Biography | Stormy Mondays

Stormy Mondays in 20 seconds

Stormy Mondays is a roots rock band. Hailing from Asturias, our music draws from American roots rock, the British explosion of the ’60s, the soul of Stax/Atlantic, and the folk-rock of The Band and The Byrds.

We have just released the single “The Thrill Is Not Gone,” a preview of our upcoming album, which is about to be released. We’ve been playing since the ’90s and have released 18 works, including EPs, LPs, and digital releases, with songs in English, Spanish, and Asturian.

We love playing live, but we only do it a few times a year, in carefully selected venues, where we can enjoy our expanded lineup with a horn section and the occasional special guest.

And yes, all those incredible stories you might have heard are true: Our song “Sunrise Number 1” was chosen by NASA to be played in space, aboard Endeavour Space Shuttle. We have played live with Bruce Springsteen and jammed with Slash, and, in 1999, were the only Spanish band to ever play at the Woodstock Festival.

What do we sound like?

We think you’ll like our music if (like us) you enjoy artists such as Tom Petty, Counting Crows, The Jayhawks, The Waterboys, Del Amitri, Bob Dylan, or Van Morrison.

Who are our influences?

We don’t know exactly how much they’re reflected in our music, but our musical altar also includes The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Otis Redding, and a very long list…

The Thrill Is Not Gone

New single from the forthcoming new album!

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The band

Jorge Otero – vocals, guitars, harmonica, mandolin.
Paul Bertrand – piano, organ, background vocals.
Danny Montgomery – drums.
Juanjo Zamorano – bass, background vocals.

With:

Miguel Herrero – trumpet, flügelhorn, glockenspiel, percussion.
Kiko Flores – sax, clarinet.

Manifesto

There’s a recent book that details the techniques behind the manufactured big hits of the last few years. We have taken that manual and turned it inside out.

They say a song needs a “hook” every 7 seconds. Really? We make music for people, not for distracted chimpanzees.

They say you need a team of writers. A dozen is not unusual. We write our own songs. And we also feel like we are part of a tradition, so we like to cover some favorite artists. We are songwriters, it’s what we do.

They say you don’t even need to learn how to play, the computer does that for you. We enjoy playing our instruments. The more, the better. We are musicians, it’s what we do.

They say you don’t need to be a good singer. “Autotune” will make you sound perfectly in tune (and robotic). We sing with human voices, imperfect by nature. And real. We are singers, it’s what we do.

They say, they say… We don’t care what they say!

We make real music for real people. It’s not for everyone, and that’s alright. Maybe it’s precisely right for you.

Discography

The Thrill Is Not Gone (advance single, 2026)
Forever Young (digital single, 2021)
Nebraska (CD, 2019 – vinyl LP and USB, 2021)
So Far, So Good / 20 years of Stormy Mondays
(CD and vinyl LP, 2018)
Suitcase Full Of Dreams
(compact vinyl EP, 2017)
SantaCecilia
(live BluRay/DVD, 2016)
Wading The River / The Lay Of The Land
(double EP, 2015)
Stormy Mondays Sketchbook
(illustrated book + CD, 2014)
Tú y yo / A las 9 (vinyl single, 2012)
Dormi yá (digital single/video, 2012)
Sunrise Number 1 (digital single, 2011)
Radio (vinyl LP, 2010 – CD, 2011)
Días mejores (EP, 2010)
On My Radio (EP, 2010)
Concierto: Jardín Botánico (2009)
On The Run (EP, 2007)
París (EP, 2004)
Días de lluvia, corazones rotos (2002)
Winter Songs (EP, 2002)
Rainy Days And Broken Hearts (1998/2000)

The stories

For a band that you’ve probably never heard of, we sure have some cool stories to tell…

Woodstock ’99 and jamming with Slash in ’92

Only Spanish band to ever play Woodstock? Check! Jamming with Slash back in 92? Check!

Onstage with Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nile, Joe Grushecky, Elliott Murphy, Cindy Bullens and more

Jorge has shared the stage with icons such as Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nile, Elliott Murphy and more.

Rocking in Space

Our song "Sunrise Number 1" was played aboard Endeavour Space Shuttle, on its final mission in Space.

The name

Stormy Mondays started in Oviedo in 1991. Our first gigs were on the street.

When trying to come up with a name, we used the same trick as the Rolling Stones: we decided to take our name from a blues classic. For us, it was “They Call It Stormy Monday” by T-Bone Walker, published in 1947.

Stormy Mondays and Free Music

Stormy Mondays were pioneers in distributing their music on the internet, Copyleft, Creative Commons licenses and the Free Music movement. We resigned from SGAE (the Spanish copyright society) and we distributed our songs for free on our website, for years upon years. At the same time, we kept releasing and selling records on different formats, and many times in limited editions.

Giving our songs away took us further than we could have ever dreamt: we got to play at Woodstock ’99 festival, and our song “Sunrise Number 1” was played in Space. Sharing our music brought us a lot of oppportunities, new friends… and we even took part on some memorable TV debates.

Today it’s hard to imagine how revolutionary it was, in 1999, to offer a free mp3 download of a song. Twenty years later, it’s time to make an important change. In a world dominated by music streaming, the fight for the Free Music doesn’t make sense for us anymore. We won’t stop giving away some songs from each record, but we are coming back to the world of copyright. First through IMRO, the Irish Music Rights Organization. And finally, back to SGAE as well, coming full circle.

We don’t want multi-million dollar companies like Google, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify to pay copyrights that belong to us, but that we can’t receive if we are not part of the system. And we also want our songs available for being featured on films, series or ads, which is not possible if we are not part of a performing rights society.

To sum up: we have enjoyed the journey of free music, and we’ve travelled all the way until -twenty years later- we arrived at the last stop. It’s time to take another train that can take us even further.