Izal (band)

IZAL
Izal in concert 2016
Izal in concert 2016
Background information
OriginMadrid, Spain
GenresIndie pop, Indie rock
Years active2010–2022
LabelsHook Ediciones Musicales, Altafonte
MembersMikel Izal
Alejandro Jordá
Emanuel Pérez
Alberto Pérez
Iván Mella
Websitewww.izalmusic.com

Izal, stylised as IZAL, was a Spanish indie band, formed in Madrid in 2010 by the lead singer Mikel Izal. The group disbanded in October 2022. The group released seven albums and two EPs during their existence, with a compilation album released in 2023. Their most successful album was Autoterapia (Self-therapy) which spent 134 weeks in the Spanish official album charts over four calendar years from 2018 to 2021, and earned their only album platinum disc.

The group members were Mikel Izal (composer, lead singer, guitarist), Alejandro Jordá (drums), Emanuel Pérez, also known as Gato (bass), Alberto Pérez (guitars), and Iván Mella (keyboards).[1][2]

History

Early years

Izal was formed in June 2010 in Madrid, though Mikel Izal and Emanuel Pérez had previously met up in September 2009 on a music project in Skopje, North Macedonia. The group took its name from the surname of the lead singer; this was at the behest of the other members of the band in order to head off Mikel Izal from deploying his own suggestions, such as El Último Hombre de Europa (The Last Man in Europe),[a] which were not so well received.[4]

Izal's first concert was 26 November 2010 in Madrid, at Sala Taboo, now known as Club Malasaña. This gig saw the launch of Izal's first record release, an EP, Teletransporte (Teletransport). Much of 2011 was spent playing small venues and festivals in Madrid and elsewhere in Spain, as well as developing material for their first album.[5] This was a self published and self distributed album Magia y Efectos Especiales (Magic and special effects) in March 2012.[6] The initial print run sold out, and was re-released in February 2014, where it spent three weeks in the album charts.[7]

In 2013 Izal released another album, Agujeros de Gusano, and this was distributed through mainstream channels. This entered the charts in October 2013 and reached 8th place in November, Izal's first commercial success. Their first recorded album, Magia y Efectos Especiales, followed in early 2014 and therefore is listed as their second album in terms of chart history.

Commercial success

Two years later came the third studio album, Copacabana, which entered the charts in September 2015 in number 2 position and was to spend 92 weeks there in total.[7]

Between these record releases, Izal spent significant time on the road, doing gigs at increasingly larger venues, and being pitched higher up in the running order of festivals.[8]. After Copacabana Izal developed a more themed approach to their own concerts, and were less reliant on supporting roles in festivals. They were also getting better radio airplay, video and music streaming exposure. Major retailers such as Fnac and El Corte Inglés were selling Izal's records, newspapers were interested in doing interviews with the group.[9]

Izal's live performances were used to create the VIVO album in 2017, before Izal had their biggest commercial success with the album Autoterapia. With good publicity and radio coverage Autoterapia went to number 2 in the official charts March 2018.[9][7] Izal appeared in a feature article in Esquire's Spanish edition.[10]

Up until 2019 the band spent much of their time touring and participating in festivals inside Spain. There was a solo concert by Mikel Izal for the Sucre International Festival in Quito, Ecuador in June 2011.[11] Their first concert as a band outside of Spain came in October 2014 when they performed at the Scala in London.[12] This was followed in April 2015 when they played three concerts in Argentina. Emanuel Pérez is from Henderson, Argentina.[13]. They returned to Argentina in February 2019, and at different times Izal toured the United States, Mexico, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, France and Ireland, performing mainly in festivals. Their first gig in the United States was 2 July 2015 at the Instituto Cervantes in Chicago. They appeared at SXSW in Austin, Texas in March 2017.[14].

In the early months of 2018 Izal become embroiled in a social media crisis. A number of women accused Mikel Izal of sexual harassment on X, then known as Twitter. Mikel Izal flatly denied any such harassment, and the allegations did not evolve further. The group and Mikel Izal found this the most traumatic stage of their career. When they released the album Hogar in 2021, it included a track called Meiuqèr — Requiem spelt backward — the lyrics of which addressed the pain they felt when the accusations were being circulated: "A whole year of doubt and silence, of hangover, whip, and salt. Of fighting, of risking my life, killing all truth with lies."[15]

Launch of Autoterapia

The launch of the album Autoterapia at the end of 2018 prompted two sets of tours. The first tour round was also known as Autoterapia, and was launched with Izal's return to Argentina, at the Roxy, Buenos Aires, on 6 February 2019. The first performance in Spain was the Coliseum in A Coruña on 23 February. The Autoterapia tour made full use of projections as part of the performances. There were standalone events, including at the WiZink Center in Madrid, and an adapted version for use at festivals. The tour ended in October 2019, and had attracted 500,000 spectators.[16]

