Pep Blay
Encyclopedia
Pep Blay is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
) is a Catalan writer, script writer and music journalist. As a music journalist, he interviewed stars like Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
and Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
. He also often works together with Spanish artists, f.e. Enrique Bunbury
Enrique Bunbury
Enrique Ortiz de Landázuri Izardui , born August 11, 1967 is a Spanish rock singer-songwriter.Bunbury was born in Zaragoza, Spain. He got involved in music in the early 1980s, making his debut in a high school band called Apocalipsis, and later played along with Proceso Entrópico...
, Iván Ferreiro
Iván Ferreiro
Iván Ferreiro is a Spanish singer-songwriter born in Vigo, Galicia in 1970. He was the voice, leader and composer of the popular pop-rock band Los Piratas....
, Amparanoia
Amparanoia
Amparanoia is the pseudonym of Spanish singer/guitarist Amparo Sánchez combining her first name with the word 'paranoia'. It was also the name of the band she fronted from 1996 to 2006. Debut album, El Poder de Machín, has been described as being "bright, exuberant.....
.
Biography
Blay was born as the youngest of three children on 2 September 1966 in TarragonaTarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. He studied Catalan Philology at Universitat de Barcelona, faculty of Tarragona from 1984 to 1989. During his studies he worked as a cultural journalist for the Catalan newspaper Catalunya Sud. He also published poems for the magazine Negre+Roig and founded the collective Andrògina Productions.
After his studies, he moved to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
to begin higher education in theatre theory and critics; he also learnt Japanese. That same year he started to write about literature for the Catalan newspaper AVUI and edited the supplement Rock & Classics. He also worked for magazines like El Temps, Catalònia and Cultura. Between 1990 and 2000 Blay sporadically performed reciting poetry live; a few of his performances can be found in the DVD Poesia en viu a Barcelona (Habitual Video Team/ Propost.org, 1991–2003).
His career as a music journalist started with AVUI in 1993. That same year, he also began to sing as a vocalist in the Tarragonian post mortem-underground band Els Patètix; he spent 3 years in that group. In 1995, he published a biography of the Catalan musician and songwriter Lluís Llach
Lluís Llach
Lluís Llach i Grande is a Catalan composer and songwriter.Though partially dependent on arrangers, like Manel Camp or Carles Cases in his early works, Llach's songwriting has largely evolved from the more basic early compositions to a vastly more complex harmonic and melodic writing...
for the collection Los Autores (SGAE Barcelona). In 1999, Blay started to work for the Catalan TV-channel Televisió de Catalunya as programme director for the cabaret Bohèmia, and also as script writer and art director. He wrote two more biographies about Catalan rockbands: “Sopa de Cabra. Si et quedes amb mi“, Rosa dels Vents, in 2002 and “Els Pets
Els Pets
Els Pets is a Catalan pop rock band with lead singer, composer and guitarist Lluís Gavaldà from the village of Constantí . Joan Reig plays drums and Falin Cáceres bass. At present, the band has the collaboration of the musicians Joan-Pau Chaves , David Muñoz and Brad Jones...
. Cara a cara”, Rosa dels Vents, in 2003. Moreover, he created in the magazine Enderrock the series “Sexe, Blay & rock´n´roll“ which is associated to later works.
His passion for travelling led him through Europe, the USA, Island, Tanzania and Mexico. In September 2003, he started a one-year-trip around the world to experience cultures in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Brazil and Japan. These experiences had such a heavy influence on Blay's life that he started to work as script writer for the travel programme Km33 on the Catalan TV-channel Tv3. Thanks to that job, he continued travelling to f.e. Morocco, Burkina Faso, Mali and the USA (New York). He usually sends reports about travelling and other topics to the Catalan radio station iCat fm.
Blay who has always been a devotee of vampirism and polypoetry became famous with his novel “Vampíria Sound“ (Plaza & Janés Editores, S.A., 2004), which is a radical contemporary music thriller. The biography he wrote about Enrique Bunbury
Enrique Bunbury
Enrique Ortiz de Landázuri Izardui , born August 11, 1967 is a Spanish rock singer-songwriter.Bunbury was born in Zaragoza, Spain. He got involved in music in the early 1980s, making his debut in a high school band called Apocalipsis, and later played along with Proceso Entrópico...
- called “Enrique Bunbury. Lo demás es silencio“ (Plaza & Janés) - made him famous overnight amongst both Spanish-speaking and international fans of Enrique Bunbury and his ex-band Héroes del Silencio
Héroes del Silencio
Héroes del Silencio was a Spanish rock band from Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain, formed by Juan Valdivia and Enrique Bunbury. During the 1990s they experienced success around Spain and the Americas, and in various European countries including Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Serbia and Portugal...
. That biography offers an exciting human portrait of the extroverted Spanish singer. The book has also been published in Mexico.
