Isten Malaca (“the devine swine; porcus dei”) was a publication Tamás Lévay (Budapest) did in 1992. He was a music journalist that started writing for “leading papers of the Hungarian rock press” (e.g. Alterock) in the late 80s. He was also correspondent for Maximum RocknRoll and Flipside (1988-96).
In December 1986, he had already done a zero-issue (#0), subtitled Vérezz Érét (“bleed for me”) after the ‘Dead Kennedys’. The cover read: “Hardcore lyrics from the 80s” (‘Discharge’, ‘Dead Kennedys’, ‘Crass’). V.E. could be considered the first punk publication in Hungary.
I.M. #1 (available on the www; written in Hungarian) “contains interviews and articles from punk bands, as well as reviews of records, fanzines and a study of Orwell’s novel 1984”. Bands interviewed: ‘Stretchheads’, ‘Archbishop Kebab’, ‘Dog Faced Hermans’, ‘Fugazi’, ‘NoMeansNo’, ‘Rollins Band’, ‘Instigators’ & local bands. There’s also a report on a national music festival.
Brob
There were 1.100 copies of I.M. printed; it’s become a collectable item. It was weird for me doing zine since I was working as a musical journalist, specializing in underground music. I agree with your thoughts, sharing is essential – I don’t deal with collectors and their shit, I’m a community thinking guy – ebay is evil bay.
Tamás Lévay
Canadian HC/punk band ‘NoMeansNo’ (Vancouver, BC) consisted of the brothers Rob & John Wright (bassist & drummer), and Andy Kerr (guitra/vocals). Smurfpunx did a show for them 89-04-16. This interview was done after the release of The Power Of Positive Thinking (1990).
[Translation below]
We were lucky enough to see the Canadian ‘NoMeansNo’, one of the best bands in the world, in Budapest. After the performance at Lyukbeli, in a hot atmosphere, we chatted with drummer John Wright.
I was grabbed by the lyrics of Dark Ages. One of the lines goes: “The Eastern comrades find out much too late / Free men are free to subjugate”. Do you also think that in order for people to be manipulated, they must believe that they’re not?
I’m sorry but I don’t understand.
I think the leaders in the West were wiser than here. They realized sooner that the people can be kept in check if – apparently – they’re guaranteed freedom. In the East, people haven’t been brainwashed yet, here the people knew exactly that they were living in a dictatorship. In the West, people would never be able to overthrow the system, only if every shred of freedom was destroyed. Maybe in England. The biggest riot of the century took place recently in Trafalgar Square. Do you know what I mean?
Yes, you’re absolutely right. The freedom of Western people means a higher degree of self-determination. With a passport in hand, I can travel to all parts of the world, true; now you can too, but this doesn’t mean that Westerners are free. We’re chained to the economic laws. Maybe we get paid better and the standard of living is higher but everything is very expensive and the state provides very little help for its citizens.
This is especially true in America (Canada can boast about many social programs), where you do whatever you want based on the specifically interpreted principle of freedom, but this also means that you can end up in the street from hunger; you can’t expect help from anyone.
Communist ideology sounds very good but it’s practically impossible to implement. Of course, I sympathize with the left, not communist, but socialist politics. We’re responsible for the fate of our fellow human beings. The American system is very rigid, it doesn’t care about the individual. That system is destroying itself. The United States is in a downward spiral. They will lose their leading role in the world within a few years. Their system is messed up by crime and poverty. America is struggling with a lot of problems. Many different cultures are mixed together. Which is very healthy.
That’s true but it’s no longer healthy that racism and fanaticism are rampant. Despite the cultural differences and difficulties between the French-speaking and the English-speaking population in Canada, there’s not as much intolerance and fear as between blacks and whites in the U.S.A. I don’t even know if there’s a system that solves these problems. The system is only good for those who operate it.
What do you think about the changes in Eastern Europe?
We saw the cruel pictures on Canadian TV about the clashes between Hungarians and Romanians. It was very sad. They seem to have been caught out of the blue. Ceausescu [Romanian communist politician and dictator] was a brutal animal. If he was still alive, he would definitely be happy to see the serious problems he brought down on people’s necks. People shouldn’t be forced to live within borders and moreover, with people they can’t even see.
You firmly spoke out against the overly aggressive audience at the concert. Is such a violent reaction common?
Yeah, we face that all the time. I don’t mind aggressive behaviour if it’s for a purpose. Male aggressiveness is a very powerful force. It’s not always positive, that’s true. We believe that aggressiveness should serve a purpose, people can use it to create or to destroy. Mankind has to learn to handle this resource properly, to use it for some positive purpose. Our audience is very aggressive but that’s okay. It was pretty pointless tonight. People didn’t pay attention to those around them. I like to see the audience let itself go and get into it, but we must never forget that we’re there for each other and not against each other. You have to pay attention to those who don’t want to run amok in the pit but just want to watch the concert. Don’t let a few assholes ruin the party!
The title of your new 12” EP, which includes songs omitted from the Wrong LP [1989], is The Power Of Positive Thinking [1990]. Is this some kind of reference to ‘Big Black’s song with a similar title, The Power Of Independent Trucking?
No no! (laughs) It’s a completely different story. We had no idea what the title should be and I was just wondering about the song-titles. I Am Wrong, Manic Depression and Life In Hell… Well, the power of positive thinking… (laughs)
There are quite a few songs about depression and gloom.
Life isn’t just about beautiful things. In our lyrics we don’t shy away from talking about topics that people care about but don’t really talk about. You have to deal with problems and not run away from them.
Tell us about your plans!
Well, many people are desperately looking for our records, which were released in small numbers in Canada before Sex Mad [1986]. We will soon be re-releasing a remixed version of our maxi EP, You Kill Me, originally released in 1985. Then we would like to release a live album at some point, but it’s not sure yet, we might decide otherwise.
Take it easy. You’re highly skilled and knowledgeable musicians. Haven’t you thought about signing a contract with a major record-company yet?
I don’t think we would fit in with them. Our music isn’t intended for the market.
You could be incredibly popular!
That’s exactly the problem. Major record-companies take away the intrinsic motivation of music, turning it into a product to be sold. Their point is to make it as marketable as possible. Maybe for a first album, the ideas would be respected, it would be released and prove to be a good seller. Then they release a second one and if it also sells well, but not better than the first one, they intervene: you have to make changes here and there! And then you lose your credibility. Major record-companies only care about money. The numbers sold of each new record must be more favourable than that of the previous one. Once they’ve sucked everything out of you, they will throw you away and look for something new. If a band wants to be different, to present an alternative to pop-music, it has to work independently, otherwise it loses its credibility and gets drawn into the vortex. Anyway, I have no problem with pop-musicians. After all, if you think about it, Liszt was a truly original pop-musician. (laughs) The bottomline is that we’re never going to sell ourselves and sign to a major. We don’t compromise.
Interview: Lévay Tamás / Photography: Fejér Zsuzsa
Brob Tilt's zine-world 2 