In November 2019 Izal announced a second tour based on the Autoterapia album.[17] The tour started in Granada for two nights starting 21 February 2020, then a further two nights in Barcelona, before going to Zaragoza for a single night on 9 March. The tour was scheduled with 12 performances in seven cities, and was due to end after two nights in Madrid on 19 April 2020.[18] The tour was given the name of El Final del Viaje, the End of the Journey. On 13 March the Spanish government announced a state of alarm, restricting non-essential activities, as part of their response to the emerging Covid-19 pandemic. The tour was cut short after the Zaragoza show, with the remaining performances eventually cancelled.[19] When restrictions were eased in the middle of 2021, Izal restarted the tour on 4 July 2021 in Valencia, with health restrictions in place, but this time dubbed El Pequeño Gran Final del Viaje (the Small Great End of the Journey), one of the many wordplays that came from Izal's 2015 song, Pequeña Gran Revolución (Small Great Revolution).[20]

End of Izal

In 2022, after two years with a limited roster of live performances, Izal launched a new set of tour dates, based around their last studio album Hogar. Hogar was different from their previous studio albums in that Izal engaged the services of the English producer Brett Shaw, who had previously worked with Florence and the Machine and Foals, as well as Spanish producer Sancho Gómez-Escolar. In February 2022 Izal announced that the last gig of that tour, on 29 October 2022 at WiZink Center in Madrid, would be the band's final concert. Due to the demand for tickets triggered by that announcement, Izal added an additional night at the same venue on 28 October. The band framed this as an "indefinite halt"[b] to their activities.[11][21] The last song performed by Izal on both nights was La mujer de verde.[22][23]

A year later Mikel Izal was interviewed as to the reasons behind the end of Izal. He said that it was his decision, prompted by his own artistic restlessness. He said the other members of the band were understanding of his motives.[24]

Singles

None of their singles were eligible for gold or platinum discs through the official Spanish singles chart, however their record distribution companies certified six songs in 2019 for platinum and gold discs as singles: Copacabana was certified as double platinum; Pequeña Gran Revolución, El Baile, Qué Bien and Pausa as platinum; and La Mujer de Verde as gold. At the time Qué Bien was their most popular Spotify track, with 22 million streams.[25]

List of singles, with selected chart positions
Released Single Peak chart position Weeks in chart
SPA
[26]		 SPA
[26]
2015 Copacabana 72 3
2018 El Pozo (The well) 51 5
2018 Pausa (Pause) 46 4
2018 Autoterapia (Self-therapy) 97 1
2020 La Buena Sombra (The good shade) 97 1

Albums

Izal released five studio albums, and two live performance albums. A further double album was released in 2023, after the band's dissolution, which was a compilation of singles, and some live versions in collaboration with other artists.[7]

Izal's most successful album was Autoterapia, their fourth studio album, which went to number 2 in the album charts by sales in March 2018, and number 1 by streaming.[27] One reviewer noted that Izal's sound was "becoming increasingly distinctive and identifiable."[28]

All but one of their albums made appearances in the official Spanish charts. Izal's least successful chart album was the 2023 compilation Pequeños grandes éxitos, with a single week in the charts.

List of albums, with selected chart positions
Released Album Peak chart position Weeks in chart Certifications
SPA
[7]		 SPA
[7]
2012 Magia y Efectos Especiales (Magic and special effects) 33 3
2014 Agujeros de Gusano (Worm holes) 8 42
2014 Directo Sonorama 2014 (Festival live performance)[29]
2015 Copacabana 2 92 SPA: Gold[30]
2017 VIVO (Copacabana live performance) 3 30
2018 Autoterapia (Self-therapy) 2 134 SPA: Platinum[31]
2021 Hogar (Home) 2 60 SPA: Gold[32]
2023 Pequeños Grandes Éxitos (Small great hits) (compilation) 78 1

Extended play records

Izal's first record was an EP, Teletransporte, released in November 2010. Towards the end of the band's career Izal released their second and final EP, Micro abierto (Open mike) in March 2020. This second EP had collaborations with other artists.[33]

Musical style

Izal has been labelled as an indie group, and compared to another Spanish indie group, Love of Lesbian. Mikel Izal has stated that their musical genre is their own, and has suggested their style as pop arquitectónico (architectural pop).[1] In later interviews Mikel Izal suggested that while the band was in the pop and rock category, their songs did have folk, psychedelic and flamenco influences.[11] Miguel Ángel Bargueño, who wrote a biography of the band, said:[34]

IZAL was categorized as indie, and they were: radically independent, since they never had a record label. Beyond that, one can find traces in their composition that have little to do with the "indie sound", if such a thing exists. Well into their career, Mikel's lyrics maintained a singer-songwriter feel. Alberto's guitar style is quite close to traditional rock, not to mention Iván's keyboards, often a legacy of progressive rock. Gato broke the languid bass lines of indie by introducing, if the song called for it, flourishes that could have been on a Red Hot Chili Peppers album. Those ingredients are not found in the music of other indie bands.

