All language subtitles for Heroes.Silence.and.Rock.and.Roll.2021.SPANISH.1080p.NF.WEB-DL_Eng

Well, first of all,good evening, everyone.

Hi, what's up?

We have to...
Let's introduce yourselves, right?

We've met you,
but they don't know you out there.

I'm Joaquín and I play bass.

I'm Juan and I play guitar.

I'm Enrique and I sing.

And I'm Pedro.

We would like everybody
could enjoy listening to

Héroes del Silencio.

We would hate to become a teenage band
or a band for folks in their forties,

for the underground or
avant-garde culture, or whatever.

We would love to reach
all kind of audiences.

We would definitely hate
to be a stereotype.

Which genre best
describes your music?

We haven't decided
which style we're playing yet.

Anyway, it's kind of soon, right?

When we release six or seven albums,
we'll know our style...

Maybe we don't have a clear idea
of what we are, right?

What kind of band we are.

Maybe there's a lack
of national awareness about us.

How were Héroes del Silencio formed?

Just like many other bands,

we joined and started recording
our own demos, sending videos to...

record labels, hoping
to secure a contract in Madrid,

as Zaragoza is a little difficult.

Do you think...

do you think you are "Héroes"?

ZARAGOZA 1984
SPRING

Dust or fog, wind and sun,

a city surrounded by a desert,

unaware of the cultural explosion
in the main cities of Spain.

In principle, not the best place
to be a rock star,

but something is changing in Zaragoza,

where more than 50 local
Aragon bands have registered

for an unprecedented event in the city.

The first Pop, Rock and other styles
Fair of Zaragoza is finally open.

Over 25 000 youngsters
have enjoyed, for three days,

of the so-called "zaragoza's movida".

A real cultural catharsis
in a hostile land for rock,

where young dreamers seek...

One of the highlights of the Fair
was the demos and independent

records sales.

Young companies
challenge multinational labels...

Of course I remember.
In the 1984 Fair I presented

Proceso Entrópico.

There were posters all over the city
and we read "Zumo de Vidrio".

Each of us was performing
in different bands.

For a couple of days,
I played with Edición Fría

and Tres de ellos.

And Pedro, with Los Modos.

No, I wasn't there,
I was too young.

This can help to create
quite an interesting scene

here in Zaragoza,
not just in Madrid and Barcelona.

Time will tell who are the best,

but there is will and enthusiasm,
there's something for everyone.

For the first time, Zaragoza shows
that something powerful is happening.

Everybody thinks that
the Fair has been a positive experience,

definitely.

MUSIC CRITIC

Matías Uribe writes in his newspaper
that Zumo de Vidrio were good.

Well, that was...

ZUMO DE VIDRIO,
IN OUR VIEW, WERE THE BEST

That's amazing.

He said "good", but we were shit.

I was first introduced to Juan

in a bar in Zaragoza
which was called Los Navarros.

Someone in there told me:

Juan plays in a band
called Zumo de Vidrio.

They were looking for a bassist,
and I said I'd go to a rehearsal.

So there I was,
with my amp and my bass.

After a few days,

the band's singer, who was
Juan's cousin, didn't show up.

So... while we were waiting,

I started playing a song
by David Bowie.

I stared at him and thought
"this guy can sing."

I saw it so clearly.

Then I told him,

we have to start a real band, seriously.

We were so young
and had so many projects,

as we thought we had
to shoot at many targets, right?

To get both the musicians
and the music.

One day, we got this cassette player,

a radio cassette player,
we put a tape in, and directly...

HÉROE DE LEYENDA
FIRST DEMO 1984

We gave the tape to Cachi,
from Radio Zaragoza.

"We are a band from Zaragoza,"
and he gave me that look and goes...

As if to say "Maybe I'll listen."

But one or two days later,

I tune in to El Selector
at 3 o'clock and there he goes...

With this song by Héroes del Silencio
we come to the end of the show.

Greetings from Cachi.
Hugs and kisses, goodbye!

And that's the happiest
day of my life.

When we had to speak
on the radio for the first time

we decided we would
be named after the song.

So Héroe de Leyenda,

you were saying it's kind
of a hymn for the band, isn't it?

Do you talk about
what you really are?

FIRST INTERVIEW, RADIO ZARAGOZA
BUNBURY'S VOICE

Yes, Héroe de Leyenda
was first called Héroes del Silencio,

and that's our name.

The song talks about
what our name really means.

Singing was a bit by chance, but...

with this change,
from bassist to singer,

I started enjoying writing
the lyrics of the songs.

I discovered what being
the front man was like,

but that was gradually.
At first I was just a bassist-singer

and was kind of
tied to the mike stand.

Eventually, we decided

to look for a bass player so
I could be freer in the stage.

We rehearsed
in the studio next door.

We saw each other
after rehearsal or in the bar,

having a coffee or whatever.

They already had some work, a repertoire.

Their songs sounded
better than what we did...

Edición Fría played
many covers of The Cure and...

we had some good songs,
but I was the singer.

Nothing special...

I realised I could make it,
recording an album,

touring and giving bigger concerts.

Pedro, Juan's brother,
was focused on his studies

of Medicine and wanted
to fully commit to it,

so we needed a drummer.

I started listening to them
on Cachi's radio show, El Selector.

And soon after that,
they needed a drummer.

I was around, amazed
at how they practiced,

while I played with Modos.

"So you play the drums?
Come, sit and play."

I sat and thought:
"Oh my goodness! My God!"

So I played, I played.

They were really committed, and soon
they dropped school to focus

solely on their music.
They worked hard.

RADIOCADENA FESTIVAL
SALAMANCA 1986

Salamanca is currently
the capital of pop.

The 26th edition
of Radiocadena takes now place.

This year, it is dedicated
to pop music for the first time.

There was a band contest
at a national level in Spain.

