Leslie: "Thanks to us people have swarmed a lot"

BarcelonaMy mother-in-law returns enthusiastic from a concert by Los Sírex that filled the Atlàntida in Vic and it's clear we need to know the secret of Antoni Miquel Cerveró, Leslie, who at 82 years old continues at the helm of one of the longest-lived rock'n'roll bands in the world: 65 years active, ahead of the Rolling Stones. "Los Sírex, Los Gatos Negros, Los Mustang, Los Salvajes, Los Cheyenes... We are the ones who opened the doors of fresh air to this country," he says. Just hearing him, it's evident that he has a lot to say and an overwhelming charisma. "I have a blast on stage, I release all the adrenaline. I've never been interested in learning to sing, it's come to me superfluously, but I've spent money to learn to communicate with the audience. At concerts I feel loved and respected; it's my diet, being close to people," he explains.

Son of a fisherman from the Anxova family from Barceloneta, Leslie discovered rockabilly thanks to the presence of the North American Sixth Fleet in the neighbourhood. They played Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lewis, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Be-Bop-A-Lula, C’mon everybody and The train kept a rollin' , which served as inspiration for El tren de la costa. With this background and only sixteen years old, in 1961 he asked his father for permission to go and play with the band in Calella de la Costa all summer and he remembers it as paradise. "Every day to be able to swim and in the afternoon to be able to perform, which is what I liked. I have never been so happy in my life," he says. Life surprised him. Then came the records, the concerts, being the opening act for the Beatles in 1965 and the South American tour with Marisol in 1969, which was supposed to last a few days and ended up lasting three months.

In 1971 the band's parenthesis came, until Gay Mercader convinced them for a revival to the Sports Palace called See you later alligator. "From 1978 until today we have not stopped. There are songs that mark your life. Los Sírex are The broom, May the ugly ones die and San Carlos Club. People love us for the songs lentorres, because thanks to us they have ramped up a lot, with You have to be my wife, May he stop loving you and Without your letters, but we have rocky roots", he defends. In fact, they are once again headliners of a rock festival circuit throughout the State that they didn't know existed. "I'm tripping balls", he confesses. There are bands from all over the world, dressed in leather skirts, while they go in suits and ties. "Maybe they think we're a student musical group that's come to sing "Carnations and a rock'n'roll band comes out. We're not throwing ourselves to the ground now because we wouldn't be able to get up, but we're putting our knee down. We're doing a circus!". They are in shape.

Coming from a humble family and being the youngest of five siblings, he had to fend for himself. Leslie has always worked, in addition to having the band. He has been a jeweler, a restorer, a musician, a radio presenter, a politician, and a long etcetera. "I haven't been cheeky, I've been decisive – he says, with elegance–. I am a professor at the university of the street." However, Barcelona in the 60s and 70s was neither London nor Liverpool. "I haven't had a life of a rocker, of a provocateur, I've had the vulgar and ordinary life of a neighborhood kid. And whoever says otherwise is lying. In Spain in 1964 people still dressed like Doña Rogelia. It was the four tourists in bikinis on the Costa Brava and the music we made that made the country breathe," he recalls.

Now we are at the other extreme. "It has gotten out of hand. Tourism should be welcomed, nothing can be prohibited, but it must be regulated. There are only a few residents left in Barceloneta, everyone has left," he says. His popularity in the neighborhood and his belligerence against the demolition of beach bars led Convergència to recruit him as a councilor, from 1995 to 1999. He has fond memories of interacting with people and bad memories of politicians, especially of yours. "I saw a lot of bad law and how a lot of people can be hurt for personal interests. That's why nothing we see now is new to me. They wanted to screw me over. Luckily I went to find a lawyer friend of mine," he states. One of the most beautiful assignments he received was to create a network of regional houses of Catalonia. This led him to set up a small house at the Feria de Abril in Barcelona, which would be important because he would meet his second wife there.

Fifteen years ago, the mother of his daughters died. They had been friends since they were 13. They met again at 25 and got engaged immediately. They spent a life together and a very tough last year of illness. But after the blackout, a new epilogue awaited him. Eight years ago, he remarried a neighbor from his (now former) neighborhood: "I didn't imagine second chances would work out so well. I'm very much in love. With all due respect to the past." Herein lies the secret to his vitality. "The first thing is health; if you don't have health, it's all over. But then the key is to be happy with what you have. I've always worked hard so that I wouldn't lack anything, but I've never desired anything I couldn't have."