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Discography
Members featured in the album
ALEJANDRO DE MICHELE - Guitar and vocals
GUSTAVO MONTESANO - Guitar and vocals
FRANK OJSTERSEK - Bass
GUSTAVO DONÉS - Bass
ROBERTO VILLACÉ - Keyboards
DANIEL COLOMBRES - Drums
Biography
Argentine band formed in 1979 by Alejandro De Michele (ex Pastoral) and Gustavo Montesano (Crucis).
Merlín was one of the very first attempts at making new wave in Argentina, whose rock audience was still attached to the folk and progressive sounds of the '70s.
In 1979, Alejandro De Michele, former Pastoral, joined Gustavo Montesano (former member of Crucis) to shape this new wave style group. The band recorded the first self-titled album in 1979 and presented it at the Astral theater in March 1980.
In August 1979, Alejandro met a musician who had come from the United States: Gustavo Montesano. «When he arrived from the United States we started talking and thought about doing something together. This started when I decided to disband Captain Fantasia. The expectations are very similar. A few years ago, Gustavo was making music that, by then, was virtuous (I mean Crucis). I know him more musically than humanly, but we agree on making clear, understandable music. It's not about demonstrating virtuosity, level of composition or whatever. When I talked with Gustavo at the beginning, we agreed that before deciding whether or not to form the group, we should listen to the music that we were composing individually. If they were very disparate, we couldn't do the blackmail of formalizing a patch, because they never turn out well. When I listened to Gustavo's music it seemed very nice to me; he doesn't get me out of the frequency I was on internally. We are working very hard, taking care of all the musical details, not making grafts. The songs are individual, but we do our best to make them sound as they should sound, as we want”, Alejandro declared in Pelo Magazine.
Thus Merlin was born. “The name of the band was a suggestion and idea of Alejandro Alejandro that both me and the record company liked and adopted immediately”. And while Gustavo contributed a virtuoso keyboardist that he brought from the United States, Roberto Villacé, Alejandro provided the rhythmic base of Capitán Fantasía, with the duo of Frank Ojstersek on bass and Daniel Colombres on drums.
Soon, very soon, the meeting would become an album, for Sazam Records, which would be produced by Oscar López and recording began just two months after Alejandro and Gustavo decided to work together. And the result was excellent; ten songs that follow each other with alternations of both leaders, which combines the symphonic and progressive, with a more folk wave, poetic lyrics and the unique and powerful voice that Alejandro provided, classic touches of 4 x 4, a powerful base, struts of the incipient new wave and virtuosity with great taste.
While the last songs on the album were being recorded, bassist Frank Ojstersek left the band and was replaced by then-sessionist Gustavo Donés.
While the last songs on the album were being recorded, bassist Frank Ojstersek left the band and was replaced by then-sessionist Gustavo Donés.
With the album under his arm, the shows began to appear. The official presentation was scheduled for March 21, 1980 at the Astral Theater. The image of the artists, as well as that of the album, reflected the first indications of Pop. But it was not the first presentation of the group. They were already playing. In February of that year they were summoned for what was the series of presentations organized by the record company itself, “Parquerama 80”, in La Rural, with concerts every Friday of the month. There will be, among others, Seru Giran, Raúl Porchetto, Nito Mestre, Miguel Ángel Erausquin, Pappos's Blues, obviously, our friends from Merlín. The band of Carpo and Alejandro and Gustavo would be in charge of animating the first show.
But a year after that first meeting between Alejandro and Gustavo, Merlin was no more. The group was never able to consolidate itself as such and this led to the marked conceptual differences of both leaders being accentuat.
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# Apologies, translated by https://translate.google.com.ar