"Krone" interview

Granada: pop music from the magic of the moment

An album full of nostalgia, reflection and the search for time in all its facets: Granada with the new album "1'30".

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Toechtersoehne, Ingo Pertramer)

A new producer, a new way of working, traditional methods - for their new album "1'30", the Styrian pop quintet Granada turned a few screws, allowed themselves to look back and opened up musically. Thomas Petritsch and Lukacz Custos give us a closer look.

Full concert halls and open-air venues, albums celebrated by critics and audiences and an Amadeus Award 2022 in the "Alternative" category - Styrian pop band Granada have been on a steep upward trajectory for almost ten years. The band, which was only formed in 2015 because frontman Thomas Petritsch still had too many German and dialect-language song sketches left over from his commissioned work for the film "Planet Ottakring", has long since become a popular and successful fixed star in the Austro sky. With all the hustle and bustle surrounding the band, it's important to take a break from time to time, withdraw and let your creativity run free in silence. For the new album "1'30", which is being released these days, the quintet has once again retreated to a hut in southern Styria and discovered a love of collaborative creation.

The magic of the moment
"It's always good to be somewhere where you're not distracted by everyday things and can fully focus on making music," explains Petritsch in the Krone interview, "we've never made music together as a five-piece from scratch before and thought it would be a good idea for once." All of the people involved know a thing or two about songwriting; a decisive step was to create things together in such a way that they make sense and remain playful. "You simply need time to listen to each other and coordinate. Sometimes we're only talking about milliseconds of understanding, from which the most beautiful moments then arise." The magic of the moment ultimately led to a large part of the result that is now available.

"One time, it took a magical three hours," recalls guitarist Lukacz Custos, "we felt like we'd made half the album." Once Granada had made a name and a brand for themselves, they consciously changed the way they wrote songs. "We thought of songs differently," Petritsch explains, "this one sounds like Coldplay, this one like Seiler und Speer, this one like Oasis or like vom Nino aus Wien. All the songs have the classic Granada touch, but some have become more pop or rock. It's funny that we as musicians always think we're leaning way too far out of the window and then you hear from the outside that the songs sound like Granada anyway," laughs the frontman. The straddle between Granada pop and mainstream pop has been a success. The single "Feiawerk" is bursting with bombast, 80s kitsch and playfulness, which is precisely why it works. On the other side of the coin are balladic tones that like to nestle into nostalgia.

New brooms sweep clean
"In the course of the creation process, you always ask yourself whether you are allowed to do this or that and where you set your own limits. In terms of Granada, we've already proven ourselves anyway, so we're taking a completely different approach." Ex-Wanda producer Paul Gallister also brought a new color to the Granada camp. "His credentials are clear, he brings a feel for pop and we were happy to make use of that. We got involved with each other in a very trusting way, but also discussed things when there was a need for discussion. There's a version of 'Feiawerk' that sounds like Aqua, but that went too far for us. But who knows? Granada fans would probably have understood what we meant anyway." The band's self-confidence grew with their success. "But you can easily be seduced by that," warns Custos, "vanity is always dangerous."

Time is an important factor on the album. The album title - one minute and 30 seconds - refers by definition to the unity of a moment. There are the songs "1999", "Schon wieder zu spät" or "Letzte Nocht", and the aforementioned nostalgia factor is also a recurring theme. "Apparently this is something that has preoccupied us as a band, as a group. For example, the belief in taking things for granted that aren't self-evident at all. How quickly things can change in life. Time as cause and effect becomes very clear. We asked ourselves what time has done to us. A lot of the theme of time on the album is about transience, which in turn leads to nostalgia. Time is the linchpin of our lives."

A life as the blink of an eye
Around his 40th birthday, frontman Petritsch in particular opened the doors to retrospection. "Of course, we're increasingly coming to terms with our own transience and it's okay to look back and think about how things used to be. For example, when the first butterflies fluttered in your stomach or you enjoyed a summer in the country at 15. 1999' or 'Wimper' are certainly attempts to capture such moments and to think about where you are still going in life. Our lives are no more than the blink of an eye in relation to the universe. That thought can be very depressing, but it also makes you think about what you want to leave behind and how you want to be remembered. I think songwriting is our attempt to slow down a bit and retreat."

The songs on "1'30" are not only musically in different, but definitely accessible spheres, Granada also outline things lyrically that we all deal with in everyday life. What do you take with you from the past into tomorrow? What would have happened if I had made a different decision? Why does time pass so quickly? "The album also contains a bit of the fight against the self-optimization that we are all confronted with," says Custos, "everything has to be more and better. I have to be more and better. In the creative field in particular, it's important to do nothing. To let yourself go so that your head is free again for ideas. We live in self-exploitation and consumption is our compensation - but there is a lack of community solidarity." And speaking of time: Granada will be celebrating their tenth anniversary in 2025. But before that, they will be going on a big tour with "1'30".

Across the whole country
On October 16 and 17, they will be playing at Rockhouse Salzburg, on October 18 at Conrad Sohm in Dornbirn, on October 19 at Treibhaus Innsbruck, on October 23 at Arena Wien, on October 24 at Posthof in Linz and on October 25 at Orpheum in Graz. A few open airs have also already been announced for summer 2025. On August 16, an open-air event in the Vienna Arena, on August 29 in the Burgarena Finkenstein and on September 12 at the Kasematten in Graz on the Schlossberg. Visit www.granadamusik.com for all the exact tour dates, further information and ticket options.