Aterciopelados’ Echeverri To Co-Headline La Banda Elastica Magazine Awards.

Best known as the frontwoman for acclaimed Colombian Latin alternative band Aterciopelados, Andrea Echeverri has long captivated audiences with her potently melodic brand of feminism. On Nov. 24th, she will showcase material from her forthcoming solo debut as she co-headlines the La Banda Elastica Magazine Awards along with such notables as El Gran Silencio, Ely Guerra, Ojos de Brujo, and Nino Astronauta.

After the critical and commercial success of 2001’s “Gozo Poderoso”, which landed Aterciopelados on the Top 10 of the Billboard Top Latin Albums Sales chart as well as a coveted appearance on the ‘Tonight Show with Jay Leno’, Echeverri took time off for the birth of her first child Milagros, who has proven to be new point of artistic inspiration. The result is the self-titled album “Andrea Echeverri”, Andrea’s first solo release. The disc was produced by Hector Buitrago from Aterciopelados and mixed by Thom Russo (Juanes, Kinky, Johnny Cash), and also features a remix from Richard Blair (Sidestepper).

As a pierced and tattooed female rocker hailing from a conservative country, Andrea Echeverri is used to challenging audiences on multiple continents. At the start of Aterciopelados’ musical career, Echeverri once sang a song about not wanting to ruin her figure by becoming pregnant. Although she’s now settled down with a partner and child, it doesn’t mean that Echeverri isn’t finding new ways to candidly express what it means to be a woman. Indeed, the album captures the newfound sensuality that can result from parenthood and entering new phases of one’s life in true Andrea Echeverri fashion. “There are a lot of things in the record that speak about things in an obvious or frank way,” she says. “There’s a lot in the lyrics about pregnancy, how you blow up big, that milk comes out of your breasts. Normal things, but when they happen to you they are miraculous, incredible things.”

On “A Eme O”, the album’s upbeat first single, Echeverri sings “Since you were born, I’ve become a better lover. It’s as if you’ve unplugged my tubes.” On the chill-out lullaby track “Baby Blues”, she observes the bond between mother and daughter as Milagros cries late at night. “Some songs are written for Milagros, but they sound like they’re written for a lover,” said Echeverri. Going ever further, she satirizes the highly sexualized lyrics of the Colombian genre called champeta, naming one of the album’s tracks ‘Lactochampeta.’ “It’s kind of a joke, because it has explicit lyrics about lactating,” muses Echeverri.

After a recent series of successful tour dates (including headlining the Latin Alternative Music Conference’s “Women Who Rock” concert in front of 10,000 people at the Santa Monica Pier), Andrea Echeverri looks forward to spending additional time visiting U.S. markets in support of her forthcoming new album on Nacional Records. With a backing band featuring members of Aterciopelados, longtime fans of the group can also look forward to new interpretations of Aterciopelados classics.