Saratoga (band)

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Saratoga
Barcelona Rock Festival 2017 - Saratoga.jpg
General information
Genre (s) Heavy metal , power metal
founding 1992
Website www.saratoga.com.es
Founding members
Jerónimo Ramiro (until 2007)
Niko del Hierro
Marcos Parra (until 1992)
Current occupation
Tete Novoa
guitar
 Toni Hernando
bass
 Niko del Hierro
Drums
 Andy C.
former members
singing
 Antonio Dominguez (1992-1993)
singing
 Fortu Sanchez (1993–1996)
singing
 Gabriel Boente (1997–1997)
singing
 Leo Jiménez (1999-2007)
bass
 Daniel Pérez (1998-2005)
Drums
 Joaquín Arellano "El Niño" (1992–1997)

Saratoga is a Spanish heavy metal band that was formed in Madrid in 1992 .

history

In 1992 Jerónimo Ramiro and Niko del Hierro decided to found Saratoga because they wanted to play more heavy metal, as their bands at the time Barón Rojo and Santa only played hard rock . While looking for a suitable singer and drummer, they came across drummer Marcos Parra, who was a friend of Jerónimo Ramiro. They rehearse their first songs together in October 1992, but two months later Marcos left the band again because he wanted to concentrate more on his work in an orchestra and he had no more time for the band. Shortly afterwards, Jerónimo and Niko started looking for a singer and drummer again. After listening to a few applications, they decided to include Antonio Dominguez and Joaquín Arellano in the band. Together they played their first concerts in smaller clubs with bands like Medina Azahara and Rata Blanca .

In May 1993, Antonio Dominguez had to leave the band and was replaced by Fortu Sanchez, as the rest of the band found that Antonio's voice did not match the music. Together with the new singer, more songs were written and more concerts were played until the band finally signed a contract with the Madrid record company Avispa in December 1994 . In October 1995 they recorded their self-titled debut album Saratoga within a week , which was released shortly afterwards. The great success failed to materialize and the album itself was more likely to be assigned to hard rock, which meant that the band's real goal of playing heavy metal had been missed. It was only later that Saratoga became more popular in Europe and Japan and then achieved the long-awaited sales figures. In June 1996, the recording of the tribute album Tributo began, which was a tribute to the most important Spanish hard rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s. It was subsequently released in October of the same year. On the day of the release, singer Fortu Sanchez left the band for professional reasons and Gabriel Boente took his place with whom the band went on tour for the first time.

This was followed by the third studio album, Mi Ciudad , seven months late , which achieved good sales and was significantly harder than the two predecessors. The band then played other concerts and took part in smaller events. During this time the mood in the band deteriorated and so it was Joaquín Arellano and Gabriel Boente who finally left the band. The local press soon reported rumors of separation within the band, but during this time Jerónimo Ramiro and Niko del Hierro worked hard to find a new singer and drummer. They announced through the Spanish media that they were looking for such musicians and so eventually several drummers and singers got in touch. In 1998 it was announced that Daniel Perez was the new drummer of Saratoga and in the spring of 1999 Leo Jiménez was named as the new singer. This was followed by the fourth studio album Vientos De Guerra , which brought the band great success. They then toured all of Spain's major cities. A highlight of the band was a concert at the Viña Rock Festival in 2000 , where over 5000 fans sang the songs together with the band, which was released on the live album Tiempes de Directo , which was released shortly afterwards.

In 2001 the band played other concerts and, like last year, participated in the Viña Rock Festival. Then the band took time for their fifth studio album Agotarás , which was released on March 1, 2002. The album was a huge hit and was well received by fans and media alike. In 2003, Heaven's Gate released the first single , which was released across Europe and, unlike all other albums , was sung in English . Shortly afterwards, the first DVD A Morir was also released, which included exclusive live recordings and interviews with the band. They then released their second DVD the following year under the name 1992-2004 . It contained video material from the beginning of the band up to 2004 and thus represented a complete band biography. In 2005 another album called Tierra de lobos followed , after which Daniel Pérez left the band and was replaced by Andy C. Another tour across Spain followed in 2006 with the new drummer.

The last big change in the line-up took place in 2007 , when Leo Jiménez and founder of the band Jerónimo Ramiro left Saratoga, whereupon Tete Novoa took over the vocals and Tony Hernando the guitar. With the new line-up, the band then played outside of Spain for the first time. They also recorded the seventh studio album, which was named VII because of this . In addition to the normal version, the album was also available as a limited edition, which included the CD as well as a further DVD in which the creation of the album could be followed. In 2009, Secretos y Revelaciones, the band's last album for the time being, was released.

style

The lyrics of the band are Spanish , except for the single Heaven's Gate . They deal with current topics, religious attitudes or everyday situations .

The music style is a mixture of Latin rock and heavy metal .

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT
2005 Tierra de lobos IT32 (3 weeks)
IT
2007 VII IT18 (3 weeks)
IT
2009 Secretos y revelaciones IT27 (3 weeks)
IT
2012 Nemesis IT25 (3 weeks)
IT
2016 Morir en el bien, vivir en el times IT5 (5 weeks)
IT
2018 Aeternus IT21 (3 weeks)
IT

More studio albums

  • 1995: Saratoga
  • 1996: Tributo
  • 1997: Mi Ciudad
  • 1999: Vientos De Guerra
  • 2002: Agotarás
  • 2004: El clan de la lucha

Live albums

  • 2000: Tiempos de Directo (double CD)

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT
2003 Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate 		IT3 (11 weeks)
IT

Video albums

  • 2003: A Morir
  • 2004: 1992-2004 (DVD + CD)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Biography of Saratoga. metalstorm.net; Retrieved September 11, 2010
  2. ↑ band history at Allmusic ; Retrieved May 8, 2010
  3. ↑ a b Interview with Saratoga. angelfire.com; Retrieved May 8, 2010
  4. ↑ a b Biography of the band ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) 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. on the official homepage; accessed on September 11 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.saratoga-agotaras.com
  5. ↑ a b Chart sources: ES