Van Gogh’s Ear was presented to the world on May 18, 1998. Now, 26 years later, some of the best kept secrets from his first album have come to light, called ‘Tell the Sun’.

In an interview given to ‘elDiario.es’, the group’s drummer, Haritz Garde, remembers that the then artistic director of Sony, Jennifer Ces, had to “fight a lot” so that they would bet on them. “There were a lot of people at Sony who said we didn’t know how to play well,” he admits. However, she ended up convincing the label to bet on them. “I saw we had something,” the drummer remembers.

Finally, the record company would decide to bet on them by signing Alejo Stivel as producer, something that the group’s drummer remember as “a dream.”

“I told them that I saw a lot of potential in the songs but that in order to connect with the public they had to be played well and they didn’t play well,” this producer confesses to ‘elDiario.es’.

To solve it, he suggested that they lock themselves up to rehearse eight hours a day for a year. However, the time to present the album was short, so Stivel proposed as a solution “record it with other musicians.”

In this way, on their first album they are not the ones who play, and everyone came to the conclusion that it would be the best option.

“If I had done it playing the way they played, the album wouldn’t have worked. And with a failed first album, there are careers that don’t continue,” says the producer.

The group was present at the recording, also accompanying Amaia Montero, whose voice is the original.

The names of the professionals who participated in the recording appear in the credits of ‘Dile al sol’ as ‘collaborations’. Josu García as production assistant, backing vocalist and guitarist; Marcelo Fuentes as bassist, Fernando Samalea as drummer and Francis Amat on piano for the single Cuéntame al corazón.

Haritz Garde admits that “they were light years away” of them at that time. “The parts that we saw as impossible, they solved in five minutes,” he recalls.

Thanks to their help, they were able to meet the deadlines and the album ended up coming out on time, becoming the smash hit we know today.