(The band reminisces about some harsh early criticism they received from a patron of the restaurant.)
AD: He was right but it’s tough. I’m sensitive. I get hurt by peoples’ comments. I’ve got a tough outer shell but…
SM: And how did Cristian come in to the picture?
AD: The summer before last we kind of had some songs, and I needed someone to come to Quebec with us really quick. I had just gone to his final Descalso show, and then I texted him and said “Hey, learning 25 songs in 2 weeks.” And he said “Cool.” We took him on tour and that was it. I also knew him as the young Chilean in the community who was really talented but I didn’t know him as a friend yet. I just knew that he’s good, he’s a good kid, and I know his family so we brought him in and then over this year we’ve become really, really close. We’ve become really good friends and we’ve built a really good energy and chemistry for writing songs.
SM: Andino Suns are a shining example of the ‘artist as manager’ model in the music industry. You’ve confessed to not even knowing where to begin the early days and yet you’ve remained eager to learn and pushed your- selves further with each album. You developed and em- braced an album release strategy for the new album to ensure it made a splash. Did you ever imagine that being a band would be this much work?
26 SASKMUSIC THE SESSION - FEBRUARY 2017, VOL 30.1
AP: No. I didn’t realize how much behind-the-scenes work would be involved. Sometimes 99% of the work is you just grinding behind a computer talking to people. But for me, the big thing in my position is the mental toll that it takes because I communicate with everyone in the group. I’m the bearer of bad news and it’s tough sometimes. You become super good friends with these people, so it gets toughs when you have to deliver it.
AD: He’s really good at making people feel safe with his cri- tiques. No leaves hurt, and in the past, people would leave hurt with how I would address things.
AP: With releasing records though, looking back you find ways to make it way more efficient. You build strategies that make it quicker over time and still get the same results, if not better.
AD: Doing it properly is way more work. You create a lot of the work. What I realize now is that I generate a lot of that activity. My inbox is always full but when I stop reaching out, then suddenly I don’t have emails anymore. We have to be noisy behind the scenes though. It’s a hard sell. We’re selling Latin American music on the prairies. I’m banking on people to come see us. We can’t always communicate to people through our lyrics on a CD, so we’re banking on them seeing us live and feeling our energy. It’s hard
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