Interview with Matías Escarlón of South Ameica

1) What is your name and where are you from?

- My name is Matías Escarlón. I'm from a small city called La Plata, in Argentina. It's 30 miles south from capital city Buenos Aires.

2) What is the musical experience like in Argentina?

   - Most of the people listen to the stuff they hear on the radio or tv. Anyway, my city is full of indie rock bands and they play a lot here and in Buenos Aires. It's very hard for them to do it by their own. But they do, and also have many people fan. I'm really outsider. Just play at home and upload the things I do to the internet. Sometimes they invite to play and I do it. But I'm not really interested on being "someone" or keeping it up. So it's just for fun to me.

3) Who are some Argentinian musicians or artists, music or otherwise we should know about?

   - I have a friend who made a little cassette label called "Fariscal Records". My favorite artists are just a few ones and they're there, like "Eukariota" and "Inés Navarro". Also good friends of mine. There a lot of indie bands like I told you, but I don't find it interesting, because I think it's too obvious and really bore me. And of course, old bands I have always heard like Almendra, Sui Generis, Invisible, La Máquina De Hacer Pájaros and a guy who is a legend called Tanguito. La Plata has two bands that made history here and I love both. They are "Patricio Rey" and "Virus". Can't tell how much I love this last one, because my father used to hang out with them till the lead singer died in the early 90's.

4) What is like to be a native speaker of Spanish and yet sing in English?

   - It's like here they always say "Why?", "Why don't you sing in our own language". I'm dealing with that. In fact, this new album has more songs in Spanish. But I have always heard music in English, since I was a kid. So it's not big deal. I think English is the universal language and want everyone in the world to listen my music and understand my ideas.

5) Who are some English speaking musicians or bands you are fond of?

   - Thousands! When I was five I became fan of Lennon and The Beach Boys. Then I felt in love with Bowie. My years of teenager were so Indie... You know, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Sonic Youth and that kind of stuff, till I knew R. Stevie More, Ariel Pink and Ween. Then I also started to know people all around the world like unknown artists from Myspace. I'm always willing to listen any kind of music. I love sinthetizers and electronic music too. One of my favorite albums from the 80's is "Seven Waves" by Suzanne Ciani. She's not a singer, but I thought it was nice to mention it. 

 Martin Newell and the Cleaners From Venus are awesome. I enjoy Hip-Hop music a lot too... 

6) What type of equipment and recording gear are you using?

   - I have Casio keyboards and tape recorders. And now I'm using Garageband. That's all I have.

7) What is it like to be a musician in Argentina, are there others like you?

    - No one's paying attention to the things I do here. There more people interested in the US than here. And that's a shame. I'm really outsider. I wish some day it changes. Inés Navarro and Eukariota are just like me. They're in their houses making stuff that I love so much and sometimes we make music together. Inés and I made a lot of songs. But we're not giving shows very often and if we play, very few people come. We love music, so we can't never stop doing it. We chose Internet to show it.

8) If you had to, how would you describe your sound?

    - Very Low-fi and changing. 

9) Any last words, or other information we should know about?

    - I want to thank you for this interview. It means a lot to me.