We got there, we got a hotel,
TV journalists all around us...

And when we were
about to play, I told Cachi:

"Hey, man, give me your clothes,
you look like an alien."

So I went out dressed as...
Who knows.

It's been a highly
competitive Festival,

with 429 participants.

Then, there was a vote
from people from every city.

We got to the semi-final,
and we finished in second place.

According to Matías,
the contest was rigged.

Matías wrote an article
for El Heraldo sounding off

about us not winning.

Man, I was pissed off...

It's been fixed!
It's been fixed!

They were not watching the bands,
they were eating and drinking.

MUSIC JOURNALIST

They were at a restaurant,
in a balcony facing the stage,

far away, on the opposite side.

That's where the judges were.

They couldn't care less.

At that moment,
we saw it as a defeat,

but we were second best!

That was better than most
of Spanish artists at Eurovision.

As we didn't win, we came back home
and said "let's win the next edition."

That didn't happen, either,
but we made every effort...

to be there.

We were stronger
cause we wanted more.

1.- ENRIQUE BUNBURY
(SINGER, BASS, CHORUS)

JUAN VALDIVIA (GUITARS, SYNTHS)
PEDRO VALDIVIA (DRUMS)

Was it hard to get this far?
Was it difficult?

For a band like yours,
coming from Aragon, right?

Yes, it's kind of difficult,
as we are not from Madrid.

It's hard because
there are no talent scouts

or spotters, right?

No one looks for
new demos in other cities,

no one wants to look for
new bands outside Madrid.

Spanish pop was very soft,
the lyrics...

MUSIC PRODUCER

I was part of it.
I was in Olé Olé...

I wanted to diversify my career,

so I suggested
collaborating with Roberto.

MUSIC PRODUCER

"Let's produce something together."

"I've never been a producer."
"Me neither, but I'm a lucky guy."

"I found this band from Zaragoza
that you will probably like."

I listened to a record with four
or five songs at home.

But I wasn't impressed.

"They must have something,
I don't know."

"Let's listen to them again."

So we listened again,
cause they told us

that this band
from Zaragoza was real good.

I got many calls
from Enrique and Juan.

They invited me to a concert
in Zaragoza, at Sala en Bruto.

So we went to Zaragoza.

And I was first impressed...

ZARAGOZA, 1987
SALA EN BRUTO

...seeing people
fighting over a ticket.

A Zaragoza band?
How's this possible?

Roberto and I liked them very much.

We went to the dressing rooms...

...to talk to them
and tell them a huge whopper.

"I'll try to get you a contract,"
he told us this and that.

He made us drool.

I had quite an experience
as an artist so I knew

the steps you must follow
to become an artist.

They wanted to be there.

It took us so long.

Different record labels
than mine wouldn't care about us.

They said:
"What's this? This is not..."

At that time,
the trend was techno-pop.

They told me that
guitar bands were outdated.

Poligram said at that time:
"They're too soft, too weird."

Warner:
"They're just like La Unión."

The CBS wouldn't care about us,
other companies...

Not even small companies.

Actually, no one cared about us.
No one.

Finally, a year later, I went to EMI,
to the president of my company.

And said: "Rafa, help me out,
you have to record this."

"You first record a single, a maxi.
Record a maxi-single if you want."

"If you sell over 5000 copies,
I'll give you a decent contract."

The budget I got was way too low.
Just imagine!

We were allowed to record
for one or two evenings

after that band
working for Hispavox at the time.

"OK, go to the studio."
And there I found Cantores de Híspalis.

Once that band finished recording...
Los Marismeños.

We had to rush into the studio,
get the equipment ready,

record at full speed...

Fortunately, I hired...

I was lucky to hire
an English engineer

called Steve Taylor,
who came from London.

He worked there.

The first thing Steve said was...

And I said...

I told him:
"Steve, do your job and shut up."

But what if it didn't work...

If we didn't reach that amount,
they would send us back home.

We actually went on
a long support tour.

We played in clubs in Valencia...

We toured all over Spain
visiting radio studios,

local and regional TVs...

Héroes del Silencio is one of the most
promising bands of Zaragoza's pop.

They participated in
several regional contests

and finally they had their
own album with their songs.

We went to TV studios,
to some shit shows,

and some decent shows,
but we were there.

They are fresh and young.

They are Héroes del Silencio!

We played here and there.
In some shit venues, but we were there.

This new band
has an English pop-rock style...

Héroe de Leyenda sounded
in every station in Spain.

The company said:

"Change the cover photo immediately,

it's too dark,
they need to look handsome."

On one side,
that raised the sales even more

and on the other side, the critics...

were more protected.

They said we were a hoax,
that we would fade away,

that we were a summer hit.

Thinking about
what would happen later

was a gradual process.

We were dealing with
what we faced at the time.

I think that fate determined
that things went well.

Of course we sold over 5000 copies.

We sold 30 000 copies or so.

The record label believed in us

because we sold five times
what they demanded.

And then, they looked at me
in a different way at EMI.

They said:
"Hey, they were not so bad."

Montesanos and all of us,

Cachi, too, of course,

we knew that they had
an enormous talent

to leave Zaragoza as a band.

It was our bet,
a bet on rock & roll.

MADRID 1988
SPRING

How are we doing this morning?

Perfect.

-You?
-Hell yeah.

You?

The record label said:

"Let's offer these guys
a real contract."

They asked if we were willing
to move to Madrid,

and we said no.

They had strong roots in Zaragoza.
They wouldn't move.

Maybe it was our natural pigheadedness.
We wanted to do things our way.

Zaragoza.

Next station: Calatayud.

"Let's find them a manager.
We can't deal with this."

So I took them to Pito.

-Pito.
-Pito.

-Pito...
-Pito.

-Pito.
-Pito...

Some call me Pito Planes
and others call me Pito Dreams.

