My interview with Hysterics will be in the next issue of MRR.
1) When and how did you start doing
shows in Budapest?
Wow, I looked
it up and the first show I booked was in 2007 for a german band called Short
Fuse. Back then I was doing one show per year. I didn’t want to spend too much
of my parents money on barely attended punk shows. Everything changed when the
dude who booked all the sick shows here moved away to live in Canada. Then with
another guy we took over the duty of keeping Budapest on the map. The worst
part is to deal with the sound guy. Fuck them. I also hate to call strangers on
the phone and to depend on other people like club owners, junkie band members,
etc. The best part is I can watch some of my favorite bands while they are
sleeping around my flat.
2) Favorite
Hungarian bands of the last few years?
Rákosi is
pretty sick. I like this band called Gross Out they play super violent and
groovy sxe hardcore. Youth Violence is raging. I like Piss Crystals because
they are my unwanted lil brothers but they fit well my stoned states.
Padkarosda has an amazing sound although live they always play a bit too much.
Don’t know, one of the reasons I’m in bands is because I don’t find other
people play what I want to hear.
3) Why do
you think some bands choose to sing in English not Hungarian? What are the
advantages/disadvantages to this...is there a difference in crowd reaction?
I have a
theory. It used to be when you finally received a record you had to spend time
with it. Even if you didn’t like it first, because your channels for learning
about new music were limited you were forced to be locked together with a band.
In this dependent state it was essential to fully understand the music and
enjoy all of its layers. You wanted to learn the lyrics because you thought the
absolute of being a fan was to see the band play live and then it was important
more than anything to finally have your chance to sing along because this would
have been the last element to make the overall connection. Which is: at the
same time, singing the same thing, feeling the same. In this process using a
mutual code (language of the lyrics) is essential. We who started getting into
punk in the pre-file sharing days still think like this, for example I still
always read lyrics on bandcamp. But it isn’t only fans who want to make a
connection.
As for Hungary it is a small country and there is no language like this anywhere else. All our neighbors could understand some of each other but we are left alone in this Babelian crossroad. We could only be connected with each other but everybody here hates everybody else while everybody keeps a constant dream of conquering the whole outside world from their little, depressing bedrooms.
In the ‘80s bands who were able to do that, used English only when they wanted to pass censorship of communism. But no one talked English until the end of the ‘00s so every band was singing in Hungarian. Then everybody started singing in English because they thought that is the only way they can make a connection, in other meaning to tour or be recognized. Because they thought no one would listen to a band that uses a secret language they rather used a communal code and it was English language. Also because punx are usually dumb and boring; they tend to think their lyrics sound a bit better in a different language. But since the internet and blogs and all this, listening to music is no longer a secret or an intimate relation with a few very special bands. We no longer spend time with bands, we are rushing through discographies and everybody is in hurry to listen to more music and be the first to know and report about new/newly discovered groups/sounds. Thus we don’t care about the layers of music, about lyrics, about anything anymore and thanks to this oversupply of every band in every genre; dumb and boring punx switched back to Hungarian cause this way it won’t turn out that what they are singing about is bullshit because even if it wasn’t, no one would care either. Also it's less likely for a hungarian to sing along in english with another hungarian. That's a bit pretentious.
I had a lot if inner struggle with deciding which is better to write in hungarian or in english. After my first band I do both. Just as many bands are mixing language in their discography. Just like how Beckett wrote books in French. Unlike how Joseph Conrad and Nabokov wrote books only in English. I like to believe what matters is what you put into your creations. I love books and I usually feel weird when I read translations. Because those books are written by other people not the original author. How do you know if the original author would choose the same exact combination of words in a different language? Still there is a core of the book that will be never lost in translation. This is why I think that even if you use another language if you have something real to say it will come through.
I also like the idea how Japanese bands use English language. Most of them can’t speak English at all still they write their lyrics in English. Just like us who can’t play our instruments but still we are playing music. This makes the voice and the lyrics as well just like an instrument, like the drums.
Is it the end of the content of hardcore punk? I don’t think so. We only lost the time to digest content, but the content is still there. I have written an essay about hardcore being just music but music is a form of communication. Noise is a form just like a letter from the ABC but people behind the noise fills the form with content. If I were unable to understand English I would still get Void and I have to say the way You act on stage is more radical to me than any of the lyrics of any Crimethinc band has ever written.
