Los Prisioneros

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Los Prisioneros is a Rock en Español band from San Miguel, Chile formed in 1982. They began as a very influential local band during the early 1980s, and once signed to EMI they reached mainstream success all over South America.

Contents

1 The Line Up
2 History
3 Discography
4 DVDs/Documentary
5 External links

The Line Up

Current and final line up until their dissolution:

Jorge González - Guitar/Lead Vocals
Miguel Tapia - Drums/Background Vocals
Sergio "Coti" Badilla - Synthesizer/Programs/Guitar Bass

Corazones/1990's

Jorge Gonzalez - Guitar/Lead Vocals/Synthesizer
Miguel Tapia - Drums/Background Vocals
Cecilia Aguayo - Synthesizers/Background Vocals
Robert Rodríguez - Bass/Synthesizer

Original 1980's/Reunion 2001-2003

Jorge Gonzalez - Bass/Lead Vocals/Synthesizers
Miguel Tapia - Drums/Background Vocals
Claudio Narea - Guitar/Chorus Vocals/Synthesizers

History

Los Prisioneros started when Jorge González (bass and vocals), and Miguel Tapia (drums) decided to start their own band while still high school students. They began to practice, and after many practices and writing songs, they asked Claudio Narea if he would play (guitar) with them, impressed with the music he accepted. Towards the early 80's they went through some name changes and before settling on "Los Prisioneros" they had the name "Los Vinchukas" as their original name. In 1983, they had played a number of local shows and that's when they met Carlos Fonseca, their future manager. Through him, they managed to score a record deal with Fusión Producciones. During this time, they finally decided to settle on the name "Los Prisioneros".

In 1984, the band's debut album was released, with the hit song "La Voz De Los '80" (which was never a single). They reached acclaim in the radio and by the next year they would be touring. In the Anthology DVD, Jorge explains how the recording of "La Voz De Los '80" went down and how he would always explain to the recording engineers to record the music in a different way than the way popular music was being recorded in that time, Carlos Fonseca was supporting them and worked hard to get the sound Los Prisioneros wanted to achieve. Eventually Los Prisioneros would go and re-record some of these songs for music videos during their "La Cultura De La Basura" era.

In 1986, their fanbase grew and their second album became a long awaited second album. It was titled "Pateando Piedras". It went double Platinum album in Chile. By that time, the group was invited to perform at Argentina's Chateau Rock Festival and later to a similar event in Montevideo, Uruguay. During that time, they toured extensively and they reached mainstream success in the Chilean rock scene.

In 1987 Los Prisioneros would head into the studio to record their third album, "La Cultura De La Basura". After four months of recording sessions, the record was released. Much tension yet relief was accomplished during those four months, the band had never sounded so unified. They put out many singles like "Pa Pa Pa", "Maldito Sudaca", "Que No Destrocen Tu Vida" and others. This album was by far their most socially & politically active album lyric wise since "La Voz De Los '80". They toured around South America for months, using the tours to help promote the "No on Pinochet". In 1988, due to not so high of what the label expected in sales, they re-released "La Cultura De La Basura" for the Latin American market with most of the songs re-recorded. They also included the song that would become the first video to be ever aired on MTV Latino, "We Are Sudamerican Rockers". With all this, Los Prisioneros gained a lot of mainstream attention. Towards the end of the 80's personal conflicts began growing between Jorge and Claudio.

In 1990 due to conflicts with Claudio and Jorge, Claudio decided to leave the band. They no longer got along musically, or personally. Miguel Tapia has said, he always tried to keep the band together, but this time, he couldn't. It was too big of a situation that could be fixed. The exact reason for why Claudio left, is still a little bit unclear to this day. Los Prisioneros went through a rough time without Claudio, but they continued to move forward. Without Claudio Narea, Jorge Gonzalez had the responsibility of recording the next Los Prisioneros album, since he was the main composer Miguel Tapia was not present. He went to the United States to record their following album, "Corazones". It was recorded in Los Angeles, CA. After the album was mixed and edited, Los Prisioneros released "Corazones" in South America. When the first single was released, "Tren Al Sur", the song became an instant classic and was a heavily played song on the radio as well as its video on MTV Internacional. The album was very different compared to the first three Los Prisioneros albums, this album was filled with ideas and stories of love and romance, heartbreak, and lust. They released other singles like "Amiga Mia", "Corazones Rojos", and another huge success, "Estrechez De Corazón". It had seemed they left their politically heavy lyrics and rock sound but the truth was, the songs that appeared on "Corazones" were actually the ones Jorge didn't expect to put on the album. Los Prisioneros by now had reached the most mainstream success in their whole career as Los Prisioneros. After a year of non stop touring, they decided to do a "farewell" tour and the group played for the last time on December 21, 1991.

