{"id":69413,"date":"2021-04-29T09:47:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T14:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=69413"},"modified":"2021-05-06T09:32:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T14:32:28","slug":"interview-with-dani-argiles-of-argi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2021\/interview-with-dani-argiles-of-argi\/","title":{"rendered":"Dani Argil\u00e9s of ARGI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s one thing that\u2019s certainly a blessing when it comes to the modern era, it\u2019s the easy access to recording gear and the Internet being a massive promotional tool for the artists. These two combined enable the young musicians to finally leave the trends and opportunism behind and draw inspiration from whatever era in music ignites a spark in them… even if they\u2019re not able to remember those days themselves! That\u2019s exactly the case of Dani Argil\u00e9s \u2013 this Spanish guitar player might have been born in the \u201890s, but it\u2019s the \u201880s AOR\/Melodic Rock influence that fuels a debut EP of his project ARGI. Recently, Dani checked in with Hardrock Haven to talk about his first release, his collaboration with the late, great singer David A. Saylor, the six-string wizards of his homeland and his ultimate \u201880s album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hardrock Haven: ARGI\u2019s debut EP Dare To Dream <\/em>is out now. Are you satisfied with the debut recording of your project, or are you one of those artists who always find some room for improvement when it comes to their works?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: First of all, thank you so much for this interview. It\u2019s a great pleasure for me to answer every question and discuss the possible doubts about my Melodic Rock Project called ARGI. Well, I\u2019m satisfied because this is the first time that I\u2019m involved in a music project where I\u2019ve composed all songs \u2013 although some musicians have collaborated with me in the recording process. It has been many hours of dedication, effort and sometimes frustration, but above all, of great enthusiasm coming from combining the everyday life with this crazy passion for music. Obviously, when the work is finished, you think about all the things you could have improved or have done otherwise, but I think this happens to all the musicians. Anyways, I think the result for the first EP is positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Speaking of ARGI, I\u2019ve just referred to it as a project, but do you think \u2013 or hope \u2013 it\u2019s gonna evolve into a band one day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: Throughout my music career, I\u2019ve played in different bands from different music genres \u2013 Rock and Roll, Blues, Heavy Metal \u2013 but when I discovered Melodic Rock, I was amazed and caught by its atmospheric and massive sound. That music reminded me of the American TV series and films of the \u201880s and I needed to play it, but I didn\u2019t know musicians that liked this music, so I designed my own logo having no idea of graphic\/art design with the excitement of a child, and this is why ARGI was born as a project. For those who don\u2019t know, the name ARGI comes from my name, Dani Argil\u00e9s. If this terrible situation caused by the COVID-19 is over someday I would like to form a band under the name of ARGI with some musicians who want to join me in this musical adventure and, if possible, play concerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Who plays on the EP and do you plan to continue collaboration with the same musicians with the future ARGI recordings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: I recorded lead and rhythm guitars on all songs, drum programming and keyboards on \u201cStart Living\u201d, \u201cDaydream\u201d and \u201cNothing To Lose\u201d, and drum programming on \u201cCrying With Joy\u201d. Pablo Gaba played bass on all songs. David A. Saylor (RIP) sang lead and backing vocals on \u201cRunaway Love\u201d, whereas Rod Marenna recorded lead and backing vocals on \u201cCrying With Joy\u201d, \u201cDaydream\u201d and \u201cNothing to Lose\u201d. When it comes to keyboards again, it\u2019s Rafa Hern\u00e1ndez on \u201cRunaway Love\u201d and Haris Patsos on \u201eCrying With Joy\u201d. JoseA.Pereira played drums on \u201cRunaway Love\u201d. I don\u2019t know yet which musicians will collaborate with me in the future. At the moment, I only can tell that my intention is to distribute the physical EP all over the world and start composing the new songs as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Can you take us through the EP track by track and reveal some stories behind each of the songs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: Every story behind each ARGI song is inspired by my personal experiences but what I try to achieve is that every listener feels they\u2019re able to identify with the songs and that\u2019s why I don\u2019t necessarily write names of people down so they can let their imagination run wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRunaway Love\u201d is about a girl I met at a festival some years ago, when I was younger. The great David A. Saylor helped me with the lyrics to get an idealized story. That girl was an obsession of my adolescence, a pretty one who hypnotized me with her eyes, and sadly all finished with a simple kiss \u2013 and then she said, \u201cGoodbye, I can\u2019t continue this. I\u2019m sorry, but I have a boyfriend\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCrying With Joy\u201d is about the