Interview with the band Nasty Neighbours

During May and June, this band from Argentina will also appear in our republic, for whom Germany or Austria will be closer, and they will go there. And we will discuss them a little.
Alan – Hello Argentina. How are you preparing for the tour?
Karina Kaos – Ahoj! We are preparing with rehearsals, tour planning, blood supplies for the vampire, and a lot of lists. 
Emilio – We have prepared a strong show, musically and visually. For us, the songs and the video visuals belong together. This will be our first time playing in the Czech Republic, and we are as excited as a band of undead from Argentina can be.

Alan – I listed the musical focus in the header. Is that all, or is there something else missing?
Emilio - Alternative surf punk psychobilly is a good start, but maybe not the whole disease. You could add indie punk, electro clash, glam punk, spooky vibes, new wave and some garage rock. We like songs that are danceable and you can party to, but serious rock at the same time. 
Kari - A journalist in Argentina wrote that our music "evokes the psychobilly side of The B-52s, the sarcastic punk of The Damned, and the pub rock attitude of Amyl and the Sniffers". We like that description. But in the end, Nasty Neighbours are their own little monster: built from many body parts, badly behaved, and very much alive.

Alan – Since when has the band existed? What line-up do you play in?
Kari - We founded Nasty Neighbours, Emilio Rolón and Karina Kaos, with compositions recorded in a haunted house in Buenos Aires. After the first rehearsals, garlic and earplugs were quickly sold out in the neighbourhood. The first show was in March 2023. 
Emilio - The current line-up is Karina Kaos on vocals and keyboard, me on guitar, Lea Almendro on the bass. Our Zombie Drummer has some passport problems as biometrics failed with his half rotten face. For this European tour, we will play on the drums with friends from Europe. So in the Czech Republic we will play with two great drummers from bands we are friends with: Paul from The Hawaiians will play with us in Prague, and Chris from Shirley Holmes will play with us in Brno. We are very happy about that.

Alan – A question to the body: What are your connections with Germany, besides the publisher?
Emilio  – The true story is that Karina comes from a witch house in the Black Forest. When this part of the forest was cut down, she was accidentally shipped to Buenos Aires in a container. That is how the whole trouble started. 
Karina – I was born in Germany, but have been living half of my life in Argentina. We founded the band in Buenos Aires, and this is our home base. So the band is connected to both places. Rookie Records is in Hamburg and we have tracks in English, Spanish, German and French. 
Emilio - More seriously: Germany is very important for us. Our European tours usually start there, we have many friends, and for this tour we will be back the third time. So Germany is not just “another country” for us — it is part of the Nasty Neighbours map.

Alan – Is this your first big tour of Europe? Or have you already had extensive tours in previous years?
Emilio -In 2024 we were invited to play Fusion Festival north of Berlin, which was an incredible start for a band that had only been founded in 2023. That first tour included 17 shows in Germany and Switzerland and we got to know Jürgen from Rookie Records in Hamburg.

Kari - In 2025 we came back for another European tour with festivals and club shows. It was beautiful because we met many great bands again and saw friends from the year before. For 2026, the Czech Republic is the next step — and we are very excited about it.

Alan – This year, 2026, you will also visit the Czech Republic. Where will you play? Or will it be just Brno?
Emilio – So far, two Czech shows are confirmed: 18 June – Rock Café, Prague
25 June – Metro Music Bar, Brno. There might be one or two more dates, but they are not confirmed yet. For us, these two shows are the first visit to the Czech Republic — and we are very excited about this!

Alan – How is it playing in Argentina?
Emilio – Playing in Argentina is intense, beautiful and sometimes completely unpredictable. Buenos Aires has a very strong live music culture, but it is not always easy for independent bands. Everything is expensive, and Argentina is going through a very deep crisis.
Kari – At the same time, there is a lot of solidarity between bands. People help each other, share stages, recommend each other, and build things together. When the audience likes you, they really show it. There is a lot of energy, sweat, humour and emotion. For a band like us, Argentina is a perfect place to learn how to survive on stage.

Alan – The album Horrorísimo!! It is slightly different from your previous work. Can you tell us a little more about it?
Kari - The first album, Nastysimo!, had more new wave and even electro clash reminisences and showed Nasty Neighbours as the neighbours nobody wants to have: punk rock with humour and a raised eyebrow.
Emilio - Horrorísimo!! is more of a spooky album — with surfy guitars, haunted keyboard sounds, glitter, fog and B-movie spirits. 
Kari - Horror gives us the freedom to talk about serious things with humour, glitter, blood. The real horror is out there in our world: screens, stupidity, fear, social pressure, everyday absurdity. 

