Montesas

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Montesas (formerly Tijuana Tex And The Cowbones ) are a rockabilly , sixties beat , garage rock and surf band from Kassel . The formation, founded in 1998 and made up of four members plus two background singers , the Montesitas , staged itself optically stringently in the look of the early Star Club era. Mainly due to their numerous club and festival live appearances, the group has earned a reputation as one of the leading sixties retro bands in Germany .

Band history

The Montesas formed in Kassel in 1998. The founder was the native Catalan Marcel Bontempi, who had already recorded a release the year before with the EP Deep Blue Sea & Other Songs . Like Bontempi, the other group members also brought musical experiences from other formations to the band. In addition to Rockbilly, the beat, twist and rhythm and blues sound of the early 1960s emerged as the central music style. Ska , garage rock and instrumentally played surf numbers were added as further style components. The group's first release was a single with their own composition Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? (2000) at Larsen Records , France . The band's typical mix of their own pieces and third-party interpretations also contained the first regular LP / CD. Hipsville Teen Party from 2001 first appeared on Larsen Records on vinyl and on Kamikaze Records (with a slightly modified song list) on CD; later Kamikaze-Records pressed the vinyl version, but with the same song list as on the Kamikaze CD of the same name. The "Larsen-Pressung" was limited to 1,000 pieces and contained the songs Do Me Love and Hipsville Twist . The first publication received positive reviews from the renowned music magazine Rolling Stone and the punk- and-garage fanzine Ox . The late lounge editorial team at hr3 named the band's first album “Record of the Month”.

The second release from 2003, Midnight Beat, was essentially based on the concept of its predecessor. It contained the band's usual mix of styles - from Ska-influenced numbers like Midnight Beat to a rough, unpolished sixties garage in the style of the B-52's (Igor's Party). The following year the band released a single with two German-language tracks (Girl, you turn me on so! And So beautiful). The usual English-language sound was also offered by the third full-length release from 2005, the CD Rockers… Shakers! Likewise, the band's last album so far, Wrong Side of Town from 2010, which, among other things, also contained the piece Do the Slide recorded as a video clip . Some well-known guest musicians were involved in the fourth studio production - including Martin Wenk from the US band Calexico .

In addition to the regular releases, the group released some singles and EPs as limited editions or special editions. In addition to the heavily surf-heavy EP Aloha from Alpha Centauri (2010), frontman Marcel Bontempi also released several EPs.

As a strong live concert- heavy formation, the Montesas completed numerous club and festival appearances in Germany, Switzerland , France , Spain , Italy , Holland , Norway , Sweden , Denmark , England and Belgium - partly in the core group line-up (four members with the instruments Electric guitar , electric bass , Hammond organ and drums ), partly in an extended formation with the mini background group Montesitas . In addition to the style mix tailored to the early 1960s, the group’s unique selling points are, above all, the look that fits the era. With the exception of band founder Bontempi, the band members only present themselves under fantasy names ( Oliver Twist , Boogaloo Bix and Stempel Mobilux and, for the Montesitas , Nina Soleil and Ira Lee ). In the general external presentation, the band also makes strong use of ironization as a stylization tool .

occupation

  • 1998–2002: Marcel Bontempi, Bogaloo Bix, Big Josh Electric, Terry Inferno
  • 2002–2006: Marcel Bontempi, Bogaloo Bix, Oliver Twist, Terry Inferno
  • 2006–2012: Marcel Bontempi, Michele Fabuloso, Judy Belafonte, Terry Inferno
  • 2013: Marcel Bontempi, Michele Fabuloso, Judy Belafonte, Mobilux stamp
  • Montesitas: Nina Soleil, Ira Lee - from around 2008 also Maria Mariachi, who will replace Nina Soleil entirely from 2013.

Style and reviews

So far, the group has not been able to record a major commercial success - and a corresponding echo in the major media . Nevertheless, it has received numerous positive feedback in the course of its existence - especially in the accompanying event reports in local newspapers , in city ​​magazines as well as in niche music magazines, music blogs and fanzines . The Journal Frankfurt wrote at a concert in the region: "The sound of Le Beat You Sixties, yé yé ..." Similarly, positively assessed the Frankfurter Rundschau the live qualities of the group: "The band on stage also does not mean Beatles , but The Montesas and comes from Kassel. And strictly speaking, the concert has very little to do with the jungle, but with enthusiastically played rhythm & blues, boogaloo instrumentals, a lot of British beat from the sixties and a little bit of francophile Roque'n'Role. ” On the occasion of a review by Hipsville Teen Party , the music magazine Rolling Stone, compared the band's sound with that of the early Beatles: “The Montesas are the anti-Beatles. It says in the press information of the trash band around the Catalan Marcel Bontempi. And thinks that the Montesas beat, like that of the early Fab Four, is centered around rock 'n' roll , twist and Hully Gully and loud guitars, but has never been honed and trimmed to size. "

