First time i’ve ever seen some of these guys was when Count Me Out played their one and only european tour at a small town near to my hometown. It was on my birthday and to prove Steven Patrick’s right the show just wasn’t that fun. The turn out was weak and the whole night suffered the lack of the goood vibe punk/hardcore shows most of the times have. At that time i wasn’t already into Count Me Out. What proved that i should pay attention? They soundchecked with Lose Yourself from 8 mile’s ost (what was coming out that time). And it was funny. And cool. So Count Me Out broke up and i got into them. How typical? Then i got into some of the bands their ex members had featured in. And finally one day i discoverd Cloak / Dagger. For the first it was just an awesome punk/hardcore band that has more what they show. And i was right. The fucking lp is a killer! It puts together everything i like in music everything and everything i like in punk. I’ve listened to it countless times when i was walking around, taking the night bus drunk, dish washing, laying on my bedroom’s floor. There is no mood they don’t fit in. It has noise, energy, paranoia and fun fun and fun. I was siked when they first came to europe and more siked when i had the opportunity to see them in Vienna and Budapest. It was one and a half year ago but i would still say it was the last real punk show that happaned here (in budapest). Crowd went crazy, danced like they don’t care and also on drugs, confetti and candy were flying, drinks were spilled, summersault were thrown. Watching that was like the perfect pictures for the music and it just felt so right to be a part of it. And then it was over. They have gone further and here was just no band that i could care to go, see and get crazy.
The weird thing was: I’ve found a picture from the vienna show of my friend and i are screaming in front of the stage C/D is playing. And i sent it to him. He responded with dates what the Daggers are playing in the uk within two months. And at that moment it just became obvious that we have to go. I had to finish my thesis to get a diploma but to be honest i cared and wondered more about the shows. We flew in, ate and drank everything overpriced, slept on the streets in november, saw homeless fights, got yelled at, had long distance train and bus rides but it worth it. Totally! We saw them 4 times and whatever happened after and before the shows it just doesn’t matter now and didn’t matter then. In whatever situation we were we just waited for the show to kick in. So i say it without hesitation Cloak / Dagger is one of the best bands of punk rock ever!
Ps.: Needles to say the members are pure awesome! Why? Because they gave me free beer!
This is an e-mail interview with Jason Mazzola their singer. He fronted Count Me Out as well. He’s a pretty good drawer, writes awesome lyrics, wears decent shirts and says milky almost as cool as LL Cool J.
How you doin'? What are you up to these days?
I'm doing good today. I just saw Cro Mags this weekend. We just practiced for a few hours and have written 17 songs for our next lp over the last year. We are recording it next month back in Kentucky where there is one of the best skate parks I have ever been to or seen, can´t wait.
What did you do and what were the things you most missed while you weren't in a band?
When I wasn´t in a band I tried my hardest to get a normal job and be happy making money and being bored. It´s hard to not have anything to look forward too. When I was working 50 + hours a week and making good money I still didn´t have anything to keep me going. Now I can look forward to playing shows or going on tours or just writing and recording songs. It keeps me creative all the time and I missed that a lot when I wasn´t in a band. I even jumped in with friends bands just so I could travel but it´s a lot more fun actually playing shows.
How important for you to be in a band? In point of you have to put on shelf sometimes even give up lots of other things what ordinary people would find important in life or goals to achieve.
It´s definitely hard to be as old as I am and to have no money saved up but I have seen and done a lot of things I would have never seen by being in a band. You meet people all over the world and some are the best people you will ever meet and some of them are the worst you will ever meet. I would have never seen Europe and the US like I have. Even if I went on my own it wouldn´t be the same as being with a band. I think that to most people money and material things mean the most so they have something to show for their work. I have good memories and no money. It´s still worth it.
I've read an interview with you in the reflections 'zine couple years ago where you said you don't want to be a singer who lives from his ex-bands, and in music you respect dudes who like to move forward do different things and then retire. was it important for you that cloak / dagger plays much different music than count me out did? how far would you go with experimenting new things in playing music? And when would you retire?
I think that cloak/dagger is going to be it for me music wise. I was really proud of what CMO did as a band and I wouldn´t want to try to recreate what we did before since it wouldn´t be as sincere as it was when I was in that band. I am proud of the lyrics and songs this band has and we have some songs on the punk/core side of things and some on the rock side and I see this band as way more experimental then a standard punk or core band. I don´t have any interest in trying to be in an indie rock band or start rapping yet. When this band breaks up I will just do karaoke. We tried to stay away from ex-members promo when this band came out and it made things harder for us at first but now I´m glad we didn´t hype that up.
That is a long list of your ex bands but in most of them two or three of you played with each other. So when should a band broke up if the members are still friends and like to hang with each other?
That´s a hard thing to say but you know when the time is right. With CMO we were all good friends and loved hanging out but Pete and Colin wanted to start writing for Renee Heartfelt and you could tell that´s where all their energy was going. Garth was gone a lot with Strike Anywhere and Colin was gone with AN a lot so it just seemed like the right thing to do to end things on a high note. With Cloak I want to call it quits when it stops being fun or when we start writing bad songs.
It's in Our Band Could Be Your Life that Deep Wound broke up after all of them lost their virginitis. Is there any sexual act what could trigger such schocking change in the life of Cloak / Dagger?
If we were to all sleep with each other that would just make things awkward at practice but we all have girlfriends.
You're from Richmond and if my geographic skills don't cheat me it's on the east coast. but in your lyrics you're refering often to the west coast (LA, Hollywood). why is it? Is it conscious? For an outsider of american politics like me it looks like the east controls politics (Washington DC), economy(New York), etc and the west is responsible for the media. You're more pissed about the brainwashing what comes from the tv more than about what comes from the white house or i just overthought this and it's simply a rivary between the two coasts like in hip hop?
When I was writing for We Are I was really into how much the media effects what people think. People try to recreate the lives of famous people and live like they are in a movie and that´s all from California mostly. That´s where all the famous people live and they report all the entertainment news from. Anna Nicole Smith died and it was on CNN all day long and every other news channel and there´s a lot more important things going on. DC has a lot of politics going on that I don´t agree with that I´m not smart enough to address so I sometimes touch on it if I feel that I can back up what I´m saying. I watched a lot of TV so I know a lot about that brain washing. East Coast rap is so much better then West Coast. The Notorious movie is so much better than 2 Pacs. His sucked.
For me cloak/dagger seems to wraped around with sarcasm. but also dealing with more serious issues than most of your previous bands. Why is it that you became more serious but also more fun?
It´s true. When we started this band I always said I would want to keep it fun. I loved CMO but it was a very serious band and hard emotionally to sing some of those songs. Now I can be serious but be sarcastic at the same time to make a point. Live shows can be a lot of fun with this band and I think part of that is the lyrics are fun at times.
Most of the lyrics seem to me as they born in a period or in state of mind when you become old enough that you have to start to fit in with your punk attitude to the world of grown ups. But it’s more usual that you start giving up the attitude you’ve formed during most of your life rather than caring less about what to do in the real life. And thats when i fill the power of your lyrics. The hessitating between what should us do, which way will worth it more?
So the questions are. What does to be a grown up mean to you. Does it go along with giving up something and does punk equal youth?
