Helicon (7)

Rock band from Mexico City, Mexico, formed in 1981 by Ezekiel Solis. Now based in Houston, Texas, USA. Helicon was born in the early 80's playing progressive rock and singing in English in Mexico City when rock in Spanish was not usual. Ezekiel Solis and Juan Blend were the original members playing just an acoustic guitar, drums and voice. There is a strange glow in Ezequiel Solís's gaze. It is a flash where sadness seems to have settled forever; however, that glow is the sign of something more than an evocation. Helicón Hidden Sites It is an unmistakable sign of those who seek to communicate and know they are unable to do so. It is not strange, types like Ezequiel abound in this city, but they are souls that cannot be touched because although they know of their existence, they have not been able to coincide in space and time. If it weren't for the music, Ezequiel would remain incommunicado: this, as for many, is his lifeline. Ezequiel Solís started out in music informally. With his guitar he joined Juan Blend (now a drummer for La Castañeda) and formed a group that would become a trio with the addition of guitarist Francisco Delahay. They decided to call themselves Helicón (mountain, according to Greek mythology, where the nine muses lived and from 1981 to 1985 they worked as a trio, until that year Delahay left and in their place came Swanny Canseco (keyboards) and Fanny Santos (bass). Then they made a mixture of progressive with tendencies to the experimental and whose lyrics, always of personal experiences, sought to understand the world. A year later, in 1986, Oswaldo de León (current guitarist of La Castañeda) joined the group instead of a bassist and the songs gain preponderance in the band's music. A year later Helicón goes on hiatus and Ezequiel and Juan temporarily join the Alquimia support band, to meet again in 1989 and carry out sporadic Presentations. Blend and de León would go on to found La Castañeda, and with them they took one of Ezequiel's songs (Norma Estrella, which with slight changes would become relatively popular as Norma's fever). Solo and fat Ignored, Solís decided to temporarily move away from music. He was one step away from becoming Ansia's bassist, but instead began production of what would be his debut, an eponymous tape released by Lejos del Paraíso recordings in 1992. Rogelio and Ezequiel played all the instruments and in the nine cuts (seven in English and two in Spanish) a dark tone predominated, a sign of the group's influences at that time: The Cure and Bauhaus, among others. Helicón was practically a studio band, because technically they made intermittent presentations, never enough to install their name in the memory of the followers of the Aztec rock scene. In reality, Helicón was a phantom group, an idea that dissipated from time to time when Ezequiel Solís appeared in public and reaffirmed his persistence six years after that debut, Helicón delivers Hidden Sites, his second album. Now it is a quartet (Sergio González, drums; Gabriel Rodríguez, bass; Rafael Rivera, keyboards, and Ezequiel Solís, guitar and voice), they have left English aside and diversified their themes. In addition, the production was carried out by Gerry, Caños Walraven (Consumatum Est), Mark Rodamilans and Ezequiel himself, and had the collaboration of Leonardo Delosane (Fobia), Pedro Valdés (Consumatum Est) and Rogelio Gómez (Ansia) in some compositions. Two songs from his first work (¿Qué es tu nombre? and Norma estrella) were re-recorded to be included in Hidden Sites. And although Helicón is an unknown band, in this album they have shown how to make direct and intense rock without giving up. A quatrain of songs: En tu piel, ¿Qué es tu nombre?, Nostalgia and Norma Estrella sound powerful, well-built and with wonderful guitar solos. The rest of the album does not detract and instead exhibits Ezequiel Solís on a much more mature plane. If his debut was obsessive, in Hidden Sites the diversity is striking. His lyrics are not entirely successful, and in that sense the music is far superior; in fact, if one concentrates on it, one discovers a group with a lot of potential yet to be developed. It only takes this renewed Helicón to move with agility through the rock clubs and in this way manage to implant its name in listeners and shed that ghostly halo that until now it has sheltered. Years active: 1981-1987, 1989-1998, 2019-present Members: Ezequiel Solis - guitar (1981-), vocals (1981-), bass (2019-) Thomas Sustaita - vocals (2019-) Mike E - Drums - (2019-) Former members: Juan Blend - drums (1981-?) Francisco Delahay - guitar (1981-1985) Swanny Canseco - keyboards (1985-?) Fanny Santos - bass (1985-1986) Oswaldo de León - bass (1986-?) Sergio González - drums (1997-?) Gabriel Rodríguez - bass (1997-?) Rafael Rivera - keyboards (1997-?)