Hortaleza is a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Madrid, originally working class and marked by youth unemployment.

That’s where Porretas come from. Los Porretas are the spirit of a neighbourhood culture that finds in music the best or almost the only vehicle of self-expression, of a way of life, of a language and customs that occupy the lowest, and therefore perhaps the most solid, substratum of Spanish social life.

Proud of their origins, they express themselves without any double standards or ambiguities, in plain language, and do not disguise their language or their street and Madrilenian touches with the pomade of fine culture. Always with a beer or two in between and maybe a few cigars to inspire them.

Los Porretas have been playing their rock on the edge with punk resonances since 1985, although they didn’t become known until the early nineties through a compilation of groups from their neighbourhood as a result of a contest they won.