Author: Chiara Del Zanno

Joaquin Morodo, born in Madrid in 1983, grew up with a particular love for Italy (he lives in Milan) and for the overwhelming pop culture of the 80s/90s. «Beve» immediately everything that the brothers listen, from disco to latin to – obviously – a lot of rock; the one of the bands that have marked an entire generation and, in some way, pays homage today to the group Joaquin Moro & The Glaze Friendz. After the first Ep “I Don’t Believe In You”, they are ready for live performances. Almost in the wake of the brilliance that made history with Grease, that glaze tells how style can become an attitude, a way of being: fresh, shiny, cool.

Let’s start from the beginning: Madrid of those years and the discovery of your passions.

I started my modelling career at the age of 16, as well as traveling early and living in various cities. Then I went back to Madrid to study law, before this job ever became a profession it took quite a while….

How much of the pop art what You grew up with, did you bring into your art?

For me it was an exponential influence. I was trying to translate what I had inside in a very light and spontaneous way. I’m the youngest of four siblings, I took in everything they listened to.

“We really like the idea of paying homage to the bands of our musical culture”

We can hear it a lot in a track “30 Something”, which attacks just by winking at the American pop punk of that period. Is that intentional?

Absolutely. Together with Kid Riff, the guitarist, we have fun fishing and dredging up the emotions that we have gone through in years. He started playing thanks to bands like Blink 182 or Green Day. We really like the idea of paying homage to the bands of our musical culture.

In that piece you say, “I’m 30 years old and I still don’t know anything”: is that a generational feeling?

It is a thought that follows me every day. I don’t think I’m the only one thinking this way. Being a curious person makes me feel ignorant more and more each day. The piece is tied to the age I live in now, but also to a certainty of never knowing enough.

Joaquin Morodo & The Glaze Friendz: is there a story behind this name?

Glaze stands for varnished, I created a concept around that idea. I guess I am not the only one to pass a layer of glossy paint like in works of art. Glaze is the finishing touch that polishes artwork, but also the mood. We use this word among ourselves every day: “that guy is very glaze”, meaning shiny, fresh, cool.

You are always referred to as an experimental band. Do you think that’s correct?

No, actually disappoints me, but I think it refers to the fact that we play many different genres.

“Glaze is the finishing touch that polishes artwork, but also the mood”

Actually I find this summer’s exhibition very experimental (“Humano Multi-sensorial Experience”), a multi-sensory journey where chromatic input meets your soundtrack.

I agree, it was our first exhibition, and we created ad hoc soundtrack connected to the  artworks. The common denominator is wanting to bring out plastic and musical art together.

Why a title like “I Don’t Believe In You”?

Each of us has heard it, even in an indirect way. How are you going to do this? How are you going to make a living out of it? In my opinion, however, with dedication and hard work anything is possible.

Kind of like saying, “You don’t believe in me? Then here’s this album for you.” The cover is your own artwork, what does it represent?

It’s inspired by the goddess of justice, it’s directly connected to the concept of the title, because you ask yourself: “Is it fair that you don’t believe in me?” I am convinced that real talent will come out sooner or later.

Which artists really made you fall in love with music?

Strauss, Verdi, Mozart, Bach, Yann Tiersen, Jean-Michel Jarre. I also like Tupac, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Strokes and Arctic Monkeys. Talking about Italian musicians I’d like to mention Paco De Lucía, Camarón and Nino Bravo – who plays guitar as no-one else. I could go on about flamenco for hours.

Credits

Talent Joaquin Morodo & The Glaze Friendz

Editor in Chief Federico Poletti

Text Chiara del Zanno

Photographer Federica Livia

Stylist Simone Folli

Stylist assistant Nadia Mistri

Grooming Alessia Motti

Opening image: Kid Riff wears jacket and boots Gaëlle Paris, trousers GMS7; Joaquin wears total look Gaëlle Paris; Maximiliano wears total look Gaëlle Paris, boots Gianvito Rossi

Born in 1993, producer, DJ, musician, sound designer contaminated by fashion and cinema, Thomas Costantin is an aesthete in the absolute sense. He has absorbed so many different artists and influences that, paradoxically, he never gives in to the temptation to emulate anyone. Only David Bowie, he says, has influenced him ‘always and forever’. He calls himself ‘The Man in Red’, but he is also the man of mystery.

