Hola Cuca are Spanish sisters Lidia and Mabel Damunt plus their friend Alfonso Melero. Their guitar-based rock brings down the house wherever they play. RainbowNetwork saw them recently when they performed in London and wanted to find out more. Mabel clued us in from her home in sunny Murcia.

Why did you start Hola Cuca?
We love playing music and that's something we had to do. We needed to do it. Lidia and I are sisters, so we have always been playing together, making songs while brushing out teeth, ha ha! We were in a few bands but it wasn't until we met Alfonso that we started Hello Cuca. He had just moved to Murcia and was the perfect third part for this band.

What are your songs about?
Our songs are secret love messages. A few verses from the heart in the rock'n'roll tradition. I like the classic songs like Da Do Ron Ron and all that, but we try to go more into the raw stuff. What everyday life is and could be, all that. By the way, we always include an English translation on the records, we care about communication.

Tell us a bit about your record label Rompepistas and the scene in Spain for up and coming bands, it looks pretty vibrant, is that true?
It's getting better right now, but we miss a real underground scene, at least one with more networking. Everything is kind of spread out, so it's difficult for small bands and labels even to know each other. That's sad. But as I said before we had a great year, there are exciting bands right now, small labels who are going to release more stuff soon, a bit of an uprising in our non practical and romantic style.

Hola Cuca rocked the stage when they played London recently. Is Hola Cuca reclaiming 'boy's music' for girls?
We don't make boy's music, we are woman playing music so that's woman's music. Guitars are there for whoever wants to pick them, and you can learn on the way. There's always been a tradition of woman playing rock'n'roll and punk and we are into that a lot. That's the way we feel it. The thing that pushed me to play in a band was seeing women making punk, definitely. And that saved rock 'n' roll for me.

What are your ambitions as a band?
Be proud of our work. Every song counts, for us, it's a waste money, plastic and paper to put out something that doesn't deserve it. And we would like to have a real communication with other people through it. We want to be like the art that we like ourselves, that helps us through the everyday routine.

Is there anything else you'd like to say?
We hope to come back to UK soon.

Rompepistas.com