Renegados (Os Impregnantes #10)

Don’t die while you live! While you’re standing there (doing nothing much), a lot of people are taking action!

This anarcho-punk zine is the work of Armando Tomé from Curitiba (south of Brazil), with support of other punx from the Fazendinha district. “We still have pretty much the same ideals, showing that critical thinking wasn’t a passing fad. Better still: it shows that we haven’t turned into those ridiculous conservatives.” Os Impregnantes could mean something like “we, who’re full of ourselves” (see Armando’s explanation). The following issues are available online:

# 9 (1995): text about atheism, anarchist punx against racism, a presentation of ‘Crude S.S.’, columns about urban violence, squatting & military service.

#10 (’96): interviews with the Brazilian bands ‘Renegados’ (Curitiba) & ‘Mentes Ativas’ (Piracicaba), the story ‘punks del maata’ (“punks from the woods”), Viva la Pinga (“long live pints”) show, etc.

#11 (’96): interviews with Brazilian bands ‘Ação Positiva’, ‘Besthöven’ & ‘Metropolixo’; report on the Maio Negro (“black may”) gig commemorating the general strike that took place in Chicago (110 years before) in the fight for 8 hours of work per day (several anarchists were killed), news from Curitiba, and more.

#12 (’97): presentation of the band ‘Offense’ (Curitiba), report on an a fascist attack and eviction of Czech Squat, info Blitz squat infogroup (Oslo), texts written by the Impregnantes & Libertários cooperative (racist violence in Curitiba, police violence in Salvador).

#13 (’97; in Spanish): scenereport about Curitiba, an article on atheism and presentation of the band ‘L.A.I.’.

#15 (’97): interview with anarchist poet Reinaldo O. Hening, info on the centro social alternativo autogestonado (squat) Casa Encantada (Lisbon, Por), Polenta Frita punk festival VI in Caxias do Sul, talk with the band ‘F.H.C.’ (Fome, Histeria e Corrupçao; Minas Gerais, Bra), meeting with indigenous people in Joinville (Bra), chat with the ananrchopunk band ‘Resistência’ (Uruguay), Austrian scenereport, and more.

#16 (’98): edito on the punk-movement in Fazendinha with info on the Castro Alves cultural centre, reviews (concerts/tapes/zines), homebrew recipe; interviews with (cartoonist) Marião (SCAB Lomhlaba zine), ‘Difekto’ (Curitiba), ‘Sistema Criminal’ (Bilbao, Bizkaia, Euskadi) & ‘Cojoba’ (Porto Rico); Italian scenereport, Payol squat (Curitiba), etc. etc.

Armando played guitar in the anarchist HC/punk band ‘L.A.I.‘ (‘Livre Associação de Ideias’; “free association of ideas”) in the second half of the 90s. He tells me the band is still active (still the same line-up). They promote the ideas of their collective Cooperativa Impregnantes e Libertário. Members participated in other band-projects such as ‘Offense’, ‘The CO2’, ‘Tratores de Luxo’, etc. They also released Cooperativa Impregnantes e Libertário tapes. Armando also has a distro going (Attack Social Records).

Brob

I started doing the zine in 1993. The aim was to disseminate anarchist ideas and the punk ideology, writing about punk activities (shows, demonstrations, protests & meetings). There were interviews with bands from our scene and with people we were in contact with via (snail)mail around the world… The zine is in Portuguese and has always mainly been distributed in the Brazilian punk scene.

The literal meaning of ‘Impregnante’ is a sticky substance that penetrates a body or environment. In our local slang it also has a figurative meaning: an ‘impregnant’ person is someone who is overly insistent, generally uncomfortable, annoying and clingy… Referring to someone with that word is definitely not giving them a compliment.

The zine was started collectively by punks from the Fazendinha neighbourhood, the suburbs of Curitiba. Our initial idea was to disturb, to impregnate the society with our ideas. Using the resources that were available: magazine-clippings, handmade drawings and texts written on a typewriter. After the third or fourth edition I started doing it alone and there were 16 editions between 1993 and 1998. It appeared irregularly; sometimes there were three editions in a year, other times just one… The format and number of pages varied; I kept the last editions to some 20 pages.

At the time, zines were a very efficient way to promote the counterculture, to spread information that is relevant for the punk movement. With the growth of the virtual world and access to the internet, physical fanzines diminished from the 2000s onwards. Now it has gained relevance again. I think the new generation is realizing that the smartphone does everything but is not everything. It’s giving value to physical material, something that for them, digital natives, is new. Currently [spring 2024] I’m doing new editions of the zine in physical format, distributed mainly at local shows but also release them as PDF for wider dissemination. I talk about old and new scenes…

The collective produced many other zines such as: Utopia – a zine created collectively (only one issue), Já Sem Dentes (“already without teeth”) – 1998/2004, a comic zine that I made together with another Brazilian punk who had gone to live in London, Sociedade Auto Destrutiva (“self-destructive society”) – distributed widely in the early 2000s.

Nowadays I dedicate myself to digitally archive my city’s punk history from the 90s on blog impregnantes.com.br [flyers, photos, recordings, video, etc.], for entertainment and research purposes. Most of my zines are available to download. I believe all these are historical documentation, countercultural records that shouldn’t get lost. It’s voluntary work, no intention to make profit, as punk should be. No ads…

In 2020, I participated in the Feria Del Libro Punk [“punk bookfair”], where I gave a talk (in Spanish) about my zine-work in the 90s.

Stay rebel, stay anarchist, stay punk!

Armando

[Translation below; thx to Armando]

‘Renegados’ (“renegades”)

Since when does the band exist and who are the members?

We have been around since February 1995 but rehearsals only began in April. The members are: Moska (“fly”) (vocals), Elvis (guitar) and Fábio (drums).

How do you define the band’s sound?

Punk noise.

Are all the band’s members punks? What projects do you have going?

Yes. Elvis does the zines Berro HC (“HC scream”) and Ação Subversiva (“subversive action”), Moska plays in three other bands: ‘Quebra de Padrões’ (“pattern breaker”), ‘Sobreviventes da Desgraça’ (“survivors of disgrace”) and ‘Nojo Social’ (“social disgust”). He also works on the zines Berro HC and Discórdia (“discord”). Fábio also plays in the bands ‘Nojo Social’ and ‘Sobreviventes da Desgraça’.

Tell us in a few words about how the access to shows, rehearsals, etc. is?

We rehearsed at the house of a mate of ours and at Kaaza squat (play on words: casa means “house”). A space for shows is not avialable.

What is the band’s objective?

To spread and encourage punk culture, resist, annoy and be the thorn in the side of the bourgeois, the clergy, the military and all fascist parasites.

Is ‘Renegados’ influenced by other bands?

We enjoy the music of some activist punk bands but there are no direct influences.

The band is featured on the compilation-album Maldita Repressão (“danm repression”). Can you tell us about that?

It was something unexpected, it was a stimulus to continue with the band-project.

How can people contact you?

P.O. Box 1094 CEP 80.020-970 Curitiba/PR. People who think punk is a joke or a fashion shouldn’t write.

Plans for the future…?

Recording for a compilation-tape with the activist bands from Curitiba: ‘Desajustados’ (“misfits”), ‘Transgressão’ (“transgression”) and ‘Livre Associação de Ideias’ (“free association of ideas”). It will be titled Bêbados, Pobres e Contestadores (“drunks, poor and contestants”). And continue resisting and revolutionizing within the punk culture.

Any messages?

No more ‘77 punks. Fuck fake punks, death to the bourgeoisie and idols. God does not exist! Smash fascism!