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Santiago Alonso Durango (born 1957) is a Colombian–American attorney and retired musician. He is best known for his work with the 1980s punk rock groups Naked Raygun and
A graduate of the Illinois Criminal Law Digest
March 2003. URL retrieved 13 August 2009. Durango was an
Big Black
Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded first as a solo project by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band became a trio with an initial lineup that included guitarist Santiago Dur ...
.
Life and career
Durango is the son of aColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
n doctor. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
in the US when he was ten years old.
A graduate of the University of Illinois Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...
, Durango was an original member of Naked Raygun, one of Chicago's first punk rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
bands. Naked Raygun fan Steve Albini
Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...
was forming a band called Big Black
Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded first as a solo project by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band became a trio with an initial lineup that included guitarist Santiago Dur ...
and asked both Durango and Raygun lead singer Jeff Pezzati
Jeffrey Neal Pezzati (born February 6, 1960) is an American musician, known for being the lead singer of the Chicago punk band Naked Raygun. From 1983 to 1985, he also played bass for the band Big Black. In 1980 Pezzati was asked to audition fo ...
to join. Durango remained a member until the group broke up in 1987. Critic Mark Deming of AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
describes Santiago and Albini as a good pairing musically; "his muscular guitar sound was the ideal match of Albini's jagged, metallic tone."
After Big Black ended, Durango attended law school. During that time he formed a new band called Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
with bassist Malachi Ritscher. Together they released the ''Manipulator'' EP on Touch and Go Records in 1988. In 1990, Durango teamed up with Pierre Kezdy of Naked Raygun on bass to record and release a second Arsenal EP entitled '' Factory Smog Is a Sign of Progress''.
After law school, in his first case he helped recover Cynthia Plastercaster's bronze casts of the genitalia of various rock and roll artists, including that of Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
. He handled some litigation for Chicago's Touch and Go Records
Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. To ...
. As of 2003,March 2003. URL retrieved 13 August 2009. Durango was an
appellate
In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...
defender based in Ottawa, Illinois
Ottawa is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the confluence of the navigable Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River and Illinois River, the latter being a conduit for river barges and ...
.
In 2006, Durango participated in a brief Big Black reunion to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Touch and Go Records.
Durango's first wife was singer Cath Carroll
Cath Carroll (born 25 August 1960) is a British musician.
Career
Carroll was born on 25 August 1960 in Chipping Sodbury, England, but raised in Swansea, then Manchester. She played guitar in post-punk band Property of... in 1978, which also inc ...
. His second wife was children's book author Julia Durango; they are divorced and have two sons, Kyle and Ryan.
References