Buraco (band)

Early life

In 2007 “Checo” Miró Quesada was a member of the band ETERNICA, a local group based in Lima, Peru. Isaac Herrera was a guitarist and composer in the bands called “Camino Perdido” (Lost Path) and “Amidá” which belonged to the local Lima scene. After listening to a song by Amidá written by Isaac, Checo is moved by his creative talent. This song called "Purge me" was never performed live by BURACO, being rehearse, however, more than once. Thus, the bands became supporting bands for Etérnica’s gigs. Checo and Isaac started a friendship and mutual admiration. In early 2008 Isaac Herrera moved to Israel and later did Checo to Mexico to pursue a career in music with no intention of returning to his native country. Before leaving, they both were to reconvene that in any case they meet again in Peru they would set up the most ambitious rock band in the country’s history.

2006–2010

Isaac Herrera returns to Peru and learns that his friend Giacomo Miglio was back from his music studies in California, they were both decided to form a band. Furthermore, Checo recorded a song in Mexico for the beach resort "Las Totoritas" he used to hang out in, which had a spectacular reception by the residents and after talks with investors and following with personal decisions, Checo decided to return to Peru and to postpone his future in Mexico.

Checo and Isaac then decided to form a band which was joined by Giacomo Miglio as the bass player, Cote Calmet, who was returning from his music studies in Brazil, as a drummer and Niklas Bittrich in keyboards, referred by Checo. This way they started rehearsing by late January 2009 and took advantage of the success of "Como olas del mar” in the summer resort "Las Totoritas" and Checo names this song as the first song of the band. Thus, they got a gig in the old "Satchmo" pub of Lima. Then, they plunge into finding a good name for the band and immediately market what would be their first concert. One night they were chatting in Checo’s house garden, they all launched several proposals ranging between wild and creative, but Cote Calmet is the one who proposes the name BURACO: Isaac, Checo, Giacomo and Nikklas were fascinated with the name.

It turns out that the word "Buraco", apart from having a nice sound for a band, had and still has a deep and special meaning for the band. "Buraco" means hollow or empty in Portuguese and fairly represented the existential emptiness that these young men felt when they returned home and decided to fill in making music. Over the years, they have been subliminally and conceptually playing with this “hollow” element. In the first band video the bassist shows up in several shots facing a giant hole, which can also be seen at various layers in the final edition, it can also be observed that Checo is on the ground in a tunnel in the middle of an uncontrollable catharsis. In the second video, the naked character with the gas mask and worms, gets the head inside a hollow on the ground and lift it out at the other end. In the third video, the kid at the apartment hits and breaks a painting symbolizing a black hole. The cover of the third disc is a jean broken in the hollow shaped center, with the Buraco B in between. Currently, after three albums with versatile musical styles, it is possible to say that the band BURACO is a hollow full of surprises for the audience. A line up that is committed to filling gaps with each of its proposals.

Under the line up with Checo (voice and second guitar), Isaac (lead guitar), Giacomo (Bass and Double Bass) Nikklas (keyboards and vocals) and Cote (drums), BURACO offered their first concert in "Satchmo" in Miraflores on April 25, 2009 with full house capacity because of the expectations that were generated by the beach song "Como las olas del mar" and the new duet formed by Isaac and Czech, between their close friends circle.

For his first concerts, Buraco was supported by three different singers in each presentation during 2009. That same year they released their first EP in a Latin Pop style, which was recorded at EOG studies without Niklas Bittrich on keyboards, thus defined as a four-piece band.

The songs released in this EP brought the attention of Lalo Martins, former manager of Gianmarco, who takes them under his administration. Checo invites Francisco Murias, a former producer of Adammo, Anna Carina, Leslie Shaw, Jorge Pardo, among others, to witness the rehearsals for the new songs that they were preparing. Murias was so amazed that, after his initial refusal, he agrees to be BURACO’s musical producer with the only condition that Checo and Isaac will have their songs adapted to a stronger rock style with less Latin roots. Cote Calmet left the group and Alonso Solano joined for a brief period. It was then when that they started recording the second BURACO EP in the FMO Music Studio by Francisco Murias and the management of Lalo Martins. For this EP, Ricardo Savarese joined as a second guitar and Checo became the lead singer. In early 2010 Savarese and Solano left the band and it’s then when Jorge Zuloaga, an acquaintance of Savarese joined as a drummer and BURACO reaffirmed as a four-member band. Because of some internal conflicts, BURACO did not give any concerts in 2010, generating skepticism about his new material. By that time, a small Fan Club was already working, which called itself "BURACO INCONTROLABLE" (uncontrollable Buraco) and they would play a crucial role in the history of the band.

