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Limalla's Fourth Birthday

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by: William Garcia
posted: June 4, 2010, 12:39 pm

This saturday 22 was a special day. 4 friends were having his birthday party, but was not that they just were born that same day and as good friends they put together a party.

This guys were celebrating the birthday of the band they play in, which is for now, the oldest band still playing in Sancti Spiritus, read this clear we are not talking about Trinidad, right? They invited for this very special night two close to them bands, and they were “Crisis” from Santa Clara and “Al-strike” from Sancti Spiritus.

The concert started with Crisis playing their second concert in the province and for the very first time in the Casa de la Cultura what has become the most important place for punk rock in the  island. I mean where the bands has their practice room, and where they play at least once a month a concert there. They gave their best to the crawd and for the people who saw them for the very first time, it was a time to remember old bands they have listened to through the years. Good news to have a new punk band emerging.

It was the time for Al-strike to play, and they started playing their songs in a compact and different set list. They played two new songs specially for Limalla birthday and one Molotov cover also for the ocassion. The night was moving fast. The hole concert was been recorded in audio and in video with two cams for not letting this night pass in time and to be forgotten. SR-SR will edited it sooner than later and will distributed so that anyone who was not in the concert can enjoy what happened there and also for all of us who were can take a look back to that magic night. Is not every night that a punk band here gets to this. Four years of battle and struggle in a place where rock and punk specially is not what you came looking for.

Limalla jumped in and people knew what was coming on. Fast played punk, with fun and lots of alcohol coming straight from the hospital and some water from the Yayabo river. If you are one of the friends who have been here, well, you know what Im talking about. People went crazy, jumping, screaming, dancing,(slamming), girls moving their boddies to the music, everyone singing their songs. Singers and musicians from other bands joined them to play some of the songs, specialy when it was Eskorias songs. Great hours ever comes and goes in a minute and so did happened. The concert was done. Lots of days of talking and putting together things were gone and it was time to bring all the PA and stuff used for the concert back. Like everyone says that we are so close, rock musicians here, not as well as other tipe of musician, you call it salsa, trova, reggaeton or any other, we get together to bring all the stuff back. Then we sat in the part to drink and talk and laugh all together untill alchohol was over, some dicided to go and look if they can find more, others like I did went back home, it was 4 in the morning and there was a hangoover day coming on.

Just to keep using the lucky number on day june 4^th we are gonna have another concert that will put together all the bands from Sancti Spuiritus, and we say Arrabio, Gatillo, Cancerbero, Limalla, Al-strike and well as a band invited from Santa Clara to celebrate the birthday of the village of Sancti Spiritus, the holly spirit.

 

Untill then.

See you.

William Garcia.

Music, Love, Friendship and Brotherhood William Fabian in memorial

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by: William Garcia
posted: April 12, 2010, 11:35 am

Six punk bands joined on march 27 in Sancti Spiritus  for a special night of music, love, friendship and brotherhood. After a few changes on the place and the bands that were to play the concert,  it finally stoped in Conrado Benitez cinema and the William Fabian in memorial show was a total success.

Akupunktura could not make it cause one of the members of the band was sick. Instead four new   projects came to play for the very first time  in their career in Sancti Spiritus. Caos, from Santa Clara and Crisis also from that city. One came from Pinar del Rio, Chispa e Tren, plus the well known Limalla and Arrabio.

Blackout Day played the first show for the project with three Eskoria songs. So in the end it was 6 in 1. Six Cuban punk projects playing the songs of one. Just him himself was missed in the show that was organized and thought for the memory of one of the greatest rock musician from the island ever and without any doubt the most influenced one. Everyone sang his songs, there were more than just the musician in every project singing in the scenario, everyone wanted to be part of, and they did. William Fabian photos taken by Aaron Bocanegra, Irina Gonzalez and William Garcia were in the big screen of the cinema shown all over the concert. Photos taken during the last two visits of Solidarity Rock to Cuba, covering the rehearsals of the band in Santa Clara, a Rock Solidario show in Trinidad, the Eskoria show in El Mejunje, Santa Clara with Slates during their tour.

