David Burgués (Diosito) and Nil Roig are La Elite. Two childhood friends in Tárrega, a town in Lleida, converted into standard bearers of electropunk in Spain. Or as they prefer to call it, ‘New Punk’.
Since the release of their debut at the end of 2022, both have toured the country giving the most fun and irreverent concerts while preparing their next releases: ‘Escaleras Al Cielo’ and ‘Directos Al Infierno’, two twinned projects that emerge from the same batch of 24 songs. More melodies, more unexpected collaborations (Diego Ibáñez, Rojuu…), but the same essence: live the 1 euro life.
We spoke with La Élite the day before their debut at La Riviera, as part of ‘La Mili Tour’, about their devotion to Amaral, the Freemasons, having the last name Burgués doing punk and world peace.
I have a good anecdote to break the ice. I was covering SanSan at the beginning of the year and, since I had seen you before and had never written about you, I went to your concert. I was having a great time with the pogos and suddenly I hear you say: “Whoever went to the Amaral concert, go away.” I was with other people and they confirmed that they had heard the same thing. I found it funny, honestly, and I put it in the chronicle.
Nil: From saying “whoever has not gone” to “whoever has gone”, there is a word.
Diosito: Sure, it’s a tiny difference.
N: It’s one more lemon gin than you drink.
The next day, your manager called us and told us that you said the opposite, and that you were quite angry because you love Amaral.
N: He was very angry.
D: Yes, because I wouldn’t care about any other artist, but not about Amaral.
N: Yes, afterward we went to say hello because we wanted to meet her.
D: Fua, fua… what a laugh.
N: We were there like dolls waiting for him to finish talking to I don’t know who.
D: Every time she said something, we laughed: “hohohoho.”
N: Suddenly, it takes a little bit of our attention. We tell him: “Nothing, we loved your concert.” And he tells us: “Okay, very good, thank you.” And we: «…».
D: We couldn’t say any words. We went completely blank, giggling.
And did Amaral know you?
N: No, no way.
D: No, but maybe yes, because once I realized that, maybe not anymore, but I saw that he followed us on Instagram. Which was very, very exciting. I’m going to check it.
N: Damn, just like we didn’t follow back he doesn’t want to talk to us anymore.
D: Ah, look, now everything is understood.
The thing about Amaral was also a prejudice, because it made sense to me that you said that. Like I could hit you. I don’t know if that happens to you a lot.
N: Yes, yes. Everyone thinks we are anti-everything and we love music. Let’s see, there are other groups, if we are talking about La La Land and all these things…
D: Yeah, we don’t like that much.
Did you mean La La Love You?
N: Sure, that. Without further ado.
D: Well, I have to say that Amaral doesn’t follow us anymore. We’re going to give him a follow.
Your live shows are hilarious. In Tomavistas I saw you open the entire pit to ask for a lighter, you had water pistols with beer… Do you improvise what you are going to do at each concert?
D: That was fun, yeah.
N: We have a part of the show prepared, but until the day itself we don’t know what is going to happen.
D: For example, it may be that you are prepared to say at a given moment to open the public, but we do not know what the actual intervention will be like. It depends on the energy.
Do you do anything special before you go out?
D: Honestly? Well look, we make “drinki drinki” and “clu clu”.
N: But that can’t be counted either (laughs).
You released ‘Straight to Hell’ on Halloween, which contrasts with ‘Stairs to Heaven’. I assume you did both at the same time?
N: Yes, correct. You are the only person who has said it. You already know more than us. We can now finish the interview.
D: This is going to be good, yes (laughs).
Why didn’t you put all 24 songs on the same album?
N: David said about doing 24 songs because it was 2024. 2024, 24 songs. A smart people thing.
D: And from there, take it very seriously.
N: We decided to do it with two blocks, because if you make an album of 24 songs and release four singles, the other 20 songs won’t even be heard. Maybe you do, but then there is another group that follows us that doesn’t. We thought this was a good option. Besides, we also give it a little history and it’s funny.
Why heaven and hell?
N: It came out like that randomly because we had very poppy songs. After the previous album we started to climb and it became like a bubble there which was funny. Like, ‘Stairs to Heaven’, how crazy, they already have everything done. And really not.
Did you put the songs on each album randomly or was there a criterion?
N: The ones on the first album are a little more melodic and have things like more pop.
To me it seemed the other way around, like in the second I see more melodic choruses. Like ‘Blue Blood’, ‘Sad Story’…
D: It is true that so that it would not be exactly the same we have also interspersed things.
N: Let’s see, we’re not very good at thinking. But that’s where the shots go. Our intention was that.
