For Diego Solórzano, Rey Pila is a musical project that has evolved from a solo venture to a band and has marked its path outside the conventions of the music industry.
Rey Pila is a band that is considered alien to the mainstream. As outsiders they have marked their own musical direction and reinforce it in their fourth production, they are Strange I (Arts & Crafts, 2025). The album was published this year and the band has just launched the Deluxe version with four additional tracks.
“One of the things that we see positive is that we have rejected the mainstream, but we see rejection as a blessing, we do not see it as bad, because the one that has been rejected has allowed us to develop our own style,” says Diego Solórzano in a talk with the economist.
Rey Pila was born from the ashes of another musical project of Solórzano, the Dynamite, and published his homonymous debut album in 2010. The LP Rey Pila is considered by Solórzano more as a solo project, unlike how today assimilates Rey Pila: a band.
His first album, recorded in the Hole in the Sky Studios in New York, was characterized by trying to emulate what was happening in the music scene in the United States and England, with a more Anglo sound.
It was until the integration of Rodrigo Blanco, Andrés Velasco and Miguel Hernández, and with the publication of the single “Alexander” when Rey Pila became, on a whole rule, a band.
On the way the band was signed by Cult Records, the label of Julian Casablancas, by The Strokes, with which the band published the album The Future Sugar (2015). Between 2017 and 2019 he launched the EP’s Wall of Goth (2017) and Lucky No.7 (2019), while his third long -term album, Velox Veritas, was edited in 2020.
Behind the production of an album
The fourth record material of the band, are Strange, was produced by Paul Salva and was recorded in the Sonic Ranch studios in Marfa, Texas, a place that has become an operations center for the band. Salva stands out for its production of electronic music. He has collaborated with artists such as Young Thug, Whiz Khalifa, DJ Shadow, Jamie Lidell, Rihanna and Matt & Kim, among others.
Rey Pila began recording the album in 2021. “We always took our time to get records, but possibly this has been the one that has taken the longest,” says Rodrigo Blanco.
In are Strange I King Pila again mix letters in English and Spanish, something that he did not do since his debut album. The recent work proposes a minimalist sound, close to the music of nightclubs. “That was the idea we had above all after working with save. It is a sign of the process with which the band has refined their sound after years of work,” says Solórzano.
“We always arrive with things quite formed to the study, and with tracks or recorded stems. The voice is always the last thing we record,”Add Diego.
For Andrés Velasco (guitar), working with a quality producer from Paul Salva helped the album not sinning overproduction. “I think (Paul) was essential to give it clarity, with few elements but well carved. As their specialty is the beats, it was normal.
For its part, Rodrigo Blanco comments: “We have a system to which we have been very faithful. Diego works the ideas and for when we get into the study the songs are already very armed. What we do is polish or record things that we cannot do in a homemade study: voices, batteries, guitars and so on, but every time for me it represents less stress.”
Andrés Velasco adds that ”with the time internally the old songs. We have made arrangements so that they sound more in line with what we are currently doing. We are updating the live show actively. Obviously the longer you are playing, you specialize, you are becoming better and you also enjoy the shows.”
The band has plans to return to the study and work in their next record material. For now, two presentations are scheduled: in Monterrey on September 19 and in Guadalajara on October 24), dates in which it will be accompanied by the promiseland and The Shelter projects.
Diego, Andrés and Rodrigo have established and developed a musical formula that pursues constant change, but maintains the essence, the rhythm and sound called Rey Pila.
