Marea, the rock group formed in Berriozar (Navarra) at the end of the nineties, is celebrating its anniversary. 25 years have passed since their first album, The boat (1999), the album with which it all began for this quintet that retains its initial line-up: César Ramallo (guitar), Kutxi Romero (vocals), David Díaz Hummingbird (guitar), Alén Ayerdi (drums) and Eduardo Beaumont Pineapples (low). That first work managed to reach the hearts of the followers of Spanish street rock and place the Navarrese, then in their twenties, at the same level as established artists of the genre, such as Rosendo, Barricada, Los Suaves, Extremoduro or Platero y Tú.
On the occasion of the anniversary, Marea has reissued The boat and has once again measured its success: the album has been among the best sellers in Spain, in position three, ahead of the latest works by David Bisbal or Raphael. About this reissue and the group’s 25-year career, its members have spoken with EL PAÍS journalist specialized in music Carlos Marcos.
Decades after the release of The boat and the many other successes that came after, Marea remains so faithful to their initial project that, for years, from 2011 to 2019, they were able to stop and wait for their drummer Alén Ayerdi to recover from a heart problem that prevented him from playing. .
As an anecdote, but also as a sign of their disinterest in what seemed to have fascinated them when they obtained their first contract with the multinational BMG for the publication of The boat, They say that right there, in the office where they signed it, the managers asked them what they wanted to do on that crucial day for their career: “They were entertaining us and they probably thought we wanted to have a party with drugs and such. But no: we told them that we wanted to go to the subway. We had never visited it. And there we went: we entered and left the subway hallucinating.”
Time has proven his way of doing things right and currently Marea, the hard rock band that sells the most tickets in Spain, controls his entire career, also in business. Ayerdi is in charge of the drums, yes, but he also acts as manager since 2019 and is the owner of the group’s record label.
Read the full report by Carlos Marcos here: Marea turns 25: from “you’re not going anywhere with this” to defending the pride of rock by filling halls.