Rock Band “Malas Noticias” Plays at Havana’s Yellow Submarine Club

Irina Pino

HAVANA TIMES – Greetings to all rockers in Cuba, the good news is that rock band “Malas Noticias” has played at Havana’s rock venues over the past few days and they were a real hit! These guys from Matanzas play covers by famous rock bands such as Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin, Beatles or Aerosmith.

While they have their own repertoire of songs including 12+1 (in Spanish) and Dreamers, with songs in English, they are waiting for their new album to be released and for a record label to take interest in their work.

Pedrito, the band’s leader and drummer, tells us that they don’t want to reproduce other people’s songs to the T or want them to be perfect, they just play these songs the way they feel them. It’s just their love for rock, blues music… and rescuing this at a time when social media saturates us with music that doesn’t have quality lyrics and are musically worse still.

In their home province, they normally play at hotels and tourist villages for a mostly foreign audience. Regulars at The Beatles (a place in Varadero which pays homage to these English musicians), they create a special atmosphere: the audience receives them with open arms and their energy is contagious.

Something similar happened at our Yellow Submarine, it was packed, people were dancing and singing along to their songs in real euphoria. Lead singer Darel Alfonso’s sensual moves stirred something in young and older women alike. He confesses he is indebted to Robert Plant and Steven Tyler for his stage performance.

I think that Havana’s rock groups need to learn something from these young men: it’s not only about playing music but having stage presence which invites the audience to enjoy a genre of music that has a legacy and mustn’t die out.

And the right phrase here is: Long live rock ‘n’ roll! Let’s rock!

 

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