Joan Pons of El Petit de Cal Eril: "It could happen that the tenth album is the last"

PalmaEl Petit de Cal Eril return to Mobofest 8 years after attending its second edition, in 2018, when they were the first non-local group to perform at the musical event that over the years would become, in its own right, the Festival del Pla.

“We were the first group not from Mallorca to play at the festival. There were a lot of people, more than expected. It was an incredible night. Da Souza were playing, we already had a relationship with them, but the friendship became even stronger. It meant establishing connections with many people from Mallorca that were consolidated and have accompanied us for many years,” recalls the musician from Guissona, Joan Pons.

It was at the Puig de Consolació, in Sant Joan, where the first three editions were held and where Mobo has returned 10 years later for the last dance and the grand finale from Thursday 23rd to Saturday 25th. “As it deserves,” says Joan Pons.

“We stayed for a week on vacation. On the second or third day, we already brought out the chairs in the square to cool off with the townspeople and it was fantastic. The inland towns of Mallorca remind me of my homeland, La Segarra, where I was born. Whenever I come, I feel very much at home, I see a very special connection with the land.”

In fact, at that time we were staying with godparents of the organizers. “There are very few festivals like this: they love the music and what they do, and that doesn't always happen.” And he recalls “running the van aground in a mud pit and them helping us” and even, an excursion “to a hidden cove that Miquel Serra showed us.”

El Petit de Cal Eril, active since 2007, after nine studio albums, is set to reach their tenth, a number that metaphorically coincides with the same number of years Mobo will have its last dance. “I have some songs recorded and I will surely make another album. Sometimes I think if it's cool to leave it at nine or do the tenth, or what we should do. What is clear is that this group will not last forever. Having a project for so many years is very complicated. It's a reflection that sometimes comes to my mind and it could be that it's the last one. I have many ideas to do different things; the tenth album will be there,” reflects Joan Pons.

“I have so many doubts... There are times when I like what I do more, other times I don't like it at all and I would change everything, but I have discovered that what you have to enjoy is the journey, not the final goal, because there isn't one. It's always starting from scratch, that's my feeling with art. It's exhausting, but at the same time exciting,” concludes the musician.

Joan Pons is one of the architects of a sound, a style, and a particular production that years ago became the so-called metaphysical pop. “I feel part of a team of people who have focused on a type of music, how to record it and understand it. It’s always interesting to find a way of expression that makes you feel a little unique, because, otherwise, it’s easier to fall into redundancy.” He does this with his faithful trio, Jordi Matas, Ildefons Alonso, and Dani Comas.

A singular and authentic sound that he has managed to create and from which he has wanted to turn and leave behind the more volatile textures to ground it more in guitars on his latest album Eril, Eril, Eril (Bankrobber, 2025), a title that is a declaration of intent. “The name of the family home is cal Eril”, where he has his studio and where he records all the music and from which his unmistakable sound emerges. “In villages, people often don’t place you by your surname, but by the name of the house. I am the youngest of four siblings. I never introduced myself like that to anyone, but people told me. When I made my first songs in 2007, I didn’t know what to put in the folder and I put 'El Petit de Cal Eril' and that’s how it stayed. I’ve wanted to change it many times, because when you give yourself a name without thinking too much about it, you might find you don’t like it or it doesn’t represent you, but I was never able to. Now I have it internalized and it doesn’t bother me, although there have been times when it did,” he explains.

Friday the 24th’s concert is the only one on this tour that El Petit de Cal Eril will play in Mallorca. “I’ll stay one more day to see Antònia Font. We are sad about the loss of Joan Roca. It will be a very emotional and moving festival. Life has these surprises, and you have nothing else to hold onto but music: it will be the way to share life’s emotion and people’s vulnerability.”