Rock & Roll Aint Noise Pollution
When we first moved here from Amsterdam. We hated it here. The reason, we didn´t know where the fuck any of the good stuff was.
It takes a while to get that information, and its not just gathered from conversation or reading shit reviews, here you have to see it and do it for yourself and make your own judgements. Now, we are happy and maybe its time to share some of that to ensure that a visitor or new arrival gets a head start. The missus and I are very rock and roll people, no-one will tell you any differrent.
Ok we live in the Malasaña/Maravillas neighbourhood, probably the most colourful of all of the central barrios. There´s too much to talk about in one rant so in this one I will focus on a few decent boozers.
I have made a deal with the bar tender in my local Bar Dos2 which is located right on the Plaza Dos de Mayo. The deal, I supply him with good music whenever I can (normally twice a month, with a really good mix of Dub Reggae (U-Roy,Mikey, Big Youth),early Jamaican Ska, a good mix of New and Old Punk, New Wave and Rock, 50´s rockabilly, stuff that most bars dont have. I make sure that the new stuff is in his bar well before its in spanish record stores) and i get free drinks. Not a bad deal at all.
Once you´re in there, its easy to meander into a lot of the other quality bars around this zone, one or two streets away, or the terraza on the square. Bars worth a shout in the vicinity are Nueva Vision, which is the home to the spanish branch of the Ramones Fan Club (the biggest chapter of said fan club in the world). Shots dedidacted to Joey,Dee Dee & Johnny for about 1€, also shots dedicated to Joe Strummer RIP. Music policy?..have a guess. Another great place on Calle Palma, close by is El Vaca Austera a large dark bar with a different DJ every night playing everything from 60´s garage, classic mod tunes, through to 70´s metal and modern Brit and US punk. If you ever get to meet the bartender who sometimes works there (with few teeth),never, ever accept a bottled beer from him which he keeps under the counter as it will take your skin off. Nearby are Angies & Little Angies bar which are definitely worth a quick drink in. The other thing about this neighbourhood is that its very friendly, a good mix of different people and if you get the munchies there´s always somewhere decent to go for dinner or picky food nearby, wether it be tapas, mexican( El Catrina), authentic italian pizza (Plaza San Il DeFonso), or a decent burgers (Homeburger, veggie ones too,with original recipe coleslaw). Anyway…More to come….
Thanks greatly for the rockin’ tips on cool bars with cool music. Beside all the wonderful things I expect to encounter during my first trip to Madrid, it is an extra bonus to find real bars with good music. It’s one thing to eat a tapa in the glory of Madrid, but it’s another to have a drink listening to the Clash, et al. in Madrid. Salud!