Callejeros


Callejeros was an Argentine rock band that gained notoriety when the nightclub where they were playing, República Cromañon, was set on fire during one of its shows, killing 194 attendees, in 2004.

History

The band was formed in mid-1995 by a group of young people of Villa Celina, Greater Buenos Aires. They were known initially as Río Verde and mostly played covers of Chuck Berry, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota. At the end of 1996 the band changed its lineup and recruited new members. Given the extensive change to the original group, in January 1997, they changed their name to Callejeros. A new guitarist and a saxophonist came into the band between late 1999 and early 2000, and it is with this lineup that Callejeros recorded the three albums it has released to date.
In 2001 they recorded their first album, Sed, in which they followed the rock format they had kept for years, but with the participation of sax player Juan Carbone, former member of Viejas Locas. A single came out of this album, Vicioso, jugador y mujeriego, and a video was made for it, but did not see much TV airtime.
Their second album, Presión, also self-released, came out in 2003. It premiered at the Atlanta football stadium in Buenos Aires and it included fourteen songs, ranging in style from tango, ballad, rhythms of candombe and Latin rock up to classic rock'n'roll. This record made their name known in almost the whole country and, to some degree, in Latin America. Not long after the release of the album, the first single, Una nueva noche fría, was aired on radio and music TV stations during several months.
After playing at the Obras Sanitarias Stadium, known in Buenos Aires as the "temple of rock", in 2004, it seemed as if the band would reach far, because of its growth in popularity in such a short time. In a six months span, they went from drawing less than a thousand people, to play in arenas with capacity of five thousand or more attendees.
In late 2004, they released their third album, Rocanroles sin destino. It did not have the "power" of previous albums, but more attention went into describing themselves, their lives, their career as musicians and the conflicts that fame brings. The album was played live twice: First in Córdoba, in front of ten thousand people, and then in the Club Atlético Excursionistas football stadium, for an audience of almost fifteen thousand people.

Cromañón

The night of December 30, 2004, the band played a concert at the club República Cromagnon, in Buenos Aires. During the show, someone in the audience lit a small firework that threw light balls up, which impacted a plastic fibre net that held the acoustical panels and combustion begun. The club was overcrowded and the emergency exits had been locked from the outside. The fire spread and eventually killed 194 people, mostly due to burnings in the respiratory tract and inhalation of carbon monoxide. Among the dead spectators were relatives of various band members, as well as the band manager's wife and the lead singer's girlfriend.
The band was investigated by the authorities regarding their responsibility in the tragedy, because it was well known that the audience frequently made use of pyrotechnic devices during their shows; though in this case Callejeros had asked them not to, to no avail.
In April 2011, the six band members were convicted of murder.

After Cromañón

After República Cromañón, Callejeros did not play for a long time. First, due to their own decision, then because of the opposition from the relatives of victims of the fire.
In May 2006, the band released their fourth album, Señales, which sold 20,000 copies on its release day. The band signed a contract with Pelo Music and had both previous albums re-released by this company.
On July 6, 2006, Callejeros appeared without prior announcement during a concert of the band Jóvenes Pordioseros, in El Teatro, a club in Flores, Buenos Aires. The band had previously agreed not to go on stage, and the show was suspended by the management of the club. Later, relatives of the victims expressed mixed opinions about it; some claimed that the band had "the right" to play because there was no judicial order to keep them from doing so, while others called it "a mistake", or claimed that they should be in prison.
After the tragedy, the band played five more times, always outside Buenos Aires city. The last time in Olavarría, Buenos Aires Province.

Second trial

In April 2011, an appeal court retried them and found the members of the band guilty, sentencing each of them to eleven years in prison. In October 2012, band members were sentenced to 7 years of prison, making it effective at that moment. Founding member Fontanet was moved to a psychiatric clinic in Córdoba. On June 10, 2013, he moved from the clinic in Córdoba to the Ezeiza prison psychiatric ward. He traveled in an ambulance accompanied by his girlfriend Stephanie Miguel and a mobile Federal Prison Service.On August 6, 2014, the Supreme Court granted the extraordinary appeal filed by the gang, releasing them pending a new ruling. However, in April 2016, the Criminal Cassation Chamber, upon reviewing the ruling, sentenced Patricio Santos Fontanet to 7 years in prison and 5 years to the rest of the musicians. Currently all musicians except Eduardo Vázquez are on probation, after having served two thirds of the custodial sentence.

