Having blazed a trail as the drummer for Pansy Division, the first openly gay rock band to feature predominantly queer musicians, as well as California Bay Area vanguards, Avengers, Luis Gabriel Illades is no stranger to brave and bold gestures of beautiful intent.

As a hardworking career musician that has given himself over to countless acts since the late 90s Illades’s new Vida Vella project heralds the arrival of something entirely new. His first outing as a front person, singer/songwriter, and artist in his own unshakable right.

“I’d always been comfortable in the background as the drummer, compartmentalising my pull to speak and write,” he explains. “Once I stopped pushing this voice to the side I found so much to write about and the ability to bring together musicians from both sides of the US/Mexico border to collaborate in something resembling a brotherhood. I was really taken aback by the support and willingness to participate on Panorama from people I have been playing with for years. Never did I think that taking the leap to find my voice would be so well received and rewarding.”

Recorded with a cross section of emerging Mexican instrumentalists and notable US underground music stalwarts from acts such as Camper van Beethoven, Anohni and the Johnsons and the State Band of Guanajuato, the album’s eventual conception was the city of Leon; home to Illades’s family and a spiritual place in which to return to make a record.

Having grown up close to the border in Tijuana, his bilingual interpretation of cultures rooted in both nations’ traditions has sowed a unique worldview into his song writing. The name Vida Vella itself comes from a local colloquialism – an English-speaking misunderstanding where Vs are confused with Bs in the direct translation of the phrase, “Beautiful Life”.

Featuring songs in both Spanish and English, Panorama is a two-sided coin where all compositions meet, regardless of their linguistic origin, to explore very human and universal ideas. Bilingually it traverses themes such as self-knowledge, romantic vulnerability, and the fear of apocalypse, enveloping everything in an extraordinary aural experience. Encapsulating his experiences of life, love, and everything in between, Vida Vella is the manifestation of a dream, a lifetime in the making.

“Outside of music, my work as a psychotherapist brought me to a place of finding common emotional themes regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status etc. Finding the true common elements of the human condition and choosing to write about the emotional elements that we all share. This has been the inspiration for the lyrical content of this album.”

Panorama, the debut album by Vida Vella is officially released on 21st March 2025 and will be the inaugural release for Beso Y Abrazo, an emerging record label releasing Spanish language indie records from Latin America in the US. Pre-order the album here, and watch the videos (in Spanish and English) for new single ‘(No Relief In) Atlantis’ / ‘(Sin Alivio En) Atlantida’ here.

“We are living in a time of alarm, introspection and call to action. How based in outdated hopes and beliefs or a reality check is a big question in this song. Sometimes naming a grave consequence is the beginning toward constructing a new survival based on fact and de-hypnotizing ourselves from outdated beliefs. Cheery lil pop song, eh?”

Vida Vella on Instagram | Facebook | Web | Instagram | YouTube
Beso Y Abrazo on Facebook | Web | Instagram | YouTube