If one were to plunge into the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico today, much of the rock scene would consist of Spanish screamo and emo. But from the small school of Antilles High School in the fall term of 2003, there brew a sound and love for the classics. Xavier Navarro, born and raised in this “gem stone” of an island, began recognizing the sounds of Randy Rhoads, Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ozzy Osbourne, and Guns N' Roses. His growing dislike for the local rock scene inspired him to pick up a guitar and rummaging over tons of tablatures a day, Xavier became an avid guitar player, learning without the help of a mentor.
In the spring term of 2005, his friends put together a band and invited him to assist them. For six months, the band, that later became known as Ellipse, began distancing themselves from Xavier, calling practices, and coming up with new material without any input from him. His bandmates, that September, gave him an ultimatum: to either play bass for them, since the two guitar positions were already taken, or leave. Frustrated with the situation, he offered to become the lead singer of the band since their current rhythm guitarist was also the singer, but not a very good one. After two practice sessions with Ellipse, Xavier was unjustly dismissed from the band.
Much of 2005 was spent writing poems and fragments of songs that later would be included in a demo under the name Demarchi. In his time of solitude, Xavier befriended Elisamuel Santiago and as his friendship with Eli continued to grow, their interest in forming a band grew as well. In the fall of 2006, they formed a band to perform in their school's talent show. With their musical tastes in sync, they decided to cover the hit song, "Sweet Child O’ Mine" by Guns N' Roses. With a spectacular performance in the talent show, the band later covered numerous songs like, "By the Way," "Hotel California," and "Knocking on Heaven's Door." With the school year finishing, Xavier knew his band would not move past covers because of their lack of interest to come up with originals. Aside from the fact that he was moving to Ames, Iowa to study at Iowa State, the band was destined to come to an end.
After his move to Iowa, Xavier decided to begin working solo on demos of songs he came up with in high school and new material. With the help of his brother's Mac computer, Xavier recorded his first demo CD which would end up in the hands of his older brother, Davi, founder of Pro-Underground Records. Due to time and lack of resources, much of the album was not furnished and pushed to its true potential. After being unsatisfied with his first demo album, "Songs in Minor," Xavier (Demarchi) is looking to return this year with hopes of getting a complete lineup of musicians to further enhance the sound and potential that is to become Demarchi. For now, "Songs in Minor" is the first installment of this underground sound, starving to emerge itself.
