Newspaper Clarín’s critique of Leaving Las Vergas A raging debut Gil Solá was the drummer in Divididos and a key musician in that band’s most important work, La era de la boludez. His solo debut is a raging sampler of a rare and strange quest. Playing all the instruments but with the drums up-front, Gil Solá mixes rock, argentine folklore, reggae. In some ways it’s a proud continuation of La era… but by himself, with his own weapons: political humor, a corrosive lucidity and a wide palette of shades and nuances. Leaving Las Vergas was also voted as one of the best albums of the year by the Argentine edition of Rolling Stone magazine, among many other publications that praised the album upon its release. Crítica de Leaving Las Vergas del diario Clarín Un debut virulento Gil Solá fue baterista de Divididos y músico clave de la obra cumbre de esa banda, La era de la boludez. Su debut solista es un virulento muestrario de una rara búsqueda. Tocando todos los instrumentos pero con la batería al frente, Gil Solá hace un mix de rock, folklore, reggae. Es, de algún modo, una soberbia continuación de La era.... Pero él solito, con sus armas: humor político, una lucidez corrosiva y un abanico de matices, como unas palabras para Luca ("cómo desprenderse de ese tano...") o el paso por un universo de exiliados, manzaneras y viñetas del estilo "... hoy me carcome la duda:/¿Silvina? ¿Ocampo?/¿Borgés? ¿O se hace?" (Mariano del Mazo) Leaving Las Vergas también fue votado como uno de los mejores discos del año por la versión local de la revista Rolling Stone, entre muchas otras publicaciones que elogiaron al álbum cuando fue editado originalmente. Yo no hice nada, nada, nothing! le dijo el sobre a la pava... Bio of sorts. ENGLISH I started playing drums at age eleven in Buenos Aires, after bugging my mom for years before she finally got me a Nucifor, an Argentinean drum set made when we still had an industry, before the military in the 70’s, and later Menem in the 90’s destroyed it. In 1974 we started receiving death threats and a car bombing attempt by the Triple A, ironically, not the American Automobile Association but the Anticommunist Alliance of Argentina, which incidentally is how I found out I was a communist, a claim hard to live up to even to this day. Shortly thereafter we moved to the US where eventually I started playing in bands in the San Francisco Bay Area underground/punk scene. My first proper band was the Young Adults, who shared bills with legendary acts such as the Dead Kennedys and the Avengers. Shared meaning we opened for them. After that I played in many good outfits that nevertheless didn’t quite make it; including the Appliances, Combo, Wire Train, Zendicks, Penelope Houston Band, HET, and others whose names escape me. In utter disgust I returned to Buenos Aires in 1990 to join a not very popular group of has-beens called Divididos, ex members of Sumo, an influential if not huge 80’s band that broke up when their singer overdosed on god-knows-what. Amazingly Divididos with myself on board steadily built a following, and by 1993 we were arguably the biggest act around. Several platinum albums, dozens of stadium shows, tons of money and several kilos of consumed controlled substances later, I finally was ejected from this fine organization in 1995, wherein I spent a couple of years getting it together and licking my wounds. My activities during that period included recording several albums with people I won’t mention, doing a radio show called Cosa de Negros, giving drum lessons and building a recording studio (beats working the cash register at Rainbow Grocery), which led me to what would become my first solo album, Leaving Las Vergas, released finally in 2001 on the same day that the sh*t hit the fan after years of IMF imposed policies recked the country, causing the demise of De la Rua’s government. You might recall that crisis, we had five different presidents in as many days, riots and that. In the midst of the confusion my album was considered one of the year’s best by the press, which of course means nobody bought it; I think most people never even found out about it. I’ll skip the part where I blame the record company and move right along. In 2005 I tried again with La Suerte y La Palabra, which translates as something like “The Luck and The Word”, but the government didn’t fall this time. No word yet on the luck. In 2006 however, I was suddenly nominated and awarded as the best drummer of the last 20 years by the listeners and staff of Rock & Pop, Argentina’s most popular radio station. I thought fame and fortune were around the corner once again, or at least a drum and cymbal sponsorship. Not a chance. But the trophy is nice, I like it. After that I kept diddling in my studio as always, started giving drum lessons again, and worked on several projects including a trio with a couple of old hippie friends called (for lack of a better name) Losavio-Herrera-Gil Solá. My name is in the last place ‘cause I’m the drummer, even though I’m the most famous. We recorded an album in my studio but so far it has not been released, of course. Around that time I collaborated with my beautiful and talented partner, singer/songwriter Laura Ros, which resulted in a live DVD released in 2011 as Fede Gil Solá + Laura Ros: Tercer Jueves. I also played in the tango/jazz/rock/ nine piece outfit called Buenos Aires Negro until the death of its leader, the great singer and songwriter Peche Estévez. To coincide with the re-release of my two albums I resurrected my project Gil Solá & Exiliados, with which I'm doing some shows and working on a new record. Biografía. ESPAÑOL Empecé a tocar batería a los once años en Buenos Aires. Al poco tiempo me tuve que exiliar a Estados Unidos con mi familia por razones políticas. Ya en Berkeley, California, formé mi primer grupo, Young Adults , con quienes tocaba en el circuito under de San Francisco, compartiendo cartel con bandas como los Dead Kennedys y Avengers. En 1983 con la banda Wire Train grabé mi primer disco "In a Chamber" elegido por Bono de U2 como disco revelación; con esta banda hice extensas giras por USA y Canadá, teloneando a Big Country, King Crimson, The Cure, R.E.M. y Stevie Ray Vaughan entre otros. En 1990 regresé a la Argentina para unirme a Divididos, con quienes compuse y grabé los discos “Acariciando Lo Aspero” y “La Era De La Boludez”, llegando a llenar 14 veces en un año el estadio Obras Sanitarias, y el estadio Velez en 1994. Ambos llegaron a ser varias veces disco de platino, vendiendo cientos de miles de unidades. En 1995 me fui de la banda y tras un par de años en los que me dediqué a dar clases de batería y a grabar en mi estudio, comencé a trabajar en lo que se convertiría en mi primer trabajo solista “Leaving Las Vergas” editado finalmente en 2001, con muy buena recepción por parte de la prensa especializada. En 2005 salió el disco “La Suerte y La Palabra”. En el 2006 me otorgaron el premio Mejor Baterista de los 20 años de la Rock & Pop. Durante 2010 realicé un ciclo junto a la cantante y compositora Laura Ros, en el cual presentamos nuestros respectivos trabajos tocando juntos, acompañados por la banda de Laura y músicos invitados. En 2011 editamos un DVD del ciclo llamado "Fede Gil Solá + Laura Ros: Tercer Jueves". En ese año también participé como integrante de la agrupación de tango/jazz/rock Buenos Aires Negro, hasta la muerte de su líder, el gran poeta y cantor Peche Estévez. Tras la reedición de mis dos trabajos discográficos he vuelto a armar el projecto Gil Solá & Exiliados con su bajista original Sabastián Villegas y el guitarrista Roberto Garcilazo, con quien trabajé en el dvd Tercer Jueves. Estamos haciendo algunos shows con miras a grabar un nuevo disco.