Notes

  1. ↑ Last Man in Europe was George Orwell's alternative title for his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.[3]
  2. ↑ The Spanish words used on their social media channels were: "el grupo parará de forma indefinida." [11]

References

  1. 1 2 Sánchez, J. M. (6 November 2012). "Izal: «Para nosotros es muy importante no ser un clon de nadie»" [Izal: "It is very important for us not to be a clone of anyone"]. Diario ABC (in Spanish). Madrid. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  2. ↑ Bargueño 2024, p. 5.
  3. ↑ Orwell, George (1968). Orwell, Sonia; Angus, Ian (eds.). The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell Vol. IV: In Front Of Your Nose 1945-1950. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 448. Retrieved 19 May 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ Bargueño 2024, p. 139.
  5. ↑ Bargueño 2024, pp. 69, 136, 145, 158.
  6. ↑ "DCODE Festival 2013: Artistas". DCODE Festival. Madrid. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Izal: Charts statistics (albums)". spanishcharts.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2025. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  8. ↑ Bargueño 2024, pp. 253–258.
  9. 1 2 Bargueño 2024, pp. 295–298.
  10. ↑ Cordero, Gonzalo (5 April 2018). ""Izal abre cabezas, tiene percebes por dientes y se apellida Soltero"" [Izal cracks skulls, has barnacles for teeth, and his last name is Soltero]. Esquire (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Fariñas, Tamara (22 February 2022). "El grupo Izal dirá adiós tras su concierto en el WiZink de Madrid: "Os echaremos de menos"" [The band Izal will say goodbye after their concert at the WiZink Centre in Madrid: "We will miss you"]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  12. ↑ Bargueño 2024, p. 262.
  13. ↑ Bargueño 2024, p. 270.
  14. ↑ Bargueño 2024, pp. 12, 302, 311.
  15. ↑ Uceda, Queralt (26 February 2022). "Mikel Izal dedica una canción a la época más oscura de su carrera en su último álbum" [Mikel Izal dedicates a song to the darkest period of his career on his last album]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  16. ↑ Bargueño 2024, pp. 350, 361.
  17. ↑ Cobos, Esther (17 October 2019). "El Final del Viaje". La MusiKalité (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
  18. ↑ Bargueño 2024, pp. 361–364.
  19. ↑ Bargueño 2024, p. 365.
  20. ↑ Pérez de Ziriza, Carlos (5 July 2021). "Izal, viaje sideral en reconversión postpandémica (critíca)" [Izal, a cosmic journey in post-pandemic recovery (review)]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Archived from the original on 5 July 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
  21. ↑ Bargueño 2024, pp. 378, 393–394.
  22. ↑ Bargueño 2024, p. 406.
  23. ↑ Valle, Noemí (30 October 2022). "Izal, crónica de su concierto en Madrid (2022)" [Izal, report on their Madrid concert (2022)]. MondoSonoro (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  24. ↑ Caballero Serrano, Alejandro (12 December 2023). "Entrevistamos a Mikel Izal por su primer disco en solitario" [We interview Mikel Izal about his first solo record]. MondoSonoro (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 June 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  25. ↑ "Izal recibe certificaciones por 6 de sus canciones" [Izal receives certification for six of their singles]. Vinilo Negro (in Spanish). 19 September 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  26. 1 2 "Izal: Charts statistics (singles)". spanishcharts.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2026. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  27. ↑ "15 de marzo" [On this day: 15 March]. Vinilo Negro (in Spanish). 15 March 2021. Archived from the original on 15 March 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  28. ↑ Queipo, Alan (9 March 2018). "Izal, crítica del disco Autoterapia en MondoSonoro 2018" [Izal: critique of album Autoterapia on MondoSonoro 2018]. MondoSonoro (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  29. ↑ "Directo Sonorama 2014 (En directo)". ProStudioMasters. Retrieved 7 June 2026.
  30. ↑ "Top 100 Albumes: Lista Anual 2016". Promusicae. Madrid. Archived from the original on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  31. ↑ "Top 100 Albumes: Lista Anual 2020". Promusicae. Madrid. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  32. ↑ "Top 100 Albumes: Lista Semana 02: del 06.01.2023 al 12.01.2023". Promusicae. Madrid. 27 January 2023. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  33. ↑ Bargueño 2024, pp. 144, 362.
  34. ↑ Bargueño 2024, p. 14.

Further reading

  • Bargueño, Miguel Ángel (2024). Izal: una pequeña revolución [Izal: A small revolution] (in Spanish). Barcelona: Libros Cúpula (Editorial Planeta SA). ISBN 978-84-480-4100-7. OCLC 1437241430.
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