La Pegatina

La Pegatina is a band that has experienced the growing of the “mestizo” and that has grown with the return of the catalan Rumba. This young band from Montcada i Reixach (Barcelona) has just launched their second CD: Via Mandarina (Kasba Music) and they included Lleida in the launch of their “urban Rumba”.

The expectancy of La Pegatina’s show in Lleida it has been so high that they had to change the venue for next Saturday from La Boite, the original venue, to Cotton Club. The reason is because the 400 tickets of La Boite were previously sold out in advanced.

The band appeared in 2003 with the name La Pegatina Sound System, when Adria Salas (vocals) and Ovidi Diaz (cajon & percussion) joined Ruben Sierra (vocals & guitar) who until then played on his own. In 2007 they recorded their first CD “Al Carrer!”, and two years after “Via Mandarina” when the band had it’s consolidation as a sextet.

“The basic difference with the first CD is that there’s more beat. We have learnt a lot, vocals and compositions are more elaborated; we transmit the experience of our career” says Adria. The rest of the members of La Pegatina are Ferran Ibañez (bass), Axel Magnani (Trumpet), and Romain Renard (accordion). “When we added trumpet & accordion our music got more complete, more complex” he adds.

The philosophy of the band is to transmit the feeling of party “with honesty and humility” since what we’re looking for “is the interaction with the audience, have a good time with the audience”. The lyrics are in Spanish and Catalan but also in Galician (A Morriña) – because Ruben is Galician” – and in Portuguese, Minha Rua, with a supportive cause with the poor children in Brazil. “We composed the tune via Internet along with a children’s percussion group from there”, he explains.

Alosque, the tune chosen to promote as a single and as a video clip, counts with the collaboration of D’Callaos. El Puchero del Hortelano also collaborates in those 14 tunes among which you can recognize some covers from Chico Ocaña and Tatamka. The catalan promo is with the tune “Gat Rumberu”.

“We’ve always said that our music is Catalan Rumba, because we do it in the street, we could say that it is punk music made with a flamenco “cajon” and a Spanish guitar”, says the singer. La Pegatina has the schedule full of gigs, not also in Spain, even in France, Switzerland, Italy, England and Denmark.

- Andres Rodriguez - "La Mañana" - Lleida

Because of the official launch of Via Mandarina, their second CD, La Pegatina striked everybody last Saturday with a crazy show and a complete sold out in the new Salamandra. At this point, everything looked more or less normal, because it’s something we’re getting used to with those guys. The thing is that this band is getting are getting to another dimension if we take into account that the day before they got the same results in terms of audience response, in the same club. So, there’s somebody who is saying that those guys from La Pegatina got two eight hundreds in a row this weekend, making clear reference to the capacity of the venue.

It was a few months ago when we were informed that La Pegatina was thinking about launching their second CD Via Mandarina at the end of May in the new Salamandra, in what they call it Salamandra 1, with a capacity for 800 people. The tickets for Friday 27th were put on sale and in a few weeks the venue was sold out. To calm everyone down they announced that they would do a second concert the day after, Saturday 28th, in the same venue. What we didn’t expect was that they were going to be able to make another sold out in two consecutive dates. And they did it!.

…

After the farewell of the opening band we had to wait for a few minutes until we could see La Pegatina appearing on stage. You could realize the impatience in the face of the audience. A giant canvas covered the front of the stage while behind some techs were preparing everything against the clock for the show. Till when the curtain rose and all of a sudden Ovidi appeared, with his drum sticks in his hands, running from one side to the other of the stage. He got in his place and started playing behind a metal structure that hold 2 bongos, some percussion items and cowbells. Behind him the whole band appeared, Adria and Ruben (vocals & guitars), Ferran (bass), Axel (Trumpet), Romain (accordion) and Sergi (drums) the new incorporation in the band.

The guys from La Pegatina love to start their gigs linking all tunes one to another without even a second of stop between them. So, with a fizzy rhythm, almost wretched, they started to degrain the different tunes of their new CD, inserting some of their old tunes in between. Via Mandarina, their second CD, just appeared about a month ago, enough ago to allow everyone to downloaded for free in their website or get it in the music store.

Even that some of the tunes may not sound new to someone, because that they have been on their live performances for a while. “Alosque” for example, sounded in their last gig of the “Conxi Tour 2008” in Apolo, Barcelona. As it happened in that gig, and in the recording of the CD, they had the great collaboration of Maribel Martin, with her charismatic voice, and Daniel Martin on guitar, both from their friend band D’Callaos. Some other tunes have been in their set for longer, as Miranda, Gat Rumberu and La Negra.

After having heard this Via Mandarina a few times it seems that it has been brewed by La Pegatina Live, during his tour through all the stages around Spain. Apart from the above mentioned tunes, others like “Que bonito es el Amor”, “Mandarinas y Pomelos” or “Lerei” sound clearly oriented to party and rave-up. It is also remarkable the tune “Sun Bay” composed by Antonio Arco for Tatanca. The band had the collaboration of the same Arcos for the recording of this tune. We can’t forget about “Minha Rua” coproduced along with the brazilian group “Grupo Eureca de Percussao”. This peculiar band is a project from the collective Meninos da Rua, who fights for keeping the kids away from the streets dangers. The backing vocals and the percussions of this tune, signed by Rone Costa, where recorded in Brazil and incorporated later to the tune that La Pegatina recorded here.

