Obús

Obús
Obús
	Obús live in Santander, Spain in 2015
Background information
Origin	Madrid, Spain
Genres	Hard rock, Heavy metal
Years active	1981-present
Website	www.obusrock.com
Members	Fructuoso Sánchez, Fortu; Francisco Laguna, Paco; Fernando Montesinos; Carlos Mirat
Past members	Manolo Caño, Juan Luis Serrano, Tío Luis, Peter Oteo, Nacho GG-R

Obús is a Spanish heavy metal band founded in Madrid in the early 80s. They stood out because they took the risk of making a big spectacle in their concerts in order to reach to the level of other international heavy metal bands. In addition, the lyrics they write and the feelings they transmit connect with the people that follow them. As they said in an interview: "All our songs, some more and some less, have a meaning". Far away from renouncing to their genre, they have always claimed that they were a heavy metal band and they even wrote a song about this genre in their first LP called "Dosis de Heavy Metal". In 2012, because of their 30th anniversary, they did a Tour around Spain.

History

Early in 1980, two young men from Madrid, Juan Luis Serrano and Francisco Laguna, (Bass and Guitar), who had been together in other bands such as Red Box or Madrid 20, decided to form Obús.

In 1981 they won the Rock festival of Villa de Madrid and they opened for the veteran and successful band Barón Rojo. Soon after, they recorded Prepárate, produced by record producer and Spanish singer Tino Casal. This first album was very successful and their popularity rose. The song that gives the name to the album reached the number 1 in the 40 Principales radio station, the Spanish Top 40 chart. On November 6, 1981, the band presented the album in a massive concert at the Real Madrid stadium.

Their 1982 album, Poderoso como el Trueno (produced as well by Tino Casal), and their following release, El que Más (1984), saw a high volume of album sales. This last album was recorded with sound engenieer Mark Dodson (producer of Judas Priest) and includes the popular hits El que más, Autopista, La raya, FM, Alguien and Viviré. Obús fought for the relevance of the Spanish heavy metal, giving big concerts in different festivals such as the concerts of June in 1985 in the Casa de Campo, in the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) annual festival, in front of over 20.000 people. According to the audience and music critics, it was one of the most gratifying moments in the recent history of Spanish music.

The official live album, recorded in the pavilion of sports of Madrid the 21st of February 1987 is considered their apex. It was followed by a period with ups and downs until they presented their study album Otra Vez En la Ruta in 1990. This album was considered O.K. and a quality one, for that matter, but it didn't reach the success of previous releases. This prompted the decision to put the band in halt for the time being.

During the time they were separated, Fortu joined Saratoga, a band made up by veteran rock musicians from bands such as Barón Rojo, Muro and Santa. A band with former members of such successful bands was thought to be impossible at the time, however, the collaboration between members gave birth to one of the best bands in the Spanish metal scene. The first album they wrote, Saratoga, (same name as the band) managed to bring a full house to the Sala Agualung, in Madrid, one of the most popular live music venues in the Spanish capital. After recording their second album, Tributo, Fortu decided to leave the band. Meanwhile, Juan Luis and Fernando had started his own rock band, called Venganza, but they didn't gather a lot of success. Paco, in the other hand, was trying to convince his past companions to revive the band. Just a week after Fortu abandoned his band Saratoga, Venganza decided to split and Obús was revived in 1996.

Originally scheduled to take place at a festival in which Panzer (band) and Judas Priest were also to perform, it fell through. However, they decided to go on tour on their own. At the time, the heavy metal scene in Spain was falling out of grace and younger generations grew interested in older bands. Because of this, Obús found a very receptive audience. Due to the success of the tour, they start thinking of recording a new album.

In 2004 During the tour "Segundos fuera" Juan Luis left the band and Peter Oteo replaced him. They incorporated Nacho GG-R as bassist to the band. In 2008 Fernando experienced heath issues which led him to leave the band, being replaced by Carlos Mirat. In 2009 during a tour around South America, Nacho GG-R left the band and Pepe Bao (bassist of O'funk'illo) substituted him.

Discography

Prepárate (1981)
Poderoso como el trueno (1982)
El que más (1984)
Pega con fuerza (1985)
Dejarse la piel (1986)
En directo 21-2-87 (1987) (Live)
Otra vez en la ruta (1990)
Desde el fondo del abismo (2000)
Segundos fuera (2003)
Vamos muy bien (2006)
Cállate! (2010)
De Madrid al Infierno (2012) (Live)
Sirena de metal (2014)
Con un par!! (2019)

Members

From 1980 to 1981
- Juan Luis Serrano (Bass), (vocals)
- Francisco Laguna (Guitar), (Vocals)
- Manolo Caño (Drummer)
From 1981 to 1991 and from 1996 to 2004
- Fructuoso "Fortu" Sánchez (Lead vocals)
- Juan Luis Serrano (Bass) (Background lyrics)
- Francisco Laguna (Guitar) (Background lyrics)
- Fernando Sánchez (Drummer) (Background lyrics)
From 2004 to 2010
- Fructuoso "Fortu" Sánchez (Lead vocals)
- Peter Oteo - Nacho García - Pepe bao (Bass) (Background lyrics)
- Francisco Laguna (Guitar) (Background lyrics)
- Fernando Sánchez - Carlos Mirat (Drummer) (Background lyrics)
From 2010 until present
- Fructuoso "Fortu" Sánchez (Lead vocals)
- Paco Laguna (Guitar) (Background lyrics)
- Fernando Montesinos (Bass) (Background lyrics)
- Carlos Mirat (Drummer) (Background lyrics)

Notes and references

External links

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