Boots & Braces Webzine

Bootboys Are Back Vol.2

2012-03-08T14:35:00.002-08:00

Date: 25.8.2012
Location: Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Bands: LES VILAINS, The Wrongdoers, Glory Boys, All Bandits, Ultima Thule Revival + 1 band T.B.A.

Monsters Of Oi!

2012-03-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

Date: 1.9.2012
Location: somewhere in England
Bands: ANTONELLA'S KLASSE KRIMINALE, Pressure 28, Citizen Keyne, Bakers Dozen, Code 1, Hooligan UK, Last Orders, The Wrongdoers, Loyalty, Retaliator, Headcase, Short Cropped, IC1 + some bands T.B.A.

Légitime Violence & Orgullo Sur - United Skins Thugs Of America EP

2012-03-08T14:25:00.001-08:00

Specification: Another brilliant split is coming !!! Légitime Violence from Québec play faster aggressive skinhead rock and Orgullo Sur from Chile play old school skinhead rock in the veins of bands from 80's.

Orgullo Sur - A Tribute To British Oi! EP

2012-03-08T14:08:00.002-08:00

Specification: A longawaited EP of this amazing Chilean band will be out soon! It will contain 4 covers from classic British Oi!/Punk bands: Cock Sparrer - We're Coming Back, Skrewdriver - Backstreet Kids, Combat 84 - Skinhead and Blitz - Someone's Gonna Die.

Antonella vs. Gigi

2012-03-06T12:46:00.001-08:00

Date: 16.6.2012
Location: Bulldog Pub, Cazzago San Martino, Italy
Bands: ANTONELLA'S KLASSE KRIMINALE, Gigi (Legittima Offesa), Stato Asociale

Carry On Oi!

2012-03-06T12:43:00.000-08:00

Date: 2.6.2012
Location: Riffs Bar, Royal Wootton Bassett, England
Bands: THE 4-SKINS, The London Diehards, Skingraft, The Kriminals, The Crack, Vicious Rumours, Code 1

This One's For The Skinheads

2012-03-06T12:39:00.001-08:00

Date: 26.5.2012
Location: Somewhere in Germany
Bands: ENDSTUFE, Les Vilains, Legittima Offesa, Brassic

British BootBoys & Girls

2012-03-06T12:36:00.005-08:00

Date: 26.5.2012
Location: Coventry, England
Bands: CLOSE SHAVE, Pressure 28, Skinfull, Adverse Society

Boots & Braces Fest (Italy)

2012-03-06T12:34:00.001-08:00

Date: 21.4.2012
Location: Bulldog Pub, Cazzago San Martino, Italy
Bands: LES VILAINS, Legittima Offesa

Les Vilains In Québec

2012-03-06T12:29:00.001-08:00

Date: 2X.4.2012
Location: Québec City, Montreal, Canada
Bands: LES VILAINS, Légitime Violence, Trouble Makers

Skinheads Dem A Come

2012-03-06T12:21:00.000-08:00

Date: 10.3.2012
Location: London, England
Bands: STATO ASOCIALE, Insane Youth, Pressure 28, Skinfull

Angry Bootboys & Punk Front - Angry, Young And Punk EP

2012-03-06T12:01:00.001-08:00

Specification: The next split EP contains one punk and one skin band, both are strictly anti-communists. Angry Bootboys play classic raw skinhead rock and Punk Front play very energic hatepunk.

The Granits & Selbststeller - Tradition Verpflichtet EP

2012-03-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

Specification: The split EP of 2 German mature patriotic bands will be out soon. The Granits play streetrock with Oi!/Punk influences and touches of viking rock. Selbststeller play classical skinhead rock or punk rock.

Kill Baby, Kill! Interview

2012-01-15T08:54:00.000-08:00

1. What means the name Kill Baby Kill? Why this name?
It means absolutely nothing! When I first started this band we needed, like any other band obviously, a name. This was harder to find than I thought, because all the obvious names were already taken. Every idea that came up was already taken by some band after a little research on the net. Then I found some list of B movies somewhere and selected a few, which I proposed to the other guys who were in the band at that time, and some friends. Kill Baby Kill was the stupidest name on the list so after a good laugh I decided this was going to be the name! Of course after a little while I discovered some other band with the same name, but fuck it, too late to change..

2. Who is playing in the band (today) and what are the aims of the band?
Let me start first with a little “secret”. KBK are actually 2 bands. I’m making the songs in my home studio and make some kind of demo-version using a drumcomputer. This demo I bring to the studio and a drummer ‘Jens’ plays in the drums following these demo’s. Then I’m recording bass, guitars and vocals, and at the end Spandex plays the solo’s. Due to other commitments neither Jens or Spandex have the possibilities to play live so I had to find other musicians for the live gigs. Some came and some went, but for the last 2 years we’ve had the same ‘live-line up'. There’s me doing the bass and vocals, Sven aka fatboy on drums. We’re both from Brugge in Belgium. We use two guitarplayers at the live gigs: Nudel from Germany, and Rob from England. So you could say we’re an international band. As I’m the only one making the songs it’s possible for us not to practise (which is virtually impossible due to the distance). Everyone just practises his part listening to a CD.
There is no aim, just to have fun, play many gigs, meet people all over the world. There is absolutely no political ideology behind the band, even though some of the lyrics might have political statements in it. I know we are often labelled as a political band but I’ve got to say this never was and never will be the aim. We play the music because we like to play music, that’s all.

3. What give you the strength to go the way you choose?
I’ve been a very angry guy for a long time. This really reflects in the lyrics. For most of my life I’ve been kicking against all kind of authority. Teachers in school, the boys in blue, religion, … basically every power that tells other people what they should and shouldn’t do. Unfortunatly living in a “scene” isn’t much different. Still there’s people telling others what they should or shouldn’t do. What music they should listen to, what views to have.. bah! Unregarding political background. Both leftwing and rightwing do this.

4. Skinhead is ……..?
Live your life the way you want it, having fun, going to gigs,…
Being proud of what you achieve in life. We are all on a journey to where ever it may take us due to different decisions we make. Being a skinhead is being there for your friends and family. To help each other when needed. It’s about being aware of what goes on in the world and not to follow like sheep to the slaughter, like many people live their lives. Being proud to make a stand for what you believe in. To follow your own heart. But of course it’s also a subculture with its own fashion. Otherwise we wouldn’t all wear the same clothing brands would we? Like other subcultures music binds us.
A friend of mine from Martens Army had a good statement that says it all ‘PROUD to be PROUD’!

5. What do you think about political correctness, and what political opinion "must" a Skin have?
As I answered in another question, I hate people telling me what to do. How can you call yourself a rebel against a system but at the same time create a system with its own rules yourself? This doesn’t seem logic to me. Political correctness is everywhere, both in left and rightwing scene. People should have their believes, and it’s ok to spread your believes, I have nothing against that. But when you start to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do, what they should and shouldn’t think… wow, that’s a bridge too far! Everyone has the right for their own opinion, whether I agree with it or not. But everyone that tries to force their opinion can go to hell.

6. You play in a band, but what kind of music do you like private (and what are the reasons)?
Well I’ve got a very wide taste of music. I can listen to all sorts of music except for hip hop, R'n'B and rap. It’s quite funny that I recently started listening again to the bands I’ve listened to when I was a young kid. Bands like Guns'n'Roses, Skid Row, Motley Crüe, AC/DC, Motörhead,…! I like a lot of the old punk bands and even some blues once in a while. I like the passion in it. For me a good song is a perfect mix of smart lyrics and powerfull guitarriffs. I also love guitarsolo’s like the ones in Iron Maiden or Manowar songs.
I enjoy listening to music when I drive in my car. I travel very often and what I do is fill a big box to take in my car and then I just put on what I grab. At home I’m mostly busy writing new music so I don’t really listen to much music there…

7. Give back the Oi! to…… - and why? Who took it away?
It’s a slogan against political correct bands. They try to take away the real spirit of Oi! music and sell it to a mixed audience. They turn some words into a fashion instead of a statement. Anything to increase record sales right... Oi! music never has been mainstream music and I’m thankful to that. It’s what distinguishes us from the normal crowd. Its something different and it shouldn’t become a light version of what it used to be. Oi! is straight to the point. Powerful music with lyrics straight from the heart. But often with a good sense of humor included offcourse! ;-)

8. What is the different between Punk and Skin? (When we travel to Belgium we can not see a different and that is GREAT !!)
There are many types of punks as there are many types of skins! Some punks and some skins come very close together, they just dress differently. For the rest they have the same ideas, love to drink, go to the same shows, listen to the same music.. I’m talking about real punks of course. Crusties I shouldn’t even call punks. They are in in nearly every possible way opposites from skinheads. Actually the most punks you see in Belgium at the gigs are Germans, haha!
They are like us, they only have a different fashion. I can’t understand why there’s people that don’t like punks coming to our gigs. These guys deserve respect. They get shit from the leftwing because they make a stand against the reds, but still they don’t kneel or change. It would be so much easier for them to shave their head but still they stick to what they are. That inquires a strong mind and a strong will. Respect!

9. The first LP you ever have bought - first Punk and/or Skinhead LP you have bought?
Well I grew up when the CD was just conquering the world. I have never been a vinyl freak actually. I think the first CD I ever bought was Appetite For Destruction, the best G'n'R album ever! The first punk CD I ever bought was Never Mind The Bullocks from The Pistols, or Chaos In Belgium from Funeral Dress. Or was it Michael Jackson? I’m not sure…

10. You became a Skinhead because of….
I started my "teenage rebellion" at the age of 12. I had a friend who was a 17 year old punk girl. Through her I got to know bands like Blitz, Cock Sparrer, The Oppressed, Chaos UK, Dead Kennedies, Slime, Crass, Special Duties,... a lot! I think I still have one of the tapes she gave me back then. Also through her I got to know the Antwerp AFA punks, and I hung out with them before I ran away from home and lived in a squat in Holland. Yes I lived in a squat as a little runaway.
There I discovered that doing nothing all day ( I looked for work) and that political correctness was not my thing so we had our own group of people who thought a little the same. We distanced ourselves from the leftwing politics which are present in those squats. Slowly some of us, including me started to change our style more into skinhead style. Then shaving the head was just a step away. I’m actually the only one from back then that continued being a skinhead until this day. I first got in touch with rightwing skinheads at age 19 when I met them in a bar in Rotterdam. As I was just stabbed in the neck by an Arabic guy and nearly died I was full of hatred and anger and I agreed on becoming the new bassplayer of their band 'Landstorm’. At that time I had already moved back to Belgium and got to know more and more people there, until 7 years ago ( I’m now 28) I moved to Brugge, the city I was actually born in. I became the guitarplayer in Les Vilains, and then started travelling doing some live gigs with Steelcapped Strength before I started with KBK.

11. You stay as a Skinhead because…..
Because I look stupid with long hair, hahahaha!

12. You play in a famous band. Does it bring you advantage in the scene to be a well known member?
Ofcourse it’s really nice to get aknowledgment for my ‘’baby’’, my creation. It feels really great to see people enjoy what you do, and I would lie if I would say I don’t like to get compliments. It’s also a rush to see people having fun on our music when we play the live gigs, sometimes shouting the songs louder than I can sing! The connection with the crowd is a great feeling. That’s why we enjoy the smaller gigs much more than the bigger ones.
Some advantages with the band is that with the money made of merchandise I was able to buy an entire backline: good guitaramplifiers, bassamplifier, even a PA system. As many readers know we’ve got the famous Kastelein (now Moloko) pub in our city. So we put all the equipment there so the concerts there have a much better sound. Also all the bands in our town (Les Vilains, The Pride, Headcase, Molokids) can use the amplifiers for practise! When people want to form a new band now it will be easier for them because they won’t have to pay for practise room or equipment, which is often a barriere for young kids to start a band. Next project is a studio so we all can record our own stuff!
A definite plus with the band is that we get to travel a lot and meet people all over the world. It’s much easier to maintain friendships and contacts when you’re able to travel a lot. Also we met some really nice people on our travels and saw beautiful countries!
Last but not least I have to dissapoint you with saying that there’s no groupies.. hahaha!

13. Is it easy for you, to visit Oi!-gigs, when the antifa stood at the entrance, to look for "well known“ "Neo-Nazis“?
Pffff, Punk And Disorderly.. the perfect example of what ‘Give Back The Oi!’ stands for…
I was there and I noticed that it really wasn’t my kind of world… I haven’t noticed AFA standing at the door actually. I just know that some retarded people were looking for ‘nazis’ to throw out. Except for 1 punk they haven’t thrown out anyone I think..
Funny thing, when we left the gig, I met the crossdressing singer of The Pestpocken ‘Danny’. Wasn’t really hard to spot him as he wears make up and high heels. He recognised me as well and when he crossed the street he threw a snowball at me.. haha! I must say that really did hurt my feelings and until this day I’m still not over it!

14. What Oi!-band / RAC-band / Punk-band would you like to see (and why) or to play with (and why)?
I would love to see The Macc Lads, because I love their sense of humour, but unfortunately they don’t play anymore. Another band I would like to see is Stiff Little Fingers and if all goes well I will go and watch them somewhere this year! They are brilliant musicians! The bands I wanted to play with we’ve already played with, so that’s already good! I can say that in the near future me and a friend will start organising gigs in Belgium ourselves.

15. What do you know about "the good old times(the 80ties)“ and what is the difference between today and than?
I was born in 1980 so while you guys were going to gigs I learned how to walk, talk and not to shit in my pants!
I really don’t know much about the 80ies so I can’t really say a lot about it.

16. Do you like zines or do you think the www has got enough informations? What is the difference, where is the advantage?
I really like magazines a lot and I used to collect them. Police took hold of them as I had a house search though…
The magazine versus the www is like the CD with artwork or LP stands against the downloaded song. It’s something original, collectable. Just like in my CD collection I don’t have copied stuff, I really like to have the magazine. Allthough it can work together.. For example a paper edition for the collection, and a www edition, posted some months later to reach more people.
The web has some advantages, it’s easier to keep in contact with people all over the world. Skinheadgigs are becoming bigger now because a lot more people know about what gig is going on. Unfortunately so do the opponents from certain gigs. So far for the positive things on the net.
I do absolutely HATE forums where people can anonymously post bullshit on other people, make threats, its like kindergarten! The internetwarrior was born!
Then another thing I dislike is all the downloading. At one hand it’s cool that more people listen to the music, but downloading kills small bands. There already isn’t a lot of money in Oi! music, and making everything for free only makes it worse. We don’t drive fancy cars and live in big villa’s because we sell our CD’s.. But for us it’s a way to afford instruments and equipment. To grow as a band, to make the productions better… and to help out other bands.

17. When we talk about the net, who do you think writes there about your "drug-problem“ and why?
I don’t know who are the people that love to write. It’s quite funny actually.. they are the same kind of people that call us rockstars, because we play in a band and aren’t political enough for them. But at the same time they act like papparazi and write about us every time we even fart. They write about what we were in the past, who we are friends with, what concerts we visit, who we drink beer with, what weeat (yes I eat ethnic food sometimes!) where we train sports.. every possible thing you can imagine gets on the net. I’m not just talking about myself, but about so many members from other bands that have been slandered, talked about for many different reasons. I really don’t know what these people have to prove. I never said I’m perfect, I never wanted or claimed to be an ‘’example for any cause” a messiah, whatever… I’m a normal guy with normal problems like everyone else. I just write songs about it. Of course the fact that I did use coke on a few occasions is very spicy ammunition for these vultures. I don’t need to justify my actions towards these people anyway. They’ve got no right to judge me. The only people who can judge me is the friends or family that I caused pain when I was going through rough times. I apologise to them and thank them for standing by my side when I needed them. They have shown true character!

18. What is the truth about that (just only some short word).
I’ve been going to some serious personal problems the last year, and under influence of doctor subscribed medicines I didn’t care about anything anymore. I started to drink a lot and hung out with different people who did drugs in the weekends. It happened a couple of times when I got really drunk that I got offered and accepted some coke to get sober again. Thinking back it’s just really stupid because that stuff is really bad for mind and body and an easier solution would have been not to drink that much! But I guess I was too fucked up in my head to realise it. After some good talks with some true friends I opened my eyes and saw I was busy destroying my own life completely. I went to seek for professional help and I ended with all the sleeping pills, calming pills, anti depressives etc that were turning me into an emotionless zombie. It wasn’t easy because I found out I was really addicted to it, but I’ve succeeded and managed to stay of that stuff. Now I found a new drug: Sports!

19. What do you think about people, who just read something and "spread the message around the world“ without asking the concerned people?
I’m open about what happened and I’m man enough to take responsibility for my actions and mistakes. Everyone that contacted me about this issue I’ve answered openly. Of course there’s always some people who don’t take the time to find out what really is going on, but just talk, talk and talk. Thing is, information is power… Some people think they become more important when they can give more, bigger, spicier information about other people. They live and the breath gossip. Asking the concerned people would possible make the story less interesting, so why bother? No let’s first throw around the shit and then hope that some will stick like it always does.
Anyway, people make mistakes in their lives. No one is safe from that. Hanging out someones dirty laundry in the world is quite sad anyway.. when someone has whatever kind of trouble it’s up to that person to decide how much he wants to share with the outside world, and not to people who just love to talk because it makes them lose focus from their own shit. Anyway, I’ve already spent waaaay too many words on this subject.
All by all, we are a band, we are not political examples, don’t want to be somebody’s hero! (haha I took that from SLF) we make music. Love it, or don’t listen to it! There’s nothing more to say about that.

20. Drugs are…..
Totally unnecessary for me. I don’t need them.
There’s many different sorts of drugs, mind altering substances. Alcohol is a drug too, we shouldn’t be hypocrite about that. Why else do we drink, to get in a different state of mind , right? Or what about all the calming pills, sleeping pills, anti depressives.. those are far more dangerous than the odd line of coke, and I am speaking of experience. They call these drugs legal, but they can turn people into emotionless, heartless egocentric selfish bastards like I was on them. There’s a big difference between drug users and drug addicts. I know some people who do drugs during the weekends but have a good job and family life. Then I also know people who don’t do drugs, just drink, but fuck up on every other thing in life.
The problem lays in how these things are being used. Including alcohol! I’m not judging people that decide to use something, they are old enough to make their own decisions in their life, but people who are addicted to any kind of drugs whether it’s doctor subscribed, or heroine, alcohol,… should get professional help to get rid of their addiction. Life is much more than looking for a rush!!!!!!!!!

21. Family is….
The most important in life, or at least it should be! Family is there in times of need, family is always there nevertheless how much you fucked up. I really love my family and I’ll always be thankful for everything they did for me and still do! I hope that one day I will start a family of my own.

22. Is the band, the movement a kind of family?
Not really, although some band members became really close friends, and some close friends became like family. I’ve realised this in the hardest times. The movement? Absolutely not. The movement is too much about appearance unfortunately… in a movement it’s too important what the outside world sees of it.

23. As I have heared, you will have next time a German song! Tell us about how this can happen and why? Who write this song and where do you med that guy first? (Ha ha, now we will see who can better remember!!!)
Actually there will be at least 2 german songs! They are written by you and I’ve got no idea where we met first! I did find an old picture of us in a hostel in Brugge years ago!
Wasn’t this the first time we met? My memory is like a Swiss cheese, hahaha
I’m looking forward to recording the songs, let’s hear how my accent sounds like in German!

24. If you see Europe, what is the difference between the countries? Where do you like to live, and why?
Most European countries are quite the same I think. We’ve got more or less the same kind of governments, economical crisis, etc.. The last couple of years I noticed that the laws are getting stricter on us. The more they spread the message that we should live in a free world, the more laws they impose to us. The more they talk about freedom of speech, the more they gag our mouths with political correct tape. It’s a controversy. I heard the split CD with ER has been indiziert in Germany, while I’ve been charged in Belgium too with racism charges because of Kill Baby Kill. It doesn’t look like things will improve soon…

25. Can’t they see we only want to have some fun?
I’ll stay in Belgium though, at least for the first time…

26. Germany is…..
Big! It’s a beautiful country with a lot of nice places I love to visit. Recently I’ve been in the old part of Dresden and I couldn’t believe my eyes how beautiful it is. Also all the castles everywhere are something special! I’m visiting Bremen next week to have a few drinks and I’m looking forward to see the city as I’ve heard it’s really worth visiting.

27. German beer is….
Come on, you’re asking the wrong guy, I’m from Belgium.. THE beer country in the world!

28. German Skins are….
All Nazis? Haha
Serious now… I wanted to move to Germany for a few months to learn the language, but my lawyer strongly advised not to, because the prosecutor would use that in court against me, because german skins = nazis! Hahaha
I really like a lot of the skins in Germany, they really keep the true skinhead spirit alive. And they are good drinkers!

29. Der Bewährungshelfer is….. (my zine, and 18 years old)
It’s in German obviously, but I do take my time to translate the road trips and concert reviews as they’re often funny to read! It’s not just the concert, and what bands, but reading it also gives you an impression of the atmosphere!

30. If we talk about Skins, where is the difference between all the kind of "we are the original Skins“? What about Hammer-Oi!-Sharp-Red-and what ever-Skin?
Everyone should do what they think is best and follow their own heart. If people want to be part of an organisation then that is their choice and I respect it. It’s just nothing for me. My band is my organisation.

31. What do you think about the "Spirit of 69“?
I like Short Cropped’s view on the spirit of 69! Hahahaha

32. If we talk about Skins, which German Bands you know and which one is the best?
There’s too many bands to mention..
Der Clou of Endstufe is probably my favourite German skinhead CD. Other bands I like are old Onkelz, Störkraft, Freikorps, Barking Dogs, Faustrecht,… well, mostly fuck-PC Oi! music.

33. Here the possibillity to ask me some thing..
How tall are you exactly? ;-)
Greetings and best wishes!
Dieter, 11 april 2009

Kill Baby, Kill! Interview

2012-01-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

Kill Baby, Kill! Interview

2012-01-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

1. First of all, why did you choose the name Kill Baby Kill?
To find a name for the band is very difficult, all the good names have been used! I decided to put no formally names like Combat or something similar. I tried to find the most stupid name! So I looked at pages of b-movies - horror movies, I found 10 names and I concluded that the worst was the Kill Baby Kill, so there is no ideological significance in the name of the band I think! Ha ha!

2. Tell us some things about the band and the nationality of its members.
We are a multinational band from 3 countries. The guitarists are from England and Germany. I myself and the drummer are from Bruges, Belgium.

3. What have you released so far? When will be a new album out?
The first release was a split with English Rose, after it our first CD "Give Back The Oi!" and the second CD "A Prophet Returns". The new upcoming CD will be "Product Of Society" in late January or early February. When we played in Australia we wrote some songs for the second Garrison CD, along with Ravenous and Deaths Head, and this will be released in a few weeks. If you see a CD with Kangaroo tattoo on the front, it has been just released! Ha ha!

4. How many concerts have you already played? What was the best one? How are the impressions from Skinhouse Hellas?
I've lost count! We did a lot for last 2 years. The best one was in Menfis in Germany. It was very good in Skinhouse, although white wine mattered! Ha ha.

5. What do you know about Greek skin / RAC scene?
You have many good bands, but I do not know many things ... I came very little to your country ... We want to come back to play for the Greeks !!

6. I have visited your city Bruges and Flanders and noticed a big difference between Flanders and Wallonia, the first one is more and more separatist racists! Is this true?
I think there is some misinformation. There is no difference between Flanders and Wallonia. We are brothers, brothers in Europe just talking another language, the differences are focused on economic issues. Why sing for European solidarity without putting it between us?

7. It is possible to support Flemish independence and that movement?
I Support Europe, we are all brothers. Germans, Belgians, Frenchmen, Swedes, etc. We have the same blood! All this happens because people with big hats decided to create states with differences. Nature made it our own way and no man can change. We have no contacts with this movement of course. We are an Oi! band.

8. There is a photo of you and some antifa people! And you smile! How did this happen?
Yes! In one of our concerts in Belgium some clowns came to protest, how you can see on the photo they were young children who do not know why they had come! So the simplest was to ask them to be photographed together! In addition, some attended the concert and then asked us to apologize for the protest, even bought CD and our T-shirts, ha ha!

9. What is your favorite football team?
Not working on the ball ...

10. Why are your lyrics so against Turkey and Islam?
Why should not? When these songs were written, there was a terrorist attack in Europe, brought the war in this region, kill innocents in the name of their religion. I do not like the one that tells me what to do and what not to do ... The Muslims want to change us, it will happen ... If you are here, so live due to our rules and conditions.

11. What are your favorite RAC bands?
Skullhead, Squadron and all the old English bands. We are influenced by them enough!

12. What should we do to stop red propaganda in the skinhead movement?
Crush them, ha ha! We attended apolitical Oi! concerts several times, show them what we present and you will be surprised if I say that many of them leaves the SHARP background and comes to our side! The more of them slowly or quickly open their eyes to reality and truth. It helps to organize concerts for the same people then. We must do more these openings in the world! We need young people to come to our movement.

13. Have you had a trouble in your country from the left wings and police?
Basically no, I was arrested once for something I did not. The song "It Ain't Fair" refers to that thing. Leftist wrote many lies to their site to change everything ... Even though we stand strong! To be honest, we have more problems with 'net fighters' rather than red ... This is the harsh reality ...

14. Some words about Roddy Moreno of The Oppressed!
It is not well-known Mr. Punch? Ha ha ...

15. The last words are yours. Thanks for the interview.
Greetings to Greece and I hope to see you again personally!

Kill Baby, Kill! Interview

2012-01-15T06:19:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, sadly left us one of the best musicians ever, a true man with a heart on the right side !! We miss you Dieter !!
We would like to hold a respect him and his brilliant music, so we decided to publish an old interviews conducted by Dieter here. The second one is the English version of interview that was originally published in MF Zine #12 at the beginning of 2007.

1. Please give our readers a short band introduce.
Hello, We are Kill Baby, Kill! from Belgium and we play Oi!/RAC music with political incorrect English lyrics. We started off around 2 years ago after me and the drummer decided to do some decent recordings of some songs I still had. We were pleased with the result and looked for more musicians to get a band started. We played now 4 live gigs and after some problems with the line-up we finally have a good one now to play concerts. We are a true international band nowadays with 2 Belgians, Me (Dieter) and Dom, 1 German (Nudel) and 1 English island monkey (Robin).

