Review Fix Exclusive: The Stormy Mondays’ Jorge Otero Talks ‘The Lay of The Land’ and ‘Wading the River’

Review Fix chats with Stormy Mondays’ Jorge Otero, who discusses the creative process and goals for the band’s new EPs, “The Lay of the Land” and “Wading the River.” The band recently won NASA’s space rock contest, ensuring their music would be played in space on-board the Endeavor Space Shuttle. They’ve seen their share of live shows too, having played Woodstock ’99 and even opening for Bruce Springsteen. From jamming with Guns and Roses’ Slash as teenagers to working with acclaimed producer Michael Stavrou, the band’s catchy folk sound will immediately remind younger listener son bands the likes of The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons.

Review Fix: What are the differences between these two EPs?

Jorge Otero: “Wading The River” was supposed to be our next EP, furthering our roots-rock sound. At the same time, we started work on a long overdue project: an unabashed folk-rock EP, which came to be “Wading The River”. Although Stormy Mondays has mostly been a rock band, all sorts of folk-rock sounds had always been running through our musical veins. It was time to turn those broad strokes into a big, detailed picture.

We got the idea of the double EP, with two musical sides, and that also ended up informing the lyrics, which take on a more poetic shade in “The Lay Of The Land.” Both EP make a wonderful pairing and they really reflect what Stormy Mondays has come to be as a band these days.

Review Fix: What inspires you guys to perform?

Otero: We love playing live, and reworking songs for maximum impact. We always inject the songs with an extra dose of dynamics and extended musical sections, although we keep it concise – we’re not a jam band! Our aim is to make the audience forget that the world exists for about a couple hours, and have them leave the show with a smile on their faces and the feeling that they have seen something real.

Review Fix: How are these EPs different from your previous work?

Otero: I know it’s totally cliche, but it really is our best work. The double EP idea inspired us to go further with the songs, arrangements, cover images and graphic design of the CD, everything. We thought that since CDs are probably on the way out, it needed to be worth releasing, so we put the utmost care into the physical product, as much as into the music. We have toyed with the idea of making it into a double 10” vinyl EP, although it takes a long time to manufacture it and it can get really expensive.

Review Fix: What are the standout songs on these EPs? How were they written?

Otero: Stormy Mondays has always had one rule when it comes to recording music: no filler. If we don’t like a song, we don’t even finish writing it. We are extremely proud of every song and album we have released, since day one.

The writing process was hard – there’s a lot of work behind every song. I didn’t overthink the songs nor kept making changes, it just took a long time to get them done, especially the lyrics. Sometimes you’re lucky that a song will appear fully-formed out of thin air, lyrics and all, and sometimes you just have to show up at work and keep at it until you finally get the song.

It’s hard for a writer to pick out favorites, but I’ll try.

From “Wading The River”, I think that “Nobody Knows” really came out beautifully. I’m really proud of my guitar solo, which wouldn’t have been possible without my Teye “La Perla” guitar, hand-made in Austin, Texas. It has 24 frets, instead of the usual 22 of say, a Gibson. That very last high note was the perfect ending for the solo.

From “The Lay Of The Land”, my favorite song is “My Lil’ Darling”. It has a poetic, “Astral Weeks”-like vibe that really set the tone for the record. The record is full of unusual instruments, and the Veillette Gryphon mando-guitar really adds to the song’s power. I love the clarinet and flute too.

Review Fix: What was it like to work with Michael Stavrou?

Otero: Most of the time, it’s not the best of ideas for an artist to be the producer, but I’ve always worked at recording studios and I have a very clear picture of what I’m after for a Stormy Mondays record. We toyed with the idea of bringing in a “big gun” producer, but being based in Spain, the costs were unrealistic. That lead us to one of the best decisions we ever made for our music: having Mike Stavrou mix the record in his studio in Australia.

“Stav” is a real heavyweight. He worked for 10 years at George Martin’s AIR Studios, has won a Grammy, and his credits are really impressive. Without changing the song of the band at all, he added a 3D-quality to the sound that really made a difference. Working with him was a pleasure. We had to do everything by email and phone, but it felt like we were working with him hand to hand in the studio. His mixes sounded so great that we didn’t even bother mastering the record. We decided to preserve the sound quality instead of ruining it by trying to make everything louder.

Review Fix: What are your major goals for 2016?

Otero: We are hoping to play some major Folk festivals across Europe, maybe the US too if we are lucky. I think our particular brand of folk-rock is a great fit, and the band, with 8 musicians that play more than 20 different instruments, is killer! We also want to start working on another EP as soon as possible.

Review Fix: How do you want them to be remembered?

Otero: I want to remember 2016 as the year where Stormy Mondays started its world domination! And I want those concerts and albums to be remembered as great musical moments for everyone that gets to experience them. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Otero: We’re about to release a crowdfunded live video that we taped a few weeks back. Only the patrons will have access to the full concert, but, at least, a couple songs will make it to our website and YouTube channel. The audio part is interesting because the 24-track machine failed, and we were left with the “security” recording: a stereo mix and a stereo microphone. This turned to be a blessing in disguise. It sounds killer! It’s raw and authentic and it’s 100% how it sounded that night. The venue is called SantaCecilia, the patron saint of musicians. I think she was watching for us.