Nacho Herrero: Things that start with carajillos

"I have never called myself or identified with my work. I have never said: I am Nacho, publicist. Before saying that, I would explain other things, such as, I am Nacho and I spin records at the Psychobilly Meeting. For a few years now, I've started to feel comfortable with writing and, today, I would tell you that I am Nacho, I have a wonderful family, I write novels... and I spin records at the Psychobilly Meeting!". Over a steaming carajillo, a drink that has accompanied him since his adolescence, Nacho Herrero reflects, leaning on the bar of the Bar and enjoying the silence of having the radio off, "where the music I like won't play."

This man from A Coruña, based in Barcelona, pays his bills working for an advertising agency, while taking advantage of his early-rising nature —for twenty years "I've been unable to get up past eight in the morning, and since I've gotten serious about writing, even more so"— to hit the keyboard "from six to seven, that wonderful hour when I have energy and the house is silent."

Finalizing the manuscript of his next novel, he has just recently debuted with Extraños bajo la luna roja (Valhalla), a frantic, gritty, rock-and-roll narrative imbued with a hard boiled spirit that starts from the discovery of a corpse in a Barcelona hotel to build a story of losers, lies, missteps, sex, and tragedy that oscillates between the Ciudad Condal and San Sebastián.

"My career is very short, but I am proud of my perseverance, of not stopping. I am convinced that this will not be the only novel they publish for me," asserts the regular, who, in addition to the recently published one and the one he is finishing, has another manuscript that will possibly not take long to see the light.

Because maybe tomorrow we won't be here

"All this started with carajillos. When I finished COU, in the early 90s, around the Olympics, I started studying Teaching. It didn't work out, I didn't like the career and what I often did, instead of going to class, was go down to the bar below my house. El Ciervo, it was called, and I spent the afternoon drinking carajillos and writing stories. I have a folder full of handwritten stories. Then I left Teaching, I started studying Advertising... and I stopped writing. Don't ask me why, I have my theories, but I'm not going to ramble about that now," and Nacho sips his drink before adding, with sarcasm, "I didn't stop the carajillos."

—But there must have been a moment when you decided to write again, right? What happened?

The regular customer gets serious. "In 2018 my best friend, Tomás, died of cancer. The thing is, it had been more than twenty years since I had stopped writing and I thought: Nacho, get to doing what you've always wanted to do, because maybe tomorrow you won't be here anymore. And I started writing that same year and I haven't stopped doing it."

—Do you write frequently?

—Practically every day.

Among the other turning points in his life, the author cites his move from A Coruña to Barcelona when he was 14, the trip to South America he took for six months with Olga, his wife, and the birth of his son. And probably, although he doesn't mention it, the primitive rock and roll that accompanies his life with screams and guitar riffs executed with style and grit.

The city where there are no bulls

"I was living happily in A Coruña, when my parents had no other idea than to move to Barcelona. I was fourteen, imagine how that made me feel. I was rebellious with the city for many, many years," explains the regular, who confesses that when he became independent he made peace with a Barcelona of which he has experienced the reality of neighborhoods as disparate as Raval, Bonanova, Camp de l'Arpa, Vallcarca and now, recently moved, Horta.

—With that journey, you're more Barcelonian than many lifelong Barcelonians!

Nacho Herrero laughs, finishes his carajillo and, while he considers whether to order another or have some lunch, replies: "Don't believe it, I came here in '86, but I still say I'm from A Coruña. I'm stubborn and ungrateful. Actually, I love Barcelona very much."

—Well, there must be things you like if you're still here after so many years.

—Well yes, and one of the things that I love and that fills me with pride about my city is that bullfights have been prohibited since 2010.