2. Your Split with English Rose are fucking great. How had the idea for this Split?
Thanks. Well, normally the 5 songs on the split were recorded for a 7" vinyl, but the guy who was supposed to release it had too many things on his hands so no time. This resulted in the songs being unused for about 2 years. Then Jonesy told me he aswell had 5 unreleased tracks and he proposed to make a split CD of them, which eventually happened.

3. The stuff was produced at your and English Rose own, why not on a label from other guys from the scene?
Well you have to make a choice, and GNLS records was the best option at this time .

4. The title "Good Night Left Side" is typical for Hatecore and also the logo, should it be?
Hmm, I don't know if it's so typical for Hatecore, I think it applies to everyone who likes to smash reds.

5. Your Kill Baby, Kill! logo is great, would you realise it for T-shirts?
At the moment there's T-shirts being printed with the logo on it. They should be ready this week and available on concerts where we play. After a while we want to put out more merchandise but this is a good start.

6. I think, it was your first output on a CD, is it right or have you any other material out in stock?
With Kill Baby, Kill! this is the first output yes. But definitely not the last!

7. When can we hear new stuff and what kind of songs we can hear in future?
This month I will finish the recordings of the first full CD. It will be called "Give Back The Oi!...." and will contain 11 new KBK songs, in the same style as the split of course. If everything goes well, it should come out in april at the latest. Some of the songs that will be on this CD, well actually most of them we also play live. So that's another way to hear new stuff, hehe. Then I've also finished already 12 other new songs for a second full CD which will be called "Angry, Young And Wh..." and this one will be recorded around the summer. When it will come out is not sure yet, but at least this year. So there will be plenty of new KBK material coming out in the upcoming months. When I figure out how to, I will also make a myspace page to put out new songs.

8. Your lyrics are pure, aggressive and straight on. What things influence you for the lyrics?
I sing about life. I do not invent any situations, they already exist, even though a lot of people don't like to know it. I sing about what happens in the world today. Some songs are about things I like, while in others I show my hatred towards scumbags and filth that try to destroy our world. I know that my lyrics will offend certain people but at least they are honest. It's no use to sing about the birds and the bees while there is so much more on your mind you want to spit out. We are not a political band, but some lyrics definitely contain some political or social subjects. I express my view on society, that's all. I will never sing songs to support any political parties because for me they are all the same. We don't need them.

9. I often hear old Punk and Oi! bands because many makes great music but often with left wing lyrics. They say we are exploited by right groups and partys but they play for all left wingers. What say you about left Skinhead bands who say we’re not Skinheads and they’re the only one?
I'm a big fan of the old Oi!/Punk bands aswell, especially the old British ones! Unfortunately you are right, and that scene is very political correct. You basicly have to lick arse for a long long time to share a stage with them, which unfortunatly some bands did. I always thought begin a Skinhead is doing what you think is the best, and never care about the rest. So why are some of these bands bending over and accept bullshit from Roddy Moreno, Olaf the oaf or Mensi? The music Angelic Upstarts and The Opressed make I like a lot too, but some of their lyrics just make me sick. Who does that little AIDS faggot Roddy Moreno think he is? People like him and Olaf really piss me off big time. The claim they are the professors of the Skinhead scene. They think they know it all, that they are THE true Skinheads. But just take a look at these pathetic freaks. It makes laugh so much thinking about Roddy Moron singing the great song "Joe Hawkins" in front of an audiance where half of them have dreadlocks and a dog on their hand! The king of the Skins? My ass! It's easy to pose and that is what these idiots do, nothing more, nothing less.

10. Hear you old Punk and Oi! and when which bands?
There's many, but some examples are Peter & The Test Tube Babies, One Way System, The Macc Lads, The Ejected, Antisocial, Combat 84, The Last Resort, Cock Sparrer, Cockney Rejects, The 4-Skins, yes, and Angelic Upstarts, hahaha.

11. I'd read that one of you play by the Oi! band Les Vilains, is it right? How can you realise it to play in both bands?
Well actually it's me and the drummer also playing in Les Vilains, and a hell of a lot other bands aswell :-) We have the time because we never have to practise. In KBK I make all the music and lyrics and I record a demo at home which I send to the other bandmembers so they can practise them. This way it's possible to play in multiple bands.

12. How it shows with livegigs with Kill Baby, Kill!?
Apparantly many people like what we do so we will continue some longer. We really enjoy playing gigs so as long as we can we will.

13. Okay, it is time for last words.
Hope to see you at one of the gigs somewhere sometime!
Cheers!

Kill Baby, Kill! Interview

2012-01-15T05:56:00.000-08:00

1. Hi KBK! Congratulations to your great debut on the split with English Rose! Are you satisfied with that record?
Aloha! Yes we were very satisfied with the record, and offcourse of all the positive reviews it's getting. We're happy to be on a splitCD with one of the better Oi!/RAC bands ever.

2. Why did you take this name and where did you get the inspiration from? (Think about the laws in Germany, haha)
Well, I'm sorry to dissapoint you, but there isn't any deeper meaning behind it, haha. After we decided to form the band, we looked for a name. At first it was gonna be called "Roadkill",but that didn't last for very long. Then "Stronghold" was the idea to call the band, but then I found out only a hundred other bands use that name... So there we were, we had a band, 5 recorded songs, but no name... I didn't want to fall back on one of the clichés like -Storm-Wh...-Combat-Group-Brutal-Force etc... so I looked on a list of B-movies in the hope to find a name there. I selected a couple of names like "Heritage", "Eraser", ..untill I stumbled on Kill Baby Kill, a B horror movie. We couldn't decide how to name the band, so I made the decission to use the stupidest name on the list. Kill Baby Kill was born :-)

3. Do you know how the CD is selling?
Well as far as I know quite good! At least I heard about people buying it in Sweden, Finland, Australia, USA, even Mexico! Apparantly it's going well.

4. Do you have more merchandising articles? Where can the people get stuff of you?
We're planning to print T-shirts after we recorded the full length CD. This will be very soon, with all new songs. Same style as on the split though. In near future I will start a website to put merch on. And it will also be sold on our concerts offcourse. But that aswell will be in near future.

5. What about the line-up? Do you like to tell the readers something of your members and the history of the band?
Kill Baby, Kill! actually was formed after a jamsession with some friends. We played 3 songs and recorded them on a tapedeck. A few years later a friend convinced me to do something more with those songs, so I asked Dom if he was interested to record those 3 songs plus 2 new ones in the studio. He agreed and I also asked Spandex to join us on the guitars. After the recording of these 5 songs we were so satisfied with the result and decided to start up a new band. KBK was born.
Now the line-up is me, Dieter on bass and vocals, then Dom on drums and Spandex on lead guitar. When we do live gigs Steve plays on second guitar. Unfortunatly, Spandex can't find the time to do live gigs, due to his job. He will keep on doing the recordings. At the moment I'm in contact with a possible guitarplayer, so hopefully things will work out so we can start playing gigs.

6. Belgian bands are standing for quality I think, are there other Newcomers the people should take care of? I think with Les Vilains, Headcase, KBK and Lion's Pride you have got four top European bands in your country!
One other new band are Short Cropped. They also play politically incorrect Oi!, in Combat 84 style. They're a young band, but very promising in future. They're good friends of us too, in fact 2 of their members helped out for the artwork on the split. There will come some more side projects in near future of which I can't say a lot about for now.. But it will be worth the wait :-)

7. After the press terror against Skinheads a half year ago, how is the situation now in Belgium, especially in the surroundings of Brugge?
I unfortunatly lived the terror from very close... The courtcase is still to come. Unbelievable how the media turned a fight of 2 against 2 into a "racist neonazi attack". It's disgusting how the leftwing abused the media in their sick game. Many people who had nothing to do with anything that happened became the victims of this witchhunt. The storm still isn't over, since they try to pin all that goes wrong to skinheads now. They try to ban concerts but untill now they can't. Fucking hell, now they're talking about making new laws so they can ban us! This so called democracy is turning into a communist dictatur more and more. Repression is everywhere!

8. Is it possible for the Live And Loud crew to organize another festival in the next half year?
It is possible. But there will be a new breed of concerts for sure. Not Live And Loud, different organisation, but same concept.

9. Why and wherefore did you thank Jon Bon Jovi on your CD? Maybe he is the real idol for you?
Because Jon Bon Jovi is God! He rocks! Hahahahaha.

10. I think that you, Dieter, are playing in Les Vilains too, Gunther plays in two bands … Where did you get the time for all that? I think that´s even hard to play in one band and produce good music, but if you are into more bands your family, free time activities etc. must suffer for your music, don´t they?
Well Gunther isn't in KBK, he is in Les Vilains aswell.. :-) Yes I play in more bands. But it's very easy. We never practise with KBK. I have this digital studio at home, so I make all the songs, record them with a drumcomputer, put on the guitars, vocals, bass... and then press it on a CD. Then I give that CD to the others, so they can practise the songs at home. When they know them, we go to studio, and record it for real, with real drums and all. It's very easy. I've got enough material now for 2 CD's so there's more to come.
For Les Vilains it's almost the same. Suck comes over and we record the songs...
I also sometimes stand in for other bands on live gigs. I don't need to put much time in it aswell, just learn the songs. I think it would be impossible to be in more bands if you have to practise every week. it get's boring after a while.. .
Music and sports are my free time activities, so I make sure I make enough time for them. and for the wife offcourse; haha!

11. Which European bands do you like most in these days? Please give reasons for your choice!
My real favorite bands are all from the 80ies, and then especially from England, with a few exceptions from Sweden, Germany or Australia to name a few. Brutal Attack is a great band for me, Noie Werte,...

12. Are you interested in Football (violence) or are you not really interested in Brugge (Boys)?
Not really no... Some of the Brugge Boys are friends, but I don't follow football actually.

13. I've read that "De Kastelein” is sold now, does the new owner have the same thoughts about the pub to start concerts regulary etc.?
Yes you should consider it as a new wind through Kastelein. He is a great guy and very motivated to organise many events like concerts, parties, and many more nice things. I think Kastelein is looking to a great future where there will be a lot of fun. Also the old owners don't dissapear, they will still help with the pub!

14. Thank you for that interview and hopefully we can see KBK soon in Germany! Last words or regards by your side?
No problem. And yeah I hope we will be ready for playing gigs soon, so Germany is definatly on the list. Now I'm keeping fingers crossed that this new guitarplayer will do, otherwise the search will have to continue. Nevertheless, One day we'll play, haha.
Greetings to the readers, and maybe C U soon!
Dieter/KBK

Upcoming Photobook

2012-01-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

IMPORTANT MESSAGE !!! Boots and Braces magazine is preparing a special edition! It will be a skinhead photobook, so if you have some awesome photos of you or your band and want to publish it in this photobook, don’t hesitate and send us those pics with short description to following e-mail adress: BootsAndBracesZine@seznam.cz !!!

Out Of Order #5

2011-12-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

Year: 2005
Links: Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire
Contained Interviews: The Young Ones, Dowina, Depresión, Headcase, Dramatic Battle, Tumulto 64, Short Cropped, The Casuals, Skepsa, After The Fire [NL], Vortex, Kuntra

Camden Town #14

2011-12-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

Year: 2001
Links: Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire
Contained Interviews: Frankie Flame, Unit Lost, Suburban Rebels, Crusaders, Alta Tensión, Hammerboiz, Allegiance [JPN]

Strong And Proud #3

2011-12-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

Year: 1997
Links: Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire
Contained Interviews: The Templars, Battle Cry, Condemned 84, Rabauken, The Unruly, The Pride

Pure Impact #18

2011-12-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

Year: 1994
Links: Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire
Contained Interviews: The Herberts, Section 5, The Pride, Another Man's Poison, Garotos Podres

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

We wish you all a merry Christmas full of coziness, fun and listening to Oi! music !!! Here are scanned some older issues of brilliant zines from the past as a gift for you !!! Hope it will not mind to its editors :-))

Bootboys Are Back!

2011-12-18T10:33:00.000-08:00

Date: 18.2.2012
Location: Bikers Club, Český Krumlov
Bands: MUMMY'S DARLINGS, Pilsner Oiquell, Prohibice

Tomík & Feri Brzdej Party, Vole!

2011-12-18T10:31:00.000-08:00

Date: 27.1.2012
Location: Music Bar Křemelka, Strakonice
Bands: ALL BANDITS, S.V.Z., Ani Krok Späť!, Normals?!

Get Your Haircut

2011-12-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

Date: 21.1.2012
Location: Hyrtlhaus, Perchtoldsdorf, Austria
Bands: GLORY BOYS, Mummy's Darlings, Brutti E Ignoranti, Pervy Pissheads

Immoral Discipline In New Jersey

2011-12-18T10:20:00.000-08:00

Date: 14.1.2012
Location: Union City, New Jersey, USA
Bands: IMMORAL DISCIPLINE, First Strike, Combate 49, Klase Dirigente, Deadface

This Is Fucking Oi!

2011-12-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

Date: 7.1.2012
Location: somewhere in Scotland, UK
Bands: PRESSURE 28, Bakers Dozen, Code 1, Skinfull, Breakout, Steel Comb, Adverse Society

Skinheads Won't Get Twiscted

2011-10-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

Date: 10.3.2012
Location: Lower Saxony, Germany
Bands: HAIRCUT, The Wrongdoers, Spy Kids, The Prideful, Brassic, Rampage

Live & Loud

2011-10-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

Date: 3.3.2012
Location: Bruges, Belgium
Bands: CLOSE SHAVE, On File, The Wrongdoers, Brassic, The Firm

Give Back The Oi! ...Vol.2

2011-10-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

Date: 12.11.2011
Location: České Budějovice (Budweis) - near the centre (infoline will be available the day of the concert)
Bands:
Inkorekt 19:00 - 20:00
Gabreta 20:15 - 21:30
All Bandits 21:45 - 23:00
THE GRANITS 23:15 - 00:30
Ani Krok Späť! 00:45 - 02:00

Condemned 84 In Czech Republic

2011-10-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

Date: 22.10.2011
Location: Vyškov - Budvarka
Bands:

Operace Artaban 19:00 - 19:40 (50 minutes)

Mummy's Darlings 19:55 - 20:55 (1 hour)

The Riot 21:10 - 21:55 (45 minutes)

CONDEMNED 84 22:10 - 23:40 (1hour 30 minutes)

Pilsner Oiquell 23:55 - 00:45 (50 minutes)

All Bandits 01: 00 - ...

Bakers Dozen Interview

2011-09-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here is our eighteenth interview in 2011. Big thanks to Jon for his really rigorous work with answering questions !!!

1. Hi Jon, is necessary to begin as usual with introduction. Could you introduce yourself and current band members please? Could you say anything interesting for each separately?

Greetings to you all! I’m Jon Scott, singer with Bakers Dozen. I am in fact the only original member since the band began in 1995. The current members of the band are: JD - guitar, Gordy - bass, Mark - drums.

JD works beside me and I have known for years. He has played in many different bands and many different styles from rock to blues. Gordy also plays in On File and Wasted Nation. He played with us for a bit back in 2008 and returned to help us out this year. Mark has been playing drums with us for a couple of years now and has played in punk and hardcore bands in the past.

2. I know that absolutely first members of the band regarded Bakers Dozen only as a joke and soon departed. Also many other musicians played in the band later. Were you in contact with anyone of them during the years? Could you also tell what any ex-members are doing now? Were/Are someone of them playing in another bands?

I just typed out a similar answer to this on the sleeve notes on the "Divided From the Masses" tenth anniversary edition which is coming out later this year on MFS. When the band first started it was myself and a guy called Ricky (who now plays in Oi Polloi!) the very early Bakers Dozen songs were written by him and he did come out with some cracking, funny stuff (Belgrano, Ripe for Violence etc). He had no intention of Bakers Dozen becoming more than a laugh and thought I was daft for keeping it going. We did our first ever gig in 1997 as a last minute support for Beergut 100 and the path was set. There have been loads of members over the years, many have left and never been seen again ha ha. Gary still plays in bands sometimes, Craig has 3 kids, Bobe Copeland plays in The Threats (as does Rick who played on Wolves), Aldo is far too busy to be in a band and also has 3 kids, Dave disappeared the day before we were meant to record The Wolves Within the Walls, bizarre stuff indeed.

3. How did you get in touch with punk and Oi! music afterwards? What bands accompanied your punk and Oi! beginnings?

I liked metal a lot and discovered punk and Oi! through friends. My cousin used to give me old 7” singles and got me some cracking stuff, Business - Harry May, Blitz - Someone's Gonna Die, Angelic Upstarts etc. I started going to gigs a lot and saw loads of good punk and metal bands, Edinburgh used to be a great place for live music with lots of good venues. The first punk gig I went to was Broken Bones.

4. I know that Bakers Dozen had some same members with band Beergut 100. Could you tell us a little closer to this era? What is the greatest experience the times of Beergut 100 that stayed in your memories? What was the reason for termination of Beergut 100? I listened that it was due to the foiled European tour, right? What happened at that time?

Beergut 100 started in 1994 with 2 skinheads (Cameron Alexander and myself), a punk rocker called Paul and my good mate Chris. The first gig we did was with a bunch of local bands and included in the set was Chaos, A.C.A.B., Banned from the pubs and 6 of our own ones. The next gigs we played were with The Macc Lads, G.B.H., English Dogs and Chelsea. That in my eyes was what Beergut 100 was all about and not anything to do with crusties as some people have told me. The biggest influence I suppose was The Exploited as they are from Edinburgh and we played with them a few times. Aldo and Craig joined the second line up of Beergut 100 and both played in Bakers Dozen as well. The band got fucked up by interference from the guitarist’s wife and trouble in Germany at gigs. 100 riot police with water cannons and nobody in the band able to make a single decision, fuck that.

5. What were the main themes of lyrics of Beergut 100? Could you introduce their CD "Fist Full Of Copper" a bit? What are your favorite song(s) from this band and why? Do you remember the best gig of Beergut 100? How did they come to split EP with Czech punk band Zeměžluč?

As I said Beergut 100 started of a bit more Oi! but ended up a bit more like The Exploited. The lyrics were everything from my views on capital punishment (Death Sentence hang the bastard), informing on your own neighbours (Dirty Grassing Bastard), politicians whom I have never trusted (Government Filth). It was pretty run of the mill stuff and very much in the vein of 80s British punk. The guitarist Paul married a girl from Czech and that’s were the connection came about with Zemezluc, fuck all to do with me. It was all getting a bit like Spinal Tap.

6. Back to your current band. Why did you choose the name "Bakers Dozen"? What meaning does it have for you? Did you feel yourselves as strong as dozen of bakers? :-) Or you only like to eat a products of bakery? :-) Have you thought about other names as well?

It’s a shit name and wish I had picked a better one but there you are. Loads of different variations on where the name came from but Ricky came up with it and he got the name from a group of nutters who served in the Falklands and had the nickname the bakers dozen, that’s about the size of that one.

7. Could you tell us a little closer to the history of Bakers Dozen? When approximatelly did you become the well-known and popular band on the skinhead scene? Was it after the release of your first CD and after the gigs at De Kastelein pub? Have you participated on any non-musical activities as a band? Which era of the band was the hardest and why? I know that you had some hard times because of violence on concerts, right?

We were very lucky and I think that Bakers Dozen appeared at just the right time. In the late 90s there was a big insurgence of skinheads and SKA related folk going to a pub in Edinburgh called the Postillion. A mate Andy Laidlaw from local SKA band Bombskare started putting on Sunday afternoon gigs in the pub and the scene just took off from there. It was packed to the rafters and saw some great bands play there. On File came through and played and hooked me up with the band Retaliator and the guys from Belgium at the De Kastelein. We got a demo out and things started happening. Loads of new Oi! bands started to appear in the UK and abroad, it was a very exciting time for Oi! music.

There has been some brutal trouble at gigs in the past but that goes with the territory. I remember doing one in Belgium in 2005 and it was wall to wall violence all night, the hilarious part was that the gig was entitled “Oi! IS FUN”. The band has had its lows and usually when we are about to do an album or something big and members decide to leave the day before.

8. How would you describe your music? I think there is no other option than to call it hard and aggressive Oi! with brilliant rough "true skinhead" vocals. Do you agree with me? :-) Who writes the music and the lyrics?

You’ve hit the nail on the head mate! That title will do for me ha ha. I write all the music and lyrics, I always have since the early demos.

9. Which bands represented your biggest inspiration and which bands are you listening now? Did you have any musical idols at the beginning to which you have wanted to draw closer? I think you have been influenced by true British Oi! bands like Condemned 84, The 4-Skins and Combat 84, right? You have also On File as "top friend band" on myspace. Do these bands really epitomize the largest inspiration for you? Please name 3 your favorite songs from Condemned 84, The 4-Skins, Combat 84 and On File plus the reason why.

You can’t beat Condemned 84! I never get tired of listening to them or any of the old early 80s Oi! bands. I’m also a big fan of heavy metal and a massive fan of Iron Maiden. On File have been great friends from day one. Last night we played at an On File family member’s birthday party! It was a great night.

My favourite songs of those bands would have to be:

The 4-Skins - Low Life

Condemned 84 - Boots Go Marching In

Combat 84 - Rapist

On File - Used To Be A Bootboy

10. Could you name a 5 biggest rarities in your collection of music which you value most?

Ha ha! I just sold my record collection and made a load of money on them, Got most of them on CD though. I had a lot of the early Oi! compilation albums, The 4-Skins, Cock Sparrer etc.

11. Please write a TOP TEN of songs acording to each individual member of band if it could be possible. If not write only yours.

OK! Here’s a top ten from me (in no particular order), I would ask the other guys but I’m on nightshift and it’s 5am.
1. Cock Sparrer - Take 'Em All
(it’s an absolute anthem, a real singalong)
2. The 4-Skins - Low Life
(a great tune with great power, the chorus is great too)
3. Iron Maiden - Prowler
(first song on first Maiden album and what a song, great opening riff)
4. The Last Resort - Rebels With A Cause
(as relevant today as it was then and a great tune as well)
5. The Stranglers - Grip
(gotta love The Stranglers, offensive as fuck)
6. Condemned 84 - Boots Go Marching In
(again an absolute classic with a great singalong chorus)
7. Cro Mags - Hard Times
(Cro Mags were an ace band and this is their most powerful song)
8. Sex Pistols - Bodies
(great offensive song that shocked everybody)
9. Slaughter And The Dogs - Bootboys
(classic thug anthem and good fun to play live)
10. AC-DC - Night Prowler
(last song on Highway To Hell album and great lyrics from a great singer)

12. Let's talk about "Ripe For Violence" EP. How reviews did you receive for this debut at that time? Is your life continuously full of violence and riots as is obvious from this EP? Are there any pubs and clubs where you are still banned as you sang in "Pick A Victim" song? Did you reappraise the opinions over the years a bit or you are even more radical? :-) Did you ever have any problems due to the glorification of violence on this album?

The EP went down really well when it was first released. The tracks were originally meant to be demos but were so good that the record label released them. The tracks were generalised and not about specific incidents. We didn’t get any bad feedback over the lyrical content on that one. I was a wild fucker when I was younger but like to think I’ve calmed down nowadays.

13. Then followed the full-length album "Divided From The Masses". Were you satisfied with that album at that time? Which early songs are most demanded on the current gigs and which ones do you personally prefer? Do you think skinheads will always be "divided from the masses" or grey mass will absorb us once? What is the correct meaning of the song "Sick Pay"? Is it about man who should have been sick but instead of it is enjoying the friday night? The "Rule 43" serves to separation so-called vulnerable prisoners from others, right? Do you believe this rule will be cancelled once and paedophiles, child-abusers and other scum will get what deserve from the hand of other criminals as it was usual in the past?

Divided From The Masses was a learning process as we were quite new to studios. We are releasing a digitally remastered, tenth anniversary edition of the album this year and just wait until you hear it. Got bonus tracks on it and loads of sleeve notes and old pictures.

The song "Divided From The Masses" was a statement with regards to skinheads being DIVIDED from society. Now in 2011 I would say that it is more relevant to the real Oi! bands who say what they like to and don’t bow down to the PC money men. In Germany they call bands like this GREY ZONE and I think that real Oi! bands have had enough and are saying fuck off to these people who try and dictate rules.

"Sick Pay" was about a guy who is always off work on the sick but is still well enough to go down the pub while his work mates carry him by doing his job. "Rule 43" was written by the old bass player Gary about the Strangeways prison riots in the early 1990s. The story is that some sex offenders segregated by rule 43 were in fact lynched during the rioting.

14. You also tell that each politician works only for himself and doesn't care about people in the song "Born Liar". Is there really noone who is at least somewhat decent and honest? :-) Do you think is possible that people stand up one day and will fight together against the rotten government as you sang in "Action First, Answers Later" or is the nation so divided like the recent events showed? The song "Stay Alert" returns back to the events in Southall, 1981. Do you have any special memories of this event? Did you personally know a "soldier of furtune" called Harry who had everything and lost it then later? :-))

I think that every politician sitting in Westminster and Hollyrood has hidden agendas that they will change to suit their good status. Just look at the dirty tricks they come up with when it’s time for an election. They promise the world and do fuck all when they get in. They have fucked this country over and will continue doing so.

"Action First, Answers Later" was basically a song to say stand up and don’t just take it. Question everything you are told and don’t take anything for granted. "Stay Alert" was about an old friend called Robin Kerr who was in fact involved in the Southall riots. The song try’s to portray it in a funny light but he said it was scary as hell.

"Soldier Of Fortune" was an entirely fictitious story.

15. The next one was the split with Retaliator. There is song "Night Of The Retribution" on that split which talks about an imprisoned innocent man who only wanted to protect the land. Have you noticed a lot of similar cases, not only in Britain? Do you think the judges and justice is still neutral? I admit that I have doubts as to correctly interpret the song "Jack Daimler". Can you please bring the correct meaning? :-) The song "Change The Law" is directed against politically correctness. What is your opinion about the strictly PC skin bands who refuse everything which can be "smelled" a little bit RAC or patriotism? There is also song "What Lies Ahead" which is trying to get people to think about the future in my opinion. Do you think that most of people doesn't care about the future? The song "Raise The Belgrano" is about the sinking of the Argentine ship "General Belgrano" during the Falkland War and looks at it as a catastrophe that should not have happened. What is your opinion on this war event?