In this show, as it happened in the last show at Apolo, appeared Zulo from Canteca de Macao who made an exhibition about his fluorescent cariocas. Finally we just want to recommend the concert that La Pegatina will be playing tonight in Terrassa. After this one, La Pegatina has a hard schedule in which they will visit France during Easter, and after traveling to Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, Sevilla and Granada.
- Renato López for Audiokat - http://www.audiokat.com/noticias.asp?noticia=00000218

It is clear that our friends from La Pegatina don’t lose time. Barely two years have passed since their first CD Al Carrer!, a record that meant a boom in terms of acceptation and expectation of the audience. In Audiokat we had been warning about it, while we were realizing how fast the faithful number of enthusiasts was growing. Yesterday, February 23rd, Via Mandarina appeared on sale, their awaited and acclaimed second record. Taking into account the last news we have in our office, we’ve been told that in some well known music stores from the center of Barcelona the CD has been sold out. Now we transcribe the note that Kasba Music, the record label, passed us:

The upcoming February 23rd will start the sale of the second record of La Pegatina: Via Mandarina.

Via Mandarina shows a great evolution at all levels from what La Pegatina was in 2007 when they launched their debut album: Al Carrer!. Their vocals have grown, also the experience, the taste for well done things, and they added two instruments that have the capacity of making people feel melancholy and happiness in similar proportions: accordion and trumpet.

If in their first record artists such as Manu Chao, Gambeat or Che Sudaka collaborated, this time they still have some luxury collaborations as D’Callaos, El Puchero del Hortelano and a coproduction with the project of Meninos da Rua da Sao Paulo from Brazil, specifically with the Grupo Eureca de Percussao de Campinas. They also collaborate Albert Costa from Always Drinking Marching Band and Diego Castro from Limoncello.

Via Mandarina is a fresh combination of playful and danceable music at the same time, having as reference what they call it “urban rumba” (some they call it punk with a flamenco “cajon” and a Spanish guitar). In the record we will find 14 tunes among which we will recognize a cover from Chico Ocaña and another one from the mythical band from Granada Tatamka.

The record has been produced by La Pegatina, recorded at La Atlantida Studio in Barcelona by Mario Patiño and mastered by Yves Roussel. The graphic design has been made by Luis LaPrisaMata.

Their last CD, Al Carrer (2007) was auto-edited, auto-produced and auto-distributed. They sold more than 4.500 copies and more than 180.000 were downloaded. A great effort that has been reflected in a tour (Conxi Tour 2008) that got to 80 gigs with a sold out final concert at Apolo in Barcelona. Anybody has achieved so much without a record label behind, a self-made system that has captivated everybody thanks to the fresh vitality of the project and the music.
- Audiokat - Kasb Music

We had been lucky to have this catalan band not long ago with us, and after the incredible gig they made, and having the knowledge that they just added horns and accordion and that they will bring new material, the expectation was even bigger.

Some days before I got in touch with them to concert an interview before the concert, and there wasn’t any problem, the seemed nice guys.

The expectation for the band was palpable, people waiting at the door of the club, asking for the tickets and nervous. The time for the interview had arrived.We talked to Ruben, guitar and vocals for La Pegatina, and he showed us the venue in which they had not soundchecked yet. He asked us to come back after sound check because the timing was going a little late. No problem. The first impression was confirmed: they are great people. After the sound check, and with all the fans crowded in front of the doors of the club, and inside, Jorme and me were about to start recording the interview that soon will be broadcasted and that we will upload in the website of the program.

And after about 10 minutes of the interview we realized that our first impression was true: they are great guys, humble, and they treated us really well. They were really nice with us, telling stories about this tour that they just started, about their intentions to get into the studio in September, about their experience from the last gig in Madrid along with Funkus and about the great impression they got about the audience from Madrid.

We get to the end of the interview and then you could realize the tension: they started to warm up their vocals and physically, all the band making exercises and moving fast. I asked them about their routine before the gig, and they confessed that they don’t drink a single drop of alcohol and that they take good care of themselves to be fit and be able to be at 100% and give everything on stage. One more time, they demonstrate a great respect to their audience and they surprise us with the professionality of a band that has been a short time moving on stages.

At this point we met the mythic Tomasín as in charge of Merchandising and friend of the whole band, he travels with them anywhere they go. A great guy that is always singing and warming up the people around him.

The “H hour" arrived. The band got into the dressing room, Tomasín at his place and the doors open to let the people in. In 15 minutes starged to sound the signature tune that gives the entrance to the band, even that the club wasn’t full yet, but people doesn’t stop coming in. 10 minutes later the sold out is complete. And they play to death. In effect, as they had told us in the interview, they play non stop. They hardly stop 15 seconds at the end of some of the tunes and it is usually to emphasize the dramatic effect of the beginning of the next tune. Incredible, brimming over strength and fun in abundance. The sound of the bandis much more compact than when they had been before and, above all, the incorporation of the accordion gives much more homogeneity to the band.

They have also incorporated a trombon, the german Alex, that he plays a very honorable roll, despite they announce that he is only helping the band covering another member. Without stoping, overlapping one tune to another at Manu Chao’s style, including some winks to tunes from other bands (the incorporation of those sentences from "Vasos Vacios" from Los Fabulosos Cádillacs are really invaluable) and giving a great review to their repertoire and to very good new songs, the show time was gone really fast. After finishing their cover of "Volando Voy" they tried to leave the stage when, after a great long ovation of the audience, they started to chant in unison a song that they hadn’t played, they couldn’t resist it and they continue the party with a very special emotion. You could see them moved, having a great time and making the audience have a good time.

They look like a band that they really enjoy what they do, that they love their audience and that they give them what they want, live music interpreted with passion, enjoying while playing. We hope they will keep this attitude forever. An authentic 10.

Thank you very much to La Pegatina for their concert and for opening their souls always.
- A Mestizarse website 20-01-2008