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After his experience in bands like Caledonia Blues Band, Blues Machine and Blues Blasters, in 2003 Mingo Balaguer craved to experiment as a vocalist. He had always missed playing with a quartet in which he played harp and sang. In order to sing in a blues band it is necessary to know the musical language and, after so many years devoted to playing it, it was more a matter of dealing with its technical side.

He eventually took the decision to lead a four-piece band, and realized that to carry out this project it was essential to have companions with whom musical secrets did not exist and who were familiar with the style.

These companions would be: Quique Bonal (guitar), Fernando Torres (bass) and Juan de la Oliva (drums).

 His proposal tries to include a great variety within the field of the blues. They have decided to form a repertoire influenced by styles ranging from the pure electric Chicago blues to the Texan style, the West Coast blues or the jump blues.

The Blues Intruders

Mingo Balaguer  (Harmonica)

This experienced Blues musician was a member of the legendary Caledonia Blues Band for ten years. While playing with this band, he performed with outstanding musicians such as Hubert Sumlin, Johnny Winter and Magic Slim, among others. He also had the honour to play with such celebrities as Charlie Musselwhite, Carey Bell, Gary Primich, Charley Sayles, Bruce Ewan, Bobby Radcliff, Sherman Robertson, Kenny Neal, Jerry Portnoy, Otis Grand, Paul Lamb, R.J. Mischo and Sugar Ray Norcia.

As a member of Caledonia Blues Band, he was required to play in emblematic places as Chicago (July 1994), Hannover and Hamburg (November 1995). He also played a number of gigs in the USA alongside Quique Bonal (guitar) and Fernando Torres (bass) during the Blues Blaster’s tour in the summer of 2002.

He has released five CDs with the Caledonia Blues Band , one with The Blues Machine, a band he founded in 1996 together with Quique Bonal, and another one with The Blues Blasters.

He claims that his main influences are Little Water and Walter Horton and his favourite contemporary harmonica players are Kim Wilson, Rod Piazza and William Clarke.

Quique Bonal (Guitar)

This versatile guitar player is an outstanding Blues musician, a field in which he has performed as a solo player in many bands such as the Caledonia Blues Band, The Blues Machine and The Blues Blasters, joining some of the world's finest blues musicians.
He also can play Jazz, Ragtime and Bluegrass. His experience in England (1994-1996), where he often performed in clubs with other musicians from this country, helped him to freshen and increase his musical knowledge.
His playing is influenced by such blues masters as Albert Collins, Albert King and BB King, but also by more jazz-oriented guitarists like Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell or Duke Robillard.

Fernando Torres (Bass)

Torres starts to listen to Blues music as a teenager. He studies music and double bass in the Seville Music Superior Conservatory.

His sober and incisive sound, fruit of a great experience gathered through years of playing with several Blues bands, makes him a key piece of The Blues Intruders.

He is keen on different styles as Jazz, Funk and R&B, and his main influence is the four-string-master Johnny B. Gayden..

Juan De La Oliva (Drums)

His passion for the jazz and the blues took to him to the US (Berklee College of music, Boston) where he earned a degree Cum Laude in Percussion and Performance.

He was awarded grants by the Berklee College of Music’s "Professional Music Scholarship Fund" and the "Buddy Rich Jazz Masters Incentive Award".

He has studied among others with Alan Dawson, Bob Moses, Gary Chaffee, Joe Hunt and Ed Urbibe.

First Spanish musician to be chosen as International Endorser by the prestigious percussion brands Sabian, Vic Firth and Pearl. He has made numerous national and international tours with artists like Jose Manuel Soto, Tate Montoya, Lole y Manuel, Pata Negra and many others. He is a regular reviewer for the drums magazine “Batería Total”

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