Guillem Solé: 'The best gift for a child is time'

Since I became a father, I haven't gone to the bar to spend the afternoon anymore. Having children changed me one hundred percent. I stopped smoking joints and growing weed. Now I don't even smoke tobacco and I don't have alcohol at home. My habits changed radically because I started waking up early to take the kids to school and I would pick them up in the afternoon. My partner worked and I, since I did creative work, had more flexible hours and I was in charge of taking them to extracurricular activities, making lunch and dinner.

What did this radical life change teach you?

— To have patience. Before being a father, I was a very impatient person with everything. Being a father has taught me to have patience, it has taught me that there are things that cannot happen overnight. It has given me tranquility and also generosity. They are two important qualities in my life. For me, it has been precious. It is being the best stage of my life. To be able to dedicate myself to it, to be able to lose as many hours as needed in it. When I am with them, I have never had the feeling of wasting time. I have had a lot of fun. I have laughed a lot.

And as a musician?

— I don't think I've changed. I continue to make festive, vital, and protest music. Perhaps having children has made me more of a protestor. In many cases, seeing my children, I have thought that I wanted them to have a country that was also a state, a country where our language and our culture could be defended and not have to suffer because there is an outside culture that wants to destroy ours. And being a father has made me even more of a fighter and more combative.

What are they both like?

— They are so different! The big one is a piece of cake. He is calm, lazy, very messy and intelligent. But for him everything is already fine. The little one is nervous, active, more intense, she is very perfectionist. You go shopping with her and you have a great time. She is like me, very talkative. Often, when we are at the table, the boy can hardly speak because the little one does not stop talking. From time to time I have to tell her: Ivet, please, let Ixent also explain something.

A good piece...

— With her I have to be vigilant because, despite being four years younger, she has more malice than the older one. Sometimes I have had the feeling that, in some things, my 13-year-old daughter is more mature than me.

Do they argue a lot?

— At home, one of the common conflicts is when both of them want the same thing. I hear them shouting and I have to go act as a referee, even though I didn't see the play. I don't have VAR. The boy tells me one thing and his sister tells me another version. Both versions seem credible but I don't have enough information to do justice. I don't know how to be fair and it's something that blows my mind.

What kind of father are you?

— I feel like a very lucky father, a privileged one. In the end, it is of no use for a father to buy things for his children, to fill them with toys. For them, the most important thing is that you spend an afternoon by their side. For example, my daughter plays tennis and I go the whole afternoon to watch her train. I think she values that more than me buying her the best racket.

And with your son, what do you like to do together?

— He plays the guitar, produces music, and DJs. We have spent many afternoons together thinking of a melody or lyrics for a song. The best gift you can give a child is time.

What are you worried about?

— That my daughter comes home from school and tells me that in her class nobody supports Barça or that nobody wants to speak to her in Catalan. She goes to a public school in El Vendrell and there are three girls who speak Catalan against twenty-seven. This has made me more radical and I write increasingly committed songs.

What do you tell him?

— I tell him that, little by little, he must explain to his colleagues that in Catalonia it is better to be Catalan, that it is better to be a Barça fan and speak the language of the place where they live than to be confrontational about it.

You are absolutely right.

— Whenever I take my children's friends in the car and I hear them speaking Spanish, I stop. Hey, in my car, only Catalan is spoken. I know it's silly, and I assure you I do it with a smile. I do it through seduction and laughter. Now they have gotten used to it and they get into the car laughing, knowing that they have to speak in Catalan.