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Heavy brass, brutal riffage, pounding drums, cojones, and Spanish urban lyrics that make you wonder “did they just say that?”. Yes they did. They go by the name of ¡Pendejo! and we spoke to band-member El Pastuso to get the lowdown on the band that you really need in your life.
First impressions of ¡Pendejo! are – Holy shit, what did I just witness!? A Dutch, heavy stoner/sludge band, with brass horns, that sing in urban Spanish, what an incredible sound! Any descriptions are rendered useless, but, how would you describe yourself?
I think your description nails it, cheers! We like to see ourselves as a riff based bunch of idiots adding brass to heavy guitars and junk. In Spanish.
Why did you go with pendejo as the name of the band? Is the rough translation not along the lines of – dumb; asshole; stupid?
Yeah, you could say that. We chose this name firstly because we agreed that ‘pendejo’ simply is a wonderful word, it has a nice sound to it, especially when the Mexicans use it. And it suits us. When I started ¡Pendejo! with my cousin Jaap Melman, we decided to do things in Spanish and focus primarily on Spanish speaking countries. We both have some history in Latin America and were also hoping the band would bring us back to the continent we missed so much. As if it isn’t hard enough for a new band to make it in the country you live in. You have to be pendejo to choose that path.
What are the origins of the band, how long have you been playing together?
We started the band in 2007, but we had quite some changes in our line up over the years. The essence of the band stayed the same though.
How did you feel performing your first gig as a band? And how was it?!
It still sounds surreal to me even now, but our first gig was in Caracas, Venezuela on December 7th 2007. After hearing our demo, Alejandro Londoño and Juanma de Ferrari from Cultura Tres had invited us to join them on their Agresión/Cultura Tres tour in Venezuela, which was crazy. I mean, we were barely able to fill a decent set list, but we were already doing what we had set as a long term goal: touring in South America. Anyways, that first show was at La Cigarra, a small club in Caracas. There was a metal festival going on, and we were the closing act. Definitely not our best concert, but surely one of the most memorable. Absolute mayhem.
New single/video ‘Tuyo’ has just been released, a cover of the theme song from the TV show Narcos, why did you choose to cover it? And, who came up with the incredible new arrangement?
Our trombone player Menno Roymans came up with the idea. At first I really didn’t feel like covering this one. The whole romanticising of the narco life, that got a bit of a revival with Narcos, you know, Pablo Escobar being a bad ass and all… Sure, Escobar is fascinating, just like Adolf Hitler, Mother Teresa or Roberto ‘Bob Blowtorch’ d’Aubuisson are fascinating. But that doesn’t mean I want to do a song about them. And although this song doesn’t necessarily glorify Escobar or his legacy, still, it was written with some reference to his mother, who was a certified cunt as well. Anyway, my opinion rapidly changed when I heard Menno’s new arrangement of the song. He pretty much did it by himself, and yeah, we thought it was too cool to ignore.
Is there more new music on the way?
Yes, we recorded four more covers, just before Covid-19 started messing up stuff. We plan to release all five on a 10 inch by the end of this year, although no release date is set yet. It is hard to do any planning these days, right? Until then, we will upload these tracks on streaming platforms separately every now and then. The next is expected to go online somewhere in August, if I’m correct. In the meantime, we are writing new stuff, hopefully to be recorded in December this year. Corona restrictions have been lifted in Holland, so we can rehearse again, but who knows for how long? How will things be in Autumn? There is no way to know, but with more and more cunts uniting and demonstrating here against Corona restrictions, and general population slacking with the social distancing… A second wave wouldn’t be too surprising.
The new music scene is bursting at the seams with fresh talent, in what ways do you feel that a band has to stand out from the others trying to build a name?
Ah, the fifty million dollar question! I know this might sound as a horrible cliche, but I believe that it is most important to really dig your own tunes, so you won’t get bored by your own stuff. But what do I know? I once had the privilege to meet Luc van den Akker, from Revolting Cocks and Ministry, and according to him the most important thing a band should have is relevance. That stuck with me. Try to find your own path and don’t get lost along the way. Something like that.
¡Pendejo! have opened for such well known names as Monster Magnet and Mondo Generator, but what band out there at the minute do you feel that you would be best suited to open for? The best audience to steal?
You mean what would be the best option commercially speaking? Dunno if we would be best suited for it, but I wouldn’t object opening for Queens of the Stone Age. They pull quite a crowd. But I would actually prefer to open for the Melvins, Black Label Society, or Tomahawk if they are still playing, to name a few.
It’s well known that South American audiences are generally the most insane, AC/DC ‘River Plate’ springs to mind, what’s the craziest thing that you’ve witnessed at a gig?
When we were on tour with Banda de la Muerte in Argentina in 2016, there was this guy that seemingly didn’t know what to do with his excess of energy during our show, so he started doing push ups in the middle of the pit. Apparently he had brought his dog too, so the dog joined in, riding the guy while he was doing his push ups. You couldn’t make that up, right? There is a vid on our FB somewhere to prove it.
No you certainly couldn’t make that up! Now, what are your first musical memories? And what was the lightbulb moment that made you go “I want to do that”?
Seeing a Dutch Folk band playing live at a protest gathering when I was nine, maybe ten years old.
What was the last gig that you attended as a fan?
Tool, last year in Amsterdam. Surreal!
What current issue are you particularly passionate about?
What, like a political issue? Personally, I am getting more and more worried about people seemingly becoming more stupid as time goes on, although there is more information available for everyone then ever before. I have kids, so I refuse to believe that we are all doomed anyway. Gotta stay positive somehow. But passionate? Well, I am passionate about my boys.
The album that you have in your album collection/spotify playlist that would surprise most people?
Haha, suits well with my previous answer: Stupid People Shouldn’t Breed, by Skatenigs.
Brilliant! What are your plans for the remainder of 2020?
As for playing live, that’s the depressing part. The best thing available short term are online shows. We are playing at a European online festival, to be announced soon, but that’s it for this Summer. We were supposed to do seven shows in Germany this October and yeah, economies are opening up again, also in Germany. But in consultation with the venues, we decided to postpone most of those to February 2021, since it’s unlikely to me that these shows will actually take place. Chances of Corona not going for a second wave are pretty slim. So we will dedicate our time mostly to writing new stuff, which is cool too.
Connect with ¡Pendejo! here.
