Madrid, metal, cigarette pants, J'hayber sneakers, liters, long hair in the wind, hands making horns and, above all, a lot music. Distorted, fast, guitar-driven, at full volume, with high-pitched voices and long solos. prepare for ride in the DeLorean and travel to the Madrid heavy of the eighties thanks to “Madrid Metal, an illustrated history of the 80s”.
This is a free exhibition that can be enjoyed at CentroCentro until April 3. Miguel B. Nunez He is, in addition to being a comic book artist and a lover of heavy music, one of the curators of the show. “Everything started from Tevi De la Torre, the other curator of Madrid Metal, that she had already seen some of my drawings in a previous exhibition at CentroCentro, and that she knew about my Heavy 1986 comics and its second part, The Boys Are Bad.
She told me her idea to show the heavy scene of Madrid of the eighties through the memories of its protagonists, illustrated by people who did not live that moment, and she suggested that I participate together with her in the organization”, she confesses.
They are electric, by Paco Manjón and Leo Cebrián, in Madrid Metal.
The exhibition is mainly composed of illustrations that recreate that time, accompanied by texts of its protagonists: journalists, musicians, DJs and, in general, people related to the heavy movement. Miguel explains his selection as follows: “ The choice of the people who have told us their memories has been my thing, and the one of those that have illustrated those memories, of Tevi.
I have based my selection on people I already knew from those years or who I have gotten to know, especially as a result of the publication of my comic Heavy 1986, and also contacts that other protagonists of the exhibition have passed me, such as Paco Manjón and Leo Cebrián, creators of the documentary they are electric, which is also part of Madrid Metal.
Although there are heavy metal professionals, such as Leonor Marchesi, Mariano Muniesa, Eva Benito, Lola Ferro or Sergio Guillén Barrantes, we wanted include more anonymous people who have shown their love for heavy in many different ways, such as opening a metal accessories store in the case of Sara from Fruits of the Iron Curtain, or play in mythical nightclubs like Barrabás, like Israel Rosillo”.
Madrid Metal, in CentroCentro.
These texts and drawings have also shaped a printed fanzine that is given away to visitors. A nod to the era that will delight the most nostalgic, "to the point of having a design that even imitates the little flaws of those fanzines, like crooked lines and typewriter font.
It was in Thrashock, a fanzine from those years that my friends Antonio Pardo and Antonio Delgado made, where I debuted with my first comics. I passed to Javi Bayo, the designer of the exhibition, images of that fanzine, concert tickets, and photos that some protagonists of the texts have sent me, and he was in charge of giving it shape”, points out the cartoonist.
Also in the exhibition there are priceless photos that perfectly portray the time, printed in large size: "They are from Francis Tsang, who, in addition to keeping a position during the eighties in the trail with his partner Pablo de las Heras photographed great concerts of the time from the front line. They are a reflection of the public, leaving this time the bands as background and not as the center of this history of heavy”.
Slasher Cinema, by Berto Fojo, in Madrid Metal.
There are also a couple of televisions where we can see, on the one hand, a 1985 documentary about the endearing Abuela Rockera (Ángeles Rodríguez Hidalgo), sometimes accompanied by Azucena Martín, singer of Santa, and that, as Miguel affirms, "is not wasted as a historical document of an entire era". On the other television we will see groups like Leño, Barón Rojo, Iron Maiden… “These are performances and interviews from shows like Musical Express, Popgrama or Tocata. All ceded by RTVE”, he adds.
THEY ARE ELECTRIC
Parallel to the exhibition, the aforementioned documentary is being screened they are electric. The next passes will be on Thursday, January 20 and Thursday, March 10 (free admission). Both will be at 7:00 p.m. in the room Jorge Berlanga , also within the CentroCentro space.
Leo Cebrian, one of its creators tells us that the film “is a documentary dedicated to the pioneering women of hard rock and heavy metal in Spain, and one of the few that have been made in our country in around these two musical genres. As in so many other cases, the female presence in this culture was very relevant, but it was hidden by an unfair invisibility.
Within the movement there was no conscious marginalization of women as such, but there was instead of that entire cultural movement by the music gurus of the big media and the entrepreneurs who ran the music business. This none was the culprit that the “heavies” remained in a watertight compartment resistant to adversity, but with little capacity for development and professional expectations”.
Heavy on public television, by Núria Just, in Madrid Metal.
ALSO CONCERTS
Madrid Metal has been open to the public for a few weeks now, and the exhibition's curator explains that the response “is being very good. The illustrations have a very high level, and the texts are full of anecdotes and good memories. Even if you weren't heavy or didn't live it, you find details that They make you smile."
Regarding the current heavy and rock panorama, Miguel assures that he sees it “very fit. The heavy has been generating ramifications continuously, and that has kept the genre alive. There is variety and quality, in Spain we have since hard rock bands like Pinball Wizard or The Trashers, to the extreme metal of Bloodhunter or the thrash metal of Crisix or Angelus Apatrida, you have a choice."
In addition, he adds that the exhibition will feature the performance of Kramp and Curly Mane, “two young bands. The first close to power metal and the second to hard rock. We want the exhibition to also function as a bridge between generations. that serves for look at the past of hard rock and heavy metal, and also the future what lies ahead." Long live heavy metal.