Els Masturbadors Mongòlics
From Unearthing The Music
Els Masturbadors Mongòlics were a seminal Spanish Catalan punk band from Barcelona. The band was founded by Lluís Miracle on vocals, Enric Masip on drums and Pedro on bass on mid 1977. Soon Paco Martínez joined on guitar, and the duo of Miracle and Martínez become the band's main composers. Known for their alcohol and drug consumption and violent behaviour, the band left its mark on the Spanish musical scene despite lasting only one year and having performed very few concerts, but the legacy of their antics still reverberates today.
At the end of 1977, Masturbadors Mongòlics installed themselves in their local rehearsal space, the legendary (and now derelict) La Orquídea, a disco bar in Barcelona's Gràcia barrio. A lot of the local gangs used the bar as a meeting point, and when someone got shot, it was shut down. But on January 21, 1978, Masturbadors Mongòlics played at the reopening night and counted it as their first "official" gig.
The band's image, and particularly that of its frontman, Lluis Miracle, was highly transgressive and provocative, and a few months later, during their next gig (also at La Orquídea), Miracle came out on stage completely naked with a German shepherd on a leash. The band managed to get through a few songs before he ended up on the floor after an altercation with someone in the audience. Spain's first ever gay zine (homosexuality was still very much a crime under the gloriously named Social Dangerousness Act), ran a review of the show entitled "Masturbadors Mongòlics sing with their willies out". Their next gig, on the outskirts of Barcelona, turned into a full-on battle—they only got through two songs before everything descended into carnage.
The band's next gig was at a campsite just outside Barcelona. Miracle, clearly keen on keeping up appearances, showed up at the last moment covered in blood. He'd been fighting in a bar around the corner.
In March the band recorded a three song demo session for the Spanish branch of EMI, recorded at Estudios EMI, Barcelona. These songs remain unreleased. After the session, Enric left the band, and was substituted by another drummer until Kike Albareda joined the band in June 1978. That month they played at a large punk festival organized by Cuc Sonat at a camping site near Barcelona. More than 23.000 people attended, and some of the bands that played were Paracelso, Basura, Kaka De Luxe, Almen T.N.T., La Morgue, and many others. The organization was chaotic, and after a fight with members of La Banda Trapera, they ended playing after the sunrise. After that, Pedro, the bass player, quit and the band almost broke up.
Lluís and Paco reformed the band with Francisco Buil on drums, Manel Domenech on second guitar and Dudu—Paco's brother, on bass. With that formation they played in September the 2nd at the Canet Rock, another big festival with local bands and international artists such as Blondie and Ultravox as headliners.
In September the 3rd, they recorded annother session for EMI, again at the company's own studios. The band recorded a total of eight songs, which were, again, shelved and never released. After that, the band broke up.
In 2012, Munster Records finally released the last session for EMI as an LP: Els Masturbadors Mongolics.