Punks of all generations and from most of all the island were in Sancti Spiritus for only one reason, and that reason had a name: William Fabian. It was not a goodbye, to the friend, the brother, the man, the musician, of every day of all this years. It was just a concert for him, an opportunity for all of us to play those great songs of him we all ever wanted to play and some of us had did before. Those songs are now part of the repertory of every project involved. It was not a goodbye or a farewell cause he is not gone and will never be. His songs, his ideas, his image, the man he  lives forever, only the body is gone.

My love and appreciation to all the musicians, bands and people that came to the show. The organizers, the people from the cinema. All the musicians, promoters, and people in general in Edmonton, Alberta, Winnipeg and other cities that helped Solidarity Rock for making the dream!!!
Thanks more than a lot.

William

 

Solidarity Rock tour reivew

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by: William Garcia
posted: April 12, 2010, 11:30 am

Solidarity Rock : Winnipeg Chapter

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by: Drew McIntosh
posted: February 16, 2010, 8:44 pm

We more good news! Solidarity Rock is welcoming a new Chapter in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We're excited to see the Solidarity Rock banner fly in other Canadian communities. Big ups to Daryll Reilly and crew in Winnipeg for putting so much into this. We're going to be heading out to Winnipeg on March 6 with our friends Falklands. Their tours are notorious for late nights and misplaced explosions, so this is sure to be a bang up weekend. Along the way, we'll have a show in Regina with Geronimo. It sounds totally killer. If you're in any of these places, you should come to these shows. Tell your friends in Winnipeg about the Solidarity Rock group starting out there. You can find it here: http://tinyurl.com/ycdqdw4

Details on the shows.

Friday Feb 26, 2010
Slates return from Cuba!
SLATES
Falklands
Peace Maker
@ The Baby Seal Club
10122 81st Ave - Edmonton, AB
Standalone grey building on the North side of the 81st Ave

We're having a night of good times to benefit Solidarity Rock as we welcome home Slates from their Aventura Cubano, and see some first bits of photos and video from the shows and tour in Cuba.

Friday March 5, 2010
Solidarity Rock in Regina
Geronimo
Falklands
@ O'Hanlons, Regina, SK
Details on the way.

Solidarity Rock Winnipeg kick off.
SubCity
The Shouting Ground
Falklands
@ Westend Cultural Centre, Winnipeg, MC
http://tinyurl.com/yz4slgd

Here's some video from the last time Falklands played a Solidarity Rock show in Calgary, AB.

http://vimeo.com/6271683

 

News Update

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by: Drew McIntosh
posted: February 11, 2010, 6:09 pm

Solidarity Rock has been very busy in the past few months. We've had benefit shows in Edmonton, Calgary, Los Angeles,with a pair of shows coming up in Regina and Winnipeg. We just got home from touring across Cuba with the Edmonton rock champs SLATES. The tour, which took place between Jan 13 and 27, made a total of 10 stops in 7 cities; Sancti Spiritus, Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Moron, Jatibonico and Havana. The shows varied from small punk shows in colonial courtyards, to massive nightclub crowds at a death metal show in a Cuban party yard. Everything went absolutely perfectly, and we would like to take a moment to thank William Garcia, Luidmilla Quincoses, Fernando Perrera, Sam Calvo, Hermes Entenza, Irina, El Hueso, Marianno and everyone else in Cuba who helped get us around safely. It was truly an amazing trip.

The first real show was in Santa Clara with a band called Eskoria. The Slates show was pretty special by all accounts. It was definitely one of the best shows I've ever been to. William Fabian is their singer. Eskoria are rock and roll history in Cuba; they were the first punk band to face police repression. After a bunch of rum and some weird mint booze, we went home to Sancti Spiritus, which was the base for the tour. We played all the shows and had a blast at each stop. We flew in and out of Santa Clara and on the way out, we stopped to do a quick interview with William Fabian, William Garcia and Ernesto (the bass player in Akupunctura, another long running punk rock band from Cienfuegos). We said our goodbyes and left for Canada. Four days later, William Fabian was killed in the street, trying to stop a fight.

We're getting back to normal life here, and it's terrible to think that everything has been so disrupted in our friends lives. Our hearts are in Santa Clara and Sancti Spiritus. We stand in true solidarity with our friends and brothers in this effort. Now more than ever, we wish we were there with you all.