I remember I was in Gijón
listening to "Autosuficiencia"

in a car, at a beach,
on a mountain...

Drinking cider, probably.

While listening to that song, I said:
"What are we doing here?"

I established an office
with Alaska y los Pegamoides.

Thanks to them, I got to know
what would be later called,

don't know why, movida madrileña.

Pito was the best at the time.

He ran an agency called 10/Diez,
and it was the most important

pop-rock artists
management agency at the time.

Pito had Alaska...

Gabinete...

Loquillo...

-Los Coyotes...
-Golpes Bajos...

Lions in Love...

Established artists.

MUSIC JOURNALIST

And he wanted to help
the band grow with the label,

with all the media around them.

Did Pito have a good eye
when he signed Héroes?

I don't know.

I don't know why me,
why people love me.

I think I come across things, really.

Pito knew how to move
in the rock and pop underground,

and he was respected.

I don't know why, really.

Maybe I look silly.

Sometimes I think I'm very smart
and sometimes I think I'm stupid.

Hope!

MADRID JANUARY 1989
SALA YA'STA

PRESENTATION TO EMI BOARD AND
MEDIA SOUND CHECK

My first clear memory of Héroes

was a performance
at 2 or 2.30 pm

on a Tuesday...

There was a lunch for the media,
and we played after dessert.

Obviously, at that time
you don't get the best sound.

Everybody's eating prawns
and drinking champagne...

I guess this is not
the typical concert,

but we'd like
to introduce you to a band...

Olvido and Loquillo came with me,

and they weren't sure if they liked
them or not, so they said:

"I don't quite know the band,
I'd need to listen to them again,

but I'm pretty sure there is
a rock star on that stage."

So Pito called me and said:
"All right, I'll manage them."

The next step was
to record an album, clearly.

We had the same problem
we had with the first maxi-single.

We recorded between Cantores
de Híspalis, Luz Casal, Mari Trini...

We have a gap tonight,
can you come?

Yes, right away!

You're super nervous
in your first LP.

Juan's hands were shaking.

"Hey, Gustavo, wait a little longer."

What Héroes think of their work is

"We could have done way better."

We had mixed emotions
about the album.

The sound was too soft
for my liking.

It didn't do justice
to the way we sounded live.

There was a moment
when we woke up in the morning,

we went to the studio and checked
the arrangements they made that night.

Some trumpets in a song...

Metal sounds by a synth.

It was...

very tacky, no one in the group
really liked that.

It was kind of offensive.

I can't remember. Trumpets...

I went to the director's
office and said:

I'm off to Zaragoza,

my recording career ends here.

I'm not interested in this
if the trumpets don't go away.

He looked like a sea lion.

So they went away.

You need to sound pop.
A pop sound for radio format.

That was the pressure
I was under: selling.

I think that production,
so criticized back then,

helped Héroes fit
in the national musical scene.

We might say it was appropriate

because it got us on the radio
and helped us become known in Spain.

You're a band with just one LP
but you have toured a lot.

You've made some money!
Are you making a living with this?

FIRST NATIONAL INTERVIEW

Scrape by...

Not yet, cause we are buying
the equipment

for our tour next year.

Now we release the LP,
we'll give four times more concerts...

-Easy!
-The equipment...

Easy, boy!

Four times more is 130.

There are just two bands in Spain
that can do that, and that's crazy.

There's more than money.
There's your own life.

Giving 130 concerts...

-Héroes del Silencio.
-That's this one.

-Sure.
-This is...

-That one.
-Cool.

This one here is him.

-This is Pedro.
-And who's he?

That's the singer, right?
You are the singer.

Can we get an autograph?

You had worked quite a lot before
being voted best new band of the year,

that's strange, right?

We had worked in Zaragoza,
in Aragon, mostly,

for four or five years.

So I think this has helped us
reach a national scale.

Ladies and gentlemen, here they are:
Héroes del Silencio.

Yes, of course
it's lip sync on TV.

All the shows were lip sync.

We had no choice.

Our constant fight was

not to have yellow drums...

YOUNG BAND

...not to have dancers
on the stage,

we had these fights every time.

We wanted to make clear
that our thing

was darkness and rock.

So you go to some
TV shows and bang!

We were on the covers,
we started to be famous.

Well, our band
quickly became famous.

Fame came all at once.

Even the company was surprised.

Sure! The company was amazed.
They asked: "How?"

They hit hard in Los 40,
and that changed everything.

Attention, please!
This week's number 1 goes to

these guys from Zaragoza.

Here you have Héroes del Silencio
and their "Flor Venenosa".

The clean sound of the album
and the live concerts we gave

showed two faces of the band
that worked really well.

No one can tell whether
something will success or not.

There's no formula, right?

People listened to it,
liked it and bought it.

And bought it, and bought it...

Word of mouth
is very difficult to stop.

They made something
completely different.

In Spain, there wasn't...
anyone to compare them with, right?

In Spain, when someone is doing well,

draws attention
and is in the spotlight,

there are people who don't like it.

They faced a big disadvantage:

people said that
Enrique was handsome.

It seemed wrong that we were
a serious band with 15-year-old fans.

So this was kind of...

There was this kind
of trust from Madrid,

and if they didn't like it,

namely Diego Manrique...

MUSIC JOURNALIST

...and I don't care
if he listens to this,

if they didn't give you
their blessing,

you had nothing to do.

Let's see...

MUSIC JOURNALIST

Critics, and that's part of their job,

are like those hermits
in the desert saying:

"you are all burning," and so on...

So critics have the feeling,

which is somehow real,
that they speak and no one listens.

So the fact that Héroes del Silencio
countered my criticisms

was a way to justify
what they did, right?

You've just played at a venue,
you travel 600 km,

and then you read the comments
that this guy had written.