"Night Of Retribution" was a song about the farmer Tony Martin who shot and killed an intruder in his home. He was given a big sentence and then released. The case was a complete farce and they should have in fact given the man a medal.

"Jack Daimler" is a fictitious gangster that I wrote the song about. I love 1970s British gangster films like The Long Good Friday and Get Carter. This song was in the same vein as those films.

"Change The Law" was more of the same as "Night Of Retribution" about how you cannot defend yourself from muggers, burglars etc. The recent events in England may soon change a lot of that.

"What Lies Ahead" is basically about thinking if you had chosen another path would things be better or worse, it's one to make up your own mind about.

"Raise The Belgrano" was a daft song written by an old member of the band. I don’t know much about it really and haven’t sung it for years.

16. Let's talk about Retaliator. Why did you choose just Retaliator for this split? Whose idea it was? What are your favorite songs of this band? What album from Retaliator is the best in your opinion? What do you say that they put together again at the beginning of 2011 and have just released a new album? Are you still keeping the friendship with these lads? Could you say any funny story about them? :-)

I’ve been friends with all the members of Retaliator for years. I keep in touch with Pete and Ian quite often and see them at gigs. They had the idea for the split in the autumn of 2000 and asked us to appear on it at the Northfleet Oi! festival. Loads of funny stories about Retaliator and Bakers Dozen! Falling down stairs in to a pile of sick, getting woken up by a vomit covered mop, drinking in a Yorkshire gay bar by mistake and staying in a haunted house are just some of them.

It’s great that they have reformed as they have been greatly missed from the British Oi! scene. The new album sounds like it's going to be good but maybe a bit further away from completion than people may think.

17. Then you gave a moment of time, until another great album "The Storm Of Discontent" came. How reviews did you got this time? Is there noticeable a shift in the music, when you compare this album with "Divided From The Masses"? This album continues lyrically in the same veins as the first one, right? There is song about the "British Oi!". Do you think that Oi! style in Scotland and in Britain generally has more followers now than in the glorious past times? Which woman is dedicated the song "Damaged Goods" to? The song "The Devil Rides Out" warns against a danger that is coming from the eastern deserts. Not to mention who they are, we everyone knows it. :-) How does it look with the count of those beasts in Scotland? Is it still growing? Which people are labeled as "Needle Breed" in the song with the same name?

The Storm Of Discontent took quite a long time to write and I feel it is the best produced album we have achieved. When the album was written in 2003 the British Oi! scene was pretty healthy and lots of gigs happening. It is even better now and is the best it has been since the 80s.

"Damaged Goods" was inspired by a girl I used to work besides. It was more comical than anything else. "The Devil Rides Out" was a song about the turbulent situation in the Middle East. It is also the title of a classic Dennis Wheatley novel and film that I am a huge fan of. "Needle Breed" is about the soft approach to hard drug users and how the government would rather subdue them than attempt to eradicate the problem.

18. It did not take so long and "Sent Down" album appeared. This album was released by Rebellion Records Holland. Why did you change Pure Impact and Blind Beggar for Rebellion? Was there any particular reason or it just sort of eventuated itself? This album contains a songs with interesting themes in songs when we leave out the traditional themes of Bakers Dozen. The song "Always Be A Name Unknown" talks about a man always tells stories but without a real base. Have you already noticed any stories about your band from the mouths of similar people? :-) You don't fear to talk about a social issue in the song "Non Priority" which has a sad lyrics that should catch everyone with empathy in his heart. Did you meet a more those "non priority" people and do you think the state should CARE for them more? The song "Suburban Nightmare" talks about the danger lurking around the corner at night. Do you think that is more dangerous to move at night than during the day in your cities? The song "Hidden Agenda" is about a man who wanted to coerce his opinion to you, right?

Sent Down came out 2 years after Storm. We have always tried to do an album every couple of years. We were approached by Woutar from Rebellion to do the new album as we were friends with him and his band Razorblade. It was a similar set up with both Pure Impact and Blind Beggar.

"Always Be A Name Unknown" was a bit of a light hearted dig at a skinhead we know who still hasn’t realised the song is about him yet ha ha. "Non Priority" was a serious song about the state of the British Housing system. I work with homeless people in my daily job and it is a sad fact that the everyday man or woman in the street who has paid taxes all their life and worked hard gets fuck all! when they find themselves in the situation of homelessness. They are labelled as non priority. "Hidden Agenda" was written after experiences after playing at a UK festival. The television Company Channel 4 were filming a documentary based on the attendees of the festival and approached skinheads in the audience to try and get racist remarks and actions from them. They were dressed as skinheads but we could see right through them from the start.

19. After the 3 years pause came out an excellent EP "Raise Hell" which was released by Step-1 Music Records. Were you be asked from this label to record any songs for the EP or the songs were recorded first and then you were looking label for their release? Why did you called this EP "Raise Hell"? Did you want to express that the situation becomes much more worse and worse like raising hell? Could you introduce all 3 songs and tell what are they about?

Raise Hell actually came out a few months after The Wolves Within The Walls. I have been friends with Tony Saunders from Step One since the days of Beergut 100. They were the left over tracks from Wolves and deserved to be heard.

"Raise Hell" was a song about the state of the country and that people shouldn’t just take it on the chin from the powers that be. Fight back but do it properly.

"Had It Coming" was a song about a character I used to know who got involved in crime and is paying the price for it now.

"Nightmare UK" is about the mass redundancies that have hit the country due to the recent recession. It is based on one characters story who thought he was safe in his job but in reality nobody is safe.

20. Then followed in my opinion your best album "Wolves Within The Walls". The title song is about so-called elite people who live a different life than hard working ordinary people and don't deserve it. But why did you call them just "Wolves Within The Walls"? How many "used to be skinheads" are between those people? :-)) The song "100% British Oi!" is a tribute to this great style. But do you think, are there any bands that betrayed this attitude and play just for money and profit? The song "Your Last Chance" is about punk rock superstars who lost to possibility to play anywhere due to their hauteur, right? Who exactly did you want to introduce in this song? :-)) The song "A Warning To The Curious" is about a man who is addicted on drugs and finally end up on the street. How much is this plague extended among the people there? Is it extended among even skinheads?

The track "Wolves Within The Walls" had a double meaning. It originally was about the management throughout Edinburgh Council and their ability to make decisions without asking the tax payer. The lyrics to the song however was about the people who drop out of the scene for 10 years and come back and dictate how to do things when they were probably involved for 5 minutes in the first place.

"100% British Oi!" is exactly as you commented. There are bands who watch what they say and play safe music which enables them to play 57^th on the bill at the Rebellion Festival and Punk & Disorderly. Then there are bands who say pretty much what they want and get called fence sitters. The title of the song spells out exactly what Bakers Dozen is all about and that is 100% BRITISH Oi!

"Your Last Chance" is about a wanker called Jimmy Pursey! He ripped off lots of good people a few years ago and in my eyes was basically his last chance.

"A Warning To The Curious" is the story of a man who got into heroin and thought he could live a normal life and function on the drug. Surprise surprise! He's dead now.

21. The first song from this album "Ready For A War" talks about a situation when people no longer have enough of everything and "take to the streets on the attack". It foreshadows the events that recently happened in English cities. What is your opinion about these incidents, when streets of big cities were ruled by violence, riots and plunder? Who is really most at fault for this state? The government, immigrants, anarchists, criminal youth or all together? Do you agree with founding the home militia to protect people and property? Touched these events a Scottish cities aswell?

"Ready For War" was a premonition of what happened back in August with the rioting and what ensued with local people taking back the streets and defending their property. They were rioting for no fucking reason and that’s the final word on the matter. The laws of the country need to toughen up and eradicate the PC bullshit that dictates the rules of the country.

Scotland was not affected by this opportunist nonsense as the 2 teenagers who tried to start trouble online were caught and dealt with immediately.

22. So far, your latest release was the split with Skinfull called "Looking For Trouble Vol.2". Whose idea was the releasing of this album? Did it all run under the direction of Mother Fucking Sounds who arranged everything? The first song "The Ghosts Of British Justice" talks about nonsensical laws and corrupt judges. Was it in the history of Britain and Scotland always such or this worse situation is here only lately? Then it follows the song "Looking For Trouble" that is a classic hooligan song. How does it look with anti-hooligans laws? Are they really so rigorous? Which club do you support? Do you also follow the national team of Scotland? The last your song on this split is the song "Madman" that is cover from Section 5. Why did you choose just this song for covering? What other songs from Section 5 do you like? And finally, how do you like songs from Skinfull and which one(s) is/are your favorites?

Jonesy from MFS came up with the idea of releasing a Bakers Dozen split. He asked me if I could think of a band to come on board and I suggested Skinfull as they were good friends of ours. We wrote some new songs and submitted them to Jonesy. He liked the title of one of them "Looking For Trouble" and decided to use it as the title for the series.

"The Ghost Of British Justice" was written about many different cases where the law has failed the victims of crime. You read about it day after day!

The title track "Looking For Trouble" was a song about the good old days before football cost a weeks wages to get into. The lyrics are not meant to glorify football violence but simply a nod to the good old days. Mark the drummer and I support Hearts FC who had a lot of skinhead supporters in the 80s.

"Madman" is my favourite Section 5 song, I wanted to cover it for years. In case you don’t know already it is about the Hungerford Massacre which happened back in 1987. A loan gunman went on the rampage in a small English Town leaving many people dead. In a bizarre coincidence just after recording the song last year a similar event took place in Cumbria when loan gunmen Derek Bird went on a similar rampage with close echoes of Hungerford.

I like all the Skinfull tracks on the split but my favourite is "Love It Or Leave It" from their album. It’s a total fucking anthem.

23. Let's talk about Mother Fucking Sounds. How was a cooperation with this label? What releases from MFS do you like most? Could you also write a short reviews about these bands (about their music, if you like to listen it, your favorite songs, if you are friends, etc.): Overload, Balefire, Bleed, Insane Youth, Tattooed Mother Fuckers + Disturbed Mother Fucker, The London Diehards, Scum, Breakout, Control, Superyob and Booze & Glory ???

MFS are doing a great job and putting a much needed bit of energy back into the British Oi! scene. My favourite release from them is the "Looking For Trouble" series, all 3 of them. My favourite band on them is "The London Diehards".

Here is my thoughts on the bands you mentioned:

Overload: Saw them for the first time recently supporting The 4-Skins and thought they were OK! Not heard their "Godkiller" CD yet.

Balefire: Pete from Retaliator's side project was an interesting release with "The Pub From Hell" being the best track on it.

Bleed: I haven’t heard anything by Bleed.

Insane Youth: I haven’t heard the CD but have seen them live and thought they were good fun.

T.M.F.: Great band and will hopefully have a new CD on the way sometime soon.

Disturbed Mother Fucker: What can I say on this one! The mind of a madman lol.

The London Diehards: The CD on MFS and the tracks on the split are pure class, I CANNOT recommend this band enough.

Scum: We played with Scum and know them all well. The CD on MFS is a great opportunity to get all of their output in one go. Classic British Oi! as it should be done.

Breakout: Great band who if you don’t have their CD "Hitting the Canvas" yet go out and get it. I just filled in on bass for Breakout as their bassist couldn’t make the gig and we had a great time. There are plans for a second album which is so far entitled "Tales Of The Skeletal Ghost".

Control: What a band! The new CD is a rocker from start to finish. Good friends with the guys from Control and Ian the singer has distributed our merchandise with his label Main Stage Merch.

Superyob: They have a sound of their own that no one could ever copy! A brilliant and unique band who keep releasing quality products.

Booze & Glory: I have both of their CDs and think they are OK. Remind me of On File a bit.

24. Do you buy any printed fanzines? If so which ones are best in your opinion? And what do you think about webzines? How many times have you been already interviewed? Gave you an interview also to a non-skinhead or non-punk magazine? :-))

I think that printed fanzines are great and Boots and Braces is a great example of why people still enjoy them. Reading stuff online is fine but you can’t beat having the real thing in a printed format. I have read a few recently the likes of Oi! The Print. We haven’t done a great deal of interviews recently and that’s why it’s so good to do a nice detailed one like this. In the past we have been interviewed by fanzines like Camden Town, Tolschock, Punk and Oi! in the UK to name a few.

To the best of my knowledge we have never done an interview for a non punk or skinhead zine.

25. How many gigs have you already played and with which bands? Do you remember your best and worst gig? Are there any bands with whom you desire to share a podium and haven't been the possibility yet? Do you have any memorable or funny experiences from gigs which you can mention? :-) Do you play a covers on your gigs?

We have been playing gigs since 1997 and have done too many to remember. We have been really lucky from day one by being able to play with some of the best bands around. We did a big festival in 2000 with Condemned 84, Section 5, Retaliator, Resistance 77, Evil Conduct, Skinflicks, On File and Loyalty/Skinful. That was one amazing line up and would certainly be a hard one to beat.

I prefer to play with bands who are active and recording Oi! music for the real fans as opposed to the old bands who are back for the money.

Lots of interesting stories from gigs we have done. Best one was probably the Fuck PC festival in Germany in 2006 and the worst has probably been some small local gig where no fucker showed up.

We always do "Unstoppable Force" by Condemned 84 in the set as well as a few 4-Skins numbers to get the crowd going.

26. I noticed that you played also on the event held by KB-Records in Germany on February 2010. Do you remember this 2 days event and its background a bit? Did you carry any impressions from this gig? How is it to play two consecutive days? You played there with Krawallbrüder, Prolligans, Iron Fist and Riot Company. Which German band(s) had the best performances in your opinion?

That was a great weekend and I cannot thank Pascal and the lads enough for all their hard work in putting the gigs on. It was drunken mayhem from day one and it continued right up until the flight home. The organisers got a lot of shit for putting us on in Germany as we have an undeserved bad reputation out there. The first gig was moved 3 times by the police until they found a suitable venue. The place was packed and the crowd was great. The next night was good as well but we had technical difficulties with the guitar amp and resulted in having to cut the set short.

All the bands that played were great and I can’t recommend them enough. It’s just a shame that the PC brigade basically run German Oi! music. They have a lot to answer for and hopefully one day the German Oi! scene will go back to the real fans and will get rid of the big business men and the crusty punks who dictate who plays where and when.

27. You were so close to play also in Czech Republic on September 2007. The gig was scheduled, you should have played with Operace Artaban, Disdainful and The Riot, but unfortunately it didn't become so. The organizer told me that the reason was a cancelled flight, when an airline cancelled it because the flight was not sold out. Weren't you a little bit disenchanted at that time? Would you agree if someone from Czech Republic invited you again?

I can’t really remember exactly what happened with regards to that gig. We were gutted that it didn’t happen as we really like Disdainful and were looking forward to getting over there. I’ve played in Czech before in the 90s with Beergut 100 and had a great time! We played the Anti Society festival in Trutnov. We would be delighted to come over and play if anybody wants to put us on.

28. Can you describe the current scene in Scotland and in England generally? Is possible to compare these scenes or there are big differences? Are there any good Scottish punk and Oi! bands that you can advice when we leave aside On File? Do you also follow a RAC scene a bit? Are you able to tell a few words about the RAC band British Standard?

The scene in the UK is booming. There are gigs every month with big turnouts at them and are run by the bands for the fans. I can honestly say that the scene is the healthiest it has been in years. We have had some great gigs in Scotland and plan to have some crackers next year starting with a big one in January. Pressure 28, Bakers Dozen, Skinfull, Code 1, Breakout, Steel Comb and Adverse Society all on the same bill! I have noticed that the home grown bands are managing to pull big crowds without needing a big name band to headline. We have strong connections with all the British Oi! bands across the country and things are on the rise for British Oi!.

I’m not in contact with many punk bands in Edinburgh but a great new up and coming Oi! band are Steel Comb. Keep your eyes open for this lot as they are gonna be good. Another good Oi! band is Rotten Apples from Dundee who appeared on the Oi! We Still Say Fuck You CD on MFS.

I know some RAC bands but none from Scotland. British Standard reformed for a little while in the late 90s and released a split with Celtic Warrior. I think there was only one original member in that line up though.

29. Could you write any interesting things about Edinburgh? How do you spend a free time there? Do you have any hobbies apart from the band? Do you have any favourite places or pubs where you meet? Which sport do you like besides football? What places can you advise to visit for tourists besides the majestic castle?

When I am not working I am doing Bakers Dozen. I spend a fair bit of time in the South of England with my girlfriend and her kids. I am a massive horror film fan and a bit of an anorak when it comes to the subject. I visit lots of conventions and film locations, very nerdy ha ha.

Edinburgh is a lovely city and I would recommend it to everybody. Lots of history in the city centre and it is one of the few cities that look the same as it did hundreds of years ago.

Check out the Black Bull pub on Leith Street if you want a good night out. It’s basically where the skinheads and metal fans go for a beer.

30. Are you interested in history? Do you have a favorite characters and stories from the past? Who was the biggest Scottish hero, William Wallace or Robert Bruce? Who is most responsible for the glory and the progress of Scotland in your opinion? In which historical period would you want to live if you would have had a time machine and the possibility to choose?

I am a lot more interested in modern history than ancient history. There are many characters from Scottish history who made a great difference but it is a subject that I have never really followed. If I got my hands on a time machine I would pick key periods from each decade over the last hundred years and spend a day in each.

31. What do you know about the Czech republic? Do you know any czech bands or zines? At least you should know Disdainful. :-)) Have you already tasted Czech beer? :-))

We just played a festival with a great bunch of guys from Czech Republic called The Riot, Good bunch of lads. Disdainful were great and I really hope they reform one day. Our guitarist’s wife is from Czech and I have been over twice in the past. Absolutely great beer over in Czech! I drank cases of the stuff when I was over in 98 and 99. It was cheap as chips back then as well.

32. How are your plans for future? Have you already prepared any new songs? When we can expect your next album and which label will release it?

OK! Your timing is perfect with this question as we are just about to release our new CD. It’s called "Nightmares In Red, White And Blue" and is coming out on MFS at the end of the year. It has 13 tracks (for a change) and the whole theme of the album is the breakdown of British justice and some key cases and solutions. We are all delighted with the finished product and can’t wait to let you all hear it. We also have a tenth anniversary edition of our first album "Divided From The Masses" coming out to coincide with the release of Nightmares. It has been digitally re-mastered and sounding tremendous. It also has a couple of bonus tracks that didn’t make it onto the original release back in 2001. It is also coming out on MFS.

33. Any last comments? Would you like to greet anyone?

Well I would like to thank you and this great zine for this very detailed interview. It is not often that you get such good questions that ask questions we always want to answer. I also want to say a big thanks to all fans of Bakers Dozen in Czech. A big thanks to all REAL British Oi! bands who are playing gigs every month and releasing CDs and records and a big fuck off to the money men and PC wankers who continually try and stop our gigs without knowing anything about us.

Cheers

Jon

A Night Of Punk/Oi!

2011-09-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

Date: 8.10.2011
Location: Valenciennes, France
Bands: VICIOUS RUMOURS, The Agitators, The Misogynes

Bazik Birthday Party

2011-09-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

Date: 1.10.2011
Location: Rychta Na Štěpánce, Mladá Boleslav
Bands: BULBULATORS, 3:2 Pro M.H. + 1 surprise band

Vánoční Mecheche

2011-08-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

Date: 16.12.2011
Location: Tenis Club, Koliště, Brno
Bands: OPERACE ARTABAN, Normals?!, Sex Sense

"This Night You Will Dine In Hell"

2011-08-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

Date: 5.11.2011
Location: Alte Zuckerfabrik, Wegeleben, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Bands: CONDEMNED 84, Vortex, Razorblade, Crossfire, Pilsner Oi!quell

Thug Fest

2011-08-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Date: 10.9.2011
Location: Dagenham - East London, England
Bands: Citizen Keyne, Loyalty, The Patrons, Code 1, Tattooed Mother Fuckers, The Firm, Bakers Dozen + more bands T.B.A.

Boots And Braces #4 - Reprint !!!

2011-08-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Now finally comes a promised reprint of 4th isssue of Boots And Braces !!!
Message for contained bands: Write to Duchin and request your copy here: BootsAndBracesZine@seznam.cz
Message for customers: Buy your copy here: BootsAndBracesZine@seznam.cz, the price is 4€ + shipping.

The Barons & The Incited - Songs From The Mason-Dixon

2011-08-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Specification: The fifteenth release from 4 Subculture Records brings this excellent split of 2 American bands. The Barons play the mix of Streetpunk/Oi! with southern rock and The Incited play energic streetrock. You can buy it here: http://www.4subculture.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1409
Tracklist: THE BARONS - 1. Flash Mob, 2. Dollar Store, 3. Comes Around, Goes Around, 4. Come On, Honey, 5. Kicked Out Of This Bar Before; THE INCITED - 6. Spirit Of '76, 7. The Tradition (Anti-Heros Cover), 8. Hooligan Life, 9. 29 Let's Go, 10. Raise Your Glass, 11. Stand Alone, 12. Armageddon

The Nationhead Interview

2011-08-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

Here is our seventeenth interview in 2011. Big thanks to Bob Panjang who answered the questions !!!

1. Is necessary to begin as usual with introduction. Could you introduce your band, its history and the band members please? Could you say anything interesting for each separately?
Ok, my name is Syaiful, and you can call me Bob as the lead guitar player and vocals. Other members are Hafiskin as second guitar and backup vocals, a bass player Jimmy and finally Lobotron as the drummer. History of The Nationhead started in late 2002 in which time the band was known as RevOilution and no material is be released when the name is in use. Prior to joining us Jimmy and Lobo, the original members were Syahril and Ayol but on the basis of commitments they had left the band in 2005 and 2010. What is interesting about us is that the own handsome .. hahaha just joking, each have advantages and what you should know that we are very committed to the band and the music we play.

2. Why did you choose the name "The Nationhead"? Does it mean that you wanted to become "the head" of whole Malaysian nation and to rule your country? :-) Or it has another meaning? Have you thought about other names as well?
The Nationhead is short of "The Nation Of Skinhead" and not the same as you saying .. hahaha. Another name already in use prior this and we chosen The Nationhead is because the genre we play is music for Skinheads and sometime Punk also..huhuhu.

3. How would you describe your music? I think that it can be labeled as a very melodic mix of Oi! and rock'n'roll. What is your opinion? Who writes the music and the lyrics?
It is true also da mix of speed melody as well. This is what we call the Streets Rock, other than the elements that you mention some heavy sounds that we put in a certain songs. Most of the lyrics and songs produced by me just for a second album (We Don't Want A War) Hafiskin have contributed several songs. Music composition creative I leave it to other members by their position.

4. What bands influenced you most? Did you have any musical idols to which you have wanted to draw closer? Have you been influenced by Malaysian Oi! legends of A.C.A.B. and Roots & Boots as well? If so, what are your favorite songs from these 2 bands and why? Were anybody from you playing in any other band before you formed The Nationhead?
Each member of The Nationhead have their own favorite bands, especially from Europe, too many on the list.. hahaha. Two skinheads band this early in Malaysia around 1990, were admit they are the biggest influence in The Nationhead since schools. "Where Have All The Bootbois Gone?" and "Skinhead 4 Life" by A.C.A.B., "Whatever Happens?" and "Alternative" by Roots & Boots we prefer. Prior to joining T.N.H., Lobo played with the band Skinheads (War) as the drummer. Jimmy also has his own band project, I'm not sure the name of the band. Hafiskin join Me Love You, a band that played alternative music and I joined a few bands as a gitarist sessionist.

5. Please write me a top songs from bands by each individual member of band (if it is possible).
Bob:
Oi! Polloi - Bash The Fash
Cock Sparrer - Because You're Young
Japan Oi! - Good Sexie Girls

Hafiskin:
Anti Flag - Underground Network
Roots & Boots - Up Yours
A.C.A.B. - Skinhead 4 Life

Jimmy:
Green Day - American Idiot
Sum 41 - We All To Blame
A.C.A.B. - Unite & Fight

Lobo:
The Oppressed - Joe Hawkins
The Business - Suburban Rebels
Bob Marey - Get Up Stand Up

6. Let's recall your first demo "Sunway The Place Where We Belong". Were you satisfied with it? How was the sound of this demo? Was it musically similar to your next two albums? Did you use any songs from this demo on your subsequent albums? Could you introduce and characterise the songs from this album please?
Very low-cost recording, we admit it is not satisfied with the sound of that .. what can we do because at the moment we all was study .. hahaha. Only 3 songs, Bootbois .. Hypocrite Kids and The Pride In Our Heart we put in our second album (We Don't Want A War). To be explained it most detail, just what I can tell is that most songs from the first demo to the full album we are, about issues that happened then and now, life as a skinhead, anti war, oppression, solidarity, and the attitude world cronies, hypocritical patriotism, political games…etc.

7. Then followed the album "Bring Back Our Glory Days". Some people characterise it as too soft musically. What is your opinion? How reviews have you got on this album yourselves? Could you introduce and characterise the songs in Malaysian language please? What are your favorite songs from this album and why?
Bring Back Our Glory Days, a second experiment after the demo .. many elements of Oi! Classical and Eastern Oi! in it. Released in July 2007, distributed by Youth Culture Records as our official label. We get positive comments from fans, some fans who say we like A.C.A.B. .. hahaha. My favorite song on this album is Let's Come Back On The Streets and Bersama (Malay song), because two of this songs have a exciting melodic and lyric, the songs become a story telling like a drama, meeting without a farewell, into memory remains performance in the glorious. 5 evidence Malay songs in this album are: Kebanggaan Ku - The story of patriotism, obeyed to the law and Malaysian pride; Hilang - nauseating sense of disappointment in a friend and a growing group of skinheads at that lost due to the influence of indie music phenomenon; The only slow song in this album.Bersama - Common, Bitter sweet together, calling for united again as before, without prejudice; Gadis Skinhead - First hits in this album, the positively comment by all listeners not only on the skinheads, story about a girl with the world of skinheads and loyal friend, praise and support from boyfriends mean .. hahaha just my imagination but the reality of Malaysian Skinheads it is very clear; Realiti Perjalanan - False accusations and defamation of news paper and electronic media makes the skinheads (S.H.A.R.P.) is considered garbage and rude people. Defamation is very badly to us at the moment.

