Los Tres is a Chilean rock band composed of four members: a rock/folk singer and three jazzmen. It was one of the noted bands in the
ChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an nineties, together with
La Ley"La Ley" is Spanish for "The Law"*For the Chilean rock band, see La Ley .*For the Argentine publishing company, see La Ley .*For the Spanish-language radio station in Goldsboro, North Carolina, see WYMY....
and
LucybellLucybell is a Chilean rock band formed by four students from the Universidad de Chile's Faculty of Art in 1991, in Santiago de Chile. The original four members were:* Francisco González: drums, bass, percussion, keyboards...
.
Los Tres recorded nine albums during their first period, from 1989 until 2000, starting with
Los TresLos Tres is an original album, the first by Chilean rock band Los Tres, recorden and first released in 1991. The CD album includes 10 unpublished songs composed mainly by Álvaro Henríquez...
: a jazz/folk/rock blending, in 1991. The band dissolved in 2000 and its members continued their musical careers in personal projects, during the following five years.
In February 2006 Álvaro Henríquez, Ángel Parra, and Roberto Lindl announced the reunion of the band without former drummer Francisco Molina and the recording of their 2006 studio album;
Hágalo Usted Mismo.
The band's newest album is
Coliumo. It was released in October 2010.
Introduction
During the nineties, massive commercial entertainment (and it must be noted, only bits of culture and art) rose immensely in Chile; prior to that most "left-wing" or anti-military cultural expressions were repressed for almost 20 years (see
Chile under PinochetChile was ruled by a military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet from 1973 when Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup d'etat until 1990 when the Chilean transition to democracy began. The authoritarian military government was characterized by systematic suppression of political parties and...
). In this context appeared Los Tres whose work is based, in contrast to most rock/pop groups from this era, on the folk and popular music of Chile with added rock and jazz influences. The band's attitude was to reject commercial pop/rock and easy trends. Furthermore, their music and mostly their lyrics, though not following the style, can be considered as "
grungeGrunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
" in spirit. Given this, it was against all odds for them to succeed.
History
In 1982, three guys from
ConcepciónConcepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...
, Álvaro Henríquez, Roberto
Titae Lindl, and "Pancho" Molina started a band called
Los Dick Stones, whose set list was based on songs by
Chuck BerryCharles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
,
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, and
Gene VincentVincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
. They quickly became very popular in universities, bars, and
peñas around the southern city of Concepción. Given their ambition, to achieve success in the Chilean mainstream, they decided to move to the capital city of
SantiagoSantiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
and changed their name to
Los Tres. In 1988,
Ángel ParraÁngel Cereceda Parra is a Chilean singer and songwriter, son of Violeta Parra, notable Chilean folklorist and brother of Isabel Parra. He travels abroad helping to maintain the Nueva Canción tradition in Chilean expatriate communities in Europe, North America, and Australia. His son -also named...
joined the band, and even though
Los Tres is
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for "the three", they decided to keep the name.
In 1991, with the alternative
Alerce music label,
Los Tres recorded their first album,
Los TresLos Tres is an original album, the first by Chilean rock band Los Tres, recorden and first released in 1991. The CD album includes 10 unpublished songs composed mainly by Álvaro Henríquez...
. Despite being only a moderately successful album with songs that mixed Rock, Jazz, and Blues,
Los Tres nevertheless became an important album in the early nineties. The single
Un Amor Violento, and its low-budget music video became very popular in Chile. The lyrics in some songs of this album (like in
La Primera Vez and
Flores Secas) talk strongly about their opposition to the
PinochetAugusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
coupThe 1973 Chilean coup d'état was a watershed event of the Cold War and the history of Chile. Following an extended period of political unrest between the conservative-dominated Congress of Chile and the socialist-leaning President Salvador Allende, discontent culminated in the latter's downfall in...
and the human rights abuses during the military regime.
The second album of the band was called
Se Remata el SigloSe Remata el Siglo is the second studio album by Chilean rock band Los Tres, released in 1993.This album features a more powerful, strong rock sound than its precessor, incorporating hard rock and grunge elements...
. In 1993, now signed with the
Sony music label, the band achieved a much better quality LP. This album showed more rock elements, in the singles
No sabes que desperdicio tengo en el alma and
El Aval, but without straying too far from their blues influences in songs like
Soñe que estabas justo sobre mi and the BB King's cover
The Thrill is Gone"The Thrill Is Gone" is a blues song written by Rick Darnell and Roy Hawkins in 1951 and popularized by B.B. King in 1970.-History:The song was first recorded by Roy Hawkins, its co-author, and became a minor hit for the musician. B.B. King recorded his version of the song in June 1969 for his...
.
La Espada & la ParedLa Espada & la Pared is the third studio album by Chilean rock band Los Tres, released in 1995-Track listing:# "Déjate Caer"# "Hojas de Té"# "La Espada & la Pared"# "Dos en Uno"# "Tírate"# "Te Desheredo"# "Partir de Cero"# "Moizefala"# "V & V"...
