Memories of the Past – Loles Vazquez tells us the history
of Las Vulpess, their rise and fall...
Interview with Loles (ex-Vulpess), taken from issue #2 of Punk Invasion (June 2001). Conducted by Jordi and translated by Federico.
Vulpess, the legendary early 80's punk band, born in the city of Bilbao and famous for their appearance on TVE (the state-owned TV network) and the trouble they got themselves into with ABC (a known Spanish newspaper). Here we present you their history, from the very words of she who made it: Loles Vazquez, original guitarist and author of the famous lyrics to the song "Me Gusta Ser Una Zorra" ("I Like Being a Slut"), probably the most damned song in Spanish punk history. Four irreverent young ladies that jumped to fame without any lickings. The media circus that was made around them ended up destroying the band. The historical mistake was: Punk should have never stayed away from the streets.
There are many bootlegs of their shows floating around, even though officially they only left us one 7", that's part of our history and became one of the most precious classics of the scene. From here I would like to say a big "hi!" to Loles and thanks a lot!
-Jordi-
The Interview
Tell us a bit about the beginnings of Las Vulpess, when was the band formed, who were you, who were your influences, etc.
Vulpess was first formed in 1980. Then we had my brother Bernar, who also played in MCD and various bands from Bilbao. After that more then 10 girls went through the lineup until the "scandal" started. By the time we recorded that infamous video, Begona, the bass player, was with us for 3 weeks and my sister Lupe and Mamen were in the band for about more or less 2 months. At that time, we used to rehearse every day, if we had more time and more rehearsal hours (in the place where nowadays MCD rehearse) on our backs, everything would have been better, this thing caught us at an early stage.
We used to listen to a bit of everything, Lupe and Begona liked rock'n'roll, Bowie, Mink Deville, Dr. Feelgood... Mamen listened to new wave bands and I, influenced by my brother Niko, listened more to '77 punk. In general, we all listened to Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Heartbreakers, UK Subs, Motorhead, New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Clash, MC5, Cockney Rejects... and later on came Exploited, GBH, Discharge... those were our influences, well, also MCD, because of sentimental and familiar reasons.
I've heard that between 1983 and 1985 the group stopped and later on you reformed it for one concert. Is it true? What happenned?
Yeah, my other brother Karmelo Mclaren (manager of MCD and known DJ) was partner in Bilbao's only rock venue, "The Garage", where all the ill called "tribes" used to hang out – punks, metalheads, rockers, new wavers... Back then, we didn't have a problem with each other – only a few people weren't into the "Top 40" and that kept us united. Anyway, they had financial problems keeping the venue going. So bands such as RIP, Eskorbuto, La Uvi, Kortatu, MCD, and Cicatriz played benefits for them and we decided with Vulpess to join the cause, even though we didn't play in Euskadi (the Basque Country) after the mess with the state's TV. So the deal was playing there twice.
Why did you record just one 7"? I think you had enough material for more releases. It was hard to get record deals?
Yeah, it was hard, even the studios didn't really knew how to record bands with distortion in their guitars and that type of singing... it was new for everybody, it should be enough just by saying that my guitar was recorded by line, thinking that the actual recording was done on vinyl (?)... Just when we split we were suppossed to do a live record.
Not long ago your 7" was re-issued, was it surprising for you?
Yeah, because we never got a cent out of the record's sales. Dos Rombos' (the indie label who put out the original 7") owners, Oscar Ruiz and Angel Aparicio, declared bankruptcy in order not to pay us and besides, I also thought that young people didn't know about us.
It seems like you were revolutionizing the places you were going to, were you as provocative as people say you were?
The truth is that we were, but that was punk: provocation, and if you weren't a rebel when you were 17 – 18, when can you be so? After us, the "Radical Basque Rock" (a label which I hate) came and the whole movement was better understood.
Each concert was legendary, in addition to what has been already discussed, in Mallorca our luggage was held and the day after, the press went out saying one of our bags was full of cocaine. In Jativa, they didn't pay us and we spent 3 days sleeping on the beach inside the car because we didn't have the money to go back to Bilbao. In Burgos only military people came to see us because they thought that we were going to take off our clothes... anyway, there was always something.
You dedicated your song "Anarkia en TV" to all those who made you famous on TV, but could you tell us how your TV appearance came to be? What the media said about you the day after the show was aired? It seems like it was a big deal...
A guy named Carlos Tena was preparing a new show called "Caja de Ritmos" ("Rhythm Box") with only Spanish bands. Somebody told him that in Bilbao there was a girl–only band and that's the way it happened, extremely quickly, those were other times and they told us that the video aired would be edited and every time we cursed there would be a "beep". But they actually didn't do it and that was the excuse Anson, the guy who wrote the article for the ABC newspaper, used for writing the thing. The video was broadcast on TVE on the April 16th, 1983, and the article on the front page of ABC was on May 1st. It was election time and it was used for political reasons.
If ABC had not printed the lyrics in the article there would have been no problem, since the recording was pretty bad and with just the video it was hard to figure them out, they probably played it lots of times until they finally got them. It took 3 years until the case for public disturbance was closed but they kept harrasing me all that time for being the author of those lyrics.
Do you think that the aftermath of the TV appearance was positive or negative for Vulpess?
It was pretty negative, we were young then, and as I’ve said, also under rehearsed. We didn't know what we got ourselves into, it was so rushed. With shows in Euskadi, and step by step, everything could have been better.
