Eskorbuto “Eskizofrenia”

Eskorbuto “Eskizofrenia” 1985. Either 2011 or 2019 reissue on Munster Records, originally on the Madrid-based Twins Records label. 80’s Spanish hardcore punk. Angry, likely political (I don’t read or speak a lick of Spanish): think Agent Orange/Circle Jerks 80’s punk with a dash of British Exploited oi!. Joe picked this one up in Spain after a recommendation for a Spanish punk band — good call! It’s great! I’ve never heard of them so reading about their history was fascinating – here’s a bunch of info from Wiki: They started playing around 1980 and are considered one of the first hardcore bands to write and perform in Spanish – their name comes from the Spanish word for scurvy (escorbuto). Their first show was at a school in the Basque region of Spain (Nervión, Santurtzi) to a bunch of 10 year olds. Eskorbuto recorded their first single in ’82, “Mucha Policía, Poca Diversión” (which appears on this LP) which translates to Lots of Police, Little Fun. “In the summer of 1983, they returned to Madrid to record a new demo, with the songs: “E.T.A.“, “Escupe A La Bandera“, “Maldito País“, “Iros A La Mierda“…they got arrested, the police listened to the demo and went on to accuse the band of insulting the state and its security forces. They got the emergency anti-terrorist law imposed on them, and were held incommunicado for 36 hours.” They also made enemies with the Basque nationalists, who accused them of “being traitors” to the movement because of their first EP (Zona Norte Especial – several of the EP tracks appear on Eskizofrenia). Basically, they didn’t get along with anyone and described themselves as anti-everything. It’s difficult to highlight any top tracks – they are all super-short, punchy and grinding but a few to listen to include the title track (with its very Sex Pistol-esque intro) “Eskizofrenia,” “Os Engañan” and “¿Dónde Está El Porvenir?” which has some pretty epic loogie hocking.