So you can't come back and respond to him.
How can I respond?

Saying it on the record.

The thing with Héroes del Silencio,
when you first listen to them,

the feeling,

the first thing you think
is that they were a farce

or at least a band manipulated
by the record label.

Also, Gustavo
from Olé Olé was behind, etc.

If you came out from
a multinational, you were crap.

MUSIC PRODUCER

Just for coming from...
Just for that, we were criticized.

And then, their image
in the first albums

gave the idea of what we'd call
a hairdresser's band, right?

It was all very staged, a trick.

On top of that, the handsome singer
for teenage girls.

They didn't even listen to them.

This is the question:

Over which side of the face
does the blonde hair of the singer

of Héroes del Silencio fall?

Some people were upset at
Enrique having blonde long hair...

Well, what can I say?

If he had three legs,
I'd understand.

Bunbury was like
a long-haired angel, right?

He had the charisma
and the power to transform himself

when he was on stage,
arousing girls' passion.

Enrique's attitude on stage
was the target.

"We would love to flambé
the hair of Héroes singer with rum."

Some people crossed a line with us.

Yes, it annoyed us.
And it keeps annoying us.

We were giving our lives.

They were sick of being called
soft, cheesy guys...

At a certain point,

I remember Enrique
told me he wanted to quit.

Facing the second album
was a little scary,

so we worked hard to overcome it.

We were super ready
for the second album.

We're so excited at the possibilities
we had after meeting Phil Manzanera.

I had always been a Roxy Music fan,
so when he showed up

at one of our concerts,
it was like meeting a king.

Pito talked to me about Héroes
and asked me to go see them

to Calatayud.

ZARAGOZA
CALATAYUD 1988

So I went to see them.

I thought
"these guys are rock stars."

MUSIC PRODUCER

They were all dressed in black,
even the audience dressed in black.

I looked at them,
looked at the audience,

and I felt they sounded amazing,

So I knew they had a chance.

At the concert, we talked
and he said the magic words:

"I want to make you sound
like you do in a live show."

It was the night
the First Gulf War started.

So I remember it.

And also...

It was an important night for me.
When I got back to the hotel,

I got a call saying
that my mother was dying.

So they asked me
if I could quickly come back.

So I went to Barajas Airport

and it was closed
because of the war,

as the Americans
had their planes there.

So I arrived late and she died
when I got back to London.

So that night...

was an important one.

Unfortunately,
you will never forget

the night you met Héroes.

Héroes.

So it is a memory...

We were so happy,
because the studio...

The studio had a console
from Abbey Road, an old one.

There were only
six of those in the world.

Fantastic.

If they played together,

just as things were done
at the time, we could capture

their energy in the studio.

They were able to give us
a sound that really represented us.

The album was the real Héroes.

Basically, from my point of view,
cause there were little production,

which is the best thing
a producer or a manager can do,

don't do anything, I mean,

let the band do their stuff
and make them sound good,

but not writing the songs
for the band.

When we were recording,

they stopped for lunch and dinner.

Here in England,
if you can have a sandwich

during the 12 hours
you're in the studio, you're lucky.

But they were like:
"Let's have dinner, or lunch."

And I thought:
"We're wasting so much time..."

"This is very sociable, though."

It was completely different
to what I had done before.

And I liked it.

There was magic in there.

Sometimes everything goes right.
Sometimes.

Everything was right with that album,
then it didn't happen again...

Basically...

It had something so simple,
which is this...

Then, this.

It's very simple,
but I used an echo...

I played this and it echoed.
So I let it sound...

Wow.

Starting with the guitar,
with the echo...

I said:
"Why didn't I think of that before?"

It was so good.

We were making a song...

that got us fired up and...
was fucking great!

"Entre dos Tierras" is the first single
by Héroes del Silencio!

In the first week after
the release of "Senderos de Traición",

Héroes del Silencio have sold
over 100 000 records.

This is the biggest rise up by Héroes
del Silencio with "Senderos de Traición".

The best-selling music band
in the national pop rock scene.

Their LP "Senderos de Traición"
has beaten records in Spain.

"Senderos de Traición"
is now a platinum album

thanks to its unprecedented sales.

Maybe they are Héroes del Silencio,
but they do sound great!

Best 1990 song,
"Entre dos Tierras".

I knew, for sure, that this song
would open every door.

What's up?

I've slept until 7.30

I woke up and
I've been rushing all morning.

I haven't even opened my suitcase.

You do look sleepy, mister!

We didn't live like the celebrities.

We lived in Zaragoza
and went to the same bars

we went two years ago.

I told my mom:
"I will buy you a fur coat

when I'm famous."

-Did you buy it?
-Sure!

I also bought a Toledo steel sword
that I brought with me on the tours.

Let's see your sword.

I don't know how many concerts
we gave in Spain.

I don't know, 130 concerts.

When we reached 80,
we started thinking:

"Maybe we should tour
outside Spain."

That sounded crazy to our manager

and the record company.

But we didn't care.

CENTRAL EUROPE 1991

They had a wider view than I had
and a greater ambition than I had.

And I'm very thankful.

I remember the first time
we toured over Europe.

Switzerland for a couple of gigs,
Belgium for some other gigs...

You get in the van and show up
in Belgium, play and then come back.

If you go to Cádiz,
why not Brussels?

It was a little bar.

It had a small stage on a corner
for singer-songwriters

with a chair and a guitar,
but we had lots of stuff...

When they saw our Marshall
and the equipment,

they thought we were crazy, right?

The stage was barely
off the ground.

We got the drums set and said:
"OK, what about the rest?"

They were wonderful shows,

cause people enjoyed so much
in such tiny venues.

Héroes del Silencio, from Zaragoza!

Being huge stars in Spain,

you can go to Germany
to play in a shitty pub

or in a small bar...

