we have talked in this detailed interview (which contains a scoop!!!) with Fernando Honorato and Jimmy Ottosson. Add them to the list of bands that you should not miss at the Santuario festival to be held on November 23rd in Madrid.
—Fernando, you have said repeatedly that the name Principe Valiente has no relation with Hal Foster’s comic book, but do you like it anyway? Why did you choose a Spanish name for a Swedish band? Do people pronounce it correctly back home?
—Fernando: Principe Valiente simply means “Brave prince” in Spanish. I think the words have a nice ring to it and at the same time a slightly deeper meaning. For me, the name represents the romantic illusion that us as individuals hope somehow that someone will come and save us. The great Love, a guide, or some other form of security that may never come. Or a knight or prince. This sums up the somewhat dark in our sound as well but at the same time without losing hope.
It is very true that it’s also a cartoon by Hal Foster. However, I have no connection to that series, (never read them actually) but of course it happens that people connect the name with it from time to time, but not always. It has nothing to do with it anyway. Rather, parallels can be drawn to the French book “Le Petit Prince” (The Little Prince), which I read a lot during my childhood.
People often pronounce it correctly actually but often also as Princípe, with accentuation on the “i” there, but it doesn’t matter to me. It’s also quite fun when people think I refer to myself as the “brave prince” which is not the case. Or say “Prince Valentine”, or “Principal Valle, Vallie.. Valo? What was it again..?” I just find it a bit hilarious. But, actually it was our former drummer way back, one of my best friends, a Swedish guy who’s lived in both Mexico and Spain who came with the name suggestion. And I thought it was great.
—You are from Chile, do you have any influence or have followed any scene from there?
—Fernando: I did not follow any scene directly but on some unconscious level I do believe I have some influences from the folklore music from there somehow. Nothing I can pinpoint like that but some of the melodies I come up with during the song making process can remind me of old stuff like that.
—How did you get into shoegaze? What do you think about the style being popular again between teenagers thanks to TikTok?
—Fernando: Oh, I didn’t know about the new popularity thing due to TikTok. But it is a good thing, I guess?
For me, it was back in high school when I discovered My Bloody Valentine (among pretty much other stuff from different genres back then) and I remember thinking it was quite interesting, that out of tune-dreamy vibe-thing. But it took several years for me to appreciate it much more on a personal level and actually apply that to my own writing. I also discovered (many years after high school) bands like Slowdive, Ride and a quite unknown band from San Diego called Bethany Curve which I really enjoyed. So, the combination of those ingredients with the Joy Division vibe (mostly the dark voice and heavy bass), The Cure and Suede made me feel that I wanted to write music with all those influences.
—Jimmy: That whole shoegaze scene peaked in the early nineties, right when I was in that very susceptible age, the early teenage years. I remember the day I heard The Jesus & Mary Chain for the first time in a horror movie, I was around twelve. It sounded so massive, sexy and dangerous like nothing I ever heard before that, and that’s how it all started.
I did not know shoegaze was popular on TikTok, I guess there is some hope for the kids then!
—Fernando, you started the band in 2005. How was this first incarnation of the band that we can hear in the first EP from 2 years later?
—Fernando: As I have said before, the early demos were much more shoegazey than how the first EP came to be. Some guitar elements went still quite shoegazy though but much less.
Back then, we were a trio with completely different members and if I remember it right (time pass you know :)) I wanted to have the shoegaze elements blended with also a more minimalistic vibe (weird combination, there were pretty different things there), I was also at that time more into bands like Arab Strap and Tindersticks as well, so under the mixing process I realized I was quite comfort with that more “airy/more quiet” sound in some way. After that EP, we changed guitar player again (to Alex) and the more like 4-guitar at the same time-sound went more established again.
—What happened from the first EP to the first full album? There was a four-year gap between both works.
—Fernando: That’s correct. We changed guitar player and then tried some drummers so there’s three drummers on different tracks on the first album. I guess we needed that time to try out more how we (I) wanted to sound. We didn’t have a record deal either and the other members had other works and studies going on, so the priority wasn’t that high, besides of my own ambition. But it resulted quite well in the end, also the mixing process took time, due to having no budget and I really was learning more properly all about recording and the mixing journey, which it all took time.
—Before the second album, guitar player Jimmy Ottosson became part of the band and now we can say that he is the other half. What do you think that he has added to Principe Valiente?
—Fernando: He has added very much to the band, of course, he is the master mind in the studio and the producer (although we are both producers). His knowledge about how to reach a specific sound both on guitars and during a production in the studio is much more advanced than mine, he also writes a lot of the embryos to songs which I put together to actual songs. So, we complete each other in a very unique way.
—The first two albums are a bit more shoegaze, but later the music has become a bit more post-punk or even dream pop. What has taken the band in a different direction? I guess that Oceans was the first album in that direction, a bit more atmospheric with influences of Cocteau Twins. From here also the keyboards are more prominent.
