Ill Niño

Fans of the US rock band Ill Niño get two for the price of the one nowadays after band morphed into two very similar versions of itself, both of whom lay claim to the name; one incarnation was formed by bass player and founding member Cristian Machado and the other by drummer Dave Chavarri, with the two bands being known respectively as Cristian Machado's Ill Niño and Dave Chavarri's Ill Niño.

The original band started life in 1998 as El Niño but soon became Ill Niño and began to build a reputation as one of the emerging stars of the New Jersey music scene. Their debut album 'Revolution Revolución' was released in 2001 to widespread critical acclaim and heralded a new kind of heavy metal which blended rock with Latin American influences. It was the birth of a genre tailor-made for rock music fans throughout Latin America and the band quickly began to build audiences through a punishing tour schedule which took in Europe, the US, Australia, Japan and Latin America. The band have now released seven studio albums and sold over two million records.