Droz Band: The Monkeys Are Loud

It all started ten years ago, when five young men were inspired by the tale of a monkey that was the main attraction of a Russian circus and named their band “Droz”.

Bernardo Henriques (vocals, guitar), Ismael Henriquez (bass), Ricardo Gonzalez (guitar), Diego Manssur (guitar) and Andres Granja (drums) are the members of Droz, a pop punk band that began its musical career in 2000, when Ismael and Bernardo composed songs in their garage.

They started playing with small gigs at parties, Punk Union concerts and in the local media, performing their first studio song “What about the place”, which is included on their first EP.

The 2010 became a crucial year for Droz, after two years of rehearsing and composing, the “Monada” (Monkeys) as the band members are nicknamed, recorded 12 songs and a cover of Andres Calamaro’s song “Flaca” in their second album “Ideales Nocivos.”

The impact of “Flaca” was such that it was included in a tribute album to Calamaro which was then sold in Argentina and other international countries.

But the most popular song from the album “Ideales Nocivos” is entitled “Música es,” which is now sounding on national radios as well as in Colombian radios. Droz also decided to film a video clip of their song, which is currently broadcasted in the international chain MTV Latino. The video also won the award for best video clip in the Adrenalina Visual Festival and a My National Bands award.

The monada became more famous in 2011, and they began to do more live shows. “Ideales Nocivos” debuted and premiered their music video. The punk band also gave their fans two new songs that are not included in the album. One of them is “Sangre de campeón” (Champion’s blood) written and composed by Ismael and Bernardo respectively, as a tribute to their beloved soccer team: Barcelona Sporting Club (BSC).

The band participated in a competition organized by BSC to choose the 2012 song for the team. Droz swept the polls and won the contest, they performed their song at the Estadio Monumental in early 2012.

In addition, the band wanted to give a Christmas present to their fans, so they made a song called “El gordo de rojo” (The fat man in red) and uploaded it on Internet to make it available for free download.

“The plan is to continue making music,” says Bernardo, leader of the band.