Rejuvenate the island rock

PalmaSince the eighties and, one could say, since the nineties, island rock had not been as young as it is now. It had aged. Adolescent bands that had not yet reached their twenties were either nonexistent or anecdotal.

From those leaner years, we can reference some of the youngest and most notable names, then, in the broadest sense of rock: from the pop of Els Galindons, from Manacor, from the last decade and who are now part of Reïna, to the other extreme, which could be occupied by Cop de Fona, from Palma, one of the young spurs of the punk movement of the two preceding decades and the embryo that would later branch out with so many reference groups of the genre. And without overlooking, for example, Mantra – more than a decade ago now – the Felanitx group of Franc and Jaume Prohens, sons of Joan Prohens, leader of the Black Cats and referential of rockabilly.

Currently, however, island rock, with its full maximum expression, is experiencing a new explosion of very young bands, who are no older than twenty years old or barely so. A strong bastion has been formed, led by emerging bands that are already beginning to transcend, such as BAF and Ulls Secs, both from the cradle of sa Pobla, and U.R. Bad, between Portocolom and Manacor, winners of the last edition of the Palma Pop Rock Contest.

The cradle of sa Pobla

Both cases of villagers, in fact, are among the most emerging names but who have already made the leap and have overcome adolescence. Miquel Seguí (vocals and guitar), Jaume Hurtado (bass) and Víctor Ricci (drums and vocals), members of Ulls Secs, formed before the pandemic. “We were 17 years old and we used to do covers; when we made the leap to our own songs we were already 22 and now we are 23,” they explain. For now, they are recording their second album in which the experimentation they are looking for “will be even more original and different,” they confess: “We want to innovate in rhythm, lyrics and harmonies.”

The other villagers, BAF, one of the most stimulating and promising post-punk and punk explosions, created in the summer of 2025, summarize their experience like this: “The four of us share a base of musical tastes that we have inherited from family or have discovered, but each one listens to different music. While we listen to punk, some more than others, it is not the genre we master the most, but it is where we have found a place to make our music.” This is said by Amaro Seoane, the musician and also emerging audiovisual creator who, precisely in the 2025 edition of MajorDocs, the international documentary film festival of Mallorca, premiered Vida injusta within the mentoring program. “A year ago we started playing what we do now and in the fall was the first concert. We were between 18 and 21 years old.” Now they are between 19 and 22.

In fact, next September they embark on their first state tour of four concerts, in Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona and Zaragoza, accompanying none other than the New Yorkers Bodega, a punk and rock band with edges, like them.

And of all of them, U.R. Bad is one of the earliest examples. The quartet was formed at the end of 2021 by Xisca Muelas and Nora Roldán when they were only 12 years old. “Half a year later, Aina Muelas joined on bass, who was 15, and at the end of 2023, Sergi Barceló, at 14 years old,” explains Roldán. Now they are between 16 and 19. “Of course, this type of music is not the most listened to among young people of our age, but when we talk about making songs, we agree that classic rock’n’roll is our style. Each one has their own references, but we started by doing covers of bands that we listened to at home and, later, we started creating our own songs inspired by this style,” she continues. “We suppose that’s why we make them in English,” adds Sergi.

Following all these names are other projects that are even more incipient and also even more precocious. This is the case of Ill Sea, from Palma, which is Finn Tugores, 16 years old. However, as he says: “The project and the idea started when I was 12 or 13; and with the name, at 14. Besides, my father is a musician, I have always had the impulse to create and express myself”. Broadening the spectrum of rock, he moves in a singular post-rock, the so-called midwest emo, and folk.

And on the other side of Mallorca, in Pollença, there is Young Noise, the alter ego of Adrià Solivellas, 19 years old. “I started recording at 16. The youngest in the group is now 16 and when we started playing he was 14”, he says.

The social crisis pushes young people

The horizon that is blurring among young people, splashed by the crises suffered in many social areas, has stimulated a certain generation of musical groups that are bursting within island rock. “An interesting scene is brewing with also quite interesting noise. I feel we have the same desire to create, according to the same discomforts and problems that we young people of our generation face and that drive us to make noise,” expresses Solivellas. He points out “the problems of climate change, the recent rise of the far-right, the housing problem, tourist overcrowding in Mallorca and AI,” in the sense that, he says, “it finances governments like Israel’s and fascist billionaires like Elon Musk and dehumanizes art.” “It’s not that we only talk about this in music, but, from what I perceive, social discomforts drive us to make the music we make and that moves many young people as the only way to vent and escape from reality,” he confesses.