It´s hard growing up and there´s young until I die and other songs that make you feel proud to be young and core but not many songs that tell you how hard it is to grow up and be punk or it´s alright not to believe in buying into the American dream when you are old so that´s where we come in. I definitely think that hardcore and punk is a youth thing but that it´s also an all ages type of thing to. It´s hard sometimes to watch someone who hasn´t experienced life as much say they will never do this or that. I have a lot of respect for people who still believe in the power of this music but are older.
Is there any agreement within the members what cloak / dagger should be about? Or do you have a collective attitude, principles like Black Flag had the „play as much and as hard as we can” thing?
Operation shock and awe!
Lots of people talking about this theory that due to the economic meltdown music will be more interesting again. And i also think it’s true cause if the circumstances are worse people get more inspired. Even though it’s kinda sad and lame as well that people need an economic meltdown to be interesting or have something real to say. What’s your opinion about this?
I think that things are really bad here right now. I´m trying to find a job and it´s near impossible and that anger is going to come through in a lot of music. They are also saying that the crime rate is going to jump up since everyone is poor so it could get bad.
What features make a band to a really good band?
I think good bands don´t try to stick to a formula and play with good intentions. People that are in bands to make money and think they are going to have a career are very easy to see and honest bands are just as easy to point out. It also helps when bands are in tune.
While technology is improving independent bands have more and more opportunity. but punk rock still has it's traditions heavly rooted in old fashioned things like fanzines, demo tapes, vinly. These things are better than a blog or an ipod it’s beyond question but with social networking sites more bands have the opportunity to tour and with file sharing sites it’s getting easier to show the world what you’re doing. So are you pro or against this process? what do you think in what point should technology stop in punk?
I think that right now it´s as far as it should go. It´s great to be able to e-mail a band directly you like to try to play shows or to get to hear you. At the same time there are so many bad bands going on tour and promoting their music that the good ones get over looked.
Also with this easiness punk rock lost it's risk and it's such romantic feeling. In your mind is it bad? Should we miss the risk?
It is a bad thing when I can go to a blog and download 20 bands and then listen to just 1 or 2 of them. I think that with everything so easy to come by people don´t appreciate music as much. It used to be really hard to find records or tapes of bands you liked. I think people take that for granted these days and that is definitely a bad thing.
Have any of you dated close-to-be famous models since pitchfork gave a positive review to your record?
Our guitar player Collin went on a date with some coc heads in bright colored shirts after that. I´m too hardcore but he´s pretty.
Csongrád and Szentes are two cities here in hungary. But their hardcore scenes are not supporting each other. What would be your suggestion? John Joseph adviced unity and Mike from Fucked Up suggested war but neither of their messages worked out. So what is your?
Virginia Beach is about 2 hours from Richmond and there was a lot of fights between the two cities years ago. Big fights, people chased around the city by 20 to 30 kids. People hit with pitchers of beer. Then after a while people moved here from there and everyone became friends and everything was cool. After that everyone joined forces and started fighting with jocks. I would go with that. Fight to unite.
Whats your favorite dinosaur?
Dinosaur Jr.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
my glorious 15 minutes
Background infos: the first time i’ve been on fucked up’s blog i read a really horrible but entertaining interview made by a russian guy. A year and some months latter i decided on a hot summer day during a boring bus trip home from a faild exam i’m gonna be even dumber than that dude and send these weirdly stupid questions to the band. The concept (in case you want one) was that I the biggest noone will make an interview with one of the most hyped contemporary punk band. It kinda shocked me how easily i could come up with stupid questions. Maybe it’s the heritage of the fact that i’ve been grown up on hungarian fanzines full with midless interviews. Anyway Mike was cool enough to answer them but suspicious to think i’m not a real person. Well i am. I’m registered in web.2 pages and stuff. I’m kinda sad i missed their show in Wien. Heard it was great.
i sent him this:
hi i'm Viktor from Hungary. it's a very exocit place and smart people says cause of the global warming bears will run away so it's gonna be safe as well. you should play here sometime. anyway music here is not really popular we do punk as burning things. but i'm fighting against this trend so i made a fanzine whatdeals with music but sometimes i turn it to a tit parade just for make more readers. i have a girlfriend too who always wears your shirt and she said you're really great. but she seems to try to get rid of me so to win her heart back i figured out i'll make an interview with you. hope you're into interviews.i don't wanna bother you with further e-mails so if you think i would/should/could question back just write a why? like i would/should/could write and then continue aswering it.Thanks!
So is Fucked Up really fucked up?
Great question, you are off to a fantastic start.
You have this name and it makes expectations from the crowd. I mean if saw a band named Fucked Up not doing fucked up things i would feel mugged and want my money back. is it exhausting to be always fucked up when other people see you?
It is really tough but we are quite famous in America so there are many people who help us to stay fucked up when we make public appearances. We have punk-prep people who gets us ready for photos shoots and concerts by giving us pills and charging our hairs. It is exhausting, but it is my job. I used to work in a lightbulb factory (do you have lightbulbs in Hungary?), and that was really tough, so I would much rather be doing this, plus it pays a lot more money to be drunk in public and playing the guitar.
For the fans could you give me a little bio about a band Ramones?
Well the Ramones were a great band formed in Detroit, America by Andy Warhol and one of the guys from The Dictators. For a while they were the most famous band in the world and had an airplane full of pizza. They once played a show in Rio infront of 500,000 and are all dead now.
What do you think why only the first 3 Ramones album are preatty rad?
End of the Century is also ok, but I guess not pretty rad like you said. Its hard to write more than 75 good songs I guess.
Do you think they really did sniffed glue? it's moldy even here in the third world.
I think they really did. Sniffing glue is very popular still in America, almost more popular than cocaine in some places (Olympia, train tracks) for hip people. The price of glue is very high now so only rich hipsters can afford to sniff it here.
One of you names is Concentration Camp. Do you know in europe these were bad places run by Germans? Lots of Jews and fucking gypses died there. Do you think the world would be a funnier place if those jew haven't died there? I mean Mel Brooks is funny. But what about dozen Mel Brooks? Man that would be so much funcing hilarious.
You raise some interesting points here. Did you see that movie "Life is Beautiful"? It was a documentary made about the life of an Italian clown who was put in a concentration camp in Italy during World War Two. He was able to maintain his comedy while in the camp by working in the Kapos doing standup routines for the guards. He died while inside after being eaten by a grizzly bear, but his small son survived and became the first Jewish comedian allowed to perform in Italy after the war. Very touching and hilarious documentary.Concentration Camp recently change his name to Gulag, for those who haven't being paying attention. He is Jewish, but got the name from summer camps his serious parents made him to go where he studied math and cyphers and worked on his massive IQ - kids used to tease him in school because they would go to soccer camp and become strong, while he just went to math and thinking camps and was always really small as a child and now as a man, so his nicknick name became Concentration Camp.
Are you punks? Your music is is simple but you don't wear mohawks? What's the deal with that?
Well yes it is very complicated, but we are punks and do not wear mohawks. In the western world there are many types of punks and corresponding fashions as you go up the scale:(in order of importance)
1) Gutter Punks: Can't afford to make mohakws so they have natty dreads and live on moving trains and also in "gutters".
2) Whacktivists: Are "punks" but don't listen to music - are more interested in making politics. Have punk style but listen to Indigo Girls and Ratatat.
