Luis Megías
Guitarist from Seville, at home on stage and on tour
Sevilla, Spain
Favourite admira guitar(s):
Guitarist from Seville, at home on stage and on tour
From Camas and the Aljarafe area of Seville, José Luis Megías has built a career tied to live music, to stages and to working alongside other artists. A guitarist with wide experience, his path runs through different line-ups and projects of the Seville music scene, among them La Dstylería, a band he plays guitar in and which began its career in 2012.
La Dstylería was born connected to the beach bars and the musical atmosphere of Caños de Meca, and grew from there into an established band within the Seville pop-rock scene. Over the years the group has developed an identity of its own and an intense live schedule, with José Luis Megías as one of its guitarists.
That experience on stage is also reflected in what he does today. José Luis Megías is currently on tour with Andy, sharing the line-up with another leading guitarist of the Andalusian flamenco and music scene, Pelu Monje. A new stage that takes him around venues and lets him keep developing the live-guitarist side that has marked much of his career.
His social media profile gives exactly that feeling: stage, road, music and guitar. Big concerts, crowded shows, fellow musicians and backstage moments are part of the daily life of a player whose work is closely tied to live performance.
And that is where the guitar takes on a fundamental role. On stage, the instrument has to respond: it needs personality, but also definition; it has to support the voice and the rest of the band without losing presence and, above all, it has to become a natural extension of the musician.
For a guitarist used to playing on different stages and in different line-ups, choosing a guitar is no small matter. The sound, the feel, the comfort, the response and the ability to adapt to different situations are all part of that permanent dialogue between player and instrument.
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Interview
admira: You have spent many years tied to stages and to different musical projects. How did your relationship with the guitar begin, and when did you discover you wanted to devote yourself professionally to music?
Luis: My relationship with the guitar starts a little late: although the guitar has been in my hands since I was 10, it was not until 13 years later that I began to give it the place it deserves, starting an intense path to reach the level needed to enjoy it. It is from 2016 that I begin this adventure on stages.
admira: You have been in different line-ups and you are currently on tour with Andy alongside Pelu Monje. What changes in the way you play when you are part of a band or backing another artist, compared with when you have more freedom to develop your own sound?
Luis: When you work with artists and colleagues of this level, you realise how much you can learn from the person next to you. It has changed above all in the way of understanding the place of each instrument in a live show: everything has its place… everything has its moment… every chord, every sound, everything and everyone moving in the same time. You just have to study a lot in order to let yourself go and enjoy it.
admira: After so many years playing live, you surely know very well what you need from a guitar on stage. What do you look for: power, definition, comfort, response to the touch, balance…? What features make you trust an instrument for a tour?
Luis: There are many important factors; perhaps I would highlight comfort and that very flamenco sound that people love so much where I come from. I can't explain what the process of choosing a guitar is like: you simply hold it, you play it and you know it is for you. That is what happened to me with the admira model I chose; I only needed a few minutes.
admira: What does having a sound of your own mean to you as a guitarist? Do you think the musician's personality ends up prevailing over the features of the guitar, or can the instrument really change the way you play?
Luis: I think it is very important to have a stamp of your own; every person has their touch and their way of expressing themselves. It is not good to sound like anyone else or to want to imitate: a guitarist's personality should be their stamp, and the same song on the same guitar should have something different in each person's hands.
admira: If you could design your ideal guitar today, a guitar that does not exist yet, what would it be like? What sound would it have, what feel would you look for, and what would it have to offer you to go with you both on a big stage and in a more intimate moment?
Luis: I don't know if you can dream up the perfect guitar, but I would be clear about this: comfort, flamenco soul and bite would be the perfect combination, and that is not at odds with the clean sound a guitar like that can give. That is how I imagine it… like flamenco itself.
Listen to Luis Megías on the admira Spotify playlist:
Spotify by admira