Germán Vargas, former drummer of the I Don't Know Who and the I Don't Know How Many, told the hidden story of the Peruvian rock band through an extensive Twitter thread, where he not only accused Raúl Romero, a remembered conductor of Habacilar, to copy songs by other authors, but also to cause conflicts within the music group.
Through his official account, the musician recounted the beginnings of the band. According to his version: “The story of the I Don't Know Who begins in my room, at my house, with Fernando Ríos, a friend of the school. I played drums and he played bass. Kids, we were 16 or something like that,” he said.
“Then I met Raúl Romero, in La Católica. Actually, first I met a cassette with his recordings. At the same time I met Alfredo Sillau because we were both teachers at the Trener (...) Then I organized a meeting at my house, because there was the drummer that is difficult to move: Alfredo Sillau, Fernando Ríos, Raúl Romero and a guitar-maker friend, and me with the drums.”
With the band formed, the group gave its first concert at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru, where the name of the NSQ and the NSC was finally born. “Everything sounded lousy, out of tune. We stopped like three times and we had to make jokes to make things happen piola. And people were applauding. We were the baddest group in the world and the Catholic loved us,” he wrote.
CONFLICT WITH RAUL ROMERO
In his Twitter thread, Germán Vargas told that the quarrels began after the success of the song “Magdalena”, precisely during the creation of the song “Las Torres”, officially released in 1991, on the second album “With respect that they deserve”.
“Since Raúl (whom we called Estrellita) didn't make it to the soundcheck, we continued to test the sound Alfredo, Fernando and me. In that sound check we did Las Torres. We did it all, it was missing lyrics. Alfredo went home and arrived with the lyrics written for the evening's concert. And he sang it that night. We had Raul touch graves. That's why Raúl doesn't sing Las Torres,” he said.
According to the former drummer, the current lyrics of the song “Las Torres” are very different from the original and were initially planned to be released on the band's first album, called “No somos nada”. However, “the label, EMI, told us to save it for the second. A lot happened between the first and the second.”
“The song Las Torres (Los Terroristos) was composed long before it aired (distorted). I was there when it was composed but not when it was redone, changing the lyrics to fulfill the political task”, wrote the former drummer.
“The political quarrels with Romero prevented making music in fashion and with height. I don't work with geisha, and I left (...) Going from being a contestant group to being a group of comechados. No,” added Germán, who also assured that they tried to take him out of the photos after his retirement.
ACCUSES HIM OF PLAGIARISM
After admitting that it was the attack on Tarata Street that ended up “breaking the ties” they had, Germán Vargas accused Raúl Romero of appropriating the lyrics of other little-known singers.
“And well, Raúl plagiarized Spanish songs without telling us (...) Raúl plagiarized songs from his friends at the University, such as Ato Buroncle, for example,” he wrote.
In his story, Vargas explained that he does not remember what exact songs were copied by the popular 'Cara de haba'. However, he does remember having a “phenomenal problem” because of that bad practice, as a journalist at the time noticed it. “He's an artist, but a crooked human being,” he said.
“In the history of the nosewho there are many more things, stories of betrayal, of personalisms, much beyond music. Fame is a perverse path,” added the founder of the I Don't Know Who and the I Don't Know How Many on Twitter. His posts have gone viral on the platform.
KEEP READING: