Sumo (band)

[1] Sumo is credited with introducing British post-punk to the Argentine scene, mostly by songs with lyrics in English, and with providing a visceral counterpoint to the progressive and nueva canción influences then dominant in the country's rock en español.

[4] In the 1970s London Luca worked at EMI[5] and formed his first band, The New Clear Heads, which shared aesthetics with contemporary punk acts like XTC, The Fall, Joy Division (a name he later translated to Spanish for Sumo's first album Divididos por la Felicidad) and Wire.

[5] After living in London and Manchester—where he was allegedly seen hanging out with Joy Division band members—Prodan accepted an invitation from Gordonstoun schoolmate Timmy Mackern to visit his family farm in the Traslasierra zone of Córdoba province in Argentina, thus helping his old friend relax and stay away from heroin (Luca was devastated by the suicide of his sister Claudia, and her boyfriend).

[2] Argentina was under a repressive military dictatorship, and many music and performing art acts kept a low profile to avoid problems with the police—Café Einstein in the Balvanera district was a favorite venue for such programmes as were some pubs in Olivos.

Nuttal had to return to England when the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas/Guerra del Atlántico Sur) started, so Sokol took on the drums while young Hurlingham neighbour Diego Arnedo joined on bass.

He would shout "fuck you" randomly or sing a scathing song about dumb blondes, and immediately swoon about his appreciation for common, working class men drinking ginebra at a bar.

Many of Luca's lyrics featured irony, wordplay and references to drugs, dance parties, sex and other aspects of young people's lives, while remaining aloof of the political and economic changes in the Argentina of the 80s.

First Sumo line-up, 1981: Alejandro Sokol, Ricardo Curtet, Germán Daffunchio, Stephanie Nuttal, Luca Prodan.