Los Mac's Mac's

"Mac's" (1968) by Los Mac's is released now on vinyl, from the original IRT masters! Los Mac's were one of the first rock bands formed in Chile. They are justly considered pioneers of rock in Chile, and although their history ended before the beginning of the seventies, their mark is fundamental in the history of the genre in the country. Los Mac's was one of the inaugural bands of Chilean rock, started in Valparaíso in 1962 and left as a heritage a classic song of the psychedelic music of the sixties: "La muerte de mi hermano", composed by their fellow countryman Payo Grondona. The group started in 1962 in the neighborhood of Playa Ancha, as a rock cover band that was revealed and heard in some national radios. It was the surname of the brothers David and Carlos Mac-Iver (its first exponents) that gave the group its name. During their teenage years, in Playa Ancha, the Mac-Iver brothers met frequently with budding figures of Chilean culture, such as the singer-songwriters Gitano Rodríguez, Payo Grondona and the poet Sergio Badilla Castillo. In 1965, after playing in festivals and universities in Buenos Aires, they moved to Santiago, where they met the composer and keyboardist Willy Morales, who shared the same musical interests and decided to join the group, later incorporating Eric Franklin. Morales was the son of artists and like Franklin, came from the experience of a very popular group (Alan y sus Bates). Now, with their own songs, Los Mac's began a new stage that would mark the history of national rock. Their initial singles were recorded starting in 1964, under an agreement with the record company RCA. That same music company backed the album "Go Go / 22", their first full-length, in 1966, with songs by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Shadows, Bob Dylan and only one original "No Te Comprendo" (authored by Willy Morales). The Mac's were strongly influenced by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's lonely hearts club band, which led them to experiment in the field of psychedelia, prior to the recording of their album Kaleidoscope Men, released in December 1967. This is, perhaps, their most representative work that remained as a legacy for the history of Chilean rock. The instrumental track "El Evangelio de la Gente Sola" (where the electric organ of Willy Morales stands out) is simply overwhelming and hallucinating. In 1968, the group, led by the hand of Morales, decides to leave for Europe, with a farewell concert at the Santa Maria University. They settled in Genoa, Italy, but for various reasons the band disbanded the following year.