(1995) was the third album of the band. This album was very popular and the most important of their career. Singles like
Dejate Caer and
La Espada & La Pared were popular in all of Latin America, thanks to the diffusion on MTV Latino and became a Gold record in 46 days. One of the popular songs in
La Espada & La Pared was the remake of
Buddy RichardRicardo Roberto Toro Lavín, also known as Buddy Richard is a Chilean singer-songwriter known for his ballads....
's cover 1960 rock tune
Tu Cariño se me Va, where Buddy himself did some back-up vocals.
The popularity achieved by
La Espada y La Pared, was an important motivation for the
MTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
network, who invited
Los Tres to perform an
UnpluggedMTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...
session in Miami. This was recorded on 14 September 1995, with the participation of the Chilean musicians and friends of the band Toño Restucci and Cuti Aste. The performance was just a few months after the death of
Roberto ParraRoberto Parra Mateo is a Spanish middle distance runner. He specialized in the 800 and 1500 metres events.-Achievements:-External links:...
, an important Chilean folk musician and an inspiration for Álvaro and the band in general. Therefore, the guys decided to dedicate the Unplugged to
el tío Roberto memories, and played two
cuecas choras,
El Arrepentido and
La Vida que yo He Pasado, and the popular foxtrot
¿Quién es la que viene allí? composed by him. This was that the first time a Chilean band recorded an
Unplugged with
MTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
.
UnpluggedLos Tres MTV Unplugged is an MTV Unplugged live acoustic album by Los Tres. This was the first MTV Unplugged album ever to be released by a Chilean band.-Track listing:# "Sudapara"# "La Espada y La Pared"# "Un Amor Violento"# "Gato por Liebre"...
, released in 1996, was such a success in Chile and Latin America. The LP became 4-platinum album in Chile in just three months and the band promoted the LP with unplugged concerts in the
Teatro California in Santiago, with guests musicians like Toño Restucci, Pepe Fuentes,
Rabanito, Cuti Aste, and
Javiera ParraJaviera Cereceda Orrego , better known as Javiera Parra, is a Chilean musician and singer born in Santiago. She is the lead singer of rock band Javiera y Los Imposibles. A third generation member of Chile's Parra family, known for its many musicians, she is the granddaughter of famous Chilean...
, Ángel's sister.
The following years,
Los Tres began a short folk-based era. They performed in February 1996 as a guest band in the
Viña del MarViña del Mar , is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Its long stretches of white sandy beaches are a major attraction for national and international tourists. The city is Chile's main tourist attraction. Known as "La Ciudad Jardín" , Viña del Mar is a Chilean Municipality located...
international music festival. The show began with Álvaro imitating the characteristic voice of Antonio Vodanovic, the festival's
MCA Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
. They played a lot of
cuecas by Roberto Parra and received the
Gaviota de Plata, an award that is reserved only for the festival's music contest, but the crowd insisted strongly until the band received it.
The band began a new traditional event during the 1996 Chilean national independence holiday, on 18 September, by founding a
Fonda called
Yein Fonda (a pun on
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
) in the park
Plaza Ñunoa in Santiago, where they performed during several days folk music with friends. The records of this event were released in an LP called
La Yein FondaLa Yein Fonda is a live album by the Chilean band Los Tres.-Track listing:# "Pregonera"# "Re = Fa = Si"# "La Vida que Yo He Pasado"# "El Conventillo"# "Chiquillo de Orilla"# "El Aguja"# "Los Parecidos"# "Las Quince Lucas"# "Corazón de Escarcha"...
later that year. During the following years they organized more
Fondas, but with time these became more commercial and not as popular as
Yein Fonda.
In 1998 the band recorded Peineta, an album with
cuecas choras and
jazz huachaca, featuring
Lalo ParraEduardo Parra is a member of the Chilean rock fusion band Los Jaivas. He is the oldest of the Parra brothers . Eduardo plays the keyboards and some percussion instruments.-Poetry:He wrote several poetry books, including:*La Puerta Giratoria.Ediciones Rivera Scott...
, brother of Roberto.
After the great success of
Los Tres with
La Espada & La Pared and
Unplugged, the following studio album with new material came only in 1998.
FomeFome is the fourth album from the Chilean rock band Los Tres in 1997. Considered by many critics as their best album, the album is undoubtedly the most diverse group from Concepción, which explores a wealth of musical styles, in what the group termed "a kind of casserole Chilean music, where...
(named after a Chilean word that means
boring) didn't achieve the popularity of their preceding albums. The lyrics this time were more poetic and with the exception of
La Torre de Babel and
Restaurant, not so easy to understand.