BURACO released their second EP, which was produced by Francisco Murias, and was under the image direction of FMO ENTERTAINMENT and the management of Lalo Martins. It contained songs that will soon belong to their first album; these songs are “Desata Nuestros Nudos”, “Te olvidé”, “Terminó” and “Nuestra Voz” ("Unleash Our Knots", "I forgot you", "It’s over" and "Our Voice"). With this EP and the line up of Checo (led vocals), Isaac (lead guitar), Giacomo (bass) and Jorge (drums) BURACO came to light only in early 2011, a period in which "Unleash Our Knots" started being scheduled in the very well known Peruvian radio station STUDIO 92. The song had a brief presence in VIVA FM radio in December 2010. Between February and June 2011, BURACO performs in several concerts which were sponsored by Studio 92 and Lalo Martins. In parallel, they had already prepared six songs that would gather at four in their second EP and form the first album of the band.

Lalo Martins and band members meet with Peruvian video artist Percy Céspedez so he could listen to the song "Te olvidé”, a song that was intended to be the next single and first video of the band. However, Céspedez was not satisfied with the songs of the EP and requested to listen the new songs the band had recently recorded. Checo, Giacomo, and Jorge Isaac, had the six new songs saved as a surprise element, but after an agreement between them all, they decide to let him listen the song. By decision of Percy Céspedez and suggestion by Francisco Murias, "Incontrolable" is chosen to be the first BURACO video clip and after a risky decision, Studio 92 access to air it, despite having a rocker and strong style for the usual standards of this radio station.

BURACO professional history starts on Friday July 15, 2011, when they were invited to participate in the main concert group at the garage bands concert sponsored by Studio 92 with renowned bands like Don Tetto, 6 Volts, Libido and Amen. It’s on this date that they decide to ignore the song "Desata nuestros nudos" and release two new songs "Todo lo que tienes" and "Incontrolable". BURACO performed late in the afternoon in front of a large audience and screened a preview of the video clip for "Incontrolable" during the show. The scenic interpretation of that day surprised the audience, coupled with futuristic images of the video by Percy Céspedez. To finish up this presentation, Checo sang a song with the band 6 volts and then mixed and interacted with the public, showing that BURACO is a band with a humble attitude and different from the rest.

The year went on with several concert dates and BURACO established itself as a revelation band. Performing Twitcams and Meet and Greets for getting a greater closeness with their audience. In October 2011 "Incontrolable," their first album, is released for sale. The video of the same name was considered one of the best clips made in Peru and became the most listened rock song of that year. BURACO gets two awards at SAY YEAH TV, a renowned MTV’s VJ Gabo Ramos web program. Giacomo and Checo decided to release the song "Responde" in the band’s Soundcloud by the end of 2011.

2012

BURACO started the year developing the pre-production of their second video "YA NO MAS" (No More) under Percy Céspedez’s hands, based on "Ultra Violence" scenes from the movie "A Clockwork Orange". BURACO performs in a concert with the late KENDALL, a band that won the garage bands 2011 contest by Studio 92. In parallel, this was a precursor of ROCK N TOUR together with the bands EGO and Bazooka in view of a nationwide tour.

Discrepancies between band members and the removal of Lalo Martins weakened the essence of BURACO. The band plays in the first date of ROCK N TOUR in Lima and after several conflicts, Isaac Herrera Miglio and Giacomo decided to leave the band. Thus, no manager, guitarist and bassist, Checo and Jorge decide to dissolve BURACO. The band offers a last concert in the amphitheater of Parque de la Exposición, where they became known in the 2011 Garage Band contest, leaving the fans bewildered as internal problems were unknown to them.

