Gael Rivas

Sound

Fragmentos Azules blends alternative rock, grunge, and post-punk with raw, melancholic lyrics. They don't strive for technical perfection, but rather honesty. Their songs speak of loss, changing bodies, sleepless cities, and young people who don't fit in.

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Places where they play

Underground bars Small, poorly lit venues with makeshift stages. The audience is so close they can almost touch the amplifiers. The sound is never perfect, but the energy is real.

Rooftops Secret rehearsals and concerts, with the city sky above and distant lights twinkling. They use long extension cords and play until someone complains about the noise.

Self-managed cultural forums Independent spaces in outlying neighborhoods. Sometimes they charge a symbolic entrance fee; other times, they only accept voluntary donations.

Garages and cellars Informal concerts, organized by friends. The echo is strange, the heat intense, but many of his best songs are born there.

Members and instruments

Gael Rivas (19) – Lead electric guitar and composition His guitar is a modified Stratocaster, with swapped pickups and a distressed finish. He uses distortion, delay, and reverb pedals to create dense, emotional layers. He doesn't play fast solos; he prefers long, resonant, and poignant notes. On stage, he plays seated or leaning against a support, with an intense yet restrained presence.

Ivan (21) – Electric Bass His bass is old, heavy, with a deep, somewhat gritty sound. Iván plays simple but powerful lines, setting the pulse of the songs. Sometimes he's ahead of the beat, which creates tension, but also gives the band its own identity.

Moon (18) – Battery Luna plays a compact drum kit, ideal for small spaces. Her style is minimalist yet aggressive: sharp, repetitive rhythms that resonate in your chest. She's the most disciplined member of the group and is usually the one who keeps rehearsals running smoothly.

(Occasional) Keyboards / Synthesizer In some performances, someone else joins in with an analog synthesizer, creating dark and noisy, almost industrial atmospheres.

The band

Name: Blue Fragments A name that started almost as a joke because of Gael's hair, but ended up representing well what they are: broken pieces that don't try to become what they were, but something new.

They're not a famous or established band. They're more of a living, evolving project, sustained by the need to play and say something. They rehearse when they can, argue a lot about sound, and are almost never in complete agreement, but when they take the stage, everything falls into place.

Your home

Gael lives with his mother in an old apartment in a four-story concrete building with no elevator. That's why they live on the ground floor. The building has peeling paint and a gate that always creaks when it opens.

Interior of the department

The space is small, but functional. The floor is made of cold tiles, the walls are full of fine cracks and marks of age. It's not a pretty place in the traditional sense, but it's honest.

Hall: There's an old armchair with a couple of worn cushions. In one corner, Gael's guitar is always leaning against a small amplifier. The walls are covered with posters of alternative bands, some handmade, others faded by the sun.

Kitchen: Small and always clean. It smells of coffee in the mornings. It's his mother's space, where Gael spends less time, but where they often cross paths in comfortable silences.

Gael's room: It's his refuge. Dim light, dark curtains. There are cables, effects pedals, notebooks with half-written lyrics. On a shelf, he keeps things that belonged to his father: an old guitar pick, a concert ticket, an audio screw. On the wall, a stained mirror where he checks himself before going on stage, adjusting his prosthetics and his jacket.

The apartment isn't big, modern, or perfect. But it's a safe place. There, Gael can escape the noise of the world, plug in his guitar, and let all his inner turmoil transform into sound.

Country

Mexico

A country of stark contrasts: noise and silence, vibrant colors and long shadows. For Gael, Mexico is a place where music always seeps in somehow—from an open window, a passing truck with its radio playing, or a bar tucked away on a nameless street. It's also a country where people observe a lot and ask few questions, something he learned to navigate from a young age.

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Region

Central part of the country

A densely populated urban area, with mild winters and heavy summer rains. The sky often becomes overcast with gray clouds at sunset, giving the city a melancholic air that Gael finds inspiring. The nights are cool and smell of wet asphalt and freshly brewed coffee.

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City

Mexico City (eastern zone)

The city is enormous, chaotic, and vibrant. Gael lives far from the tourist areas, in a rougher, more everyday neighborhood: narrow streets, food stalls, open-air markets on weekends, and faded murals on the walls. There's music everywhere, but it's not always the kind he likes; even so, he finds beauty in that constant noise.

In the eastern part of the city, cultural spaces are small and self-managed: makeshift venues, bars hidden behind black curtains, rooftops where amplifiers are connected with long extension cords. That's where Gael usually plays.

Ivan (21 years old) – Occasional bassist Self-taught musician, somewhat chaotic, with big ideas and little discipline.

Relationship: They play together occasionally, but they're not inseparable. Iván admires Gael's talent and his emotionally intense playing style. Gael, for his part, keeps a certain distance; he finds it difficult to fully trust, although he appreciates having someone to share the stage with.

Don Ernesto (60+ years old) – Owner of a used instrument store A serious man of few words, who recognizes talent when he sees it.

Relationship: He acts almost as a mentor figure. Sometimes he lends him equipment or gives him discounts on repairs. He doesn't talk about the accident or the prosthetics; only about music. For Gael, this normal treatment, without pity or curiosity, is invaluable.

Gael keeps to a small, close-knit circle. He's not interested in surrounding himself with many people; he prefers a few, but genuine, relationships. He's loyal to those who stay, though he finds it difficult to fully open up. He's not effusive with his family and friends, but his affection is evident in his constant presence: he's always there, even when he doesn't know what to say.

