El Canto del Loco

El Canto del Loco ("The Song of the Madman" in English, sometimes abbreviated to ECDL) was a Spanish pop rock band, although its members recognize that some of their songs are more in the style of power pop. The name of the band comes from the song El Canto del Gallo by Radio Futura. The group was created in 1994 in Algete, Madrid, Spain by Dani Martín and Iván Ganchegui, who were both studying at the Cristina Rota School of Dramatic Arts. Their shared musical tastes resulted in the formation of the band. At this time the group also included a female drummer, a bassist and another guitarist. However, the latter soon left the group because of other commitments, and the day before their first concert David Otero, Dani's cousin, joined the group as a substitute. The drummer and bassist also decided to leave the group not long after. The band's original drummer was replaced by Jandro Velázquez, an electrician, who was the son of friends of Dani's parents. The position of bassist was filled by Chema Ruiz who was studying physiotherapy at the same university as David and who was a friend of one of his friends. With this line-up the band started to meet in a warehouse in the Algete area of Madrid in order to rehearse and their friends would act as critics. Influenced mainly by other Spanish groups from the 1980s and with five studio albums, El Canto del Loco went on to sell more than a million albums, making them one of the most successful bands on the Spanish music scene in recent years. The group announced their separation in 2010 as the members of the group wanted to pursue solo careers.