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Concert by Rafa Sánchez, from the Unión 'Sildavia' Tour
Biography:
I was born on Sunday, November 5th at 5:30 in the morning, so I celebrated my birthday until I was 11, on the 4th, until I got my ID, since my mother thought it was a very long Saturday. It's clear that I was very happy where I was, and it's something that has shaped my life. Inertia; it's hard for me to change. Perhaps being an Ox in the Chinese zodiac has dictated this tendency.
I was born in Loreto Hospital in Madrid in room 101, brand new, according to my mother. I lived those first 11 years at my grandparents' house on Doctor Fourquet Street in Lavapiés, a humble, very traditional neighborhood, now multiethnic, where I was baptized and took communion in the Church of San Lorenzo. Kindergarten was at the now-defunct Soriano Academy, and I began my studies at Gregorio Marañón, right on Lavapiés Square.
Through my matriarchal line, I have several generations of Madrid residents, with illustrious figures like a great-aunt known as the Sultana de Ribera de Curtidores—a small lady she must have been—my aunt Charo, Miss Lavapiés, and my great-uncle Juanón, who had the honor of dressing the Christ of Medinaceli, although my grandfather Felipe was Asturian and my father was from Mira, a small town in Cuenca.
When I was 11, my parents bought a house on the outskirts of town, in Peñagrande, where I spent my adolescence with my five siblings. There I started primary school at Lasalle, where
my first steps on stage began, playing the Geologist in The Little Prince, participating as the third voice in the school choir. This was a very interesting activity because you skipped quite a few classes. We also sang Mass at some weddings on the weekends. We even performed the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar," a work that inspired me to compose "Las Botas Rojas" with my good friend Antonio Cortés years later.
There, my studies ended in eighth grade, so I transferred to the Liceo Sorolla, where I was expelled for switching exams with eighteen other students. I don't think I made the right friends.
From there, I went to Virgen de Mirasierra, where I resumed my artistic career, participating in end-of-year performances with a rock group covering Dire Straits and Jackson Brown. Although my older brothers influenced my musical tastes by discovering David Bowie and Lou Reed, it was during this time that I became addicted to modern music with albums like "The Alan Parson Project."
Around that time, I formed my first band with my friend Nicolás, "Quick." But when I began studying Architecture, I distanced myself from my neighborhood friends, and that was the end of the group. But that didn't mean I left music aside.
In the early 1980s, there were no computers, and everything was drawn with a Rotring, so I spent many hours in front of the drawing board with the radio. I think the Architecture bar is where I've had the most intense conversations about music after submitting projects, because programs like Mario Armero, Rafael Abitbol, and Gonzalo Garrido would update us on the latest British pop music, which, along with disco, were my main influences.
It was during this time that I met Luis Bolin. He was a singer in a band I was supposed to replace him in, but it broke up before it even started. A couple of years later, I met him at an iconic bar, Cascanueces. He told me he had a band and was looking for a singer. This happened on a Saturday. The following Thursday, we met to try out, and there was chemistry.
I was in Iñigo Zabala's gym, which had been converted into a storage unit, with Luis Mario Martinez. They had six instrumental songs, and I improvised melodies for them, including "Lobohombre en París" (Werewolf in Paris), still without lyrics, of course.
A few months later, Luis's schoolmate Nacho Cano showed up at the bar and agreed to record a demo for us, as he left there humming "Lobo" (The Wolf), also still without lyrics.
The song was a few minutes old, and I came across a collection of short stories by Boris Vian entitled "Dogs, Desire, and Death," which included a story called "The Big Bad Wolf," which perfectly suited the melody. And so it was. At the end of spring in '83, we recorded the demo, and in the fall, a maxi with three songs, "El Lobo," "La Niebla," and "Voracity," at Audiofilm Studios in Madrid with Luis Fernández Soria as engineer.
The full moon accompanied us both during the demos and the recording of the album and video, which we all took as a great omen. And so it was. Eleven weeks at number one, endless and successful tours that have lasted the thirty-six years I've been with Unión.
In the late eighties, I fell into the world of drugs and almost joined the 27 club alongside Jimmy Hendrix, Curt Kovain, and Ami Winehouse.
My life was saved by a motorcycle accident with my great friend Natalia, to whom I dedicated a song bearing her name, which kept me bedridden long enough to overcome my addiction.
I think I was trying to drown my homosexuality with drugs, which back then was much more taboo than it is today, although I must say that up until my last partner, I had better sex with women than with men, because I think that liking people older than me is a generation with many complexes.
In the early 1990s, I began working, as I mentioned before, on the rock opera "Las Botas Rojas" with Antonio Cortés, which was released by Warner, although it didn't have any impact because I don't think it was the right time. Years later, musicals became successful, but it's a project I want to pursue in this new phase I'm experiencing. In fact, the opera marked the beginning of tensions in the band, as neither Mario nor Luis liked the idea. Added to this, the 1990s crisis and Iñigo Zabala's departure from Warner Spain to join Internacional put the band through a very low period.
Each member began to look for other options. Mario and Luis set up a recording studio, and I got into the world of home decor, following my passion for architecture, opening a recycled furniture store, but it didn't work out for either of us.
We returned to focusing on the band, but it wasn't the same. Although we made a great album with a new hit, "Vuelve el amor," our relationship was severely strained, and we decided to end the group once the "El mar de la grasa" tour was over. In fact, we called the company that managed it "La última estación," with a song of the same name included on the album. This led to our departure from Warner.
Over time, things calmed down, and we promptly returned to record a greatest hits cover album, "Love Sessions," with Warner. We continued on as usual, recording a final unreleased album, "Big Bang," for Vale Music until Mario fell ill due to his lifestyle, ultimately leading him to leave the group. This last album, with the change of label and the continuation of Luis and I as a solo artist, were attempts to breathe life into a project that, in retrospect, was already dead. That, along with going from a democracy to a you-or-me situation, shattered expectations, culminating last year with my statement ending the band. It's been a tough few years of conflict while continuing with the tour.
A tough last year with the pandemic has served to stop, analyze, and introspect about what I really want. And what I want is to do things with the same enthusiasm that made me leave Architecture to enter the performing world, to feel excited again when composing a song, to feel fortunate again with the life I've been given and take control of my career.