The never-before-seen beginnings of Vetusta Morla, this was the surprise to the Tres Cantos group

Old Morla is on presentation. They just released their seventh studio album: Extras. It is a special album, because it has been recorded between tours (for the first time they have not taken time to compose) and it comes out just when they announce that they are going to stop to rest until 2026. The album compiles those songs that they had already recorded and that They will perform at the concerts that were already closedwithout a specific tour to promote it in Europe and Latin America.

Their new album is released when the band turns a quarter century old and has inspired us to look back at its origins. According to the dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, ‘figurant’ It is the “person who appears in a theatrical performance, film or television series with a singular presence, but without a precise phrase or dramatic action.” So We wanted to give voice and presence to those key figures in its history. We present them to you in the six Tricantino scenarios where they were born.

The José Luis Sampedro public institute

Year 1998. Pucho, David and Guille (students from the José Luis Sampedro Institute) begin to compose their first songs. Alfonso, the school’s janitor, reveals to us that he used to hear Pucho singing in the hallways. But he points out to us in situ at the school the place where he saw them perform those first chords. “They asked me to open the gym, specifically the bathrooms, because the acoustics were better. And they spent hours there,” he says, laughing. “They drove me crazy, open us up, let us rehearse a little more.” Seeing his testimony, Guille himself recognizes that they got into some fights because of the noise they made there.

The group is excited to remember it, especially Fag. And his classmates laugh at him: “she went to class less, that’s why she had more of a relationship with the janitor.” Several decades later, Alfonso She is very proud to see “how far they have come”, aware that she was unknowingly their ‘spectator zero’. She assures that they remember them with great affection and that I hope they bring her music back to that school that she witnessed. their first steps in his successful musical career.

Duero Cranberry

OK yes, Aranda It is quite far from the Madrid municipality of Tres Cantos. Years later it would be a special location for the group because of those Sonorama where they began to delight their fans from the Plaza del Trigo, but we make a stop here not because of the famous festival but because he lives there now Albert. He is now retired, but at the time from those classrooms he was the one who encouraged the teenagers to give their first concert. “It was key for us to decide to play,” he admits. David ‘the Indian’.

The teacher organized the so-called ‘Cultural Days’ of the institute and insisted to the students that they had to present themselves. Not even in his best foreshadowing could he have imagined what they would become years later. He now praises those kids in whom he saw a gift, who They were born for music. And he insists in his video that perhaps it is also time for them to take a break because of everything they have worked for in recent years.

The House of Youth and its film-loving past

The first concert as a band took place in the assembly hall of the Youth House on December 30, 1998. The lucky attendees were not aware that that date would mark a before and after in the history of Spanish music. On stage: Pucho (vocals), David García ‘the Indian’ (drums), Jorge González (percussion), Álex Notario (bass), Guille Galván (guitar) and Juanma Latorre (keyboard). In the audience a young man Ruben stunned with the spectacle. “They were wearing hats that they were exchanging; they already had a well-formed idea of ​​the importance of the show, in addition to the musical aspect,” he comments while showing us snapshots of that first recital in the same place.

But it turns out that this municipal building also reveals to us a little-known secret of two of its members. “Pucho and David They used to come here and organize the ‘Cineclub’. “They were his exhibitions about the films in theaters at the time,” she recalls excitedly. Mamen, a worker at the center. “Since there was no internet, we had to subscribe to Fotogramas magazine so they could make photocopies of the covers and from there they could get their cutouts that they pasted on these same walls.”

When watching the video Fag reveals that he barely remembered such a cultural intervention due to his cinephile concerns. “We had a contest, we divided them by genre and we even put the films to a vote,” adds David. “And from there to Cannes,” he jokes. Mamen also highlights the brilliant career of the group she met in the hallways. “The House of Youth has a very big heart and they occupy a very special place, we are very proud to see where they have come.”

Municipal Music School

“The people responsible for Vetusta Morla existing are these congas,” he confesses. Miguel Juanilla out of camera. He is still one of the teachers at the Municipal Music School. He tells that David He found out that they had some Campos brand congas and he signed up for the school because he was interested in percussion instruments like the cajon that his brother also played.