Members

Solo x hoy (Demo), 1997

This is a demo made up of 11 songs in cassette format, recorded with a 4-track between the months of July 1997 and August 1997. Now few copies of the tape exist.

LADO A

  1. Durmiendo en la seccional
  2. Bufón
  3. Lejos del cielo
  4. Pichones
  5. Zapatos muy grandes
  6. Vivo en mi ilusión

    LADO B

  7. Botija
  8. Teatro
  9. Ancho de espadas
  10. Milonga Rocanrol
  11. Rito de Holoalocû

    Callejeros (Demo), 1998

Independent production composed by 13 songs with greater variety of styles. It was recorded and mixed in WC Recording Studio in October 1998. This work stood out by to have sold more than 600 copies of same between cassettes and the CD.
  1. Pichones
  2. Puñales
  3. No volvieron más
  4. Brillan los fantasmas
  5. Armar de nuevo
  6. Milonga Del rocanrol
  7. No somos nadie
  8. Ancho de espadas
  9. One after 909
  10. Lejos del cielo
  11. Un monarca
  12. La cuadra
  13. Brillan los fantasmas

    Adelantos (Demo), 2000

As the name says it well, this he is demo made up of 7 songs that came playing in shows. So that people knew them was made east registry, engraving in one portaestudio of 4 channels during the month of June 2000.

LADO A

  1. Rompiendo espejos
  2. A tinto regalado
  3. Palo borracho
  4. Teatro

    LADO B

  5. Pensar en nada
  6. Los invisibles
  7. La buena vida

    Sed, 2001

It is made up of 12 songs, of which 4 are from the Adelantos cassette and 1, Milonga rocanrol, is from Callejeros. In addition, it is the first registry of the band in which saxo is included. The disc was recorded, mixed and masterized in El Matadero records in October 2001. It is worth noting that this was a totally independent production.
  1. Los invisibles
  2. Rompiendo espejos
  3. El nudo
  4. Milonga del rocanrol
  5. Jugando
  6. Vicioso, jugador y mujeriego
  7. Palo borracho
  8. Sonando
  9. Tiempo de estar
  10. Teatro
  11. Sed
  12. Ojalá se los lleve

    Presión, 2003

In March 2003 the band released their second album, Presión, again in totally independent form, on the El Matadero records label.
The single off this album, Una nueva noche fría received wide airplay on radio and music TV, from its release in August 2004 until the beginning of January 2005, when it was essentially boycotted due to the Cromagnon nightclub fire.
  1. Otro viento mejor
  2. Presión
  3. Tres
  4. Una nueva noche fría
  5. Fantasía y realidad
  6. Morir
  7. Cristal
  8. Imposible
  9. Callejero de Boedo
  10. Si me cansé
  11. Ahogados de razón
  12. Tiempo perdido
  13. El duende del árbol
  14. Ilusión

    Rocanroles sin destino, 2004

  15. Distinto
  16. Sé que no sé
  17. Sería una pena
  18. Algo peor, algo mejor
  19. Rebelde, agitador y revolucionario
  20. Un lugar perfecto
  21. Todo eso
  22. Prohibido
  23. Tan perfecto que asusta
  24. Tratando de olvidar
  25. Rocanroles sin destino
  26. La llave
  27. Parte menor
  28. Canciones y almas

    Señales, 2006

  29. Daños
  30. Puede
  31. Límites
  32. Creo
  33. Frente al río
  34. Sin paciencia
  35. Día a día
  36. Sueño
  37. Hoy
  38. 9 de Julio
  39. Señales
  40. Desencuentro

    Disco Escultura, 2008

  41. Guiños
  42. El Espejo
  43. La Canción
  44. Rehén
  45. Esa Invisible Linea
  46. Mas allá
  47. Quedó
  48. Siempre un poco más
  49. El Ignorante
  50. Lo que hay
  51. Cancion de Cuna para Julieta
  52. Si queres que sea yo
  53. Pompeya