first date with Lucy, the girl that deserves all the best in this world for her way of treating people, always laughing and being willing to help others. She is always there with me in bad and good times and helps me to understand what\u2019s truly important in life and for my happiness \u2013 and stay positive. She came to my region, Murcia, and we spent a magical weekend near the beach and enjoyed the reunion concert of 91 Suite. When the weekend was finished, I picked her up to the train station and when she left me alone in my car, I started crying with joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main idea of \u201cStart Living\u201d was to do an instrumental song where the guitar stands out \u2013 like in some instrumental songs of guitar players such as Gary Moore, Santana, Joe Satriani, etc. \u2013 but with the essence of Melodic Rock. In the middle of working on this composition, a misfortune occurred that the pandemic hit… so I wanted to take advantage of this situation to express that feeling of nostalgia for life that we had previously, but at the same time pass on positivity and hope through a music video. This long lockdown helped me personally to think about what really matters. Those little moments that until now we haven\u2019t known how to value due to the uncontrollable frenzy of our daily life which is fading… and we don\u2019t realize it until something bad happens.  The video was recorded in an empty Madrid, where I\u2019ve lived during the lockdown and where I\u2019m settled at present. It\u2019s a tribute to Rock in these difficult times. We can see some empty places which in other times were full of people: Atocha Railway Station, Puerta del Sol, Vallecas (Puente de Vallecas Subway Station, Rocker Grandma Statue, Puente de Vallecas\u2019 Boulevard, Cathouse Rock Bar), Bajos de Arg\u00fcelles (Bastard Heavy Rock Bar), Enrique Tierno Galv\u00e1n Park\u2019s Auditorium. I also wanted to make reference to some artists that I like, and that\u2019s why there\u2019s Gary Moore\u2019s Wild Frontier<\/em> vinyl, the book AOR WORLD by the Spanish writer Sergio Guill\u00e9n Barrantes and the Spanish Melodic Rock band 91 Suite in one of the sheets of the book… Also, I appear walking exactly at the same place where the Spanish Heavy Metal band called Ob\u00fas walked in one of their first music videos to the song called \u201cVa a estallar el Ob\u00fas\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDaydream\u201d is about an impossible dream for a dreamy musician… one who wants to dedicate his life to playing music in a world where the established norm is to see crazy people without dreams living just to work like slaves to the system. Maybe it sounds a little more  vindictive… but with a lot of melody and a positive feeling. It\u2019s written in the first person and by my daydream, I mean my music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing to Lose\u201d is the heaviest song on the EP, even though it\u2019s still melodic. When it comes to writing the lyrics, I was inspired by the fighting attitude of my father who overcame the adversities of life. Sometimes it\u2019s even hard to make ends meet \u2013 and this rage is expressed by the sound of the song. When I was a child, my father taught me that life can be very hard but you put the limits. I owe much of my attitude to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Before the EP was out, the single tracks were available on various streaming platforms. Do you think this kind of policy \u2013 of releasing your music track by track \u2013 makes more sense these days than releasing a costly full length album? And are you planning to switch from EPs to full length albums with ARGI one day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: I was releasing the material track by track on streaming platforms, because I was forming this project and getting a sound identity little by little. To do a full-length album right away would have been a big investment and maybe a risk difficult to take for a single person. I personally prefer the method of getting to know this EP by enjoying every song and once the name of the project is known, an album can be distributed more easily. But in the future \u2013 yes, of course. This first ARGI\u2019s EP has been a challenge but a full-length album will be even a bigger challenge… I can\u2019t promise anything about the LP yet, but I\u2019d love to do it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Would you say that the EP title \u2013 \u201cdare to dream\u201d \u2013 is also your life motto?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: Yes, I think we can\u2019t live without dreams and this has been reflected in this global pandemic that we are living in, where culture has been hit hard. This first EP has been released in the middle of it, so it\u2019s a kind of message that we must have this kind of attitude and dare to have dreams, dare to dream even in such a global situation \u2013 because life is hard and dreams don\u2019t come for us by themselves, we need to chase them. Moreover, it\u2019s a great title for a first EP of a solo project. If you dare to dream, you are be able to record and release something so simple but with a lot of work as an EP. This couple of words also represents my way of playing and composing music. On one hand, we have the word \u201cdare\u201d that reflects the attitude and maybe it\u2019s more characteristic of powerful sounds of Hard Rock and classic Heavy Metal songs. On the other hand, we have the word \u201cdream\u201d that reflects the sweetest part and reminds us of AOR songs and ballads. On this first EP, you can find a mix of this.