William Fabian gave a lot of people something to believe in, something to do on a Saturday night, something to aspire to. He had a lot of good friends and he was a credit to his family and community. As a founder, leader and sustaining force in this Cuban punk rock movement, his departure will leave a massive hole. Now more than ever we should come together to build a better world for all.

We'll be posting some material from the shows in Cuba in the near future. Stay turned for news and other good stuff.

 

Drew

 

William Fabian Was Killed Last Night

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by: Aaron Bocanegra - Drew McIntosh - Samuel Calvo
posted: January 31, 2010, 6:01 pm

 

             Last night, Saturday January 30th, 2010, William Fabian was killed. William was the frontman of Eskoria and one of the pioneers of Cuban Punk. His influence inspired musicians throughout Cuba and beyond to create amazing music. His skill on stage was only matched by his generosity and friendship offstage. Cuba was better for having him, and we will all miss him so much. Our hearts ache in solidarity with our friends in Cuba who feel his abscence. There will be a memorial service in 2 weeks. Follow us to keep posted.

 

--------------------------------------Update---------------------------------------------

 

This morning, we got up and discovered a terrible loss. We just returned from Cuba on thursday afternoon after spending two weeks on the road supporting the cause of Rock n Roll with a Solidarity Rock tour that brought a lot of joy to a lot of people, ourselves included. Of all the people we met along the way, there was none like William Fabian. William had been playing punk rock longer than anyone else in Cuba.His band Eskoria formed in the early 90's during Cuba's "special period", and made their way through a decade and a half of hardship; bringing music, joy and unity to the people and youth of central Cuba.

The following is an email from my friend Sam.

"i called some friends in Santa Clara this afternoon and knew how all was.. they performed an incredible concert last night, and after that, William just picked up his stuff in order to go home, when he reached next corner there were some people fighting and he saw a friend in the middle of the crowd and walked ther to help, then a fucking 15 years old asshole pulled out a knife and just stabbed him on the arm, near the armpit , then ran away and just left him to die, friends come quick, but there was nothing to do, he bleed pretty fast and died right there..
Rock had lost an incredible person today, Santa Clara had lost a son, we had lost a friend!!
Solidarity and love..."

This loss affects us all. It is a loss for Santa Clara, Cuba and indeed everyone who subscribes to a DIY punk rock ideology. William believed that his music could define his life, and through his efforts, many lives have been touched. From everyone involved in Solidarity Rock, we will miss you greatly. You stood as a shining example of what is possible with sheer determination. We can never forget the nights we spent with you and wish to god that there were more down the road. Eskoria was Cuba's band. Fabian was recognized as the godfather of the movement, and he can never be replaced.

Live each day like it's the last, because you just never know when it might be.

1st L.A. Benefit show at the Hotel Cafe

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by: Aaron Bocanegra
posted: September 21, 2009, 3:22 am

The photos were taken by Ben May

The benefit at the Hotel Cafe on September 13, 2009  went very well. A lot of people came out to support the bands, Solidarity Rock and the cause of supporting Cuban Rock Musicians. Wreck of the Zephyr, The Westar, and The Kris Special had amazing sets. We are so glad to have had them perform in solidarity with Cuban Musicians. There will be more shows in LA and Canada, we are also planning a show in San Francisco. I want to thank Epitaph Records, Indie Printing, Wounded Lion, Every Little Counts, Michael Markowsky, Heartbeat House, Heather Bennett, Lee Sternthal and of course the Hotel Cafe. 

There were so many amazing moments at the show and it meant a lot to everybody involved. For those that couldn't make it, there will be more chances, for those that want to take part in the future contact me at aaron@solidarityrock.com.

I only wish the bands from Cuba could have been here to see it, video never does it justice. Each set was so distinct and exciting. We look forward to more shows with everybody, and to get the Cuban Musicians a new mixer for recording their own music.

Solidarity Rock show in Sancti Spiritus - Aug 15

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by: William Garcia
posted: August 23, 2009, 5:51 pm

Augusto 15, Solidarity Rock concert in Sancti Spíritus.