3) Skinheads: The racist kind - are fat and wear Lonsdale clothes from outlet malls and have short girlfriends. Listen to obscure UK and Canadian racist OI music on CDRs
3) Posers: Listen to punk music like the Sex Pistols but also Rage Against the Machine. Are mostly in highschool. They wear punk/goth clothing like leather jackets (new only) but also black bell bottom jeans and wierd shaped sunglasses
4) Old Punks: Wear 20 year old tshirts because they spent all their money on records and have no jobs so they can't afford to look sharp. Have strange jobs and did zines a long time ago. Have grey hair and/or are balding and make everyone else feel depressed at shows and worried that they are looking at their own future.
5) Hardcore Punks: Wear only band tshirts and cut off shorts. Very short cropped hair. Super clean and carry deodorant in a bag with them.
6) Hipster Hardcore Punks: Like above, but also wear "limited" baseball caps, xxxlarge tshirts and "limited" shows. Only listen to Lil' Wayne and some modern Hardcore bands.
7) Indie Punks: Wear grunge clothes, but a little tighter. Move very slowly and smoke lots of weed and are super "Creative". Also ride bikes everywhere.
8) Punks: Who knows what they look like, or who they are.
9) Hipster punks: Like mostly dance music like Uffie and Daft Punk, but also some punk bands that are amazing (Fucked Up) and are able to transcend boundaries. Wear mostly clothes from American Apparel, and also only work at American Apparel, or Vice Magazine (interning only)10) Fucked Up: Wear only free Fred Perry, Evisu, Burberry, Ben Sherman, and G9 Harrington Jackets, and other selected vintage styles.
I saw some movies about punks like mad max 2, death wih, robo cop. Things over there seems so fucked up (haha it funny i wrote this experssion but it was not in purpose just became funny) Is it the same in Canada? I mean do punks there hate cops and angry all the time?
Yes its the same as in those movies but different depending on what part of the country you are in. Also there are no robo-punks yet. But you have to remember those movies are about the 80s - back then "punks" was also just cretins and homeless people, like when Robocop is saying "get out of here punks" he isn't talking to Discharge fans, he is talking to homeless people that are breaking the laws of homelessness. I haven't seen Deathwish, but i'm sure its the same vibe. Also "They Live".
Are you afraid of spontaneous human combustion?
Sometimes - i just got a new pair of Clarks shoes (the most expensive shoes in America) and they have metal on them, but a thick rubber sole - while we were recording the new Fucked Up album i would go from the couch across the hardwood floor and have to open the metal/glass sliding door to get into the recording booth, and every time I did that i would get a shock. After I was recording guitar overdubs for about 5 hours and kept giving myself shocks I accidentally touched one of the hard drives and erased what we had done that day somehow. We had to cancel the session and the hard drive cost about $400 to repair. I have never exploded or combusted or caught on fire, but i think it is obvious that there is a lot of potential energy saved up inside my body for if I ever needed it to blow up a bridge or something.
I heard a dude from my hood when he gets a new motor bike he stuffs the tail-pipe with wet tissues and fucks the motor. Did you ever did things like that with something what were important to you? I think it's really a cool thing. In the modern world nothing really has an value. We buy we use we throw away. But this dude really gives respect for his stuffs. What do you think abaout that?
Again you bring up very important points, and also I've heard of someone doing that with a bag of mayonnaise. These questions make your life seem very different from mine - do you live in a Hungarian refugee camp or something?
Did you see my mother's uncel? my grandma said he lives in canada but i think he is just a polish.
Good question - is he lost?
Is feist a real person or it's just Chan Marshall singing in canadian?
She is real - we have met her. She used to crash at our roadies apartment before she was famous. She was also in a punk band (see above, number 7). We are on the same label as Chan Marshall but the boss said we are not allowed to ever meet her because she is crazy.
Did you see kinkg kong? It's fucking awesome man, but do they think we're mentally disadvantaged and we'll believe the a t-rex couldn't destroy a monkey?
I did see it. THe monkey won because he had more intelligence than the dinosaur and was able to control it. by using technology. You thought it was awesome?
anyway what is your favorite dinosaur?
(i never got an answer for this)
thanks for answering. i'll translate it to hungarian and send it back to you.
then he wrote back this: "haha this is great. i will def answer it. send more questions"
my turn was: Man, i’m pleasured you liked my questions. I already imagined my gf’s face when she’ll hear all the inside infos you’ll add to my knowledge. I’m sensing another future begging for abortion. You asked so i figured out some more questions. I don’t know if these have the same quality but i had to hurry cause my whole block of flats has only one computer and the owner of it will go on holiday tomorrow so no Internet till he comes back. Anyways i’m more prepared cause my lady played me some of your songs.
So we listened to hidden world it’s not short. Isn’t the crowd pissed that you only play 3 songs? An old punker said if you play more than 20 minutes you’ll transform into a prog rock or even worse a jazz band. Is that true? Have you ever tried to play more? Aren’t you affriad that you’ll have a neon halo/banda like dire straits? That looks dangerous. I think mark knoppfer wears a bandana still becasue that halo marked his forehead.
We did transform into a prog rock band. We can play usually for about an hour and a half to two hours, we extend the versions of our songs from the album.
Arent your trumpet player bored of live shows? I mean he or she doesn’t have too much to do? What could he or she do on stage while he or she is not playing? I heard about a hungarian band that had a keyboard player who had dinner on his keyboards during the shows because he didn’t have too much parts to play in songs. But they kicked him out cause it was a joy division-esque band and the other members didn’t find eating a truly sad thing. What do you think abaout that?
Ha we don't have a trumpet player. We once played a show in Bratislava where they had hired an orchestra for us to play with because union scale is so cheap there for us because of the exchange rate, so for that show we did have a trumpet player, and when there were no trumpet parts I have no idea what that person did, I wasn't paying attention because I mostly have to play extremely difficult guitar solos throughout the entire set. We all have video games and laptops though that we can use when we aren't playing parts on stage.
David Choe (the yellow hitchiker) used your songs for his travelling. But he had an episode which told canada sucks and all canadians could eat his poop and he wished that all you’re kids will be retarded enough to want to have sex with their moms even after age 21. so using your songs was just an ironical joke or what? Are you pissed? What do you think abaout that?
We are not pissed because David Choe works for a very rich company called VBS, which is the main television station in America (television is like radio except with pictures) and we got paid many thousands of dollars for the use of that song. It is fairly well known that we will do or say anything if the price is right.
I also heard you’re christmas ep. I have some questions about that:
A/1 how does Nelly Furtado smell?
She did her vocal track for that session in an isolation booth and came too and from the studio in an airplane, and a limo dropped her right into the booth. So we could see her and give her instructions, but we could not smell her or really talk to her, only through a microphone.
A/2 does she snort cocain? She looks like she not but i have this idea that stars are taking all kind of drugs and drinks behind the cameras and papers just because it’s so evil to con their catholic fans. I mean i bet homer simpson is a drunk child beater when the cameras don’t roll.
Again, we don't know, but I could ask her next time I see her.
B, is that true that James Murphy listened to that much music that he gained some kind of spiritual aura which is a permanent soundtrack for his life? Like the situation with will ferrell and that british lesbian lady but for Murphy it could be heared by anyone else? And is that true as well that he used no effect for his voice on his records?
