Brothers’ alchemy has a flamenco vibe
Pedro Fernandez has a website called voteforpedro.ca.
“It’s just a quirky thing from the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” that I heard from people a million times over the years. I figured I might as well embrace it,” says Fernandez with a laugh.
Fernandez is a rock guitarist but he’s also known for ‘Flamenco Chill.’ He describes it as “part ambient, part uplifting music, blending the melodic touches, colours and emotional fire of Spanish flamenco with soulful and romantic rhythms.”
“There are several varieties of it. You do not focus so much on the technical aspect of the music — more the feel of it rather than playing a million notes in the right spot. No one is dancing anyways so it has to be about something else.”
Fernandez’s self-produced debut album “Sueños de Amor” (“Dreams of Love”) flows with Flamenco style, from traditional sounds like “Andalusian Nights” with spare percussion or the fiery “Dreaming of You” to the romantic Spanish string chill of “Besos Bajo La Luna” (“Kisses Under the Moon”) or “Flower from a Brook” based on a nickname for an old girlfriend.
“Flower from a Brook” was originally just a simple song,” says Fernandez. “I did not add too much. When I write I look for the technical vibe that I would like to have. Then I get the rhythm and once I have the rhythm that sounds really nice on its own, I start thinking about the melody,” he explains.
“When you go into doing that, sometimes the song is a little bit different than you thought it was. But for me, I have always wanted it to sound like a song first, with the melody second. It is rare for me that melody comes first,” says Fernandez, adding his parents came here from Spain in the ’60s.
The Kitchener-based Fernandez Brothers, who were born here, grew up during “the Van Halen era.” Pedro Fernandez got a Kiss album when he was five. That led to Metallica, and Van Halen’s “1984.” Fernandez wanted to learn some Van Halen songs in addition to Led Zeppelin tunes.
“The first couple of times I tried playing, it did not take,” recalls Fernandez chuckling. “When I was 14-and-a-half, it took. And that put me into a pretty good social coma,” he adds with a laugh. “For the first
couple of years, I was practising in the garage.
“My brother Paul, being younger than me, wanted to do everything I did,” he notes. “Then he got into his own thing. Paul is very technical, a gifted teacher and a jazz guy who has just written a book about teaching people how to play guitar.”
Paul Fernandez studied music theory while Pedro Fernandez learned his craft by playing in high school bands.
Fernandez says he added flamenco guitar to his repertoire because it’s a natural part of his Mediterranean DNA.
“I always listened to flamenco in the house,” he recalls. “Traditionally it has a really good virtuoso player like (Spanish flamenco guitarist) Paco De Lucia. The genre has technically gifted people but there are other levels of it like (flamenco fusion player) Jesse Cook. He is not traditional,” notes Fernandez, adding he began playing flamenco guitar eight years ago.
“Flamenco is much different sound but when I was learning I was fortunate enough to be around intelligent people,” says Fernandez. “One guy told me, ‘You should learn to play the blues and other stuff because (playing flamenco guitar) is like learning to walk before you run.’
“I did that,” notes Fernandez. “My brother and I learned to improvise special things,” he says, adding the only similarity between playing blues, flamenco and rock music would be the discipline involved in the practising on the instrument.
“We are rock guys!” he exclaims. “The kids in Spain learn flamenco when they are four!” he exclaims. “Their hands really get used to it and that is how you get that amazing technical ability. At my age, I am not going to get that hot at it. But I still do pretty well,” he says with a laugh.
“I have always tried to do flamenco and then mix some other elements in like ambient sounds but not meditative ... somewhere in between to see what kind of alchemy I can get,” explains Fernandez. “It is in the timbre and the vibe,” notes Fernandez.
The Fernandez Brothers like to riff out on flamenco treated rock classics like Led Zeppelin’s blues lament “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.”
“You are providing ambience while people are eating. People like those songs because they recognize them. I think we may put a few more of those type of songs in our dinner shows!”