During these years Parra and Lindl started a parallel jazz project called Ángel Parra Trío, with the jazz drummer Moncho Pérez and Molina started the Jazz band Los Titulares. Both bands started having great popularity into the Chilean Jazz movement, and this summed up to create internal problems in
Los Tres because of the directions that Álvaro wanted for the band.
Their last studio album was released in 1999. La Sangre en el Cuerpo, and didn't enjoy great success in Chile. Even though the album is very different from when the band began, great songs like
Feria Verdadera,
La Sangre en el Cuerpo and the instrumental
El Rey del Mariscal showed Álvaro and the band in a great musical moment that, unfortunately, the Chilean mainstream didn't appreciate.
Personal differences, the poor sales of the latest LPs, and the increasing interest in the personal projects of individual members culminated with the band announcing their separation in 2000. They performed several goodbye concerts in Santiago, Concepción, and other Chilean cities. One of these concerts, in
Teatro Providencia, the 27 May 2000, was recorded and later that year released as the live album Freno de Mano.
Aftermath (up to February 2007)
Two years after the breakup of the band (2002), a DVD, Vermouth & Noche, was released. It included part of the history of the band, some original videoclips and live performances.
Álvaro started in 2001 a band called Los Petinellis which released an album in 2002 and dissolved in 2004. Later, he started a solo career.
Ángel Parra Trío has recorded in total eight albums. After Los tres, he issued one live album in 2001 and two studio albums (in 2003 and 2005):
• Ángel Parra Trío 1992
• Patana 1995
• Piscola Standard 1996
• Tequila 1998
• No junta ni Pega 2000
• La Hora Feliz 2002
• Vamos que se puede 2003
• La playa Solitaria 2005
Los Titulares have released three LPs:
Los Titulares (album) in 1999 – El perseguidor in 2001 and Bipolar in 2005.
In 2006 three of the band's four members announced a reunion and a new album. Álvaro Henríquez, Ángel Parra, and Roberto Lindl are working on the recording of the twelve new songs for the album, due out around August 2006.
In February 2007 the band played at the
Viña del Mar International Song FestivalThe Viña del Mar International Song Festival is a music festival held annually during February since 1960 in Viña del Mar, Chile. It is considered the most important musical event in Latin America....
, Chile. Playing to a crowd of 15,000 attendees at the most important Latin American music festival, the band received multiple standing ovations and were awarded the
Antorcha de Plata (Silver Torch), the
Antorcha de Oro (Golden Torch), and ultimately the
Gaviota de Plata (the Silver Seagull), the festival's highest honor.
Lineup
- Álvaro Henríquez, voice and rhythm guitar.
- Roberto "Titae" Lindl, bass guitar, double bass, accordion, backing vocals.
- Ángel Parra (starting in 1988), lead guitar, lap steel, backing vocals.
- Francisco Molina (until May 2000), drums and percussions.
Discography
- 1991 Los Tres
Los Tres is an original album, the first by Chilean rock band Los Tres, recorden and first released in 1991. The CD album includes 10 unpublished songs composed mainly by Álvaro Henríquez...
- 1993 Se Remata el Siglo
Se Remata el Siglo is the second studio album by Chilean rock band Los Tres, released in 1993.This album features a more powerful, strong rock sound than its precessor, incorporating hard rock and grunge elements...
- 1995 La Espada & la Pared
La Espada & la Pared is the third studio album by Chilean rock band Los Tres, released in 1995-Track listing:# "Déjate Caer"# "Hojas de Té"# "La Espada & la Pared"# "Dos en Uno"# "Tírate"# "Te Desheredo"# "Partir de Cero"# "Moizefala"# "V & V"...
- 1995 Unplugged
Los Tres MTV Unplugged is an MTV Unplugged live acoustic album by Los Tres. This was the first MTV Unplugged album ever to be released by a Chilean band.-Track listing:# "Sudapara"# "La Espada y La Pared"# "Un Amor Violento"# "Gato por Liebre"...
- 1996 La Yein Fonda
La Yein Fonda is a live album by the Chilean band Los Tres.-Track listing:# "Pregonera"# "Re = Fa = Si"# "La Vida que Yo He Pasado"# "El Conventillo"# "Chiquillo de Orilla"# "El Aguja"# "Los Parecidos"# "Las Quince Lucas"# "Corazón de Escarcha"...
(live with various artists)
- 1997 Fome
Fome is the fourth album from the Chilean rock band Los Tres in 1997. Considered by many critics as their best album, the album is undoubtedly the most diverse group from Concepción, which explores a wealth of musical styles, in what the group termed "a kind of casserole Chilean music, where...
- 1998 Peineta (with Eduardo "Lalo" Parra)
- 1999 La Sangre en el Cuerpo
- 2000 Freno de Mano (live)
- 2006 Camino (Single)
- 2006 Grandes Exitos (Compilation)
- 2006 Hágalo Usted Mismo (July 2006)
- 2007 Arena
- 2010 Coliumo