If we analyze the cover artwork of the EP, we see two legs with boots \u2013 they\u2019re mine (laughs) \u2013 in a city at night with a neon sign that says \u201eDare to Dream\u201d and my guitar is under it.
In the background, there are two twin towers which are in my city, Murcia in Spain. They are the tallest buildings in the city and are illuminated at night. Although now I live in Madrid, I wanted to make reference to Murcia because it\u2019s the city where I composed and recorded the guitars for the first song included on the EP, \u201cRunaway Love\u201d, and a place where I grew up, where my family lives, where I learned to play the guitar and where my music career started. 
The cover also can be interpreted as the American Dream seen by a Spanish rocker of Murcia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: As you\u2019ve already mentioned, you collaborated with the late David A. Saylor in the early days of ARGI. So in more detail, what was the experience like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: The experience of working with David A. Saylor (R.I.P.) was very positive. I didn\u2019t have the chance to meet him in person but I would have liked to do so. We had very close conversations through the chat and he told me some interesting stories of his life as a musician. I asked him to collaborate with me and do the vocals on \u201cRunaway Love\u201d because I knew that he had worked with other bands like Wild Rose or Push UK. He was willing to collaborate from the first moment, he helped me with the lyrics and sent the lead and backing vocal tracks for the mixing from UK to me in Spain. So professional! I think all the Melodic Rock lovers who knew him loved him, because he sang from the heart.
His voice is still alive!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely! And speaking about the writing process in general, what is it that inspires you as a songwriter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: In spite of my young age, a thing I think about a lot since some time ago is that someday I won\u2019t be in this world when my time is over… but my music will be there for everyone who wants to listen and someday may influence other musicians such as my idols did it for me. The songs are an eternal trace, a memory of the life experiences of a musician and it\u2019s a way to leave your legacy as a person who once existed. Art never dies!
This is the magic of music and its true meaning. And when I\u2019m still alive, I\u2019ll keep playing and listening music because it feeds my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Very well-said! Now, that\u2019s a question I ask many musicians I interview, and every time I get a different answer for it. As ARGI is undoubtedly a trip way back to the \u201880s musically \u2013 what do you think was so special about this decade?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: Well, I\u2019m too young [to remember the \u201880s] and I didn\u2019t live the \u201880s actually but I don\u2019t see my life without that music \u2013 although I like music of other eras too. This is something that happens to all the \u201880s music lovers, we spent time thinking of a time that we have never lived. I guess this is because in those years everything was more natural and even mistakes were accepted… not only with the music production but also with the movies which had no need for great special effects and still they were magic! There were no social media platforms or smartphones and people enjoyed every little moment with their friends and families a lot…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: True! But when we think about the \u201880s Melodic Rock scene, we can\u2019t help but think about such iconic bands as Journey or Foreigner which amazingly are still mostly active. Once they decide to retire from touring and perhaps also recording, do you think the scene will continue?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: The big bands will always be there, they are our influences, but I think this music genre will be kept alive for many more years only if we support the new young bands. We\u2019re all a New Wave of Melodic Rock around the world with bands like H.E.A.T., Crazy Lixx, Chez Kane, Palace, Marenna, Wild Rose, Magic Dance  and so on. In Spain, we have an awesome scene of Melodic Rock with bands like 91 Suite, G\u00fcru, Hackers, Strangers, XIX Years, La Fase, etc. We must take advantage of the fact that the flame is still burning and work together so that the history of Melodic Rock doesn\u2019t end here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: What\u2019s your ultimate \u201880s album and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: This is a difficult question for me to answer. I really love many bands of different musical genres of the \u201880s such as Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, AOR… but maybe there is an album that gives me goosebumps from the first guitar riff and this is Victims Of The Future<\/em> of the legend Gary Moore, released in 1983. The title makes me think that it seems as if nothing has changed in this world since then. The cover is simple and great at the same time.  It\u2019s an album of pure \u201880s Hard Rock\/ Heavy Metal with great lyrics, magic melodies, powerful riffs and amazing guitar solos. Gary Moore means a lot to me because my first electric guitar teacher introduced his music to him when I was more or less sixteen years old. I\u2019m still impressed by his enormous legacy. Maybe this is not the best example of my favorite album if I\u2019m presenting a Melodic Rock project where the keyboards play an important role, but above all this is a Melodic Rock Project created by a guitar player…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Well, you can\u2019t go wrong with Gary Moore \u2013 especially his mid-\u201880s albums! And speaking still about the decade, the \u201880s culture was mostly ridiculed just a while ago, and now it seems to be getting more and more popular again. Do you think \u201880s-influenced Rock music still has a chance of getting back into the mainstream and being listened by mass audiences worldwide?