James Murphy apparently was very mad at us after he found out the song was going to be released on a record, because we had told people we were just recording messages for our friends in the hospital, from their favorite bands. I think he uses an affect on LCD Soundsystem records that make his lyrics sound 25 years younger.
C, for collaborating with the singer of AFI. Did you have to get permission from Tim Burton? Isn’t Havoc jewish? Or was it a joke that he wished marry christmas?
I don't think he is Jewish, but in American most Jews celebrate christmas and also the other one.
You played some shows with hard skins. Did you talked with them? i always wondered do skinheads watch the tv series Friends? Who is their favorite? I bet not Ross or Monica because they are jews. And rachel and Chandler also out of the bill cause they married/fucked with ross and monica. I guess they like Joey cause he is italian like Mussolini. Do you have any concrete infos?
This is an answer from Fat Bob:"wow ...what a question - tell him hard skin are too busy to answer questions because we are too busy playing darts, drinking beer and making sweet music with all women of the world - no matter of colour, class or creed..... "
One last question cause i have to hurry to get to the computer owner’s flat. Csongrád and Szentes are two cities here in hungary. But their hardcore scene’s are not supporting each other. What would be your suggestion? John Joseph played here with FVK and after the show he got asked about this same problem. He adviced Unity but this message haven’t worked out. So what is your suggestion? What do you think abaout that?
I mean I think that those two countries should go to war. DId you know that when John Josephs was growing up in a foster home that when he could get cheese sandwiches his older brothers and foster parents would steal the cheese out of his sandwiches and he would only have the bread to eat, and also the same with oreo cookies but with the middle taken out. I can imagine that this is what life must be like in Hungary so maybe his advice would be useful?
i sent him this:
hi i'm Viktor from Hungary. it's a very exocit place and smart people says cause of the global warming bears will run away so it's gonna be safe as well. you should play here sometime. anyway music here is not really popular we do punk as burning things. but i'm fighting against this trend so i made a fanzine whatdeals with music but sometimes i turn it to a tit parade just for make more readers. i have a girlfriend too who always wears your shirt and she said you're really great. but she seems to try to get rid of me so to win her heart back i figured out i'll make an interview with you. hope you're into interviews.i don't wanna bother you with further e-mails so if you think i would/should/could question back just write a why? like i would/should/could write and then continue aswering it.Thanks!
So is Fucked Up really fucked up?
Great question, you are off to a fantastic start.
You have this name and it makes expectations from the crowd. I mean if saw a band named Fucked Up not doing fucked up things i would feel mugged and want my money back. is it exhausting to be always fucked up when other people see you?
It is really tough but we are quite famous in America so there are many people who help us to stay fucked up when we make public appearances. We have punk-prep people who gets us ready for photos shoots and concerts by giving us pills and charging our hairs. It is exhausting, but it is my job. I used to work in a lightbulb factory (do you have lightbulbs in Hungary?), and that was really tough, so I would much rather be doing this, plus it pays a lot more money to be drunk in public and playing the guitar.
For the fans could you give me a little bio about a band Ramones?
Well the Ramones were a great band formed in Detroit, America by Andy Warhol and one of the guys from The Dictators. For a while they were the most famous band in the world and had an airplane full of pizza. They once played a show in Rio infront of 500,000 and are all dead now.
What do you think why only the first 3 Ramones album are preatty rad?
End of the Century is also ok, but I guess not pretty rad like you said. Its hard to write more than 75 good songs I guess.
Do you think they really did sniffed glue? it's moldy even here in the third world.
I think they really did. Sniffing glue is very popular still in America, almost more popular than cocaine in some places (Olympia, train tracks) for hip people. The price of glue is very high now so only rich hipsters can afford to sniff it here.
One of you names is Concentration Camp. Do you know in europe these were bad places run by Germans? Lots of Jews and fucking gypses died there. Do you think the world would be a funnier place if those jew haven't died there? I mean Mel Brooks is funny. But what about dozen Mel Brooks? Man that would be so much funcing hilarious.
You raise some interesting points here. Did you see that movie "Life is Beautiful"? It was a documentary made about the life of an Italian clown who was put in a concentration camp in Italy during World War Two. He was able to maintain his comedy while in the camp by working in the Kapos doing standup routines for the guards. He died while inside after being eaten by a grizzly bear, but his small son survived and became the first Jewish comedian allowed to perform in Italy after the war. Very touching and hilarious documentary.Concentration Camp recently change his name to Gulag, for those who haven't being paying attention. He is Jewish, but got the name from summer camps his serious parents made him to go where he studied math and cyphers and worked on his massive IQ - kids used to tease him in school because they would go to soccer camp and become strong, while he just went to math and thinking camps and was always really small as a child and now as a man, so his nicknick name became Concentration Camp.
Are you punks? Your music is is simple but you don't wear mohawks? What's the deal with that?
Well yes it is very complicated, but we are punks and do not wear mohawks. In the western world there are many types of punks and corresponding fashions as you go up the scale:(in order of importance)
1) Gutter Punks: Can't afford to make mohakws so they have natty dreads and live on moving trains and also in "gutters".
2) Whacktivists: Are "punks" but don't listen to music - are more interested in making politics. Have punk style but listen to Indigo Girls and Ratatat.
3) Skinheads: The racist kind - are fat and wear Lonsdale clothes from outlet malls and have short girlfriends. Listen to obscure UK and Canadian racist OI music on CDRs
3) Posers: Listen to punk music like the Sex Pistols but also Rage Against the Machine. Are mostly in highschool. They wear punk/goth clothing like leather jackets (new only) but also black bell bottom jeans and wierd shaped sunglasses
4) Old Punks: Wear 20 year old tshirts because they spent all their money on records and have no jobs so they can't afford to look sharp. Have strange jobs and did zines a long time ago. Have grey hair and/or are balding and make everyone else feel depressed at shows and worried that they are looking at their own future.
5) Hardcore Punks: Wear only band tshirts and cut off shorts. Very short cropped hair. Super clean and carry deodorant in a bag with them.
6) Hipster Hardcore Punks: Like above, but also wear "limited" baseball caps, xxxlarge tshirts and "limited" shows. Only listen to Lil' Wayne and some modern Hardcore bands.
7) Indie Punks: Wear grunge clothes, but a little tighter. Move very slowly and smoke lots of weed and are super "Creative". Also ride bikes everywhere.
8) Punks: Who knows what they look like, or who they are.
9) Hipster punks: Like mostly dance music like Uffie and Daft Punk, but also some punk bands that are amazing (Fucked Up) and are able to transcend boundaries. Wear mostly clothes from American Apparel, and also only work at American Apparel, or Vice Magazine (interning only)10) Fucked Up: Wear only free Fred Perry, Evisu, Burberry, Ben Sherman, and G9 Harrington Jackets, and other selected vintage styles.
I saw some movies about punks like mad max 2, death wih, robo cop. Things over there seems so fucked up (haha it funny i wrote this experssion but it was not in purpose just became funny) Is it the same in Canada? I mean do punks there hate cops and angry all the time?