8. There is a song "Not A Gangster" that show your love to Oi! music, your skinhead pride, misunderstanding and hypocrisy of people outside and that the major society considers you are criminals. How does it look with oppressions against skinheads in Malaysia? How are the institutions looking at you? Have you had any troubles with being skinheads?
Good in Malaysia we have no anti skinhead from the government, but the people here who hate the existence of the skinheads, at this we do not change them as street thugs who interfere with their lives. The reality skinheads have their own way of life with work, fun at the gigs, football supporters. There was also a disadvantage, but consequently affected at us so who want to make money using this issue to hit the skinheads.

9. The song "Bring Back Our Glory Days" try to convince misled people who left that the skinhead way of life is the only true way. How many people from your crew left behind this way of life? Have you managed to get some renegades back? Do you think that the count of skinheads will be growing or sinking in the future?
I can not be estimated how many people left this scene, especially from groups Sunway City Skinheads. But the reduction was significant when Saturday arrives, the excitement is not like before, that there are only some of the new skinheads, no sound of noisy scooters .. huhu. By this what is seen in our performances, or every Saturday, the crew saw many skinheads are old or new return flight jacket and wearing a boot as before, a good development for skinhead in Malaysia's for your information but totally no gigs skinhead yet which was organized at this time. See what skinhead culture will increase because of the old and new will also re growing, because the world is rotating constantly. Hope that in the place where you are also similar.

10. Your latest album is called "We Don't Want A War" and is from 2008. This album has a darker sound in my opinion. Were there a plan to play a little bit harder melodies? The central theme of the album is refuse of the war. You wanted to express opposition with any war generally or it is primarily directed against the modern war, using bombarding with significant impact on civilian populations? Can you explain what led you to that attitude? Please tell more about that. Could you introduce and characterise all the songs from this album individually please?
We try to make changes to the entire song in this album, like a rougher vocals, guitar sound is also more heavy. Recording quality and a lack of skilled engineers for this album be bland to us. No matter what kind of war, the purpose of these songs have made. Add sound effects explosions and gunfire at the beginning of the song just sensitize listeners resurrection happened in the countries involved, "We don’t want to fight .. We don’t want a war!" is our motto.

11. I noticed that you started to collaborate with the female singer CT Spungen. Could you tell us more about this collaboration and introduce this woman a bit? When will be your new album out? Will it include female vocals as well? Could you introduce your new songs, especially the song Oh! Palestine?
At the begins we invite CT Spungen to sing the song "Sunway The Place Where We Belong" with a new version to the compilation This Is Youth Culture Vol.1 in 2008. Got an interesting character and stylos in punk fashion, vocals are nice and not hard to appreciate the songs that we provide. CT together we have been recording 4 track promo in the name of "City The Band", but was never published at this time..just for our refrences. For the next album we call it as a special project and CT Spungen will appear as the lead vocal of which 8 new songs will be uploaded .. there is the rhythm of SKA and Oi!.

12. How many gigs have you already played and with which bands? Do you remember your best and worst gig? Are there any bands with whom you desire to share a podium? Do you have any memorable or funny experiences from gigs which you can mention? :-) Do you play a covers on your gigs?
I remember that more than twenty shows we participate. The only "The Nationhead Live & Loud" in Kuala Lumpur. If given the opportunity The Nationhead like to co with Oi! Polloi and Booted Cocks (Japan) in a great show to all the skinheads who there is .. haha just a dream. Sweet memories performing at the Sharp Fest 2005 at Paul Place (P.J.) for the last gig crowd gather so many skinheads from all over the country. A bitter time of our first gig in 2003 because we have no instrument itself to the use of presentations and other band did not want to lend us their guitar ..

13. I noticed that you played on the event "Sons Of Skinhead" in Bangkok, Thailand on the 15th anniversary of Bronze Fist Records. Can you describe this event and its background a bit? What impressions did you carry from this event? Which band(s) had the best performances in your opinion? I try to guess that The Bois from Singapore had the best performance, they make a fantastic music and they even have fans here in the Czech Republic. : -) Why was this event held in Thailand?
In the beginning of plan we was to perform at the gig in Bangkok, but the reason is anxiety in the last minute had to cancel it. So no comments about it, I'm so sorry. I think the individual opinions of The Bois is best because them music is Oi! Singapore from Europe because skinheads more exposed to the culture and music from the outside compared to Malaysia and we have also been on stage together in a gig before, no wonder you say they have a fan in there.

14. Please introduce also these bands: "What A Riot", "Strong Supporter", "Fatally Oi!", "Moda Moody", "Oi!Koholix!" from Malaysia, "Skinlander" from Indonesia, "The Mighty Contras" from Philippines, "The Botox", "Steel Toe Army" and "Foolish The Basards" from Thailand. What kind of music do they play? What are their songs about? Have they already released anything?
All Malaysian bands are you say I knew it does. We have made performance at the gig together, the music they play is like classic Oi! / Hardcore Oi! / Street's music, except Moda Moody because they play music SKA / 60's retro. About the band from Thailand / Philipine / Indonesia, do I was not sure if they released any full album they are, but we worked in a compilation album "Skinhead It's An Asean League" under published by label Bronze Fist Records from Japan, it was released in 2010. All bands in that compilation album showing their nice and cool idea on they own music, lyrics much towards unity, against the law and the spirit of patriotism and the Skinhead culture.

15. Could you write any interesting things about Bandar Sunway? How do you spend a time there? Do you have any favourite clubs or pubs where you meet? I listened that Bandar Sunway is popular place for tourism, right? What places should we visit when we are there? Do you like sports, especially football? Do you support any club?
Yeah! Bandar Sunway is one of the biggest place in Malaysia, I was living there. Every Saturday night skinheads will come to hangout while drinking some beers haha, if you come to Malaysia..I can take you to the boutique Everlast located at Sunway Pyramid or Sunway Lagoon water theme park and we will go to Bukit Bintang where the largest Skinheads gathered in there. Skinheads in Malaysia do not hang out in pubs due to government taxes for a glass of water is too expensive. Of course, I am big fan of football, as well as the national team .. Liverpool is our selection team. The last month of July their Asian tour and also played in Malaysia.

16. What do you know about the Czech republic? Do you know any czech bands or zines?
I always update on Skinheads from the Czech Republic in internet like skinheads website, myspace and facebook. Not so many that I know about the scene of there. What I respect is about they dress are very smart, fierce and a lot of skinheads we can see, often see pictures of them gathered at the gig or event with theme of the street's culture and the nice one they haved a very large cup of beer hahaha .. awesome man. I've heard songs from the band from there on you tube but was not sure what the name of their group, very fast music, classical and the lyrics are full of anger. One day I want to go there with my wife, who is also a Skinhead girl :)

17. Any last comments? Would you like to greet anyone?
Thanks to you for this interview, to our overseas fans .. thank you and look forward to our new songs that will in the market soon. If you want come to Malaysia and meet with the Malaysian Skinheads and here we are very pleased, we also hope to play at gigs with the band from your home country. Search our site Face Book or My Space for any info and questions so keep in touch and cheers to you and all skinheads entire world !!!

Hais & Fiers - Timebomb

2011-08-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

Specification: Just new MiniCDfrom this excellent French Oi!/RAC band. You can buy it here: http://www.adler-versand.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=9630
Tracklist: 1. Premier Ligue, 2. Nostalgie, 3. Reconquete, 4. Nos Peines, Nos Fiertes, 5. Timebomb, 6. L'Appel.

I Don't Like You - Keine Reue

2011-08-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Specification: The first full-length album from this brilliant band from Thuringia is coming !!! You can buy it here: http://www.adler-versand.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=9611
Tracklist: 1. 1234, 2. Keine Reue, 3. Hand In Hand, 4. Feinde Der Freiheit, 5. Ein Salut, 6. Streetfight, 7. 100 Millionen, 8. Nur Musik, 9. Glaubst Du Noch?, 10. Danke, 11. Thüringen, 12. I Don't Like You.

Wir Sind Wieder Da

2011-08-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

Date: 3.9.2011
Location: Skinhouse Menfis, Neustadt A.D. Orla, Germany
Bands: BUNKER 16, Selbststeller, I Don't Like You, Old Glory

Our Dog Is Not PC !!!

2011-08-01T02:53:00.000-07:00

A Gig By Twisc Skins

2011-07-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Date: 8.10.2011
Location: Wegeleben (Alte Zuckerfabrik), Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Bands: BOOZE AND GLORY, Brutti E Ignoranti, Mummy's Darlings, Haircut, Horrorshow

Brassic Interview

2011-07-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Here is our sixteenth interview in 2011. Big thanks to Mongo who answered the questions !!!

1. Hi Mongo, is necessary to begin as usual with introduction. Could you introduce your band, its history and the current band members please? Could you say anything interesting for each separately?
Well we have been active since 2008.We recorded a 4 song demo which gained a lot of attention. With Clyde on guitar we took over a year to record our debut album, “Voice of Freedom”. We played some gigs in Los Angeles and Orange County in California, which is where we grew our main support from. Our current line up is myself on Bass and Vocals, Skinner on drums and David on guitar.

2. Let's talk about your ex-members. Your original singer had to go back to Britain, right? Are you still in contact with him? Are you going to meet him during the European tour? Also your ex-guitarist Clyde was replaced by David last year. Could you tell us the reason why if it is not secret? :--))
That is correct. Our original singer is from England. We do still keep in contact and he is happy to see where the band has gone thus far. I hope to meet up with him in Europe when we’re out there!
Clyde had a lot going on in his personal life. He was ready to leave the band because of his busy schedule. We are thankful that he contributed so much to the band. He still attends our local gigs as well.
David was our friend for many years. So he was our next choice to play guitar and we’re quite happy he joined up. We’ve recorded some songs with him and are very excited to write some more as well upon our return home from Europe.

3. How did you come to contact with music generally and with Oi! style afterwards? What motives led you to play in a band, even skinhead band?
Well, when I was a teenager David, our current guitarist and I would go to punk shows every weekend. This is where we saw some Oi! Bands play. Bands like the Business, Dropkick Murphys, Oxymoron and whatnot would tour regularly. That was our first exposure to the music. Before the internet was around, this was one of the only ways to find out about the scene. I bought compilation records to find out about new bands and had mixed cassette tapes from others with great music on it.
I have been playing music since I was a teenager, and Oi! Is my favorite style. So it only makes sense to play Oi! Music.

4. You decided to name the band Brassic, which means to be without money in British slang, right? Why did you choose the British name? Was main reason that you wanted to get closer to British bands with everything? Were you really be almost without money at that time? And is this situation better now? :--))
Our original singer is the one who named the band. He was quite brassic while he lived in the US hahaha. It was quite a fitting band name and we stuck with it!

5. How would you describe your music? I think it could be labeled as classic British or European Oi! which is not typical for American band. What is your opinion? Do you think every true skinhead band all around the world should have a similar sound? Are there another American Oi! bands with this sound?
I would agree with you about our music sounding like European Oi! That is where we take most of our influences from. America has had some of the best bands in my opinion as well. I think Arresting Officers set the standard for American skinhead music that has not been matched since!
I don’t think all other oi! Bands should have the similar sound. I enjoy a difference in styles. But I do not like the streetpunk crap that comes out of the US more often than not. Shit bands like pressure point and what not sound more punk than anything.
I think Crucial Change, Vanguard, and The Ameriskins have a good sound for American Oi!.

6. Mongo, you are responsible for the most of music and lyrics, right? I noticed you usualy listen to a specific band for some time and then write a Brassic song inspired by this band. Do you still use this principle?
I am responsible for the lyrics. The music is collectively written by the three of us. That is true that we get on certain kicks with bands and end up writing songs that are similar in my opinion. Usually, we write the music first and the lyrics after.

7. It is no secret that your biggest inspiration are legendary European bands like: Brutal Attack, Skullhead, Condemned 84, Combat 84, Arresting Officers, Indecent Exposure, Violent Storm, Battle Zone, Skrewdriver and from younger bands: Perkele, Subway Thugs, Code 1, Les Vilains, Alternate Action, On File, Glory Boys, Short Cropped. Have I omitted a band who should be named by their side? :--)) PLEASE, WRITE 2 OR 3 SONGS FROM EACH NAMED BAND THAT YOU LIKE MOST !!!
Well this is a tough one haha.
Skullhead: Victory Or Valhalla, Wild & Free, Look Ahead
Brutal Attack: We Won’t Run, Under The Hammer, The Return Of St. George
Condemned 84: Under Her Thumb, Here They Come Again, Teenage Slag
Combat 84: Right To Choose, Rapist, Skinhead
Arresting Officers: Evil Has Landed, Working Class Patriot, Stop Red Action
Indecent Exposure: I Won’t Let My Country Die, Rocking The Reds, Save The Nation
Battle Zone: Way Of Death, Young Gifted & White, Victimized
Skrewdriver: Boots & Braces, Back With A Bang, Streetfight
Perkele: My Own Way, The Disease, My Home
Subway Thugs: Subway Thugs, Romantic Street Bullyboy, Frustration
That’s as far as I’ll go. The other bands, I don’t have favorite songs, but favorite albums!

8. Let's talk about your excellent album Voice Of Freedom. How are you satisfied with the result and what reviews have you got? This album should have been firstly released by American Defense Records, then by Oi! Ain't Red Records, but it never happened so. Why did you finally choose Hostile Class Productions as record label and how was the cooperation with them? Could you introduce and characterise other Hostile Class releases please?
I am quite happy with the end production and release of the album. I think it’s great that we’ve gotten so much worldwide attention with it. We were originally going to release it on American Defense Records, but that label is no longer around. Oi! Ain’t Red was our next choice, but we got in contact with Hostile Class records and felt it was only right to release this on an American Label. All CD’s and Records were pressed in the USA, which is rare these days! I think Hostile Class Records is the best label in the US when it comes to skinhead music. They are the only label that brings European bands to the American scene. I think the previous release were fucking great! I also like the future plans of the label as well. We will be on an upcoming Condemned 84 tribute album that Hostile Class will be releasing!

9. Brassic has a straight and direct lyrics like the skinhead band should have. The first song speaks how people are infestated with shallow and decadent culture. Have you noticed any turnover at thinking of people or you meet more and more sheeps with poisoned mind? The third song expresses the pride for being skinheads. I read in other interview with Brassic that true skinhead should be patriotic, working class and stand for his opinion despite all. Do you believe that you can hold this positions and ideals until the death?
I write the lyrics based upon my opinions of what I see in the everyday life. I hate where my country is going in certain aspects. I hate the attitude of mainstream society, so the lyrics are written expressing these views. Being that I live in California, there are a lot of left wingers and liberals. You wouldn’t believe the shit these people say or do sometimes! Being a skinhead where I live is being a way to tell the mainstream you don’t agree with their opinions, and you aren’t ashamed of it. I think it is possible to hold skinhead ideals your whole life. The working class lifestyle and beliefs will always be around.

10. The song Time For Change points out on the red ideas that are spewing media. How exactly was this red danger meant? Do you think that communism is still a major threat or is really dead now and was replaced by anything else? The song Benders is presented like the anti-gay anthem. Is there really so strong lobby of people with this disease in Los Angeles? Have you participated at organized counteractions against their marches and love parades? The last song Voice Of Freedom is directed against politicians who lead us straight to perdition. Do you think that is possible to reverse this status quo with a peaceful political change or there is no other choice than to advance in the spirit of early American traditions? :--))
I wrote Time For Change during the presidential election that Obama was running in. I was so sick of hearing about him everywhere. People were talking about him as if he were Jesus Christ. Since he’s taken office, he’s proved that he’s just another puppet, and offered no real change to our sinking ship of a society, haha. Yes Benders was written as an antigay anthem. Homosexuality is a big disease in California. If you are anti gay, they slander you for being a racist. I just don’t understand how faggots are their own race. The only way to change our country peacefully is to VOTE! I don’t think enough people vote in all elections. This is a big problem. If we don’t vote, then the rich and the politicians who are in their back pockets, will continue to destroy the working class in our nation.

11. I also read that is not easy to be patriotic skinhead in Los Angeles. You have to often face up to gangs of so-called SHARPS with origin of (illegal) immigrants and visage of gangsters, right? How many patriotic skinheads stand against them? Are you in contact with another skinhead or non-skinhead crews with similar attitudes? The songs Fuck L.A. from Lonesoldier and Evil Has Landed from Arresting Officers speak also about gangs of drug dealers, murderes and other criminals. Is this bad and worse situation the reason why you covered these songs? Is it really like when you live under siege? What other problems and oppressions are lurking there?
Haha, that is right. It is not easy to be a Nationalist skinhead in Los Angeles. We get called racists and Nazis all the time. This does not bother us though. I could care less what a drug dealer, or a gangster thinks I am. If they have a problem with us, then I encourage them to come to our gigs instead of spreading rumors online or when we are not around. We covered those songs for a number of reasons. We wanted to sing about those subjects, but I feel those songs already covered everything I have to say. In the US, I think we are backwards. Politicians and liberals are more concerned with the “civil rights” of people who are here illegally, than the rights of true Americans. This is the biggest problem we face in my opinion.

12. You also participated on excellent compilation United Skins For Freedom Of Speech released by Oi! Ain't Red Records. You are represented by two songs, the first is notorious cover of Skrewdriver and the second is your own song Hated & Proud. Can you tell us why you decided to put just these 2 songs on this compilation? Were they recorded specifically for this compilation? How did you get in touch with people who prepared it? What songs and involved bands are best in your opinion?
We had recorded that cover song before the compilation, but we wanted to specifically release it on a compilation record. Then I heard that Oi! Ain’t Red was doing a compilation, so this was perfect. The Hated & Proud recording that on this recording is taken from our live performance in Brazil actually. I really enjoyed that compilation record. I think Kill Baby Kill!, Bandeira De Combate, Les Vilains, English Rose and Short Cropped had the best songs on it.

13. How many gigs have you already played and with what bands? Do you remember your best and worst gig? Are there any bands with whom you desire to share a podium? Do you have any memorable or funny experiences from gigs which you can mention? :-) Do you play more covers on your gigs when we skip mentioned songs: I Don't Like You, Evil Has Landed and Fuck L.A.?
We have played quite a few gigs. We’ve played with Bonecrusher, Oxlbood, Red Alert, Social Task, Riot Gun, Bandeira De Combate, The Wrecking Dead, Youngland, and some other greats. Our worst gig was probably with Oxblood and Red Alert. The gig was shut down in the middle of us playing Skrewdriver’s “I Don’t Like You”. It was one to remember! Haha. So far the best one we played was with Bandeira De Combate in Brazil. They were the best crowd! But we are very much looking forward to playing KUGGNAS this year!! Yes we play some good covers live. We have a wide variety to choose from, so it just depends on what we feel like doing!

14. How do you remember on East Coast Oi! Fest in 2010, where you played with Cockney Rejects, Oxblood, Condemned 84 and many other great bands? Can you describe the background of this event a bit? Which of the bands had the best live performances there? Did you have any problems due to your attitudes and opinions there or nobody cared? Do you have any info about East Coast Oi! Fest 2011?
East Coast Oi! Fest 2010 was cancelled. We were scheduled to play it, but the ARA were spreading rumors about it being a racist festival so the festival was shut down. This is a similar story everywhere else these days! The cowards of the AFA and ARA like to talk shit on the internet, but never want to meet us at gigs without police!
I sure hope there will one day be another East Coast Oi! Fest.

15. A big surprise was your Brazilian tour where you played with legendary Bandeira De Combate. You decided to make this tour, because Endstufe previously was played there and so you have contacted the organizers yourselves, right? Whose idea was it? :--)) What can you tell about Brazilian land, people and gigs there? Can you tell us more about Bandeira De Combate, for what people and musicians are they and what are your favorite songs from them?
Yes, this gig was amazing! Skinner was paying more attention to the Brazilian scene at the time. He was the one that suggested to get in contact with the promoter. I think Brazil has a good scene, and hardest drinkers! Haha. We look forward to playing another gig there soon. I think Bandeira De Combate is very underrated outside of South America. My favorite songs from them are Esteremos No Front, Vida Skinhead and Tenacity.

16. Brassic is going to travel to Sweden to play on Kuggnas Fest at the end of July !!! You will play with such bands like: Bisson & The Vikings, The Wrongdoers, Bakers Dozen, Glory Boys, The Riot (from Czech Republic !!!), etc. How much are you looking forward to this awesome event and what band(s) will have the best show in your opinion? :--)) How many days will you dwell in Sweden and in Europe?
I am really looking forward to seeing all the bands you mentioned play. As well as the London Die Hards, who were recently added. I don’t think Europe knows what they’re instored for, when we hit the stage ;). We’re going to play our hard hitting Oi! And get some laughs from people as well haha. I’ve been known to be a comedian on stage sometimes. I’ll be travelling around Europe for about two weeks!

17. Now comes the sad thing... Brassic should have played in August in the Czech Republic, but unfortunately this does not happen. Barely the concert was scheduled, so internet pests were playing their traditional game full of lies and defamation. They pulled a few things from older interviews out of context, published your photos in T-Shirts of British RAC bands (but your photo with T-shirt of Perkele they forgot to publish), labeled you with all possible -ism stickers and depicted you as pure NS band. As a result of these rumours was the whole concert canceled. How do you look from a distance on this whole affair? Is possible to face to this seditious offensive campaign of so-called "RAC Hunters"?
Sadly, this is typical for the current skinhead scene. A bunch of faggot internet warriors who like to spread rumors, and get gigs shut down is common. I have no shame in the music I like, and the views that I have. I have nothing to hide. I don’t think there should be black and white lines in the scene. The leftists act as if you are not a SHARP or red, then you are a nazi. They are more of a fascist, than the people they are accusing! I still don’t understand what they have to do with the skinhead culture. They usually don’t dress like skinheads. They aren’t working class. They’re usually low lifes. But they will not be around forever, unlike the true skinheads.

18. So, when we have already succumbed to the usual labeling of bands, how would you classify yourselves? There is no doubt that you can be put alongside with other patriotic Oi!/RAC bands, but you are not racist or racialist, right? You are only inspired ALSO (!!!) by some lyrics of RAC bands that point to unresolved problems in our society, right? Would you like anything to say to PC Skins who are with horror scared of all what could be a tiny bit smell by patriotism and RAC? :-)
Well, we still don’t accept any labels other than Nationalist Oi! This is true, we do not sing about racial issues. We keep this out of our music, no matter how much the left wing points the finger at us. If they think our lyrics are about racial issues, then that is what they are thinking already. They are the ones who are thinking these thoughts, not us. We tell it like it is. We don’t sugar coat anything. If it offends the PC cunts, then fuck them!

19. Could you describe the current scene in California generally? Are there any good punk bands in Los Angeles that you can advice? Could you introduce also the strong RAC scene in Orange County? I think that there was some tension between you and OC crews in the past, right? Is it better now? Could you tell a few words about Youngland and Tri City Trashed?
The scene in California is diverse. In Southern California, it’s split. You have the PC scene in Los Angeles, which is dying. And you have the right wing nationalist scene in Orange county and the Inland Empire, which is alive and kicking! We have problems with a lot of people, but we don’t care much. We still play our gigs, and release our music. We’re still here through the years! Youngland and tri City Trashed are good friends of ours. We have played gigs with both bands. In OC, this is acceptable without problems. I think Youngland is playing a gig in Germany very soon. They are great live!

20. What other American bands are your close friends? Please tell us anything interesting about these bands as well: Crucial Change, The Ameriskins, Vanguard, Bonecrusher, Brassknuckle Boys, The Wretched Ones, Lonesoldier, Oxblood (about their music, your experencies, your favorite songs, etc.)
We are good friends with Crucial Change, The Ameriskins and Lonesoldier. The other bands I have met, or talked to before. I think the first Brassknuckle Boys full length was very good. But I don’t care much for their newer recordings. I think they have a new guitarist that isn’t that great. Bonecrusher are great as well, but I have not been satisfied with their latest albums. The return of Oxblood was at East Coast Oi! Fest 2008. This is where they covered Skrewdriver and got the crowd going. That was the best performance I saw of them! It is sad that their guitarist passed away since.It is also a shame that Vanguard called it quits. They had some good music!

21. Could you write any interesting things about Los Angeles as the metropolis? How do you spend a free time there? Do you have any hobbies apart from the band? Do you have any favourite places or pubs where you meet? Which sport do you like? Are you fans of any club? What places can you advise to visit for tourists when we leave Hollywood burn in hell? :--))
I usually don’t hang out in the city of Los Angeles much these days. Mostly the beaches of Orange County, or surrounding areas. I go to gigs almost every weekend. There is a strong scene in Orange County. Occasionally we’ll go to soccer games. Sometimes LA Galaxy, or we’ll go support CHELSEA when they come to town. For people visiting, I suggest they look into what gigs are coming up. There’s nothing like a good gig in OC ;). That, and the beaches!!!

22. Let's talk about "very popular" subject of current times. :-) What do you think about American foreign policy? Do you agree that the U.S. government should meddle with affairs of other countries? What is your opinion on the "democracy" coerced by force? Can we look at the attacks of 11th September as a result of this interferences? What do you think about the American system of alternating two major parties?
Well I think our foreign policy is crap. I don’t think we should be getting into other people’s business as much. We have enough problems to work on at home. But I think it’s the interest of the rich fuckers who have been destroying our country for some time now. I don’t think we can spread democracy to some third world muslim shit hole. But at the same time, I don’t want those fuckers invading our country like Europe. We already have too many illegal immigrants destroying our country and culture. I think the two major parties bickering and fighting are a result of not enough Americans going to the voting poles on election day. People need to pay more attention to what our shit politicians vote on and do more.

23. I read that you (unlike most Americans) understand how situation was/is in Serbia and you express to support to Serbian people. Haven't you had any problems at work due to this opinion yet?
Yes, I was deployed to Kosovo a few years ago. After learning more about the situation I thought it was awful that NATO backed the Albanians. If that were to happen where I lived, I would have done the same as the Serbians. I don’t express my political views at work, so I don’t have many problems.

