Emerging as one of the leading rock acts in Spain throughout the 1970s and into the following decade, Tequila helped open the way for rock & roll during the years after Franco’s rule and built an enormous domestic audience with a sound grounded in the tradition of Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones. The group came together in 1975 when two Argentinian expatriates, vocalist Alejo Stivel and guitarist Ariel Rot, joined forces with three local musicians—guitarist Julian Infante, bassist Felipe Lipe, and drummer Manolo Iglesias. After proving themselves as a formidable stage presence, the band secured a contract with Sony’s Spanish label, leading to the release of their first album, Matricula de Honor, in 1978. Although that debut performed respectably, their follow-up effort, Rock and Roll, arrived in 1979 and achieved widespread acclaim, marking Tequila as the initial Spanish rock outfit to attain both substantial sales and critical praise within the country. Subsequent releases, Viva Tequila in 1980 and Confidencial the next year, kept the momentum going until internal tensions and substance issues fractured the lineup, prompting a split in 1982. Rot later pursued a thriving solo path and took on production work for other performers, while Stivel established himself as a respected producer and crafted a series of memorable advertising themes. Infante collaborated with Rot during the 1990s in the band los Rodriguez before succumbing to AIDS-related complications in 2000, the same illness that had taken Iglesias in 1994. Stivel and Rot revived the Tequila name for a 2008 tour backed by several fresh musicians, though Lipe declined to take part.
