Do you all contribute equally to writing the songs?

Frank: We do everything together. Manta Ray is just the four of us working together. Nobody is doing stuff home alone.

Ramón Isidoro has been involved for a long time with the band and plays a big part in creating the visual feel of Manta Ray's music. Does his contributions help at all to inspire the music you write?

Frank: We've worked with Ramón since '98, and since then he's always been involved with the band. On tour he's managing the lighting for the shows. You could say he's a fifth member.

Is it difficult to find places to play with what I assume are your requirements for creating a live atmosphere that's conducive to your music?

Frank: It's quite complicated, but Ramón's really creative. When we come into a place he checks out all the equipment that the club uses, and he spends a lot of time transforming the lights and the spots to work for us. It's really funny because always what he has to work with is different.

Estratexa came out in Europe this past spring, and it's only recently been released in the States. How did you choose FILMguerrero as your label in the U.S., and what are your expectations for how you'd like to see the album do over here?

Frank: At first I have to say that I feel really lucky that, at last, a record of ours exists in the States, unedited. It's the first time this has happened for us. With FILMguerrero, I didn't know anything about the label other than they were coming out with these Walkabouts guys [Transmissionary Six, which includes Terri Moeller from The Walkabouts]. They seemed to have neo-country bands -- more lo-fi stuff. Which is really interesting because I love that kind of music. So I find it funny that Manta Ray, whose music is different that this kind, would come out on this kind of record label. But it's really great for us.

I see a lot of similarities with the visual components, the aesthetic feel, of Manta Ray and FILMguerrero, and I think you compliment each other well.

It's funny you mention the Walkabouts, because they have such an adoring audience in Spain, and in general fare far better over in Europe than they do here in the States, where they hardly get any notice. It's interesting how and where some artists do well.

Frank: That iss curious. And weird, maybe.

With Manta Ray and FILMguerrero, it was the first time that John [Askew - label head] had worked with a band he didn't personally know. I wrote him and said, "Hello, I'm Frank. And thank you a lot!" Because it was really crazy for him, and for us, too.

Acuarela Records, our label here in Spain, works the same way. They make a lot of records for American bands, too, like Thalia Zedek. They both work the same way, and I like how they each run an independent label. So the distance doesn't matter much, really.

Would you like to come to the States? Do you have any plans to tour over here?

Frank: That is our dream at the moment. John has spoken about it, so if everything goes well there's a possibility to come over in April. That's the idea at the moment, but we don't know yet if it will happen.

You mentioned Thalia Zedek from Come. How did you meet?

Frank: She's a really good friend of ours. Chris Brokaw [Come] is, too. We met Thalia and Christopher around '96 or '97, and we've played together here in Spain a lot of times. Nacho [Álvarez] and I play in her backing band when she tours over here. Chris and Thalia also appeared on our '98 record [Pequeñas Puertas Que Se Abren, Pequeñas Puertas Que Se Cierran].

I don't know if you've listened to the Viva Las Vegas [a side band of Rudow's with José Luis Garcia] split record with Chris from a year or two ago?

No, I haven't, but I did want to ask you about Viva Las Vegas, and your other side band, Nada!

Frank: Nada! is only on our web page. We only played two shows and have never recorded anything.

I'm working now on the new Viva Las Vegas album, which should come out in the next year -- but I don't know when.

When you and José Luis are working together, how do you decide what music is going to end up being Manta Ray material versus Viva Las Vegas material?

Frank: I tried to explain before, but Manta Ray songwriting is always done together with the four of us, and Viva Las Vegas is only the two of us. The songwriting happens in the same way -- we rehearse, play and put ideas together, but the Viva Las Vegas stuff is much more lo-fi and is definitely not Manta Ray's style.

Manta Ray has had some remixes done by Cosmos Records [Manta Ray vs. Cosmos, Remixes de Pequeñas Puertas].

Frank: The remix stuff we're not really interested in any more right now -- that was a moment. It was an idea from the record label, and we were big, big fans of Einstürzende Neubauten, who did the same with Ende Neu. We thought it would be a great idea to remix the whole album [Pequeñas Puertas Que Se Abren, Pequeñas Puertas Que Se Cierran], afterwards we did some mixes for other bands, but I much prefer to do new stuff rather than to remix existing songs.

Speaking of new material, what is the band currently working on?

Frank: [Sighs] Yeah, with Manta Ray recording a new album always needs a lot of time. We have to change our process, because it is always three years to get an album together. Nacho is running a bar, José Luis is working... I'm the only one from the band that is always doing just music. But the idea is to start again.

The tour of Spain stopped recently, so we're hoping to do four or five new songs for an exclusive EP John at FILMguerrero. He asked us if we wanted to record some new songs for a record in the States. The idea is to come over their to play next year, and so it would be great to new songs for a States-only record to come out at the same time.

That would be a great excuse to come over to the States and introduce yourselves to us.

Frank: It would be perfect.

Links:
Manta Ray

Inside Earpollution:
Estratexa album review