Checo Miró Quesada started recording his first solo EP under the musical direction of his friend Francisco Murias and Jorge Zuloaga, who was Gaia drummer at the time, recorded the drum set. Then, Checo had set up a recording studio in collaboration with Percy Flores, a friend who Zuloaga had introduced to him a while ago. Checo developed the EP songs compositions with Flores and promised the fan club "BURACO INCONTROLABLE" he would continue with the same style that had defined BURACO. During this time Checo decided to leave the nickname of "Incontrolable" (uncontrollable) and composed a song called "Hormonal", playing games with the relationship of sensuality and eroticism that this had with his followers of Twitter, and then the song "Vampire" was born.

In late November 2012, with the new administrative staff that Checo had gathered for his solo project, BURACO announces their comeback with Jorge Zuloaga on drums, Diego Acosta on bass and Bruno Necochea on guitar. That year they released the song "Hormonal" as a single, recorded in FMO, produced by Francisco Murias and lyric video by Ricardo Cisneros.

2013–2015

The new management of BURACO decides to start recording the second album of the band. For this, a co-production alliance is achieved with renowned Mixing Engineer, Javier Garza (Shakira, Ricky Martin, Carlos Vives, Los Claxon, Gloria Estefan, etc.). Bruno Necochea, who created the mysterious character named LUK, left the group a few days after the arrival of Garza to Peru and Percy Flores, Checo’s partner, quickly joins as the new guitarist. Due to the nature of the songs, stronger, rocking, touching the metal sound, they decided Flores to take the same character LUK, incorporating a mask unlike Necochea, who wore a make-up. So the recording of "Un siglo en silencio” (A Century In Silence), starts. This is a concept album conceived by Checo over the story of a vampire who started his path in a very optimistic way and ends up killing everyone in the name of love. The band takes quite a dark and hardcore turn. The new album is added with a new version of the song "Vampiro" and "Hormonal", adding new compositions further developed by Checo and Percy Flores, the former being the lyrics writer and the latter the music composer. Checo and Garza decided to give a voice to the new bassist Diego Acosta, so he can sing a few fragments of the new concept album. They called Percy Céspedez to let him know about their comeback and showed him the songs for the new album. Thus, Céspedez chose the song "Séptima Dimensión” (Seventh Dimension) as the first single from the new album. This decision was taken to cause a strong impact due to the new album raw and strong nature. At that meeting, the title of the new album was decided: "PARANOIA".

After more than a year with no live presentations, BURACO returns on stage in May 2013 at the Hard Rock Cafe with Checo (Lead vocals), Luk (Guitar), Diego Acosta (bass), and Jorge Zuloaga (drums). Subsequently they decided to make more radical the new style of the band and they became part of concerts with bands that belong to the Peruvian underground rock scene. For the second half of 2013 the relationship between Checo and Jorge Zuloaga was too stressed and this is how the decision came up that Zuloaga becomes only a session drummer, soon they started working as a three-member band: Checo, Luk and Diego Acosta. In these months new members to the administrative staff of BURACO were incorporated, including Sergio Medina as Booking Agent (Amen, Tremolo, Leslie Shaw, Zen, Laguna Pai, etc.) and this is how BURACO gets some gigs in the provinces during that year.

On October 17, former MTV VJ Gabo Ramos, arrived in Lima, for the presentation show for "Paranoia", the second album BURACO had recorded. The concert was held in the traditional Teatro Julieta in Miraflores with full capacity and presence of numerous media. The video for "Séptima Dimensión" directed by Percy Céspedez where Giacomo Miglio participates as part of the production thereof is released. That presentation was considered shocking because of the mask Percy Flores was wearing as a guitarist, the strength of the group performing their new songs live, the lights and multimedia show projected by the band, breaking with traditional presentations of bands of rock genre in Peru. The band plays the entire album in the actual sort, in order to making clear the story and the concept behind it. When they finished the presentation of the album after the masterful performance of "Séptima Dimension" and the nostalgic end of "Mar Artificial" the public yells for an encore. In the same backstage, the band decided to shock the audience again with the song “Incontrolable”, ending the concert. Days later, they departed to several provinces in order to join the prestigious festival "VIVA PERÚ" with artists and iconic bands of the country involved.

