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Puya was a nu metal
Nu metal

Nu metal is a sub-genre of Heavy metal music that emerged in the mid-1990s which combines grunge music, alternative rock, and alternative metal with hip hop music and various list of heavy metal genres, such as funk metal, rap metal, groove metal and thrash metal....
 band from San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan is the Capital and largest Municipalities of Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico. As of the United States Census Bureau, it has a population of 433,733, making it the List of United States cities by population city under the jurisdiction of the United States....
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a Autonomy Territories of the United States of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands....
. Originally playing only instrumental
Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments....
s, they added vocalist Sergio Curbelo and in 1992 and moved to Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fort Lauderdale, known as the "Venice of America" due to its expansive and intricate canal system, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States....
, Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
 where they created their mix of salsa
Salsa music

Salsa music is a diverse and predominantly Latin American Caribbean music genre that is popular across Latin America and among Latinos abroad that was brought to international fame by Puerto Rican people....
 and rap metal
Rap metal

Rap metal is a music genre of rap rock fusing vocal and sometimes instrumental elements of hip hop music with Heavy metal music. Rap metal is often confused with rap rock and rapcore....
. Later in 1994 with the release of their demo tape they changed their name to Puya.

was formed in 1988 originally with the name Whisker Biscuit by guitarist Ramón Ortíz (formerly with Mattador
Mattador

Mattador was a Puerto Rico Heavy metal music band formed in the 80's. The band enjoyed critical success in USA and Japan, but was a commercial failure....
) together with bassist
Bassist

A bass player is a musician who plays a double bass, bass guitar, or another low-pitched instrument, such as keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as tuba or sousaphone....
 Harold Hopkins and drummer
Drummer

A drummer is a musician who plays a drum or drums, particularly a drum kit , marching percussion or hand drums. The term percussionist applies to a musician performing on any percussion instrument, but usually refers to one who plays Classical music or Latin percussion....
 Eduardo Paniagua.






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Puya was a nu metal
Nu metal

Nu metal is a sub-genre of Heavy metal music that emerged in the mid-1990s which combines grunge music, alternative rock, and alternative metal with hip hop music and various list of heavy metal genres, such as funk metal, rap metal, groove metal and thrash metal....
 band from San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan is the Capital and largest Municipalities of Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico. As of the United States Census Bureau, it has a population of 433,733, making it the List of United States cities by population city under the jurisdiction of the United States....
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a Autonomy Territories of the United States of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands....
. Originally playing only instrumental
Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments....
s, they added vocalist Sergio Curbelo and in 1992 and moved to Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fort Lauderdale, known as the "Venice of America" due to its expansive and intricate canal system, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States....
, Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
 where they created their mix of salsa
Salsa music

Salsa music is a diverse and predominantly Latin American Caribbean music genre that is popular across Latin America and among Latinos abroad that was brought to international fame by Puerto Rican people....
 and rap metal
Rap metal

Rap metal is a music genre of rap rock fusing vocal and sometimes instrumental elements of hip hop music with Heavy metal music. Rap metal is often confused with rap rock and rapcore....
. Later in 1994 with the release of their demo tape they changed their name to Puya.

Band History


Early years

Puya was formed in 1988 originally with the name Whisker Biscuit by guitarist Ramón Ortíz (formerly with Mattador
Mattador

Mattador was a Puerto Rico Heavy metal music band formed in the 80's. The band enjoyed critical success in USA and Japan, but was a commercial failure....
) together with bassist
Bassist

A bass player is a musician who plays a double bass, bass guitar, or another low-pitched instrument, such as keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as tuba or sousaphone....
 Harold Hopkins and drummer
Drummer

A drummer is a musician who plays a drum or drums, particularly a drum kit , marching percussion or hand drums. The term percussionist applies to a musician performing on any percussion instrument, but usually refers to one who plays Classical music or Latin percussion....
 Eduardo Paniagua. Originally they devoted themselves to playing instrumental songs, and then covers in the San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan is the Capital and largest Municipalities of Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico. As of the United States Census Bureau, it has a population of 433,733, making it the List of United States cities by population city under the jurisdiction of the United States....
 music scene.

Change and Success

In the early 90s, vocalist Sergio Curbelo joined the band and they changed their name to Puya. The band also relocated to Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fort Lauderdale, known as the "Venice of America" due to its expansive and intricate canal system, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States....
, Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
 where they met Jeff Renza who helped them develop, and polish their sound in the newly formed Noiz Boiz production recording studio. In 1995, they released their eponymous debut album under the Noiz Boiz label
Puya (album)

Puya is the eponymous debut album from the Puerto Rico rapcore/nu metal band of the same name. The album was released independently in 1995....
.

