"I think I'm a pretty normal guy who, through persistence and hard work, has been able to dedicate himself to what he loves most, music. Thanks to it, I've had experiences that, as a youngster, when it all started, I never even dreamed were possible." Guitarist, singer, composer, and producer Mario Cobo reflects on all this over a mid-morning beer, while the Bar remains in the background silence, the same silence he generally needs to work on his notes and chords.
An insatiable reader, a devourer and collector of records, and a guitar enthusiast, the name of this Barcelona native, currently based in Almería, is now pronounced with reverential respect in the gossip circles of Rock & Roll and related sounds worldwide.
It all started "at some point in my adolescence, when I decided I wanted to dedicate myself to music, without really knowing what I was getting into." He spent his youth listening to and playing music from the 40s, 50s, and early 60s, perfecting his technique, learning and developing his own notion of Rockabilly that stayed with him until he saw the band High Noon live, which gave him wings. "That's how I decided to form Nu Niles." At the helm of these, he would record eight albums until 2015, the year of their last work, Código rocker, with Loquillo.
--- Well, for 'not really knowing what you were getting into,' in your 18 years of existence, Nu Niles were very well known and played in countless places. A band of absolute reference, really.
--- Look, it helped a lot that, one day, I decided to call the promoter of the British Hemsby Rock and Roll Weekender to offer the band, and he hired us because in the call before mine, a band had just canceled. Playing there allowed us to make contacts all over the world and start touring non-stop.
However, the regular's career is not limited to his work leading Nu Niles and includes "great personal moments" such as "accompanying Sonny Burgess and DJ Fontana when I was twenty-one" or the fact of being the guitarist for the American Kim Lenz "which led me to end up in her band and tour all over North America." Or, also, transcendent decisions, "like when I decided to leave a well-known singer's band, to recover my career."
Looking forward
The parishioner recognizes that it is hard for him to judge himself looking back, "I always look to the present and forward, trying not to dwell on the past." Even so, there are moments to which it is difficult not to return: "for example, the first time I performed at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas, with Kim Lenz. During the soundcheck, I couldn't stop looking at the schedule written on the bar's blackboard, which featured the names of some of my favorite contemporary guitarists. In a way, I felt pressured to live up to expectations, but as the concert progressed and I saw the audience's reaction to our music, I felt very happy to be there."
Nevertheless, the musician's gaze shines with a singular glow when talking about his current projects. "I am preparing the design of my next album, recorded live and the first in which I will only play my guitar, without vocals. It is my re-interpretation of Chet Baker's album, Chet Sings, it has taken me months to prepare it and now I am very happy with the result."
All this work is carried out from the ranch he has in Almería, where he moved some time ago with his wife and children, and where, in addition to producing other artists, composing and experimenting, he is starting Diente de León, "my new recording and production studio where, apart from preparing productions, I also do mixes and record guitars. Or whatever is needed."
A walk through the Paralelo of yesteryear
The musician's relationship with Barcelona is one of love: "I am one of those who are grateful to have been born, grown up and formed as a person here, although ---he confesses--- at the same time I fell a bit into disillusionment. In recent years living here, I found it hard, expensive and a bit disappointing."
Even so, like so many residents of the city, he does not escape the magnetism of its history. "I remember an exhibition at the CCCB, at the end of 2012, which dealt with the history of the Paralelo covering, I believe, up to 1939. I was very pleasantly surprised by all the activity that had taken place on the avenue during those years, with a wide popular cultural offering. I would love to spend a day in that era and place, enjoying that atmosphere!"
Curiously, this desire is expressed by someone who, despite his work on multiple stages and concert halls, claims not to like crowds much, "not even events with many people, because what I like is good conversation and spending quality time with other people."
--- Perhaps the fact that you moved to the countryside, in Almería, has something to do with that need for peace and quality time.
--- Yes. And since I moved there, I'm learning many things. For example, that I can set up a garden or fix almost anything. We have an incredible spirit of survival and adaptation, because I've been very much a city person, very urban, all my life.
And Mario Cobo utters this, after downing the last sip of his beer and looking at what portions are available to accompany the next one, "I don't need a whole menu --he says-- that's usually too much food."
--- With these modest appetites, we're not going anywhere, huh?
And then the musician can't help but smile.