Linda Guilala

Iván: drums, programming, guitar, keyboards and vocals
Eva: programming, guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals

2005

After the split of JUNIPER MOON at the end of 2005, Iván (former drummer and founder of the band) and Eva (the keyboard player who performed with the band in their last few shows), who already been working together apart from the main band, started their new adventure under the name of LINDA GUILALA.

Besides music, both of them are big fans of sci-fi, specially Japanese cinema from the 60’s and 70’s. “The X from outer space” (1967) is maybe the most fascinating movie they’ve seen, both image and story-wise. Guilala (Girara in Japanese) is a monster, a giant bird with three antennae who travels on top of a spaceship from Mars and, once on Earth, becomes giant and terrorizes Japan. They put the name Linda before the monster’s name, and Iván and Eva’s new band started going ahead.

2006

To do their first home recordings they found inspiration in pop culture from the last four decades, with influences ranging from the girl bands from the 60’s to 80’s electro-pop or many of the bands from the so called C-86, always under the DIY spirit.

Some of their first songs were aired on “Flor de Pasión” (RNE, Radio3), a nationwide radio show directed by influential DJ Juan de Pablos. Based on those first tracks, the band does its first self-produced demo, for which they had the help of Argentinian bass player Ignacio Espumado.
Once the demo was ready, they started being played on many radio shows dedicated to independent music, such as “Disco Grande” (Radio3), “Toxicosmos” (UPV-Scanner FM), “Plástico Elástico” (Onda Madrid) or “La Merienda” (Canal Extremadura Radio); the latter being directed by Agustín Fuentes, director of the ContemPOPranea festival, who chose them as band of the week in his show.

Also outside Spain they have been played in radio shows from such distant countries as Mexico, Italy, Germany or Sweden, among others, climbing to the position of artists-of-the-week on Radio Nowhere (UK) and even being part of the best of 2006 polls on this same radio station.
Thanks to this first recording they’re also featured in many compilations in Mexico (“Saber perder”, on the compilation “Granada vol.2” from Molécula Records and also on the CD compilation that goes along with the comic book “Kid Houdini”), in the USA (“Te he cambiado”, on the compilation “YAY 4 Cuteness” on Valiant Death Records), in Singapore (“Mis ideas son”, on the compilation “Twee like me!” on Fruit Records), in Italy (a previously unreleased track, not included on the demo, “La reina debe morir”, on My Honey Records), in Argentina (“Te he cambiado”, on the Superclima label compilation) or in Perú (“Dulce maldición”, on the tribute to Christina Rosenvinge released by Ya estás ya Records).

2007

On January 6th 2007, a few days after they finished their second demo, and after many mentions on a big number of blogs and e-zines, the band made their live debut in Madrid at an Elefant Records party in the venue Galileo Galilei, along with labelmates CORAZÓN and DJ Polar. A few days after this came the good news that their demo had been chosen as the second best demo from 2006 by the RNE Radio 3 show “Disco Grande”, directed by DJ Julio Ruiz.

Later on in the year, new shows add up to that first date: the party of the “Flor de Pasión” radio show, on March 3rd at Siroco (Madrid), and the festivals Minifestival in Salamanca (March 17th) and Plastidepop in Zaragoza (March 30th).

In the forthcoming spring they will start recording the songs of what will become their debut album.

In October, "Bucles Infinitos" is selected as album of the month on MySpace and all of the songs on the debut album can be heard online.

LINDA GUILALA is chosen as artist of the week by Radio Nowhere (UK) in the week of the 23rd of November.

"Nadie se Dará Cuenta" is the band’s first video-clip. It is recorded in León and directed by Juan Marigorta, who has worked with Elefant on other COOPER video-clips such as "Rabia", "Cerca del Sol" or "Cierra los Ojos".

2010

In February, LINDA GUILALA begins a tour of concerts in Spain to introduce "Bucles Infinitos".

"Bucles Infinitos" is the band's second vide-clip, directed in Australia by the multifaceted Christopher Kenworthy. Fascinated by the sounds and atmospheres of LINDA GUILALA, Christopher has constructed a spectacular video-clip that mixes the disturbing lyrics of “Bucles Infinitos” with the duo’s personal tastes and esthetic preferences. It is a multi-colored and imaginary world full of all kinds of different objects with clear references to the world of Superheroes and the science-fiction personalities that Iván and Eva like so much, as well as to B-movies, comics and Pop-Art. Just like LINDA GUILALA’s music, the video for “Bucles Infinitos” oozes with infinite colors, otherworldly light and smooth and volatile textures.

2011

After that wonderful album, “Bucles Infinitos”, which gave us so many energetic songs full of cosmic sounds and loud guitars, we have been anxiously awaiting news about LINDA GUILALA, the band formed by Ivan and Eva after JUNIPER MOON. And this new release couldn’t be more comforting. The EP will be released on purple-colored vinyl, and will have four songs that follow the theme of the fantasy, terror and paranormal genres in general. Ivan and Eva have always been fans of B movies, and on the “Paranormal EP” there are UFO’s, abominable snowmen, zombies and all kinds of extraordinary creatures, and their music remains true to its punk style, pop spirit and fondness for noise and distortion.

“Cientos de Ovnis” opens the new EP with an undeniable electro-pop hit fit for the mosh pits. It is proof of their admiration for unidentified flying objects that winds between burning guitars and fantastical keyboards, and has a tremendously catchy chorus – a house specialty. After that song, it’s time for “Yeti”, a fascinating song about loneliness and the cold, which moves under the influence of THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN and the spirit of the Creation label, and makes for one of the more exciting songs of this EP: “Y que nadie sepa si existes en realidad / para que nadie pueda hacerte daño nunca más / .. / Con el hielo y con la nieve es mucho mejor / Es mucho mejor, protegerse el corazón” (And nobody knows if you’re real / so no one can ever hurt you again /…/ With the ice and the snow everything’s much better / It’s much better to protect your heart). They have made us tremble, literally, in every sense of the word.

The B-side opens with “Un Millón de Zombies Más”, which maintains a certain shoegaze ambience somewhere between RIDE, LUSH and THE TELESCOPES, and which continues to deal with the feeling of loneliness, this time in the middle of a crowd: “Lo sabes bien que solo estás con un millón de zombis más” (You know perfectly well that you’re alone with a million more zombies).  High emotional voltage using images of terror, once again with echoes of eighties-styled synthesizers and layers upon layers of guitars. To close, “Existen” opens with more evocations of THE HOUSE OF LOVE and THE WEDDING PRESENT, putting the cherry on the top of a solid EP, clinging to all these unearthly beliefs (among which, why not, is the idea of perfect love) above all other much more insufferable realities: “Existen al menos en mi cabeza” (At least they exist in my head)is one of the more exciting choruses of the last months.

Four songs with an incomparable rhythm, immensely agile, that make this new LINDA GUILALA release something that will play on repeat on your stereo. It’s undoubtedly something out of the ordinary. By the way, have you tried playing the record backwards?