Yes its the same as in those movies but different depending on what part of the country you are in. Also there are no robo-punks yet. But you have to remember those movies are about the 80s - back then "punks" was also just cretins and homeless people, like when Robocop is saying "get out of here punks" he isn't talking to Discharge fans, he is talking to homeless people that are breaking the laws of homelessness. I haven't seen Deathwish, but i'm sure its the same vibe. Also "They Live".
Are you afraid of spontaneous human combustion?
Sometimes - i just got a new pair of Clarks shoes (the most expensive shoes in America) and they have metal on them, but a thick rubber sole - while we were recording the new Fucked Up album i would go from the couch across the hardwood floor and have to open the metal/glass sliding door to get into the recording booth, and every time I did that i would get a shock. After I was recording guitar overdubs for about 5 hours and kept giving myself shocks I accidentally touched one of the hard drives and erased what we had done that day somehow. We had to cancel the session and the hard drive cost about $400 to repair. I have never exploded or combusted or caught on fire, but i think it is obvious that there is a lot of potential energy saved up inside my body for if I ever needed it to blow up a bridge or something.
I heard a dude from my hood when he gets a new motor bike he stuffs the tail-pipe with wet tissues and fucks the motor. Did you ever did things like that with something what were important to you? I think it's really a cool thing. In the modern world nothing really has an value. We buy we use we throw away. But this dude really gives respect for his stuffs. What do you think abaout that?
Again you bring up very important points, and also I've heard of someone doing that with a bag of mayonnaise. These questions make your life seem very different from mine - do you live in a Hungarian refugee camp or something?
Did you see my mother's uncel? my grandma said he lives in canada but i think he is just a polish.
Good question - is he lost?
Is feist a real person or it's just Chan Marshall singing in canadian?
She is real - we have met her. She used to crash at our roadies apartment before she was famous. She was also in a punk band (see above, number 7). We are on the same label as Chan Marshall but the boss said we are not allowed to ever meet her because she is crazy.
Did you see kinkg kong? It's fucking awesome man, but do they think we're mentally disadvantaged and we'll believe the a t-rex couldn't destroy a monkey?
I did see it. THe monkey won because he had more intelligence than the dinosaur and was able to control it. by using technology. You thought it was awesome?
anyway what is your favorite dinosaur?
(i never got an answer for this)
thanks for answering. i'll translate it to hungarian and send it back to you.
then he wrote back this: "haha this is great. i will def answer it. send more questions"
my turn was: Man, i’m pleasured you liked my questions. I already imagined my gf’s face when she’ll hear all the inside infos you’ll add to my knowledge. I’m sensing another future begging for abortion. You asked so i figured out some more questions. I don’t know if these have the same quality but i had to hurry cause my whole block of flats has only one computer and the owner of it will go on holiday tomorrow so no Internet till he comes back. Anyways i’m more prepared cause my lady played me some of your songs.
So we listened to hidden world it’s not short. Isn’t the crowd pissed that you only play 3 songs? An old punker said if you play more than 20 minutes you’ll transform into a prog rock or even worse a jazz band. Is that true? Have you ever tried to play more? Aren’t you affriad that you’ll have a neon halo/banda like dire straits? That looks dangerous. I think mark knoppfer wears a bandana still becasue that halo marked his forehead.
We did transform into a prog rock band. We can play usually for about an hour and a half to two hours, we extend the versions of our songs from the album.
Arent your trumpet player bored of live shows? I mean he or she doesn’t have too much to do? What could he or she do on stage while he or she is not playing? I heard about a hungarian band that had a keyboard player who had dinner on his keyboards during the shows because he didn’t have too much parts to play in songs. But they kicked him out cause it was a joy division-esque band and the other members didn’t find eating a truly sad thing. What do you think abaout that?
Ha we don't have a trumpet player. We once played a show in Bratislava where they had hired an orchestra for us to play with because union scale is so cheap there for us because of the exchange rate, so for that show we did have a trumpet player, and when there were no trumpet parts I have no idea what that person did, I wasn't paying attention because I mostly have to play extremely difficult guitar solos throughout the entire set. We all have video games and laptops though that we can use when we aren't playing parts on stage.
David Choe (the yellow hitchiker) used your songs for his travelling. But he had an episode which told canada sucks and all canadians could eat his poop and he wished that all you’re kids will be retarded enough to want to have sex with their moms even after age 21. so using your songs was just an ironical joke or what? Are you pissed? What do you think abaout that?
We are not pissed because David Choe works for a very rich company called VBS, which is the main television station in America (television is like radio except with pictures) and we got paid many thousands of dollars for the use of that song. It is fairly well known that we will do or say anything if the price is right.
I also heard you’re christmas ep. I have some questions about that:
A/1 how does Nelly Furtado smell?
She did her vocal track for that session in an isolation booth and came too and from the studio in an airplane, and a limo dropped her right into the booth. So we could see her and give her instructions, but we could not smell her or really talk to her, only through a microphone.
A/2 does she snort cocain? She looks like she not but i have this idea that stars are taking all kind of drugs and drinks behind the cameras and papers just because it’s so evil to con their catholic fans. I mean i bet homer simpson is a drunk child beater when the cameras don’t roll.
Again, we don't know, but I could ask her next time I see her.
B, is that true that James Murphy listened to that much music that he gained some kind of spiritual aura which is a permanent soundtrack for his life? Like the situation with will ferrell and that british lesbian lady but for Murphy it could be heared by anyone else? And is that true as well that he used no effect for his voice on his records?
James Murphy apparently was very mad at us after he found out the song was going to be released on a record, because we had told people we were just recording messages for our friends in the hospital, from their favorite bands. I think he uses an affect on LCD Soundsystem records that make his lyrics sound 25 years younger.
C, for collaborating with the singer of AFI. Did you have to get permission from Tim Burton? Isn’t Havoc jewish? Or was it a joke that he wished marry christmas?
I don't think he is Jewish, but in American most Jews celebrate christmas and also the other one.
You played some shows with hard skins. Did you talked with them? i always wondered do skinheads watch the tv series Friends? Who is their favorite? I bet not Ross or Monica because they are jews. And rachel and Chandler also out of the bill cause they married/fucked with ross and monica. I guess they like Joey cause he is italian like Mussolini. Do you have any concrete infos?
This is an answer from Fat Bob:"wow ...what a question - tell him hard skin are too busy to answer questions because we are too busy playing darts, drinking beer and making sweet music with all women of the world - no matter of colour, class or creed..... "
One last question cause i have to hurry to get to the computer owner’s flat. Csongrád and Szentes are two cities here in hungary. But their hardcore scene’s are not supporting each other. What would be your suggestion? John Joseph played here with FVK and after the show he got asked about this same problem. He adviced Unity but this message haven’t worked out. So what is your suggestion? What do you think abaout that?