Were the groups back then for real? I mean, was there an attitude there or just another teenage trend? Was that the reason you had a song called "punks de plastico" ("plastic punks")?
I think we were, we were different from what punk transformed itself into later. We were based on provocation and music. We used Nazi regalia, not because we were fascists but because it provoked people, we wore leather jackets that were only available in motor shops and were hard to get, dog collars, homemade studded belts, mini-skirts. The problem started when it became a fashion and you could find everything in the trendy stores. That's what the song is all about.
Do you think that the fact that the band was formed by 4 girls helped Vulpess to become a better known band?
Yes and no, it also helped to destroy the band. Spain used to be very macho, La Polla Records also used to curse in their songs and weren't so critiziced.
Did you play many concerts outside the Basque country? Did you play Barcelona a lot? How was the crowd there compared to that in other cities in the country?
Barcelona was one of the places we enjoyed the most both being in and playing in. The people there took good care of us. Inside the country, Barcelona was always a leading city, ahead of the rest in many aspects - back then there weren't many people who really understood Vulpess for what we really were and not the whole circus they made us to be. After the video on TVE we never played again in the Basque country, only for the "Garage" benefit 2 years later.
With which bands did you have good relations then and who was memorable to share the stage with? Any concert you particulary remember?
From Madrid: La Uvi, Ox Pow, PVP, La Frontera, La Broma De Satán...
From Barcelona: Decibelios, Loquillo, Ultimo Resorte, Kangrena...
From Zaragoza: IV Reich
From Euskadi: Eskorbuto, MCD, RIP, Cicatriz, Corrupción, (Kortatu didn’t exist then)...
From the south: TNT, 091
Concerts: The concert at the (infamous) "Rockola" was the most profitable in the history of the venue... the bouncers beat up Mamen, Begona and our manager, locking them up in the lowest part of the discotheque. They were annoyed by the song "Policía asesina, asesina a un policía" ("Murderous police, murder a policeman") and also because we stopped our concert saying we didn't need bouncers during our show. So two of them, who were beating up people for pogoing in the first rows, put a barbed wire in front of us... it was very strong. Both days at Barcelona's "Rias" were good. In Benavente, two buses full of fascists from the city of Leon tried to ruin the show in the bullfight ring by throwing bottles from above. Also we were billed with pop bands of the era and well, that always caused trouble. The shows we really enjoyed the most were the ones with only us and La Uvi.
It seems like you became pretty sick of the song "Me Gusta Ser Una Zorra", why?
Because of all I have been telling you here, they really didn't get it.
Why did Vulpess break up?
We didn't want to be some novelty act, the group started with the idea of having fun playing and by then, we weren't having any. It also had to do with the fact that we signed with some booking agency for touring across Spain, playing in bullfight rings and football fields. We agreed not to play within a ratio of 100 KM of the places on our intinerary, before the date we signed with the agency. They had many places so it was hard agreeing to do more concerts then those agreed with them.
But it turned out to be a lie, we went to the places we were arranged to to play and nobody showed up, no concert, nothing. By not being able to play within the 100 KM ratio they tied us up, they could sue us by not sticking with the signed contract and even though we broke it several times, it didn't work well. Anyway, we were too young to understand legal mumbo–jumbo and got fucked over. All that made us burn out, we fought with each other... so we decided to break up.
Mamen played later on in Anticuerpos, did any of you play in other bands or is involved nowadays in music?
The most involved in music has been Mamen, I played with MCD once, they called me to fill in in the last minute, and also played with Niko and Jimmy in Gazte-Hilak, I also got together with Mamen, Pedro and Goar (from Cicatriz) but nothing serious, just for fun. Begona and Lupe also did things but also for fun. Mamen was the only one who kept doing it in a serious manner.
During the time of transition between dictatorship and democracy, do you think that the coming of punk (in Spain) was an impact on a social level (think of a country that just liberated itself from a right wing dictatorship who pullied out a generation like this...)?
At the beginning, society thought it was bad but managed to absorb it quickly. Punk in those days was totally apolitical. If you need to label it, I would call it anarchist. It was a way of life, and well, when society saw there were many youngers behind it, it "accepted" it and then the leftists parties began to use it for their own campaigns, etc., when previously they attacked us for using Nazi symbols (which we did as mere provocation) and for copying Yankees and Brits... But the truth is that we also took advantage of that, because it meant that we could find more places to rehearse, better instruments, more groups... In this country it was already possible to listen to something more then the stupid "Top 40". There's also a subject which was very hard for us, the musicians and the people who followed this ideology (if you can call it that) and it's the introduction of heroin, with very little information about the consequences. The youth stopped being so outspoken, because if you were busy trying to score junk you couldn't be in a meeting or a barricade.
Which are the times you have the best memories of and how do you see them after all this time?
To be honest, I actually had forgotten a bit about those times, but having these experiences while being so young leaves a lasting impression for the time you become mature and I learned to see things differently, the manipulation of the press and TVE, also ideologically – in the beginning you think that those who were actually closer to your ideas don't understand you, like what I said about them thinking we were "Americanized", and fascist because the way we dressed. But then they realized what we were all about and labeled it "Basque Radical Rock" and calmed down. There were hard times but also very good ones as well.
Do you want to add anything more to the interview?
I just wanted to say that we may get together for recording the aborted record we never did, as an homage to my sister Lupe. Recording the live one seems harder, even though it may be possible to set up some backstage childcare, as the three of us are mothers now!!! If we were boys, we wouldn't have that problem, being a girl band has its cons and pros.
Kiss and bye!
Loles
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