—Fernando: Jimmy’s songwriting has more of those dream pop elements than mine, and some of those ideas could really resonate with the both of us, so those became songs in the end. And that’s a correct analysis, Oceans is more like that because it’s the first album where Jimmy plays guitars on all tracks. On Choirs… it was still Alex, besides of the track “The Fighting” with Jimmy and also his first written song with us, although he helped us with the recordings and the mixing of most of the tracks. We also had Ed Buller (producer/mixer of Suede and Slowdive among others) on mix for some tracks and Mattias Svensson, who mixed the first album.
—You like to be labelled dark pop. Do you consider pop as the art of making good melodies? Are the melodies one of the most defining aspects of the band, according to you?
—Fernando: Yeah, we got that label from a TV show in Germany (if I remember it correctly) back in 2011. And then it spread itself to magazines and music blogs etc through the years. In my opinion it’s a quite good description. And yeah, I’ve become more and more melody thinking in my writing, compared to think just in chords as I used to. But most of all guitar melodies have been written by the guitar players, of course.
—Jimmy, you have been collecting studio gear for more than two decades. I guess it’s something normal in a band where the sound is so important. What’s the gear that has been used in these last albums?
—Jimmy: Collecting might not be the exact verb, but obsessing over sound might be. The production part of music has been an interest for almost as long as writing and playing songs. Although we used some outboard gear in the production, I think most of the sound comes from the instruments, effect pedals and plugins. Mixing acoustic drums with a drum machine has a big part of the feel of this record compared to the previous ones.
—According to an interview, your guitar playing has been influenced by the Paisley Underground scene and some 60s psychedelic music. I guess that the use of 12-string guitars and mellotrons come from here. What artists have influenced you from these scenes?
—Jimmy: The early shoegaze bands sounded a lot like sixties psychedelic garage bands with a late eighties/early nineties production. The Paisley Underground bands were more of a strict revival of that scene, sound wise colored by the times but not as saturated as the bands who took it to the next level, bands like Ride… So, I guess you could indirectly blame The Beatles and The Byrds for me using a Rickenbacker 12-string on this record. The Mellotron could be viewed more like an effect than an instrument. It outputs anything you put into it with some modulated tape warble.
—Although most of Barricades was composed before the Pandemic, do you think that it was an album that resonates especially with the situation we were living?
—Fernando: Well, good question. For me I don’t think so, but due to the quarantine back then, we had to record most of that album from home. And it was the first time for me to do that. I recorded plenty of the keyboards on Choirs… from home I remember, but on Barricades it was the first time I also did the bass and all the vocals like that, and by myself. So, it was a good way to learn more about proper home recording, and with great assistance from Jimmy as well from a distance.
—Jimmy: I can’t recall the pandemic having any real effect on that record at all, just that there was a lot of fear and anxiety in the air generally at that time and everyone just assuming that everything was affected by it. Sweden did not have any real quarantine and no restrictions to gather in small groups. I think that the fact I moved away from Stockholm had a lot more to do with us recording everything from home.
Photo: Xavier Marquis
—Talking about the lyrics, Fernando, you have said that they are personal and based on your own experience, Is there any aspect of your life that you don’t want to express in the lyrics? You said that they are never about politics, why?
—Fernando: I thought about that on Barricades actually due to the post-covid shit I’ve had for years now (but I’ve been doing quite better since more than a year now). Something I’ve struggled with on my own, and just didn’t find it interesting to write songs about that, for example.
The political part, as well there, in my opinion I don’t find it as interesting as subjects like relationships or how you experience the world and life in general. I think other bands are better to write about politics than me. Even though everything is politics somehow. But I let that to other artists.
—In Barricades, Fernando, you said that you sang a different way, more balanced. What do you mean with this?
—Fernando: I just didn’t have the need to shout out on every song as often as before I think. Both due to the fact that I’ve been more balanced in life and less frustrated about stuff in general, but also the simple thing that I’ve had more time to listen and think more in detail about the way I sing since I could do it from home now. Also, the aspect that I didn’t want to repeat myself and just try new ways after three albums.
—Why did you choose Mr. Mister’s “Broken Wings” for a cover? Do you really like the song or was it just a nostalgic thing?
—Fernando: We were asked by an American label to cover a classic 80’s track for a compilation. And they sent us a list to choose from. One of them was “Broken Wings”, but also the great song “Boys Of Summer” by Don Henley. I, though, have a personal relation to “Broken Wings” since the movie Top Gun and I associate it to my childhood. So, I chose it. Only me actually, since the band didn’t care, ha-ha, but they let me anyway embrace that and do something anyway. With Jimmy’s help of course on the mixing and mastering, and adding some few atmospheric guitars there as well. It’s a great track, for me in a more nostalgic way, so yes. That compilation wasn’t though ever released, but our German label was open to release the song as a “rare track” digital.
—Jimmy: If I have known that this song would forever be associated and confused with our artistic output, I would have turned it down for sure. It was supposed to be a playful, almost ironic showcase of us producing something really cheesy for a specific purpose outside everything else we do.
Photo: Torsten Geyer
—To celebrate the 10 years of the release of your first album, the band released an EP of stripped-down versions of five of the songs. How did you get the idea of doing this? Do you think that those songs have changed after playing them live so much?