Solivellas, one of the most restless, denounces it: “It is very difficult to find concerts that accept us with our style of music, getting paid is also difficult and unfair, and the rehearsal spaces in Mallorca do not have the best conditions. The Government should finance them or make them more accessible to everyone”.

Mothgruth is another distorting grunge quartet based in Palma. Its members are between 16 and 18 years old. “We started a little over a year ago, when we were between 15 and 17 years old. We encourage and want more people to get involved in these types of movements”, says Amine Dalí, one of the two guitarists.

“Music right now is the most anti-system art of all, since it does not depend on a system that promotes productivity and things are done in the shortest possible time, but rather it needs to make mistakes, reinvent itself and be created over time”, adds Solivellas.

Be that as it may, the fact that everyone finds their place is another matter. Xisca Roldán, from U. R. Bad, expresses it like this: “We do not think we are part of any specific musical scene or movement, but rather we want to be seen as an original and intense band”.

Punk, the main catalyst

Of all genres, the punk movement is the one that generates the most activity among young people. Indeed, historically it has always been like this: do it yourself.

Curriculum Vitae is, in this context, another multicultural Palma combination, with members from Peru and Venezuela. “I don't like to say we are a revival, but rather that we try to be as creative as possible and offer something new on the island; the idea is not to be a direct heir of anyone,” assures Àlex Cifre, bassist of this quartet of musicians between 18 and 21 years old, completed by Angervis Juan (guitar), Renato Iglesias (vocals), and Joan Nicolás (drums). “So far we have participated a lot in Mallorcan punk and we have other projects, but I think the ideal would be to generate our own scene with a more experimental side, which I believe young people are moving towards from the underground, and we will see it soon,” Cifre considers.

By territory, Mallorca is the island that concentrates the most underage bands. But there is also young blood on the other islands. In Menorca, groups like Cendres and Cebes Seques (both in Ciutadella), Forsaken (Alaior), and Res a dir (Ferreries), have all recently performed at the XV Festival Menorca Jove d’INJOVE Menorca, which also organizes Talent Jove, where La Huella and Els Nòmades have also appeared. And in the Pitiüses, The New Young Polaks stand out, currently on a break – with Marc Serra, who is studying in Boston on a scholarship from Berklee University – and Niños Raros.

Mostly in Catalan

Besides being representatives of the young explosive moment that rock is experiencing and despite being on the cultural margins, the vast majority also sing in Catalan, a fact that unlike in the past is now alive and on the rise. “It’s a way of rebelling against a system that tells you that Catalan is a ‘useless’ language and thus taking a little more care of it. Maybe I won’t reach such a large audience, but I think it’s more authentic,” expresses Adrià Solivelles, from Young Noise. “Making music in Catalan is a matter of coherence. Among ourselves, we don’t speak Spanish or English. It would be unnatural and degrading to make music in any other language. The exception could be inventing a new one, but that’s already been seen too much,” adds Amaro Seoane, from BAF.

Miquel Seguí from Ulls Secs considers it: “It’s the way we have to go” because, as he says, one feels “very comfortable singing in the language in which one thinks, dreams, and expresses oneself most purely. It’s the most direct and sincere way to express what one feels.” However, his colleague Víctor Ricci adds: “It’s true that at first it was strange for me, having always listened to music in English, like Radiohead, our main reference, but when you try to write lyrics, it’s the easiest way to express what you want to say”.

Recently awarded in this regard are the Manacor band Espurna, winners of the Ciutat de Manacor de cançó Guillem d’Efak 2026 prize. Hugo Cobo (drums) is only 15 years old; Roger Moragues (guitar), 18; Ari Santos (vocals), 21, and Arnau Galmés (bass), who is 20, explains it without nuance: “It has never been among our priorities to make songs in any other language, be it English or Spanish, because we find it would feel false. We write what we live and we usually live it in Catalan”.