Dover (band)

Dover was a Spanish hard rock, grunge rock and electropop band from Madrid that sings in English, founded in Madrid in 1992. The group was composed of the sisters and group leaders Cristina Llanos (vocals) and Amparo Llanos (lead guitarist), the drummer Jesús Antúnez and Samuel Titos on bass. They have recorded eight albums, selling around two million copies. They are known for their second album Devil Came to Me, the most important to date, which led them to international fame, and their sixth album, Follow the city lights, which caused controversy, as the style of the group changed from alternative rock to electronic pop. The band won, among other things, the revelation group awards at the 1997 Premios Ondas and the award for best Spanish artist at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards.

Band history

Beginnings and Sister

Dover originated outside Madrid, in the town of Boadilla del Monte, in the early 90s when Cristina Llanos, then 17, decided to form a rock band encouraged by the alternative scene from Seattle. The group's name was inspired by a brand of a clothing store that her mother owned in Majadahonda. Her sister amparo, 10 years her senior, joined the project. In 1994, drummer Jesús Antúnez and bassist Álvaro Gómez joined the band. One of the demo tapes of the group went to the radio show Disco Grande on RNE Radio 3. The band then signed a one-year contract with the small independent label Everlasting-Caroline. Their debut album Sister, released in 1995, lacked promotion and sold poorly, due to the lack of promotion as well as the inexperienced label. Nevertheless, the Spanish music fanzine Mondo Sonoro included the album among their national Top 10 of the year. Despite the limited success in terms of album sales, this helped Dover manage to gain a foothold in the music scene in Madrid, and they even recorded their first music video Come With Me by Juan Bullón, but this song was not released as a single properly, though it was the most demanded for at concerts by fans.

Breakthrough: Devil Came to Me

The contract with the record label Caroline only lasted a year and afterwards they signed with the independent label Subterfuge Records. Their first involvement with the label was to include a demo version of their song Loli Jackson in the multi-band compilation album Stereoparty 2. This success motivated the label to produce their second album and so they entered the Infinity Studios in Madrid in 1997 to record the album Devil Came to Me on a tight budget of 80,000 pesetas and in just 20 days. The album was released on April 21, 1997, a fragment of the album's title track (specifically the chorus with the phrase "I lied for you, I lied for you...") was included in a popular television commercial by Radical Fruit Company which increased their notoriety and the band was launched to national fame. During the promotion of this album, in 1997, the bassist was replaced by Álvaro Díez, who had been part of the band in its infancy. The album sold over 500,000 copies and gained them fans abroad in Europe and America. They released their official first single from the album, Serenade, a song that, thanks to its strong chorus and catchy melody, managed to become their first number one in Spain. Juan Bullón again directed their next music video. The song Loli Jackson is featured by Daniel Calparsoro on his movie "Blinded", and a video for the song was recorded for it.

Late at Night, I Was Dead for 7 Weeks in the City of Angels and The Flame

The relationship with Subterfuge Records deteriorated and they signed with Chrysalis Records label owned by EMI Music. In 1998 they quickly created their own label Loli Jackson Records. With their newly created label, Dover soon signed up several independent groups. The following year they released their third album Late at Night, recorded in Seattle with Barret Jones. It was released on 28 June of that year with great expectations created by its first single DJ that quickly became number one in Spain; something totally new for a Rock Band. With the greatest hits album promoted as the song DJ, or CherryLee which was popularized in an advertisement of then-recent Peugeot 206. This success soon propelled them to their first international tour that took them to Germany, England, the Netherlands, Mexico, the United States among others. In February 2000 the album was already triple platinum with 300,000 thousand copies sold in Spain alone.

In 2000, received an award from MTV Europe for Best Spanish Artist. In 2001, Chrysalis reissued their first album Sister including the unreleased song 'Noche Tras Noche'. In May of that year they soon entered 'Grandmasters studies Recorder' to record their new album, again accompanied by Barrett Jones, and titled I Was Dead for 7 Weeks in the City of Angels Their first single, released on September 3 of the year, was 'King George'. The album itself was released on September 17, 2001 and in just ten days sold 125,000 copies.

In 2003, the musical crisis forces them to close their record company and sign with EMI Music. On 27 October of that year, their fifth album The Flame, was quickly released. This time the album was co-produced by Rick Will and recorded entirely in Spain. Sales are not in their favor this time and they barely reach 60,000 copies. In May 2005, bassist Álvaro Díez is expelled from the group and replaced by Samuel Titos, former guitarist and vocalist of 'Sperm'. In late 2005 they become the first group to support the NGO Oxfam.

Pop Reinvention: Follow the City Lights

For months, the group begins to compose what would be their new album. Dover announced that it would be a change that would leave everyone pleasantly surprised. And so in October 2006 they released a new album called Follow the City Lights, produced by Daniel Alcover. Dover's style changes radically, introducing electronic arrangements in their music.

The first single from this album, Let Me Out, received a Premio Ondas for Best Song in 2006. Also, the single reached number 1 on the Spanish charts Los 40 Principales for 4 weeks. Furthermore, Let Me Out soon became number one on the Spanish iTunes Music Store. The second single from the album was Do Ya, which featured on the computer game FIFA 08. A third single was also released from the album, Keep on Moving. Each single was accompanied by a music video.

In November 2007 they released their first double disc compilation of Dover, entitled 2, which contains many of the successful singles and tracks released by Dover, including a new song called Soldier. The same year they toured with La Oreja de Van Gogh.

In late 2008 Dover made a tour through Germany and Europe up to February 2009 in the promotion of the album 2. In March 2009 they subsequently signed a contract with Sony-BMG. In several interviews they announced that their forthcoming seventh album would come out in 2010, according to press releases issued by the record label Sony drive would be available in late October 2010.

