(from left to right)) Rafael Rodríguez, Mento Hevia, Manolo Jiménez, Álex Cabal, Alberto Fontaneda

Crack members

Although there was more than one line-up in this prog rock band story, the main one and also the one that recorded the album ("Si todo hiciera Crack") was formed by:

- Mento Hevia, our keyboardist who also added some backing vocals both in the studio and in concerts,


- Alberto Fontaneda, our vocalist, who also played the flute and the accoustic guitar,


- Rafa Rodriguez on the lead guitar,



- Álex Cabal our bassist, and finally



- Manolo Jiménez on drums and percussion.

Previously and for a year or so, Crack had been a quartet with no electric guitar. During that period it was Vidal Antón, one of the band founders, who played the bass and Pepe Gamero was our sound engineer.

That first year (1978) we played a good number of concerts in Asturias but also in other neighbouring regions or autonomous communities as they are called now.

Although we were reasonably happy with the sound of the quartet, we always felt that the tone and riffs of an electric guitar were missing in our music.

The acoustic guitar had a larger role at that time to cover up for the absence of the electric guitar, however we never gave up the idea of finding a good electric guitarist.

When someone told us about Rafa and we finally had the opportunity to play together for a couple of hours, we knew right away that this was the person and sound that we were missing.

It wasn't a hard job at all to adapt our repertory to include his guitar and in only a few weeks everything was sounding great, at least at the rehearsing studio.

By that time we had already met Álex, a bass player from Valladolid. None of us remember exactly nowadays how we got in contact with him but, anyway, as it had happened with Rafa, after a couple of hours jamming together with him on the bass we knew too that he was the right person for the job.

Vidal, our bassist until then, had no problem to leave the bass and take instead the responsibility of our sound engineer. He and Manolo were the only two members of Crack who had a steady nine-to-five job out of the music business, and this specially in the case of Vidal was sometimes a bit difficult to handle.

As we will see later on the Crack story chapter, the band was also for a very short while a sextet:

I can't remember exactly how and why we decided to give a try to the idea of having two leads guitar plus the acoustic. Pol Solana, also a great guitarist from Gijón was invited to enter the band. He was a few years younger than the rest of us but also a great guitarist nevertheless.

Unfortunately after a couple of weeks we realized that it was not easy, at least it was not easy for us, to find different musical parts for two lead guitars. I remember it was very hard to bring on the subject. We knew this line-up was not working as we had expected. There was no complaint whatsoever about Pol's playing, quite the contrary, but we had to accept that we were simply wrong when we asked him to join the band.

You can imagine how hard it was for all of us to discuss the subject and how disapointed and "betrayed" Pol must have felt. Even know I must say I am still very sorry about that stupid affair.

So, that spring and summer before and after the recording session Crack was again a quintet. And one that sounded real great.

However, some time after the album was recorded, (and this time it was my turn turn to feel like shit!) it was me who left the band.

It wasn't easy. Crack had been everything for me for the last two years. And now that we were beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and the record was scheduled for release in a few weeks... I was out. Mento and I had had a silly quarrel about something truly I just can't remember what was all about. It must have been indeed something pretty silly as even I, the ugly duckling, can't get to remember.

It was really of course a hard blow for me. But most of all, in hindsight, a stupid decision for the band. A move for which to some extent we were all responsible.

A couple of months later it was Manolo who would leave. There again a bunch of kids (all of us, all the group), not sufficiently mature for such a great project had fucked it all.

With Alberto and Manolo out and Vidal also ready to leave, Crack was lucky to enroll two new great players: Oscar, a fantastic drummer and Tor who took the role of Alberto on the flute and vocals.

I had the opportunity to listen to this brief line-up and I must confess I was impressed with their output. Unfortunately, only a few months later and a couple of failed concerts the band finally disbanded.