| La Polla Records | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Basque Country |
| Genres | Punk rock Hardcore punk |
| Years active | 1979–2003 |
| Past members | |
| Evaristo Páramos Abel Fernandito (deceased) Txarly Sume Maleguin Tripi Jokin |
|
La Polla Records is a Spanish punk rock band. They were formed in 1979 in Salvatierra/Agurain, a small town in the Basque Country (Spain). Its founders were Evaristo Páramos, Maleguin, Txarly and Sume. The name was somewhat controversial because in Spain's Spanish, polla is slang for penis.
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In 1981, they recorded an EP under the indie label Oihuka called ¿Y ahora qué? ("So now what?"). It had four songs. In 1984, La Polla Records released their first album called Salve. The lyrics harshly criticized fascism, capitalism, and catholicism.
The following years they recorded Revolución. In this album Abel replaced Maleguin on the bass. They later released more albums: No somos nada and En directo (recorded live) as well as Ellos dicen mierda, nosotros amén ("They say shit, we say Amen"), Los jubilados, Barman, Negro and Hoy es el futuro.
In 1991, due to some issues with a former band member, a tribunal forbade their use of the name La Polla Records. The band ignored the sentence and released Bajo presión under the forbidden name. In 1996, however, they changed their name and simply became La Polla. Under this new name they released Carne para la picadora.
La Polla en tu recto, another live album, was released in 1998. In 1999 they celebrated their 20th anniversary recording Toda la puta vida igual. Another album, Bocas, was later released. Shortly after, Txarly left the band. He was replaced by Jokin, former member of another Spanish punk band, Los Muertos de Cristo.
In 2002 La Polla were still actively playing when, quite suddenly, Fernandito died of a heart attack on September 3. The band cancelled the remaining concerts of the tour. After the loss of their drummer they released their last album: El último (el) de la Polla (literally, "La Polla's last").
La Polla Records was a band that was known as a symbol of rebellion against everything, to the point of them being called "anti-everything". As a result of this they faced several major obstacles throughout their career, primarily threats and repression. The band members even faced jail time during a fiasco with Eskorbuto, another Spanish band.
After La Polla Records were disbanded, Evaristo Paramos (vocals) released a book named "Por los Hijos lo que sea" where he told stories and anecdotes that told many of the same messages as his songs. Evaristo continued his musical career with bands such as The Kagas, The Meas and Gatillazo.
La Polla Records were one of the first punk bands to sing in Spanish. They, along with dozens of other bands were part of an underground movement that existed throughout the 1980s in Spain, particularly in the Basque Country, that came as a reaction to the fall of fascism in Spain in 1975 with the death of Francisco Franco. Consequently, strong feelings of nationalism arose in the early years after Franco's death. The genre of the music became known as "Rock Radical Vasco" (Basque Radical Rock). La Polla Records would share this stage with many other influential bands from the Basque country like Eskorbuto, Kortatu, and many others. The ska-punk band Ska-P cites La Polla Records as one of their primary influences.