We were little prepared,

we slept in hostels,
we did many kilometers, it was fun.

We were all together
and we enjoyed writing.

Good old times.

We spent six or seven hours
in the van, every day.

We were together all day.

It was like a marriage of four.

We were a pack
and spent all day together.

We were happy and excited
about our common project.

We always toured with the same people,

the same staff,
both in sound and lighting.

People who perfectly understood
the way we wanted to show our music

and what we wanted to do.

We made a good team, right?
Supporting us.

You are fired.

Martín was the road manager,
the guy traveling with us in the van,

managing day-to-day affairs,
arranging hotels and so on.

He called us saying:
"Come on, there's a sound check."

He was like a father
while we toured.

Martín, I wanna live...
Won't you let me live, Martín!

He really knew
what he was doing,

he had been the road manager
to other Spanish stars.

I got him for Héroes,
I thought he was the right person

and I always liked him.

He was like a brother
for all of us.

He always was a support to us.

Martín was a very important
person for the band,

because, in a way,

he was one of those people
who help you find balance.

If you had taken the turn right!

It was a straight line, you fucker!

One year later,
we toured over Germany again.

We were invited
to play abroad, in Berlin.

And that absolutely changed things.

FESTIVAL AGAINST RACISM
FALL

BERLIN 1991
I’M AN OUTSIDER

We played...

Thanks!

...and when we got to the backstage,
we couldn't get in.

It was like the Marx Brothers
in A Night at the Opera.

A lot of people
came out of nowhere.

All of them offered us
contracts to sign.

That festival made a huge difference.

It was broadcasted
and seen all over Germany.

So then it was...

Héroes del Silencio.

Héroes del Silencio.

Héroes del Silencio.

Good evening, Frankfurt!

Héroes del Silencio.

Héroes del Silencio.

"Entre dos Tierras" was the trigger
of the Spanish hit, in the first place.

Then, it became a hit in Europe.

In Berlin,
I was at a concert with Enrique,

naked from the waist up, and 3000
Germans singing "Entre dos Tierras".

It gave me goosebumps!

Seeing people...

Entre dos Tierras

They didn't even know what it meant.

It was something nobody understood.

The record label didn't understand.

Pito didn't understand,
and maybe they didn't understand.

But something magical happened.

One of the most amazing things
of being in the music world is that

there are bands that
think outside the box

and go beyond the expectations.

How did the critics
treat you back in Spain?

It was the same, they just cared
about fucking Hombres G.

What could we do, anyway?

When the tour was over,
we decided to stop for a while...

for a short period.

It was the normal holidays
for working people, right?

Joaquín, Copi and I
went to India and Nepal.

And we got into the culture
and some books,

into the music...

We started reading books
about spirituality,

Buddhism, Hinduism...

We found about the spiritual
world in India and Nepal.

In a way, it was
an initiatory journey.

And all of this reflected
in the songs lyrics,

at an instrumental level.

They are clear
in "El Espíritu del Vino",

which is a more complex,
intricate album.

When they told us that...

we had to record a new album,
we had very little material.

They came back
a day after Christmas

and we had rented
a huge house for them.

CHRISTMAS
LONDON 1992

It was in the outskirts of London.

That's our house!

They had toured for so long

so I didn't know
if they had written many songs.

They told me,
"Oh, it's gonna be a double album."

MUSIC PRODUCER

And I said:
"No, it can't be. Are you sure?"

Well, it was the way we saw things:

So we don't have enough songs?
Let's do a double album.

At that time,
Phil had infinite patience with us.

We stayed there for New Year's Eve.

Phil was having Christmas
with his family.

We kept going
to the studio on our own,

recording songs.

I said:
"Well, there's the studio."

It was in a separate building
from my home, you know.

I told them: "It's December 26th.
We'll start recording on January 7th."

"There's the studio,
you can practice, compose..."

"I don't want to see you."

"Nor hear you!"

So, many years later,
I found out that...

I don't know...
They had so many drugs...

They were day and night...
I don't know what happened,

but they had no songs.

Juan told me:

"I play guitar at my best at 3 am."

And I said: "Well, that's fantastic,
but I won't be here."

Apple juice to start the day
with some energy.

Sometimes they went out
in London while we were mixing.

And I often received a call:

"We were stopped by the police."

"Yes, send someone
to get us out of here."

What I remember from that time
is working all-out 24 hours a day.

I can't play it now.

We did spend
New Year's Eve in the studio,

celebrating with our instruments.

And we wrote some songs.

What's true about the myth
of you writing "Sirena Varada"

while you were high?

That's no myth. That's real.

NEW YEAR'S EVE 1992
FIRST RECORDING: "SIRENA VARADA"

-It's recording.
-When we're ready...

-Is it recording?
-Yes.

-Now?
-No!

-What?
-Can you see me?

-Can you see him?
-No, no, no, no.

THEY LEFT THE LENS COVER ON

What's going on, Joaquín?

Well, we may have taken something
one of those nights.

...THE LENS COVER IS STILL ON

-We were fucking nailing it.
-Let's do it right.

This is dead.

Should we repeat it?

I mean, this is great!
There are so many mistakes...

Is it recording?

-We need to turn this off.
-No, don't do it.

And how was it?

It was beautiful.

What seems beautiful
and fantastic at night,

then tends to fade away, leaving...

In the field of creation,

everybody is curious about
knowing where are the limits,

and you raise them
as much as you can.

That's what we did

and I think it's absolutely
logical and reasonable.

It's the drugs that
made me more stupid,

that damaged my relationships

with almost every person I know,

Drugs are to blame for...
lots of things.

Hangover means bad humor,
less tolerance towards others,

less patience, more stress.

You fear that the album is not
as good as you expected.

What drugs did to Héroes...

Rather than helping with some things,
drugs ruined everything.

I'm gonna change what we have.

