Plaid Retina (Silly Hornets Tribune #3)

Silly Hornets was a concert-collective, a D.I.Y. association of HardCore-fans in Lyon, bringing north-american bands to their town and supporting local bands (first half of the 90s). The people involved were members of the “metal punkcore” band ‘Condense’ band (guitarist Varoujan Kestechian, singer Marc Prempain, drummer Sébastien Barcet, guitarist Wilfried ‘Wilo’ Siméan, bassist Fred Garcia => Fabrice ‘Bif’ Godet) and their mates (e.g. ‘Maïe’ Perraud – the band’s manager at the time).

Some of them were also involved in making a radio-programme (garage/punk/HC on Radio Canut) and doing a zine: Silly Hornets Tribune. Four issues were published. Number 2, 3 & 4 (each ca. 40/50 pages) are available on the www.

In #2 (’90) there’s columns (e.g. americanisation of European subcultures); talks with ‘The Tell-Tale Hearts’ (garage rock from San Diego), ‘Enterprize’ (association founded by the Paris punk band ‘Cosmic Wurst’), Tim Warren (Crypt recs), ‘All’ & ‘M.S.T.’; plus reviews & cartoons.

#3 (’91) has columns (e.g. macho behaviour, objective journalism, etc.); interviews with Econochrist, ‘D.I.’, ‘Plaid Retina’, ‘M.D.C.’, ‘Fugazi’, ‘Victims Family’, pro skateboarder Lance Mountain, ‘Shaking Dolls’ (garage band from Angers, Fra), ‘NoMeansNo’, ‘G.I. Love’ (psychedelic HC/punk band from Paris), ‘D.O.A.’, etc.; a presentation of The Crab Song (Paris distro); reviews; cartoons and news.

#4 (’92) starts of with the story of mid-60s punk; then there’s conversations with ‘The Brood’ (garagerock from Portland, Maine), ‘The Mono Men’ (garagepunk band from Bellingham, Wa), ‘Dead Moon’ (punk/garage from Portland, Or), skater Tom Knox, ‘Jawbox’ (indie rock from Washington D.C.), ‘Mudhoney’ (SubPop band from Seattle, Wa), etc. Furthermore a report about HC/punk in Latin-America, columns (e.g. ‘Maïe’ on Surfers Against Sewage) and reviews.

Brob

The right person to talk about the zine is Marc Prempain. I was more involved in organising concerts… You can add the name of Eric ‘Biloul’ Rageys, the sound-man; he recorded our demo-tapes.

‘Maïe’ Perraud

I was part of the association but didn’t take care of the fanzine.

Varoujan Kestechian

The fanzine was of indeed a collective effort. The two main ‘axes’ were the 60s garage and hardcore scenes. There was always a punk edge. The Anglo-Saxons have an expression that describes well what we wanted to do and it was nothing original: spreading the gospel…preaching the word. Everyone was a fan of punkrock and wanted to share their vision of it. Although everything had started with the English bands of 76/80 that we had only got to known with a delay of a few years, at that time our goal was really to make the scenes that I spoke about above known. The big rolemodels were MRR and to a lesser extent Flipside, and a few other lesser known beat/60s punk oriented mags. Since we were organising concerts in our city, it allowed us to do a few interviews and thus make connections or at least have a little more in-depth discussions with the bands. It also gave us the opportunity to put some things that were important to us on paper (opinions/columns). Looking back, there are some fairly simplistic articles but at the time it was liberating!

I’m not sure if I can say I learned from making a zine (or speak for others). However, the satisfaction of starting from nothing much to make something that you then hold in your hands, of which you take a certain pride and which will pass from hand to hand, is very real.

Marc Prempain

‘Plaid Retina’ was a HC/punk band from Visalia (near Fresno), California with Don Hudgens (drums), Matt Morris (guitar/vocals) and Travis Hernandez (bass/vocals). They were introduced to me through The Thing That Ate Floyd compilation double-LP (LookOut! recs; 1988)…

[Translation below]

WHEN YOU LISTEN TO THEIR FIRST EP AND THE ALBUM THEY RELEASED ON LOOKOUT IN 1989, YOU WONDER IF IT’S THE SAME BAND YOU’RE LISTENING TO. THEY’VE REACHED SUCH A LEVEL OF MATURITY IN A SHORT TIME, THAT IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO REMAIN INSENSITIVE TO WHAT THEY’RE DOING. THEY’RE OFTEN COMPARED TO ‘NOMEANSNO’ TO A POINT THAT THIS IS DOING THEM WRONG AND IT’S EVEN MORE A PITY THAT THEY DIDN’T KNOW ‘NOMEANSO’ AT THE TIME OF THE RECORDING OF THEIR LP.

