Let’s go

Wednesday, September 18, 2024 | Updated 09/19/2024 07:54h.

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‘Shock’ in Basque music: Gatibu has decided to put an end to its career after 25 years at the forefront in which it has made its mark in Basque pop rock. As announced by its members on Wednesday, they will say goodbye to their public with a final concert on December 13, 2025 at the BEC, in what will be a multitudinous celebration of their quarter-century of songs and a successful musical career. It remains to be seen whether this last party will be preceded by a tour or by some previous recording work as a finishing touch to the band’s career. In the meantime, tickets for the final concert will go on sale next Monday 23 at 08.00h on the group’s website.

“We’re leaving on top,” boast the Guernicans in an interview with EL CORREO in the same pavilion of the Bizkaia Arena where they will say agur at a time of great commercial recognition in their career, and leaving behind a handful of songs that are already part of popular Basque culture. They will do so under the heading ‘Agur esan barik’, a verse from their song ‘Muzturrek sartunde’, with which they became known at the beginning of the century. “Now that we had learned to play well, we’re going to leave it,” jokes Gaizka Salazar, drummer since the band’s first album (‘Zoramena’, 2002). “Yes, now is when we sound the best. But at some point it had to be,” replies Haimar Arejita, guitarist since the beginning.

The other co-founder of the group, its charismatic frontman, Alex Sardui, explains that the three members agreed to take a definitive break, which will also coincide with Gatibu’s 25-year career: “But it was not something they were looking for, it could have been with the 14th anniversary, the 18th or the 23rd.” The fact is that they are hanging up their guitars, being consistent with the feeling of the end of a cycle that they have experienced in recent times. “It is a definitive goodbye, we do not plan to return later,” Arejita concludes. They all agree that it has been many years of journey and the fatigue was already significant, so it was better to stop at a critical moment.

They do not yet know whether they will extend the farewell with a tour or a new album, so they refer to this farewell concert at the Bizkaia Arena at the BEC. “The important moment of this farewell will be the concert on December 13, 2025 at the BEC. That is what is important. We want people to know when we are leaving so that they can decide if they come to say goodbye,” Sardui sums up. It will be then when, in front of thousands of people, they will review classic songs from the ten albums, an adventure that has lasted much longer than the founding members of Gatibu imagined.

The band members in the stands of the Bizkaia Arena where they will say goodbye to their fans next year. Y. Iturgaiz

«We never thought we would reach 25 years without any kind of break», admits the guitarist, while for the drummer the whole journey has been an experience worth enjoying: «It has been brutal from the very beginning, the first album was already a hit and up to this day it has been non-stop concerts and we have never rested». Among the memorable moments, Alex Sardui mentions the success of ‘Zoramena’, playing in San Mamés in front of 40,000 people or that when presenting the third LP live at the Azoka in Durango the people already knew all the songs in full.

“Or the first time we filled the Santana hall two nights in a row or when we sold 4,000 or so records at the Azoka,” adds Arejita. The worst moment, however, is clear to all three and is recent: the sudden death last February of Mikel Caballero, the band’s bassist from 2000 to 2022, which was a hard personal blow for everyone.

Spanish guitars, cassettes and joints

Looking back at the band’s genesis, Sardui and Arejita recall how they would get together at night in a shop to make “some unpretentious little songs” with Spanish guitars, beers and joints. In that dynamic, they would record what came up on a cassette player until they completed a few songs that began to take shape when they completed the band with drums and bass.

The first LP, the aforementioned ‘Zoramena’, had some great collaborations for a debut album – they had Robe Iniesta and Fito Cabrales sing in Basque – all with a commitment to Biscayan instead of the batua that was predominant in Basque rock at the time. “The lyrics came out just as we spoke, in a very street-like way. We simply express ourselves better in Biscayan and it was better to do it that way,” the vocalist sums up.

Gatibu’s style was then based on a rock with strong and dark guitars accompanied by elaborate vocal melodies, but it evolved over the years and the albums, opening up the band to more danceable and unapologetic pop terrains like those they have stepped into in their most recent works. “We have never had a closed style. We have moved more by what we like and by what we want to play at any given moment, so we have been varying according to it,” Arejita explains. “It is true that we have evolved a bit towards dance rock,” laughs Sardui.

Critics of the new industry

Not only has the band’s style changed, but also the times of the scene and the music industry. Both for better and for worse, as Gatibu’s frontman says: “The records are worthless, sales are over. Spotify has screwed all the musicians who are capable of making music. But it’s also true that there is more music than ever and more variety, and there are many more women in the scene than when we started.” Gaizka Salazar also warns of the harmful effects of the rise of mass events: “The big festivals are also destroying the industry, especially the movement of small and medium-sized venues and groups. They are monopolizing everything and complicating the development of bands.”

In any case, the members of Gatibu agree that there are more musical proposals than ever in the Basque Country, some more successful and others more minority, but many of them of quality and the replacement is assured. «We are not the godfathers of anyone either. Each one does what they can and the best they can. But there are people who are doing very powerful things, like Zetak or ETS, who are going to fill three BECs. And then there are artists that are not followed by so many people but who do incredible things. A lot of very good groups of all kinds!», concludes Haimar Arejita’s reflection.

– And, with the band dissolved, what are the plans?

– Sardui: Dormir.

– Arejita: I want to learn to play the piano. The guitar tires me out.

– Salazar: And I play the guitar.

In short, the members of Gatibu will not give up music, but they will take things easy. And always with humor.

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