I mean I think that those two countries should go to war. DId you know that when John Josephs was growing up in a foster home that when he could get cheese sandwiches his older brothers and foster parents would steal the cheese out of his sandwiches and he would only have the bread to eat, and also the same with oreo cookies but with the middle taken out. I can imagine that this is what life must be like in Hungary so maybe his advice would be useful?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
We do punk as burning things
Spencer (a friend of mine, shitworker for MRR and also an ex-/present/future member of half dozen awesome bands) mentioned once that maybe I should try to write something like a column. So here we are, I give it a try. For those who don’t know him he is really a good guy, as a surfer would say „a sweet dude”, but i think he has some sort of brain disorders. He spent more than a year here on purpose. Here in hungary. On purpose. I only like writers who i could envy. I mean their world, their past, their writing technic, etc. I can easily envy Spencer only by reading the list of shows he attended in the last month. His e-mails can make me more depressed than the revelation that Micheal Moore is only an annoying guy who makes questionable propaganda movies would make an unconscious wannabe liberal. Or maybe I’m the one who has brain disorders 'cause when I say I don’t know why he stayed here for such a long time I think of it only „punk-wise”. And for me - sadly or not - that’s what really matters.
In college I had a „History of the 20th century” exam. The professor didn’t want to be too merciless so he asked easy questions like in which period of the examined century and where we would like to live. A girl before me said in Switzerland cause it always was a war free country, it was economically stable etc. My answer was in ’82 Washington DC. The professor thought i wanted to talk about the Reagan era, that part of cold war and whatever happened back then. But my only clear and also divine cause was to see Bad Brains in a filthy basement and hear the amazing intro riffs of F.V.K. live and let it bang my inner organs. I failed the exam but I was proud of myself cause I had the guts to say it. I like to lie and I do it a lot even when it has no advantages. Maybe to make this all a bit more liveable. At that specific time I felt like having this as my heroic moment when I only could tell nothing but the truth. It proved I’m a music-buff more than just a student or a reliable part of today’s society. I think this is one of the things what all the „i don’t wanna grow up / young till i die” movement is all about and was built up on. It's the skill to be an outspoken, passionate fan of little but precious things even when it’s just a Sunday afternoon telephone conversation. It's in little things like being obsessed with a band from the beginning of the 80’s with less than 15 devoted followers or a 20 minutes gig on a weekday at another town (for us another country). I may have been hating most of myself since I gained some consciousness and became old enough for being sorry for my younger mistakes, but I always liked that I could be more passionate about bands / movies / books than like anything else. Some people like dogs more than other people i’m the same with my turntable. Once I read something where a girl mentioned she likes music that could make young people feel to be related to something or somewhere. I think this is one of the reasons I got deeply into music. I guess in big terms it would be similar to religion, but listening to music contains rules only made by yourself and by rationality. It is not rational to not like bands like Black Flag.
I think punk rock is a genre that played by rational people who really live by their attitudes and the music is just pure, short, without any bullshit, and has anger. I love the connotative: teen-angst. It’s sad that Hungarians have tons of curse words but not a cool expression as the previously mentioned. Anyway, for me the plus in punk rock is the anger. If I looked for big messages I’d read Chomsky or any other author who’s name ends with ’sky. To be honest, I became a professed atheist not because of listening to Propagandhi but because of listening to comedians like David Cross or middle aged Woody Allen. I guess it would be foolish to keep important messages within the walls of small basements. I’m telling this even though punk rock really made my life. Yeah, mostly because I didn’t have any spare time to listen to the whole reason why should I hate jews or care about someone’s sexual interest when i was so busy with checking out the family trees of my favorite bands. I’m not utopistic or blind. I could have got the same ideas from million other places but for me it happened to come from 3 chords songs. I feel lucky 'cause I think punk has never spoken to the majority because of the anger behind these simple ideas. For the majority anger is not always easy to digest. My mother told me that I was this cynical and in your face already when I was a little kid but with this qualities I could’ve gone with Wagner as well. So I give all credits to the luck that I've had the stomach. I was even more lucky after that because I got something more. I felt some kind of relation when I just realized: you don’t have to know anything in English to be concerned about what the Adverts sang for you and the noise in Void songs came from the same depths where all your shit is rooted. And you’ll understand if you see them why Sex Pistols is just a boring, or to even worse, a professional rock band in 2008. No beef about reunions and money, but I don’t think that they still have the passion. As an old punker said: „the lack of knowing how to play your instrument could be compensated by enthusiasm”. Have you ever tried to cover a Minor Threat song or What Do I Want from Hüsker Dü? Those songs do not have a well defined structure. Those were written by enthusiasm. Members thought it sounded cool so they kept it that way. I like this idea. It’s so bizarre when a band writes a song in rehearsal rooms in a way that they play a random part just 2 times instead of 4 because the crowd might get bored. I’m not a fan of No Wave but I like bands who don’t give a shit or sometimes do but only to piss off the audience. Somehow I like it when thoughts like these are floating around inside my head. Useless in the real world, but as the Urinals sang: real life doesn’t mean much to me.
This is what the scene lacks today. Since the Internet and Soulseek you can download songs from every band that matters or just accidentally made a one chord wonder. For most people these songs transform into simple files on their hard drives, like „i’m gonna check it on Saturday”. And on those Saturdays these songs transform further into those three other random bands not being alone in the world, or an endless nightmare with incensed monkeys chasing you. Ok I’m not that optimistic to think millions have the Even Worse discography on their iPods and they just don’t give a shit. I live in a country where you could easily become an elitist asshole if you listen to more than six records a day and up to places for friends not that huge amount of people are listening to good music world widely. But already lot of them do and it makes me think sometimes. Why should I care or why does it matter to me? Even if it’s only a little piece of thought, it is still here. I think one of the coolest things in punk rock is/was the secret factor. The secret society which is disappearing now. I remember in high school one of my classmates found my walkman on my table and took a listen. It was Sebadoh’s Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock album and that song which is only noise. After that moment she always looked at me a bit different. She didn’t really understand it. That song was more inexplicable to her than our other classmate’s self cutting habits to deal with the World’s joke. She didn’t understand it because she was normal. I won’t say she didn’t have any problems back then but she never was an outsider. Or more specificly she never wanted to be one. The only thing I liked in her scared and heartbreaking glance was the certainity that I’m fucked up majorly. While she heard that truly terrible noise she saw my past and also previsioned my future. No big things like predictions about breaking down, early suicide, life long solitude. She just faced the way what I was and am still on. When you’re young you always told that whatever you do it will pass soon. But her eyes told me „you have to be deeply into something to find this such unlistenable song enjoyable”. And here I am, through the most impressionable period and still thinking of such things like „Could someone still be a punk on an empty island?” and hate myself of being late on bands like Major Conflict, The Kids, M.I.A. .
What about today? She could easily identify that it’s indie/noise rock what I have in my walkman and would only consider it as a phase that will pass soon when another hyped thing will come around. Back then I was regularly insulted about how could I label myself as a punk if I wore ordinary clothes and no longer had a mohawk. Now it wouldn’t be a problem. Neither do if anyone would listen to punk rock just because. Don’t get me wrong i’m not saying only punks could listen to punk rock. I find it even cooler when a non punk has some minor crush on punk bands. I’m saying listening to something only counts if you’re a fan and do it with…um, fuck that i’ll be cliche…with heart. I always loved the trivia that John Peel never talked right after he played the song Teenage Kicks because he was always crying. Imagine a man in his early 60’s struggling with his tears while listening to a 30 year old silly song he already heard million times before. This is what staying young means to me. And this is when commitment is just a simple part of your nature and needs no strain. I lost my virginity in a self made Chronic Sick shirt and for me the shirt makes it so different. I guess from 20 years now I’ll will only remember that piece of cloth. I never liked new people but I could feel confident around a bunch of German punkers after 5 minutes while we discussed how cool Ebulliton rec is and which reunions are OK.
