Posted by Speaking to London-based, Murcia-raised artist Alien Tango (born Alberto García Roca) on the day his ‘Friends!’ EP is released, he seems quietly confident. “I actually had this thing recorded for a really long time. It’s been postponed, so I’m happy to see it out, finally.” His sound is totally unique and is hard to categorise but if you were to use a genre to describe his oddball sound, it would be ‘freak-pop’.
On his move from Spain to London, “I like it. I came because there’s more interest in music here, I think. In general, I find that there are more bands and fanbase for the kind of music that I do. I think I’m growing up a lot here musically and having a lot of fun”.
The theme behind his new ‘Friends!’ EP is “well, friendship. When I came to London for the first time, I came with a friend from Spain and we had to be constantly flying back to Spain to play gigs and festivals there so we spent a really long time flying and in the London Underground without proper sleep, so the main single which is ‘Friends!’ is like [dedicated to him]. He was also the bass player for the live band. The songs are different perspectives of friendship in general and my life at that time”.
His impressive live shows are “energetic and fun”. “I like to make them theatrical. Sometimes we have props and we try to make them different every time and try to make people want to come back, because they expect to see something different each time”.
Alien Tango utilised Tik Tok to release 15 second versions of his zany, psychedelic songs that have gone viral. His videos have been viewed almost two million times and counting. He had actually intended to upload his first video onto Instagram but his friend suggested Tik Tok instead and “it [blew] up there”. “I didn’t even know what Tik Tok was before that and since then [I have] a lot of daily followers there. I’m getting a lot more attention thanks to it’. These new followers also check out Alien Tango on Instagram and his other platforms and become fans from seeing his viral clips.
Alien Tango merges musical influences to create a modern sound. He’s honest about his creative process. “I don’t know. I just listen to a lot of different genres of music and I can’t decide which one I want to make so I end up putting them together in every song. So it’s like channeling a lot of different things from different eras, making like 60’s or 70’s music with today’s synthesisers”.
As things stand, things are a little uncertain for Alien Tango as his South By Southwest shows have been cancelled, but he’s not letting it get him down. He hopes his London show in April will still go ahead and is also using this time to work on his next album.
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Words: Narzra Ahmed
Photo Credit: Kirkpatrick Buffet
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