Alcalá Norte is a guitar group from Ciudad Lineal, Madrid, that has just released their debut album. Previously, singles like 'La vidaaño' or 'Supermán' have been attracting a considerable audience to their dark, eighties-style rock music, to the point that Alcalá Norte is already hanging the “all sold out” sign in some of his concerts.
Another “post-punk” group – although they reject this label – should not justify, at first glance, a stir like the one that this sextet composed of Álvaro Rivas (vocals), Juan Pablo Juliá Ciarelli (guitar), Jaime Barbosa (drums), Pablo Mendoza (guitar), Pablo 'Admin' (bass) and Laura de Diego (keyboards). However, the public is smart and knows how to detect a good song when they hear it. And, in this case, there are handfuls of them.
Alcalá Norte's proposal is differentiated, first of all, by the voice of its singer, Álvaro, who sings in an affected and theatrical way. The lyrics wander between pop culture and neighborhood consciousness. And the sound emits echoes of The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division and the Movida madrileña, of Paralisis Permanente and the Smiths. Alcalá Norte admits that he has “suffered” from his favorite artists and that he has not “asked for forgiveness”, daring to recognize what, in reality, everyone does.
The music of Alcalá Norte, which has had to deny being a group of posh people, since one of them claims to live in a “denement with broken doors”, does not remain an aesthetic exploration of its influences, but is accompanied by a series of songs with the height of an anthem that makes Alcalá Norte sound like an experienced group – Barbosa was active for seven years in Guarrerías Preciados, a group that broke up before the pandemic – and not like a debuting group that has just released its first album.
Apart from the clarity of the voice and lyrics, the choruses that Alcalá Norte signs in his best songs stand out, such as 'Supermán', '420N' or 'Los Chavales'. The hidden gem of his disco may be 'Don't Cry, Dr. G', but the star song is something else.
'La vida canyon' is clearly the song that is making Alcalá Norte known. It is a plea for a simple life, for “I don't lack anything”, without regret behind it even though it may seem otherwise, inspired by 'Cuéntame' and 'Mundo Grafico', a magazine from the 1930s. “In it they asked the peña from a corrala in Lavapiés what would they do if they won the Lottery jackpot. Someone answered that he would give himself “the hell of a life” and would buy a little shop in Las Ventas, a shawl for his wife, a gramophone, a cigar and would travel to Burgos and Soria,” the group tells ElDiario.Es. From this story comes the chorus “Shadow in the sales / buttocks on soft / I haven't thought about horror in a long time”, which promises to leave its audience hoarse this year.
Citing the words of the manager of the heavy band Storm, Alcalá Norte claims to be “a genuinely Spanish product but focused on global success.” Starting from this premise, 'La vida canyon' was born as a signature song, the one that marked his career.
