In the past year, Hinds have emerged as the indie gang that everyone wants to join. They’ve played shows with The Strokes, The Libertines and Mac DeMarco, become the first Spanish band to appear on one of Glastonbury’s main stages and have incited so many stage invasions that it’s a wonder they bother with barriers at all. It’s easy to see why fans will risk a bouncers’ ire to get onstage with them: Hinds’ rickety rock’n’roll songs are charming because of their total lack of artifice and their shows fizz with the highwire sense that they could collapse at any moment.
Bowling down the streets of their hometown, Madrid, Hinds can barely make it a block without bumping into a friend, fan or fellow musician. They duck into their favourite hangout, Bar Sidi in downtown Malasaña, where the only thing exciting the balding clientele is the Real Madrid match on the telly.
“I think the owners like us because we’re the youngest people who ever come in here,” says Carlotta Cosials, one half of Hinds’ songwriting duo and a fast-talking flurry of curls. Every time the band try to leave, another round of Mahous appears unbidden on the bar, gratis. They like this place because it’s close to Plaza del Dos de Mayo, where they drink cervezas outside in summer, but it’s uncool enough that they get respite from Madrid’s competitive garage rock scene from which Hinds have become the city’s breakout stars.
The Collected Works of Kevin EG Perry 