Rulo y la contrabanda

Having previously declared he would never work with another band again following his departure from La Fuga, frontman Raul Gutierrez teamed up with a string of established musicians just a year later to form Spanish pop/rock outfit Rulo y la Contrabanda. Based in Reinosa, Cantabria, Raul recruited old bandmate Adolfo Garmendia and Dani Baraldes (Macaco) on guitar, bassist Quique Mavilla (Distrito 14), and drummer Karlos Arancegui (Ivan Ferreiro) in 2010, and after working with producer Javier San Martin, released the chart-topping debut album Señales de Humo in the same year.

The group followed it up in 2011 with the live album Ras de Cielo en Directo Desde Santander. Especies en Extinción followed near the end of 2012, and reached as high as number two on the Spanish charts. The documentary and book Adentro, un Inventario de Emociones appeared one year later. The live set Una Noche en el Castillo arrived in September 2014, and Rulo's proper third album was finally released in 2016. El Doble de Tu Mitad performed very well, making it his first number one album in Spain since Señales de Humo. ~ Jon O'Brien