Staying current, without losing the essence, has been the challenge they have decided to take on. Tony AlmontJoel Lazala and Tomás Álvarez, the members of the emblematic Band of rock Deep Touch.
The group reaches its 35th year of career following a complicated musical path, but one that has generated great satisfaction. And despite the ups and downs and the changes in the artistic industry, they have managed to manage an important place in the field of rock local thanks to a loyal fan base that supports them in all their projects.
As a gift to these followers, the group has decided to make them part of the celebration of its more than three decades with a special concertwhere their main hits will be interpreted in a very particular way: symphonic.
This is a revival of a show where two different musical worlds will blend perfectly: rock and classical music.
This concert, which will be accompanied by the Caribbean Philharmonic Orchestraand more than 25 musicianspromises to capture his musical history with completely different arrangements of his most popular songs.
“There will be more than 30 songs for the night’s repertoire,” revealed Tony, Joel and Tomás, during an interview for Free Newspaperwhere they offered details of the staging, under the production of Deep TouchSol Lopez Rosendo and Carolina Villeta.
How did it come about?
“Around 21 or 22 years ago we had the idea of doing this type of events, first because we had a reference in different parts of the area of what we do, rock“, says Almont, speaking about how the initiative came about.
And he continues: “I had heard many years ago a similar concert by a group called ‘Kansas´ with the London Philharmonic, then a concert of Metallicawhich was called S&M, which also had a presentation in that line and then, more recently, there was an album called ‘Siete fragmentos sinfónicos’, with Gustavo Cerati. There were three different formats with symphonic arrangements of emblematic songs from rock“.
“Basically, that gave us the idea for what we wanted to do,” he adds.
But obviously it was just an idea, and to make it happen they needed to be joined by key people.
“We are very proud that these iconic songs have been arranged by young people with a lot of vision”Leading voice
“We needed someone who knew about musical arrangements at the orchestra level.” That’s when a friend put them in touch with Darwin Aquino in 2001, who, in Almont’s words, turned out to be something of a “rockstar of the classical music of DR”.
He liked the idea, but it was not until 2018 when they celebrated the 30th anniversary and with the brothers José Luis and Samuel Ureña, who knew Aquino’s work and are in charge of organizing the Caribbean Philharmonic Orchestrawe gave shape to all that with the production of Sol López presenting us at the Jaragua five years ago, in November 2019.”
Now, with the arrival of their 35th anniversary, they wanted to resume this concert, but renewed. The appointment is in Hard Rock Liveof Santo Domingothis August 10th.
“We will perform almost 30 songs, including 23 with arrangements by the Caribbean Symphony Orchestramade by musicians Graduates of the National Conservatory of Musicsome students from the Berklee College of Music, meaning the arrangements are made by young Dominican boys,” Almont emphasizes.
Local rock
For both Joel and Thomas the rock local continues to grow. “There are many new bands They have been around for five or six years, they have been recording productions and they are still active playing and giving concerts,” they agree.
“You may not see them on a TV show like we used to, but there are a lot of good bands out there, and they’re getting better and better,” they add.
In the particular case of the group, the key to its permanence has been knowing itself fit to the times, that’s how they understand it.
“We feed off of what is heard at the moment as well, we don’t stay with the wave of 1989 or 95, we are always listening new music and updating our sounds to make it sound more like now,” the band members emphasize
