B.A.P.! & Kortatu (Uniq & Rare #5)

When I visited Anderz Nielsen (Boston Tea Party label & ‘Misanthropic Charity’) in Kopenhagen in 1986, I got the fifth issue of this zine. It was in Danish and edited by Anja Bjerre & Henrik Lund (residing in Ry & Århus, Denmark). Besides doing her fanzine (in the 80s), Anja also contributed articles and interviews to other publications such as Maximum Rock’n’Roll. Henrik was the bassist of the band ‘The Zero Point’; he also contributed to Johnny Concrete’s No Århus zine.

The cover of this 5th issue (Sep. ’86) mentions it used to be called Ha! zine. It has info on the Basque bands ‘B.A.P.’ & ‘Kortatu’, and ‘Scraps’ (both in English); the rest is in Danish: interviews with Chris Chacon of Borderless Countires Tapes (a.k.a. Bad Compilation Tapes) & ‘Beneath Contempt‘ (a band from Copenhagen that labeled their music labeled “garage jazz” but was part of the punk-scene), scenereports from California & Amsterdam (with info on No Olympics), ‘Misanthropic Charity’ pics, reviews and more.

Brob

Henrik Lund is still active in Århus and works for a big newspaper…

Anderz Nielsen

‘B.A.P.!’ is an acronym for ‘Brigada Anti Polizialak’ (“anti-police brigade”) or ‘Babarruna ta Aza Popularra’ (“popular beans and cabbage”). They were a HardCore band from Euskadi, the Basque Country. They formed in 1984 in Andoáin (south of San Sebastian; in the Spanish province Guipúzcoa) and dissolved in 1996. The members were: Eneko Abrego (vocals), ‘Jomes’ (guitar), ‘Drake’ Xabier Olazabal (bass; early on he played guitar and Andres did bass) & ‘Txanpi’ Luis Javier Saiz (drums).

‘Kortatu’ was (1984-88) a ska-punk band from Irun (Guipúzcoa, Euskadi, Basque Country). The musicians at the time were Fermin Muguruza Ugarte (vocals/guitar), Iñigo Muguruza Ugarte (bass/vocals; R.I.P.), ‘Treku’ Javier Armendáriz (drums) & ‘Javi’ Javier Silgueiro (trumpet). ‘Kaki Arkarazo’ Ignacio Arcarazo Bariandiarán later joined as second guitarist.

 

Sabot (JoinKao #1)

1996-1998 my mate Jakob (Stig) Nielsen (from Ålborg, in the north of Denmark) did 9 issues – the first one was #0 – of JoinKao (together with Torben Nielsen, Lars Karup & Jesper Andersen). There were also a whole bunch of people contributing. I got the first isssue for possible distribution, I believe. (Number 0 was free.) Isuue 5 & 6 are also in my collection (probably a donation from a friend). The zine was in newsprint (layout resembling that of HeartAttack) and #8 was in quarter format. It was aimed at the international “scene”, its goal “to connect all kinds of punk/HC music” (emo to crust). To me it seemed like Jakob (who had done the zines Sorte Rose and The Great Enoch before) and his mates had drifted away from underground HC/punk and accepted the ‘music-biz’…

Some content…? #1 (Oct. ’96): ‘Melt-Banana’ (Jap), ‘Sixpence’ (Den), ‘Turboneger’ (Nor; a.k.a. ‘Turbonegro’) & ‘Sabot’; a variety of personal columns, a few short stories, loads of reviews.

The cover of #2 mentions ‘Envy’ (screamo from Tokyo), ‘Stalingrad’ (UK), ‘Bonescratch’ (Jap), short stories and the Czech Republic.

From reviews on the www we learn that #3 (Apr. ’97) features ‘Disgrace’, ‘Mine’, Dan Sinker of Punk Planet, ‘Counterblast’, Simon of Arnie The Anarchist comic-strips; #4 (?): ‘Frodus’ (Washington DC), ‘Stale’ (Stuttgart), ‘Dead Stool Pigeon’, Slug & Lettuce; and #7 (Summer ’98): Uge of Don’t Belong, ‘Skarnspage’ (Nor).

In #5 (Nov. ’97) there’s ‘Harsh’ (Fin), ‘Boris’ (Jap), ‘Phased 4°F’ (Swi); some columns, loads of reviews, an overview of the ‘noise’-scene, etc. #6 (Feb. ’98) features Irman Hilmi (Malaysian guitarist of the Japanese grindcore band ‘Damage Digital’), ‘Cock e.s.p.’ (noise from Minneapolis), ‘Monochrome / Dawnbreed’ collective, ‘Disappointed’ (noise from Ventura, California), ‘Damnation A.D.’ (metalcore from Rockville, Maryland); an extensive review-section, a column by ‘Blinfold’s Wim Vandekerckhove and more.

‘Sabot’ was a duo from San Francisco that settled in the Czech Republic (Tábor) where they started the CESTA project/cultural space. I witnessed them – Christopher Rankin (bass) & Hilary Binder (drums) – live at the Vort’n Vis (95-10-14); they played an instrumental mix of hardcore-punk and progressive rock/jazz. The following interview is more about their art-project than their music…