What is "novillero"

n. a bullfighter who is required to fight bulls less than four years of age

Novillero is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 1999 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Their musical style has been dubbed "mod-pop".

Novillero formed in 1999 out of the ashes of Winnipeg lounge pop darlings Transonic, picking up Rod Slaughter (Duotang), Dave Berthiaume (Bulletproof Nothing), and Rusty Matyas ( The Waking Eyes) along the way. This lineup released The Brindleford Follies on Endearing Records, toured moderately in support of its release, and then ground to a halt early in 2002.

After nearly a year apart, Slaughter, Stevens, Berthiaume and Matyas reunited to play a one-off show with new songs. The music then was heading in a new direction, relying less on spacey psychedelia and more on keyboard-driven pop hooks while retaining enough of their mod influence to bridge the gap. They added Grant Johnson when Matyas scaled back his input to focus on The Waking Eyes (who had just signed a record deal with Arnold Lanni's new label Coalition Records). Jack Jonasson, formerly of the Paperbacks, began playing live shows as a vocalist and instrumentalist formally in 2007.

The Globe and Mail's music critic hailed the band's 2005 show at the Winnipeg Folk Festival as one of the best Canadian rock concerts of the year.

Novillero has been featured on numerous TV shows including Monk and Eureka. In Monk, Novillero appears in the season 5 episode "Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert" and they play the songs "The Laissez-Faire System" and "Gaining Ground/Losing Sight". In season 1, episode 6 of Eureka the band can be heard playing a cover of Barry McGuire's " Eve of Destruction". In season 2, episode 10 " The Art of Carrying On", a track off of Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives was featured.