There they also met producer Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Santaolalla

Gustavo A. Santaolalla is an Argentina musician, film composer and producer....
 who signed them to MCA
Music Corporation of America

MCA, Inc. was an United States corporation in the music and television businesses. MCA published music, booked acts, ran a record company, and distributed television productions and home videos....
 and they released their second album titled Fundamental
Fundamental (Puya album)

Fundamental is the second album from Puerto Rico rapcore/nu metal band, Puya , and their first released on an international label The album was released in 1999....
 which received critical praise. This propelled the band to stardom even landing them in the second stage of Ozzfest
Ozzfest

Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal music and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne....
 where they shared the opening slot with Slipknot
Slipknot (band)

Slipknot is an American heavy metal music band from Des Moines, Iowa, formed in 1995. Slipknot consists of nine members, the current band members are Sid Wilson, Joey Jordison, Paul Gray , Chris Fehn, Jim Root, Craig Jones, Shawn Crahan, Mick Thomson, and Corey Taylor....
 in 1999.

In 2000, one of their songs ("Tírale"), was included in the soundtrack of the movie Heavy Metal 2000
Heavy Metal 2000

Heavy Metal 2000 is the sequel to the animated cult film Heavy Metal , based on the fantasy magazine Heavy Metal . The story itself is based on the graphic novel, The Melting Pot , written by Kevin Eastman, Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot....
, the only track with lyrics in Spanish
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
 from the collection. Established in the nu metal scene, they opened for such bands as Sepultura
Sepultura

Sepultura is a Brazilian Heavy metal music band from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, formed in 1984. The band was a major force in the death metal and thrash metal realms during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and their later experiments melding hardcore punk and industrial music with extreme metal provided a blueprint for the groove metal gen...
, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers are a Grammy Award-winning American Rock music band formed in Los Angeles, California, California, in 1983. For most of the band's existence, the members are vocalist Anthony Kiedis, guitarist John Frusciante, bassist Flea , and drummer Chad Smith....
, Pantera
Pantera

Pantera was an American heavy metal music band from Arlington, Texas, Texas, formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Diamond Darrell , then known as Diamond Darrell, in 1981....
 and KISS
KISS (band)

Kiss is an United States Rock music Musical ensemble formed in New York City in December 1972. Easily identified by its members' trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid and late-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and...
. They also recorded a cover song - using their particular style - of The Police
The Police

The Police were an English Power trio Rock music band consisting of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland . The band became globally popular in the late 1970s, playing a style of rock that was influenced by jazz, punk rock and reggae music....
's "Spirits in the Material World
Ghost in the machine

The "ghost in the machine" is United Kingdom philosopher Gilbert Ryle's derogatory description of Ren? Descartes' Dualism . The phrase was introduced in Ryle's book The Concept of Mind to highlight the perceived absurdity of dualist systems like Descartes' where mental activity carries on in parallel to physical action, but where their...
" in Spanish. The song was titled "Almas en un mundo material".

Decline

In 2001, the band released their second album with MCA titled Unión
Union (Puya album)

Uni?n is the third album from Puerto Rico rapcore/nu metal band, Puya , and their second released on Music Corporation of America. Although their music was very well known by this time, it wasn't as successful as their previous album, mainly because of the phase-out of rock music in local radio and the surge in other types of music, in th...
. The album was not received as well as their previous two, and some of the members were already working in other projects. The band then faded from the music scene.

Current Whereabouts

As of 2007, most of the members are involved in other projects.

  • Guitarist Ramón Ortíz formed the band Ankla
    Ankla

    Ankla is a heavy metal music band from Los Angeles, California....
     in 2001. They appeared in Ozzfest
    Ozzfest

    Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal music and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne....
     's second stage in 2007.
  • Harold Hopkins formed the band Yeva in Puerto Rico.


Band Members

  • Ramón Ortíz - guitar
    Guitar

    The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
    s
  • Eduardo Paniagua - drums
    Drum kit

    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
  • Harold Hopkins - bass guitar
    Bass guitar

    The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
  • Sergio Curbelo - vocals
    Singing

    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the human voice, which is often contrasted with regular speech. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist....
  • José Rodríguez????
  • Jose Ignacio "Hoshin"- Original Whisker Biscuit Drummer
  • Mike Smart- Saxophone


Discography

  • Whisker Biscuit
  • Puya
    Puya (album)

    Puya is the eponymous debut album from the Puerto Rico rapcore/nu metal band of the same name. The album was released independently in 1995....
     (1995)
  • Fundamental
    Fundamental (Puya album)

    Fundamental is the second album from Puerto Rico rapcore/nu metal band, Puya , and their first released on an international label The album was released in 1999....
     (1999)
  • Union
    Union (Puya album)

    Uni?n is the third album from Puerto Rico rapcore/nu metal band, Puya , and their second released on Music Corporation of America. Although their music was very well known by this time, it wasn't as successful as their previous album, mainly because of the phase-out of rock music in local radio and the surge in other types of music, in th...
     (2001)


See also

  • Puerto Rican rock
    Puerto Rican rock

    Rock in Puerto Rico has been a product of direct and indirect influence from both American rock, and its fusion with other genres. Throughout history, the genre has suffered ups and downs having a significant peak in the 90s....


External links