Venezuelan Rock - History

History

Rock music in Venezuela took its first steps in the late 50s and can be traced to the band Los Dangers, where after Rudy Márquez, it would be part of Los Impala, a band from the oil city of Maracaibo and the first South American group with a reputation that had a considerable impact outside the continent (making much of his career in Spain). Also Los Holidays from the capital Caracas released several albums, and were the first Latin-American rock band to travel and work in Europe (Mostly Spain's Costa Brava, July 1966-October 1966). Los Holidays main vocalist, Wolfgang Vivas went on to a solo career, as did guitarist/vocalist Franklin Holland (Van Splunteren) who later formed part of the American band Gary and the Playboys, and created a new and very original "Proyecto Franklin Holland" in Caracas, 1984, releasing several well received albums on the Sonografica label. Then there appeared bands like Los Darts, Los 007, and Los Claners who followed the rock pattern established by the British. Bands such as Ladies WC o Azúcar and Cacao y Leche focused on what is progressive even entering the fusion stage of rock.

Subsequently, there appeared some bands in the 70s, such as Témpano (Iceberg) and the progressive rock trio Ficcion (sobre el abismo).Tempano moved on to a more progressive (Atabal Yemal) or new wave sound (Essequibo). "Ficcion" has become emblematic in the Venezuelan Prog Rock scene and is still very active today, they will be releasing their third album in 2013. Then also came a heavy metal, hard rock movement with Sacrifice (its members were Rafael Sanchez (bass), Fernando Ovalle guitarist,Ricardo Montrose Schok (vocal), Rolando Rojas guitarist and Prospero Salazar (drums) from Valencia-Venezuela), Power Age that later would become Arkangel and Paul Gillman, Uzi, Spectro and Jose Arevalo Rock Band at its helm, and bands as Resistencia, Fahrenheit, Grand Bite, Alta Frecuencia. Other prominent artists in the 80s were the band Aditus and the soloists Melissa and also Jorge Aguilar who mixed rock with pop and other trends, such as the new wave, synth pop and funk respectively, making the genre more digestible to the larger audience. While these efforts were mostly oriented to the commercial pop/rock scene, from the underground-punk scene of the 80s emerged several bands with international promotion, such as Sentimiento muerto (Dead Feeling) and Desorden Público, whose first production was launched in 1987, despite the blockade in the media of some of their music due to their strong political views and mildly offensive language. However, both bands' first recordings achieved a huge success, which led to the record companies change of attitude towards them, both allowing them to record subsequent records, and opening the doors for other emerging bands of the late 80's, such as Zapato 3, Sentimiento Muerto and Seguridad Nacional (who currently reside in New York) among others.

In the 90s, many new bands appeared, such as Caramelos de Cianuro, Desorden Público, Los Amigos Invisibles (who currently reside in New York), and Zapato 3 (from Caracas).

The post-90s era was characterized by a lack of significant new rock acts in the Venezuelan music scene, as the musical tastes of former rock-lovers shifted towards electronica.

Recently, the Venezuelan rock scene has been re-energized. Several new bands have begun to create what has been considered the new golden age of Venezuelan rock music. Bands like La Vida Bohème, Viniloversus, La Vesper, Los Mesoneros, Telegrama, The Asbestos, Americania, Los Dilbertos, Los Javelin, Los Paranoias, Petrula, Pentatoniks and many others have created a vibrant live music scene that threatens to outgrow the limited venues that Caracas has to offer for live music.