24. Are you interested in history? Do you have a favorite characters and stories from the past? Who is most responsible for the glory and the progress of California in your opinion? In which historical period would you want to live if you would have had a time machine and the possibility to choose?
Yes, I’m quite interested in history. I think my favorite historical figure is General Patton. I believe he was the last American Hero. He is from the same general area as me in California. He was very anti communist and had some great views about California, as well as the world. Hahaha, as for which time period I would live in, I’d like to live in the 80’s. A lot of things seemed quite better then!

25. Do you buy any printed fanzines? If so which ones do you like most? Could you tell what happened with Brew & Honour zine, because there are no new issues or updates?
I liked Brew & Honour. I’m not sure why Eric Scott doesn’t do it anymore, but it was the best in the US from the modern times. There’s always Skinhead Magazine, and Bombadero as well. But I think today ther’s more blogs than anything. Glory Days of RAC, US of Oi! Sweden, Boots & Braces… etc!

26. What do you know about the Czech republic? Do you know any czech bands? Do you know Czech beer? :-)
I know that Prague is an amazing city! I have some Czech friends. I hope to visit one day, and organize a gig as well. I am looking forward to seeing the Riot play at Kuggnas. They’re my favorite Czech band at the moment! I don’t know any Czech beer though. Maybe you could help me with that! haha

27. How does it look with planned split EP with Code 1 a split CD with Bandeira De Combate? When we can expect these albums? What other plans for future do you have?
Well it is still on the table to do a split with Code 1. When we return home, we’re going to be writing songs. We’ll see how many we can push out soon. Either it will be a follow up album, or a split. Depending on how many new songs we can do. There were also talks of a split 7” with T.M.F.. So keep your eye out for new material late this year! As for gigging, we’d like to make our way to the Czech republic next year. Hopefully this could be arranged!

28. Any last comments? Would you like to greet anyone?
Cheers for the interview! We really appreciate it! We hope that we can play in Prague sometime soon. We hope that as many people around Europe can come see us at KUGGNAS this year! I’d like to send greetings to all my friends in Brazil, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and the Czech Republic! Keep the faith!!

Control - Punk Rock Ruined My Life

2011-06-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

Specification: The next brilliant album from Step-1 Music is second full-length album from melodic streetpunk band Control. You can buy it here: http://www.step1music.com/product_info.php?products_id=336

Tracklist: 1. Thrown To The Wolves, 2. Ian Huntley, 3. He's A Skinhead, 4. Hightime I Hung Up My Boots, 5. Another Mother's Son, 6. Tommy, 7. Chaos In The Community, 8. Troubled Times, 9. Job To Do, 10. Soldier Of Misfortune, 11. Punk Rock Ruined My Life,12. Rebellion In My Blood, 13. Wild Colonnial Boy, 14. Wake Up And Smell The Roses, 15. No More

Booze & Glory - Trouble Free

2011-06-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

Specification: Step-1 Music Production released the second album of English-Polish band Booze & Glory. You can buy it here: http://www.step1music.com/product_info.php?products_id=438&osCsid=362b6c70dd1dbe63c1c6a6744402bf60
Tracklist: 1. Our Passion, 2. Always Left Behind, 3. Trouble Free, 4. Cyber Warrior, 5. Never Returned, 6. Come You Irons!, 7. Payday, 8. Until The End, 9. Hooligan, 10. Weekend In Karlskrona, 11. Plastic Skinheads, 12. My Girl + Bonus Tracks: 13. We’re The Boys, 14. Swingin Fuckin' Hammers, 15. Alex Go!, 16. Online Generation

The Granits - Ehrlich, Hart & Laut

2011-06-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

Specification: Oldschool Records has just released the debut album of the new German band called The Granits. You can buy it here: http://oldschool-records.com/CDs/CDs-German/T-to-Z/The-Granits-Ehrlich-hart-laut::936.html
Tracklist: 1. Intro, 2. Willkommen, 3. Made In Germany, 4. Hoch Die Hörner!, 5. Till The End, 6. Das Statement, 7. Ein Neuer Tag, 8. Unter Die Haut, 9. See The Valkyries, 10. Samstag?!, 11. Social Disease, 12. Herz Aus Stahl, 13. Unser Boden, Unsere Schlacht

Give Back The Oi! ...'Cos it Belongs To Us !!!

2011-05-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Date: 11.6.2011
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Bands: BISSON AND THE VIKINGS, Les Vilains, Orange Blood

The Wrongdoers Interview

2011-05-27T06:07:00.000-07:00

Here is our fifteenth interview in 2011. Big thanks to Santtu who answered the questions !!! And congratulations to Finland that won the Ice Hockey World Championship this year !!!

1. At first could you introduce your band and band members please?
Allright Tom, we are The Wrongdoers, a four piece skinhead rock band hailing Helsinki, Finland.
Line-up is: Renne - vocals, Santtu - guitar, Tomppa - bass and Atte - drums.

2. Can you tell us anything about the history of your band? Why did you choose the name "The Wrongdoers"?
We have been active since 2000/2001 but the line-up was different then. We did one demo and couple of gigs and then called it quits. After some years of silence at the end of the year 2007 we needed to get out of the basic family, work and weekend routines and The Wrongdoers were resurrected. The difference between original line-up to this day is that I play guitar now instead of bass and Tomppa joined the band and took over the bass duties. The name was pretty obvious choice, isn’t every skinhead a wrongdoer in society's eyes?

3. You have recently released the mini CD "Helsinki", which is very successful in my opinion! Could you describe particular songs and what themes are they about?
Thank you very much mate, I’m glad that you like it! Our songs are about every day life and problems especially in our country and in this modern day fucked up society, which is trying to put us down all the time. "Fighting For Your Life” and ”My Home” pretty much describes us and what we are all about.

4. I think that your songs have a very original sound. But I would like to ask what bands influenced you most and which ones do you prefer for listening to?
There is too much bands to mention but we all love 80s Oi! & RAC. I really like many new bands and think it’s fucking great that there's so much good music coming today. I think our music is a mix of the good old stuff with our own twist in it. I don’t like when someone is trying to compare some band to another, it’s good for people who haven’t heard it but in our case we just try to sound ourselves.

5. How many gigs have you already played? With which bands do you usually play? How was your best and worst gig?
I think we have played about 20 gigs. Usually we play with local Oi! bands (not too many to mention in Finland) ’cause Finnish punk scene is so fucked up with this PC attitude, like in many other countries. Few times a year we usually support some bigger names who come to play in Finland. We have played with The Last Resort, Retaliator, The Jinx, Control, Code 1 and Glory Boys. I think our best gig was in Finland with Control and I don’t wanna talk about the worst, all I can say that that there was too much alcohol included hahahah.

6. Can you tell us something about the scene in Finland? Can you also advise any good finish bands? Has anyone from you ever played in other band(s)?
Skinhead scene could be better but a small country like Finland, there’s a fair amount of skinheads here. It’s been good to notice that in our gigs there have been skinheads from left to right, punks are welcome too but I think they are too eager to label us "Nazis" and slagging us of on the internet hahaha. There should be more happening with local bands but good Oi!/Skinhead bands don’t grow on trees in Finland, like I mentioned earlier. Some good bands hmmmm… older bands like Mistreat, Unborn-SF and new ones like The Jacklads, The Prideful, to mention few. We all have a background in other bands. I played many years in punk rock band called Angry Old Man & The Fuck You Youth (you can find it on facebook). Atte and I also played in RAC band called Brutal Skins in the early 1990s. At the moment active bands with members from The Wrongdoers are oldschool hardcore band Last Laugh with Renne on vocals, Tomppa doing vocals in hardcore/metal band Another One Dead and Atte playing drums in Mistreat.

7. How is it to be skinhead in Finland? Is it difficult for you to arrange a skinhead concert when we take on mind how are skinheads and patriots generally perceived by the society and media?
I've been a skinhead from the early 1990s and things have changed from there. There were lot less skinheads back then and everybody hanged together with each other despite their opinions about politics. Today skinheads in Finland are more separated to left and right. We have a clubhouse in Helsinki and some other cities have their own too. Gigs are quite easy to organise, at least Oi! Gigs. They are usually held in restaurants or at the local skinhead clubhouses. Media throws the same shit towards skinheads in Finland, like everywhere. All in all it’s fucking great to be a skinhead in Finland!

8. I've never been in "Country Of Thousands Lakes", but I think it is very beautiful according to various pictures and video documentaries. Can you recommend any interesting places in your city that we should definitely see?
Thanks and hope you get to visit here someday. First of all our winters are freezing (ask the Glory Boys lads about that :D) and summertime is too short but in summer the sun never sets. Suomenlinna is definitely a place to see and especially in summer. It’s a historical maritime fortress and it takes about 15-20 minutes to get there by small ferry. Great place in summer to hangout and drink beer.

9. I know for sure you like a tattoo. Do you remember on your first tattoo?
I think nobody of us don’t remember or don’t want to admit it hahahaha.

10. Finland has always had a good hockey players or racers of Formula 1 and rally. What is your relationship to sports?
My personal favorite is ice-hockey and have been since I was a little kid. Tomppa is more into football, especially Chelsea. With hockey and football I think it’s 50-50 in the band. We all like sports and try to go to every home game when our national football team is playing qualifying games for European championships or world championships. There’s also a gym at Helsinki Skins clubhouse and some of you might now skinhead MMA fighters like Niko Puhakka and Toni Valtonen.

11. So deliberately: What do you know about our country? Do you know also any Czech bands?
I’ve been once in Prague and it was a nice trip although it was only three days. Lot of things to see but the time ran out. You also have good hockey team but ours is better hahaha and we are the champions this year. Beer is really good there and you have interesting history like ours. I know bands like The Riot (they play in Kuggnäs also in summer), Conflict Eighty Eight, Buldok, Vlajka, Disdainful, Operace Artaban and Pilsner Oiquel to name some.

12. We would like to invite you in for the winter concert in the Czech Republic. But we know you will be surely playing in other countries too. So what are your conditions for a concert and what we can expect in return from you?
We will gladly come to play there, if we got a place to stay and you pay our flights, it’s a deal. In excange you can expect loud and proud skinhead rock from Finland and also good drinking company hahaha.

13. A final words belong you. Would you like to greet anybody?
Thank you all for the interest and support, people like you and all the others who are doing zines, are doing a great work for the whole scene. Bollocks goes to the whole PC crew worldwide and so called ”punks”, fuck ’em!

Immoral Discipline - Complete Discipline

2011-05-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

Specification: Complete discography of Immoral Discipline. It contains 26 tracks and over 72 minutes of vintage D.C. Oi! Core, 20 page insert with cover art by Jeff Lamm and label art by Alex Roehner. Band's proceeds to benefit 4 worthwhile charities. Available from Dischord Direct: http://www.dischord.com/release/dsi2/complete-discography-2.
Tracklist: 1. Boots And Braces, Stars And Stripes, 2. Stupid, 3. United We Stand, Divided We Fall, 4. Sudden Change, 5. No Mercy!, 6. New Dawn, 7. The Whole World's A Battlefield, 8. Liar, 9. Redneck Stomp, 10. Coffee Achieves + Previously Unreleased Turmoil Years LP 1989: 11. Your Life Is A Lie, 12. Intro/Big Mouth, 13. Bad Man (Cockney Rejects Cover), 14. Turmoil Years, 15. Stupid, 16. Oi! Oi! Power, 17. The Whole World's A Battlefield, 18. Gotta Get Your Shit Together, 19. Boots And Braces, Stars And Stripes, 20. Fulltime Clown, 21. United We Stand, Divided We Fall, 22. The Unknown Soldier, 23. Crucified For Your Sins (Iron Cross Cover), 24. Sudden Change, 25. No Mercy! + 26. Redneck Stomp (Live '89)

Gume Interview

2011-04-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here is our fourteenth interview in 2011. Big thanks to Ray who answered the questions !!!

1. Is necessary to begin as usual with introduction. Could you introduce your band, its history and the band members please? Could you say anything interesting for each separately?
The project really started in the end of 2008, although the idea had some years. We love Oi! and tough there wasn't many Oi! bands in Portugal, so we decided to work on it.
The band are Ray & Sun Do.

2. Why did you choose the name "Gume"? It means something like "The Edge", right? Does it express that you wanted to live to your lifes on the edge or to move on it? :-) Have you thought about other names as well?
Gume it's the blade's edge of a knife or sword.
We choose the name because we think it represent our sound and spirit.

3. How would you describe your music? I would label it as melodic Oi! with touches of other styles. What is your opinion? Why have you decided to use a saxophone in your music? Who writes the music and the lyrics?
For us just Oi! ...but in our way of doing it. Musically we have a lot of different influences, mainly from French & Italian 80's Oi! ...that's where it comes our taste in saxophone.
The lyrics & music we are both guilty.

4. What bands influenced you most? Did you have any musical idols to which you have wanted to draw closer? Your music reminds me a French Oi! bands like Paris Violence and Komintern Sect. Did I guess it and they are really the largest inspiration for you? Have you been influenced by a Portuguese bands as well? Does anyone of you have experiences with playing in a band from the past?
We have mainly influences from bands such as: Tolbiac's Toads, Snix, Plastic Surgery, L'Infanterie Sauvage, Komintern Sect, Camera Silens, West Side Boys, Cock Sparrer, Nabat, The Templars, Grito Final, Ultima Thule, Siekiera, Joy Division, Crisis...Alternate Action.
No idols !!
About Paris Violence, it is not the first time people tell us about that, don't know if it's because the epic sound like Lisboa or not, but personally we don't think we have much to do musically, maybe some ideas...
Ray have played in some other bands.

5. Let's talk about Paris Violence. What is your opinion about this band and the way how Flav makes a music? Do you know him personally? What are your favorite songs from Paris Violence and why? Are you going to churn out such amount songs in the future as they? :-)
We like Paris Violence and we think it is a very interesting band, But we don't know Flav personally.
Paris Violence has such a big repertoire, it is difficult do choose some tracks, but we personally like "En Attendant L'Apocalypse" Album.
Like we said, with such a big repertoire it will be really difficult to catch them ...but there is work on the way!

6. Please write me a TOP TEN of songs from bands by each individual member of band (if it is possible).
Ray:
01 Snix - Quand Le Soleil Se Lèvera
02 Camera Silens - Pour La Gloire
03 West Side Boys - Au Fil Du Temps
04 Cock Sparrer - Because You're Young
05 Komintern Sect - Plus Fort Que Tout
06 The Templars - Coward
07 Rudy Mills - John Jones
08 Ultima Thule - Vårvindar Friska
09 The Versalites - The Time Has Come
10 Blitz - New Age

Sun Do:
01 Plastic Surgery - Siamo Noi!
02 Plastic Surgery - Anche Domani
03 Tolbiac's Toads - Tapé Dans Le Mille
04 Snix - Coeur De Lion
05 The Templars - Night Of The Seagulls
06 L'Infanterie Sauvage - Les Poings Levés
07 Nabat - Tempi Nuovi
08 Bull The Bufalos - Warrior Law
09 The Specials - Do The Dog
10 Guarda De Ferro - Botas

7. Could you introduce your EP "Lisboa" a bit? It is a brilliant debut in my opinion. Were you satisfied with this album? How reviews have you got on this EP? Why was this EP simultaneously released by 3 different labels with 3 different artworks?
The song Lisboa (Lisbon) is about our city, his history and our pride in it. Rumores (Rumours) is about the skinhead scene. Somos Nós! (We're The Ones!) is our personal view on the working class and his struggle.
We had small but good reviews of the EP, because it was strictly limited edition of 300 in 3 different versions (100 per label) and 2 versions are already sold out!
We like the concept idea of 3 different artworks because the personalization of each release and for the collectible aspect.

8. Could you tell more about the lyrics of your 3 songs? The song "Lisboa" is dedicated to your native city and its glory, right? Do you consider yourselves as patriotic band? What is your opinion on patriotism in the modern world? The song "Rumores" describes a medieval myths and legends or some rumours from present days? Could you bring us nearer to times of ancient Portugal? What are your favorite tales?
As we said above Lisboa is dedicated to our city, his history and our proud in it, and our patriotism is as simply as that. We are proud of our city as our country but we don´t take that to any extreme position. Rumores is not about any medieval myth, is about our scene and the wankers who want to destroy it. Portugal is part of the Iberic peninsula.

9. Do you play also gigs or you are only a studio project? If you will ever play a concert, is there any band with whom would you like to share a stage?
For now we are only a studio project.

10. Can you describe the current scene in Lisbon and in Portugal generally? Could you write more about the band Facção Opposta? Do you keep a friendship with them? Can you advise another good Oi! and punk bands? Please introduce also the next band from Lisbon called "For The Glory" which plays HC. What are their songs about? Have they already released anything?
Portugal have a small scene, more concentrated in Lisbon and Porto.
Facção Opposta is a friend band and we're preparing a split 7" with them.
There are few bands in Portugal but we can advice Blind Alley Dogs (streetpunk), Clockwork Boys (street Rock'n'Roll).
For The Glory is a Hardcore Lisbon based band, they have several releases and are growing in the European scene.

11. What is your opinion about the NADSAT zine and RAC bands like Guarda De Ferro and LusitanOi!?
We listen to some RAC bands, but we are not into it or politics, so we don't have a formed opinion about Nadsat and LusitanOi!, but we respect Guarda De Ferro for their history and for being the first Oi! band in Portugal.

12. Could you write any interesting things about Lisbon? How do you spend a time there? Do you have any favourite clubs or pubs where you meet? Lisbon has a lot of ancient monuments and buildings. Are there any places that we may see when we are there? Do you like sports, especially football? Do you support Benfica or Sporting?
Lisbon its a beautiful place and have a rich history, we can tell you a lot of things about our loved city, but you really have to come here and see it with your own eyes.
We spend our time, most of it working!
Most of our time is spent working, the few spare time we have, we spend it with family and friends, in music, pubs & gigs, football, krav maga and aikido...
We support ...Spoooooooooorting !!!!

13. Middle-Aged Portugal was very rich on brave men, seafarers, discoverers, conquerors, etc. Which people from history do you admire most? Who is most responsible for the glory and the progress of Portugal in your opinion? In which historical period would you want to live if you would have had a time machine and the possibility to choose? What is your opinion about António de Oliveira Salazar, his acts, his opinions and his legacy?
We only admire the common people who built this country with their blood and sweat, and the sailors who conquered the world with his bravery and skills. ...we don't like idols or rulers.
If we had a time machine we would like to travel by every historical period in our city where it lived distinct cultures (such as: Phoenicians, Celtics, Lusitans, Romans, Visigoths, Moors, ) to understand better our roots.
We have the same idea of Salazar as any other dictators, we don't like any kind of totalitarist state.

14. What do you know about the Czech republic? Do you know any czech bands or zines? Do you like czech beer? :-)
Ray have been in Praha and loved, bea Sun Do want's to go...
We know some bands like Orlík, Daniel Landa, Tři Sestry, The Protest, Pilsner Oiquell, Operace Artaban, FistBoi!s, Prague Ska Conspiracy, Green Smatroll...
...and some fanzines like Bulldog, Skinread and Real Enemy.
We have tasted Budějovický Budvar & Pilsner Urquell, it's not bad ...but we prefer Portuguese Sagres Beer. ;-)

15. Plans for future? Do you have prepared a new songs? When we can expect your new album?
We are preparing for recording some new tracks for a 7" split with Facção Opposta on Bigorna Records.

16. Any last comments? Would you like to greet anyone?
Thank you for your interest in the band and for this interview.
All the best for Boots & Braces Skinzine.

The Barons Interview

2011-04-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Here is our thirteenth interview in 2011. Big thanks to Kurt who answered the questions !!!

1. Hi Kurt, is necessary to begin as usual with introduction. Could you introduce your band, its history and the current band members please? Could you say anything interesting for each separately?
Hey Bobek, thanks for taking the time to do this interview! The Barons are a beer-drinking Rock and Roll band from Wilmington, Delaware, USA. We got together in the Spring of 2005 and set out to play some music people could party to. Almost six years and over 50 shows later, we're still doing songs to help bartenders sell drinks and people have a good time in pubs all over the mid-Atlantic. We've also released some recordings during that time and we just finished six new songs that we'll release soon. Our current line-up includes Wes on guitar, Rog on guitar, Bill on vocals, Phil on drums and me on the bass. Something interesting about each member... This is the only band Wes has ever played in. Rog was a Sargeant Airman in the US Airforce, Bill is a local karaoke superstar, Phil is half our age and yes, Beers really is my surname.

2. I know that you have had a lot of changes in line-up. What caused such a fluctuations? Do you think that is hard to find a fixed line-up for the current American band? Do you have an awareness of what former members are doing now?
The Barons have had 13 different members all together. Wes and I are the only original members now and Rog has been with us for all but a few of the early months. A lot of musicians in our city play in more than one band, so we've borrowed players from other bands and had some of our members leave to join other bands for different reasons, but we're all still friends. Sometimes it's just because people move away or their lousy car won't make it to practice or whatever. The Barons are almost like a franchise. I think every musician in Wilmington will eventually end up in this band at some point.

3. When you remember at musical beginnings. How did you get to contact with music generally and with punk + Oi! styles afterwards? What ever brought you to playing in a band?
Mad Magazine did a parody of the Sex Pistols when I was 10 years old. That's how I found out about punk. I come from a family of musicians, but since that time, I've never felt right playing any other type of music. I picked up the bass when I was 13 because my father told me I could "always get a job on bass" because no one plays it. As it turns out, that was the only bad advice my father has ever given me; I've never made a nickle playing punk music.

4. I think you were starting your career in a few local punk bands, right? Can you tell more about this era? What most stuck in your memory of those early years? Have other members an experiences from other bands such as you?
I've played in a few different bands, but none that ever really got noticed outside of Delaware. Back in the 80s and 90s, the music scene here was strong, so it was good enough just to be a local band then. There have always been good bands here and clubs/bars/pubs willing to let us play. Also, we're very close to Philadelphia, so we've always been a part of their scene as well. The punk shows around here in those days were huge. Some of the bigger clubs (like City Gardens in Trenton, New Jersey and The Trocadero in Philadelphia) would have hardcore shows that would draw big crowds of people going apeshit. There was also a good network of people doing smaller shows. There are only a small handful of punk bands now that can draw big for a large venue. There might have been 100 punk bands in America at that time who could draw a good crowd for a big club like that back in the 80s and 90s, but today only a few bands like Dropkick Murphys or Social Distortion can pull it off. Original punk and Oi! is something you see in a pub now, with maybe 75 people on the dancefloor. That's OK, too, though, because 75 people and a few hundred pints of beer still makes for a good time.

5. I think The Barons rose from ashes of the band called "Road To Ruin". Could you introduce this band a bit and tell more about content of their songs? Is it true that the central theme of the lyrics of this band was fun and beer drinking?
Our original singer, Dusty and long-time drummer, Ed were members of Road To Ruin. They were a beer-drinking hooligan band also from Wilmington, Delaware. They were together for a couple of years, did a bunch of great shows around the East Coast and had some tracks on a record called "Choas Days", which was a compilation of four bands released by French label Narayan Records in 2002. Some of the spirit of that band transferred to The Barons naturally because of the former members, but also because Dusty wrote a lot of The Barons' early lyrics. I had played in a punk band in the 80s called The Stiffs (DE) that were pretty popular at the time here in Wilmington and I think the spirit of that band also resurfaced a bit with The Barons because I wrote a lot of '77 style punk songs for The Stiffs and I think that influence is still there for me. I love the old punk rock style. It's what I feel most comfortable writing. Dusty has always been better at writing Oi! and street punk, so I think our songs mix both of those styles together nicely.

6. Why did you choose the name "The Barons"? Has anyone of you a noble "blue" blood or you would like to get a peerage once? :-) Have you ever thought about the appearance in the aristocratic costumes? Do you know a German band "Foidal" did it? :-) Came to your mind also other names, for example "The Beerons"? :-)
Hahaha. Yes, I'm familiar with Foidal. Have you heard of "The Upper Crust" from Boston? I think they have already properly mocked the blue bloods with their costumes and stage shows here on the East Coast. They wrote three or four decent rock and roll albums using the philosophy behind AC/DC's "Big Balls". Our name is ironic. We're a working-class rock and roll band through and through. There's no blue blood where we come from.

7. How would you describe your music? I think it could be labeled as "typical American street rock'n'roll with Oi! influence". What is your opinion? Would you want to achieve an unique sound like The Templars for example or you would rather go in the veins of other bands? :-)
We try to infuse some Southern rock into our style, which isn't often done with punk or Oi! bands here. Hopefully, that makes our song writing a little more interesting. I think that when we play live, we can appeal to people who like Oi!, punk, street rock, Southern rock, metal, whatever. We write songs about drinking beer and we play in places where people drink beer, so we're just trying to help the bartenders make some tips. We are decidedly a very American sounding band for obvious reasons. We love real British Oi!, but that music is probably more of a lyrical, rather than musical influence. I would say a band like The Templars has a very British Mod/The Who influence, and we're definately more influenced by New York punk and Southern rock/ZZ Top.

8. Which bands represented your biggest inspiration and which bands are you listening now? Did you have any musical idols to which you have wanted to draw closer? I have no doubt that you were (and still are) influenced by some rock legends. But which bands do you like to listen if we focus on the Oi! and skinhead rock?
As a bassist, I'd have to say that Lemmy and Geezer Butler are my biggest influences. As for skinhead music, I like to stay current, so more recently I've been listening to the new albums by Gatans Lag, Runnin' Riot, Kalevalan Viikingit, Hammer And The Nails and The Concrete Gods.