In 2009, Pep Blay continued to show the extent of his talent and numerous skills with the release in Catalan of the teenager-fantasy-novel “Gotholàndia“ (Montena). At the same time “Erótica Mix“, four short stories about music and sex, were both published in Catalan (Rosa dels Vents) and in Spanish (Plaza & Janés). At the end of the year, as art director, he produced together with Spanish stars like Enrique Bunbury
Enrique Bunbury
Enrique Ortiz de Landázuri Izardui , born August 11, 1967 is a Spanish rock singer-songwriter.Bunbury was born in Zaragoza, Spain. He got involved in music in the early 1980s, making his debut in a high school band called Apocalipsis, and later played along with Proceso Entrópico...
, Iván Ferreiro
Iván Ferreiro
Iván Ferreiro is a Spanish singer-songwriter born in Vigo, Galicia in 1970. He was the voice, leader and composer of the popular pop-rock band Los Piratas....
and Amparanoia
Amparanoia
Amparanoia is the pseudonym of Spanish singer/guitarist Amparo Sánchez combining her first name with the word 'paranoia'. It was also the name of the band she fronted from 1996 to 2006. Debut album, El Poder de Machín, has been described as being "bright, exuberant.....
, the CD “Més raons de pes. El tribut an Umpah-Pah“.
Blay has been living in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
for a long time. Finally, he finds his inspiration closed to the sea to write books while his journeys take him around the globe.
Works
- “Lluís LlachLluís LlachLluís Llach i Grande is a Catalan composer and songwriter.Though partially dependent on arrangers, like Manel Camp or Carles Cases in his early works, Llach's songwriting has largely evolved from the more basic early compositions to a vastly more complex harmonic and melodic writing...
“ (Collecció "Los Autores", SGAE, Barcelona, 1995) is a biography about the Catalan musician and songwriter Llach. - “Sopa de Cabra. Si et quedes amb mi” (Rosa dels Vents, 2002) is a biography about a Catalan rock band. The vocalist Gerard Quintana decided to make a solo career after their separation.
- “Els PetsEls PetsEls Pets is a Catalan pop rock band with lead singer, composer and guitarist Lluís Gavaldà from the village of Constantí . Joan Reig plays drums and Falin Cáceres bass. At present, the band has the collaboration of the musicians Joan-Pau Chaves , David Muñoz and Brad Jones...
. Cara a cara” (Rosa dels Vents, 2003) - “Vampíria Sound“ (Plaza & Janés Editores S.A., 2004) is a novel about music with thriller and vampirism elements.
- “Enrique BunburyEnrique BunburyEnrique Ortiz de Landázuri Izardui , born August 11, 1967 is a Spanish rock singer-songwriter.Bunbury was born in Zaragoza, Spain. He got involved in music in the early 1980s, making his debut in a high school band called Apocalipsis, and later played along with Proceso Entrópico...
. Lo demás es silencio” (Plaza & Janés, 2007) - “Gotholàndia“ (Montena, 2009) is a fantasy novel for older children and teenagers.
- “Eròtica Mix“ (Catalan, Rosa dels Vents, 2009) / “Erótica Mix“ (Spanish, Plaza & Janés, 2009) are four short stories.
- “Pretòria“ (Ara Llibres, 2010)
Literature from Pep Blay
Lluís Llach. Col•lecció "Los Autores", Barcelona, 1995, SGAE.Sopa de Cabra. Si et quedes amb mi. Barcelona, 2002, Rosa dels Vents. 1ª Edición, 336 pages, Catalan. ISBN10 8401386071; ISBN13 9788401386077.
Els Pets. Cara a cara. Barcelona, 2003, Rosa dels Vents. 1ª Edición, 360 pages, Catalan. ISBN10 8401386306; ISBN13 9788401386305.
Vampíria Sound. Barcelona, 2004, Plaza & Janés Editores S.A. Colección
Narrativa Rosa dels vents. Catalan. ISBN 8401386543.
Enrique Bunbury. Lo demás es silencio. Barcelona, 2007, Plaza & Janés. 448 pages, Spanish. ISBN 9788401305511.
Gotholàndia. Barcelona, 2009, Montena. 272 pages, Catalan. ISBN 9788484415046.
Eròtica Mix. Barcelona, 2009, Rosa dels Vents. 304 pages, Catalan. ISBN 9788401387272.
Erótica Mix. Barcelona, 2009, Plaza & Janés. 296 pages, Spanish. ISBN 9788401337079.
Pretòria. Barcelona, 2010, Ed. Alisis. Ara Llibres SCCL. 229 pages, Catalan. ISBN 978-84-937628-6-5.
External links
Blay's official homepages:- http://www.myspace.com/pepblay und http://www.facebook.com/pep.blay