OK.

We changed our sound.

The demands were greater,

and so the tension was higher.

Maybe we punched
above our weight.

Having many targets and being
musically more ambitious

made us face our first clashes;

different opinions within the band
on where we should head to.

We didn't want to, or
we didn't know how to agree

how to make things clear between us.

That album,
somehow, had all the ideas

but without the final touch.

Phil Manzanera did his best there.

And his best was... spectacular, right?

He recorded an album out of chaos.

PRESENTATION OF THE EXCESS TOUR
SUMMER 1992

They are Héroes del Silencio and
this is how they presented, in Berlin,

their new album:
"El Espíritu del Vino".

The band earned a gold record
in Germany for selling their album

"Entre Dos Tierras".

The company decided to make clear
what was going on in Europa.

But still, everything
that happened to us was viewed

with much skepticism,
as if we were making things up.

Despite the controversy caused

by Héroes del Silencio comments
against the King,

the band's rock made its way
into the Zarzuela royal palace.

Yes, there was controversy because...

Spanish press loves controversy
like a fat kid loves cake.

So if you are rock & roll,
punk, anarchist stars,

why didn't you spit
on the King's face?

And we're kind of fucking tired of that.

There was a reason
to criticize Héroes del Silencio.

Shit!

We had a very aggressive
attitude towards the press.

Throw your television
out the window.

They didn't make any effort
to please the national press.

There are some dickheads
who think we are old-fashioned.

Maybe I was wrong
when I thought

that giving bad answers
to the journalists

was supported by our audience.

I'll show you some real
70's rock & roll.

Let me talk, please.

He was known for being,
let's say, a bit unbearable.

I defended him by saying
he was just as unbearable

as the first day I met him.

It wasn't because he was a star.

He was very self-confident.

They have always said
we are arrogant and whiny.

Maybe it's because
we have always had clear ideas

about what our career should be.

Besides, they were very shy.

Under the guise of rock stars
they could cope with their shyness.

Do you think that the rage
you show helps you sell more?

I do understand
the need for promotion.

But what do you want me to say?
I'd rather not do it.

Let's see.

You're miles away, young man.

What are Héroes del Silencio's fears?

Fears?

Juan didn't want to,
I didn't want to.

Things got weird with the media,
as they looked for the singer.

Enrique has always taken a role
he really didn't want.

If you answer all the questions,

it's normal that you're more famous
than the guitarist, who never speaks.

I don't teach anything to anyone.
Everyone is to do what they want.

-That's all.
-Alright.

Juan was a rock star
in his own way.

An artist who expresses himself
instrumentally, and not verbally.

There was jealousy...

Maybe one got more attention
than the other...

Juan probably needed
greater recognition from...

Not from the band,
as he always got it, but externally,

which he deserved as an important
part, even more than Enrique,

in terms of how
Héroes del Silencio sounded.

I thought that song was very punk.

"What are these guys doing?"

"Now they want to play punk?"

MUSIC PRODUCER

They told me:
Wait until they play "La herida".

OK, let's see what they got.

So they play "La herida".

Siempre

I thought:
"This is a beautiful ballad."

And then, at the end, boom!
They go crazy as hell.

I thought it was kind of weird...

We are a difficult band
to classify, I know,

cause we were soft
at the beginning.

What we've done,
be it right or wrong,

it's an evolutionary step
in our career.

We were talking about
how to bring that to live shows,

I thought it would be nice
to have an extra guitarist

during the new tour.

I met Alan Boguslavsky
at a party hosted by Pito.

And he came to take
a guitarist test with Juan.

We got wasted after some shots,
and I thought: "This is the best one."

GUITARIST OF HÉROES DEL SILENCIO

No, no, don't say that!

I chose him because he got drunk,
not because he played well...

They told me
"You passed these tests, so now...

let's see if you can play the guitar."

He had some influences,
a different way to see things,

which connected
with me immediately.

I totally understood
my role at Héroes del Silencio.

I've always liked
the rhythm elements of guitar.

So I realized that the role
I was about to take when I joined

Héroes del Silencio
was to bring a new energy.

What for?
For good and for what's not so good.

Act as an exhaust valve
for some stuff, right?

He was a self-help recruit,
rather than a musical one.

At that time, I was homeless,

so I had a suitcase with clothes
in the trunk of my car.

I slept at a friend's for some days,
then a few days with another friend...

So imagine you're living
in your car or at a friend's,

and suddenly you're in Spain
going to your first concert

in a private airplane
from the Zaragoza airport...

That totally changes your life, right?

Any musician who plays rock & roll...
wants to live that experience.

Live life in a tour, playing
from one place to another...

And you do want the attention
and, somehow, the fame.

LIVE AT ROCK AM RING 1993

Everything was new to me,
the fun things,

the generated tension...

After three shows you get
a free day, which you spend traveling.

Then you do three
or four more shows,

and then again,
again and again...

MEXICO 1993

A great band that came
from Spain last week.

They are considered the leaders
of the Spanish-speaking rock in Europe.

America was way more difficult.

We did an important
tour in Mexico,

in modest stages,
trying to do our project.

The band was working hard,
trying to win over the audience.

Congratulations from Mexico
to Spain and to you.

We're so happy to have
this super band with us.

Straight from Spain,
Héroes del Silencio!

Baja California border!
That proves where we are.

We're on a tour in which
today you play before 100 people

and tomorrow for 100 000.

So we were playing
at the Sports Palace in Madrid

and then in a pub in Vienna,

and we played
at a festival in Germany,

and then we went to Argentina.

We were flying and touring
in a chaotic, hectic way.

Hello, good morning.
We are in Germany.

Our journey over
the mountains continues.

Those tours we did
were ginormous, eternal,

very, very long.

That was taking a terrible toll.

It weakened coexistence every day.

