Biography Del Castillo

Left to right

Mark del Castillo – Guitar/Vocals
Rick del Castillo – Guitar/Vocals
Alex Ruiz – Lead Vocals/Guitar/Harmonica
Mike Zeoli – Drums
Albert Besteiro – Bass

DEL CASTILLO were formed as a family CD project in the winter of 2000, and the band now stands for the cross-cultural power of music with its crackling mixture of flamenco, rock, Latin, blues and world music.
Between publication of their first CD, Brothers of the Castle, in 2001 and Brotherhood, released in 2006, Del Castillo notched up an amazing number of awards. They included SXSW/Austin Music Award Album of the Year awards for their albums Vida in 2002 and Brotherhood in 2006, Band of the Year 2003, ASCAP’s Best Independent Group of the Year 2005, and the Austin Music Pundits’ Best Live Act of 2004.
Rolling Stone magazine described Del Castillo as “tumbling brilliance on nylon-string classical guitars with eruptions of technique and taste (that) conjure images of Eddie Van Halen fronting early Santana (with an assist from the Gipsy Kings).”

Film director Robert Rodriguez visited the band in 2002 at one of their concerts, and that encounter developed into a fabulous friendship. Rodriguez persuaded the band to contribute songs for the soundtracks of his movies Spy Kids 3D, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Sin City, and Grindhouse and to perform live at each film’s premiere. Rodriguez was so impressed by Del Castillo that he joined them spontaneously in the studio. Together as the group Chingon they recorded an amazing electric interpretation of the Mexican classic Malaguena Selerosa. Quentin Tarantino liked Malaguena Selerosa so much that he re-recorded the final scene of Kill Bill Vol. II to include the song in his movie. Del Castillo toured the entire U.S. until 2004, playing with artists such as Styx, Los Lonely Boys, Ozomatli, Don Henley, Los Lobos, and Willie Nelson, then continued their tour marathon non-stop until 2006.
They performed at Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July picnics and Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival and had many local and national TV appearances. Willie Nelson is a close friend of the band. He re-recorded his I Never Cared For You with them and says it is his “favorite version.” He is looking forward to going back on tour with the band again soon. In the course of 2008 Del Castillo began to play at major festivals all over the U.S. and Canada and thereby grew their audiences.

They were the headline act at the famous California Strawberry Music Festival, breaking all merchandising sales records. They were chosen to headline the 2009 festival immediately after their uproarious debut appearance at the Vancouver Folk Festival in Canada.

In December 2008 Castillo’s Rick and Mark were chosen by Gibson Global as two out of only six guitar players in the world to present their new state-of the-art Dark Fire Gibson Les Paul guitar line internationally.
The band’s fourth album, Del Castillo, was recorded in 2009. This time the songs took shape at joint sessions in Nashville. They are now a matter-of-course part of their shows.
Now, at last, the album is being released in Europe by The MUSIC Agents in November 13th. We can look forward with pleasurable anticipation to concerts that are scheduled for Spring 2010.

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