I OFTEN FIND THAT CALIFORNIA HAS THE WIDEST VARIETY OF HARDCORE BANDS. ONE THING IS SURE: ‘PLAID RETINA’ AREN’T THERE FOR NOTHING! THIS WRITTEN INTERVIEW DATES FROM 1990. IT’S AT EVER SO FRESH…

WHAT ARE YOU UP TO RIGHT NOW?

We just came back from our second US tour which lasted 5 weeks; it was really good. We’re supposed to be recording our new album soon. That is also supposed to be released on CD (We’re all doing our best for that.) but no one seems to seriously want to release a ‘Plaid Retina’ CD.

HOW LONG HAS ‘PLAID RETINA’ BEEN AROUND?

We have been together for 6 years, 4 as ‘Plaid Retina’ and 2 with Travis.

WHAT DOES ‘PLAID RETINA’ MEAN?

“If you had a plaid retina, you’d see everything fucked?” That’s a remark that Matt (guitar/vocals) heard from a drunk guy during a concert.

DID YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH LABELS? ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH LOOKOUT! RECS?

Our biggest problem with labels is that we don’t stay in touch enough with the people who run these labels (with LookOut! Too [Lawrence Livermore]). We’re good friends with Dave Hayes [originally co-founder of LookOut! recs] of Very Small recs and we’ll probably do a record with him. I don’t think we’ll ever get to the point where a label likes us enough to hang out with us, come and see us rehearse, etc. It always seems like it’s up to us to get out of town every time we try to get a label’s attention.

DID YOU TOUR TO PROMOTE PINK EYE?

Yeah, twice. We sold quite a few too!

EXCEPT FOR THE PLAID RETINA EP AND THE PINK EYE LP, HAVE YOU RELEASED ANY OTHER RECORDS?

Yes, we did two more EPs. Rejection [1990], which was released in the USA on Duck Butter recs in Fresno, and Boxcar [1988] released in Germany by Musical Tradgedies [Florian Schück].

PINK EYE AND PLAID RETINA ARE VERY DIFFERENT MUSICALLY, DID YOU SEEK THIS EVOLUTION OR DID IT COME BY ITSELF?

If you heard Boxcar you’ll understand the bridge between our old songs and the new ones. It’s just a natural evolution.

THE MUSIC OF YOUR LATEST LP IS VERY RHYTHMIC, VERY TWISTED… HAVE YOU BEEN INFLUENCED BY OTHER MUSIC GENRES SUCH AS RAP FOR EXAMPLE?

Yeah, maybe not rap, but the three of us like a lot of different things. We have a very broad horizon…

DESPITE ITS ORIGINALITY, YOUR MUSIC SEEMS TO BELONG TO A CURRENT STYLE OF MUSIC: THE LAST ‘BAD BRAINS’, THE LAST ‘NOMEANSNO’; WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT?

Yes, they’re two great bands, but I hate it when people talk to us about ‘NoMeansNo’ because they think we sucked. Nothing could be further from the truth: we recorded Pink Eye before even listening to ‘NoMeansNo’.

HOW IMPORTANT ARE THE LYRICS OF YOUR SONGS TO YOU?

The words should be emotional as opposed to intellectual. There are a lot of good lyricists, Jello Biafra for example, but our band is more concerned with feelings.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF JELLO BIAFRA OR HENRY ROLLINS, WHO SOMETIMES DROPPED MUSIC TO CONVEY THEIR MESSAGE THROUGH POETRY OR SPOKEN WORD?

I think that’s really good! Henry Rollins has always been one of my favourite authors. It’s a good thing to know that people have other ways to express themselves besides music.

OUR FANZINE COVERS 60s PUNK AND HARDCORE. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BANDS THAT MIX THE TWO? DO YOU LISTEN TO ANY 60s PUNK BANDS?

