How Bersuit Vergarabat managed to stay relevant, release a new album and go on international tours

Bersuit Vergarabat burst onto the Argentine rock scene with irreverence, passion and madness. It was the end of the frenetic ’80s, where not one but two new generations of artists had emerged, from the pop of Virus, Los Twist, Zas and Soda Stereo to the ska & reggae fury of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Los Pericos.

In that context, Bersuit followed the usual path of rock and pop, but added cumbia, murga and quartet, in an era in which rock orthodoxy did not look favorably on those rhythms. But they had so much conviction and such a desire to attract attention, to the point that they did all their shows in their pajamas.

In the 90s they began an intense pilgrimage into the underground, with a large presence at the legendary Condon Clú festivals. They were encouraged to undertake ambitious conceptual work and just when it seemed they were hitting rock bottom, they gained momentum and the album boom exploded. Debaucherywith hits like It’s coming, Mr. Collection AND Southern Murguitawho have recently re-recorded with guests such as Los Tekis, Los Pérez García, La Pegatina and Ilegales, the last two very popular in Spain.

Once at the top, they experienced fame, success, lack of control and projection into other countries, without ever stopping their creativity. They continued with more hits on albums like Sons of the Donkey, Debauchery AND Testosteronein addition to the album recorded live Of the head. They won a Gardel de Oro, accompanied Andrés Calamaro’s return to the scene and touched the sky by filling the River stadium.

And when all the fans believed that Gustavo Cordera’s departure was the end of everything, two years later Bersuit Vergarabat revived and has kept its popularity intact ever since. They released multiple albums, toured across the country, continent and cities of Europe.

However, eight long years went by without releasing an album of new songs, a streak that ended in January 2024 with the release of Cocolic lifeWhere They confirmed the variety of their genre palette and his special gift for creating good songs.

Exhibitions abroad

The atypical summer launch was joined by an equally unusual series of shows in the intimate setting of the Torcuato Tasso club. And it was there, in the quiet before the soundcheck, that they chatted proudly about the album and their current activity.

The band is made up of singers Dany Suárez and Germán “Cóndor” Sbarbatti, guitarists Tito Velenzuela, Juan Bruno and Nano Campoliete, bassist Pepe Céspedes, keyboardist Juan Subirá, percussionist Manuel Urlona and drummer Carlos Martín.

“In fact, it’s the summer in which we work the least,” he confesses. Juan will get up. Your partner Pepe Céspedes And he adds: “It’s something that has happened to all artists. Normally it was the time when you kissed your children on January 3rd and only saw them again on March 6th, after 40-50 shows. “There weren’t as many municipal and provincial holidays, for example.”

Second Dan Suarez, “Luckily last year we did nine shows in the US, and we went to Chile, Mexico and even one date in France. It was very intense and I hope they paint things on the outside again this year.”

Beyond the trips and the dollar earnings, Bersuit loves playing here, and is already thinking about the official presentation Cocolic life, probably in May in some theater. “We also want to give people some time to get involved with the new songs, even if there has already been a good reception,” notes Subirse.

Giovanni Bruno He is even more enthusiastic: “We want to get him on the pitch now!”

The new album

The unusual release date was due to production times. Even though they had released a few songs earlier, as a preview, they finished putting everything together in December and suddenly it was January.

“Some bands release songs like they’re chapters in a book,” he says. Carlo Martino– but the nice thing is that an album has been released with a varied number of songs to listen to. I remember the attraction of the singles was turning them over and hearing what they had put on the B-side.”

-Do you miss the physical edition?

Juan will get up: -I miss the object, the information, the art and everything that could be read in the pages. Going to buy a record was the best thing that could happen to you all week, because you were playing it for the first time and listening to it in its entirety. I remember when we were 14-15 year old kids we went to a record shop downtown, where we made friends with a boy in a gallery, and we discovered a lot of things there.”

Carlo Martino: -Raising funds and buying records was the only thing that excited us…

-Here they managed once again to create a super diverse album in terms of styles. It is already a hallmark of the group.

Dan Suarez: -Yes. It’s part of our DNA. As well as the fact of creating a pre-production with 40 songs. It seems to me that it’s a variation.

Juan will get up: -As well as. It’s in our genetics.

Carlo Martino: -That’s why it takes a long time to put an album together.

Pepe Céspedes: -It should also be taken into account that the last album was released in 2016, although a live album and a reissue of songs recorded with guests from Debauchery.

-Have you made the final selection?

Juan will get up: -To do all this, Alfredo Toth was called, because he seemed like the ideal person, who knows us very well, who has worked with us many times and who is also a national rock hero. We trust in your judgment and your ability to choose songs. We gave him one batch, then we gave him more, and so on. This process has always been like this.

-Some bands do an internal vote and each songwriter pushes for their songs.

Pepe Céspedes:-We have also tried a hyperdemocracy where even the neighbor votes, but this doesn’t work either. I think the best way is what we did.

Juan will get up: -I remember that Santaolalla asked us for more and more songs, more and more. So we gave him 70 and he protested that he wouldn’t have time to listen to everything! (laughs) Then one day all the members met with him in his hotel and we offered to lower the total to 40.

Pepe Céspedes: -But he said it should be 30, we sent him 33 and he got angry. (laughs)

Juan will get up: -However, he was later the one who proposed making a double album.

Giovanni Bruno:-This time there are some songs that were left out but they are very beautiful. I think they will appear in the next albums, something that always happens.

The Bersuit recitals

As with artists with such long careers, putting together a setlist for a recital is no easy task. Some choose to play three hours and do more than 30 songs, but Bersuit prefers to do about 23.

“They are not two or three minute songs, but rather longer than four,” warns Dany Suárez. “So there can’t be that many,” he says.

One solution they found when they turned 25 was to do a series of concerts with a different set list every day. “But someone is always missing!”, Pepe resigns.

A feature of Bersuit is this His followers are not just old fans from the 90s, but new generations are added periodically. “It’s good,” says Dany, “that the audience doesn’t grow old with you and that a little challenge when making albums or new songs is to attract them.”

According to Pepe, “Argentine music has been renewed a lot in the last five years with a very good new generation, which hasn’t happened for a long time. I think that greatly revived the movement, and indeed many of them are incredibly successful. They are very good musicians and producers, they all play with everyone and there is a certain camaraderie like there was in the early days of rock.”