Saúl Hernández talks about the 30 years of The Nerve of the Volcano

The band jumped from the scene underground Mexican to quickly gain mass recognition. By the end of the 80s it had become a phenomenon on the continent and was considered by specialized critics “as one of the most innovative and influential acts in Latin rock.” In fact, several of its songs are part of the list of the 100 most representative songs of Latin American rock.

Caifanes has had two stages: from 1986 to 1995 and from 2011 to the present. In 1995 the band decided to separate and after several years and different projects, They announced that they would reunite for the Vive Latino festival and the 2011 Coachella Festival.

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Its second stage has been very successful. In June 2023, Caifanes played two sold-out shows at Mexico City’s National Auditorium, a venue for 10,000.
people, something that had never happened with a Mexican rock band.

Caifanes returns to tours and arrives in Colombia to give three concerts: on May 1 at the Valle Del Pacífico Events Center, in Cali; on the 3rd, at the Movistar Arena in Bogotá; and on the 4th, at the La Macarena Events Center in Medellín. We spoke with Saúl Hernández, his guitarist and voice:

What does Caifanes mean to you?
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I think it is still a path of searching, of finding the musical objective and finding oneself as a musician. It is still that path to discover all this. And in one way or another a reaffirmation of everything we have been experiencing. With accidents, without accidents, but firm, and I now see Caifanes with a very powerful and very fresh, very rejuvenated sonic muscle. Although appearances may not seem like it (laughs).

What do you think the pause left you as a learning experience?

We all did other things. At the time I left Caifanes, I started working at Jaguares, where Alfonso was also. At some point Sabo also recorded the second album and on the last Jaguares album, number 45, Diego recorded the keyboards. Each of us did the searching for him. I think that helped to continue understanding that music has no borders or limits and that even the format does not matter, what matters is creating, doing, being alive. And it seems to me that now all this learning spills over into Caifanes. There are not as many things as before, somehow a little tight or rigid. Now everything is much freer in many ways.

There are those who say that the second parts are never good, but I think that Caifanes’ return has interesting things, even better than at the beginning… What feelings does this return bring you?
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Well, it’s funny because I don’t see it as a second part, I see it as a continuation. For example, when you are at the cinema and you see a very long movie and they put an intermission, but the movie continues with a story that has not concluded. This story is not over yet. It’s still going, huh? Eager to grow, to give, to offer, to search. But if I go back to what you say a little, I think you’re right. This musical communication that we now have is much stronger, deeper. Up on stage we are doing things we normally didn’t do. We are improvising more, destroying other songs to make new arrangements. The dynamic on stage is very different. I don’t want to compare because at the same time, let’s say that the first albums, as the group was formed, were spectacular. But that’s how it was at that time and right now things are happening this way. But I wouldn’t compare, I would simply say that it is a way of growing. They are different stages, nothing more.

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Those of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s have our ideas about what is happening in music today. Do you believe that rock as we know it is dead?

No, I think we have to understand that life changes, everything changes and music also needs to have that transformation. Kids today have a very different reading of life and it is reflected in that reading and, well, it is reflected in music. And definitely yes, it is different. But let’s not forget that the primary foundation or genesis of rock is the attitude, the desire to free yourself, to believe, to exist, to confront. That has decreased, before there was a little more of a combative attitude, now there is a little more of an organizational attitude.

But are there fewer things to fight or is there less desire to fight?
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I believe that there is more confusion to combat, because there is a lot to combat; In fact, probably more than before. I see a whirlwind of very confusing situations, of conflicting philosophies, a lack of social, political, and economic empathy. Social networks have not been a positive factor in a relationship between society, because between the Internet and social networks and devices, societies have become very dehumanized and that has generated freedom of aggression and not freedom of expression.
The fact is that there are groups that are fighting, but you have to look for them. Fortunately, in the (half) underground there is still a lot of music that people don’t see because they don’t delve (search) into music like before.

Before you had to search…

Clear. Before we didn’t have internet, we didn’t have cell phones, so we had to go look for the groups at the places where they played, we had to look anywhere if we wanted to listen to music. Now everything is very different. Now, in some ways, it’s much easier. And this ease has created a kind of laziness. People don’t go out searching, there are no adventures and when there are no adventures, you don’t discover life.

But even so, you continue to be the head of enormous festivals, you continue to attract 70,000 people, which gives me the idea that the narrative that youth no longer cares about anything and no longer wants anything is not the case. Could it be that they don’t know how to get there?
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That’s what I tell you. There is a confusion. There is a confusion of paths. And I also agree with you. When we are in front of people, on stage, the largest percentage that we have in front of us are young people from 10, 11 years old to our generation, let’s say. What we are seeing in front of us is spectacular. A strength, a power, a desire to live. And that’s when I tell you that hunger does exist, but perhaps we haven’t found that link again to direct all this energy.

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And because?
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It may also be because we are already living in a very large savage capitalism. Where everything conditions us to be in a certain way, or think in a certain way or consume in a certain way. That’s why I invite the kids to go out into the streets, to look for groups. Let them see each other in the park, let them talk, grab the ball again and go out to play. It is super necessary that we get away from the computers. Let’s put all the devices aside for a while and look each other in the eyes again. Let’s smile again, let’s ask ourselves again who we are, what we want, where we are going.

Many years ago, in a TV interview, Alejandro was asked if you were having fun or surviving. And Alejandro said, it is a fair combination between the two.
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I agree with Alejandro. I think it’s a combination of everything. In that sense, I do share his point of view.

What do you feel is missing on a musical level?

I think, honestly, I still have a lot to learn. I think I need to discover other things that music has there. Music is as big as the brain and we use a very small percentage of it. And I also want to continue diving into the reefs and into the depths of my unconscious or my conscience, surrounded by this musical search. So, on that journey, I think I still have a lot to discover and learn. Fortunately I am sharing my life with great musicians who teach me by watching them play. I learn. They are very patient with me and we are on this path together and that is something very valuable after so many years.