Doctor Prats from Egarense are one of the most established bands in Catalan music. For eight years, they have performed more than 500 concerts, published four albums, won several awards and visited countries such as France, Hungary and Japan.
But after almost a decade without leaving the stage, they have decided to stop. In November, they announced that they will not perform any concerts until 2025 and that to say goodbye they have organized a small tour that this weekend will take them to four towns with four different proposals. And to analyze both this format and its future, singer Marc Riera and bassist Miki Santamaría have spoken with La Vanguardia.
Both Riera and Santamaría agree that the decision to stop “had already been brewing for a long time” and speak of a clear handicap: “Every time we have made an album, then we have been on tour for two years and we had little time to prepare the next one.” ”. “Now we want to have a whole year just to make an album and take it easy,” says Santamaría. “If before we made 12 songs and all 12 went on the album, now we want to make 30 and only 12 go on it,” adds Riera.
They also claim that the pandemic did not help them. They acknowledge that even then they had the idea of stopping but one of their members, Guillem Boltó, created Stay Homas and left the group. “We had to rebuild ourselves, and now that we are, it's time to stop and gain perspective, away from the stage,” says the singer, who also remembers how there were months in which they didn't know “if we would play again.”
Now, with the decision made to leave the stage temporarily, Riera and Santamaría are looking forward to this farewell tour, as they affirm that although it is an experience that the public will enjoy, it is designed mainly for them. “We have everything figured out, from where we will play to where we will eat,” explains the vocalist. “It is easy for these goodbyes to end up being a problem and we want it to remain in the memory,” he adds.
The format is worth it. At first, they considered doing a concert at the Sant Jordi Club but they ruled it out because they wanted something “more magical.” “We realized that, we who have made so much territory, it would be cool to say goodbye to each province,” says Riera. And after deciding, they saw how, instead of the four provincial capitals, it made sense to “visit those towns that have marked us,” she explains.
Finally, the chosen locations were Cassà de la Selva on Friday, Balaguer and Reus this Saturday and finally Terrassa on Sunday. In addition, each recital will be free and different from the previous one - a parade, an acoustic vermouth and a costumed show -, and a final concert in the city of Egarense that will feature special guests. “They will be close artists who have accompanied us throughout this history,” Riera advances.
In addition, so that the public feels more involved in the experience, they have launched a “crazy challenge”: they have designed a special t-shirt with the four farewell dates and in each city they will put a stamp, so whoever attends the four concerts You can prove it with all the dates stamped and, as a gift, you will receive “a batch of Doctor Prats products and access to a meet
Looking back, both Santamaría and the singer fondly remember something unknown to many: when they worked with Juanjo Monserrat, one of the authors of Tacones Rojos and producer of Sebastián Yatra, who helped them on their last album, Pel cantó bo; and with Phredley Brown, guitarist and musical director of Bruno Mars, with whom they shared a day of study in 2017 and invited them backstage at the Hawaiian artist's concert at the Palau Sant Jordi. “It was our first steps with famous producers,” jokes the bassist.
Looking to the future, they acknowledge that they still have nothing written for their next album, although they have begun to contact people, but what they do have are two clear things. That theirs “is not an indefinite stop but a defined one,” because “in 2025 we will return,” Santamaría says. And after everything achieved, the great challenge of training is “to maintain ourselves and continue learning, there is a lot of room for improvement,” says Riera. “And play at the Sabadell festival, which is the only big one we have left,” concludes the singer, from Terrassa.
