There are some bands who refuse to accept that the style has changed since the 1980s, but sometimes a few songs, stripped of all frills and designed to make you shout Oi! Oi! Oi! to a catchy chorus, is all you need from a punk record. Hailing from Murcia in the South-East of Spain, Haren is an all-girl streetpunk band that defy anyone to listen to their five-track demo and not have a good time… it’s good as hell.
Opening track “Mátalos” threw me to the floor, with fast beats and aggressive lyrics fueled by vile anti-cop sentiments. The song, whose title translates as “Kill them”, sounds almost like a rendition of Nabat’s classic “Kill Police” and it’s just that great! Things are heading up my alley of UK82 punk with pogo beats on the second track “Frakaso” that sounds akin to more punk classics. The third track “Juventudes perdidas (Oi! Oi! Oi!)” takes on a more diverse and melodic approach that draws influence from bands like The Partisans, 4-Skins, Cockney Rejects, and all those other bands who love to shout the Oi! refrain with a heart full of pride, despite all odds and challenges in life. The energy is not letting up also on the fourth track “Élite del punk”, which is another adrenaline pumped mid-tempo streetpunk banger telling the hipster punks to fuck off. “Marrana” is a great closer to the record, with even more anthemic choruses and lyrics about women not giving a shit about patriarchal rules and puritanism. It’s the longest track on the record but still under the three-minute mark.
Listening to this demo, it’s impossible to tell it was recorded in 2022; it’s pure streetpunk in its essence and you can still listen to it five years from now with the same enjoyment. Damn good stuff, or una maldita banda de punk as the Spaniards would say!