9. Please write a TOP TEN of songs acording to each individual member of band if it could be possible.
Kurt:
Motörhead - Ace Of Spades
The Stooges - Search And Destroy
The Dictators - Two Tub Man
Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United
Cockney Rejects - Oi! Oi! Oi!
The Clash - White Riot
The Sex Pistols - Problem
Black Sabbath - War Pigs
ZZ Top - Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers
The Heartbreakers - Born To Lose

Wes:
Alice Cooper - Under My Wheels
New York Dolls - Personality Crisis
Sex Pistols - Problems
The Hookers - Let's Get High
Eph Tradition - Go Griff
Motörhead - Bomber
The Wretched Ones - Overtime
Dead Boys - Ain't Nothin' To Do
The Cramps - Garbage Man
The Stooges - Loose

Phil:
AC/DC - Back In Black
Black Flag - Depression
Disfear - An Arrogant Breed
Motörhead - Ace Of Spades
Napalm Death - Suffer The Children
Ramones - Commando
Slayer - Angel Of Death
Tankard - Need Money For Beer
The Wretched Ones - Working Man
Zeke - Evil Dead

Bill:
The Clash - Complete Control
Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Blank Generation
Circle Jerks - Wild In The Streets
Cock Sparrer - Take Them All
The Misfits - Bullet
Bad Brains - I Against I
The Crass - Bill A, Little A
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles - I'd Rather Be Sleeping
Fugazi - Waiting Room
Downcast - Hate Comes Easy

Rog:
Johnny Thunders - Get Off The Phone
The Clash - Guns Of Brixton
Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout
MC5 - American Ruse
The Stooges - Down On the Street
Angelic Upstarts - 2 Million Voices
SuperYob - Ghetto Blaster
The Oppressed - Same Old Story
Templars - Just Another Rebel
Bad Brains - You're A Migraine

10. Let's talk about your 10" MiniLP "A Party On 45", which contains 2 new songs and 4 previously released demo songs. Could you introduce those 4 demo songs please and tell what topics are they about?
The songs on the "A" side were recorded in 2008, so they're no longer new. Both tracks ended up on the "American Beer Drinking Songs" 14 song CD that was released by Motherbox Records from New York, also in 2008. The demo tracks on the "B" side were recorded in 2006. They were our first recordings and they were released on a Neck Records CD in an edition of 500. The "Party On 45" EP was released by Dim Records. The "A" side is 45 RPM and the "B" side is 33 1/3 RPM. If you play the first song, "Booze, Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll" on 33 1/3, it will morph from an Oi! song into a slow, stoner rock song. It's kind of like getting an extra version on the record. Try it, it's kind of weird.

11. I guess it was originally planned only EP with two songs and the decision to join the 4 songs from your demo was made up later, right? Why was not released only EP with 2 songs? Whose idea was the format with 10"? Why did you chose the "Dim Records" to release it? Was it due to the fact that this label has already released a lot of American bands and has a very good reputation in America? And how was the cooperation with Dim Records?
Honestly, those are the only songs we had recorded at the time and Dim wanted to put them on vinyl, so that's how they ended up. Around the same time, I licensed another record by our friends The Incited with tracks that had appeared on other Neck Records releases. Dim was releasing music by a lot of American bands at that time and had a good reputation with some of our friends who had done records with them previously. It made good sense to work with them and get our music out in Europe, where people still like real American Rock and Roll.

12. Now is the time to touch up your excellent CD ”American Beer Drinking Songs“ which contains 14 songs. Were you satisfied with this CD? How reviews have you got on it? Were you really "beer drinking" when you wrote and recorded those songs? :-) What are your favorite songs from this CD and why?
I think we did a pretty good job capturing the energy of our live performance on that CD, which is what we were trying to accomplish in the studio. I like the raw recording because I think it represents us well. Sure, we drank a hell of a lot of beer while we were working on the project, but that's pretty much why we started this band in the first place. That album was a lot of fun to do because it was engineered by our good friend Michael Lovett out in his garage in the woods. We didn't have to worry about how much it was costing us, so we took about eight months to finish it, doing one or two recording sessions a month. The album got pretty good reviews and I think a few of our best songs like "Social Disease" and "Mercury Rising" are included on the disc.

13. This CD was released by "Neck Records", which is your own label. Could you introduce this label a bit? Are you running this label only yourself or together with friends? What is it like to run the label in present? Do you think it was better to run it in the past or worse? Could you name all releases of Neck Records including upcoming?
The "American Beer Drinking Songs" CD was originally released only as a promo CD-R on Neck Records, because we wanted to find a bigger, better distributed label to handle it for us. We worked out a deal with New York punk label Motherbox Records to do the official release here in the States, but it has never been released in Europe. I started Neck Records for the purpose of releasing my own music from my various bands, but also to support and foster cooperation in the Delaware punk scene. Delaware has only a small handful of bands at any given time, so I quickly expanded to include bands from New Jersey (our neighbor to the East) and the whole East Coast. I never really had any intention of making money from Neck Records, I just wanted an imprint that would represent the music my friends and I were making and make it a little easier for us to get the music heard. It's always easier to accomplish that when you work with a group of bands, artists, recording engineers, etc. It's very difficult for a band to get noticed on their own and I think we've been pretty successful with licensing our music to larger labels and getting it distributed. That's the real purpose of Neck Records, to support real East Coast Oi! and punk by doing it ourselves. We've got a bunch of great bands on our roster like Broken Heroes, The Loose Skrews, The Incited, Maddog Surrender, The Hated, The Keefs, Odd Squad, The Postals, Stiff Middle Finger, as well as The Barons and others. Most of these bands released demos through us or had tracks on our "Oi! Don't Pay The Bills!" compilations. In April of 2011, we'll release a full length, split CD from The Barons and The Incited called "Songs Of The Mason-Dixon", which is 5 new songs by The Barons and 7 new songs by The Incited.

14. I am fascinated with the artwork of covers on both your releases and Oi! Don't Pay The Bills Vol.2 compilation. Why did you decide to use a cartoon motives? Do you have a special drawer for it? Would you express the emphasis on things like: partytime, concerts, gathering with friends for good food and drink and entertainment of endless night?
Our second singer, Chris, drew the art for "Party On 45" and "American Beer Drinking Songs". Actually, he painted the artwork. The "American Beer Drinking Songs" cover art is a photograph of a painting on a big canvas that Chris designed. He painted the cover art for the Alleged Bricks split as well and "Oi! Don't Pay The Bills!" Volume 1 and the patriotic cover art for The Incited "Take Hold" LP from Dim Records. "Oi! Don't pay The Bills!" Volume 2 artwork was drawn by Delaware skater Bobby Brown, who does skateboard design and has a comic book called "Rats". Bobby is drawing the artwork for our upcoming split between The Barons and The Incited. I'm a huge fan of comedy like Mad Magazine and Viz (England), and these guys did a great job on all this artwork. As for The Barons artwork, I think it shows that we have a sense of humour. Most of our lyrics as well are pretty tongue-in-cheek.

15. Let's talk about your songs individually. There is a song called "Mercury Rising" which describes the misgivings and fear when you and your family are left alone to face up to attacks of thugs on the streets, right? Is it still as bad regards the threat from gangs and criminals at the moment which are able to kill you for a bit of money? Or it depends WHERE exactly you are moving?
We used to introduce this song as a "song about our hometown" when we would play out-of-state. I read a statistic once that more homicides occur at 92 degrees fahrenheit than at any other temperature and when Wilmington gets hot in the summer, that's exactly what happens: people start shooting each other. We used to rehearse in Dusty's house in the city near a corner liquor store that attracted a lot of drunks and crackheads. In neighborhoods like that, it's best to just not look people in the eye at all. If you ignore them, they'll usually go away.

16. You pay a tribute to "Booze, Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll" in the song with the same name. What is your opinion about drugs generally and how is America ruled by this plague? Are you distinguishing between so-called soft and hard drugs? Do you think drugs and rock'n'roll should go together?
We are really talking about marijuana in that song. Heroin will kill you. We don't want people to kill themselves, we just want people to have a good time, maybe smoke a doobie and drink a few pints while watching the game or grilling some cheeseburgers. America has a huge drug problem. The whole world has a huge drug problem. Do drugs and rock and roll go together? Well, I guess that would depend upon whether you're Ian Dury and the Blockheads or Minor Threat. One thing's for sure, though: rock and roll was made to be enjoyed with beer.

17. You speak about people like a numbers and zombies in the song "Screws 2 You". This song describes a way of life, when human works all the week as the machine and has no time for any hobbies or even for his family, right? What is your opinion of the world which is mainly adjusted only on the gold rush and "the spirit for profit"?
We have a few songs with a working-class theme. This one is about feeling like a "mindless zombie" and "playing slave to the man". It's a pissed-off rant about the bastards grinding us down. We have songs that also celebrate the pride of being working-class, or at least try to put a positive spin on the blue collar life (the song "Raw Deal"). We don't aspire to be rich, we just want to get our bills paid and spend a some good times with our families and friends. The Barons could be a bowling team someday, but for now, we're a rock and roll band.

18. How many gigs have you already played and with which bands? Do you remember your best and worst gig? Are there any bands with whom you desire to share a podium? Do you have any memorable or funny experiences from gigs which you can mention? :-) Do you play a covers on your gigs?
We started playing live gigs in the Summer of 2005. Our first gig was with our friends Prone To Violence in Dover, Delaware and we've played over 50 times since then around the East Coast. We've played quite a few shows with Broken Heroes, The Wretched Ones and Maddog Surrender and those gigs are always a good time. We've played with a lot of different kinds of bands; skate punk like Agent Orange and British Oi! like Condemned 84, British punk like Resistance 77, rockabilly bands like the Tombstone Brawlers, even a few metal bands. Beer drinking rock and roll seems to fit in well with a lot of different kinds of bands and crowds. We've had mostly great shows and fortunately only a few lousy ones. I think the worst show we ever played was at one of those roller derby events as the half-time entertainment. We should have known that no one would care about a bunch of ugly old punks like us when there were gorgeous women beating on each other on the flat track. The best show we've played so far was at a little flophouse bar in a dead steeltown in the middle of the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania with our friends Maddog Surrender. We got treated like dive bar rock stars that night, and for that, we thank you Catasaqua, Pennsylvania.

19. I saw that you played on event "Oi! Comes To Delaware" with Stormwatch and Condemned 84 in 2010. Can you describe this event and its background a bit? What impressions did you carry from this event? Could you describe the performance of Condemned 84 there and how made they an affect on you? Which songs of Condemned 84 do you like most?
Our friends Stormwatch put that show together. They have played with Condemned 84 quite a few times in the past, so when Condemned 84 made arrangements to come over for a small tour, they booked it at my neighborhood bar in Wilmington. The Hated from Delaware also played that show. It was a great time. It's always nice to have British bands come over to visit and we have had a handful of great ones come and play here in Delaware. When Road To Ruin were playing, they booked Superyob here and bassist Dave Hayman came back several years later to play with Resistance 77 on a local ticket with The Barons. I booked a show here with The Glory as well. Nice blokes, all. It was a pleasure sharing the stage with them. Condemned 84 played a great set at that show and Sab from Stormwatch had the crowd going nuts as usual. The Barons recently recorded "Never Surrender" by Condemned 84 for a tribute compilation due out sometime this Summer/Fall 2011. We've played that song out live a couple of times recently as well, to make sure we paid it proper respect. Stormwatch and The Incited will also have covers on the tribute.

20. Could you tell anything about the most well-known bands from Delaware "Combat Ready" and "Stormwatch"? Do you have a favorite songs from these 2 bands?
Stormwatch are friends of ours and their drummer Cromp played in The Barons for about a year and a half. They are doing a bunch of re-recordings of older songs in the studio now and I'm sure they'll also record some new ones. I would say "Bottles Flying" and "Bring The Violence" are the best songs they play live. The place is always going fucking nuts by then. Combat Ready was a couple guys from Delaware and a couple guys from Philadelphia. They didn't play live shows, but the album they released (Hates You) was great, especially the track "They Were Betrayed". Stormwatch will also have a cover on the Condemned 84 tribute album, so there should be plenty of new stuff for their fans to listen to this Summer.

21. I noticed that lads from "The Incited" are your closest friends, right? Could you introduce this band and tell more about the songs of their album "The Anthem Of The Incited"?
The Incited are definately one of the Delaware bands we like to play with. They put on a great show with a lot of energy and they have a crowd of friends who support them. They are also a patriotic American Oi! band who lives the life they sing about. They are soldiers who have proudly served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. I've done some co-producing for them, licensing their vinyl album "Anthem Of The Incited" to Dim Records in Germany and working with them on the new split CD project and I'm proud to support them.

22. Can you describe the current scene in USA generally? Can you advise a good new Oi! and punk bands? With which bands do you keep a biggest friendship beside The Incited? Please introduce also the "Alleged Bricks" from DC and "The Boozers" from Florida. What are their songs about? Have they already released anything?
The current US Oi! scene seems to be dominated mostly by older bands who have either been around for awhile or have re-formed to do reunion and one-off shows. I don't know what it's like in the bigger scenes like Boston and New York, but most skinheads around here are over 30 (or pushing 40). Even big scenes like Atlanta have died down, but there are still a lot of good bands around that are doing good shows in bars. A few newer bands that I like are Hammer And The Nails from Boston, The Fighting 405 from New York and Doghouse Swine from New Jersey (that's BT from The Wretched Ones' new band). We like to play with Delaware bands like The Keefs and Odd Squad. These are punk bands who had tracks on the "Oi! Don't Pay The Bills!" compilations that I produced on Neck Records. Alleged Bricks was a hardcore/Oi! band from Washington, DC who we played with quite a bit in 2005-2006 and did a split CD with on Neck Records. They have since broken up. The Boozers are a great beer drinking punk/Oi! band from Tampa, Florida. Our original singer Dusty sings for them. They have released a 5 song demo and 3 tracks on "Oi! Don't Pay The Bills!" Volume 2 from Neck Records. Alleged Bricks also did a full length album on now-defunct Street Anthem Records in 2005.

23. Could you write any interesting things about Wilmington and Delaware state? How do you spend a free time there? Do you have any hobbies apart from the band? Do you have any favourite places or pubs where you meet? Which sport do you like? Are you fans of any club? Do you have any sightseeings, buildings or natural monuments that you can advise to visit for tourists?
Delaware has some nice beaches, that's why people come here. We also have NASCAR racing if you like to watch cars drive around in circles at 170 mph. You could go to the "Punkin Chunkin Festival", which is a huge event where amateur and professional engineers launch pumpkins for hundreds of feet into the cornfields on home-made catapaults and various launchers. We also have a huge "Scrapple Festival", which is an event in honour of a meat that we make here from all the leftover parts of a pig. If you're not from Delaware, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but we're friendly people, so come anyway.

24. Let's talk about politics a bit. What do you think about American foreign policy? Do you agree that the U.S. government should meddle with affairs of other countries? What is your opinion on the "democracy" coerced by force? Libya is the vivid example of present days. How would you proceed in this case, if you would have had the opportunity to intervene somehow?
The Barons do songs about beer and women, so we're probably not the best band to ask a political question. I will say that we support our troops wherever they go. Americans are very proud of our soldiers. Our military does a lot of good in the world. Right now, American soldiers are helping to rebuild Japan. Do our politicians make a lot of mistakes? Yes. All politicians do, and I sure as hell won't apologize for any of them.

25. Are you interested in history? Do you have a favorite characters and stories from the past? Who is most responsible for the glory and the progress of Delaware state in your opinion? In which historical period would you want to live if you would have had a time machine and the possibility to choose?
My favorite Americans were the Founding Fathers. These were the men who had the courage to stand up to the greatest empire in the world (England) and win freedom and liberty for American Colonists. People like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Delawarean Ceasar Rodney are my heroes. I wish we had this type of leadership today. If I was to go back in time, I'd want to go back to the 1980s when music was good!

26. What do you know about the Czech republic? Do you know any czech bands or zines? Do you know Czech beer? :-)
I know that the Czech Republic has beautiful women and delicious beer! What else do I need to know? I am a huge fan of Pilsner style beer. I know that the finest hops in the world are grown in the Czech Republic, but it's hard to find any Czech beers around here besides Urquell and Czechvar. It's also hard to find Czech women around here, so please send some. I licensed the Maddog Surrender "Bethlehem Steel" CD through Czech label 4Subculture Records, so I have heard of The Riot and I know the good work Michal is doing with his label and fanzine/blog. I'd have to say that The Riot is my favorite Czech band, they have some great musical ideas. Some of the other Czech bands I've heard have a great sound, but are maybe a little more political than I like, but there are some good ones!

27. Plans for future? Do you have prepared a new songs? When we can expect your new album? Will it be released by Neck Records as well?
Aside from the new music we'll be releasing in April, we're looking to put a few shows on our schedule, have some fun playing gigs, drink some beer and put together some new songs as usual. All in a day's work for The Barons!

28. Any last comments? Would you like to greet anyone?
Thanks to anyone who read this far! CHEERS

Les Vilains Interview

2011-03-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

Here is our twelfth interview in 2011. Big thanks to Suck who answered the questions !!!

1. At first, please introduce yourself and your band.
I come from Brussels and speak French. I came to Bruges in 1997. There was no French speaking Oi! band in Belgium since Fight Action (Brussels) & Justice (Liège) (1986-1988).
Our first single “Belgique Hooligans” (mini-CD + single) came out in 1998. The first official line up was: Tichke (guitar), Gabber-Tim (bass), Schimmel (drums) & I (Suck) on vocals. With this line up we made “Vengeance” (mini-CD 1999), what later came out on a mini-LP (“Trou Du Cul”) with 5 bonus live songs. The single “Skinhead Girl Warrior” and the live CD “Hollidays In Donk” came out in 2000. Olivier replaced Gabber-Tim at the bass, and after that, Dieter & Kris in 2000 played guitar in the place of Tichke.
In 2003 we made our first album "Les Derniers Rebelles".But, a few weeks before we went to the studio I smashed Schimmel. Because of that, Nysie replaced him at the drums. Later Dominator played the drums.
In 2005 we made 2 songs for a split single with our german friends from Kampfzone. A few weeks before the new single came out, Olivier died. Not long after that, Kris left the band. We never really looked for a new bass player. For the gigs we get support from different friends (Steve - The Pride, Gunther - Lion's Pride, Hans - Get Out, Boni - The Veros & Snix). At the drums Sven replaced Dominator and Eef came and played the second guitar with Dieter.
We didn’t do a lot of gigs the last years, because Dieter also formed a new band. In this band he wrote the songs, sung and played the bass: Kill Baby Kill! Sven also played with him in this band. Teun from Short Cropped started playing the bass.
In 2008 an album compilation came out, with all our singles and contributions to different compilations and tributes: “Pour Faire Chier!” (CD + LP). At the end of 2009 we made a demo for our new album, with songs written between 2005 & 2009. We had the plan to go in studio in the beginning of 2010, unfortunately our friend Dieter died the 15th of January. With Eef, Sven and Teun, we decided to still make this album. In memory of Dieter, because he has written all music. This album “Skinhead Family” came out this year on Pure Impact Record. We were able to use the Dieter's guitar (on “L’Homme Le Plus Riche Du Monde”) and the voice on backing vocals (on “Grosse Salope”) from a demo. This was very important for us. In march 2011 Eef left the band.

2. Why did you just named Les Vilains?
Les Vilains in French means: The Ugly Ones, but you can use this word for thugs too. After the first practices, we still didn’t have a band name. In a car back home we said: "We will use the name of the first pub we see". No chance, this pub was called “The Butterfly”! (really!) Hahaha. Off course we thought that name was too stupid for a skinhead band.
I speak French and Bruges is in Flanders, where the people speak Flemish (a dialect of the dutch language). I always said “Salut Vilain” (Hello Ugly!) to say hello to everyone and that became the word they knew best in Bruges. So we used that name for our band.

3. I admire your aggressive musical style. Which bands influenced you musically most and which bands do you like? Can you also write your current TOP FIVE of bands and their albums?
At the beginning of the band people said that we sound like old French bands like Brutal Combat and Bunker 84. Yes, maybe a little bit, but I was the only one in the band who listened to French Oi! and RAC bands. And our music sounds not really typically French (maybe a mix of French and german music?). All the people in the band listen to different music, but there are bands we all like: Condemned 84, Skrewdriver, Steelcapped Strength, Bully Boys, Fortress, White Noise, The 4-Skins, Endstufe, Arresting Officers, English Rose, T.M.F., Kill Baby Kill!, Guttersnipe Army, White Noise, Skullhead, Böhse Onkelz, The Last Resort, etc…etc…
A TOP 5??? That’s so difficult… Ask me next week, and I write 5 other ones…haha.
5. Guttersnipe Army “Never Die”
4. Steelcapped Strength “Sons Of Glory”
3. Public Enemy “England’s Glory”
2. Kill Baby, Kill! “Give It Back”
1. Fortress “Victory Or Valhalla”

4. You recently released the long-awaited new album "Skinhead Family". How are you satisfied with the final result and with the work of Pure Impact Records?
Yes. We made a demo where Dieter played the guitar. Eef played the 2 guitars in studio and that sounds like the guitar of Dieter. I think he must be happy with the final result. Off course, afterwards, there are always things you’re not 100% happy with, but in end we think that it is a good album. In the way of the first one 7 years before. Same spirit. Skippy from Pure-Impact is an old friend and is a correct business man. Good distribution label too.

5. I really like the song "L'Homme Le Plus Riche Du Monde". There is written also this inside the booklet: "...I feel like the richest man in the world". Can you tell anything about this song and its meaning?
We have all the same problems in live. At work, with the money, with the justice system, etc… Good times, bad times…. I have beautiful children and when I see to my kids I forget all my problems, I feel so happy because I realize then: "I’m a lucky man, and a lucky father".

6. You have also the excellent song "Politiquement Incorrect" on your album which is very close to me! You must surely be a very "favorite band" for PC people :-) What is your opinion on all this PC scums? Have you ever become that any band refused to share the stage with you?
I still do not understand how you can be PC and skinhead!? It is non-sense! Nothing to do with politics, but skinheads are rebels, and if you’re afraid for your reputation and afraid to say what you really feel, sorry but you’re in the wrong scene! To be a skinhead is not only a look or a music genre, it is a mentality! And this mentality is: fun-friendship-look-music and violence too! Some people forget that being shaved and having steelcapped shoes is in the first place to be ready for a fight! We are not skinhead to be loved. PC skins who don’t understand that, are just “skinhead-lovers!” not skinheads.

7. Lately, you don't play a many live gigs, right? But I know that you played in Thug Fest in September 2010 which was in England. Can you tell more about this event? Which English and Belgian bands finally played there?
Yes, was a nice gig in London. Steve from T.M.F. organized it. Steve is an old friends of us, he lived for a couple of years in Belgium. We went to this gig with a van with 50 people. There were people from Spain too! The gig was really nice and the other bands that played were: T.M.F., The Pride, Short Cropped, The Bruiseheads, Streetpunk Drunks & Guttersnipe Army. The only problem in England is the price of the beer… too expensive… and not free for the band members! Haha.

8. You have already played a lot of performances with many excellent bands. But is there any band with whom you dream to share a stage and it was not possible yet?
The name or the reputation of the other bands is not important, the most important is the people who play in those bands. To make fun and make new friends. We don’t care about pseudo-pop-stars of the Oi!-scene who come back after a lot of years only for the fame and fortune. Like Cockney Rejects, The 4-Skins, The Last Resort, etc…etc… We like playing with local bands more and meeting nice people.

9. We can see the video of your concert from Holland in 2009 on YouTube, where you descend down from the stage to solve a problem in the crowd. What was the reason?
It was a gig in The Netherlands. Rock For Dietsland. (Dietsland is a reunion of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and North of France). This can be a nice country, but I still am a Belgian nationalist. At this gig, there were a few people (5-6?) that support the Flemish autonomy and start singing “België Barst” (Belgium Must Die) when we were playing. They were loosers and did not know anything about the history of their country. This night, they had picked the wrong enemy to fight, so we went off stage… I still do not understand why they were at a skinhead gig where Les Vilains was playing…?

10. Some members of your band play also in several other bands. How do you at all manage to make a rehearsals? Was it difficult to find a place for the practicing?
No problem. We only practice the weeks before a gig and our local is the Moloko bar and everyone lives not far from this pub.

11. Brugge looks like a city destined skinheads :--) Can you describe the current scene in your city a bit? Can you advise any new bands from Brugge and from Belgium?
Yes, Bruges there was always a lot to do in the skinhead scene. Since the early 80’. Bruges is an old and pretty city where a lot of tourists go to. I don’t know if this is because the people here is catholic, but the people are very conservative and like skinheads more than dirty punks or noisy bikkers. Haha.
In Bruges you have the following bands: Les Vilains, The Pride and The Molokids. The singer of Headcase want to make a comeback with a new line-up (with Les Vilains - The Pride members). These bands don’t exist anymore: No Debt, Behaviour, Voice Of Glory, Stormwolf… and the best of all: Kill Baby, Kill! (R.I.P.) Everybody knows of course our pub De Kastelein (1997-2005) and now the Moloko Bar. We have gigs every month with skinhead (or psycho) bands. In the 80’ there was also a pub called East-Side in the centrum of the city.

12. I know you owned the legendary pub "De Kastelein". Can you tell anything about the early years of this "Stonehange" for skinheads? Did you have a lot of problems due to traffic pub in the beginnings? Can you tell why the pub was closed in fact? When you compare De Kastelein and Moloko, what differences are there in your opinion?
I started this pub in 1998 (with my ex-wife). Immediately we got a good reaction from everyone and skinheads from all the 4 sides of Europe came to our pub (Sometimes even from the United States and Australia too! One day the lads of Dropkick Murphys came at the door, because they absolutely wanted to see this place, but the pub was closed. I was on the beach! Haha).
We made a gig every month and gave the opportunity to a lot of new skinhead bands to play live outside their country. Everytime a big party with great atmosphere! About 50 - 200 people came to each gig. The place was little but the beer and the music were always good! The only problem we got in the beginning was on the internet. But then, two things happened. At first, a drugdealer shot one skinhead inside the pub with a gun (the guy survived but is still handicapped) and 2 years later a fight between 3 skinheads and 2 people (at 600 meters from the bar!). One of these people got into a coma for 40 days and this was in all the media around Belgium. After this, the pub got a lot of problems and my personal life too. This is the reasons why I decided to stop the pub. 8 Years was enough.
De Kastelein & The Moloko (it is the same place) is a little bit different in the eyes of the nostalgic people. Now the pub gets more police controls. But this place is still unique I think. But in 2013 the contract will be finished and it is not sure that the pub can be continue. We will wait and see.

