‘Melonic’ rock strikes back on stage at home and beyond

Dylan Ferro, Dani Fa and Danny Bugeja are back on stage more than 20 years after their first rounds with Taxi and Melon Diesel in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Their fans still remember them, and the band still knows how to entertain an audience.

Melon Diesel have been selling out concerts across Spain with what Ferro calls their “Melonic rock”. Now, they are returning to where everything started for this year’s GMF, with people looking forward to welcoming them again.

They will take the stage next September 3 at the Europa Sports Arena, bringing back songs and memories of long-gone summers.

Songs including Niña del Sur, Contracorriente, Quiero un camino, Grita, Hombre en el espejo, Chocolate and Por ti will be performed and sung along by fans.

Melon Diesel composer and vocalist Dylan Ferro spoke to the Chronicle ahead of the concert in his studio, where guitars, pianos and drums fill the room.

With the Strait as its backdrop and the cultural mix of Gibraltar as inspiration, the studio provides a setting where imagination can travel far beyond the Rock.

The result is a blend of indie, British and Andalusian rock that has once again won over fans, with the band putting up the ‘sold out’ sign at concert after concert.

“I define our music as ‘Melonic’ rock. Have a look at your surroundings: Gibraltar and all its British influences; opposite, Algeciras, where Paco de Lucía was born and played; La Linea, where Camaron [de la Isla] was living for long time, and in front of that, Morocco. All of these cultures have something to do with our music,” Mr Ferro said.

“Gibraltar is fantastically unique,” Mr Ferro added, describing the Rock as an endless source of lyrics and music for Melon Diesel.

Mr Ferro is also pleased to see the GMF return to Gibraltar, having contributed to the festival when it was first established in the 2000s.

“I am really happy, because when we started the GMF it became one of the largest in the area. There were macro-concerts here and only when the GMF finished, other festivals emerged around.”

THE TOUR

Melon Diesel will be performing for their fellow Gibraltarians at the concert, but the band’s tour continues beyond September 3.

They have already performed in Madrid, Valladolid, Alicante, Tarifa, Nerja, Málaga, Gibraltar, Gijón, Mallorca, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Almería, Albacete, Jaén, León, Pamplona, Valencia, Sevilla, Granada, Murcia and Burgos, among other places.

Of all their songs, Mr Ferro has a particular connection with Chocolate.

“My favourite songs are changing from time to time, but this one means a lot to me, because it helped me when I had health problems with my voice.”

“I lost my voice for a long time. I needed surgery, and I didn’t know if I could sing ever again. But I could, I did, and this song is attached to that moment.”

“I am very stubborn when I want to reach something, even with half of the voice I had in 2000,” he said with a laugh.

The band is now revisiting the success it enjoyed then.

“If you think about that, is really mind-blowing. Melon started in 1999 and it was 2000 when it made a big splash on radios and concerts.”

“We released our first album, later the second. From then on, we had to stop for nine months due to my vocal cords’ problems. Even we released a third album. But we finished in 2003.”

During those four years, they sold more than 350,000 copies of their albums and earned one platinum and two gold records, achieving significant success among a generation of fans, particularly in Spain.

“For many people, we have been the soundtrack of their life.”

The band eventually decided to stop, bringing that chapter to an end and leaving fans without new music from Melon Diesel.

Years later, in 2024, they decided to perform in Gibraltar to celebrate the 25th anniversary of La Cuesta de Mr Bond.

At that moment, Melon Diesel’s flame flared up on stage again, and a new opportunity to perform together began.

“We are more mature now; we are working on what we love and enjoying again this new time with Melon.”

Future plans include a reissue of La Cuesta de Mr Bond anthems in the coming months, with collaborations from current artists.

But these is only the first words of a new chapter. Ferro and the band are already working on new songs for another album, which would be Melon Diesel’s fourth.

They do not know what will happen next, but they have ambitions that include opportunities not previously pursued, such as performing in London.

“I want to go to America as well, to El Salvador, Argentina...”

The world is now a stage for Melon Diesel.

Times change, and music changes with them. In an era of AI, Melon Diesel continues to work from scratch, seeking originality and sounds that fit their music.

They seek “perfection on imperfection”, in Mr Ferro’s words, through music that embraces that imperfection to unleash and share feelings with their enthusiastic audience.

This is the passion of Melon Diesel.

“We are back!” Mr Ferro said.