La Fuga

Spanish rock band La Fuga came together in July 1996 in Reinosa, a modest industrial community south of Cantabria. Edu on drums, Rulo handling guitar and vocals, Fito on lead guitar and vocals, and Inaki on bass had each stepped away from prior groups in order to build something more enduring. Local stages in Reinosa and nearby towns soon became regular stops for the quartet. By June 1997 they had entered the studio to cut their debut, the self-produced El Camino. Momentum from regional attention earned them a chance to record their first professional release, Mira, under Fak Records. Fito departed for other endeavors during this period, so the band continued touring the new material with Nando stepping in on lead guitar. In December 1998 they staged an acoustic evening at El Teatro Principal de Reinosa, directing proceeds toward holiday gifts for local children; Whisper Producciones later issued a limited pressing of that performance under the title Un Juguete por Navidad. The group followed with its next studio album, A Golpes... de Rock & Roll, which Whisper brought out in 2000. Strong regional response to that record cleared the path for the subsequent projects A Las Doce and Calles de Papel. Their fifth studio effort, Negociando Gasolina, appeared in 2005, with Nubes y Claros: En Acústico arriving the following year.