Metafisica Popular Portatil by No Sanctuary literally blew my mind when it was released, because it has been a long time since I heard a punk record so experimental, personal and multifaceted that it is reductive to call it “punk.” I thought about it for a few seconds to decide then to interview the Pamplona-based band, and I’m happy to finally be able to publish this chat even if it’s guilty delay. Between weirdness, magic, anarchism, Schopenauer, psychogeography and Basque culture, No Sanctuary reveal their influences, their tensions and their ideas about music and the world around us. Reminding us that graffiti on walls and birds in trees are signals of the same kind.
Hi No Sanctuary, welcome to this place of perdition that is Disastro Sonoro! Your name clearly evokes the spectre of the majestic Amebix, what importance did the British band have on the birth of your project, both musically and lyrically and aesthetically?
Good morning, Stefano, how are you? Thank you so much for this chance to be interviewed on your web and for your support, glad to be here. Edorta at the keyboard ready to answer this interview while Large Plants are coming through my speakers.
Well, the first time I listened to Amebix, read their lyrics and saw their imagery, they struck me as an intense compendium of music, purpose and politics plus that magical and combative aura that surrounded them. A bit romanticised of a vision perhaps and everything was put into context as soon as I read Ian Glasper’s The Day the Country Died (Rob Miller’s ideological drift also cast some light, and not a small one, upon it, that’s for sure), but, still, the inspiration I found there remains intact until today.
Brief biographical notes about you: when did you form No Sanctuary and what prompted you to take this path into punk movement and music?
We created No Sanctuary almost 10 years ago trying to convey by musical and visual means some of our ideas on protest, noise and devotion. We didn’t find anything remotely related to our interests in our area back then, not even now for that matter, so we thought this was something that had to be done. It was also pleasant, of course, that’s basic too. These ideas are still here with us today, but I think we took our purpose further beyond adding some layers that can be summed up saying we’re aiming to express our world vision while delivering some body of work of interest, creatively speaking, along the way.
Weird Something of Mystery and Imagination, this definition is how you present yourselves. Would you like to dissect the meaning behind a definition that is as fascinating as it is strange and hermetic? What meaning, space and form do the dimensions of weirdness, mystery and imagination have in your musical and lyrical approach?
I found “weird slow punk of mystery and imagination”, the title of our previous album, too narrow a concept to reflect the current position of No Sanctuary and also the paths we can walk in the future. We’re not always playing slow or punk, in the strict musical sense of the term, to validate this catchphrase, but one of our constants is cultivating weirdness, mystery and imagination -or we like to think that way- so “weird something of mystery and imagination” seemed appropriate enough.
Imagination is key for us, one of the cornerstones in order to re/create the world through our labour while mystery -mystery as a veil or as leaving space for the unexpected, be it fascinating or terrible- can be seen as an aspect of it. Weirdness is one of the ways we have to say that we’re quite fond of every thing that tickles our fancy in a murky, twisted or peculiar way. That being said, the title was, of course and among other things, a nod to the pulp magazine Weird Tales and the whole charm flowing to/from there.
Musically how did you approach punk and why? More importantly, what does it mean for you to use the language of punk in 2023? What potential do you see in it?
I arrived to punk a bit late relatively speaking, more in my late teens than in the beginning of them, but punk here in the Basque Country’s been one of the main driving forces in the culture milieu, -also, of course, in terms of political activity- so it felt more or less natural getting into it, punk being part of the everyday soundtrack so to speak. That said, though, my interests on punk shifted quickly from the classic, and not so classic, names from the 70s/80s/90s to the British anarchopunk scene, which I found far more interesting to my taste as it seemed to me it encompassed not only the rebellious and politic side of it, but also a deep and meaningful sense of the aesthetics beyond the “fuck you” attitude plus that captivating driving force underneath the idea of pushing forward no matter what in any creative territory imaginable. The whole of it spoke to me dearly. Again, as I said before talking about Amebix, this was seen, no doubt, a bit through rose-tinted glasses and I have to add that I found about that part of the music/creative world via the Internet, a thing that cannot be stressed enough, but the impact of it will never fade away either. In this regard, as a counterpoint, The Apostles/Alternative 23/Unit’s Andy Martin words in the pages of The Day the Country Died also spoke volumes to me.