I think it’s very good for the people that are into it; the closest thing to 60s punk that I listen to are the ‘Ramones’ or Iggy Pop.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE BANDS?

I answer for everyone: ‘Blondie’, ‘King Crimson’, ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers’, ‘Rollins Band’, late ‘Black Flag’, ‘Firehose’, ‘Minutemen’, ‘23 More Minutes’ [cowboy-punk from Santa Fe, New Mexico], ‘Alice Donut’, ‘Bazooka Joe’ [punk-rock from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina], ‘Victims Family’, ‘Neurosis’, Julie Cruise, ‘Hoopla!’ [punk from Illinois], ‘Jawbox’, ‘Soundgarden’, ‘Pixies’, ‘Night Soil Man’ [indie-rock from California], ‘Gore’, Morrissey, ‘Jawbreaker’, Tom Knox’s band [pro skater; played drums for ‘Cacti Widders’], ‘Punkin’ Pie’ [California], ‘Drippy Drawers’ [California], live version of Heaven And Hell by ‘Black Sabbath’, late ‘Voivod’. Of course these are just a few examples.

DO YOU KNOW ANY FRENCH HARDCORE? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT?

No, I’m trying to take an interest in it. I’m also trying to to gert ‘Plaid Retina’ interested in it because we want to tour and play in France.

ANYTHING TO ADD?

Yes, we would like people to write to us from France. We don’t know how to speak French but we would like to correspond.

interview: Wilo Simean

Motus Vita Est (Glans Penissis #4)

Glans Penissis was the work of Zlatko ‘Vuka’ Vuković (R.I.P.) & Vedran Meniga (‘Nula‘ drummer), both from Šibenik (city on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea).

Jadranko Mlinarić of Fanzini 80-ih made 2 issues available:

#4 (1991): gig-reports & reviews; ‘ interviews with ‘Motus Vita Est’ (Zagreb), ‘Oi Polloi’, ‘Ritam Nereda’ (Novi Sad, Serbia), ‘Schliessmuskel’, ‘Emils’, ‘Internal Autonomy’, ‘Mere Dead Men’; presentation of ‘Gottschee’ (Kočevje, Slo); presentations of Zagreb bands, and more…

#6 (1994): booklet with info/lyrics that came with ‘Nula’s tape Pobjedimo Laž (“let’s defeat the lie”); plus an interview with ‘W.O.R.M.’, presentations of local bands ‘Antitude’, ‘Apatridi’, ‘Enklava’, ‘Frontalni Udar’ & ‘My Life/ My Dreams’), etc.

Nowadays Vedran labels himself as a “publisher, journalist, DJ, promoter, organiser, producer, party-animal, underground music activist, sound provider and positive lifestyle supporter”… He’s the owner of Pozitivan Ritam (“positive rhythm”) agency and PDV recs (label). He was a pioneer of the MonteParadiso festival (Pula) and still organises festivals…<< (e.g. SeaSplash festival)

‘Motus Vita Est‘ was a HC/punk band formed in Zagreb ’88, Croatia (still Yugoslavia then; Croatian independence was internationally recognized in January ’92). The line-up at the time of the interview (after their first LP was released) was ‘Hogar’ Rade Preradović (vocals), Dalibor Knežević (guitar), Zoran Stojanović (guitar), Damir Mihulja (bass) & Nenad Koporčić (drums).

[Translation below; with help of Dejan Požegar]

MOTUS VITA EST [latin for “movement is life”]

(answers by ‘Hogar’)

I did this interview after attending a ‘Motus’ gig, and their first LP confirmed all that, i.e. the quality … /N. [???]/

Tell us a bit about the beginning of ‘Motus’.

The first rehearsal of ‘Motus’ was in the tenth month of 1986, I gathered some friends and suggested that instead of drinking and being bored, we’ld start with a band. It was a wild bunch but we lost it and split up; only to start again a year later.

Line-up changes?

There were a lot of changes.

Do you have any role-models or favourite bands?

Hogar: We don’t have a role-model and we all like divers bands. Personally I don’t have any favourites since ‘Dead Kennedys’; I even don’t have time to listen to other new bands poperly.