He says that it was he who made the young man play together Guille that stood out on the guitar or Fag who was always singing. So Those classrooms also witnessed the history of the group. “If the walls could talk, they would tell incredible stories,” he says excitedly, pointing out precisely one of those walls on which posters from his first concerts still hang.

Furthermore, it teaches us the first drum kit where David learned to play or the instruments (especially percussion) that caught the attention of the incipient group. He assures that he saw the talent in the boys before they succeeded. “My parents, who are also dedicated to the show, saw them perform, pointed out Pucho and told me: ‘this boy has something special,'” explains Juanilla. The look on his face also reveals the pride he feels when he sees them filling stadiums all over the world. And she tells us that she recently got very excited because Pucho came on stage with him to perform a song from his album.

The barracks, the first rehearsal rooms

Miguel Juanilla emphasizes that they have continued to be very involved with the town’s cultural and musical scene. Few municipalities have so many support programs for local musicians. A very interesting symbiosis was created between young people who wanted to make music and from there the first coordinator of musicians was born. “At first we rehearsed in some prefabricated construction huts in the old barracks where the health center was located,” says David.

Those precarious booths (which no longer exist) became their first rehearsal space. Here already with Alvaro replacing Alex down was where Old Morla They rehearsed for many hours and prepared their famous album ‘Un día en el mundo’, which catapulted them to fame in 2008. “There and in the park next to the institute was where we also met on weekends with other groups that were key in our beginnings,” David jokes.

The current rehearsal rooms

The push of Vetusta Morla and other musical groups brought with it not only the creation of the Municipal Coordinator of Musicians, but also the construction of six equipped and soundproofed rooms that are still used today by at least a dozen groups. We meet there with Gorkaguitarist and friend of the band, who tells us that Vetusta Morla used to rehearse in room number 3. It is one of the most requested, judging by our brief conversation with the receptionist, and at the time of recording she is busy, so we go into room number two and to safeguard the surprise that we want to give the band, we do not reveal the real reason. from our interview.

Gorka was a direct witness of moments such as the baptism of the group. “One Saturday I remember that David came to the park and told us: we already have a name for the band! Old Morla!“, and tells how they laughed at the name. “And years later Vetusta Morla looks at where she is,” he explains excitedly. He confesses that for those first concerts in which they shared the stage they struggled to get a microphone from here, a monitor from there and that The sound often left something to be desired.

He also tells off camera that before the first rehearsal rooms were obtained They improvised a room in their aunt’s garage. “We went to all the chicken shops asking for cartons of eggs and with that we used to soundproof the garage so we could rehearse, there we spent hours and hours practicing,” she says, laughing.

Gorka remembers the first years of the band and the impact it had on the circle of local musicians: “Every now and then they gave a concert, another Vetusta concert, another concert by Old Until they released their first album, we listened to it and said Ole! But what is this?!”.

Also, with the perspective of time, he looks back and dedicates a few words of sincere tribute to his colleagues and friends “You have managed to make the dreams of many come true. Congratulations on the path you have taken so well.“.

25 years of musical career

We face Old to their past helped by a tablet. They get excited walking through those scenes and people who were the protagonists of their beginnings twenty-five years ago. Who was going to tell them then that years later in an interview on national television we would be inventorying their successes helped by these very special ‘extras’. “All this is very old, although there are many people who do not know that time of ours,” says Pucho. “Now there are two hundred million light bulbs instead of a jester’s hat,” adds Juanma. “But the way we present ourselves at concerts, the enthusiasm… I think that all that is still intact and it is what has maintained the band’s engine,” says Pucho.

As for what they would say to those six young Tricantinos who dreamed of making music on these six stages, Pucho is clear: “have fun, have a good time“; to which David adds: “and don’t be in a hurrythat is very important in current times.”

We take advantage of these lines to sincerely thank all the ‘extras’ who have helped us give this surprise to the group. In special to Nereid, which does not appear in the report but is a key piece. She was a friend of the Vetustas and one of the few people with a professional camera at the end of the nineties, which today holds one of the most special photo albums of the Spanish music scene. From her personal archive come some of the snapshots that help us glimpse those young people who, without knowing it, were going to make history.