Ana Perrote of Hinds – COVID-19 Quarantine Artist Check In

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Ana Perrote of Hinds – COVID-19 Quarantine Artist Check In

“I’m happy and proud to live in a country with public health, that’s for sure.”

Apr 08, 2020 By Mark Redfern Photography by Keane Pearce Shaw Hinds

We are checking in with musicians during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic to see how they are dealing with everything. What has their home quarantine experience been like so far and how is the crisis impacting both their career and art? Here we check in with Ana Perrote of the Spanish quartet Hinds.

We’re living in future history right now, unprecedented times that will define our era. At some point we will be living in a forever-changed post-COVID-19 timeline, but right now we’re deep in it. Many have had their livelihood interrupted by the pandemic and included are most musicians, who make a lot of their money by touring and performing, two things they can’t do right now. Most record stores are closed and vinyl factories are shut down, so album sales are depressed too. Our intention with this series is to highlight the challenges musicians are going through right now to hopefully encourage our readers and their fans to rally around and support each musician (financially if you can, but we know it’s tough out there for many people).

We’re all in this together, a whole planet united in this fight, and we hope these interviews will help illustrate that. We put together the same set of questions about the current crisis and emailed them to several musicians and will be posting their responses as they come in.

Hinds were releasing a new album, The Prettiest Curse, on April 3 via Mom + Pop. The curse will now be broken on June 5, as the album was recently pushed back to that date due to COVID-19.

The band collectively issued this press statement about postponing the album: “We all need music now more than ever, and we were so excited to release our album next month and share it with you! But right now, things are a bit scary in Spain and the coronavirus is something that is affecting a lot of our loved ones, so for right now we think all of our focus should be on staying safe and staying home, not promoting a new album.

“BUT IT’S OK!! We are still here!! Working everyday! Nobody said it was easy… but we’ve always wanted to release an album in the summer anyways.”

Jenn Decliveo produced The Prettiest Curse. It features some songs where the band members sing in their native language for the first time. The album includes “Riding Solo,” a new song the band shared in December via a video for the track (it was one of our Songs of the Week). Then when the album was announced Hinds shared another song from it, “Good Bad Times,” via a video that featured the band as superheroes. “Good Bad Times” was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared another new song from the album, the layered ballad “Come Back and Love Me<3,” which featured Spanish guitar and which the band said “is the most romantic song we’ve ever done.”

In a press release announcing the album Perrote said The Prettiest Curse is a quantum leap from their earliest work. “If baby Hinds could hear this record, they wouldn’t believe it—it’s so far from where we started,” she said. “It’s the first time we truly enjoyed the process and didn’t ever feel we had something to prove. I’m so proud that we just let ourselves have fun, and never held back from doing what we wanted.”

In the press release the band’s Carlotta Cosials also had this to say about The Prettiest Curse and its title: “We have this incredible job, but it’s really transformed the way we live. We know we’re not going to stop, so we’ve decided to embrace it—to see this curse as something pretty.”

Hinds’ last album was 2018’s I Don’t Run, also released via Mom + Pop. The band also features Amber Grimbergen and Ade Martin.

Read on as Perrote reflects on her COVID-19 experience so far. Spain has been one of the worst hit countries thus far. Perrote has also provided photos of herself under quarantine.

Where are spending the quarantine and who are you spending it with? If you’re spending it with other people, have you found that the quarantine has brought you closer together or caused tension?

Hi!! Ana here! I’m spending the quarantine in my house with my boyfriend and a roommate. I’m really enjoying spending so much time with my partner, since usually we are both kinda traveling non-stop. It’s been nice to have a routine, cook dinner overnight, and spend quality time! It has brought me a bit closer to my roommate but not too much, he is a bit of a loner and spends a lot of time in his room (which is fine for me cause I can use all the house for doing my things haha). It’s been 20 days today since I don’t leave the house for nothing but groceries.

Is everyone in your family safe and healthy so far?

Sort of. I have an uncle that has been hospitalized for over a week, but I heard yesterday that he was starting to do better, real good news. Both my parents are doctors. They are healthy but the estimations are that 50% of the sanitary workers are infected already, so COV hospitals need extra help. They called my dad last week to work a couple of days there… very scary, I’m trying not to think too much about it.