I miss these things. I don’t say punk, hardcore or whatever you call it died. It just cannot. Could a president, a country or an economical period be more influentable than that girl, loveless teenage years, ignorant uncles, solitude, not knowing what to do with your life, lust, boring schools, shitty jobs, crowded public transportation vehicles? No. If it’s not a World war or some Third World regime we just shouldn’t care that much as long as we are not fully confident with our own shit. Even my parents cared much more about their own happiness than about the Soviet Union. And it’s not ignoring the problem. With this the World could be a better place. Really. Whenever you take your bike instead of your car to have fun you just make oil irrelevant at the same time. It’s living for the inside. „Real” punk became smaller than it was in the beginning. If you ask me i think it just became cooler since it got down from the covers of NME and just went back into the basements. It’s funny how huge things disappear sometimes. Like the fanatism around the Beatles, grunge, glam rock and Michael Jackson. Maybe boy bands were the last moment I saw young girls collapsing while screaming. Even though tons of ex-members parrot that punk rock is dead, just take a look at all the diy shows, the record collectors, fanzine writers or whoever travels hours / days for shows. Of course, we still got shitloads of cool bands from all over the world, but somehow the enthusiasm is became an unique thing. For bands, touring is so easy since the Internet, Soulseek and Myspace and if you’re a bored teenager and want to see the World for almost free you just have to form a band. Maybe you’re going to starve a little because promoters only give dinner and breakfast and you’ll have to sleep on cold floors but it’s still better than backpack tourism. I wish that bands who come here are not only here for a year long vacation but for they need to play their songs everyday to someone who are just like them. Unfortunately, most of the times I don’t feel that. Got those weird assholes from old Black Flag, Fugazi videos who were attacking the bands and it seemed that they just don’t get it? You don’t really understand why are they at the show or why don’t they see what the band says. A bad experience could make songs unlistenable to me even if I liked them previously. If I had a beef with a member of a band I might quit going to shows. Any of them. And today sometimes I feel like I’m the band and the band who’s playing is the one stupid chap from the crowd who mindlessly waving his plastic glass of beer into my face.
So to make it a full circle i’m going to explain you why i mentioned Spencer was wasting his „punk time” in Hungary. I’m not like those who hate where they live. I hate the World and my location has nothing special to do with it. Maybe I could and would relocate myself and be a perfect example of that Antidote song. Or be a bohemian dude who only cares about inspiration and goes wherever he finds it. Wait a minute, I just wrote this all mostly to prove that the potential for punk is everywhere. I hope this was true and it’s only hard to happen but not impossible. So maybe i’m gonna stay here. I have a diploma what others would say pays good everywhere but I would rather stay in my room and starve if I only have to write. Hungary is not that bad to live. Moreover, it’s so easy to become a punk if you were born and stayed here. It’ll became depressing if you want to see good bands or attend in basement shows or if you just wish that the scene would have some sense of humor or creativity...or if you want cheap but good burritos. That’s why it’s not highly recomended for lovers of punk.
One last and brief story before I close this. Once I was in a recording studio with my band and we ran into an old band’s member. When they play abroad they label themselves as the only punk band from Hungary. Yeah they really do even if they have a right wing guy who writes their lyrics and they suck majorly. So this old band member asked us what are our band's influences, what are we listening to? We said usual bands like the Bad Brains. His eyes started sparking. He got closer to us and said it confidentally: „Did you know the singer of the Bad Brains is black?”. That’s why I say here we do punk as burning things, because if he is in a band just imagine those who listen to and believe the borrowed words he’s singing. All of these guys could be replaced with punks from deathwish, mad max or robo cop and no one would notice it. So if I ever move I'm only going to do it for bands. Or for other people who already moved and this country is meaningless without them. And maybe for being up to date with my tv series a few hours earlier.... but it would be better if bands with members like us would come here more often. So please!
In college I had a „History of the 20th century” exam. The professor didn’t want to be too merciless so he asked easy questions like in which period of the examined century and where we would like to live. A girl before me said in Switzerland cause it always was a war free country, it was economically stable etc. My answer was in ’82 Washington DC. The professor thought i wanted to talk about the Reagan era, that part of cold war and whatever happened back then. But my only clear and also divine cause was to see Bad Brains in a filthy basement and hear the amazing intro riffs of F.V.K. live and let it bang my inner organs. I failed the exam but I was proud of myself cause I had the guts to say it. I like to lie and I do it a lot even when it has no advantages. Maybe to make this all a bit more liveable. At that specific time I felt like having this as my heroic moment when I only could tell nothing but the truth. It proved I’m a music-buff more than just a student or a reliable part of today’s society. I think this is one of the things what all the „i don’t wanna grow up / young till i die” movement is all about and was built up on. It's the skill to be an outspoken, passionate fan of little but precious things even when it’s just a Sunday afternoon telephone conversation. It's in little things like being obsessed with a band from the beginning of the 80’s with less than 15 devoted followers or a 20 minutes gig on a weekday at another town (for us another country). I may have been hating most of myself since I gained some consciousness and became old enough for being sorry for my younger mistakes, but I always liked that I could be more passionate about bands / movies / books than like anything else. Some people like dogs more than other people i’m the same with my turntable. Once I read something where a girl mentioned she likes music that could make young people feel to be related to something or somewhere. I think this is one of the reasons I got deeply into music. I guess in big terms it would be similar to religion, but listening to music contains rules only made by yourself and by rationality. It is not rational to not like bands like Black Flag.
I think punk rock is a genre that played by rational people who really live by their attitudes and the music is just pure, short, without any bullshit, and has anger. I love the connotative: teen-angst. It’s sad that Hungarians have tons of curse words but not a cool expression as the previously mentioned. Anyway, for me the plus in punk rock is the anger. If I looked for big messages I’d read Chomsky or any other author who’s name ends with ’sky. To be honest, I became a professed atheist not because of listening to Propagandhi but because of listening to comedians like David Cross or middle aged Woody Allen. I guess it would be foolish to keep important messages within the walls of small basements. I’m telling this even though punk rock really made my life. Yeah, mostly because I didn’t have any spare time to listen to the whole reason why should I hate jews or care about someone’s sexual interest when i was so busy with checking out the family trees of my favorite bands. I’m not utopistic or blind. I could have got the same ideas from million other places but for me it happened to come from 3 chords songs. I feel lucky 'cause I think punk has never spoken to the majority because of the anger behind these simple ideas. For the majority anger is not always easy to digest. My mother told me that I was this cynical and in your face already when I was a little kid but with this qualities I could’ve gone with Wagner as well. So I give all credits to the luck that I've had the stomach. I was even more lucky after that because I got something more. I felt some kind of relation when I just realized: you don’t have to know anything in English to be concerned about what the Adverts sang for you and the noise in Void songs came from the same depths where all your shit is rooted. And you’ll understand if you see them why Sex Pistols is just a boring, or to even worse, a professional rock band in 2008. No beef about reunions and money, but I don’t think that they still have the passion. As an old punker said: „the lack of knowing how to play your instrument could be compensated by enthusiasm”. Have you ever tried to cover a Minor Threat song or What Do I Want from Hüsker Dü? Those songs do not have a well defined structure. Those were written by enthusiasm. Members thought it sounded cool so they kept it that way. I like this idea. It’s so bizarre when a band writes a song in rehearsal rooms in a way that they play a random part just 2 times instead of 4 because the crowd might get bored. I’m not a fan of No Wave but I like bands who don’t give a shit or sometimes do but only to piss off the audience. Somehow I like it when thoughts like these are floating around inside my head. Useless in the real world, but as the Urinals sang: real life doesn’t mean much to me.
