Burgos has long generated a rich and nourished music scene with numerous groups and artists. Among them is La Maravillosa Orquesta del Alcohol, which emerged in 2011 as a band with a very clear influence on folk, blues and punk. … and rock. In their letters, they take a close look at everyday life. They immediately visit small venues and especially popular festivals. They quickly resorted to their acronym, La MODA, to save resources but also because they were beginning to succeed. They just published ‘San Felicestheir sixth studio album, which features the stellar collaborations of Repion and Leiva and the production of Carlos Raya. This is his first album with a multinational company, Universal Music Spain. Bilbao was the start of a tour that will take them to fifteen cities: Murcia, Santander, Zaragoza, Granada, Málaga, Valladolid, Valencia, Pamplona, Salamanca, Santiago, La Coruña, Gijón León, Barcelona until ending in Madrid.
The group, composed of David Ruiz (voice and guitar), Alvar de Pablo (sax, clarinet and backing vocals), Caleb Melguizo (drums and percussion), Joselito Maravillas (accordion and choirs), Jorge Juan Mariscal (weak) and Nacho Wall (guitar and mandolin), attends to the press in an Alsa bus at platform 12 of the Méndez Álvaro Sud bus station, in clear reference to his song “Un Alsa pa Madrid”, included in “San Felices”.
San Pedro and San Felices are a district of Burgos but what is “San Felices”? “It’s our universe, our world. The everyday world. Life in a provincial Castilian townas they say. The rural link, which we have always had. Emotions and feelings that everyone can feel in their daily life. But above all the album is like a return home. And in the end, we have the premises in San Pedro and San Felices, where we spend most of the time,” explains David.
Winds and Spanish
In his music, the winds (sax, clarinet and accordion) have a fundamental importance “because it is our essence”, explains David. “It’s the way we write songs. Our instruments that we have. Maybe in the future a didgeridoo will come out (laughs), or another instrument. These are our instruments that we feel comfortable with, that we love and with which we hope to make very different songs,” adds Álvar.
Massive La MODA concert at Burgos festivities in 2023
In their journey as a group, They started singing in English but quickly switched to Spanish.. Then they traveled throughout Spain through concert halls and popular and patronal festivals. About ten years ago, they played in the evenings of Saint Cajetanwhich now occupies six rooms at La Riviera in Madrid. “We did professional military service. We started playing as a threesome, like everyone else. The next time, there were 10 people, then 40. And after 14 years, here we are,” says David.
With “San Felices,” the music seems direct. As in ‘Chava Jiménez‘, where Leiva collaborates. Obviously, they have all changed a lot, but “the essence remains the same in terms of the spirit of the group, the way of doing things and the sound”, explains David. “We had time to try a lot of things on site. The previous albums teach you and help you not to repeat certain mistakes, and sometimes to repeat them, because you like them,” emphasizes Nacho.
In “San Felices”, they felt that “they had the vocation to sound bigger, more direct and more powerful”, underlines David. “More direct to the person, to the listener,” adds Álvar. Producer Carlos Raya was the perfect choice to sound this way.
As for their references, they claim to have very varied ones, each one their own. “But I think we are more inspired by our lives, our daily life and our world than by specific groups, we don’t have a super totemic reference. When we first started, we were always quoting Bruce Springsteen, Social Distortion, Edith Piaf and the Dropkick Murphys. At the moment, I don’t know,” emphasizes David.
“There’s still melancholy and nostalgia, because that’s part of our way of being, but this album has a little more hope and vitality”
As for the concept of this album, it is broad. Because there is “love and heartbreak,” as David points out. But you also have to hold on to life a lot, in the sense of not giving in in the face of adversity. “Maybe this album is brighter in that sense, more vitalist. There’s still melancholy and nostalgia, because that’s part of our way of being, but this one has a little more hope and vitality,” notes Joselito. “I think it’s an album very aware of all the difficulties“, of all the difficult things in life: sometimes losing people, loved ones,… And continuing to hold on, and seeing this with a thread of hope, that together we will live through it and that better times will come”, adds Nacho. The album is also about coming home, “about how you feel when you arrive in your town or village and see the sign»concludes David. Even if something very present in “San Felices” hovers over it, a point of affirmation, of celebration, of friendship, of family. “That may be the case, but I think it’s more of a self-affirmation of the we than the self,” David points out.
From Burgos to the world
The music scene in Burgos is super rich and there are also good relationships between bands. They point to Diego Galaz and The Louk, Fetén Fetén, Víctor Ruti, Rober del Pyro and Dj Kaeb as beacons and pioneers. “There we go, we’re all following this lead.” Currently there are many things doing things, like Elnido, MemocracyMario Andreu, Claudia Halley, Sioqué, PerseidCheddar, The Fly Army…
After collaborating with Gorka, Leiva and the Repionsthey admit they would love to collaborate with Cristina Llanos from Dover, which would be amazing. “Even if there were also dreams of Robe…” laments Álvar. They highlight a series of wishes for 2026: “May we have health and joy, which this album gives us, brings us many anecdotes, happiness and makes us Happy Saints”, concludes Álvar.
About The Author