Alan – I’ll stick to your work. Could you describe the EPs and albums chronologically and write a little about them?
Emilio - At the beginning, we recorded the first Tracks without really planning to start a full band. They were raw and direct — songs like Rock Girl, V.I.P. and Pobre Reggaeton. We recorded them in my studio, after several beers.
Karina Kaos – Then in 2023, a friend who works at a club in Buenos Aires offered us a concert. We thought: okay, we will do one show. Just one. Now, around 60 concerts and two European tours later, the third European tour is coming this summer.
Emilio – Our first album was Nastysimo!. It shows the first full version of the band: punk rock, new wave, humour, monsters, and catchy chaos. Then came songs like Tunnel Of Terror, which already pointed more clearly towards the horror universe.
Kari – In 2025 we released Horrorísimo!! through Rookie Records in Hamburg, Germany. It also came out on vinyl: a recycled-vinyl LP with hand-drawn cover illustrations by David Venegas from Buenos Aires. Every record looks different — different colours, different marbling. If you hold it against the light, you can see that no copy is exactly the same. Now we are working on the next album, on the tour we will give alreday a glimpse on it in our live shows. 

Alan – Our zine is mainly read by Czechs and Slovaks. Do you know any Czech or Slovak bands?
Karina – We have been listening lately to a legendary band, Už jsme doma. In November we will play with them in Buenos Aires, and we are very excited about that. 
Emilio – We are in touch with Mirek Wanek, this is a great Czech-Argentinian connection. And of course I also know Gutalax — I saw them live in Buenos Aires at Uniclub. That was a completely different kind of experience, scatological and definitely unforgettable.
Karina – Now you will laugh. From Germany, where I grew up, I remember Karel Gott singing “Die Biene Maja” was part of childhood television culture. 
Emilio – We are definitely not experts on the Czech or Slovak scene yet, but we hope to discover more bands when we come.

Alan – Do you have any funny stories? What happened to you as a band while performing or on the way to a concert?
Kari – One very important story happened on our first European tour in 2024. We played a concert on a boat in Hamburg, moving through the harbour between containers and cranes. Everything moved with the water. For our drummer, it felt like the worst concert of his life — everything was shaking, the boat was moving.
Emilio  – But during that show, Jürgen from Rookie Records saw us. The next day he invited us for coffee. And now Rookie Records is our label in Hamburg, and together with Jürgen we released Horrorísimo!! on vinyl. So maybe the worst-feeling concert became one of the most important concerts for the band.

Alan – As you travel through Europe, will you try to taste some local dishes?
Kari – We are curious about different beers and hope to try things we never heard of! Our vampire prefers everything bloody. But when that is not possible, he drinks red wine with pepper or eats red gummy bears.
Emilio – Not only. My menu is broader. In the Czech Republic we want to try the beer, sausages and many other things we hopefully will discover. Please send us recommendations via Instagram or Facebook! 

Alan – What interesting things are you taking with you?
Emilio  – We bring instruments, visuals, vinyls, gaffer tape, adapters, and a lot of mate tea for long drives. We bring Nasty Neighbours T-shirts,  produced in Argentina by our friends from the brand "Bite Back".
Karina Kaos – We also bring are curiosity and the wish to meet other bands and people. Meeting people through music, connecting — that is life.

Alan – If you had to compare your work to any bands, who would you name? In some songs, you sound like the Cramps or P.P. Fenech.
Kari – We understand the references and they are beautiful, because there is something spooky, wild and rock’n’roll in what we do. But we would not define Nasty Neighbours mainly through band comparisons.
Emilio – For us it is more about a feeling: the retro atmosphere of old B-movies horror, strange neighbours, surf guitars, punk energy, haunted keyboards and songs played by undead that have to work live with a living audience. We like that world where things are a little exaggerated, a little funny, a little scary — but never polished.
Kari – So yes, there is psychobilly, surf, punk and horror in the mix. But the concept is more important than sounding like one specific band. We want Nasty Neighbours to feel like a loud, colourful B-movie in a punk club.

Alan – Are you working with Petr Růžička on the German and Czech tours? Won't you have other concerts through him? Or through Klaus?
Karina – We compose at our home studio, we record ourselves, we do the booking on our own – the band is 100% DIY. We only met Petr recently, he is great — very professional, very committed. We are very happy to be in contact with him and maybe plan for next. For us, this year is the first visit to the Czech Republic. If the chemistry is right with the audience, we would really love to build something bigger together for next year. But to work with someone professional would be a pleasure. 

Alan – So I hope everything goes well, you'll play somewhere around Pilsen, and I'll see you. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Karina Kaos – Thank you very much, Alan! We really hope it works out and that we can meet you in person.
Emilio – Maybe in Prague, Brno, or hopefully somewhere around Pilsen if another date happens. Thanks for the support, thanks for the interview, and greetings to all Czech and Slovak readers.
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https://nastyneighbours.com

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https://nastyneighbours.bandcamp.com