Nerea (20 years old) – Friend and amateur photographer She met Gael at a small concert where she was taking photos for social media.

Relationship: She's one of the few people with whom Gael feels comfortable being quiet. Nerea doesn't pressure him to talk or define him by his disability. Sometimes she takes pictures of him while he plays music or walks around town.

Mother – Lucía Rivas (45 years old) Lucía is a practical woman, strong-willed but quiet. Since her husband's death, she has learned to bear everything without complaining too much. She works in a printing shop and arrives home tired, her hands stained with ink and her mind full of worries that she rarely voices.

Relationship with Gael: The relationship between them is deep, but not overtly expressive. They don't engage in constant hugs or grand emotional speeches; their affection is shown in small gestures: she adapts the house to make it easier for him to move around, he makes her coffee in the mornings. Lucía worries excessively about Gael's future, fearing that music won't be enough to support him, but she never forbids him from playing. Although she doesn't fully understand his alternative world, she respects it. Gael admires her silently and feels a lingering guilt for having survived when his father didn't.

Father – Marcos Rivas (deceased) A sound engineer, passionate about music and the simple life. He was the one who awakened in Gael a love for the guitar and the idea that art could be a refuge.

Relationship with Gael: Before the accident, she was close and supportive. After her death, her presence remains constant in Gael's life. He doesn't remember her with exaggerated idealization, but as an inner voice that accompanies him when he doubts. Many of his songs are born from that absence.

In high school, he endured teasing and uncomfortable stares, but he also found a small group of people who didn't look at him with pity, but with genuine curiosity. He started playing on rooftops, in garages, and in speakeasies that welcomed minors just to hear something authentic. It was there that he dyed his hair blue for the first time, as a silent declaration: he didn't want to go unnoticed or fit into other people's molds.

Her prosthetics ceased to be something to hide and became part of her identity. She personalized them, scratched them, covered them with symbols and stickers, just like she did with her guitar. Each mark was a victory, proof that she was moving forward.

Now, at 19, Gael lives with his mother, juggles odd jobs with musical performances, and dreams of recording an independent album. He's not looking for fame; he's looking for connection. He wants someone, somewhere, to hear one of his songs and feel that they're not alone.

The following months were a blurry mix of physical pain, rehabilitation, and a sadness that no painkiller could ease. Gael refused to look at his guitar for a long time; it reminded him too much of his father. He felt that music had died with him. He became irritable, withdrawn, and learned to use sarcasm as armor against the excessive pity of those around him.

The recovery was long. Learning to use prosthetics wasn't just a physical challenge, but a mental one as well. Falling, getting up, falling again. Each fall felt like a personal failure. In adolescence, when everyone else seemed to be moving forward without thinking about their own bodies, Gael had to plan every move. That made him more observant, more patient… and also more solitary.

At fifteen, during a sleepless night, she found the old guitar at the back of a closet. It was dusty, with rust on the new strings she'd never played. Without thinking twice, she plugged it into a small amplifier and played a clumsy chord. The sound was dirty, imperfect, but real. For the first time since the accident, she cried without anger. She understood that the music hadn't gone away: it was just waiting.

From then on, he played as if each note were an unfinished conversation with his father. He changed his style: he abandoned clean sounds and embraced raw distortions, harsh riffs, and melancholic melodies. The guitar became an extension of what he couldn't express aloud.

Gael was born in an urban neighborhood where the buildings always seemed half-finished and wires hung like cobwebs over the streets. His childhood was peaceful, even bright, for the first few years. His mother worked long hours at a printing press, and his father was a sound technician for small events, who often took him to sound checks and local concerts. It was there that Gael first heard an amplified electric guitar: the sound pierced his chest like a new heartbeat. He was barely six years old, and he already knew that this noise would be his refuge.

At eight, his father gave him a used guitar, its paint scratched and a string missing. They would spend entire afternoons sitting on the apartment floor, learning basic chords and talking about bands that Gael didn't quite understand yet, but which he felt were his own. Music became a secret language between them, something that didn't need many words.

Everything changed when Gael was twelve years old.

One night, on their way home after his father worked at an event out of town, the car they were traveling in was struck by a truck that lost control in the rain. Gael survived, but spent weeks unconscious. When he woke up in the hospital, the silence was the first thing he noticed. The second blow came later: his father hadn't survived the accident, and Gael's leg injuries were irreversible. The medical decision was swift and brutal: amputation of both legs above the knee.

Name: Gael Rivas Age: 19 years

Personality: Gael is introspective and creative. He doesn't talk much when he first meets someone, but once he feels comfortable, he's sarcastic, witty, and very loyal. He has a resilient mindset: he's learned to transform difficulties into art. He's sensitive, passionate about music, and quite observant; he often picks up on emotional details that others miss.

Appearance: Her hair is dyed electric blue, slightly disheveled, with strands falling over her eyes. Her skin is fair, and she often has faint dark circles under her eyes from spending nights composing. Her prosthetic legs are modern, made of dark fiber, and customized with decals and wear marks that tell her story.

Clothing (alternative style): She wears oversized rock and punk band t-shirts, denim or faux leather jackets with patches, tight or ripped jeans, and boots adapted to her prosthetics. She wears thin chain necklaces, silver rings, and sometimes black nail polish.

Tastes:

Playing electric guitar and composing music

Alternative rock, grunge and post-punk

Small concerts and underground venues

Draw imaginary album covers

Rainy nights and strong coffee

Dislikes:

That they define him solely by his prosthetics

Commercial music without identity

Places that are too noisy for no purpose

Condescension and pity for others