This is what the scene lacks today. Since the Internet and Soulseek you can download songs from every band that matters or just accidentally made a one chord wonder. For most people these songs transform into simple files on their hard drives, like „i’m gonna check it on Saturday”. And on those Saturdays these songs transform further into those three other random bands not being alone in the world, or an endless nightmare with incensed monkeys chasing you. Ok I’m not that optimistic to think millions have the Even Worse discography on their iPods and they just don’t give a shit. I live in a country where you could easily become an elitist asshole if you listen to more than six records a day and up to places for friends not that huge amount of people are listening to good music world widely. But already lot of them do and it makes me think sometimes. Why should I care or why does it matter to me? Even if it’s only a little piece of thought, it is still here. I think one of the coolest things in punk rock is/was the secret factor. The secret society which is disappearing now. I remember in high school one of my classmates found my walkman on my table and took a listen. It was Sebadoh’s Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock album and that song which is only noise. After that moment she always looked at me a bit different. She didn’t really understand it. That song was more inexplicable to her than our other classmate’s self cutting habits to deal with the World’s joke. She didn’t understand it because she was normal. I won’t say she didn’t have any problems back then but she never was an outsider. Or more specificly she never wanted to be one. The only thing I liked in her scared and heartbreaking glance was the certainity that I’m fucked up majorly. While she heard that truly terrible noise she saw my past and also previsioned my future. No big things like predictions about breaking down, early suicide, life long solitude. She just faced the way what I was and am still on. When you’re young you always told that whatever you do it will pass soon. But her eyes told me „you have to be deeply into something to find this such unlistenable song enjoyable”. And here I am, through the most impressionable period and still thinking of such things like „Could someone still be a punk on an empty island?” and hate myself of being late on bands like Major Conflict, The Kids, M.I.A. .
What about today? She could easily identify that it’s indie/noise rock what I have in my walkman and would only consider it as a phase that will pass soon when another hyped thing will come around. Back then I was regularly insulted about how could I label myself as a punk if I wore ordinary clothes and no longer had a mohawk. Now it wouldn’t be a problem. Neither do if anyone would listen to punk rock just because. Don’t get me wrong i’m not saying only punks could listen to punk rock. I find it even cooler when a non punk has some minor crush on punk bands. I’m saying listening to something only counts if you’re a fan and do it with…um, fuck that i’ll be cliche…with heart. I always loved the trivia that John Peel never talked right after he played the song Teenage Kicks because he was always crying. Imagine a man in his early 60’s struggling with his tears while listening to a 30 year old silly song he already heard million times before. This is what staying young means to me. And this is when commitment is just a simple part of your nature and needs no strain. I lost my virginity in a self made Chronic Sick shirt and for me the shirt makes it so different. I guess from 20 years now I’ll will only remember that piece of cloth. I never liked new people but I could feel confident around a bunch of German punkers after 5 minutes while we discussed how cool Ebulliton rec is and which reunions are OK.
I miss these things. I don’t say punk, hardcore or whatever you call it died. It just cannot. Could a president, a country or an economical period be more influentable than that girl, loveless teenage years, ignorant uncles, solitude, not knowing what to do with your life, lust, boring schools, shitty jobs, crowded public transportation vehicles? No. If it’s not a World war or some Third World regime we just shouldn’t care that much as long as we are not fully confident with our own shit. Even my parents cared much more about their own happiness than about the Soviet Union. And it’s not ignoring the problem. With this the World could be a better place. Really. Whenever you take your bike instead of your car to have fun you just make oil irrelevant at the same time. It’s living for the inside. „Real” punk became smaller than it was in the beginning. If you ask me i think it just became cooler since it got down from the covers of NME and just went back into the basements. It’s funny how huge things disappear sometimes. Like the fanatism around the Beatles, grunge, glam rock and Michael Jackson. Maybe boy bands were the last moment I saw young girls collapsing while screaming. Even though tons of ex-members parrot that punk rock is dead, just take a look at all the diy shows, the record collectors, fanzine writers or whoever travels hours / days for shows. Of course, we still got shitloads of cool bands from all over the world, but somehow the enthusiasm is became an unique thing. For bands, touring is so easy since the Internet, Soulseek and Myspace and if you’re a bored teenager and want to see the World for almost free you just have to form a band. Maybe you’re going to starve a little because promoters only give dinner and breakfast and you’ll have to sleep on cold floors but it’s still better than backpack tourism. I wish that bands who come here are not only here for a year long vacation but for they need to play their songs everyday to someone who are just like them. Unfortunately, most of the times I don’t feel that. Got those weird assholes from old Black Flag, Fugazi videos who were attacking the bands and it seemed that they just don’t get it? You don’t really understand why are they at the show or why don’t they see what the band says. A bad experience could make songs unlistenable to me even if I liked them previously. If I had a beef with a member of a band I might quit going to shows. Any of them. And today sometimes I feel like I’m the band and the band who’s playing is the one stupid chap from the crowd who mindlessly waving his plastic glass of beer into my face.
So to make it a full circle i’m going to explain you why i mentioned Spencer was wasting his „punk time” in Hungary. I’m not like those who hate where they live. I hate the World and my location has nothing special to do with it. Maybe I could and would relocate myself and be a perfect example of that Antidote song. Or be a bohemian dude who only cares about inspiration and goes wherever he finds it. Wait a minute, I just wrote this all mostly to prove that the potential for punk is everywhere. I hope this was true and it’s only hard to happen but not impossible. So maybe i’m gonna stay here. I have a diploma what others would say pays good everywhere but I would rather stay in my room and starve if I only have to write. Hungary is not that bad to live. Moreover, it’s so easy to become a punk if you were born and stayed here. It’ll became depressing if you want to see good bands or attend in basement shows or if you just wish that the scene would have some sense of humor or creativity...or if you want cheap but good burritos. That’s why it’s not highly recomended for lovers of punk.
One last and brief story before I close this. Once I was in a recording studio with my band and we ran into an old band’s member. When they play abroad they label themselves as the only punk band from Hungary. Yeah they really do even if they have a right wing guy who writes their lyrics and they suck majorly. So this old band member asked us what are our band's influences, what are we listening to? We said usual bands like the Bad Brains. His eyes started sparking. He got closer to us and said it confidentally: „Did you know the singer of the Bad Brains is black?”. That’s why I say here we do punk as burning things, because if he is in a band just imagine those who listen to and believe the borrowed words he’s singing. All of these guys could be replaced with punks from deathwish, mad max or robo cop and no one would notice it. So if I ever move I'm only going to do it for bands. Or for other people who already moved and this country is meaningless without them. And maybe for being up to date with my tv series a few hours earlier.... but it would be better if bands with members like us would come here more often. So please!
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