Los Groovy Mods de España

Spanish Mod Music - Soy Una de Las Caras

The Spanish have given us a taste for chorizo and the films of Pedro Almodóvar — though I pass on Almodóvar. In exchange, they lapped up mod influences from the UK. A fact not known well enough is that some of the mod music that came out of Spain is really pretty groovy.

Let's take a look at the Kinks-inflected songs of Micky y Los Tonys and the neo-mod of Los Flechazos as evidence of this successful cultural cross-over.

Micky y Los Tonys (Original Mod Era)

Micky y Los Tonys formed in 1960 and recorded their first album in 1963. They were the opening act for The Kinks in Madrid in 1967. The band broke up in 1970, though Micky (Ángel Carreño) went on to represent Spain at Eurovision in 1977. He came ninth.

Here we see them performing the sarcastic El Problema de Mis Pelos and then Cuando Pienso en Ti in the 1967 mod comedy film Codo con Codo (a follow up to Megaton Ye- Ye). There can be no arguments on the level of grooviness here.

Los Flechazos (Mod Revival Part 2)

Los Flechazos (above) formed in the mid-80s and were drenched in mod culture. Sadly, they disbanded in 1998. Lead singer Álex Díez Garin (top picture) is now in the band Cooper.

Here we can see Los Flechazos in the video for A Toda Velocidad — a very catchy song, as you will discover whilst condemned to whistle it for the rest of the day.