Dover (band)

Dover
Background information
Origin	Madrid, Spain
Genres	Rock Grunge Punk rock (early) Electropop (later)
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Everlasting-Caroline Subterfuge Records Chrysalis Records Loli Jackson Records Sony Music Entertainment Spain
Website	Official website
Members
Amparo Llanos Cristina Llanos Jesús Antúnez Samuel Titos
Past members
Álvaro Gómez Álvaro Díez

Dover is a well-known Spanish pop-rock band from Madrid that sings in English in most of their songs. Its current lineup is:

• Amparo Llanos, guitar and band leader
• Cristina Llanos, singer and guitar
• Jesús Antúnez, drums
• Samuel Titos, bass guitar

Band history

Beginnings and "Sister"

Dover came outside Madrid, in a small rehearsal at Boadilla del Monte, in the early 90s when Cristina Llanos, then 17, decided to form a rock band encouraged by the irradiated alternative scene from Seattle. The group's name was formed from a brand name of a clothing store that her mother owned in Majadahonda. Joining the project was her sister, 10 years her senior, Amparo. In 1994, drummer Jesús Antúnez and bassist Álvaro Gómez joined the band. One of the demo tapes of the group went to the program radio Disco Grande de RNE Radio 3. The band then signed a one-year contract with the small independent label Everlasting-Caroline. Their debut album Sister of 1995 lacked Promotion and sold poorly, by the lack of promotion in addition to the inexperienced label however, the Spanish Music fanzine Mondo Sonoro included the album among the national Top 10 of the year. Despite the limited success in terms of album sales, this helped Dover manage to gain a foothold in the music scene in Madrid and even recorded their first music video "Come With Me" by John Bouillon, but this song was not released as a single properly, though it was the most demanded for at concerts by fans.

Breakthrough, "Devil Came to Me"

The contract with Caroline was only a year and, to finalise this, they signed with the independent label Subterfuge Records. Their first involvement with the label was to have a demo version of Loli Jackson in the multi-band compilation album "Stereoparty 2". This success motivated the track record to produce their second album and so enter the Infinity Studios in Madrid in 1997 to record the album Devil Came to Me on a tight budget of 80,000 pesetas and in just 20 days. The album is released on April 21, 1997, a fragment of the album's title track (specifically the chorus with the phrase ".. I lied for you, I lied for you .") was included in a popular television commercial by Radical Fruit Company which gave them great fame and the band was launched to national fame. During the promotion of this album, in 1997, the bassist was replaced by Álvaro Díez, who had been part of the band in its infancy. The album sold over 500,000 copies and gained them fans abroad in Europe and America. They released their official first single from the album, "Serenade", a song that, thanks to its strong chorus and catchy melody, manages to become their first number one in Spain. Juan Bouillon again direct their next music video. The song "Loli Jackson" is featured by Daniel Calparaso on his movie "blind", and a video for the song is recorded.

"Late at Night" "I Was Dead for 7 Weeks in the City of Angels" and "The Flame"

The relationship with Subterfuge Records deteriorated and they signed with Chrysalis Records label owned by EMI Music. In 1998 they quickly created their own label Loli Jackson Records. With their newly created label Dover soon published several independent groups. The following year they released their third album Late at night, recorded in Seattle with Barret Jones. It was released on 28 June of that year with great expectations created by its first single "DJ" that quickly became number one in Spain; something totally new for a Rock Band. With the greatest hits album promoted as the song "DJ", or "CherryLee" which was popularized in an advertisement of then-recent Peugeot 206. This success soon propelled them to their first international tour that took them to Germany, England, Holland, Mexico, the United States among others. In February 2000 the album was already triple platinum with 300,000 thousand copies sold in Spain alone.

In 2000, received an award from MTV Europe for Best Spanish Artist. In 2001, Chrysalis reissued their first album Sister including the unreleased song 'Noche Tras Noche'. In May of that year they soon entered 'Grandmasters studies Recorder' to record their new album, again accompanied by Barrett Jones. Titled "I Was Dead for 7 Weeks in the City of Angels." Their first single, released on September 3 of the year, was 'King George'. The album itself was released on September 17, 2001 and in just ten days sold 125,000 copies.

In 2003, the musical crisis forces them to close their record company and sign with EMI Music. On 27 October of that year, their fifth album The Flame, was quickly released. This time the album was co-produced by Rick Will and recorded entirely in Spain. Sales are not in their favor this time and they barely reach 60,000 copies. In May 2005, bassist Álvaro Díez is expelled from the group and replaced by Samuel Titos, former guitarist and vocalist of 'Sperm'. In late 2005 they become the first group to support the NGO Oxfam.