Certain parts of our personality
were more and more accentuated

every day, every week,
every kilometer.

So we got to the hotel
and everyone...

Everyone starts to think
of themselves rather than the band,

amps are bigger every time,

everyone wants
their volume to be higher,

and maybe we stopped listening
to each other as we did before.

I think we should have stopped
there for a year, at least.

I read some German critics
saying that we looked tired

and we weren't fresh anymore.

Deep inside of me,
I knew it was true.

We were nervous, in the end.

Enrique had forced
his voice so, so much,

it was damaged, and then we played
in Paris, at Elysee Montmartre.

Sellout show, 2000 people.

After the third or fourth song,
Enrique says he can't keep singing,

he left the microphone
on the floor and left the stage.

We went to the backstage
and Enrique said: "I can't go on."

We were all shocked, we thought
our singer was indefatigable,

TWO THOUSAND PARISIAN FANS
COULD NOT TASTE THE BAND'S WINE

that he was atomic
and his voice would never fail him.

So he suddenly says:
"I can't go on."

So Héroes del Silencio...

became many hours of silence.
That was fucked up.

Trips were so long,
eight or nine hours with no communication.

Dangerous.

Héroes del Silencio
tour manager, Martín Druille,

has died in a car crash.

Also in the accident, the stage
manager was seriously injured,

but fortunately he is out of danger.

Can you remember
the night of the accident?

Well...

We were back from...
Well, it was New Year's Eve...

You were on a tour,
but it was about to finish, right?

We're coming home for Christmas.

For New Year's Eve.

Were you with Martín that night?

We were together,

they came back later,
they went to buy seafood for the family.

He always played with fire,
he used to drive at full speed.

And he burned.

It's fucking hard.

Martín hurt us.

He was just a road manager,

I mean, he wasn't
the most important member.

But sometimes, the most
important people are not those

who hold the top position.

When Martín was gone,

we lost a parental figure to the band,

who also contributed
to have a good relationship.

It was a very painful loss,

he was so close to us, both
professionally and personally.

It was painful because I created
a beautiful bond with Martín.

I felt cared for by him.

I do remember him

with all my gratitude
and all my affection.

And if I think of him,
of course it brings me sadness.

He left quite a mark on the band.

The first concert we gave,
in Zaragoza,

after Martín's death,

was a very emotional show,
very hard for us to give.

We would like the show
to be a sort of tribute...

to our road manager
and beloved friend, Martín.

In his memory,
we really appreciated him...

This one is for you, Martín.

BENASQUE HOSPITAL
WINTER 1994

Benasque...

We needed powerful places
to stimulate the band, I think.

Practicing in Zaragoza would
have been worse, as we were fed up.

Coming back to that basement...

We wanted to be far
from the madding crowd.

We were somehow
looking for ourselves.

Should we go on and climb it? Where?

There.

-There.
-We need to come closer...

Well, we liked the concept of a
personal relationship between us,

similar to the beginning, right?

Being together.

The thing of being isolated
brought calm to the band.

It was about coexisting,

but not coexisting
in a small rehearsal room,

but in this majestic landscape,
where you can do you want,

be it going out for a walk or not.

The mountain-type guys
woke up early and went for a walk.

Those who were not climbers
woke up for lunch and practice.

This is Juan trying to fish...

some fish in the lake, cause maybe
we will never leave this place.

As you can see,
we are under a cloud.

Enrique is smoking the last pipe.

A self-manufactured pipe.

At that time, our manager
was a little confused.

He showed up sometimes
in a poor condition,

and he kind of had forgotten
about his job as a manager

and about managing the band's affairs.

Well, the thing with Pito
was the escalation of drugs

in which...

in which all
of Spain was involved...

some of us did better
and could work...

and a certain point,
Pito didn't work as a manager.

Yes, at that time,
I didn't really know what happened.

Now I know what was going on,
back then I didn't.

I mean, I was totally
way over the limit.

Then we went to a house in England.

We're angry.

We're angry in London

because Quique phoned Madrid's
office and he wouldn't answer.

I remember we were practicing
in that cottage in London suburbs,

trying to find Pito for some days.

There was no way to find him.

Eventually,
I found out he was at a hotel,

with the guys from Suede,
who also were drugged to the hills.

As he didn't pick up the phone,
I went to the hotel,

I got into his room
and tried to talk to him.

And... within the chaos
and haze of those conversations,

I managed to tell him that
he needed to take some time

to recover,
and that, in the meantime,

we had to record an album
and continue the tour,

so when he felt better,
he could give us a call.

The funny thing is that
he called me two days later,

saying he was OK.

He needed to stop that
and then we had no manager.

There was a shift in focus.

We also wanted
to try a new producer.

I guess the figure
of Bob Ezrin is impressive,

the fact that he recorded Pink Floyd,
Alice Cooper, being with Aerosmith,

going to Los Angeles to record...

Well, that's a new level, right?

I had a hard time
recording Avalancha

cause working
with Pink Floyd's producer

is such a great standard...

you even think you don't deserve
these people, right?

That pressure made me freeze.

Juan started to have a serious
problem with his hands.

At the beginning,
it was not discussed enough,

the problem was not seriously handled.

My left hand was totally fucked up,
so I was in pain when I played the guitar.

I was so afraid, because
the guitar plucking I had in Avalancha

was very difficult to perform
and I wanted to play well.

I gave around 60 concerts
without being able to...

I put my finger here
and it went there.

They didn't understand
what happened to me,

plus I was drinking
a huge amount

of alcohol at parties and so on...

I think it was at the beginning
of the last American tour.

There's a discrepancy regarding...

Enrique wanted to innovate,
and try new things.

He wanted to take a new musical
direction and use new instruments,

to change Juan's sound,

and then we started to disagree.

Why "Avalancha",
an avalanche of what?

An avalanche of motivation.