To me, punk today is heavily linked to the idea of underground seen as a network of people based on mutual aid, solidarity and self-organization (and not a platform for some cheap low-tier sharks waiting for their big jump), terms under which umbrella the ideas of individual and social freedom come together. Along with that and artistically speaking, I see it as a way to push boundaries in every direction you can think of resorting to any means and tools necessary while keeping in mind that here imagination, curiosity and non-conformity are paramount. Some vision and purpose are welcome as well.
Your latest record, which is great, experimental and multifaceted, is entitled Metafisica Popular Portatil. Would you like to tell us how you came up with such a title and what do you want to convey with it?
“Popular metaphysics” was the term Schopenhauer used in some of his pages to refer to religion. He thought that, while philosophy can provide some comfort to the human soul living in a world of suffering, it may be too arid to be accessible enough for the common people; on the other hand, religion, seen as a chain of traditions and knowledge, speaks a language easily understandable and, therefore, clearly useful for the grieves of the everyday life.
I found this quite an interesting concept so I felt like developing some of the ideas I got from there along with the facets of a mythical vision of the world, of re/enchantment of life. One of these ideas was giving the listener the chance, if one feels like it, to play these songs while wandering through the city or the country in one of those days when the weight of the world is a bit too heavy a burden to carry -hence the “portable” (“portátil” in the original) side of the title-. I think we have achieved some of that between the Godstar’s psychedelic fog and the descent/vigour poured onto Cénit//Defensa Interior.
What are the main themes addressed in the record and what inspired you in its writing by observing the world around you and your lives?
Besides the aforementioned, which core sets the tone of the record, the main themes are magick meets anarchism in several wrong places, get your body ready for some night chance meeting and let’s talk about grafittis, birds and myths. I’d also like to remark that Cénit // Defensa Interior deals with the story of an anarchist who took part in the 1936 Social Revolution, was forced to cross the Pyrenees and then reflects on losing everything after the days of eagerness and love. Among other interpretations, it can also be seen as a song for the joys and disappointments of our daily lives.
The penultimate song on the record entitled Aceria Compacta de Vizcaya is written and sung in the Basque language. Where did the choice to use Basque, a language that has its own historical tradition of resistance to the assimilation aims of the Spanish state, come from? Is it also a political choice or merely one of territorial belonging?
Acería Compacta de Bizkaia was composed as a continuation to Weird Slow Pvnk of Mystery and Imagination’s Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, both from a musical and a thematic point of view while keeping clear its own identity. Having that in mind, it was just natural to sing it in Euskera to make them contrast since Altos Hornos was sung in English. It has its political side, of course, because it speaks not only about this mythical approaching to the process of smelting steel and therefore the transformation of the human being, but also about the devastation of the social tissue, the communities and the territory they have place in -here I have to stress the separation between the notions of community as the relationship between the people linked to a given territory seen as a space with its own historical and geographical context and the essentialism behind the nationalistic concept of “the land”-. That being written, I have to say that Acería’s euskera may sound a bit rigid to Basque speakers, but I like to think it adds some grey spirit to its concrete texture.
Continuing on with that wonderful piece, listening to it and reading the lyrics I felt a strong Situationist influence on the one hand and a Futurist appeal on the other. Do these sources of theoretical-artistic inspiration exist in your vision or are they just my analysis? If yes, what importance do they have in your music and how do you try to decline them?
