Long before artificial intelligence could revive the dead, the 091 were reborn from the ashes. And, unlike cutting-edge technology, theirs was real. It remains that way. “Here we are. Back again with another album,” says José Ignacio Lapido, guitarist of the Granada band, with some sarcasm. He, the singer José Antonio García, Pitos, bassist Jacinto Ríos and drummer Tacho González sit in the reserved room of the Café Pavón in Madrid to chat about Espejismo nº9, the new album by this group that wrote one of the most beautiful and strange rock pages of the Spanish scene between the eighties and the nineties and, two decades later, returned to make it even more beautiful and strange. “We can’t wait for them to say that rock is back to justify why we are still here,” says Tacho González, laughing.
Rock has not returned because perhaps it has never left, but what leaves no doubt is that 091 is here. The group is back, although its name above all is synonymous with resurrection… and consolidation. The last proof is his new album, a very notable work of classic rock, which testifies to his entire resurrection maneuver, through the compilation that collected in 2016 the best of his career and the album The afterlifehas settled on a fact: the zero They returned from beyond to stay and, in the process, reclaim their old school rock after signing for a major record label like Universal. “With Espejismo nº9 We did not wait to have a collection of songs like in previous works, but we recorded it in 2024 in five sessions,” says Lapido. “We continue to be faithful to ourselves, having our original influences as always. The essences are the same,” he adds.
These essences refer to a band that defends traditional guitars, those braided with the tenacity and quality that, in the case of those from Granada, look to the guardians of the rock of the eighties. “We have always wanted to sound like all those people from what in Spain was called New American Rock. Eighties bands like Long Ryders, The Del Fuegos or The Smithereens,” says Lapido. That type of rock, which sometimes retains some of the blood of pub rock British, makes his way with naturalness and roots in a work in which, as they did in the past, they do not pay attention to fashions. “Already in the eighties when we went to the studio we wanted to get rid of all that eighties sound of electronic drums with all that reverberation. It seemed to us that it was artificial. It sounded like a horrible fair,” explains Lapido with a chuckle. “There was it on seven albums out of ten,” he adds. “We called it wet sound, and we always wanted to escape from it. We wanted a dry sound,” says González. “We wanted to sound like us,” concludes Ríos. The drummer takes the floor again to refer to the present: “It hasn’t stopped being like this because now we are not in any trend. We are among those who think that the autotune It’s like the gotelé on the walls. Then you can’t take it off.”
Another essence that uncovers Espejismo nº9 It is the very particular universe of the group, all that redemptive and romantic mystique based on lyrics full of images of disorientation and full of existential disbelief. On this new album, just listen to songs as elegant as Come dressed as a cloud or as powerful as Nobody wants to hear your cry o There’s no point in escaping whose verses read: “There is no better refuge than doubt / The rain warns me / There is no point in escaping… I will look out on the balcony of infinity if everything is written.” In the words of Pitos: “José Ignacio’s lyrics are unique. They are pure poetry.” As always, the lyrics continue to be carried out by the privileged head of Lapido, who recognizes that his way of composing for the band or alone does not change at all and feels that today’s world provides for a lot of compositional material. “Nowadays, reality surpasses fiction. Although, if I had wanted to force the machine of surrealism, I would not have been able to go that far,” Lapido reflects with a laugh, and more seriously he adds: “In my lyrics there is always a tragic feeling about life, but passed through an ironic sieve, with a certain acidic look. It is a somewhat detached emotion, which does not imply suffering.” To which González points out: “There is always a duality between what is dreamed and what is real.”
Real, but like a dream, it is everyone getting together again to go out and defend a new album on a tour in Spain. The zero, whose rock was another alternative route to the Madrid scene and which had more to do with outlaw bands like Ilegales, Los Enemigos, Hermanos Dalton or Los Deltonos, they were unemployed for 20 years. When they left, in 1996, they did not think about returning because for that farewell tour they only sold all the tickets in three concerts out of more than 20 scheduled. “We thought the road was already finished, but time was kind to us,” Lapido acknowledges.
His return happened on January 3, 2016 on the stage of the Actual festival in Logroño. Then came a very long tour with festivals in between, a compilation, the reissue of their discontinued albums, another new album and a break due to the pandemic, in which they lost their historical manager, Paco Ramírez, and the same thing almost happened with Pitos. “I was beyond here”, he says with a smile. “But it was good for him,” González points out with another smile. “It improved his character and he came giving hugs that he never gave.” And they have also had parallel projects: Lapido never abandoned his solid solo career and Pitos developed an artistic initiative called Reyerta with the group El Hombre Garabato and the Granada Chamber Choir in which they combined rock and flamenco with the work of Federico García Lorca.
Now it’s time to draw the sword of the 091 again, as in the first concert of the tour at La Riviera in Madrid on February 14. A complete success and very real. “Our songs have aged well,” says drummer González. “They are our pillars,” adds Ríos. “We keep trying to talk about universal feelings,” he argues. Whistles. And, then, Lapido concludes: “We have seen dozens of fashions fall, but we are still standing on the classic ground.”