Jester is a music group that is synonymous with Sant Andreu de Palomar, and this is key to understanding the project. The band is formed by Eloi Román on vocals, Mateu Vayreda on guitar, Joan Valentín on bass and Pau Basté on drums. They are from this Barcelona neighborhood and constantly claim this identity. From this love for the place that has seen them grow, a song dedicated to one of the most emblematic Andreuenc entities, the Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu, was born in 2023, titled Càntic dels de Sant Andreu.
His creative and personal universe is deeply traversed by this emotional connection with the football club, which a few days ago was proclaimed champion of Segona RFEF and received the homage of the neighbors in plaça Orfila, where his chant was not missing, already converted into an authentic anthem of the neighborhood.
The halftime of a match that changes everything
“Working with Sant Andreu is very easy,” they state from the group. They lavish praise on the entity for the support received from the first moment. In fact, in 2023 they played at halftime of a Sant Andreu - Terrassa match, on the same stage where The Police had done so forty years before. Far from becoming a tribute to that mythical group, it ended up being Jester's official presentation to society. “It was like a kind of presentation to society, a very emotional moment,” says the vocalist. A moment that gave them momentum to face the project. They share with the world of football the passion and the wildest character. “To link ourselves to the world with passion, as football does, was important for us,” they argue.
Regarding the popularity of the club, they recognize that it helps them to make themselves known and they celebrate their victories: “Whenever there is a promotion of Sant Andreu, it goes very well for us,” they say. Now they are at a decisive moment: this summer they will start performing from major festival to major festival and on September 25 they will release their first album, Personajes. Before, on June 27, they will release a single with a critical and social background dedicated to the monarchy, titled Letizia, first preview of an album full of characters and stories that will appeal to everyone. “We talk about characters we see on the street, who are our essence and who are also easily locatable in other areas of Barcelona,” they explain.
His/Her style, the 'quinquipop'
Musically, Jester is inscribed in a territory difficult to delimit. They themselves have opted to invent a label: the quinquipop. Quinqui, because their lyrics are born from the street, from the neighborhood and from the daily stories of their closest environment. And pop, because they are clear that they want to go far, connect with many people and make accessible music without renouncing their essence. A combination that, they say, allows them to be deeply local and, at the same time, openly universal. "No genre quite fit with what we did and with what we are, so we decided to create our own," they explain.
Even so, those from Sant Andreu acknowledge that they have referents that help define their style and their soul. They receive a great influence from the rock bands that played in the nineties, the same ones their parents listened to. This weight is noticeable both in the sound: with protagonist guitars, as in the aesthetics and the staging. Bands like Extremoduro, Oasis or Green Day are present in their music. But beyond the labels, what defines them is their gaze: “We want to make music for everyone; we like to say that we make rock for young people from 0 to 99 years old".
In 2017, the first steps
The name of the group is a whole declaration of intentions. Jester, which in English means jester, not only refers to a historical character who made the courts laugh while hiding an often solitary and sad life, but also encapsulates the way this Andreuenc quartet understands music: as a space to explain what weighs, what burns and what makes a neighborhood, always with a touch of playfulness and irony that seeks to distract, yes, but also to reclaim.
Its four members have very different backgrounds and tastes, from jazz to hip hop, passing through the most classic rock, and who have ended up finding an almost natural common ground. They themselves explain it with a metaphor: each one has a different 'superpower' and, instead of clashing, this makes them fit together like a gear.
The result of all this is a cohesive group that functions precisely because of this internal diversity. The current lineup consolidates in 2021, although the project had already begun to germinate in 2017. The four members have known each other for a long time and had already played together in other contexts, but it is at this moment when they decide to give shape, name, and direction to the proposal.
In 2022-2023 they decided to take a step forward and enrolled in Cabal Musical, a program promoted by Tallers de Músics that seeks to professionalize musicians from the northern area of Barcelona and which, according to them, has allowed them to grow, marking a turning point: what was once intuition now begins to have structure. In this sense, they are very grateful to the program and, especially, to their mentor, the producer Valen Nieto.
The immediate future will also take them to stages like the Heliogàbal venue, this Friday, May 8, where they will share the bill with other emerging acts like Wet Iguanas, and where they are about to sell out. You can buy tickets here.
And, as always, they will do it with this mix of nerve, neighborhood pride and the will to continue building a project, that like Sant Andreu, is growing.