Many people talk about how your music used to be HC, and nowadays is crossover. How would you describe your music?

Well, listen…we’re a HC band but it would be a sin against music and ourselves if we’ld be limiting ourselves to a certain rhythm or way of playing the guitar. Depending on the atmosphere of the lyrics, we make music regardless of the style. The functionality of the music is important, not whether or not hammering is used.

You’ve released a lot of demos. Now there’s vinyl. How did you manage to realize it: through an independent label or self-financing, D.I.Y.?

We were financed by Sacro Egoismo from Vienna and everything else we did ourselves.

You appeared on the compilation-LP The Return Of Yugoslavia [Street Tuff recs & Sacro Egoismo, 1990]. I recently noticed that it’s sold by foreign independent labels; do you receive letters or calls from abroad regarding this?

The letters are coming in and have been arriving at a constant pace, because our tapes are being distributed a lot outside [of Yugoslavia]… It’s not like the Return LP it’s a turning-point for us.

Does your city support you? I was in Zagreb, most of the people love you, but still there was teargas used at your show. Was that a coincidence or are there problems when you play?

Those for whom our gig was intended love us and that’s important. We’re only in conflict with some wanna-be rock-critics. That teargas was thrown by some moron but it didn’t ruin our concert. The reason was that we kicked two people out of the band because they wanted to do commercial music. There were no excesses before and there won’t be any in the future either, because we cleared things up.

Speaking of Zagreb: are there any young bands that are progressing and could get somewhere?

There are cool bands and the more they try, the more they will achieve. The most active of the youngsters are ‘Hell’s Bells’.

Do you cooperate with Zagreb noise bands such as ‘Patareni’, ‘T.M.P.’ [Total Mošt Proyekt] & ‘Buka’?

No. Otherwise: what you listed is one band. [Dejan: same members – different projects]

What do you think about the Yugo scene as a whole? There are more and more great concerts and independent labels.

We have everything but there’s no significant progress: instead of tapes, records are made; that’s all. Those ‘independent’ publishing labels behave like Jugoton [national record-label/-company, pressing-plant and recordstore-chain], only they have less money. Their goal is mostly the same: to make profit.

You’re definitely one of the best Yugo bands. Do you happen to like and listen to any Yugo bands?

Thanks for the compliment. As for local bands: I like them just as I like foreign ones. The last few days I’ve been listening to ‘Ludilo’ [Dejan: “maddness/insanity”; trashmetal from Bosnia], ‘Distress’ [raw punk from Belgrado], ‘Overdose’ [Serbian HC/crossover/industrial band], ‘Hogari’ [Dejan: “punk/oi from Belgrado]; I also like ‘Gottschee’ [Slovenian thrash band]. There are many good and interesting ones.

About your concerts. You often play in Zagreb. Where else did you play in Yugoslavia?

The furthest away from Zagreb, we played in Koper [Slo] and Smederevska Palanka [Ser].

What’s your opinion about the concert at the Gallery, that you did to promote your album?

We played a standard [Dejan: quality-wise] set for ‘Motus’, we didn’t make any mistakes, the audience reacted well, even when there was teargas. I’m glad that ‘KBO!’ [Serbian punk band], ‘Zadruga’ [Croatian punkrock band], ‘Hell’s Bells’ [HC from Zagreb], ‘Ex-Sandra’ [Dejan: don’t know that band] responded to our invitation. ‘Zadruga’ pleasantly surprised me. By the way, I still didn’t get my amplifier fixed that got broken there. Not to forget: I really liked the attitude of the ESCE Gallery [important place of alternative culture at the time of the break-up of Yugoslavia] staff and the P.A. guy.

Have you played outside Yugoslavia, and if so: where?

The first time we played outside of Yugoslavia was in Vienna, at the Arena [venue] on 25/05/1989. Now we have promo-concerts in Austria in March. Besides Austria, we have only played in Germany. This season we have some more countries coming up.

Did you continue working after the release of the LP? Are you thinking of trying to reach a wider audience: you mentioned shooting a video for TV?

I will try my best to arrange as many gigs as possible and I believe that this should be echoed in the media as well, because HC is also part of the culture.

Anything to end with?

Oats to the horse and fuzz to the guitar.