In early 2014, Diego Acosta announced to the band that he had decided to accept a job as a production assistant in a studio in New York. In parallel, BURACO performed a few concerts, including the ACUSTIROCK festival, testing drummers to replace Jorge Zuloaga. This is how Piero Noratto shows up, he is the one who joins the group as a hired musician. A few days earlier Piero Lindley had joined as the new support guitarist. BURACO is considered again for the festival VIVA PERU and their nationwide tour. After the first round of the national tour, Diego Acosta says goodbye and Daniel Lujan replaces him in the bass. This is how the new line up becomes BURACO: Checo (Lead Vocals), LUK (Guitar), Piero Lindley (Guitar), Daniel Lujan (Bass) and Piero Noratto (drums). The musicians had to learn the new songs quickly and fit together in large stages for the first time. Lujan, Noratto and Lindley were music students whom Checo knew, he had decided to bet on them and create a new band identity.

During 2014 BURACO performed in the main cities of Peru and in the " Revolución Caliente" festival at the National Stadium, which incorporated a share of bands coming from all ages of Peruvian Rock, being BURACO the only band that represented the current generation. The youngest band besides BURACO had eleven years of experience: BURACO just five and with new members.

Colombian producer Jorge Holguin "Pyngwi" (Don Tetto, Ground Zero, etc.) decided to record the third album of the band. Thus, the decision was taken to produce a Pop-Rock album that marked distances with "Paranoid" and more like "Incontrolable", returning to the beginnings of the band. BURACO departed to Colombia to start recording the new album and performing a successful media campaign. Upon returning to Peru they finished their national tour, opening the concert for the 25th anniversary of the Argentinian band Rata Blanca. During this presentation, the group premieres its line of condoms called the "Buracondones" which are distributed during the presentation and the remaining concerts of the year. By this time, Percy Flores becomes a hired musician and leaves the LUK mask. VH GLENNY then joined the band as the new supporting guitarist and musical director of the band. He had previously worked with BURACO in 2011 as supporting guitarist in concerts and during the recording of "INCONTROLABLE". At the end of 2014 "Pyngwi" travels to Peru to witness the last concert BURACO would perform that year in “La Noche de Barranco” and to write more songs for the new album. That night, without anyone knowing it, BURACO gave his last concert as a Metal Rock band.

During December 2014 and January 2015, Checo Miró Quesada, Daniel Lujan, Piero Lindley and Piero Noratto locked themselves in for days in order to write and perfect their third album songs. For this process, Checo decided to request the help of a very close friend of his, Isaac Herrera, for composition and arrangements. In February, Checo travels to Colombia in order to record vocals on the new album. He finished the lyrics of "Volver", which would not be part of the album, but at the insistence and vision of Sergio Medina, this song was added. The biggest surprise would be a ballad written by Checo that he recorded and whose performance surprised the Colombian staff, thus adding "Quédate" to the album.

Checo returns to Peru showing the recordings made during his days in Colombia, the band is fascinated by the new presence "Volver" had taken with the new lyrics that Checo finished modifying the initial proposal Yacko Pyngwi developed with Marquez. But it’s "Quédate" the song that surprised by the interpretation that was achieved.

BURACO traveled to Manchester, England, after signing with the audiovisual company SITCOM SOLDIERS, to record the video for "VOLVER", and then travel to London for a photo shoot.

Back in Lima, BURACO premieres "Volver" through Studio 92, Viva FM, Onda Cero, among other radio stations. The video for the song reaches the half million views on his VEVO channel two weeks after its release, causing widespread media coverage which still goes on.

In May 2015, BURACO released their third album entitled "VOLVER". Renewing a more pop sound, without leaving their rock roots. Under the new formation of Checo (Lead Vocals), Piero Lindley (Guitar), Daniel Lujan (Bass) and Piero Noratto (drums). BURACO will begin in mid-2015 their concert schedule.