Locoma - El Puto Guiri
Following the sad passing this week of Locomía star Francesc Picas I thought it would be an opportune moment to share what is quite a story, and perhaps not that widely known outside Spain. I’ve additionally quoted a few excerpts from an article which was originally published in Clarin magazine in 2020.
Locomía were a Spanish group who made their name in the 1980s. With their extravagant and instantly recognisable shoulder pads, pointe shoes, and fan twirling theatrics, the group were perhaps best globally known for their eponymous hit in 1989. Their accidental rise to fame is intertwined with Freddie Mercury’s bacchanalian antics in Ibiza in 1987 where all sorts of tales and urban myths have spread about a birthday party he held at Pikes Hotel, which later moved on to KU, the largest open-air discotheque in the world at the time. By chance, that same evening a Catalan designer and dancer Xavier Font and his 15 strong go-go troupe were performing at one of KU's bars. Font had been alerted that Mercury and his friends were on their way to continue the party.
"I was 24 years old and I didn't really know who he was," he admitted years later. "I knew we were doing a couple of dances next to him, for the photos. I gave him a pair of pointe shoes, one of the ones I designed. He really liked them and said he was going to wear them". Mercury kept his word and four years later wore them in the video for "I'm going slightly mad", one of the last he recorded before he died. "I saw it by chance on YouTube recently. If you think about it, it's incredible that a superstar like Freddie Mercury wore a piece of Locomía in that video... quite an honour," he said. Soon enough though, Locomía themselves would also achieve stardom.
At the start of the 80s, Font had arrived in Ibiza frustrated with hometown Barcelona where his designs did not fit with the prevailing fashion trends. On the island however, shoulder pads, colourful fans and peaked shoes quickly became all the rage. Font assembled a dance troupe of friends eventually accumulating 16 members who lived communally in a huge country house. They included a Dutchman Gard Passchier, who coined the name Locomía: "Gard was asked why we carried those big fans but didn’t know the exact Spanish for crazy. We all loved the name". As the group started to become better known, petty jealousies set in. Their house was set on fire by some ex-dancers which only served to generate more publicity for the Locomía name. It soon proved its value when a Japanese businessman offered them $100,000 to open a gallery.
Sniffing a potentially lucrative return, music producer José Luis Gil landed in Ibiza, a man who had previously brought stardom to Raffaella Carrá, José Luis Perales and Miguel Bosé. Gil had a drink at KU and, impressed by Locomía's performance, turned up the next day at Font's hair salon: "You have a very strong image and a provocative style. If you knew how to sing, you could consider launching yourself as a musical group." Gil soon realised there were issues to overcome. For starters, nobody could sing, and secondly, he decided there was only room for FOUR members, the others ruthlessly cast aside. Gil discarded the ‘short and ugly ones’, and thereafter set about giving Locomía international recognition with its original formation: Xavier Font, his brother Luis, Carlos Armas and Manolo Arjona.
Their producer was also sensitive about their gay image at a time when it was still taboo. One of their first performances on television was on the same bill as Pet Shop Boys and Duran Duran, two groups that Gil 'associated' with 'gay culture'. The producer decided he wanted them to project a more 'ambiguous' image but Font refused to hide his sexual orientation. "A journalist asked me if I had a girlfriend and I told him yes, I had a very handsome boyfriend, but suddenly we had to stop expressing ourselves freely and hide, be ambiguous about everything all the time. He forbade us to be gay, just like he did with Miguel Bosé."
Despite this, Gil went on to produce the songs that made Locomía famous: "Rumba, samba, mambo", "Taiyo" and "Locomía", a trio of hits that assured fame in discos and ubiquity on radio playlists. By the first half of 1989, the first album was in all music stores. And in 1992 they arrived at the Viña del Mar Festival as huge celebrities. But change was afoot...
Font decided to leave the group citing irreconcilable differences with the manager and his constant efforts to mould the group. However, further business wranglings followed ahead of their arrival in the LatAm market. Font discovered that Gil had received about $600,000 as an advance for the next album without telling the band members. Font owned the Locomía brand, but Gil owned the songs. Font fired Gil and now there were TWO Locomías: one led by Font—without the right to perform the songs—and another with new members led by Gil. While the founder was concerned with exposing the impostors, the producer urged a boycott of the original group. Ignominious decline was assured.
In 2009, Font was arrested by the Guardia Civil, accused of introducing, distributing and selling ecstasy, counterfeit Viagra and poppers. Operation Abanico began when investigators discovered that poppers were being offered via a sex shop website. Although the owner of the website was from Alicante, Font’s property in Barcelona was raided where drugs were found. In summer 2018, Locomía returned to the news but following tragedy.
Santos Blanco, a newer member of the group, died in Gijón at the age of 46, found dead in a homeless shelter. A month later, Frank Romero, who featured on the 1992 album Party Time, also died at 46, due to a bacterial infection. Meanwhile, Manolo Arjona continued his career as a dancer, Carlos Armas studied business administration, committing himself to his family's business, whilst Francesc Picas (until this week) studied psychology whilst dedicating himself to writing poetry and novels. For his part, Font is still trying to relaunch the Locomía brand, albeit with little success.
Locomía were synonymous with summery dance pop from the 80s and as this VIDEO from Calle de la Virgen shows, they were icons of a free-spirited island that has sadly disappeared in recent years, symbols of an age when there was less savvy amongst performers in an increasingly cutthroat record business. Destined for eternal cult hero status on the retro kitsch circuit, the story of Locomía epitomises all the clichés of the music industry: a group of young people, an original idea, a full-speed race to the top, rumours, scandals, problems with their manager and the inevitable and resounding fall from grace.
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