Opposition Party (Are You A Man Or Are You A Mouse #4)

The editor, Bruno Szöllösi (a.k.a. James Le Hongrois), was born in Hungary but resided in the suburbs of Paris (Neuilly-sur-Marne). There were 9 issues of the zine, between 1990-94. Luk Haas contributed. After these, AYAMOAYAM became a newsletter for a couple of issues. The second one (Nov. ’94) was special about Senegal; the fourth (Jun. ’97) about Zimbabwe… In ’95 Bruno also did a mini–brochure (Do Eat Yourself) with a list of healthy foods.

In #1 (Jan. 1990): “I don‘t pretend to bring anything new, I just want to have done something for this movement, so that when I‘m old I can say I was there!”. A review by the Poitiers Fanzinothèque mentions: “What strikes at first glance is not so much the chaotic presentation but the quality of the printing, the funny, dynamic and elegant style, and the very personal tone that makes it a pleasure to read. It’s fundamentally international and the editor has no blinders on: there’s pop, cold–wave, rock, etc.”. That first issue was filled with reviews and a few columns. That continued in the following…

#2 (’90) feartures ‘Time To Grow’ & ‘The Field Mice’ (indie pop from London). #4 (’91) is with ‘Opposition Party’ (Singapore HC/punk), ‘Kaltfront’ (Dresden), ‘Down By Law’ (Dijon) & Hisztéria’ (punk band from Budapest); and has a report from Mexico… In #7 (’92) there’s interviews with ‘Jello Biafra’, ‘Mordor’ (Swiss black/doom metal), ‘Blackbird’ (Hong Kong), ‘Moribund Youth’ (Tur), ‘Flagrants D’Eli’, ‘Rise And Fall’ (rock band from Vielsalm, Belgium); scenereports from Hungary, Roumenia, Czech Republic, Japan, etc.

The cover of AYAMOAYAM #6 mentions “Hungary special” and bands such as ‘Perfect Kids’ (Fra), ‘Gulag’ (Gre), ‘Spinners’ (Tur), ‘Virus 63’ (Ger), etc. #9 was labeled an “international anarchopunk HC fanzine”.

‘Opposition Party’, a punk band from Singapore, was founded by Francis Leong a.k.a. Francis Frightful in late ’86 (a foursome early in their existence). The line-up changed and by in the early 90s Francis was the only one who remained; he played guitar and sang. The others were Evan Tan (bass) & Michael (drums).

[Translation below]

IS THERE A HC/PUNK SCENE IN THE 90S IN SINGAPORE?

There isn’t really a HC/punk scene in Singapore. We don’t have much comment to give on this.

DO YOU INTEND TO MAKE RECORDINGS OF BANDS FOR YOUR OWN LABEL SUBCULTURE TAPES? OR JUST TRACKS OF ‘OPPOSITION PARTY’?

To date, our label is just occupied with ‘Opposition Party’ productions, and that has already kept us quite busy. We’ve got no plans to produce other bands, because we may not be able to manage that. Taking care of ourselves took up a lot of our time.

IS IT STILL HARD TO FIND PUNK RECORDS IN SINGAPORE?

Punk records are pretty hard to find here. And usually everything that is available is very expensive.

DID YOU DO ANY OTHER CONCERTS THIS YEAR? DO YOU GET SEE FOREIGN BANDS PLAYING IN YOUR CITY?

It’s difficult to organise concerts here. We only played five shows in Singapore this year. We haven’t seen punk bands from another country come and play here before.

ARE YOU PREPARING NEW SONGS FOR YOUR THIRD TAPE? CAN YOU TELL ME IF YOU HAVE AN THOUGHTS ABOUT FUTURE RELEASES?

We’re currently working on several new titles. The new songs for the next production will be more or less in the metal/hardcore/punk vein. We believe these songs will be harder this time around.

DO YOU THINK ANARCHY IS THE BEST PATH FOR EVERYONE? FRANCIS, DO YOU HAVE YOUR OWN OPINION ON ANARCHY?

Anarchy, if we succeed of course, will be the best path for everyone. It’s all about getting there. I don’t know much about it but I certainly would say…that having no system and everyone being on the same level of equality, working together reciprocally, is what I’m in favour of too – although this is just a small part of what anarchy really is. I’m sorry but I don’t know enough about it to give a more complete opinion.

