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At 75 years old, Vitico He is the leader of what we could call “a new band.” Drummer Ale Soto linked him to Los Leones, a group that already had a presence in the rock scene, and two plus two was four: Vitico and The Lions It is called the joint project with which he has been playing since last year and with which he recovered that healthy hunger to stay active.
“They were a country rock band, and to do country rock you have to sing very well and play very well. And they are closer to what I do generationally than the Viticus”says the Chancellor. The group that he led for twenty years collapsed and that of his son and co-worker Nico Bereciartúa He went to play with none other than the Black Crowes. And he, far from throwing in the towel, got to work: touring throughout the country, re-recording Riff classics, new songs and, above all, renewed enthusiasm. “I find the band that sounds the best,” he insists, and he seems motivated.
–What do the Lions give you?
–They are great, they went to see Riff and they respect me and are happy to play with me, and I am happy to play with them. Because they are healthy, they have a car, they have their family and there is no nonsense. Twice a week we get together from 8 at night until 12 and that results in a show that makes your hair stand on end. They are good musicians and they are good people. I feel like I’m falling from the bottom again and it’s the funniest part, because then you reach success and one thinks it’s because of him, the other thinks I don’t know how much and the tensions begin. But when we are all thinking about the same thing, which is that we do well, it is different. They are good people, I am very happy. I had to go through another band that wasn’t what I was looking for, but thanks to that I came to this, which is the best.
–Was the decision to break up Viticus because Nico went to play in the United States or were there other reasons?
–When I realized that they were looking at me like a shitty old man I started to get suspicious, heh. And I may be a shitty old man but I wanted to continue playing new songs. I understand them, who thought of a better future… in which I was not included, of course. But the only one who did well was Nico, okay? Maybe a lot of what I say is a joke, but the renewal of people is good: until they realize what I am, it will take them a long time.
–Do you enjoy growing a band from scratch?
Yes, but the music is very good, everything is very good, we are established, we all know what the other is going to do. And that gives it the necessary harmony. Because my purpose is for people to leave better than they came. I do everything Riff until we have the new songs finished. And if you thought you would never have that feeling again, you are wrong. There are people who cry with joy, because they can’t believe that they sound like they should.
–What are they recording?
–The idea we had with Pappo years ago was to record the songs of metal wheels (1981), but with good sound. It’s what I’m going to do.
-Was necessary. The songs are spectacular but the album sounds terrible.
–At the sound level it is very bad. I try to correct that. On the second album we recorded a little better, on Ion, with the wonderful Portuguese Da Silva, but we still didn’t mix well, and on the third we did. I make the themes a little more agile and that updates them.
–And do you have something new in mind?
–To start with, the new ones are Los Leones. And we do vocal harmonies, because they sing very well. And they make me look like I sing well too, haha.
–How does rock life change when one already has a certain trajectory? How do you live day to day?
–They asked Paul McCartney that, and do you know what he answered? “Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.” And I don’t think he’s like that, but it was a valid response to not start explaining, see? I am Basque and I am 0 RH negative, and I am what I wanted to be, and I do what I like.
–Many times you said that you and Pappo formed Riff because at that time there was no rock in Argentina. Now there is?
–What you say is good, because I am not going to speak pejoratively about what happened before, but Manal was more jazz and with Vox Dei it must be said that rock is intrinsically contrary to any religion. You can say that it is a religion in itself. That’s why, for me, the first rock band is Riff. National rock was PorSuiGieco. I respect León, because he never said he was rock. But the others… If so many people liked him, there had to be something good about him, but it wasn’t rock. I don’t speak ill of them, but rock is Riff.
–And now what happens?
–Rock is me, at this moment. I do the best I can. Each show has to be a little better than the last, with the recording the same, and I don’t think about what others are doing because I focus on what I do.
–Although you don’t consider them rock, how do you get along with what other classics like Charly García, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Andrés Calamaro, Gustavo Cerati and others did?
-I am not interested. Of course they must be good because they were successful, but they’re not my thing. Mine is AC/DC, it is the rock reference. We played with Motörhead a few years ago, Riff finished and two thousand people left. Of course, after a quartet, a trio is difficult.
–Last year you published your memoirs. What was that strange process of starting to review your life like?
–I never thought I was going to write a book. Suddenly Nicolás comes and he tells me: “I met Nacho Iraola [exdirector Editorial de Planeta] and he told me I had to write a book. Of course: this was before the pandemic, but we signed and Planeta went from publishing 58 books per year to 4. And then I presented it at the Roxy: 200 people came. I gave a press conference when I did the Riff thing, in 2018, there were forty journalists. I told them: “If you think this is a Riff comeback, it’s not like that, at all. “This is an experiment on genetics and chromosomes.” Because both Pappo and Oscar Moro had only one son who dedicated himself to the same thing they did. Juanito Moro, apart from being a great drummer, has a great sense of humor. And the other one went to jail, let’s not talk about that anymore.
–Do you ever wonder what would have become of you if you had stayed jamming with the Who and Bad Company in 70s England?
–I would have died. It is very possible. Also, once my sister told me: “Better to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion.” He was always going to be a foreigner. So… I’m fine here.
–Anyway, it’s not that things went badly for you when you came back: you formed none other than Riff.
–It’s just that I learned a lot about how a band should sound, the schedules, playing… and it went well for me. I mean: I didn’t achieve what Nico achieved, but I spent half an hour with Keith Moon and put it where Jimi Hendrix put it, heh. I had a good time. There was still an atmosphere of what was left of Hendrix and all that but then it was lost. Rock will always exist, but its moment of maximum splendor has already passed. There was no replacement, and not only here: outside there are no characters that catch your attention either. In other words, they are eras, they are fashions, and I am very happy that there are enough people who like what I do to be able to continue doing what I like, which is rock.
–Are women a motivation to get into rock?
–No, they can be a motivation to get out of rock. I, for example, am alone. Of course I have visitors. But it would distract me, and I am a great admirer of the female gender: we were all born of one. But I couldn’t do this if I lived with someone, because from familiarity comes contempt. If you see a person every day, you find their flaws. And well, that’s why I’m alone. I can’t stop dreaming of a great love, heh. When I presented the book I was with a woman of Ukrainian descent who just had her birthday. My eldest daughter sent me a message that said: “Dad, you can’t be with a 31-year-old woman,” and I replied: “32″. Then she turned out to be ungrateful and I said “no.” I had brought an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar from Mexico. When I got here I gave one to each of my sons. At the end of last year a Fender acoustic that I had was lost. As a result of that, I call my oldest son and say: “Can I buy you that guitar that I gave you?” He told me: “Old man, don’t be stupid, come look for her and take her.” I have it at home. And I looked on the Internet and it’s Gibson’s second attempt at doing an electro-acoustic: this one turned out well. And they released it to coincide with the date on which (John) Lennon would have turned 70. There are some white ones signed by Yoko Ono, and she would throw those out the window. But it turns out that the one I paid $500 for is worth $5,000. I’m not interested in the price, but I realized that this is the last great love of my life.
–What makes you feel that Nico is playing in the first class, touring the world with the Black Crowes?
–Well, continuing with the experiment in genetics and chromosomes, that would be a total success. But Nico is finishing something that I started a long time ago, and it’s not that he makes me proud: I admire him. He look, I want to show you [muestra en su teléfono una foto de Nicolás abrazado a Jimmy Page]I think he sends me photos with famous people to screw me over, haha.