The musicians themselves comment on the band's own production sometimes humorously, sometimes more seriously. Opposite the rockabilly music magazine Dynamite! Band founder Marcel Bontempi answered the question, what the special recipe for success of the Montesas is, with a succinct list: “(...) Danceable numbers, no wanks, guitars under the chin, uniform , polyphonic singing , a set peppered with songs that hardly any other band can do plays, sometimes a ballad, doesn't take himself seriously, old instruments , old amplifiers , choreography , sometimes reinforcement by the Montesitas (the German Shangri-Las ), friendliness also behind the stage, abysmal rejection of heavy metal and the like, idolization of westerns Swing , no hard drugs . "

In an interview with the fanzine Ox , Bontempi explained the advantages of the niche status , which the band recognizes for itself, with the lower susceptibility to time fashions and consequently a higher persistence factor: “We as a 'retro band' have an enormous advantage: the 'official ' Fashion completely bypasses us, we feed ourselves from anti-fashion or from our interpretation of what is good and bad in our self-established sixties exile. And we are allowed to stay as we are our entire life, and will probably always sound the same or even better, as has happened in the last ten years, as long as the bones cooperate. "

Discography

Studio albums

  • Hipsville Teen Party (2001; as a limited LP with Larsen Recordz / as CD and later also as an LP with Kamikaze Records)
  • Midnight Beat (2003; LP & CD Kamikaze Records)
  • Rockers ... Shakers! (2006; LP from Soundflat Records / CD in digipack from El Toro Records)
  • Wrong Side of Town (2010; LP with Soundflat Records / CD with Wild Records)

Singles, maxis & specials

  • Voulez-vous couch avec moi? (2000; single; Larsen Recordz)
  • Girl you turn me on (2006; single; Soundflat Records)
  • Aloha from Alpha Centauri (2010; Rhythm Island Records; as CD & EP; Limited Edition)
  • Battle of the Bands (2013; split 10 "; Soundflat Records)

Marcel Bontempi

  • Deep Blue Sea & Other Songs (1997; Toro Records; EP)
  • Shag Rag (2010; Witchcraft International; single; vinyl; special edition)
  • Old Mad Witch (2011; Witchcraft International; EP)
  • Big Fat Spider Vs. Spiderman (2012; Migraine Records; single; limited edition)
  • Dig A Hole (2013; Sleazy Records; single; limited edition)
  • Bull Frog (2013; Stag-o-Lee; EP)
  • The Headless Horseman And Other Tales ... (2014; Squoodge Records; EP)
  • Witches Spiders Frogs & Holes - Demos & Recordings 2009-2014 (2015; Stag-o-Lee; CD / LP)
  • Black Cat (2016; Trash Wax Recs., EP, Limited Edition)
  • Crawfish (2017; O-HA records, 7 "with only one song, limited to 300 pieces)
  • Bury All My Troubles (2017; Twi Lite Recs., Single)
  • Haunted House (2017, Stag-o-Lee Recs., Single)
  • Havana Moon (2018, Twi-Lite Recs., Single)
  • No Club Lone Wolf (2019, Migraine Recs., Single)
  • Mambo Voodoo (2019, Twi-Lite Recs., Single)
  • Marcel Bontempi Sings Carlos Slap (2019, El Toro Records, single; limited edition)
  • Big Fat Spider (2019, Twi-Lite Recs., Single)

Contributions to compilations

  • Woman2 Seeks Happy Ending (2001; Pelham Power Productions)
  • Pop is Sheriff 2 (2002; Hazelwood Records)
  • A Tribute To Nino Ferrer (2005; Larsen Records)
  • Riot On Soundflat Strip (2006; Soundflat Records)
  • Ballroom Bash (2007; Soundflat Records; 4 tracks)
  • Ballroom Bash, Vol. 2 (2009; Soundflat Records; 4 pieces)
  • El Toro Sampler - Instrumental Surf (2010; Toro Records)
  • El Toro Sampler - Rhythm & Blues (2010; Toro Records)
  • Firebirds Festival Compilation 2013 (2013; Part Records)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Montesas - Hipsville Teen Party , Rolling Stone, Issue 3/2002; Excerpt from press review for CD publication on Kamikaze Records website
  2. ↑ a b Montesas - The Montesas , band biography at music weblog Elektrolurch.com, accessed on October 2, 2012
  3. ^ The Montesas - Wrong Side of Town. (No longer available online.) In: Liner-Notes by Soundflat Records for publication. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016 ; accessed on May 21, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.soundflat-records.de
  4. ↑ a b The Montesas. (No longer available online.) In: Collection of press comments on the band's website. Archived from the original on August 7, 2012 ; accessed on May 21, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.montesas.de
  5. ↑ The Montesas: Groupie Sex and Sixtiesbeat , Igor Frost, Dynamite Magazin 5/2010; Short online version
  6. ↑ Montesas: Destination Alpha Centauri , Ben Bauböck, Ox-Fanzine, issue # 85, August / September 2009

Web links