ARE YOU READY FOR A WORLD-TOUR OF ‘OPPOSITION PARTY’?

We’re totally ready. In fact our main ambition is to travel far – as a band – to see and observe the punk-scenes around the world. We hate being stuck in Singapore and we want to get out of here. We want to be an international band and we just want to get out of Singapore. Not just being on tour but basing ourselves elsewhere if possible…

DOES THE BAND STILL HAVE THE SAME LINE-UP?

The line-up was different when ‘Opposition Party’ started at the end of ‘86. (Editor’s note: There were 4 of them, and only Francis remains from the original line-up.) The current line-up has been together for 1.5 years.

STUPID QUESTION – IS IT POSSIBLE THAT ONE DAY THERE WILL BE A GIRL IN YOUR BAND, OR ONLY IN YOUR BED? (STUPID NO?)

We haven’t thought about this thing before. We don’t know but there would be no problem – should there be???

THE END! DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING SPECIAL TO SAY TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE?

We would really like to come to France one day, because we have good friends over there. We would also like to get news from everyone abroad, and we have a tape (It’s Our Lives) available… Please get it!!! Ask for it!!!

Francis has written back to me since then. Telling me that not many people around the world had asked for the demo mentioned above. He says it’s sad because ‘O.P.’ is trying to get contacts around the world. His band still wants to get out of Singapore.

Line-up: Francis (vocals, guitar) – Michael (drums) – Evan (bass)

Discography:

Viva La Anarchia (1986/88, Subculture)

It’s Our Lives (1990; Subculture)

Brain Fucked EP (out soon on New Wave Recs – 20 FF – postpaid)

The 2 demos of ‘Opposition Party’ are available ($5 – each) from: Francis – Toa Payoh Central – P.O.Box 0436 – Singapore 9131

Interview by James Le H. in October 90 – translation by Laure.

ARM (3 Parent Family #1)

This zine was contributed by Mike Fox (singer of ‘Corporate Grave’ and ‘Older Than Dirt’).

The editors were Paul Chambers & Shaun Hemsley – bassist & singer of ‘Hate That Smile’, a Dorset (UK) band who were the support-act of ‘Soulside’ at a gig we organised (89-04-23). Paul also released a compilation-LP (Living On The Edge) on his label Coalition recs. Before this he had done Damaged zine when he was just 15 and “traveled to interview Charlie Harper, ‘Disorder’, ‘Amebix’, ‘Subhumans’, ‘A-Heads’, etc. but also strongly covered the local scene”.

This first issue (1991) has an article on ‘Butthole Surfers’, interviews with ‘Life But How To Live It’, ‘ARM’ (progressive indie rock from Hamburg) and a rave-organiser; plus opinions/articles (operation desert storm, celtic life) and reviews.

There was also a second ‘sex and sexuality’ issue containing interviews with ‘Citizen Fish’, ‘Dawson’, ‘Herb Garden’, ‘Jawbreaker’, ‘Shudder To Think’ & ‘Spermbirds’, and “interesting opinions” on tantric sex, pornography, abortion, gender-war, homosexuality, etc.

ARM (who played “math rock”/HardCore) are known for their album on Your Choice Life Series (Tobby Holzinger’s label; a recording of their 89-10-28 gig supporting ‘Verbal Assault’) and touring with ‘Victims Family’. They consisted of Danielle ‘Yell’ Mommertz (vocals), Markus Grapmayer (guitar), Stephan Mahler (drums; ex ‘Torpedo Moskau’, later ‘Slime’; later Marc Wills R.I.P.) & Uwe Roth (bass).

 

ForceFed (Zygoma #5)

I read about this zine in an issue of Raising Hell (early 90s): the contacts mentioned were Wiktor Skok & Wojtek Draz (from Łódź, Poland) The latter wasn’t an editor but probably someone who sent the zine out (Wojtek Drążkowski a.k.a. Chudy?)… I found 2 issues on the www:

#3 (20 pages) contains a feature on ‘Misfits’, an interview with ‘Fugazi’, Mykel Board’s Scumrock story, a talk with ‘ZygZak’ Krzysztof Chojnacki (singer in a punk band), info on the industrial band ‘Throbbing Gristle’, an interview with the avantguarde band ‘Pere Ubu’, translated lyrics by ‘Swans’, ‘Chaos UK’ & ‘Sonic Youth’, and more.

