8 minute read
Cold Reality
Cold Reality is one of Hungary’s best hardcore bands right now. Balasz, their singer, also sings in Touch and is involved in No Regret Productions, one of the leading booking crews in Budapest. He also drew the amazing cover of this fanzine. It was definitely a pleasure talking with him.
coldrealityhc.bandcamp.com/ www.facebook.com/coldrealityhc
Advertisement
Is the reality in Budapest that cold?! Give us a short biography of the band! What motivated you to start a hardcore band?
Right now it’s going warmer finally haha. We started the band around 2012 and since then we’ve released a demo and an EP and now we try to work on a full length. The members of the band have changed a lot in the last few years even now we have a new drummer who is also
playing in Wasted Struggle and a new guitarist who is also playing in The Last Charge. I really hope this is gonna be a strong line up.
As far as I know Budapest used to have a strong hardcore / punk scene back in the days. There was also a huge straight edge movement. How’s the scene in 2016?
Back in the days everything was different. I have been going to hardcore shows since 2006 so I have just heard stories how it was before but in my first years everything was different compared to today. The unity was bigger and a lot of people went to the shows. Everybody went crazy, you know, sing-alongs, stage-dives, mosh etc. and now… I don’t know. Of course, if Madball, SOIA or H2O is playing in the town a lot of people are going to watch them but for me it is not the same. Those folks are going to shows only once a year, they are so proud to be part of the hardcore scene but they don’t know
anything about what is going on right now. They don’t know anything about the new bands and it usually pisses me off. And of course if a “smaller” band is coming here like Take Offense, No Turning Back or King Nine then about 40-70 people are attending the show.
You are involved in No Regret Productions, give us some more info about this. It seems that you are very active, reviving the feeling I was talking about in the previous question. Is it easy to book shows in Budapest? What’s the feedback from the young & older hardcore kids?
Yeah we try our best but it’s not so easy to do something here. Usually a lot of bands are writing to us if we can help them with organising a show but unfortunately we cannot do it always. I try to help where I can but to be honest I am tired of doing shows for 5 people, and sometimes the bands don’t really understand the situation. There are a lot of bands for which I really would like to help and to do a show but I have to be realistic that if I am doing a show for them only 5-10 people would come and it’s not good for the band because firstly we have to pay for the venue and the rest of the money (if there is something) is for the bands. It’s also not good for us because then I feel terrible to not being able to give them more money. So now we do have to think about what we can do and what we cannot do; we need to make a decision. A lot of people are really thankful because we are doing shows and this is the only reason why I am still doing it.
The Hungarian government didn’t accept refugees and moreover there were also violent anti-refugee incidents emerging from nazis & football hooligans. I definitely know that the majority of the citizens are against this, but what’s your perspective? Do you believe that the hardcore movement can
Our government is full of assholes and the whole situation here is fucked up. There are too many proud Hungarians here, you know, who are proud of their country, proud that they are Hungarians with a racist mind. The Hungarian hardcore scene is too small to make a change about this situation. Of course during shows sometimes there are some movements: collecting food, clothes, blankets for the refugees. It’s a really great initiative. Sometimes I feel that the Hungarian people are too afraid of doing anything.
Let’s get back to Cold Reality… I follow your band almost since the beginning and what it definitely strikes me is that you are very dedicated in what you are doing. What do you wanna achieve with the band? Is it just a way to have fun or something more?
The most important thing for me has always been the hardcore scene: going to shows, supporting the bands. That’s why I wanted to start doing shows and that’s why I wanted to start a band as well. On that time there were not too many good bands here, especially in this kind of hardcore that we are doing, so I just wanted to try. After the demo we got a lot of good feedback so after months and years it became more and more important for me. Of course it’s also a way to have fun but it’s also helping me a lot. I can sing about my frustrations, what it pisses me off and I am sure a lot of people are feeling the same as me and they can identify themselves with the lyrics.
Your belong to Powertrip Records’ roster, as a couple of more bands that are interviewed in this issue. It seems that Powertrip is becoming the leading force of European hardcore. How did it come to co-operate with
After finishing the recordings for ‘No Escape’ we looked for a label which was interested in releasing our EP and then Hannes (owner of Powertrip Records) wrote me back that he is interested about it. It was really a big opportunity for me because Powertrip is one of the best labels in Europe right now with a lot of great bands like Demonwomb, Gone To Waste, Hollow Truth, Lowest Creature, etc. So we just can’t say enough how we are appreciating his help and his trust.
You are touring a lot recently; what’s your favourite place to play and what comparisons do you draw between eastern Europe’s and mainland Europe’s scenes? What was that story with the girl accusing you of being sexist or so?!
er she edited her post. It was about everything that she has experienced as a promoter. The main point is that I think she overreacted at this whole thing.
By the way, you are also playing in Touch, which actually consists of 2 Cold Reality members. Touch is a more rock-ish Underdog, early 90s hardcore band, am I right?
I was super excited when my friend asked me if I want to start this band with him. Especially because I always wanted to do a Lion Of Judah kind a thing and also because it’s so different from Cold Reality. Firstly, for me it was like a project band but now it’s the same like CR. Both of them are really important to me. I am really happy because we have a lot of good feedback, a lot of people are enjoying it and surprisingly all of the tapes are sold out.
Kosice has always been my favourite place to play! Every time we played there people went crazy. For example, we played there with Agnostic Front and one guy just started putting himself on fire and went to the pit like that hahah. I think in Eastern Europe people are more thankful and more people are supporting the bands. Maybe because in mainland Europe there are too many great shows almost every week, I don’t know… About the story in short. We went to play a show in Germany and my friend helped us to book it. I mean, I only talked with him before and I didn’t even knοw his girlfriend. So I didn’t know who she was and also she didn’t really help us because only my friend came to us and said hello when we arrived. Of course during the show I said thanks to both of them for helping us with that show and after she just disappeared and went home. We didn’t even have a chance to talk to her at all. So we wrote her a letter, thanking her for helping and giving us a place to stay. And for some reasons she got mad. But I think it wasn’t about us. Lat
You are also design for hardcore bands. With which bands have you co-operated till now and what’s your way of dealing with it? What’s your favourite hardcore artists?
When I have time and when I am not lazy I am doing it, yes. I did designs for bands like Bane, Broken Teeth, Demonwomb, Hollow Truth and also I’m usually doing the designs for Cold Reality of course. One of my favourite designs is the one I did for Hold X True a few weeks ago. It was an honour for me because they were always one of the most important bands in my life. The other fav I did is for Contra from Budapest! If you are into 86 Mentality then you have to listen to them! My favourite artists are Sean Taggart, Christopher Wilson, Steven Kulesza and Chad Lawson.