Pop Reinvention, "Follow the City Lights"

For months, the group begins to compose what would be their new album. Dover announced that it would be a change that would leave everyone pleasantly surprised. And so in October 2006 they released a new album called Follow the city lights, produced by Daniel Alcover. Dover's style changes radically, introducing electronic arrangements in their music.

The first single from this album, "Let Me Out", received a Premio Ondas for Best Song in 2006. Also, the single reached number 1 on the Spanish charts Los 40 Principales for 4 weeks. Furthermore Let Me Out soon became number one on the Spanish iTunes Music Store. The second single from the album was "Do Ya", which featured on the computer game FIFA 08. A third single was also released from the album, "Keep on Moving". Each single was accompanied by a music video.

In November 2007 they released their first double disc compilation of Dover, entitled "2", which contains many of the successful singles and tracks released by Dover, including a new song called Soldier. The same year they toured with La Oreja de Van Gogh.

In late 2008 Dover made a tour through Germany and Europe up to February 2009 in the promotion of the album "2." In March 2009 they subsequently signed a contract with Sony-BMG. In several interviews they announced that their forthcoming seventh album would come out in 2010, according to press releases issued by the record label Sony drive would be available in late October 2010.

Ika Kenee, 2010

On July 31 Dover released the first single from their upcoming album onto YouTube, entitled 'Dannaya'. It is sung in Bambara, an African language and English and, according to their Facebook page, the single is inspired by a Malian immigrant they met.

Band Influences

Despite Dover being a Spanish band most of their songs are written in English. The two sisters of the band create the music, Amparo composing and Cristina writing the lyrics.

The reason that the lyrics are in English, according to the group, because their rock influences have always been primarily English bands and do not feel comfortable using Spanish lyrics for their songs.

Both sisters insist they receive strong influences from The Beatles and grunge, especially Nirvana. Presumably these influences are evident in the music. Thus, referring to Paul McCartney in King George (I need a McCartney song); in 27 Years, where they make reference to a famous song of his: Band on the Run, and in their latest album, Follow The City Lights, one of the songs which is called 'Dear McCartney'. In addition, in their song 'The Weak Hour of the Rooster', a verse quotes the last sentence of the suicide note of Kurt Cobain, the leader of Nirvana, just before committing suicide: "It's better to burn out Than to fade away".

For their album, Follow The City Lights, Dover have claimed that their influences have been artists like Madonna or Peaches.

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Chart pos.	Sales/Certification
		SPA
1995	Sister First studio album Released: 1995 Formats: CD
1997	Devil Came to Me Second studio album Released: 1997 Formats: CD	1	Worldwide sales: 500,000 Cert. 5x Platinum
1999	Late at Night Third studio album Released: 26 June 1999 Formats: CD	1	Worldwide sales: 300,000 Cert. 3x Platinum
2001	I Was Dead for 7 Weeks in the City of Angels Fourth studio album Released: 17 September 2001 Formats: CD	1	Worldwide sales: 215,000 Cert. 2x Platinum
2003	The Flame Fifth studio album Released: 27 October 2003 Formats: CD	12	Worldwide sales: 50,000 Cert. Gold
2006	Follow the City Lights Sixth studio album Released: 10 October 2006 Formats: CD, Digital	4	Worldwide sales: 180,000 Cert. 2xPlatinum
2010	I Ka Kené Seventh studio album Released: Due 4 October 2010 Formats: CD, Digital	14	Worldwide sales: 15,000

Compilations albums

Year	Title	Chart pos.	Sales/Certification
		SPA
2007	2 Hits compilation/Remix album Released: 27 November 2007 Formats: CD, Digital	30	Sales Spain: +25.000

Singles

Album	Singles
Devil Came to Me	Serenade Loli Jackson Devil Came To Me Judas
Late at Night	DJ Cherry Lee The Hitter Far Flashback
I Was Dead for 7 Weeks in The City of Angels	King George The Weak Hour of the Rooster Better Day Big Mistake
It's Good to Be Me	Mystic love
The Flame	The Flame Honest Die for Rock & Roll Mi Sombrero Leave Me Alone
Follow The City Lights	Let Me Out Do Ya Keep On Moving
2	Soldier Serenade 07
I Ka Kené	Dannayá Under Your Spell

EP

• 2002: "It's Good To Be Me"

DVD

• 2003: "DOVER: 1993-2003"

Video

• 2001: "Dovercametome"

See also

• List of bands from Spain

External links

• [1] Band's Facebook page.