As for Hungary it is a small country and there is no language like this anywhere else. All our neighbors could understand some of each other but we are left alone in this Babelian crossroad. We could only be connected with each other but everybody here hates everybody else while everybody keeps a constant dream of conquering the whole outside world from their little, depressing bedrooms.
In the ‘80s bands who were able to do that, used English only when they wanted to pass censorship of communism. But no one talked English until the end of the ‘00s so every band was singing in Hungarian. Then everybody started singing in English because they thought that is the only way they can make a connection, in other meaning to tour or be recognized. Because they thought no one would listen to a band that uses a secret language they rather used a communal code and it was English language. Also because punx are usually dumb and boring; they tend to think their lyrics sound a bit better in a different language. But since the internet and blogs and all this, listening to music is no longer a secret or an intimate relation with a few very special bands. We no longer spend time with bands, we are rushing through discographies and everybody is in hurry to listen to more music and be the first to know and report about new/newly discovered groups/sounds. Thus we don’t care about the layers of music, about lyrics, about anything anymore and thanks to this oversupply of every band in every genre; dumb and boring punx switched back to Hungarian cause this way it won’t turn out that what they are singing about is bullshit because even if it wasn’t, no one would care either. Also it's less likely for a hungarian to sing along in english with another hungarian. That's a bit pretentious.
I had a lot if inner struggle with deciding which is better to write in hungarian or in english. After my first band I do both. Just as many bands are mixing language in their discography. Just like how Beckett wrote books in French. Unlike how Joseph Conrad and Nabokov wrote books only in English. I like to believe what matters is what you put into your creations. I love books and I usually feel weird when I read translations. Because those books are written by other people not the original author. How do you know if the original author would choose the same exact combination of words in a different language? Still there is a core of the book that will be never lost in translation. This is why I think that even if you use another language if you have something real to say it will come through.
I also like the idea how Japanese bands use English language. Most of them can’t speak English at all still they write their lyrics in English. Just like us who can’t play our instruments but still we are playing music. This makes the voice and the lyrics as well just like an instrument, like the drums.
Is it the end of the content of hardcore punk? I don’t think so. We only lost the time to digest content, but the content is still there. I have written an essay about hardcore being just music but music is a form of communication. Noise is a form just like a letter from the ABC but people behind the noise fills the form with content. If I were unable to understand English I would still get Void and I have to say the way You act on stage is more radical to me than any of the lyrics of any Crimethinc band has ever written.
4) What's
your day job?
I work for
a company that parallel distributes medicine. We buy medicine that is useless in
one country, relabel it and sell it cheaper than the actual price in another country. Not
even a year ago I was hired for six months to print out labels. Now I’m the
deputy manager of the regulatory department. I have to get shit done which is basically the same thing what
I do with bands and booking shows. But it’s much easier to work with my
colleagues than with unmotivated, drunk, high punx. They have no idea about my real life, I lie when they ask about my band shirts,
I tell them I just got them in a thrift store.
5) What
bands have you been in?
I joined my
first band when I was 16. It was called Something Against You. I was the
youngest and other members came from bands I have idolized. I have learnt
everything from this band. I was also in Ninpulators and Szextank. Now I play
in Norms, Diskobra and Zen Fascists. I also wanna start a band where I write all the music and lyrics. I want it
to sound like listening to Oi music while having a bad trip. And lots of
romanticism.
6) What do
your parents think of you being punk?
My folks
are weirdos. When I was young they always took me to nude beaches and camps. I
spent my childhood being frightened by the naked bodies of elder, chubby german
women. My dad is always disappointed in me because his idea of punk is Sid
Vicious in his glory days multiplied by ten. He is a weird man and even though
he never says nice things he always buys merch from my bands which is super
weird but probably nice too. My mom is cool. She is my role model and she was always supportive in
anything I have done. She let me go to different countries when I was 15 to see
NOFX. I never lied to her instead I just always kept my word. This way she
thought me how to be reliable and free. The only thing she doesn’t like is
that I scream. She says it’s not good for my health. They came to my first
band’s reunion show. It was touching, a packed room with 200 people, everybody
singing along. Right after the show I went straight to them and told my mother
without her this all could have never happened. But she has no idea she gave
birth to the last hungarian punk.
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