At 25, Marcos Cabanas has already played hundreds of concerts, released an album, and won over audiences far beyond his Switzerland. Now he returns with a new single, “Racing With Rosie” – a song where the rock road intersects with soul and the glowing nostalgia of the ’80s. It carries the energy of escape and the romance of freedom, and features legendary musicians whose sound gives the track a larger-than-life feel. Marcos is confidently moving toward the big stage, yet remains a sincere songwriter who continues to tell stories about the people he meets along the way. That’s exactly what our conversation was about – new songs, friendships with idols, and the search for his own rhythm.
Hi Marcos! Congratulations on the new single “Racing with Rosie”! In the past few years, you’ve risen so quickly, and now your name stands alongside the legends. That’s incredibly cool, but tell me – do you ever feel like you’re “Racing with Rosie” yourself?
Thanks so much for having me and for your extremely kind words! Well first off, I’ve got to say that “Racing With Rosie” is my biggest creative project to date. I’ve had the chance to collaborate with musicians I’ve admired for a very long time, as well as old pals & new friends. So this song has become sort of the apogee of my recording career. “Racing With Rosie” has really put my creative limits to the test since this is the first time I’ve ever fused so much instrumentation into a single song. My perfectionism has gotten the best of me this time, but I’m so happy it’s finally out for people to enjoy.
You mentioned that the title ‘Racing With Rosie’ came to you at a concert literally from a friend’s phrase, and the demo appeared an hour later. Was that a moment of pure inspiration that completely took over, or do your best songs always come to life that quickly?
Funny story – I was at a Springsteen concert with a couple friends, and one of them (shoutout to Conni!) started shouting Springsteen song titles at the top of her lungs, in hopes he’d play them during the encore. “Racing In The Street! Rosalita!… Racing! Rosie!” I guess in a moment of excitement she just combined the titles into “Racing With Rosie” and as soon as I heard that I was like, “Oh this is a good name for a new song!” It’s just one of those moments where the songwriting mind kind of takes over and all you can think about is the flash of inspiration. Driving back home after the show, all I could think about was this phrase. I had recently listened to a new Zach Bryan record, and that very morning had come up with a melody loosely inspired by his sound. When I got home a couple hours later, I sat in the living room guitar in hand, and the lyrics just started pouring out. My fiancée was already asleep in bed, but the thing about inspiration is that IT DOES NOT WAIT – when it hits, it hits. And if you say “I’ll do it in the morning”, you’ve missed the train. Not all songs come so quickly: I’ve had songs that I started writing before “Racing With Rosie” which are still in the works, and other songs that are done in the span of hours – there’s a big combination of factors that determine the “speed” at which a song is born, but I’ve come to realize that the quality of the output is totally independent of this. Some songs are good, some songs are less good. I’d like to think that this is one of my better ones.
The song tells the story of two rebels running after love and freedom, yet being chased down by life itself. How much of that is an artistic image, and how much reflects your own experience and your personal “journey”?
Music has been my passion for as long as I can remember. And while most of my musical influences were ingrained by my parents, none of them really wanted me to pursue music as a full-time career. It’s hard sometimes to come to terms with the fact that you will disappoint your loved ones if you choose to do what makes you happy. On the other hand, I’ve been incredibly fortunate with the education that my parents provided me, and I’ve had other professional “loves” – always held a keen interest for flying, and because of that I am also an aerospace engineer. But music has always held (and will always hold) the number one spot in my heart. Juggling these two career paths…well it isn’t always easy, and like you say, sometimes I do feel like I’m being chased down by life itself. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I can’t make a living exclusively off music. I also have this bad habit of comparing myself to where my heroes were at my age – it’s doomed on me that I’m not getting younger, and that I’m not at the level they were at the same stage of life. But I’ve also taken the time to reflect upon what I have achieved, and I think a 10-year-old me would be so proud of where I am today. So like “Rosie”, I am enjoying the ride, and there’s nothing I would have done differently so far.
In ‘Racing With Rosie’, you blended Heartland Rock, soul, and 80s synths, drawing inspiration from Zach Bryan and James Bay. Was that an experiment to create a fresh sound, or more of an attempt to shape your own “signature style”?
It was a very organic process. I’ve always had a rock & roll backbone, but have also experimented with different genres. I’ve never wanted to constrict myself to a single style, but at the same time hints of Rock keeping coming back in almost every song. My debut album – “Antebellum” – had this big production, almost like a ‘Wall-of-sound’ approach on certain songs where my co-producer (Raph Dias) and I layered 10 guitars, pianos, organs, synthesizers, and strings. It sounds great in the studio, but it’s basically impossible to replicate live. So I knew that for my next project, I wanted something a little bit more accessible, almost bar-band like. The first versions of “Racing With Rosie” were just two guitars, piano, bass, drums, and vocals – literally the dry sounds that I was listening to on the new Zach Bryan / James Bay records. But I still felt like something was missing, that little “umph” that would fill the track. Cue in the horns, which was a suggestion brought forth by my brother Emilio. We had never arranged a horn section before, but we felt it was something that could push the track, without losing the bar-band vibe. Fast forward a couple months – everything is about to go to mixing…when my pal Jake Thistle sends me a song he’s about to release. Jake and I have very similar styles, but when I heard this song I was so pleasantly surprised as to how he had blended 80s-style synthesizers into his music, which of course inspired me to do the same. So back to the drawing board we went to incorporate some Moogs into the track. All in all, it took about six months to record the entire track, and it sounds nothing like I had originally envisioned, but I am so happy it’s come out the way it has. All of this to say, it was a very organic process – I wasn’t specifically searching for a new sound – it’s just what happened in the spur of the moment. For future songs, I’ll probably be more mindful about locking myself up for another six months in the studio!