There's a moment in which
the four or five band members

need to talk and restore...

our friendship and our music,
which is what really united us.

That's why we are here.

I realized that, musically,

the gap between Enrique and Juan
was getting bigger, it was a rift.

One pulled in one direction,
the other pulled in the opposite.

And, caught in the crossfire,
Joaquín, Pedro and myself.

At some point, Pedro got sick
and he had an operation.

Pedro had a heart surgery
and he stayed here in Zaragoza

recovering while we go
to Mexico with a new drummer.

It was all chaos.

And the conversation came up, we said:
"well, we need to stop."

When you have a problem,

if someone puts
his finger in the wound

by saying: "this is the problem,"
your first reaction is to turn on.

He gathered us and said that
he didn't like Héroes music anymore,

that the band was over,
he wanted to stop and he was done.

When I recovered,
I went to Mexico and told Anye Bao:

"Take a plane and get out of here,
this is my place."

When he arrives, the first thing
we say is we want to break up.

I wrote some proposals,

what I thought we could do
to improve the situation

and how we could save the band.

One: "rock & roll is dead."

"Rolling Stones are out of style,
and so are AC/DC. No more rock."

"Gibson and Marshall
are a thing of the past. Forget them."

Maybe he didn't explain well,
but these ten rules were...

"No Marshall."
What does that mean? No voice?

I remember that
my proposal was not welcomed.

I said:
"Someone is going crazy here,"

I left the room and went to mine.

One didn't know how to say
"Why don't we try this?"

And the other took
everything personally, so...

It was like: "I'm leaving the band!"
"Me too!", "And me!"

I mean, in 15 minutes...

all of us said we'd leave
the band except Pedro.

I had been gifted a new heart.

So I was like:
"Come on, you're joking."

I'd send you three months to hospital
so you know what it is like.

Did you publicly announce
that the group was breaking up?

No.

During that time,
we didn't tell anybody.

But still we stayed the course,

thinking that
we didn't have to fight anymore,

because the situation was clear,
somehow.

These are our last shows.
Let's do them right.

LOS ANGELES
AUTUMN 1996

It was the last Héroes concert
in Los Angeles,

and Bob Ezrin came to see us.

He was in the backstage,
with his cigars and everything.

And he goes:
"Well, what are you playing in the show?"

I knew we were going
to cancel it, and told him:

"Good luck," that's what I said.

Cause I thought:
"He won't see any concert."

That particular day,
which I'll always remember,

they came from Japan
to sign us for a tour there.

It was a shitty concert,
maybe 20 minutes or half an hour.

At that time, shows in the U.S.

were kind of violent,
people threw things at the stage.

Some people
who got tickets out of nowhere

started throwing coins at Enrique.

They started throwing things
at the stage so I decided to leave.

Juan told me...
He looked at me as if saying:

"If he leaves, I'm off, too. Fuck it!"
So they all left.

The Japanese delegation
was in the backstage.

They came to see the concert.

I would have loved
to be a star in Japan.

So when the Japanese delegation

came to see us and offered
a release there, we broke up.

In their fucking faces.

We said goodbye and came back
separately to Zaragoza,

And... it was over.

After the most ambitious tour
ever made by a Spanish rock band,

Héroes del Silencio are breaking up...

They leave after 12 years
and more than 1000 concerts...

They have sold over six million
records in 40 countries.

Héroes del Silencio members
will start their solo careers,

Enrique Bunbury...

What seemed a break
in October 1996...

Years after the band breakup,
the legend goes on...

When Héroes are asked
about coming back to the stage,

the members of the band
keep completely silent.

TEN YEARS LATER

ZARAGOZA
FEBRUARY 2007

Whenever you want.

Hi, we are Héroes del Silencio.

After ten years away
from the stages,

we are so excited
to announce that,

this year, after the 20th anniversary
of the release of our first recordings,

we will do a reunion tour
of just ten concerts.

This is the non-silent return of one
of the most iconic bands in Spain.

They will play together
in a historic tour

over the U.S.,
Latin America and Spain.

Héroes del Silencio are back
11 years after they split up.

Three, two, one...!

At 12 o'clock tonight

the gates opened
to start selling tickets

for the Héroes del Silencio concert.

I think it was necessary.

In a selfish way,

I think we needed
to come back to the stage,

to play these songs,

to be united, as we were
at the band's origins.

In public, in front of everybody,
we're recovering the good vibes

we have for one another.

Héroes, Héroes, Héroes!

Jota!

Héroes, Héroes, Héroes!

Ready?

Héroes, Héroes, Héroes!

Hell yeah!

The time's come.
Well, the time's come.

When you go up
the stairs of the stage,

you need to forget
everything but music.

The only place where Héroes
fully understand each other

is on a stage, playing their songs.

Actually, the band's life
was very short,

the band could have gone
so much further.

We could have done more things.

I wish we were still together
and had 15 records.

Then, we would really
have made history.

I guess no one played their role,

and we must consider them
one of those big anomalies.

During the 10 years they stopped,

they grew even more than
when they were together.

That's not normal in the world of rock.

Songs...
Music survives everything.

I had long dreamt of being
in a stadium, in a show,

like the Rolling Stones.

All our dreams came true,
sure they did.

It's emotional to reach
the end of something.

To properly complete a work
is better than extending it forever.

Thank you so much!
Goodbye!

Thank you so much!

Goodbye forever! That's it!

THE LAST CONCERT BY HÉROES
DEL SILENCIO WAS HELD IN VALENCIA

ON THE 27th OF OCTOBER, 2007

MORE THAN 80,000 PEOPLE
ATTENDED THE SHOW.

THEY HAVE NEVER PLAYED TOGETHER
AGAIN

Héroes, Héroes, Héroes!

Héroes, Héroes, Héroes!

Héroes, Héroes, Héroes!