It took me a while to write this. I was trying n thinking the best way to describe it, but I really couldn’t find the right words cause it was pretty amazing great. This is the best way to tell what happened in my words.

I don’t remember something like this happening in Sancti Spíritus after a concert a couple of friends and I did in 1994 with bands like Detenidos(punk band from Havana. RIP), Rotura(punk band from Havana. RIP), EOS(my ex punk band, the first to exist in Sancti Spíritus. RIP) and Eskoria(punk band from Sancta Clara) Of this four bands is only Eskoria still playing and I’m so glad to say that was the first time Eskoria played a concert ever and it also was the first time my ex-band did. Those were other times! Seems then I don’t remember a concert like this one taking place in Sancti Spíritus where all the bands playing were like only one band. We were five bands playing almost until 2 o clock in the morning.The spirit of we are all one was the essential thing. Everyone in a band was taking care of every detail for the other band, so that the sound and everything needed were just fine. We barrow our instruments from one band to the other and in the end we all had a great time and it helped us all to enrich our work. So did the audience that was really having a big time. I recorded the concert; video and audio also, made some nice photos I will be posting on the facebook Solidarity Rock Group for you to shake it out. We used all the Solidarity Rock gear you had put together and bring to our hands, meaning cables, microphones, cam, cymbals, guitars, bass, lights, Zoom H4 recording interface, everything. Awesome to see in each concert there are more and more people coming and that is cause they are also been part of all this, they are feeling something is changing and they want to fallow step by step the growing of it.

I’m going to put together some video of those concert and others we have done so that anyone can see what is all this becoming into, more art and possibilities for all.

Thank you very much for giving us the chance to keep working and make it better and keep in mind that if we could do something like this for you, we will make it without thinking it twice. Thank you and I really mean it.

Rock Solidario. William Garcia P.

Calgary was a blast and listen to CBC 3.

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by: Drew McIntosh
posted: August 17, 2009, 10:04 pm

Hey Everyone. We had a great time this weekend in Calgary playing at the Palomino. I can't say enough great things about the bands who played that night and the fine folks who came out to support the show. We were holding a joint concert in Calgary, Alberta and Sancti Spiritus, Cuba; one show in two countries for one reason. Jenny, SLATES and the Falklands represented Alberta in style, and the 20 people from Edmonton helped push the party over the edge. So thanks to everyone for partying like you meant it.

We'll have some photos and video from the evening for you coming soon.

Also, good news. We'll (probably) be on CBC Radio 3 tomorrow, Tuesday August 18 at 1:00PM Mountain time (noon in vancouver, 3 in Toronto, everyone else has to look it up). Tune in to CBC 3 via airwaves, or listen in on the internet if you prefer. Check out radio3.cbc.ca.

Rocking in Solidarity: Calgary and Sancti Spiritus

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by: William Garcia
posted: August 14, 2009, 3:01 pm

The first day of this mounth we made a great concert here in Sancti Spiritus Cuba, using all the gear you guys had get for us to keep on making more music and art. The concert was so good and all the bands played so well. The people there they were just happy to se things getting better. Thats awesome. All mambers of bands after the concert were talking about making another concert soon this mounth, so I talked them about the concert you guys were gonna have this Saturday 15 as a foundraiser show for Cuban Rock and Roll and everyones eyes brighted and they were like, hey thats the day, nothing else to talk about its going to be so awesome be playing the same day and at the time they are gonna be doing this for us there at Calgary. Its going to be. Tommorrow Saturday 15 we are gonna be playing almos at the same time you are gonna be doing it there in Calgary. So its gonna be Sancti Spiritus and Calgary, two cities playing one concert fro the same reason.
We invited another band from a province call Ciego de Avila is really near our province so its going to be five bands bands here playing this show for solidarity.
We are gonna recorded in video and audio, we will be passing it from hand to hand so that everyone in the island get to know what we are doing here and all this is ging to be because of you. Thanks to you, without the help of everone of you this just would no be possible.
So thank you.

