Christian Völker Llull, one of the most renowned musicians of the Mallorcan punk and rock scene, has died.

ManacorDeath is never welcome. Much less so when it's the death of a friend. Christian Völker Llull (Manacor, 1962) left us the day before Christmas Eve, a victim of illness. Far too soon for a person with such captivating energy and attitude. Always ready to defend, courageous in attack, projects sprang from him and he pursued them with the punk passion that always drove him. One of the last times we saw each other, at his house, we talked about music (always music) and aboutPunk in LondonA 1977 German documentary featuring the new bands on the English scene, which, of course, we watched in its entirety.

"When all this is over, we still have lunch to look forward to. Remember that," he told Joan Sastre and me, sitting on the sofa.

I met Christian at the Can Vinyes bar, at the gas station on the Palma road in Manacor. Tall and thin, spiky hair, black Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a Clash t-shirt—his favorite band. It was a little over two years ago, in the summer of 2023. Obviously, I already knew who the great Christian Völker was, but I had never met him in person. I was preparing the second print issue of the magazine, dedicated mainly to Manacor's music scene, and his issue had been on my phone's contacts for a few days.

Suddenly, I knew it would last—the interview and the friendship. From easy and engaging conversation, what was meant to be an initial contact so he could tell me how the group MAC was formed and the recording process of the first pioneering punk-reggae albumSpeaking in Catalan in Mallorca, it became a series of anecdotes and stories from the pilot he once was. "That was Christmas in Las Vegas, in the United States..."; the airline he worked for had just laid off half its staff, and New Year's was shaping up to be a real struggle: without a job or enough money to get home, young Völker decided that, since he was already in gambling city, he would risk everything he had left on chance. Like in the best movies, those last coins smiled on the hero, who spent New Year's Eve in a Las Vegas hotel suite.

Pillastras/MAC

Needless to say, we moved from the notes to the interview, and from piloting to the beginnings of punk in Manacor. "I started with Pillastres in 1977 after returning from London, where I had supposedly gone to study English for nine months. We used to play at the Gent nightclub in Plaça de Ramon Llull, which would later become the A-ha pub. You entered through the side entrance opposite Pop." "I remember that with Pillastres we rehearsed in a place in Can Jordi des Racó. It had a piano and was only two meters high. I always hit my head when I tried to jump."

That group, which initially emerged from the storage room of the Bar Mallorquín run by the parents of the Nicolau brothers (Ocultos), evolved by listening to the records that Christian had brought from London and those that his uncle sent him from Manzana Records in the Canary Islands. "I returned to Mallorca with three suitcases full of records. For many years everyone 'drank' from my vinyl," he said, laughing.

"We entered a band competition organized by the Hotel Don Jaime in Cala Millor. It was late summer 1979. We were Toni Nicolau on drums, Guillem Pou on bass, Joan Sureda Precious to a guitar, Mateu Febrer Randa "The other one, and me singing. Although the songs were very punk, we made it to the semifinals. But here's where the problem arose; since the contest was co-organized by Radio Popular, linked to the Catholic Church, we received suggestions that another alternative group should tone it down a bit if we wanted to win… and that's how MAC was born."

"If you want, we can meet and continue chatting at the office," almost every Irishman Pogue Mahone from La Coma would say, "here where they serve the best Guinness in the world outside of Dublin."

With Ramonikos (the other great generational group of Manacor punk), Christian lent his imposing voice to the main theme of the cult film Jwest of CallejónThe music video for the song, filmed in the old Es Bidó pub, was quite an event.Some people are just desperate.The title of Ramonikos' latest album, which in 2023 the band formed by Joan Bauçà, Jaume Riera, David Caldentey, Antoni Muntaner, and Völker himself, was about to release on vinyl, thanks to the encouragement of their friend Joan Sastre (Matalàs Records), was [title missing].

Shortly after, when the album and the magazine were finished, he didn't hesitate for a moment and agreed to participate in the 07500 presentation at Can Lliro, accompanying Roger Moragues (guitar) and Arnau Galmés (bass) in a frenetic version ofOn Saturday,The anthem of the nights in the port city's Callejón, where between 1977 and 1979 he ran, in partnership with Julià Febrer, the legendary Aiguarràs pub, the cradle of many of the bands that were emerging on the Manacor scene.

"An uncle of mine lived in the Canary Islands, where at that time there was aboomFrom import record stores, like the legendary Manzana Records. I ended up with a collection of thousands of records; many of them were played every weekend in Portocristo."

From the Canary Islands and London, where he met Joa Strumer in person: "We went to a handful of punk gigs all over the city, in Camden venues I never would have thought to go into. Or in a squat by the river where bands like The Clash rehearsed, whom I also met. I remember them sitting on a half-eaten sofa. We became friends over a chocolate bar," he recalled while moving his Converse sneakers, one of the hallmarks of his combative and unwavering style.

"When all this is over, we still have food to look forward to." Remember that. We'll do it sooner or later, my friend. A big hug to Elena, her two children, and her parents. Thank you for these years, which were far too short.