To tell you the truth, I never thought of that Futuristic appeal unless it comes indirectly through, let’s say, the industrial influences on our music, but it’s an interesting take on it, I’ll tell you. You may have a point on the Situationist influence though since I have this interest on the way architecture, landscape and human lives and works cast layers along the centuries, collide with each other and transform (to sum it up briefly: psychogeography). This also talks closely to the mythical view of the world I mentioned before. We had also this interest of composing a song -the whole album as a matter of fact- to be played and listened to with this kind of sceneries (furnaces, abandoned factories, edgelands and so on) in the background.
How do you think the more political tensions and the more symbolic, mysterious and evocative visions intertwine and coexist in your proposal, especially on a lyrical and thematic level?
They get along quite well, I reckon, since they share a great number of issues and, therefore, are a clear part of what No Sanctuary stands for. We have this world we live in, our own interpretation of it, modulations, adaptations, ways of resistance and points where to push in order to transform it so, in the end, there’s not really a gap between them as they appear as different aspects of the same vision. The links among the individual and the collective plus the territories that lie in between such as the cultivation of the enthusiasm as well as the temporary need of retreat and refuge speak the same language, but just in different forms. The lyrical and thematic side of it just come organically from our own curiosity, imagination and interests.
How important in your project are the more aesthetic, graphic and general imagery side evoked and related to the music? Because one of the most interesting aspects of Metafisica Popular Portatil is certainly the graphic one, so unusual and unexpected for a punk band.
It’s undoubtedly one of the fundamental aspects of the band, it’s always been and will keep being so in the future. The graphic side of our albums is not only meant to be a depiction of the music inside, it also aims to expand our vision and to project our imagination onto the listener. I believe that if we have a new world growing inside our hearts, this have to be of the fascinating and suggestive kind. “The nature of your oppression is the aesthetic of our anger” takes on a new meaning here.
You come from Pamplona, how is the situation of the punk, antagonist and diy scene and movement there at the moment? What are the most interesting and active realities, both on a musical and artistic level in general and from the point of view of political activism and social struggles?
Small pubs where they’ve been putting on shows on a weekly basis for years have been harassed lately thanks to the complains, based on nothing, coming from the upper echelons of the culture establishment in collusion with the local police. Other venues have placed new limits as for the acts they prefer to lend/rent the space to (i.e. it’s harder now for small bands, local or from abroad, to give a concert). There’s still a couple of places where to organise gigs although you have to save the date some weeks or even months in advance. On a brighter note, there’s this self-sustained punk fest called Ez Dago Hilda, punk bands worth of the name keep on playing shows in support of political acts, there’s also this quite interesting feminist collective/gallery called La Zurda walking their own path… Bands we’d like to mention: Detached, Parca, Tatxers (they’re the punk band of the moment here), Kabbalah (doom rock actually, but they’re good friends of us so…). And even if she doesn’t live here, you definitely should check Uterzine and the tremendous work Maritxu’s doing.
We have come to the end of the interview my friends, so last question: what plans do you have for the near future? Do you already have gigs or a tour planned? What would you like to do as No Sanctuary in the coming years?
We’ll be back on the road from November on since it’s time to take the album and the ideas behind it onto the stage. The dates confirmed so far will be held mainly in Spain -they can be checked in our social media- including a mini-tour in December and another one in February. Some others shows will be sprinkled here and there throughout the first half of 2024 ending up with a grand finale in June. If you want to count on us for your town, fest, anarchist ashram or whatev, just “whistle and we’ll come to you”. As a band, we’d like to keep on expanding our sound, ideas and imaginary on whichever way possible as long as it flows gently and organically from us.
Guys thank you very much, I leave this space at your complete disposal to add anything else that crosses your mind!
Thank you once again, Stefano, for giving us the chance to speak our minds here at Disastro Sonoro and for your support. We hope to play there in Italy again some time in the future and keep on talking about this stuff and whatnot. A heartfelt hug to each one of you. And remember: grafittis on the walls and birds in the trees are signs of the same kind