William Garcia
 

Sancti Spiritus Rock Show

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by: William Garcia
posted: July 30, 2009, 12:58 pm

This saturday Agosto the first. Here in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, we are gonna make a concert with the four bands from this city. Its going to be ACR, Limalla, Gatillo and AlStrike. This is the first Solidarity Rock concert in Agosto. We are gonna make this concert using all the gear you guys there in Edmonton had get for us to keep on creating more music and art and oppotunities. We are gonna retrubute your actions making the fucking best concert ever in this place, and we are gonna make Sancti Spiritus and Solidarity Rock as well as Edmonton and everyone of you involeved counts for the rest of our lifes.The concert is going to be recorded in audio and video, also we are gona take lots of pictures so that we can show you later.
This is going to be a great night for Sancti Spiritus and Solidarity Rock.
We can catch in the air a total new breeze. Every one is really anxious and exicted about it.
We are just starting, there is lots of more stuff we can all do together.

 

-William

Solidarity Rock returns

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by: Drew McIntosh
posted: July 22, 2009, 10:59 pm

I'm very pleased to announce that our latest Solidarity Rock trip to Cuba was a smash success. Not only did we deliver instruments and other necessary implements to the hands of amazing musicians, we had a chance to share our experiences and bridge the gap between two worlds.

After being dogged by Mexican customs agents, we landed in Havana, Cuba on June 24. It seemed like we were walking into a bad horror outbreak movie. Everyone working in the airport was wearing surgical masks and asking if we had the flu. We showed the immigration officers our cultural visas, were processed relatively easily and made it out to meet William Garcia from Sancti Spiritus along the with the international relations director for the Cuban Association Hermanos Saiz, the national agency facilitating youth culture in Cuba. We stopped by their national office, said hello and got some letters to show the cops if we ever got into trouble.

We hopped in to a 57 Chevy and drove to Santa Clara, the city which saw the decisive victory in the revolution, after Che bulldozed some train tracks and threw some molotovs. There, we met William Fabian and Eskoria, Cuba's oldest punk rock band. This guy is the OG in Cuba. We gave Eskoria a guitar which had been donated by a musician from Edmonton (a beautiful Les Paul copy), some new strings, new snare head, drum sticks and a bunch of other stuff.

The next day, there was a party in the street presided over by a suspicious security guard wearing a t-shirt that just said WET BEAVER. Michael Jackson died. All anyone could talk about that night was Michael Yackson.

We made it back to our Cuban home in Sancti Spiritus the next day. We hung out with Gatillo, ACR, Limalla and Al Strike, recording jams and doing a couple of interviews. We brought some new hi hats and crash cymbals for the bands. Hearing them jam with the old ones, I was amazed that anyone would be able to use such old beat up pieces of metal. One of the ride cymbals was shredded and had been used as a painter's pallet before returning to service in a rock band. The new cymbals made everything brighten up so much, it was immediately apparent on everyone's faces. Big smiles all around the room.

Sancti Spiritus is full of amazing artists of every kind. We hung out with musicians, painters, poets, puppeteers, theatre directors and any other kind of creative person you could ever think of. It was a truly energizing and inspiring time and place. Aaron and I did a radio interview with Radio Vitral, I screened Una Vez Por La Vida and gave an artist's talk at the Union of Artists and Writers and did so much more.

On July 4th, we made our way to Trinidad for a big punk rock show with bands from 4 different cities in Central Cuba. About 25 people from Sancti Spiritus piled on to an old Russian bus and drove an hour and a half south to the old salve port. Arrabio, Eskoria and Acupunctura played the show. ACR couldn't play because their bass player Carlos had an intense fever and slept through the entire show. We had a bass to trade with Damiel of Arrabio, and he was very stoked to get an instrument that plays so well. His old bass is going to be given to a band with worse or no gear, and as we can, we'll get more parts in so they can fix up and maintain the old ones they've got.

A day at the beach was defiantly a wonderful time, and then we made our way to Havana, where everything seems to cost at least twice what it does in the smaller centres. We met with representatives of the Cuban Rock Agency and saw a band practicing at a new theatre built specifically for rock and roll called Maxim Rock.

We'll be working hard on photos, music and videos, as well as building out our new website in the very very near future. We've also got some benefit shows outside of Edmonton lined up.

Thanks for all your support; the difference we are helping to make in these towns is amazing.

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