Sidonie

Spanish rock outfit Sidonie came together in 1997 with Marc Ros handling vocals, guitar, and keyboards, Jesus Senra covering vocals, bass, and sitar, and Axel Pi supplying drums and percussion. The trio initially convened simply to cover material by the Doors, the Velvet Underground, and the Rolling Stones, yet their habit of reshaping each number with a personal stamp soon sparked an interest in creating and laying down original songs. Displaying an eclectic range of influences, the band issued its first CD, the five-track Dragonfly, through independent label Bip Bip Records; the disc blended psychedelia, Hindu music, surrealism, and Spanish rock into a single package. Positive response to the EP gave the group sufficient leverage to cut a full-length effort, the self-titled Sidonie, which appeared in 2001 and opened doors to international touring while attracting an audience in Europe’s underground and avant-garde rock circles. For their second album the musicians partnered with Sony/BMG, resulting in the 2003 release Shell Kids—their last project composed and recorded entirely in English. On their third album, 2005’s Fascinado, the band chose to write in Spanish for the first time, a move that curtailed British touring, once a mainstay of their schedule, and prompted a sharper focus on audiences in Spain. That shift paved the way for the 2007 album Costa Azul, which entered national charts within weeks of its summer street date.