"There are better people than me, more handsome and younger, but I still have my place"

Nervous and passionate, Fito Cabrales (Bilbao, 1966) is constantly on the move, gesticulating as he speaks with honesty. A veteran of the music scene, first in Bizkaia and then nationally, Fito speaks clearly and hides little, if anything, without tricks or deception. At 59, he continues to offer music and tours with more passion and enthusiasm than ever. He meets this newspaper in Madrid, on the verge of releasing 'El monte de los aullidos', where the musician neither invents anything new nor intends to, and accompanied by his usual bandmates, he shines in ten tracks that range from his signature rock to intimate mid-tempo pieces.

– It's your eighth album with Fitipaldis. Would you have signed it 25 years ago when you started writing songs solo alongside Platero y Tú?

– Of course, with Platero I was already the happiest man in the world, it was a band of four friends who initially played anywhere and eventually became professionals. Fitipaldis started with a very small concept, a group that played in bars and acoustically, very modest. But it gradually evolved into a standard rock band, and from there to what we have now.

– What does 'El monte de los aullidos' propose?

– The only thing I ask of each album is that it reflects me, nothing more, and that's no small feat. People think that when someone makes an album, they have a blank canvas and can do whatever they want. And that's a big lie. To begin with, I have my limitations as a musician and as a writer or creator, and I have the limitation that I want my songs to be myself. And that already sets some guidelines. The blank canvas doesn't exist, unless you want to change a lot and be a chameleon, like Bowie. But even Bowie is always recognisable. The challenge is for your music to reflect who you are, in my case, for people to understand me as Fito at 59, both musically and personally.

– Some people criticise you for not innovating in your albums.

– There will be those who seek evolution, and that's logical. But it's like saying 'Chuck Berry didn't evolve'. Well, maybe they need to find another band, because mine isn't a musical experiment. Anyway, all musicians and bands do a lot of different things on each album. I see the different details between one album and another, not just mine, but also, for example, in AC/DC's. AC/DC always remain themselves, but there are incredible changes from 'Powerage' to 'For Those About to Rock'. If you're looking for changes in style, music, or ways of making art, I'm not there.

– After four decades in music, it wouldn't make much sense either.

– I'm not going to do it, because I don't have much time, but I could do it in a band that was 'fake'. For example, forming a band to play funk or cover Deep Purple. There, I wouldn't have to be myself, but have fun and explore other things. But it wouldn't give me the reward of writing my songs.

– What still motivates you is picking up the guitar and writing.

– That's right. And I have the divine luck that everything life has given me, from my partner to my children, comes from the musical environment. My life revolves around music, my whole life.

– However, some people become disenchanted or stop creating.

– And you can have a creative crisis, but then you have to realise how lucky you are. I mean, there are so many bands today and incredible talent, and among all that, there are still people who want to be with you and who are waiting for your new album. This has tremendous value considering there are people with much more talent than me, more handsome, younger, and who can dance. But I still have a place.

– A significant place, moreover, because in the midst of the urban genre boom, you continue to fill arenas with guitar music.

– I've been hearing that rock and roll is in decline since I was 10, but it's not true. There are always new genres that emerge and are fresh blood, and I'm very much in favour of urban and anything that is invented. Just like when rock and roll was born, people didn't understand anything and couldn't distinguish between Elvis and Chuck Berry. There's an anecdote that Miguel Ríos always tells: when he went to record his second album, they told him to stop doing rock because rock was dead. That what was in was the twist (ha, ha, ha). There are too many undertakers in every decade. They shouldn't rush.

– But at almost 60, one can't go around as a rockstar, bohemian, or rogue.

– Well, everyone can do what they want, but drugs and all that passed me by a long time ago. Simply because I have three children and the last one I had very late, she's now 10 years old. And I was clear that I wanted to be well and continue enjoying my children. Although, of course, a tram could hit me tomorrow.

– Today, you are the antithesis of a rock star, with a more than discreet life.

– It's true, and I'm lucky that for years I've always lived in villages, and that makes things much easier. In Gernika (where he resides), in a day I might take two or three photos with people, but then maybe I go to Bilbao and everyone stops me.

– The music industry has also changed, these are the times of 'streaming'. But you still bet on the album format and releasing it physically.

– It's just that I don't know how to do anything else, I couldn't. At Warner, my record label, they know that I record albums, not songs. For me, the concept of the album is the universe. I grew up with this concept and I still think that what I want to offer people is a complete work, not brushstrokes.