Reginald Vilardell

His immaculate image behind the drums has become, over the last two decades, an inseparable element of Barcelona’s blues scene. Legend has it that, at a charity concert for the Nit dels Innocents, he carried the weight of the percussion in five of the seven bands that played there. He came to the blues by way of rock’n’roll in Barcelona’s nightlife at the end of the nineties, in a natural way, drawn by “its intensity, its dynamics and sensuality, and the enormous richness that hides behind its apparent simplicity”. Following in the footsteps of his foremost idols, such as Fred Below, Odie Payne, Ted Harvey or Richard Innes, this tireless musician has placed his drums at the service of more than thirty bands, among them the most outstanding in Catalan and Spanish blues, as well as a good few international figures. A man of affable manners who reserves his passion and serene forcefulness for playing a music that has allowed him to earn a living, see the world and dream; but which has also brought him disappointments, betrayals and sacrifices in a universe as passionate as the blues.