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: I wish I could say yes. In the \u201880s, the music industry was different, there was no Internet and this had advantages for the bands to sell their albums. Nevertheless, the Internet is also a powerful tool that lets us discover many bands of different countries or times. The mainstream music doesn\u2019t seem to incline towards the \u201880s Rock, but there are many of us Rock lovers of that decade, and as I\u2019ve said previously, many bands are emerging and drawing attention of a lot of fans \u2013 so the flame lives on! I just hope after this pandemic there is a new revolution for music and Rock especially because people are looking forward to going to real Rock concerts again, not streaming. The magic of the moment must be lived through live, as it happened in the \u201880s and not through a screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Whenever I ask a guitarist about their influences and heroes, the answers are usually more or less the same, so let\u2019s put a twist on it. Looking at the music scene of your homeland, is there any Spanish guitarist that influenced the way you play, or perhaps that continues to inspire you even now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: Possibly Armando de Castro of Bar\u00f3n Rojo and Carlos Raya of Sangre Azul are some of my biggest Spanish influences as a guitarist. There are many great guitar players in Spain I admire as well, though \u2013 like Iv\u00e1n Gonz\u00e1lez (91 Suite), Fran Alonso (Hackers), David Palau (G\u00fcru), Jorge Sal\u00e1n, Santiago Campillo, myelectric guitar teachers Gerardo and Miguel \u00c1ngel (Cachorro) and myfriend Pedro Navarro with whom I learned to play the first Blues and Rock and Roll rhythms when we were teenagers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And speaking about your early days, way before ARGI, you\u2019ve been a part of the classic Heavy Metal band Hitten. Do you think the experience of playing in this band somehow influences what you do today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: Every experience in life of a musician infuences somehow their way of playing and songwriting. I learned much when I was part of Hitten in terms of promotion, Heavy Metal scene… even a different way of playing guitar because previously I was involved in Rock and Roll bands that were much slower in terms of the sound and tempo (Vers\u00e1til, Slide). Those years with Hitten were best parts of my adolescence. We played in different countries of Europe at the age of only twenty. We were young and we had a hunger to conquer the world like Rock stars with no thinking about real life problems or work. Sadly, that changes when you have to earn a living, but I\u2019m still a dreamer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: That\u2019s the paradox we all know, I guess. Now that the EP is finished, what is your next step?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: The next step is to distribute the EP all around the world and introduce this project a little more \u2013 later, I would like to start composing new songs. My intention is to enjoy every song and that people enjoy it too. I\u2019m not in a hurry to make albums, but it would be great to start as soon as possible with the next songs for a possible LP.
I still have to learn if I would do this as a studio project or a band with a lineup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: How do you see your music career in 5-10 years from now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: I hope to never stop dreaming or lose the enthusiasmt o play guitar and make music. If I get it, I\u2019ll let the inspiration and fate decide.  For me, the most important thing is that I have to say something with the songs. It will be great if ARGI has more than one EP released in 5-10 years (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Are you setting yourself any goals when it comes to your musical career, or do you rather take it day by day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: I prefer taking it day by day. My only goal is that people enjoy my music as much as I do, but it\u2019s true that the releasing of a new song or album is a new challenge for every musician, so my big goal is to have new material to show every time and the result is going to get better in the future in terms of quality of the production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Any last words?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Argil\u00e9s: I\u2019d like to thank you again for this chance to present my project to all Hardrock Haven\u2019s readers in this interview. I hope people would know a little more about me and ARGI and enjoy my music. Thanks so much and see you all \u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00adsoon at the concerts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit ARGI on Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014 If there\u2019s one thing that\u2019s certainly a blessing when it comes to the modern era, it\u2019s the easy access to recording gear and the Internet being a massive promotional […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":69415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15360,15359,203],"class_list":{"0":"post-69413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interviews-recent","8":"tag-argi","9":"tag-dani-argiles","10":"tag-interview"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}