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Vetusta Morla

About:

The band was founded by José Luis Sampedro on a high school in de Madrilean suburb Tres Cantos. He is joined by David Garcia "El Indio" (drums), Jorge Gonzalez (percussion), Notary Alexander (bass) and Guillermo Galvan (guitar). They name themselves after Ancient Morla, a character from The Never-ending Story by writer Michael Ende. In 1998 Juan Manuel Latorre joined the band as guitar and keyboard, completing the sextet. They start working on a demo finally finished in 2000 under de name ‘13 horas con Lucy’. In March of that year they win the second prize at Concurso Musical de Hortaleza, and the first prize in the Concurso Estatal de Pop-Rock de Rivas-Vaciamadrid, a few months later. This gives them the opportunity to record a second selftitled demo in 2001. Still there was no indication of a record contract so a third demo followed in 2003 called ‘La cuadratura del círculo’. Meanwhile their bassplayer left the band to be replaced by Alvaro B. Baglietto. A concert series for RTVE and a performance at the International Festival Anti-Crise (Beirut) finally gets them to release a debut-EP in 2007 called ‘Mira’. The continues touring payed off and the band started working a genuine album (ten years after the band was founded). In February 2008 the debut ‘Un día en el mundo’ is released. Critics call it "the best debut album of a group of Spanish rock history". The album was followed by the epic sounding 'Mapas' after which the band started a lenghty tour also performing the songs of the album with the Murcia symphony orchestra (later to be released in DVD). In 2013 they recorded a soundtrack for the game ‘Los rios de Alice’ followed by an album with new normal material in 2014. In the same year the perform two nights with the Orquesta Sinfónica de la región de murcia in a fundraiser for the damaged city of Lorca (struck by an earthquake in 2011). The impressive two night show was released in DVD in 2015.

Next to Vetusta Morla the bandmembers frequently play in other projects. David "el Indio" is part of SpeakLOW and the flamenco project Depedro, and Gonzalez plays in the fusion band CaLoCanDo.

On the web:

- Vetusta Morla's website: http://www.vetustamorla.com/

If you like this, you probably like... / european counterparts:

Dungen (Sweden)

Marlene Kuntz (Italy)

What do we think:

DB: Vetusta Morla is influenced by the intellectual and somewhat darker side of European indie music with Radiohead and Sigur Ros as their main examples. This makes no surprise if you name yourself after an ages old turtle that lives in the swamp of sadness and who refuses to accept the fact that she will be consumed by the Nothing. A refreshing thought. But nonetheless Vetusta Morla’s music is one of the big new hopes for Spanish rock. Their debut was still a bit copying their idols but their second album has grandeur, energy and a sound of its own incorporating Spanish influences into an eloquent style.

Recommended albums:

♪♪♪ - Un día en el mundo - 2008

♪♪♪♪♪ - Mapas - 2011

♪♪♪ - La deriva - 2014

♪♪♪♪ - Y Orquesta Sinfónica de la región de murcia - 2015

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♪♪♪♪♪= outstanding album, an absolute must-have
♪♪♪♪ = great album, highly recomended
♪♪♪ = nice album
♪♪ = be careful, requires listening before buying
♪ = best to be avoided