13. It would not be a skinhead that he should not like football and things associated around the tribunes and stadiums. I think Suck that you support the club "Racing White Daring Molenbeek", right? Can you say anything about this club?
Yes, I was a fan of this team since the middle of the 80’. But this team doesn’t exist anymore since 2003. The R.W.D.M. was a little team from Brussels. Not many fans, +/- 8000 (and 15000 for the derby against our best enemy: RSC Anderlecht). A small hooligan crew, but everyone knew us. The color of this team was red, white and black. That is the reason of the colors of our albums! I live in Bruges since 1997. In this city there are 2 teams playing in the first division; the FC Bruges (Club Brugge) and the Cercle Bruges. I preffer the FCB, but I don’t go and see many mathes. Maybe 3-4 times a year. I’m not a real supporter, just a symphatiser.

14. I know that you like tattoos. Can you describe your favorite motives and what do they express?
Off course I like tattoos, but don’t have many place on my arms and torso anymore. My last one is from a couple of years ago. I like the traditional skinhead ones and the old school. And I really don’t like the tribal. Tattoos are not only a look, but they tell a story of someone. That is why I don’t like tattoos that just fill up your arm.

15. What do you know about the Czech Republic? Have you ever been visiting our country? Do you have any favorite czech bands?
I know a little bit about your history in the XX century. I have never been to your country but I often hear good comments about it. Beautiful culture and nature, pretty girls, good and cheap beer !!! About the bands, I don’t know that many, but I remember bands like Orlík and The Protest. I have all 2 on LP, but I don’t listen them anymore, because my record player is still in the basement. I have the first CD of Buldok and they are very good musicians.

16. Any last comments? Would you like to greet anybody? Could you say something nice about Dieter, something what only few people know?
Thanks for this interview and sorry again for the delay! Shame on me.
Normaly we were going to play in the Czech Republic in march, but had to cancel because it was on a Friday and to difficult for some members of the band. We really like to come over and play in your country, I would love to see Prague one day!
Many people know Dieter for his great music. He liked old English RAC bands (like Squadron, Skullhead, Vengeance,…) but Dieter was be even more a big fan of hardrock and cockrock: Wasp, Motley Crue, Twisted Sisters, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Iron Maiden,… He also listened very stupid music in his car, like horrible CD’s with the 10 best songs from the 80’. He played it loud and was laughing a lot with that. No one wanted to drive with him in his car! Dieter, I miss you brother. You and your fantastic humour. Rest in peace.
So see you soon on the Czech soil !!! Certainly you will have to drink as much our beer as possible with us !!! :-)

Koncert - Plzeň

2011-03-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Date: 17.9.2011
Location: Hospoda Pod Kopcem, Plzeň - Božkov
Bands: BACHOR, Pilsner Oiquell, Ani Krok Späť!, Operace Artaban

Lemovice - Oi! Le Tribute

2011-03-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

Specification: Tribute CD to the bands of 80's and 90's.
Tracklist: 1. France (Komintern Sect), 2. Oi! Bombage (Lanterne Rouge), 3. Skinhead (Brutal Combat), 4. Le Paria (Bunker 84), 5. Les Forces De L'Ordre (Warrior Kids), 6. Un Jour Viendra (Swingo Porkies), 7. Pas Concernés (Tolbiac's Toads), 8. Je Pense À La Russie (L'Infanterie Sauvage), 9. Classe Criminelle (Camera Silens), 10. 3eme Guerre Mondial (Skinkorps), 11. Pas Le Droit A L'Erreur (Snix), 12. Un Matin La Révolution (Kontingent)

Strong Style Interview

2011-03-02T05:08:00.000-08:00

Here is our eleventh interview in 2011. Big thanks to Hiroshi who answered the questions !!!

1. Is necessary to begin as usual with introduction. Could you introduce your band, its history, current and past band members please?

We formed as CANNONS with Yoshi (NEW DAWN) on guitar, Kensei (NEW DAWN) on bass, Hiroyasu (R.I.P.) on drums and I Taguchi on vocals. It's in 1991.

And after breakin' up of Cannons in '92, just started Strong Style with same boys then.

In 2000, Takuma joined us as a drummer.

We were gettin' many changing on our line up and acting with Taguchi on vocals, Uchida on guitar, Dammy on bass, Ryuta on drums and Emoto on guitar now.

We released 4 full length albums,1 live footage album, 1 discography, 3 EP's, 2 video of live footages.

2. I know that Strong Style arose from the ashes of the Japanese well-known band Cannons who conquered hearts of Japanese skinheads in early 90's. Could you tell us a little closer to the era of Cannons? What is the greatest experience from that times that stayed in your memories? What was the reason for termination of Cannons?

Not so awesome things especially... The reason why Cannons's breakin' up is like, we were getting a lots kickin' outs from all of the clubs we played, because of violent affairs !!

3. What were the main themes of lyrics of Cannons? What are your favorite song(s) from Cannons and why? Do you remember the best gig of Cannons? What bands played most with Cannons in that time?

It was mainly some messages for workers, I mean it's blue color workers. Favorite songs are Rising Sun and Boots Boys Anthem. We were playing with Worst and Sledgehammer for many times.

4. Why did you choose the name "Strong Style"? Does it express that you want to achieve a strong position on musical scene or anything else? Have you thought about other names as well?
Yes, I wanna stay strong anytime.

5. How would you describe your music? I think your early songs achieved the own unique style of skinhead rock. But the new songs seem to be influenced also by HC a bit. What is your opinion? In what musical styles do you take inspiration for you music? Who writes the music and the lyrics?

I'm composing and wrting lyrics for all of the songs we have.Biggest inspiration is from 70's punkrock.

6. What bands influenced you most? Did you have any musical idols to which you wanted to draw closer at your beginnings? Which European bands do you like to listen most? What Japanese bands were the best in your opinion? Many people say that SLEDGE HAMMER and OUKA were the best. Do you agree? What are your favorite songs from these 2 bands and why? With which Japenese band do you keep the biggest friendship? I try to guess that THE HAWKS are your closest friends. Is it right?

Oh, I think those are Sex Pistols and The Clash. And Japan's Star Club and Skrewdriver + The Business.

I think Sledgehammer and Ouka are great original japanese skinhead bands. In fact, we don't close to The Hawks recently.

7. Let's recall your first albums "Chi To Namida He No Chikai" (The Oath Of Blood And Tears) and "Akashi" (Japanese Flag). I feel how the patriotic message "breathe" directly from your lyrics. These texts are full of loyalty, respect, devotion to the country, tradition and rebellion against mainstream. Am I right? What others themes and ideals are contained in your early lyrics? What songs from these albums are most popular between Japanese skinheads? And which song from these albums is the most successful in your opinion?

Yes, that's as you told! Main themes for old songs are only that. I think 1st album is very popular among japanese skinheads.

I believe the best stuff is just latest stuff, so I love latest one.

8. I think that the best your early song is "Sokoku No Tame Ni" which celebrates your fight for your country. It describes the current fight or is trying to evoke any historical battles? The next song which I must mention is "Kokudo Jouka" that is about the remediation of your land, right? Does this song express that is necessary to begin the remediation of the diseased soul of the nation, which is exposed attack of wild capitalism and materialism? The song "Sennou" is about brainwashing. Do you try to defy the same medial lies in Japan like we in western countries? The next interesting song is "Sentou Taise". What kind of fighting is contained in this song? What Japanese traditional martial arts are your favorites? The song "Dakkan Nippon" tell that is necessary to rescue Japan. What danger threaten Japan and how could you rescue your land? And finally, the song "Hinomaru" describes any ravages in the Middle Ages or it is a metaphor for the present?

The word "Battle" means like what can I do for myself, our country.

"Kokudo Jouka" is like our enemy is inside of our country.

"Sentou Taisei" is like we have to ready to fight anytime.

"Dakkan Nippon" is like to get our country back from dirty politics to our hands.

"Hinomaru" is like to have more pride on our flag, precious.

9. The next albums were "Arata Naru Senjou He" (The New Gun) in 2004 and the split with The Hawks in 2006 if we leave out the "Live" album.from 2002. The album "Arata Naru Senjou He" is your best album in my opinion. I like it very much. What are your favorite songs from this album and why? I like most the first song with the same name. Does it describe any new modern gun or mythical weapon? The song "Asahi Naki Yoake" is about people who know that they already never see the sun rising, right? What is the subject of the complaint in the song "Shuchou"? Who is the awakening lion in the song "Shishi Kakuse"? Will you feel the love to your country inside your heart forever as you promised in the song "Kuni Omou Kokoro Ara Ba"? And finally the song "Ketsui Hana" (Flower Determination) is against hippies? :-)
Haha, everyone can feel free like you !!!

10. Then followed EP "Uta" (Roar) in 2007 and full-length album "Sari Iku Kyou Ni" (We Leave Today) in 2008. How reviews have you got on these albums? What differences are there when you compare it with previous albums? The first song "Michi Naru Chikara" describes some unknown forces. Is this song directed against people who pull the strings and try to dominate others? The song "Ochi Ta Ookam" represents the wolves who fell. How is it thought? I noticed that a lot of Japanese bands singing about wolves. Do you think it is due to their way of life and the fact that people were fascinated by wolves in every time? The purple sky in the song "Murasaki No Sora" expresses the coming storm or describes an air battle? The best song from this album is "Yami Ni Hisomu Mono" in my opinion. This song is about something mysterious which lurks in the darkness, right? What is IT? Who is indicated as a weed in the song "Zassou No You Ni"? And finally, whom is dedicated the last song "Tomo Yo" (My Friend)?

There were a lots opinions like agree/disagree then.

We could get a lots new fans and some fans left.

"Michi Naru Chikara" means like you have extra power, so show it!

"Ochi Ta Okami" is like some fuckin' Japanese who lost pride.

"Murasaki No Sora" is just for my great friend who passed away. When I got that news by phone, the sky was purple them.

"Yami Ni Hisomu Mono" means like everyone has some darkness in their mind.

"Zassou No You Ni" means like just live strong.

"Tomo Yo" is also for my great freind as I wrote before.

11. You have recently released your latest album called "Nippon Rock'n'Roll". Is there noticeable any shift in your music? Could you introduce and characterise all the songs from this album individually please? If I'm not mistaken, this is your first album, which will include also songs in English language. Why have you decided to sing also in English? This album was released by "Beat Bandit Records". Why have you changed the label when you were loyal to "Juke Boxxx Records" for many years? Does "Beat Bandit Records" have any personal linkage with your band?

The songs:

- RISING SUN

- INSANE STROKE

- TRY IT NOW

- PUG SONG

- BEAT BANDIT

- CHALLENGER

- ISSHOU

- I DON'T CARE

- I NEAD BEER

- MUSHIKERA NO UTA

- NIPPON ROCK'N'ROLL

I think it's better to say like "back to Cannons" musically, rather than changing our sound.

So I'm singin' in english and our music is spreading with those actions.

We just built Beat Bandit Record to play more active with getting out from Jukeboxxx Record.

12. Let's talk about Juke Boxx Records. I think this label is focused mainly on HC and punk bands, right? How did you get to contact with them at that time? What are the best albums released by Juke Boxxx beside Strong Style in your opinion? Can you introduce a bit other bands who produce albums under this label?

Hehehe.

13. I am fascinated by the artwork on the covers of your albums that combine traditional Japanese motives with well-known European symbols. Why did you decide to use these motives? Did you have any problems because of these motives (like are on "Akashi" album for example)? Do you know SAMCHUNG from South Korea has anything similar on their covers?

You know you think it's not formally though, I love those graphics.

It might reflects the facts like Germany and Japan were in same league.

After all, people blames us so many times.

I think it can't be helped.

I don't know about that band from Korea.

14. When I compared an older photos of your band with the current, it seems me that your personal style has been changed from skinhead visage more to punk. Is it true? What was the reason for this change? Wasn't it caused by the changes in the line-up of the band?

Exactly, I'm not skinheads no longer. I can say I don't need to be skinheads... But there's nothing changing in me. The reason is comin' from my friend's death.

15. How many gigs have you played around and with what bands? Have you already played outside Japan? Do you remember your best and worst gig? In which European country would you like to play most? Are there any bands with whom you desire to share a podium? Do you have any memorable or funny experiences from gigs which you can mention? :-) Do you play a covers on your gigs?

We can't count all of the shows, coz it's so huge! And it's pretty difficult to remember like that show was like...

We've never played outside of Japan, if we could get some chances, wanna play then.

16. You are going to play with COBRA and COCKNEY COCKS in 2011. Please tell any informations about both bands (short history, your favorite songs, the themes of lyrics, other interesting things, etc.)

We're sharing the stages with Cobra many times recently, they're great band who is acting since '80s.

17. Can you describe the current scene in Nagoya and in Japan generally? Can you advise any good Japanese skin and punk bands? Is there a lot of skinheads in current Japan or their number was larger in early 90's? Please introduce also THE HAWKS a bit.

We have NEW DAWN in Nagoya, they are early members of Strong Style.

They're best skinheads band who acting energitic in Japan now.

18. You are the patriotic band, right? Have you encountered any problems with it? Do you believe in freedom of speech? Do you support any organisation or party? Is there any politic or party in Japan who deserve a respect? How is the living standard in current Japan? What worst problems are bothering Japanese people?

I'm patriot, not only the band. The politics are rotting and it harms our life.

19. Could you write any interesting things about Nagoya area? How do you spend a time there? Do you have any favourite clubs or pubs where you meet? Do you like football? Do you support any club? Are there any places that you advise to visit for tourist (impressive monuments, sightseeing and buildings)? Could you name any famous people which come/came from Nagoya and deserve the biggest respect in your opinion?

Nagoya is big city and there's huge roads, it's so confortable to live. There's full of energy!

The clubs I down is mainly HUCK FINN.

The sightseeing...only Nagoya castle maybe, haha.

Great people from Nagoya...Oh, Norio Tsuboi.

20. Japan had a many great warlords, samurais, writers, haiku poets, thinkers and other great people. Which people from history do you admire most and why? Who is most responsible for the glory and the progress of Japan in your opinion? In which historical period would you want to live if you would have had a time machine and the possibility to choose?

I wanna see Nobunaga Oda, but I will killed by sword probably.

21. What do you know about the Czech republic? Do you know any czech bands or zines?

Sorry, I don't know about Czech so well.

22. Plans for future. Would you like to greet anyone?

All we want is to have fun in our music! Thanks.

Hiroshi Taguchi (Strong Style)

I Don't Like You Interview

2011-03-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

Here is our tenth interview in 2011. Thanks to Steve who answered the questions !!!

1. At First, Could you introduce your band, its history and band members please?
Hey hey! We are I Don’t Like You from Thuringia in Germany and play Skinhead Rock’n’Roll!
Flo and André play the guitars, Christoph is our drummer and I am Steve and play the bass and do the vocals.
We started the band in 2006. At this time Lutz plays the drums...he left the band 1-2 years ago and now Christoph do his job very well. ;-)
We play a lot of gigs the last years and so there are many people who like us, but there also enough people who hates us, because we don’t give a fuck about PC!
We released a demo CD at the end of 2009 and now we have finished the recordings for our first album!
I think that’s the short version of our bandhistory, haha.

2. The origin of the band's name is not necessary to mention. But why did you choose just this name? Was the reason that you all love this song and what it expresses? Can you name all the ones that really do not like? :-) Have you thought about other names as well?
It was a hard way to find a good name for our band...normally we want a German name, but all good ones were gone. So we had the idea, to take a title from a song we love...and at the end we choose "I Don’t Like You". For us it’s one of best Songs ever...very powerful and aggressive!
Skrewdriver is one of the best Skinheadbands of all time and had a big influence on us and our music! We prefer the sound of their first albums.
We took also a song which we can play live at the beginning of a gig and for this I Don’t Like You is perfect, because everybody likes it...or should better go home, hahaha. ;-)
Another reason was that this title sounds very good. It’s really different from other names and we liked that.
Yeah there were a lot of other names we think about....but mostly very stupid. =)
As I told, we wanted something different and so the most ideas were cancelled directly.
I remember names like "Voice Of Anger" and "The Boots"...you see, not very inventive, haha.
OK, here is the list of people we don’t like: 1).... No, hahaha otherwise your zine have 1 million pages. ;-)

3. How would you describe your music? Did you really want to sound like the early production of Skrewdriver? What bands did you influence most besides Skrewdriver? What next Skrewdriver songs do you like? Were anybody from you playing in any other band before you formed I Don't Like You? Who writes the music and the lyrics?
It’s hard to describe the own music! I would say it’s pure Skinhead Rock’n’Roll and Skinhead Rock with political incorrect lyrics!
We don’t want to be a copy of Skrewdriver, but we have some similarities in our music.
In our songs is also often a clean guitar with a lot of gain, like on "All Screwed Up".
We really like this powerfull Rock’n’Roll sound!
Other bands which influence us are: Brutal Attack, Endstufe, The Clash, Steelcapped Strength, Rose Tattoo, The Veros, Motörhead, Skullhead, Barking Dogs, The Templars, Dirlewanger and so on....I think, everything you hear have influence on your music!
Skrewdriver have so many great songs...but to name a few: Streetfight (we cover this song also), H... The New Dawn, Boots & Braces, Voice Of Britain, Behind The Bars...and at least 50 more, haha.
Christoph played bass at a band called "Hasselnusser" and the rest had their first experiences in a Punkband.
I write all the lyrics and make a concept of the songs...but we finish the music together! Mostly I have a bassline which fits to the lyrics and than we do the remain together!

4. Please write me a TOP TEN of bands and songs by each individual member of band (if it is possible).
This one was really hard, hahaha…these songs are only a few of our favourites, it’s not really possible to tell you "THE Top Ten".

Christoph:
Skullhead - Wild And Free
Endstufe - Wir Kriegen Euch Alle!
Tiger Army - Pain
Böhse Onkelz - Stolz
Cock Sparrer - Runnin' Riot
Motörhead - Jailbait
Brutal Attack - R.A.C.
Skrewdriver - Back With A Bang
Led Zeppelin - Rock´n´Roll
4 Promille - Alter Freund

Flo:
Barking Dogs - Niemandsland
Gerbenok - Wo Sind Die Tage
Johnny Cash - Ain’t No Grave
Perkele - A Song For You
Rose Tattoo - 17 Stitches
Truck Stop - Bier Vom Fass
Steelcapped Strength - Sons Of Glory
Ian Stuart - Break Out
The Clichés - Violence
The Veros - Bootboy Train

Steve:
Brutal Attack - Outlaws
Skullhead - Wish The Lads Were Here
Johnny Cash - I Hung My Head
The Clash - White Riot
Skrewdriver - H... The New Dawn
Motörhead - In The Name Of Tragedy
Headcase - Young At Heart
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Travelin Band
Kill Baby, Kill! - Diversity
Steelcapped Strength - Sons Of Glory

André:
Endstufe - In Die Eier
Johnny Cash - Solitary Man
Elvis - Marie Is Her Name
Skrewdriver - Voice Of Britain
Kill Baby, Kill! - Give It Back
Kampfzone - Bastarde
Barking Dogs - Valhalla
Forbidden Rage - Oi! The End
Klansmen - Klansmen Song
Kategorie C - Wie Brüder

5. You released only the Demo CD in 2009, right? Are you satisfied with it? How responses have you got on it? Could you introduce all 5 songs form this album and their lyrics? Which of these five songs is most successful in your opinion? To what extent should be a skinhead "böse" (vicious) in this time? :-)
Till now it’s the only release...but more on the next question. ;-)
In our opinion, it’s quite good for a demo! Of course will the sound on the album be much better, but altogether we are satisfied with it! We like the artwork, the songs are good for the first sign of life and the CD is pressed! (Thanks to Teun and Jonesy for their help!)
Mostly the people liked it! Some don’t but I think that's normal!?
"Böser Skinhead" is a song about the prejudice people have about skinheads and against the whole PC shit in the scene!
"Techerladen" is a slow song about the youth of today and that they only can enjoy their technomusic with drugs.
In the 3. song "Bootboys" we sing about, why our way of life is the right one, hehe.
"Hand In Hand" is a patriotic song, which should show, that we have to love our land and not the state... Skinheads have to stick together and fight for their freedom and their land !!
The last song "Glaubst Du Noch?" deals with the problems you have in life...somebody break your heart, your "friends" aren’t true and you feel lonely! But always hold your head up high and look forward!
Most people really like "Hand In Hand"...so I would say this is the most popular song on the demo!
How "böse"? As evil as you can be, hahahaha.

6. You are going to release a full-length album, right? How will it be called? Under what label will it be released? How many songs will it contain? When is the release date? Can you introduce what the topics will deal with your new songs? Please tell info especially about the song: "Diese Nächte".
Yeah we will release a full length album and it will be called "Keine Reue"!
Oi! Ain’t Red Records will release it! That makes us really proud, because in our opinion it’s one of the best labels today!
The album will have 11 Songs plus 1 Intro. Two of the songs are Skrewdriver coversongs, which are dedicated to the great music they made!
Topics are: To show no remorse, about how the islamic immigrants try to take over Germany, about our way of life, against communism, about our lovely Thüringen and of course a lot about Skinheads! Haha.
Every song sounds different and has another topic...so you won’t get bored. ;-)
"Diese Nächte" won’t be on the album...it's an old song about this special nights, which you remember a whole life! When we decided which songs will be on the record, we don’t chose this one. We like it, but the new songs are better in our opinion.
But there will be song called "Danke" which deals also with graet nights and the rubbish you do in such moments...and it names, who’s to blame: The little devil on your shoulder, hahaha.

7. How many gigs have you already played in and with which bands? Have you ever played outside Germany? Can you describe your worst and best gig? Is there any band with whom you dream to share a stage? Do you have any memorable or funny experiences from gigs? What covers do you play on your gigs?
I think we played around 30 gigs all over Germany! We share the stage with Die JungZ, Bombecks, Spy Kids, Ohne Worte, Kategorie C, Iron Fist, Scharmützel, Gerbenok, Trisomie 22 and many more...
Unfortunately we didn’t play outside of Germany...but we have some invitations to play in different European countries and so I hope in the near future we Rock whole Europe. ;-)
Hard to find a best and a worst gig...we played gigs for 30 people and for 1000...you can’t realy compare this gigs, but every concert was fun!
We liked the gigs with KC, because there were always a lot of people who sing and dance with us from the beggining of the first song!
Also liked the gigs in "Schwedenschanze"! It’s one of the best bars!
Would be great to play with Brutal Attack. Also we want to play with our friends Steelcapped Strength...so it would be an honour to play with bands which had a big influence on you... But we also like to play with some newcomers band! They are always really motivated!
Memorable or funny experiences? A lot, hahaha...when we were singles it was really easy to impress the girls if you play in a band, hahaha, but these days are gone... We played under a whorehouse...this was also special. =)
We always had a good time...we aren’t really serious people...hehe.
We cover: Skrewdriver - I Don't Like You + Streetfight (the first version), Endstufe - In Die Eier, Perkele - Hang 'Em High, Freikorps - Hafenstrasse, Rabauken - Vaterland. Sometimes also other songs...that depends on the concert.

8. You played also with Kategorie C in Nienhagen and with The Pride in Skinhouse Menfis, both in 2008. If you remember so can imagine a short info from these gigs? :--) Can you tell what it is to play in Skinhouse Menfis and introduce this place a bit? Can you also tell anything interesting about Trisomie 22? Because it is not so well-known band I think.
We don’t play with The Pride...the gig was sadly cancelled. :-( One of their bandmembers had to work!
We played around 10 times with KC! They helped us a lot at the beginning of our "career", hahaha. We liked the gigs with them, because you play for at least 300 people!
We never played in Skinhouse Menfis, we had to cancel it like 100 times because of our jobs...but Bigge is a good friend of mine and it will work out in the future, I am sure!
I think I don’t have to introduce it, because it’s well known! It’s maybe the best place in the whole world for Skinheads! There played so many different bands, from punk to RAC and every gig was brilliant!
The original Skinhouse is closed, but Bigge and the crew will make gigs in the future in other locations, that’s for sure!
Trisomie 22 doesn’t exist anymore...it was a project of the Gerbenok drummer Stöbi and two friends of us, Conny and Fussel! They mixed funny songs like Lokalmatadore does with Skinhead topics... I liked them a lot! When they split they form Martens Army.

9. Could you describe the current Oi!/Punk and RAC scene(s) in Thuringia and in Germany generally? I think that Bombecks and Spy Kids come from Thuringia too. Helped anyone from these bands when I Don't Like You get started? Which other well-known Oi! and RAC came from here too? Can you advise any good new German bands? Please introduce the local band "TSQ Die Jungz" too.
In Thuringia we have maybe the best scene in Germany...only Sachsen have also so many good people!
In every little town are still skinheads and most people are friends! In the last years the PC is getting more important than friendship for some people and so they try to split the scene...
Also many concert were cancelled by the state and the police...only 4 years ago, we had every weekend some gig in Thuringia!
You are right, they are also from Thuringia and we played a few time with both!
Bombecks and Spy Kids play great music and they are really nice guys; and 1 girl from Spy Kids. ;-)
Espacially Bombecks motivate us, because they really like our music and that means a lot to us!
Another band from here is called "Old Glory" and they play good RAC music.
"Die JungZ" are really good friends of us! We had our first gig with them and shared the stage many times! They have a lot of covers in their set but in the last time they wrote more and more songs by their own! So check them out!
Other new bands from Germany you should listen to, are for example: Ohne Worte, Angry Bootboys, Shaven Heads, Rampage, Strongside…

10. There are a lot of zines in Germany. Do you like to read printed zines? Which german zines are best in your opinion? How many times have you been interviewed? Do you think that printed zines survive in the future? What is your opinion on zines who combine apolitical Oi! and RAC music together? :-)
We really like zines! I buy everything I can get! And you are right, we have a lot fanzines here in Germany…many are good and some are bullshit!
My favourites are: Stolz & Stil, Für Immer Und Ewig, Meinungsfreiheit, Violence, Nobody's Hero…
I think we had around 12 interviews! Sometimes I think only fanziners like our music, hahaha.
No it’s great that people are interested in our band and I try to do a good job and not to give only the standard answers!
I hope they survive! I am not really a fan of zines, which are not printed! I can’t stand to sit in front of my computer and read…. But in the last time some new zines started and they are great, so they will have a future as long as some people have the ambition for it!
In my opinion are this zines the best ones! We do the same with our music and combine Oi! Oi! Music with RAC!
Skinhead has so many faces and you can’t say: you only write about non political stuff and bands, the rest isn’t PC and so it isn’t Skinhead!