Garry Tallent, Ozzie Melendez, and Barry Danielian took part in the recording – musicians who have played with Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and Ray Charles. For you, was it more about friendship and sharing energy, or about the responsibility of living up to their level?
I’ve always been a major Springsteen fan – there’s nobody that has shaped my style more than him. To be able to play with his colleagues is a different level of surreal. But beyond their other work, beyond who they’ve played with…what means the most to me is how they’ve defined my sound. They have taken my humble song and elevated it to a whole new world. Working with them has been tremendously gratifying, and I am so honored to now call them my friends. We’ll be working together on future tracks of the upcoming album, and I can’t wait to lay down the recordings.
For the music video, you chose New York and went with a lo‑fi aesthetic, even though we live in an era of ultra‑HD and flawless visuals. Be honest, was that a challenge to current trends or your way of highlighting the song’s sense of nostalgia?
I never paid much attention to how I ‘looked’ from an outsider perspective – I just kind of let the music do the talking. However, in this day & age where there is so much music being released everyday, you need a way to lure people in before they’ve even gotten a chance to listen to you, in order to stand out a little bit. So over the past couple years, I’ve been taking a more hands-on approach with incorporating visuals to my music. Some time ago, Ida (my fiancée) found an old digital camera she had stored away many years before. She suggested I bring it on one of my upcoming trips to NYC just to shoot some pictures. While in the city, I found out that the camera could also shoot video, so I asked my best friend Puchi to film some shots of me walking down the street, in hopes of using it for some Instagram promo, seeing that this whole vintage thing is making a comeback. Eventually, it turned into a full project of its own, and with the help of a couple other friends, we’d go out at night and walk around the city & subway while filming. I guess the biggest challenge of it all was editing the video myself – in the past I’ve had professionals give me a hand with visuals, but this time I had to suck it up and learn how to edit. Overall I’m pretty happy with how the visuals have turned out, and I think that it suits the vibe of the song perfectly. But it wasn’t really something that had been planned out, it just kind of coincided that the nostalgic song had a nostalgic video.
‘Racing With Rosie’ is the first single off your second studio album. Do you see this album as a continuous story in the spirit of this track, or more as a collection of different styles and moods?
I tend to favor records that tell a coherent story – whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I wouldn’t go to the extent of making a strict concept-album, but I do like it when songs have coherent themes. It gives the artist the chance to speak his ideas in a far more reaching way than individual tracks. That’s what I did with “Antebellum”, and it’s what I would like to do with this new record. It doesn’t mean that all songs will be of similar tempos or genres, however. We’re still very early into the production – we’ve got three songs laid down and 20 or so more in the catalog. Once they’re all recorded, we’ll select the songs that thematically make the most sense, while also deciding what kind of story I want to tell my audience. Easier said than done though.
Marcos, you were born in Madrid, raised in Switzerland, sing in the Americana genre, and collaborate with world‑class musicians. How do you explain this cultural mix yourself: does it make you freer, or does it constantly force you to search for balance?
That’s a tough question! I wouldn’t really know how to even answer it… I’m really proud of my upbringing and do realize how lucky I am to have had the chance to experience so many cultures. But musically it is a challenge, mainly because the audience most associated with my music lives on another continent. Singing in English here in continental Europe poses an additional barrier to finding an audience. So even though I’m fortunate enough to regularly play live, I don’t find myself playing nearly as often as I’d want. It also makes it harder to connect – I’ve had friends tell me many times that they like the music but don’t have a clue of what I’m singing about. So it’s tougher to let the music speak for itself. I guess that’s why I love playing in America so much – it’s easier for me connect with an audience. Having said that, Europe is where my roots are, and I’m so grateful to have so many cultures at car’s reach. This mix is a key part of who I am.
An album, an EP, hundreds of concerts – all this at 25. Do you feel like someone rushing to live as much as possible, or do you have an inner timer that tells you, “I’ve got time for everything”?
That’s very kind of you. I don’t want to rush but at the same time I don’t want to keep putting things off for the sake of putting them off. Right now I’m at a stage in my life where responsibilities don’t outweigh my freedom, and I want to make the most of it before I “settle down”. I have a friend who was in a pretty serious motorcycle accident not long ago, and it made me realize that life doesn’t wait for you to do the things you want to do. So I don’t want there to be a time when I’m incapable of doing the things I want, wishing that I would have done them. So if I can make the most of it now, why wait? All of this said, it’s good to sometimes step back, take in the view, and give yourself a little pat on the back. Again like Rosie, enjoy the ride!
Before the interview, I went through your songs and biography, and I was left with no doubt: you’re heading toward the big stage. But what do you personally want more – the loud status of standing next to legends, or the quiet, personal recognition from a listener who says: “This song feels like it was written about me”?
Personal recognition. No doubt in my mind. When you’re a kid, you always want to be what your heroes are, and of course you dream of the day when someone will come up to you on the street asking for your autograph. But as you get older, you realize that that’s not at all what it’s about. There comes an inflection point when you feel like you belong with the songs you’re listening to, and that’s my personal goal. I want my listeners to identify themselves with my lyrics, instead of identifying with me. If even one person feels like a song of mine was written for them, that’s already a huge honor. The dream has always been to grow big enough to stand alongside my heroes, but at the same time none of that matters if the music doesn’t touch people personally. Either way, I write songs because it’s what I like to do, and whether anybody listens or not, I will continue making music until I physically can’t anymore.
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