#5 (68 pages; subtitled Todays World Is Now / Punk Is Here Today / If You Don’t Like Our Way / Fuckin’ Go Away!) presents ‘The Adverts’, ‘Black Flag’ (Henry Rollins), ‘The Cramps’, ‘New York Dolls’, ‘Jingo De Lunch’ & ‘Einstürzende Neubauten’; there’s interviews with ‘Disorder’, ‘ForceFed’ & the graphic artist Jeff Gaither; lyrics by various bands, zine-/audio-/gig-reviews, more on ‘Throbbing Gristle’, etc.

Zygoma was published from 1988 to 1993 (? issues). In ’93 Wiktor founded the industrial/experimental outfit ‘Jude’ (of which he was/is the vocalist)…

Brob

From the www: >>Wiktor Skok is a protagonist/pillar of industrial culture in Łódź and a long-time animator of the hardcore/punk scene; the vocalist and frontman of the band ‘Jude’ and publisher of the zine Plus Ultra. He’s a musician, visual artist, publicist, DJ, promoter (Wunder Wave; independent concerts, screenings integrating the local punk and hardcore community), curator of music- and art-projects. He explores the possibilities of various media, platforms of communication and expression. Author of graphics, posters, leaflets, logo’s, videos, etc. He usually combines visual arts with music or noise (industrial, electro-industrial, EBM, power-noise).<<

I just loved the idea of doing a zine; (trying to) presenting music, ideas, visuals in my own way; spreading my vision on punk (knowing there’s a lot of other ways)… Zygoma is a part of facial anatomy [the zygomatic bone is a bone of the human skull, the cheekbone], the name sounded good…

Wiktor Skok

In June ’90 I helped ‘ForceFed’ touring because it was the band of (ex)’Heresy’s Kalvin Peiper. They had already done a Smurfpunx show 90-02-17. Besides Kalv on bass, the band consisted of Jamie Sims (vocals) and brothers Nick (guitar) & Nige(l) Clark (drums). After that Kalv left the band to be replaced by Neil Pitfield, and they took Mike Knowlton (of Sycophant recs) as their new singer. This interview dates from 1991.

[Translation below]

+ We’ll start with a short introduction. Tell us something about the band’s history and what you have released so far.

– ‘ForceFed’ was formed in April 1989, consisting of: Jamie [Sims] (vocals), Kalv(in) [Peiper] (ex-‘Heresy’; bass) Nick [Clark] (guitar), Nige(l) [Clark] (drums). First we released Claustrophobia (In Your Face recs [Kalvin Peiper], Nottingham, UK) which was recorded in September 1989. Immediately after touring England and Europe, John Peel (Radio One/BBC [90-03-18]) asked us to do a recording-session for his programme in March 1990.

Then we recorded our first 7” Full Up And Loaded (Limited Edition recs [Till Neurath], Bremen, Germany) in April 1990. It was then that we had a line-up change: the former vocalist was replaced by Mike [Knowlton] and after the second European tour, Kalv also left the band and was replaced by our current bassplayer Neil [Pitfield]. We finally recorded the second ‘ForceFed’ album Elounda Sleeps (Sycophant recs [Mike Knowlton], Nottingham, UK) in November 1990 after having recorded the second 7” Fast Forward/Big Dig (Sister recs [René Herbst], Rülzheim, Germany).

Since the release of the second album Elounda Sleeps, we’ve been invited to do another recording-session at the BBC for John Peel for the second time; that happened in January this year [91-01-08].

We have future plans to record another single and a new LP later this year.

+ Why did you start playing?

– We started playing as a band because we had similar musical tastes and because there were a lot of bands playing at the time that had a huge influence on us. We like bands such as ‘Poison Idea’ and ‘Bad Brains’.

+ What does ‘ForceFed’ stand for and how would you interpret the name?

– It’s simply an idea for a name to reflect the effect of being subjected to something you can’t escape, i.e. powerful music or other experiences that happen in life. ‘ForceFed’.

+ What can you say tell us your music? What kind of definition would you give to someone who has never heard you?

