UNITED WITH SPAIN: SUPPORT AFTER RECENT FLOODS

Slovenly would like to send out our deepest condolences to anyone in Spain who lost loved ones – or has suffered a traumatic experience – in the recent floods. We managed to get there for a couple of days last week to help out.

Valencia is our Spanish hometown – label founder Pete lived there for a year or two, and we’ve released records by at least 10 different Valencian bands. The rock’n’roll family even expands out into the orange orchards where Discosville (where we plan to press some records in the future) is being set up by Oihane (who runs the Slovenly office in Berlin) and Alberto Wowsville. Mike Mariconda has a studio in Valencia which was completely flooded. The neighborhood where Isidro (SanIsidro) lives was under over 3 meters (9 feet!) of mud in certain areas.

In the photos you’ll see

× the rehearsal studios where Wau y los Arrrghs!!! and a hundred other bands practice

× Wau’s practice room and instruments – ruined under 2m of mud

× the blue VW van that saved Satu’s life. The rushing floodwaters rose to almost as high as its roof – they would have carried him away – he waited 6 hours up there for them to subside

× the old Ace Tone organ, used by Okmoniks, Wau, Acid Baby Jesus… it was being stored in the Funtastic Dracula Carnival warehouse which was in Paiporta – where the floods hit worst. Funtastic also lost a pair of Farfisas, drum kits, and years of memorabilia

× Juanito & Satu with a spray-cleaner… despite everything, they’re keeping spirits high and moving forward. We never thought we’d see a Marshall being power-washed! Cross your fingers that all those instruments work again when they dry out

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Despite it all, Wau y los Arrrghs has refused our offer to set up a crowdfund to help out with financial losses and buy new instruments. Because sadly, a lot of people in the area are far worse off than they are. So, please direct your donations to relief organizations for now.

Satu, on the other hand, is the owner of the “L’Assaig” rehearsal studios. If you have any way to get to Valencia, he can definitely can use some help. Almost two weeks after the worst day of flooding, the mess to clean is still massive. It will probably take months of work to bring the studios back to normal operation.

As mentioned before, loads of other bands rehearse in these studios, and all of the ones on the ground floor lost everything. This already represents a massive blow to the Valencian music scene – and if the insurance company doesn’t pay up, the entire rehearsal complex might have to be shut down. To help prevent that, we will set up a crowdfund in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for a link for that.

In the meantime, here’s a list of relief organizations to help those in areas that were hit even harder: https://superminimaps.com/how-to-support-valencia/