African Rhythms: I Ka Kené

On 31 July 2010, Dover released the first single from their upcoming album I Ka Kené onto YouTube, entitled Dannayá. It is sung in Bambara, an African language and English and, according to their Facebook page, the single is inspired by a Malian immigrant they met.

2012: What goes around comes around

During the first quarter of 2012, Dover announced the release of a single with two songs, an unreleased track and a cover of a popular song of the eighties; the unreleased track was mixed by Veronica Ferraro in France and the cover by Jesús Antúnez in Madrid. On March 8, 2012, a web fan revealed the title of the new song What Goes Around Comes Around. The version that proved to be the B-side of the single was Need You Tonight, a hit from the band INXS.^[1]

Dover take part in the Trina promotional campaign "Al natural", with three songs: Loli Jackson (1997), King George (2001) and Junnete (2010), playing three songs in acoustic and live. They also involved in the introduction of the Givenchy perfume, giving them the opportunity make his first online live performance, where they surprise the fans interpreting, in its original version, The Hitter (1999), The Morning After (1995), King George (2001), Do ya (2006), his version of INXS and a new version of DJ (1999) accompanied only by an electric guitar.

The single's release is delayed fifteen days, and only goes on sale in digital form at the end of June 2012. The promotion is limited to a single appearance on "El Número Uno" program, and the reception of the Spanish team in the Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid. The single entered the list of "Los 40 Principales" and spent five weeks on the list. They began their tour in 2012 reviewing their greatest hits and reintegrating its repertoire the original versions of Devil Came to Me King George and Serenade in addition to an acoustic version of Loli Jackson.

2013 - 2016: The return to rock: Dover Came to Me tour, Complications and split

Cristina Llanos during the Dover came to me tour in 2014.

Dover announced that, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of foundation of the band, it would present the legendary Devil Came to Me live (as they also were celebrating the 15th anniversary of the debut of this album), starting March 8 in the Sala Sol in Madrid. Tickets sold out more than three months before the concert. From that date, they began to act on the most emblematic venues in Spain, selling all tickets in most performances. This tour will bring them again to various parts of Europe, such as Germany. In 2013, they also reissued their album Devil Came to Me, called Dover Came to Me, in different formats. The Deluxe format contains a first CD with a remastered album version plus bonus tracks, a second CD with their tour live songs and a DVD with one of his concerts of this tour, plus a 1997 live in the Palacio de los Deportes. Also the DVD includes interviews with the band members, plus two video clips: Serenade and Loli Jackson.

After filling more than thirty-five concert halls in all the Spanish geography during 2013, they embark on a last tour in winter, which would come to an end in the legendary hall La Riviera on January 10, 2014. The rest of the year, they only performed in a couple occasions, one of which was holding Subterfuge in the Music Day in June, where they presented a new untitled song, later to be called Crash. Their social networks are updated with news about recording a new album which indicate, it would be closer to rock.

In September they premiere Too Late during a concert in La Rioja, also with a clear sound rock. In December, Complications is announced: the eighth studio album by Dover, composed of ten unreleased tracks and eleven in the Spotify version that it was released on February 9, whose first single would be Too Late. Produced by the own Jesús Antúnez and recorded in the rehearsal of the group, Complications returns to melodic rock that characterized Dover in early 2000 with albums like The Flame.

On November 2016, Amparo Llanos announced on Radio 3 that the band was breaking up, with herself and bassist Samuel Titos starting another band named New Day, while drummer Jesús Antúnez would focus on his DJ career.^[2]

Band Influences

Despite Dover being a Spanish band, most of their songs are written in English (except for the cover Noche Tras Noche, the only song the band sings in Spanish and is included as a bonus track on the reissue of their album Sister in 2001) and are composed by the Llanos sisters. Amparo composing and Cristina writing the lyrics.

According to the group, the reason that the lyrics are in English is because their rock influences have always been primarily English bands and they do not feel comfortable using Spanish lyrics for their songs.

Both sisters insist they were strongly influenced by The Beatles and grunge music, especially Nirvana. These influences are evident in the music. Thus, referring to Paul McCartney in King George ("I need to McCartney's song"); in their song The Weak Hour of the Rooster, a verse quotes the last sentence from the suicide note of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana: "It's better to burn out than to fade away". In 27 Years, where they make reference to a famous song of his: Band on the Run, and in their album Follow The City Lights, one of the songs which is called Dear McCartney. In this album, they have said that their influences have been artists like Madonna or Peaches too.

As for the album I Ka Kené, they have been influenced by African artists like Boubacar Traore, Korchach, Coumba Sidibe, John Chivadura, Nahawa Dumbia, Oliver Mtukudzi, Habib Koite, Sekouba Traore, Bembeya Jazz Orchestra, Sekouba Bambino, etc. In addition to the incorporation of the Bambara, in the album they have used the French language for being the official language in several African countries.

As for the album Complications, Cristina commented that the biggest influence for the album was The Cars and Joan Jett.^[3]

Band members

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

• Sister (1995)
• Devil Came to Me (1997)
• Late at Night (1999)
• I Was Dead for 7 Weeks in the City of Angels (2001)
• The Flame (2003)
• Follow the City Lights (2006)
• I Ka Kené (2010)
• Complications (2015)

EPs

• It's Good To Be Me! (2002)

Compilation albums

• Oh! Mother Russia (2005)
• 2 (2007)

Remixes albums

• I Ka Kené: The remixes (2011)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website: Dover (in Spanish)
• Haus of Dover
• Twitter: Dover
• Facebook: Dover
• MySpace: Dover