NEWS – Rodrigo y Gabriela Discuss Their Influences

Whilst more acclaimed for their unique style of acoustic playing Mexican-formed and Dublin-based Rodrigo y Gabriela were once members of a thrash group in Mexico City called Tierra Ácida. Their earlier influences have often leaked into their subsequent work, including covers of Metallica‘s One and Orion.

“With our second album we wanted to write something different really. I think we just went back to our roots,” Rodrigo Sánchez told GAFTV at the Galway Arts Festival. “We come from a rock scene and we spent so many years playing in a metal band and this feels more natural, y’know, at least to me. And using the pedals and just being free on stage and walking around.”

Regarding last year’s 11:11, which featured tracks dedicated to artists who have influenced their music, such as Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Pantera‘s Dimebag Darrell Sánchez added: “Some of the tracks do have some kind of reference to the artists we are paying homage to but some of them don’t really have anything to do with… we had to come up with eleven artists out of the many that have influenced our music.”