Austin Jesse Mitchell, the USA
He is young, vivacious and a
rock music lover – he has an earring, and sports a massive ring to go with the
tattoo on his hand. Austin Jesse Mitchell is a native of LA, California, and he
was born on December 22nd 1989, when the revolution that toppled the
Ceausescu regime was in full swing in Romania. It is a curious coincidence for
Austin, who, 20 years later, decided within the span of five seconds to move to
Bucharest to play bass in the band Bosquito. The band’s singer, Radu Almasan,
spent a few years in the US, where he met our guest. This is what Austin told
us, speaking in Romanian:
Roxana Vasile, 18.06.2015, 14:12
He is young, vivacious and a
rock music lover – he has an earring, and sports a massive ring to go with the
tattoo on his hand. Austin Jesse Mitchell is a native of LA, California, and he
was born on December 22nd 1989, when the revolution that toppled the
Ceausescu regime was in full swing in Romania. It is a curious coincidence for
Austin, who, 20 years later, decided within the span of five seconds to move to
Bucharest to play bass in the band Bosquito. The band’s singer, Radu Almasan,
spent a few years in the US, where he met our guest. This is what Austin told
us, speaking in Romanian:
I was brought here by a very
talented Romanian singer who I’d been playing with in LA. When Radu decided to
go back to Romania, I asked him if I could go with him, so we could continue to
play together. He wanted to leave, but it didn’t even occur to him to take me
along, to get me out of my native town and travel all across Europe. When I
heard that, I thought about it for all of five seconds, and said: ‘I want to go
with you! I want to keep playing with you. I didn’t know much about Bosquito,
or about Romania, for that matter. I only knew one phrase in Romanian: ‘The
gentleman is paying’, and that’s about it. I had learned it from a book, and I
thought it would be useful when going to a foreign country where I didn’t know
anybody.
At first, all Austin could do
when Romanian was spoken around him and he didn’t understand a word, was to
smile. On January 1st 2013, his band mates had a surprise for him:
they told him they would refrain from speaking English around him altogether.
As a result, the young American is well acquainted with the Romanian language,
which is why he wanted to do this interview using it:
The first two years when I
didn’t know Romanian were the worst. After that, I started learning it bit by
bit, and speaking it.
In the meantime, he kept to
music:
I’ve had a lot of concerts
since I got here, I’ve lost count already. There are people who really want to
listen to what we play. They missed Bosquito while Radu was in the States.
The young rock musician
doesn’t give any thought to what he would have done had he stayed in LA. Most
likely also music, but of a very different kind:
I don’t think the kind of
music Bosquito makes would be possible there. Many say it is Latino, or Balkan…
It has elements of both, but you can’t peg it down. Of all the music I’ve
listened to in my entire life, there is nothing that can compare with Bosquito.
This is a rock band with many influences.
In addition to music, Austin
Mitchell also writes lyrics in English for Romanian singers or bands. As for
his relationship with Romania, he says he liked the country from day one:
A lot of people ask me: ‘Why
come to Romania, when we all want to go to America?’ They really don’t get it.
When you watch American movies, you think America is some sort of heaven on
earth, that everyone’s having a great time all the time, that everyone is super
happy, and everything is cool. But we are people like any others, and we have
our own problems, our own culture, and a lot of people feel better somewhere
else.
Austin Mitchell feels just
fine in Bucharest, and hopes to provide us with plenty of musical surprises this
year.
