Estados Alterados is a Colombian band from Medellin that announced in 2007 it would reunite and release a new album, after splitting in the 1990’s. It was formed in the late 1980’s by lead singer Fernando Sierra (Elvis), keyboardist Andres Lopera (Tato), and drummer “Mana”, who unfortunately passed away after a car accident, being replaced by Ricardo Restrepo (Ricky).
The band played electronic pop-dance music, with dark and sometimes moody overtones, drawing influence from bands such as Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk and Soft Cell. It was an influential band in Colombia, as the genre was not predominant in the country at the time. The band was responsible (amongst Aterciopelados, Ekhymosis, La Derecha, Juanita Dientes Verdes, Bajo Tierra, and other groups) for taking Colombian Rock/Pop/Dance and Electronic Music towards new directions.
The band’s first hit was the song “Muévete” which was largely very successful and remains a club favorite. It was featured on the band’s self-titled debut album. A video for the song was released in May 1990.
The video for the song “El Velo” was the first on MTV for a Colombian band. At some point the band was compared to Duran Duran due to its pioneering use of videos. The video for the song “Nada” from their album “Cuarto Acto” was directed by Simon Brand, recognized for directing many of Shakira’s (and many other -latin and anglo- important performer’s videos). It featured high end animation and visual effects.
The band went in a different direction in the mid 1990’s, ultimately disbanding after recording an unreleased 4th studio album.
They joined with similar Latin Rock/Pop acts in 1999 to contribute a song for a tribute to The Cure: “Tributo a The Cure - Por Qué No Puedo Ser Tú”. They recorded “A Forest” for it.
A brief follow-up effort (sans Elvis nor Ricky), the band Supervelcro, was co-founded by Tato Lopera in the early 2000’s. He later quit the band after the release of their first album, “Luciferina”.
The highly anticipated reunion performance for the Festival “Rock al Parque” in 2007 was not successful, with the crowd booing, in between many technical difficulties. The original line-up has played a few shows in Colombia anyway. They were tapped to open for both Lenny Kravitz and Nine Inch Nails shows in Bogota, but didn’t due to both acts canceling their performances.
The band is currently in the studio finalizing its long overdue follow-up album.
