Hinds released their excellent new album The Prettiest Curse last month to help soundtrack our summer. While they were recording those songs, it turns out they were also rehearsing a cover of The Clash’s track “Spanish Bombs”. Now, they’ve released the studio version of that cover.
Of course, “Spanish Bombs” comes from London Calling, The Clash’s iconic album and one of the most influential punk rock records of all time. While “Spanish Bombs” is a classic in its own right, the song has additional meaning for the members of Hinds because of its perspective on the Spanish Civil War — singer Joe Strummer was inspired to write about it after he heard about the Costa Brava hotel bombings on the radio at the time — as a piece of pop culture history.
“The Clash were my mom’s forever favorite band and Ade’s parents also, so it is always beautiful to connect generations through music,” Hinds wrote in a statement. “As Spaniards, we don’t usually get shout outs in songs, like ‘New York’ or ‘London’, so The Clash writing a song about our civil war made us feel honored. We recorded it the last day of studio, pretty much live, while recording our third album.”
Hinds open their cover with distorted shouts and group vocals, turning the punk classic into a sunny lo-fi pop number sung in their native language. It’s fast and passionate, the type of cover song that’s clearly coming from the heart, as Hinds essentially turn The Clash’s song into one of their own. Stream it below.
Below, revisit Hinds’ recent apparent on This Must Be the Gig. Vocalist/guitarist Ana Perrote discussed the band’s new album, telling off misogynists in the industry, starting off as a two-piece, and why it took longer to catch on in their native Spain than the rest of the world
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