In you the producer feeds off the musician and the DJ, but also conceptual art, fashion, the cinephile…

It’s all very natural for me. I forced myself from a young age to think that even though music is my passion, it has to be an all-round job, not a weekend passion.

Could you ever fit into one dimension?

Every time I tried, I wasn’t happy. I get bored easily. I am now working on three records by other artists, all completely different.

How did the nickname “Man in Red” come about? Do you still feel it is yours?

Absolutely, yes. It is not my alter ego, but a colour that characterizes me, it gives me a slightly magical feeling. Then “Man in Red” also became the name of a project I started with NFT. It is a colour but also a bit of my signature.

“I work at night, so with everything to do with movement, looks, outfits, all aspects that belong to me”

Let’s talk about the relationship that You, as an artist, have built with your body, a constant tool, sometimes serving as a dummy or palette. Has it always been like that?

Let’s say yes, although I wouldn’t call myself an exhibitionist. I have always been a lover of dance though, and then I work at night, so with everything to do with movement, looks, outfits, all aspects that belong to me but must never be vulgar or sexually too explicit.

Speaking of nightlife: club music is still associated with B-list entertainment. What do you think of this stereotype?

That it is a bit Italian, because in the rest of the world great importance is given to the genre. Just think of all the international electronic music festivals. In France, Germany or the UK clubbing is part of the popular culture, here at some point this idea has been abandoned.

“I don’t have a single stylistic vision, as always, I let myself be contaminated by several things”

In your latest album, Destination Experience, I have the impression that the rhythm you seek becomes more and more pounding and percussive. Almost as if digitization was being taken to extremes…

Think that the record is actually analogue. The album was worked with an analogue chain (an upgrade made from digital to analog made possible by collaboration with producer Francesco Frilli at the Heavy Soul Studio in Florence), so there is a different sound than usual. More present, however, is the concept of the loop, which becomes almost a mantra. There are pieces, such as “Melted Music”, which touch on rhythms that are unheard of to me, almost a minimalist reggaeton, or “Big Mess” and “Stolen Season2, which have almost pop overtones, with verse, refrain and synth repeating a leitmotif; or “Space Vertigo”, in which there is even a poem, with a parallelism between states of consciousness and exploration linked to the psychedelic world.

How did consulting for fashion houses come about? The sound designer is not really a well-known figure…

I don’t have a single stylistic vision, as always, I let myself be contaminated by several things. For music creatives, fashion is a very open context in which there is great demand. Indeed the figure of the sound designer is little known, although it is essential because, behind the image of a fashion brand, there is always a musical world, for example Gucci or Balenciaga.

“The world of eroticism is very important for human beings, it is also what pushes us forward a bit”

Your main focus is David Bowie, why?

His figure is incredible because, before he became a phenomenon, nobody gave a shit about him, he did a lot of unprecedented things, with a totally unconventional vision. A great admiration was born in me for the non-bourgeois, truly rock’n’roll artist. Bowie only cared about his music, he ignored the market, as Mina always did in Italy.

In your songs I find an erotic, even pornographic dimension. In the collective imagination the artist feeds on his own suffering, are you inspired more by pain or eros?

By eros, absolutely. There will probably be a part of my career also inspired by sadness and suffering, but today I am in an age of ‘extreme’ discovery. The world of eroticism is very important for human beings, it is also what pushes us forward a bit, like clubbing.

Credits

Talent Thomas Costantin

Editor in Chief Federico Poletti

Text Chiara Del Zanno

Photographer Cuba Tornado Scott

Art direction Daniele Cavalli

Location Studio Abside (Florence)