Ilegales

Ilegales is a Spanish music band formed in Asturias. However, despite being a rock band, Ilegales have diverse influences, and their acidic lyrics have made them a reference for groups of their own style, as well as being one of the best musical products of the Spain of the 80s. 
 

The beginnings of the band date back to 1977, when brothers Jorge and Juan Carlos Martínez and David Alonso formed the Madson Trio, which two years later would change its name to Los Metálicos. Juan Carlos later left the band, being replaced by Íñigo Ayestarán on bass. At that time they are renamed as Ilegales. 
 

In 1981 they win the Ciudad de Oviedo rock contest, which gives them the right to participate in the recording of a collective album. A few months later they released the single 'Revuelta Juvenil en Mongolia'. In 1982 the producer Paco Martín manages to get them to record their first album, titled 'Ilegales', in which Jorge Martínez already shows his peculiar way of composing, looking for strong and lapidary phrases, reflecting a nihilistic look on a marginal world, where fatality and violence are omnipresent, making the weak usually end up badly; With these lyrics of harsh social criticism, surrealist texts alternate, presided over by cynicism, black humor or provocation. 

 

The debut album 'Ilegales' (Hi-Fi Electrónica, 1983), with a photo on the cover by the artist Ouka Lele, -that becomes a band icon-, is a success that overwhelms the independent record company set up by the producer Paco Martín to publish it. For this reason, the Asturian singer and songwriter Víctor Manuel takes over the rights to this recording for the label Sociedad Fonográfica Asturiana (SFA), which in turn licenses it to the multinational Epic Records, then dependent on the all-powerful CBS. With the move to a larger label, Ilegales guaranteed first-rate distribution and promotion, coming at a time when the band is approaching the height of their popularity. 
 

With the support of the SFA, the EP 'Europa Ha Muerto' is issued, bringing together some songs from their debut album and one of the first songs released by the band in single format, the pessimistic-humoristic anthem in a punk-ska-rock tone of the title, recorded in Estudios Norte (Gijón), with production by Pedro Bastarrica and René de Coupaud, mixed in Torres Sonido Estudios by Álvaro Corsanego, a tandem that will become frequent in the band's recording career. 
 

In 1984, with being a trio composed by Jorge Martinez (voice, guitar), Willy Vijande (bass) and David Alonso (drums), they record their celebrated second LP 'Agotados de Esperar el Fin', while CBS reissues for the third time their debut album. This new album catapulted the band to national success, although it wouldn't take long for them to savor international success, as by 1985 they were touring Ecuador. In spite of the commercial success, Jorge was not satisfied with the production of this second album, and recovered for the third the technical team that recorded the debut album, setting himself up as producer, for that third LP, 'Todos Están Muertos' (1985). 
 

At the height of their success, Ilegales found the label Discóbolo Records with their manager Manolo Macías, and makes an agreement with the distribution company Nuevos Medios to publish a double live album, which is recorded at the Big Ben discotheque in Mollerusa (Lérida). Once again, the success surpasses that of the independent label, which leads to an agreement with the multinational EMI to distribute the double live album. Two years later, in 1988, the band signed a contract with the Hispavox label -dependent on EMI-, issuing their fourth studio album, entitled 'Chicos Pálidos Para La Máquina'.  
 

For the recording of the album the band becomes a quintet: along with the incorporation of Alfonso Lantero on drums (replacing David Alonso), saxophonist Juan Flores and keyboardist Antolin de la Fuente join the group. Bassist Willy Vijande is replaced by Alejandro Felgueroso. The fifth album, entitled '(A La Luz o a La Sombra) Todo Está Permitido' is recorded by Rafa Kas and a new drummer: Jaime Beláustegui (ex-Los Locos, from Gijón).

The quintet arrives with new changes to the 1992 recording of the album 'Regreso al Sexo Quimicamente Puro', as Willy momentarily rejoins and collaborates in the recording of the album 'El Corazón es un Animal Extraño', released in 1995 under the auspices of Avispa Records. Years later, in 1998, the same label produces 'El Apóstol de la Lujuria'. For the commemoration of their 20th anniversary, all the musicians who passed through the band come together and in a memorable concert in the Plaza de la Catedral in Oviedo, recording an extensive live album which is published under the title 'El Día que Cumplimos 20 Años', that also includes a DVD of the concert. The success of the live album and the immediate tour led Jorge Martínez to found his own record company, La Casa del Misterio, and in 2003 published the album 'Si La Muerte Me Mira De Frente, Me Pongo De Lao'. This same label reissues in 2005 the group's first album, 'Ilegales', on a CD that includes 5 bonus tracks, originally released as singles.
 

In December 2009, La Casa del Misterio makes an agreement with all the former record labels of Ilegales for the company Pop Up Música to market the box set '126 Canciones Ilegales', including their 9 studio albums to date, as well as unreleased takes, singles and unreleased songs. A later reissue of the box also includes the live album 'Ni Un Minuto De Silencio', which had been published in 2011 in DVD and double vinyl formats, featuring the concert recorded at the Sala Penélope in Madrid during the band's farewell tour.
 

In 2011 they decide to end as Ilegales, and they refound themselves in a new band named Jorge Ilegal y los Magníficos, playing boleros, guarachas, joropos or cha-cha-chá. In November 2014, Ilegales announce their return, which will take place in March 2015, with the release of 'La Vida Es Fuego'. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]