What’s your daily routine been like? Have you spent much time outdoors? And since musicians spend so much time on the road, have you found it hard adjusting to so much time at home?

Well, we were JUST about to go on a three-month tour in Europe, UK, and the US… so it’s been a drastic change of plans, we’ve had to reschedule the whole thing for after the summer. Like I said before, it’s been actually nice to spend a lot of time home, I don’t think I had been so long in the same city in…five years? There are a lot of things I can’t do when we are on tour, from what looks like stupid things like gardening, or cooking, paint, etc.

What financial impact has COVID-19 had on you and your band? Have you had to cancel or postpone any tours or festival appearances or postpone an album release because of COVID-19 and how will that affect you in the long term?

Yeah… all of it. :( We’ve had to push the album, and pretty much a world-tour. I think we are lucky that this is happening on our third album, and we are an “established” band. I feel bad for other musicians that were beginning. I’m trying to support them however I can by sharing, listening, buying!

If you also have a day job outside of music, how has that been impacted by COVID-19?

Mmmmm, I do some modeling from time to time, but it’s more for fun than anything else. Obviously no one can shoot anything now, so it all stopped too.

Do you trust the government and our leaders (such as President Trump) to effectively deal with the pandemic? What most concerns you about the response of elected leaders at home and abroad?

I don’t, no. We are not getting the sanitary items doctors need for example. Like they don’t have enough masks for the people that are risking their lives to cure others. How crazy is that? I’m happy and proud to live in a country with public health, that’s for sure. But a few years ago there was a lot of cutting budget in the sanitary area, they almost made it private. I hope the whole world learns how important public health is. It can’t be a luxury for some people, it has to be accessible for absolutely everyone.

Which sources of news have you been turning to most during COVID-19 and which social media platform have you found most useful?

I’m trying to stay away from my phone and the news as much as possible. It’s very hard to cope with all that’s happening and hard to be locked inside. I can’t do both things, it doesn’t let me function. I’m working hard, making the most of the time we have here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m also sleeping a lot, and watching movies and stuff. Basically, taking care of myself.

Are your parents, grandparents, and others in your life who are at risk taking social distancing seriously? If not, what lengths have you gone to in order to convince them to stay inside?

Everyone around me is taking it seriously now. Obviously, we are the second country with more infected, and dead people so its not “just another virus” for anyone anymore. It’s a big responsibility to stay home.

What is the best way fans can support you financially right now? Buying vinyl and CDs, downloading and streaming your music, buying merch, supporting your Patreon page or other crowd sourcing platform (if you use one), or some other means? Is there a particularly cool piece of merch you’d like to highlight?

Literally all the things you mentioned. When you buy an album, you help us through our label, so they can still promote it and help your career in the long term. And also makes you feel like fans are liking and supporting your art! When you buy a tee, that’s probably the money that goes fastest to your pocket. So whichever you choose is great, thanks!!

Which albums, songs, films, TV shows, books, podcasts, live streams, video games, board games, etc, have been helping you get through the quarantine?

I’m doing a marathon of Harry Potter, I’m on number six now!! I’m reading Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein and Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawkins!

Have you been doing any live-streamed concerts during COVID-19 or do you plan to? A lot of artists have been doing them, do you think it’s a challenge to make them original and interesting?

Yes!! We’ve been very active. We can’t really do “live” shows because we are a four-piece, and no streaming platform is PERFECT, there is always a little delay. So we’ve created this way of doing it where we all record ourselves from home and then CC puts it all together, and like magic it looks we are playing together! We have also been posting tutorials and stuff, and our fans have loved them. They’ve been tagging us covering songs, which is super cool. I think we are all in a very “passive” way; watching TV, looking at our phones, with music in the background… so helping them actually doing stuff Is very helpful I think. Trying to stay active and creative.

Is there something you’ve been putting off for a long time, but are now doing with this time at home?

Paintiiiiinnggg loads!!!!

Beyond the obvious items (such as toilet paper), what things have you made sure to get from the grocery store when stocking up? And, also, do you have any toilet paper?

Haha yes.