—Fernando: Actually, it was an idea from our German record label. They drew attention to the record’s 10th anniversary and suggested us to do alternative/more naked versions of some of the songs. And since I’ve been working with both “Broken Wings” and some other tracks for a future solo album, I was in the flow of thinking in more different ways about songwriting. The album was mixed by Adam Stilson in Chicago (who mixed Barricades) and we also got guested by Jonathon T. Freund from band Pixel Grip on saxophone on the version of “Before You Knew Me”. It was a very interesting thing to try out actually. But also there, the EP was more of a solo thing, but the band were alright with that.
—What happened to the rest of the band before the recording of the last album?
—Fernando: We just didn’t get along anymore, regarding the creative process, things took time, bad priority etc, and also me being a bit a pain in the ass in their opinion and different ways of seeing the new ideas. So, I actually split the band at the end of 2022. No hard feelings now though. A few months after that I realized we had some scheduled shows so I began to think if we could at least do them, with other musicians or what the solution could be. It resulted in Jimmy and I reconciling and we decided to give it a try the two of us with synths & drums on tracks and try it out. Since we also know other bands in our kind of genre do the same thing. The result were quite good and very appreciated by the audience, so we have continued with that recipe since then. But it’s not impossible that we may have live drums/keys again in the future, it would depend on the type of shows we get.
—Jimmy: What he said. I think we had a couple of bad years, with the process of the previous record pushing everyone over the edge. Fernando proposed that we ended the project and everybody agreed right away without any further discussion. I also think that Fernando’s new and ongoing solo project has let out a lot of steam from this band, as he has a place to work freely with ideas without pushback or criticism from other members. Is this the first time this is officially mentioned by the way? A scoop!
—I read in an interview that two of you live on the opposite coasts of the country. How do you manage to work together? Although, as you said before, you already worked from distance on the previous album?
—Fernando: Yeah, I live in Stockholm and Jimmy has been living in the south of the country, Trollhättan near Gothenburg since many years. Rebecka was based in Berlin as well since many years when she was in the band, but it never was an issue. For the songwriting me and Jimmy send ideas through Dropbox and record stuff from home, it works pretty well. And then we meet and rehearse before recording more properly. It’s the same before shows, we rehearse by ourselves from home and then meet up a few days before a tour or single show and do a more structured rehearsal session.
On both Barricades and In This Light, we recorded them from home. The drums on Barricades were though recorded at our old rehearsal place here in Stockholm. We were lucky then to be able to do it quite exactly before the restrictions took place here back in 2020.
—Jimmy: We usually don’t jam out songs anyway, so it is actually not that different. Most of everything we did even before me moving away came from sending ideas to each other back and forth.
—Do you consider In this light is a bit more colourful, less dark than previous albums? How do you see your last album inside your discography?
Photo: Babeth Letter
—Fernando: The process of this album went very fast in comparison to how we’ve worked before. Most because now it was just the two of us but also because we were really
creative like every single day for about four months and then suddenly we had an album finished! So, the process was more joyful and that was perhaps reflected in how the results became in the end.
In my own opinion, this album is the best we’ve done, followed by Choirs Of Blessed Youth on second place. But those things are very individual, there’s no rights or wrongs there, just own opinions.
—The new album has been released again by Metropolis Records. Do you think that it’s the perfect label for a band like yours? Do you follow any other of the bands of the label?
—Fernando: Metropolis do a great job, even though I can feel we are more of an indie/post punk band compared to other bands on their catalogue, but I think it’s a positive thing that we have a label in the US pushing our music more over there.
Not that much until we did collaborations with other label mates for our recently released remix EP. So yeah, they have great bands there as well.
—This year we also interviewed Girls Under Glass, They made a remix for your last EP and Fernando is singing in the next album of the Germans. How was this collaboration born?
—Fernando: One of the band members there reached out and asked about my opinion on collaborating in one of their tracks. I was, of course, very flattered about it and then he sent me a pretty decent recording of the track, very shoegazy but in a darker way that really resonated with me, so I gave it a try. I haven’t heard the final results yet but the song itself is awesome. Let’s see about the results soon!
After that (or if it was before they asked me to contribute? :)) we were looking for bands who would be interested in remixing our songs, and they were one of the choices, and the results went awesome.
—What are the plans of the band for the future?
—Fernando: Well, we are already working on new songs and have some shows scheduled for this fall. I’ve also done a remix for the LA band Magic Wands which I hope would be released in the near future. I also collaborated with some vocals on that track. So, let’s see. I also have a solo album going on, but more about that in another context.
—Jimmy: Try to keep being creative and to have a lot of fun.
—What can we expect of your concert at Santuario?
—Fernando: Hopefully we can try out a more specific stage idea we’ve been thinking about with the lights & smoke arrangements. And to of course perform some of the tracks from our latest album for the Spanish audience, which we did at both WGT Festival and Amphi in Germany during the summer.
And also see other bands, I’ve been a big fan of Tempers since some years and also re-unite with Sisters Of Mercy which we did a small tour with here in Scandinavia for six shows in 2022.
—Jimmy: Expect to dance frantically and dream away interchangeably!