11. Could you write any interesting things about Thuringia? In which city/cities do you live? How do you spend a time there? Do you have any favourite clubs or pubs where you meet? I know that Thuringia is heavily covered with forest. Do you have any favorite places in Thuringian Forest? Can you advise any natural sights for visittting? Has anyone of you experience with the woodcutters? :-)
Of course I can! We really love Thuringia !!! We have many cultural places to visit and very pretty cities like Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and so on! We are from the region around Saalfeld and it’s covered by forrest. ;-)
For us, it’s great to have some beautiful nature around us. I am not a fan of big cities like Berlin, Frankfurt or München…sick places! Everything is dirty, 50% of the population there don’t speak our language and you can’t breathe clear air!
Some years ago we had the best pubs in Germany! In our neighbour town we had the Schwedenschanze and around 40 kilometres was the Skinhouse Menfis!
We have today also some places, where gigs take place! For Oi!/Punk concerts you can go to the drums in Weimar and RAC concerts are on different places…
We live near the Rennsteig and if you like hiking and to see beautiful nature you’re right here! There are too many sights for visiting… I like the Fröbelturm in Oberweissbach, where you can look all over the "Thüringer Wald" or maybe one of the barrier lakes in Scheibe-Alsbach or Unterweissbach. The Leipzigerturm in Schmiedefeld, Kickelhahn in Ilmenau…you see, too much stuff, haha.
The woodcutters come only out at night and then you have to hide, hahahaha. :-)

12. Your opinion about:
a) Football; Which club do you cheer up? What do you think about the hooligans scene and the violence on stadiums? Do you have same opinion on it like Kategorie C? :-)
Christoph and I like Rot Weiss Erfurt. But I also like Jena…now some people think I am stupid, because this both clubs hate each other. ;-)
We are not hooligans and wouldn’t beat someone if he likes another club than we do!
But everyone can do what he likes!

b) PC Skins; What is your opinion on the skins, who are with horror scared of all what could be a tiny bit smell RAC? :-)
The real Rebels today, haha. I think they are cowards. They are ashamed of their own history and hate their own country. I don’t care about them!

c) Vortex; What is your opinion about this legendary band with unique sound? Do you like their songs and which ones?
I like their old stuff. But I was very disappointed when I saw them on the stage…they have now an hippie who plays the drums! So when I listen to them, I always see this filthy weed smoking guy…

d) Beer; Do you like this drink and which mark do you prefer? Do you also like Czech beer? :-)
What a question…of course we love beer !!!!André and Flo likes Hasseröder, Christoph prefers Porter and I like Holsten, Watzdorfer and Köstritzer Schwarzbier.
Yeah you have great beer! I like the classics like Pilsner Urquell or Budweiser!
But the Czech beer is very expensive here in Germany!

13. What do you know about the Czech republic? Do you have any friends from here? Do you know any czech bands or zines?
I visited your country a few times! It’s also one of the European country with a lot of tradition!
The media here try to tell only the bad things about your land like the prostitution and these illegal markets…but I think you have a great country!
I know some bands like Disdainful, Pilsner Oi!quell, Normals?! and Operace Artaban. I saw Disdainful a few times and they are a very good live band!
We also gave an interview a Czech online zine called Lone Rider.
Hope to play someday in your land !!!

14. Any last comments? Would you like to greet anyone?
Thank you for your interest and keep on going with your fanzine!
We want to thank and greet all people who helped and supported us, Oi! Ain’t Red Records and every proud Skinhead!
Best Regards from Thüringen
Steve & I Don’t Like You

I Don't Like You - Demo

2011-03-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

Year: 2009
Label: D.I.Y.
Links: Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire

Punk Front Interview

2011-03-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

Here is our ninth interview in 2011. This interview was finished a 2 weeks ago, before their cancelled gig here. Thanks to Patrick who answered the questions !!!

1. At first, could you introduce yourself and your band?
Hey Tom! Punk Front are Martin at the drums, Stoffel vocals, Schmidt bass, Tim at the second guitar and me, Patrick at the first guitar.

2. Can you tell us anything about the history of your band? Why did you named just Punk Front?
Our history isn't very special. At this time we lived all in Berlin. It was a evening in a pub in Berlin with a lot of alcohol. Schmidt, Stoffel, Martin and me created our Punk band.
After the record of our mini CD, Tim joined the band to play the second guitar.

3. How would you describe your music? Which bands influenced you musically most and which bands do you like? Can you also write your current TOP FIVE of bands and their albums?
We play simply Punk music. We all listen so many kinds of music, it is a little bit difficult to say what influenced us. And I realy can't make a TOP 5, give me a TOP 100 than maybe.

4. You have recently released the MiniCD "100% Hass" which is very successful in my opinion. Could you introduce the themes all songs individually please? Who made the lyrics and the music? Do you have also new songs?
Thank you! Yes, there is 100% Hass, it is a statment from us as a band. Agains this red jerks and that they have to go out of our way.
Knüppeldicke is a song against the failure of the police.
Und Morgens Ruft Der Muezzin is a sarcastic written song about the muslim invasion of our European culture.
Fuck Crust...Yes I think the name say it all. A song about anti germans and other left wing scum.
In Der Kneipe Zur Trockenen Kehle is a cover song from an old East German Punk band. It's about that you do every day the same things at work and go in the evening in a pub to see every evening the same guys to have a drink and go home... It's about how boring a live can be.
And at last Verraten & Verkauft. It is a song about unity and friendship to struggle for a free homeland and a free Europe.

5. Are you satisfied with this MiniCD? What reactions have you received on it? How are you satisfied with the work of Oi! Ain't Red Records? How did you come to contact with this label?
Yes we are realy happy with our work on this record and the most reactions we get were really positive! We like the work with Oi! Ain't Red Records and we are thankful that the label give us a chance. I know Jan from the label before. I meet him on a concert and asked him if he had interested to release our CD.

6. Can you tell us anything about the current scene in Berlin? Is your city really so red as we can hear? Are here also good bands with different views? Which bands from here can you advise for listening? Could you also introduce bands Elbroiber, Notlöhsung and Heimat Front a bit?
Yes, Berlin is really red! And you have really many immigrants here. But you have here nice places too. I think bands like L.....r or now called Die L.....ff V..........g is one of the most famous bands from here. Notlöhsung and Elbroiber are friends of us! They play nice German Oi!. Heimat Front is a band project and we want make a split with this guys. They play true and hard Oi!/punk.

7. How many gigs have you already played in and with which bands? Have you already played outside Germany? How was your best and worst gig?
In the last time we must cancelled all gigs, coz we was to busy with work and family.
Till now we only play 2 gigs. One in west and one in east Germany. Our better one was the gig in west Germany with Endstufe and Shaven Heads. We get a good feedback there! The other wasn't worst but a little bit chaotic. We played there with Elbroiber and Notlöhsung.
In your country it will be our first gig outside Germany, but I hope not the last.

8. I think you played the gig with Endstufe in 2010, right? Could you write an info about this gig and performances of bands in? How do you look at Endstufe? Which their songs are best in your opinion and why?
Yes, the gig was really great! And we had much fun to play with Endstufe and Shaven Heads. We like Endstufe very much. It is one of the real traditional and real Oi! bands from here! I like many songs of them.

9. I was very captivated that your punk crew likes to wear t-shirts with logos of RAC bands. I think you had to have some problems with PC idiots or even been labeled as "Nazi Punks", haha :--) How experiences do you have with it?
Schmidt and me, the punks in the band, was in the past, and before we created this band, very often with our face in the internet. But it didn't interest me. They say we split the scene and we have to go out from their scene. But this idiots forget that we never want to be a part of their scene.

10. Punx Not Red, excellent but often rejected motto on the punk scene in Germany. Can you tell me Patrick how is the life of politically incorrect punk in your country?
I think it is near the same that the life of a political incorrect skinhead. Only different is maybe that everybody knows you. Coz we don't have so many not PC punks here.

11. Your opinion about:
a) Böhse Onkelz; What is your opinion about this German legendary band? Do you like their songs and which ones?
I like Böhse Onkelz very much! From the early stuff till their last CD. I grow up with this music.

b) Tattoo; Do you like tattoo? Do you have any favorite motives?
I love tattoos! But I don't have a favourite motive.

c) Football; Do you like this sport? Is there any club in Berlin which deserve to cheer up? What do you think about the hooligans scene?
Some of us like football in Berlin but not for me. When I go to football, I go to Bremen in west Germany. But that is a few years ago that I see my last football game.
I don't have a problem with the hooligan scene.

d) Beer; Do you like it or you prefer liquors? Which mark(s) of beer are best in your opinion?
Beer! I enjoy a good cold Becks! Here in east Germany, you get Pfeffi. It is liquour. I will bring you one when we see us in February!

12. You are going to play a concert in our country in February. Do you look forward to it? What can we expect from you on the stage and possibly after a concert at the table? :-)
We all look forward to the concert! You can expect real punkrock from Germany and a drunk band, haha, maybe under the table .

13. What do you know about the Czech republic? Do you know any czech bands or zines?
For a few weeks I give a interview for your friend at Crime & Pride webzine.
I really don't know much about your country! Too less to talk about that. But I hope I can change that in February!
I see here "The Normals?!" for a time...nice band!

14. Any last words? Would you like to greet anybody?
First, thank you Tom for your interest in our band!
We want to greet the Czech scene and hope to see a lot of you on the concert in Prague! Thank you for the interview Tom! We get drunk together in February!
So see you soon on the Czech soil !!! Certainly you will have to drink as much our beer as possible with us !!! :-)

Orange Blood - Demo

2011-02-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Year: 2010
Label: D.I.Y.
Links: Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire

10. Streetkids Party

2011-02-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

Date: 18.6.2011
Location: Klub Tenis, Brno
Bands: Evil Conduct, Raufhandel, Gewohnheitstrinker, Operace Artaban, Pilsner Oiquell, 3:2 Pro M.H., The Riot, Proti Směru, Ani Krok Späť!, Sex Sense, Gauneři

Normals?! Interview

2011-02-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

Here is the english version of our interview with czech band Normals?!. This interview was originally done in early 2010. Translated by Matej.

1. Hi, so to begin introduce yourselves and tell us something about you (age, job, hobbies etc.)
Honza: Hi, "Machy", 31 years old, messenger, interested in punk, alcohol and concact sports.
Jindřich: Jindřich, 31 years, working hard and delighted in motocross ride.
Marian: Marian, 33 years, student, upper-class, unfortunately working. I like music and sport.
Labašta: Labašta, 32 years, carpenter, hobbies - punk and everything around it

2. Who and when comes with idea of establishing band, and why under name Normals?!
Honza: Together we came thank to one dickhead (Sid), which has been immediatelly kicked out, after Pája and Šiška left (Crossczech), we continue in line-up, as majority knows us, name uprise as I was taking some photos for some charity advertisement in style "I'm normal, I help" wearing shirt Normal, so we refilled it with screamer and question mark, and it was done.

3. Was anybody playing, or is he playing in any other bands except Normals?!
Marian: Palash Attack, 100%
Labašta: Me not, I think I would be kicked out pretty soon from other band...

4. How many gigs have you already played, and with which bands do you play most likely?
Honza: We have played more than 30 gigs, and I will not name all the bands, there was lot of them and they was pretty much OK.
Labašta: I like to play with bands, which stay with us, and drink till morning comes.

5. What about favourite bands? Do you have any, you will be glad to play in the future?
Honza: All the punk and skinhead classics, there is lot of them, and I don't have any special wish.
Marian: Clash, Johnny Cash, Turbonegro, Die Ärtze, Rancid, Sick Of It All - tons of them, I would like to play with Zóna A and H.N.F. - two banners who made pretty much good job.

6. Not long ago, you released first regular recording "Original Punk", how was recording running and how are you pleased with it after some time? What was replies about this recording?
Honza: Recording was fun, we was drinking a lot, as it was for the first time it is OK, I am pleased, and many people was marveled that we can make it to CD, and mates was delighted.
Jindřich: Beside recording I have sweat on my ass and it wasn't simple, but finally it is good. I am maximally pleased with the record, only guys can improve themselves :-) Replies was very positive, maybe no-one believes that we will record something someday, and in fact I am surprised too.
Marian: Recording - as it was premiere it is super... :-) Machy came in directly from some alco-party, maybe he doesn't want to have gay voice :-) After time I can say, that as we have new hits, which are little bit further, we will be always staying after our first record.
Labašta: Recording was funny, f.e. singing without music... I'm satisfied, but next CD will be better, it stands to reason.

7. What can you say about your lyrics? Who is writer and where you take ispiration? In song "Pěkný Holky"(Pretty Women) you abnegate politics, what is your opinion to the politics?
Honza: I write some of lyrics, better ones is writing Marian, everyone from band help with something already. Lyrics are about booze, mates, idiots, cowboys and horses :-) I don't give a shit about politics, I don't read about it and I'm not looking to TV news, as it can be anybody there, it is still fucked up.
Jindřich: Lyrics are about our lives, I wrote some and Macháček is always scrubbing them out, so I fuck it! And about politics? Stick it up your ass!
Marian: Everyone already helped with lyrics, most Honza and I am doing some too. Politics - I've got my opinion, but I'm not embarked upon.

8. Can you tell us your opinion on patriotism? Are you patriots?
Honza: I love Prague, Czech republic quite too, but I'm not concerned.
Jindřich: I can imagine myself living in another country, f.e. Spain is nice, I saw it in catalogue, but I can't live outside Prague. Prague is the best you pigs! :-)
Labašta: I was travelling before I was deported. It was good, but - Home Sweet Home, and I talk about Prague and Czech republic.

9. What can you say about living in Prague and scene in there? Can you recommend some new young bands from Prague? What about favourite clubs and pubs?
Honza: Scene in here is big and excursive, maybe that is why the people, that should be united, are in various shitty organisations, looking for problems where they are not. There are clouds of bands. And about pubs, personally you was at "Templář", and then classics: "Sedmička", "Újezd", "Piraňa", gigs at "Matrix", "Futur" etc.
Jindřich: Scene full with prejudice. Classic, everything around our mates, which are fortunately still same and still standing where they should be standing, thanks for that! I don't care about dickheads! Pub "U Templáře" is still winning, come to sit with us.

10. As punkrockers, you have 100% tattoo image, tell us something about your tattoos, can you memorize your first tattoo?
Honza: Surely, I wanted something uncommon, so it was skull in spider-web on the shoulder :-) Then I started it seriously, some are important, some only pictures, I continue, but lack of money is problem.
Jindřich: I don't like tattoos :-) First was trendy chap on motorcycle, which i have on my shoulder.
Marian: Great ornament on my forearm, that streak for anybody who have seen myself...
Labašta: Who can't memorize his first tattoo is asshole, excepted only if the first tattoo was dophin on shoulder, I understand that. My first was safety-pin when i was only 14, hahaha!

11. Troubles at gigs? I know that some fools thinks that you are nazipunx heh :-) What do you think about it?
Honza: Personaly there wasn't any problem, only in Teplice, some tough-guys punctured our wheels and sprayed anarchist "A" on cars. There are some bands, who don't know us, but already they don't want to play with us, but about these cunts we don´t give a damn. Gossipry is fully started, and it is boring, who knows us also know that we are not nazis.
Jindřich: Nazipunk also punk :-) These are bullshits, we're just good crew, which you don't want to get pissed, and we are who we are, and it doesn't have anything with any organisations.
Marian: We aren't having any trouble at gigs, because who doesn't like us just didn't come, because they are crappy or shutting their mouths. But gossipry goes, that is true. But we're just bunch of pretty guys with talent. I think some gigs was cancelled thanks to our popularity... Nazi punx? As Bolek Polívka once said: "I'm not racist, for me gipsie and nigger are just same".

12. What about you and football? Are you visiting tribunes, perhaps even fights? If yes, which club do you support?
Honza: Tribunes no, only sometimes smacking on the field. Herewith I indirectly support Bohemians, where 90% of friends are.
Jindřich: Football? It is similar to golf isn't it? :-)

13. Plans for future?
Honza: To play gigs, record new CD, take on the new guitar player, which will be uncle Fester Sherman, who is right now training hard.

14. Some words to the end? Do you want to greet somebody?
Honza: Thanks for the interview, let you have good times with your fanzine, saluting all the friends and related bands.
Jindřich: I would like to salute Myšák, too old, too fucking cold, and everybody who stands for it! And I would like to say BIG FUCK YOU to Antifa Litoměřice and similar ultra left-wing fuckers.
Marian: Salute to my girlfriend, which I will fuck when I'm done with this-OK? Salute to Mr.Ducháček, who will organise this :-)
Labašta: Fuck all executors scouting around my house haha.
STREETPUNK FOREVER!!!

Prohibice Interview

2011-02-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here is the english version of our interview with czech band Prohibice (Prohibition). This interview was originally done in early 2010. Translated by Matej.

1. So, at start please introduce yourselves, and tell us something about band history:
Gusta: SO, we are the boy-like band Prohibice, established on autumn 2007, initiated by myself and Matásek, as a 4 member group, which was changing so often, if I am to write about all the changes, it would fill a whole book. So, current line-up is me (bass, vocals, sometimes I compose something), Matásek (guitar, vocals, head-composer & person, who organises 90% of things) and Toncek (drummer and pedophyle).
Regarding to our short history, first gig was played on spring 2008, then we broke up, from autumn 2008 we was playing on local punk concerts, and from app. 2009 we go pretty well.

Matásek: For persons interested about our detailed and actualised history, visit our websites: prohibice.xf.cz or our profile at bandzone.cz

2. Why did you choose Prohibice as a name for your band?
Gusta: It was pretty much fluke, one moment we was thinking about Gu(s)talax, which was totally rejected, and then on testing, beside drinking lots of brands of booze, someone told us that on prohibition we would easily die, and Matásek considered it as a good name for a band.

3. How many gigs did you played, and which bands do you prefer? Can you mention your firts gig? Which bands will you be likely to play in the future?
Gusta: We played app. 20 gigs, mainly we was playing with our friends Chlastarbeiter. We played our first gig on 6.6.2008 in Modrá Opice, with Honorace, Good Mourning and who-ever-knows, it was pretty much hilarious, although somebody compared us to Krabicové pivo, maybe that time we really weren't able to play well, but people was pogo-dancing and we seem us as a stars.
Otherwise, I would like to play with Condemned 84, Haggis, T.M.F. or Lion's Pride.

Matásek: I will never forget our first concert, it was our secret Day D. We was playing really bad (as everytime after that :-)), our singer was drunk, so his performance was also weak. But, beneath us was pogo dancing band of maniacs, from which our fan supporters has grown, so we shouldn't forget this.
The bands I would like to play is lot. For example Headcase, The Pride, The Bois, Stomper 98, it would be a book to write it all... And I look forward for upcoming gigs with Ani Krok Späť!, this is band I like, this music style is closest to my heart.

4. What about your favourite bands? Can you say, that you are affected by band or bands?
Gusta: I listen to many kinds of music - folk, metal, black metal, hardcore, RAC, punk, Oi! or rock and roll, for example: Temnozor, Yggdrasil, Burzum, Tragedy, Mässmord, Krátky Proces, Fyrdung, Nidhöggs Vrede, Kill Baby, Kill!, Lion's Pride, Condemned 84, Lucky Devils...
I can say that we are affected mainly by Oi! bands from 80's, some songs are affected by different genres, but we try to have different sound and not to be someone's copy.

Matásek: I have lot of favourite bands, mainly from Germany: Stomper 98, Roimungstrupp, 4 Promille, Krawallbrüder, Verlorene Jungs, Volxsturm, Schusterjungs, Gerbenok, etc. Followed by The Bois, Generation 69, Infa Riot, The Pride, Vanilla Muffins, Hardsell, Headcase...
Maybe I am affected by what I listen to, that is natural. Thought I can't say that I purposely copy riffs or solos to our music. I can say that I can't imagine any group with which we are alike. But that is to others judgement.

5. Not long ago, you released your firts recording "Stínadla Se Bouří", are you satisfied? What about fans replies? I heard that you was having problem with booklet printings with some company, can you say something about this?
Gusta: Well, some mistakes are there, but I think it is good, maybe someone buy it only from principle indeed, because it is only normal Oi! without any news, but majority from people I know are praising it, and if fill us with pleasure.

Matásek: On recordings, there are several mistakes, but I think sound is just perfect, and we would like to thank to Tomáš, sound engineer from Motoráj, who record it all for little amount of money. Otherwise I am pleaed, as I listen that some people are just listening to it one time after another, and that they like it, this is the biggest grace we can want. About that the problem, album was released for our costs, and we needed someone to copy CDs, print booklets and to completise it all. For 1 month I was in contact with Printmedia company, together arranging any small detail, but they was mainly informing me about how to make booklet correctly. As the booklet was completed, and I send it towards them, they reply: "Considering to the content, we are not going to release it. We are against any form of racism". On my recommendation to read the lyrics, they reply: "Really no". Human stupidity don't know borders.

6. For the name of the album you have chosen name of famous book written by Jaroslav Foglar - Stínadla Se Bouří. What this mean to yourselves? Have you read, or do you know another books from this author?
Gusta: With Matásek, as many others, we was growing on books from Foglar, which gave us some values, such as honour, pride or loyalty, and we decide to entitle whe album because of this. Especially "Stínadla se bouří" we have chosen because of that skinheads are similar to "Vonts".

Matásek: The album is not just adoration of this book. It is tribute to Foglar and this whole making. The name we choose because it is some metaphor for skinhead cult which is revolting (bouří = becoming rebellious). Still Foglar is living in our hearts.

7. In song "Krajina Našich Srdcí" you are singing about our beautiful country, are you considering yourselves as a patriots? What does it mean for you to be Czech?
Gusta: I think that patriotism should be basic thing in people's heart, alike love for our parents. It means for us pride of grace of our coutry, pride for important people and our forefathers and strength to defend our coutry against everything bad. Because our country is our mother, which defended us, when we was younger and it is our duty to return this!

Matásek: That song (thus lyrics) comes from Vojta, who also written half Prague streetkids song. Question about patriotism is a little bit complicated for me. I worship our traditions and history, but I can't exactly say if this is making me patriot. According to this, I don't talk about myself as a patriot, i don't wear national symbols etc. For me it is quite internal thing - feeling. For me to be Czech means to have cultural and historical particularities and know them, carrying them in my heart and trying to learn from them.

8. How would you describe Prague street scene in few sentences?
Gusta: It is pretty much ambivalent - on the first side mainly older people moving along our band, Disdainful or Normals!?, on the other side 16 year old hippie skins supporting Antifa, visiting only SKAparties or asocialpunk gigs, claiming everyone who is not red to be a nazi. Fortunately our small "real" scene is holding fast, althought we are only few.

Matásek: I see it as s big disintegration. We have some gangs here, affiliating together, and these gangs sometimes meets at a gig, but this doesn't mean they are reveling together. Furthermore gigs here are for some too left-wing, for others too right-wing and I don't know what else... By and large I have feeling that politics are everywhere, but no one confess. But to not be this negative, I should mention that in Prague, we have many gigs and you can choose from. So BIG thank you for everybody, organising gigs and inviting bands even from abroad.

9. In song "Květinov Blues" you are making direct stand against hippies and drugs, I also know, that in Prague it is pretty easy to get this shit. Do you think, that streetpunk scene in Prague is clean, and please tell us your opinion on drugs in scene.
Gusta: It is not clean, there is many people smoking weed or coke, and among hooligans, pervitin and similar crap is spread. We are in free country, and everyone has right to destroy his life as he can, but in scene this garbage shouldn't be, because I think we are people with some self-respect and with this people are killing themselves, and we know how they are ending, as slags without any pride.

Matásek: It is not clean not even by an error. Many skinheads I know is smoking weed. I can tolerate this in small amount, but I don't like it. Unfortunately, sniffing is starting to show up, and I think this is beyond border, or directly on the border. I don't want to even imagine, where this is gonna end. But this is not just about skinheads, it is general problem and I really can't stand it. All the more I am worried, when I see young boys from scene starting with this. But discussing it with them is worthless, everyone who tried that will agree.

10. You consider yourselves as apolitic skinheads, was you having problems with Left or Right?
Gusta: Reds and normal people claim ourlesves as nazis, nazis claim us as reds, but we don't give a damn. As for some untruths (mainly from Kladno hahAFA punks), nothing serious happens. Meanwhile we are looking for another guitar player, make split with band "Chlastarbeiter" and to entertain people who cares about.

Matásek: I would like to use place here, to explain what I understand beneath an idea of apolitic skinhead. Many people can't understand us, and they pretend that apolitism is not existing. For me, apolitism does not mean apathy. Every human being has his own political view, it is natural, and is not worth price negating this. All members of our band has different political opinion, Gusta is more conservative, I am little bit liberal type. I am not sure about Toncek, anytime he tells he don't give a damn. Once and for all, being apolitical, doesn't mean to be stupid sheep without opinions, it means not to bring politics into our scene. Because of politics totally fucked this scene, and it have done what it have done.

11. Any plans into future? Do you want to salute anybody?
Gusta: I would like to salute my girlfriend Markéta, Vojta, Prague Skinheads Patriots crew, band Chlastarbeiter, all our mates, and naturally all the people listening to us.

Matásek: We are planning to become better at playing, writing new and better songs, playing gigs even more... Simply to became better from day to day. I would like to salute everyone supporting us and listening to our music, because this is bringing strength and motivation to us, without them it would have no sense. And definitely big thank you to you, giving us place to talk a lot, maybe we don't fill the whole zine.

Sangvinis Effvsione - Siam Fatti Cosi!

2011-02-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

With courtesy of Sangvinis Effvsione.

Year: 2008
Label: D.I.Y.
Links: Rapidshare, Megaupload, Mediafire

Disdainful - Farewell

2011-02-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

The "obituary" album of Disdainful. With courtesy of Peddy.

Year: 2010
Label: D.I.Y.
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