– Actually, sometimes it’s very difficult for us to describe what we play because it’s hard to define. It’s best if we just say it’s a mixture of hardcore and heavy metallic rock. We listen to a lot of different kinds of music but when we play, we play hard-hitting music, which is mainly based on very powerful guitar and vocals.

+ Tell us about your lyrics, what influences them? Are they the result of your experiences and reflections? Are they intended to move the public?

– All the lyrics are written by Mike, the vocalist, and are generally based on his personal experiences. Sometimes these lyrics mean something completely different to other people. So you don’t really know what effect a song like this will have. In the past, people completely misunderstood our lyrics.

+ What is the relationship between ‘ForceFed’ and ‘Heresy’ & ‘Ripcord?

– As explained in the beginning, our first bassplayer was in ‘Heresy’, and as far as ‘Ripcord’ is concerned, we’ve got nothing to do with them so far. However, ‘Heresy’ did share a guitarist with ‘Ripcord’.

+ What are your shows like in the UK?

– Most of them are very good even the smaller ones. But sometimes when we tour with well-known bands from the States, they seem to get a bigger reaction from the audience, which you probably know well. The same happens with other bands touring Europe. And sometimes it seems to us that we’re better received in Europe when we play as the main band of the night (headliner) after a local band (support band).

+ What’s the scene like in your area and what place do you have in it?

– We’ve had a well-developed scene in our city of Nottingham for a good few years now. It mainly started in the mid 80s with bands like ‘Heresy’ & ‘Concrete Sox’, and a few good clubs where you could go to see HC bands. Since then it has all grown and although tastes are more varied, there are still many places where you can see bands live.

Since we started playing as ‘ForceFed’ we’ve always been well received in Nottingham and we still play gigs in our area. Our records also sell well in Nottingham. Most of the bands here help each other to organise rehearsal- and concert-venues.

+ How do you think the band should be connected to the scene?

– I think the idea is that the band organising their own promotion and maintaining interest in by doing what they can to help the local scene. We have a lot of people in the area playing in bands and running their own small businesses, but also bigger ones like Earache [Digby Pearson; Nottingham, UK]. This all gives bands a better chance of releasing something on vinyl and keeping interest in smaller bands.

+ What’s commercialism in your opinion?

– Most people will say that commercialism is bad, it kills people and destroys natural values. But that’s only one side of it, because we’re all affected by it in some way, whether we like it or not. Commercialisation means exchanging material on a large and small scale. Everyone who buys records, T-shirts, etc. is affected by commercialism. And I think that’s why bands are so easily accused of selling out. I think people should know how much efforts a band makes to get somewhere, that they don’t get much money for a show or a record. There needs to be more understanding, especially when people don’t think about the fact that they’re overpaying for the latest imported record from America, for example.

+ What do you think of all those music-press dinosaurs like N.M.E. [New Musical Express], M.M. [Melody Maker], Sounds? Can you find articles about independent groups in them?

– Mostly these publications have been quite lazy in respect to providing information about independent bands. Mostly it’s a chore for the music-journalists working for these newspapers, because of their narrowminded musical tastes, and their complete lack of interest in smaller companies and independent bands. Although recently Sounds has started to feature a lot of hardcore and independent bands, like ourselves (‘ForceFed’), with articles and album-reviews. Unfortunately, Sounds has recently ended up as a music-magazine, so it seems that we will still have to rely on magazines that focus on non-independent music.

+ What do you do besides playing in the band? What does your everyday life look like?

– The members of ‘ForceFed’ have to eat and play eqaully! So to earn some money, we work when we can. Mike (vocals) runs his own record-label Sycophant and this takes up most of his time, as well as singing in ‘Meatfly’, his other band. Nige (drums) works for a construction-company. So does Neil (bass). Myself (Nick), I work when I find a job, and also read and write new material for the band.

+ Is there anything you would like to say to Polish readers?

– I would just like to say that in the UK we’re very interested in what the scene is like in Poland, and the members of ‘ForceFed’ are looking forward to touring Poland in September this year. We’ve heard lots of good things about the people in Poland and their willingness to see bands live. So we look forward to meeting you soon!

CLAUSTROPHOBIA [lyrics] * LIES [lyrics]