If you had put all 24 together it would be like your London Calling, but it is true that your music is better enjoyed in small doses.
N: In general, it is also a greater excuse to do things, because if we had released an album with 24 songs in May, now no one would remember.
Do your fans listen to entire albums?
N: We don’t know, we don’t know our fans.
D: What we know is that it is a piece of shit.
N: Maybe so, because everyone has more or less the same streams.
How did writing a song about the Illuminati come about?
D: Well, actually the lyrics were started by Tetas Frías. They sent it to us and we were asking ourselves precisely the question you just asked at the beginning. How do we write about this? It is also a very broad topic, which everyone can interpret and put into the bag whatever they want, so we already played with that.
N: It has also been a year in which the Freemason movement has been very fashionable.
D: Exactly. Above all, in the far-right podcast. I was thinking now with the story of the Freemasons that, I don’t know if it was Illojuan or one of these, who said that there was a room… in the Malasaña Club.
N: Downstairs, the piano room. It’s like private. It seems that they invited him and he came out the following week in a stream like: They invited me to a place that looked like Freemasons! Freemasonry! You would freak out! And there was Rojuu playing on the Switch! (laughs)
(To David) I’m sure you’ve been told this before, but it’s ironic that your last name is Bourgeois.
D: Yes, they’ve been telling me that since the first year of ESO, when I became a punk. The move is that I can’t choose my last name. It doesn’t have much to do with my life. We are from a normal family, very normal, so, well, there would be some medieval relative who would spend everything on wine. He hasn’t left us anything.
N: This is like these surname memes. The one whose last name is Tejero. And it comes out like a tile with legs or something like that.
D: For example, a colleague in my class at uni was called Franco and he was super independent. And of course, every time they said Quim Franco…
Inverted Cross is also pop. Rojuu adds that part that is rarely in your songs. How did you end up together?
N: We already liked the Rojuu from before. We have a common acquaintance. I don’t know if we told him or him.
D: It was mutual, because he was also preparing his album and he also liked doing something with us. We got together one day in the studio and did both in one morning. Seriously, Rojuu is a fucking genius.
Everyone says that about him.
D: When you are with him, you see it very clearly, man. He works very quickly, with super clear ideas, with great references… It was very cool to be with him.
What did you learn?
D: Well, when you do collaborations you can not drink beer in the studio. That’s the main thing.
Who else would you like to collaborate with?
D: Well, there are always people. It would be cool with Viagra Boys, with Amyl and The Sniffers… Something like guiri would be cool, that there is that border of language seems very interesting to me.
N: Or with Stool.
You have GELE DISCS. It seems quite appropriate that you have made your own label.
N: Yes, to do what we want and not depend on anyone. Now that we have a little money, it is not necessary for a label to leave us less money and then keep much more. It’s a little more work, but not much. Four things that you can outsource and that’s it.
D: Also to support the peña that is cool to us. From our position, which is now going a little better and reaching more people, we can contribute something.
N: Nor can we act as a label that is 100% for them. What we do is licensing EPs and so on, and with the infrastructure that we have and know, we help them. It’s a little push.
If you could have signed with a major, would you have done it?
D: It’s as simple as, if it literally fixes our lives, well look, why not? Of course, anything that doesn’t completely solve our lives, we wouldn’t do it. What use would it be for us? Signing with a major just to be a slave to it, I don’t think anyone is interested.
N: Yes, in fact, the deals that other labels had offered us to release the new album was either zero money upfront or mortgaging the group. And the percentages that stayed were very high. Besides, beyond that it makes much more sense to manage it ourselves.
Who would you send straight to hell?
D: To all the people who can press a nuclear bomb button, now that we are close to World War III.
N: Damn, you see. David is very worried.
D: I’m really screwed with this.
N: Well, we’re going to town and that’s it. Who is going to bomb Tárrega?
Who deserves a stairway to heaven?
D: Few people, huh? In other words, either we point to Miguel, our manager, or I don’t think anyone. I mean, honestly…
Amaral?
N: Amaral yes.
D: Come on, Amaral yes. Amaral has already earned heaven.
You have to end the interview with a statement, you can say whatever you want.
N: Thanks to all the people who came to La Riviera and that the person who broke his leg recovers.
D. Let me think for a moment.
N: Make a declaration of world peace.
D: The Elite demand an immediate kiss like the one in Berlin, between Biden, Putin and Kim Jong-un. Okay? And that’s it.
N: And if they want them to come to one of our concerts and we’ll make peace with everyone in the dressing room.
D: With a few “drinki drinki”, in five minutes we have the world fixed.