During the years when Los Prisioneros were a defunct band (1992-2000) the remaining band members continued pursuing musical careers. Miguel Tapia went on to form Jardin Secreto, an electronic dance band formed with former Los Prisioneros keyboardist Cecilia Aguayo. They put out two albums with some success. Jorge Gonzalez went on to become a solo artist releasing three albums under his name and one called "Gonzalo Martinez". His solo albums under his name are "Jorge Gonzalez" self-titled in 1993, "El Futuro Se Fue" in 1994, and "Mi Destino (Confesiones de una Estrella del Rock)" in 1999. Claudio Narea formed a rock band called Profetas y Freneticos. They put out two albums and had success, but when comparing success between the three members during their time apart, Jorge Gonzalez maintained most of the success. During the defunct Los Prisioneros years, a compilation titled "Ni Por La Razon, Ni Por La Fuerza" was released in 1996 which was quite a success. It contained their greatest hits and included unreleased songs by the group. The compilation was a two-disc compilation, it was highly successful. Los Prisioneros saw how big they had gotten throughout the years and during the late 90's they would secretly have put past problems aside and decide to reform the group when the time was right, this happened in 2001 announcing the return of Los Prisioneros.

Los Prisioneros in the Estadio Nacional of Chile

In the year 2001, Los Prisioneros announced that they would reunite, with the original guitarist, Claudio Narea. They announced that they would play 2 shows in the Estadio Nacional of Chile. Both shows sold out, and were a huge success. From then on until 2002 they continued touring and played sold out shows all over Chile, South America, Canada, and North America.

In 2003 the band released their first new album since Claudio Narea left the band in 1990. It was titled self titled, "Los Prisioneros". The reviews for the album were quite mixed, some loved it while others didn't or thought that the band no longer sounded like Los Prisioneros. The album had a whole new sound, but it keep their political lyrics of the band in most of their songs. Basically the first half of the album is very centered in the rock genre while the second half moves into more of a electronic and acoustic guitar influence. They made two videos for the album, one for "San Miguel" and one for "Ultra-Derecha". They then began to tour to promote the album in 2003.

The same year, Los Prisioneros played in the famous music festival of Viña Del Mar in Chile. This was a live broadcasted show and a very controversial one. Jorge Gonzalez changed or added lyrics expressing his anger towards George W. Bush, about the war, and other major things happening in Chile. By this time, Jorge was becoming very outspoken which caused controversy and tension began to become noticeable between Jorge and Claudio. In September, Claudio Narea was dismissed by the band, the remaining members said they talked it out like gentlemen, and decided to keep the reason of his dismissing between the three, and then until the bands final break up in 2006, Los Prisioneros would face on and off disrespect from certain newspapers and sometimes even Claudio. During a press conference to announce Claudios departure, also to announce his replacement which was called "Guest of honor on guitar", and finally that they were going to record a Covers album that would be coming out that same year, the press kept bringing the subject up of Claudios departure, Los Prisioneros became annoyed. After telling several of the press members that in respect to Los Prisioneros and Claudio, that they would not give any details of why and would not talk about it anymore. Eventually, Jorge lost his temper and knocked down all the microphones and threw a glass jar of water which was on the table onto the ground, then he left the conference and so did Miguel and guest of honor on guitar: Alvaro Henriquez with a big smile on his face and waved goodbye.

So Los Prisioneros went into the Rock & Pop studios to record their live studio covers album with guest musician Alvaro Henriquez, of Los Tres fame. The album Raras Tocatas Nuevas had a limited production and is now a hard to find collector's item.

In 2004, with a new line-up with Gonzalo Yañez (as guest musician) and Sergio "Coti" Badilla, they released their new album called "Manzana". The album received great reviews, and sales, even though Jorge has said it's been hard to promote the album. The same year the band toured in South America, North America and Canada.

In 2005, Gonzalo Yañez left the band (he was only a guest guitarist) to continue on his next album as a solo artist. The band continued doing tours until the end of 2005, and Jorge Gonzalez has recently relocated and lives in Mexico. After a dismal tour in early 2006 the band is now on hiatus, and many believe this is truly the end of Los Prisioneros as a band.

In April 2006, former guitarist Claudio Narea reported that he has been approached by Chilean filmmakers flirting with the idea of a biographical film about the legendary band. Narea is optimistic about the project and says he "likes the idea". Other members of the band have not commented on this very recent development.