Sick of Being Sick#3?
It’s been a couple of years since the last issue came out (woops!) and after some failed attempts to restart this project here we are, a new number probably the last or probably not. This was never meant to be released on a regular basis and I only did it when I felt like it thoe I must admit that laziness played some role in me postponing it endlessly. As the last issue it comes with a compilation cd with some kick ass bands you might not listened until now. For most of the tracks the bands were contacted and had their “permission” to use the tracks I needed, when no contacts were found the song was used anyway :p A huge thank you to all the bands and the few who gave a hand in making this zine possible! The idea and focus behind this small magazine is still the same. A project documenting projects, bands and groups around the world that promote D.I.Y ethics and know how to have fun ;) You shouldn’t take anything you read here(and in general) too serious and always do what you gotta do! - if u get mad about something you read in this zine death threats are always welcomed at this email address: sikofbeingsickhc@gmail.com
When life gives you lemons
By A. …You analyze, think, rethink and take a nice decision, embracing those fucking lemons. *** Today I woke up in compete confusion, I didn’t know what part of the day it is, how long have I been sleeping and what the fuck is going on. It was 6am…nothing was going on, my confusion was just the way my body was trying to tell me that something is wrong… after 15 minutes I realized that yes, I was in pain, after my dear bike was liberated/recycled/reclaimed, call it however you want. I liked that bike a lot, it felt like we were on this planet for each other. As I could appreciate it in with its flaws, she would carry me around like nothing else will ever be able to do. Every stone and asphalt hole was a challenge I was ready to embrace, as every flat tire was another challenge that made out of an ordinary day an adventure.
Needing to use all my limbs so I can fix it, with the tools provided by my dear punk anarchist scene (see Leave me alone zine 9, article Bicyclerepairkit). So our story has come to an end. I felt miserable and naïve. I felt stupid and gullible. I felt like I trust this world too much and it only brings me pain. These moments just make me more confused and I have no idea where to steer my thoughts. What to do? Hate on people? Hate everyone? Hate civilization? Hate the world? Hate bike thieves? No… this is not for me. In a life and a world in which all I have are my humyn or nonhumyn companeros, losing my faith in humanity is the least thing I have to do. Given the situation when society has separated us into two groups: the humyn haters that think that humyns are naturally adversaries and will fuck up anyone/anything to get their purpose achieved --- also seen as right wing people; and those who think that we are naturally nice and want to work together to achieve happiness --- also seen as leftists. I totally feel that working together is the only way we can do something in this shitty world. And in my specific situation, this is the only thing that helps me survive. I couldn’t do anything I want without my dear companeros and wouldn’t even have had a bikey to start with if it wasn’t for
my wonderful partner and friends. Concluding this idea, never lose hope in the people, ‘cause we are living in this shit together, and you never know when you will find accomplices and comrades. In such a shitty situation when corporations, the state or economical system try to destroy everything that is nice and wild in ourselves, we have to stick together and don’t let them bring us down.
Vengeance would be nice. But don’t jump into conclusions here. My vengeance will come, and it won’t be directed on a little bike thief. I can’t see why to blame a person, when this system and society has brought her to the point when she steals bikes for survival. I can’t describe the urge I have to steal a bike for myself now, but the real challenge is to get one for free trough mutual aid
What hurts me the most is that I know that if encountered the person that has Bikey right now, I am positive that after a nice talk we could figure out a way for Bikey to return to me… I am sure about this…
and understanding. So I’ll rather take that. The conclusion to this point is that, the only things I can blame to this “stolen bike” situation is capitalism and the state – you did this to ourselves. I am sure we wouldn’t steal from each other when everything is ours; I bet we wouldn’t fuck each other up when we are all happy, or
BUT WHAT IF VENGEANCE?
I
NEED
at least busy doing something constructive. So yeah, I’ll patiently wait for my vengeance, which I will have, while moshing gently on the ruins of capitalism. FUCK THE POLICE! Still in the Bikey area of concerns… what to do when your bike goes missing? Call the police? OOO HELL NO! NA-AH! I ain’t gonna call no cops on no one! It’s very hard for me to accept that many people from anarchist/grass roots backgrounds tend to turn to the police when they are the one that feel that have been mistreated. I find this very disturbing and fucked up. We all say fuck the cops, we all hate them, we all think that they are wrong and make up all kinds of scenarios of what bad things we would do to them. But then your shit goes missing, or your neighbor is an asshole, or whatever, they imprison someone and you feel the justice being served. This is all bullshit!
How to build an alternative to this system when whenever it works in our favor we go back to the same system that ruins us and everything we love? As bikey was stolen, our comrades from Pizzeria Anarhia from Vienna have been attacked by cops, beaten up, arrested, kept in custody, their friends’ didn’t know
where they were…all this while being under the constant threat of eviction. It’s more than clear who is on our side and who is not. Cops will never be on our side. They are robots that can only react to commands. What bo$$ say, they do. It’s basically their job. I’ve seen cops regretting fucking with us, because we are nice good people, but having nothing to do about it, because their boss was even more of a shitty person than them. It’s vital to be aware of all this stuff and not to give in to our urges that come from a fucked up society. Do not call the cops; do not talk to the cops! They are all mindless slaves and until they don’t reconsider their career choice, we are enemies. I have found myself in shitty situations that made me empathize with cops and see that they are humyns as well, but yeah. That uniform and career of yours will always keep the hate rollin’. Cops are defenders of the state and corporations never forget this! Don’t be naïve! Veganism realated issues I’ve been surrounded by wonderful people from all around Europe recently. Anarchists, antifascists, feminists, all kinds of amazing persons. And it struck me to see that the majority of them were not vegans. It might sound stupid of
me so say anything about this, but along with the missing bike, it’s been bothering me for a while now. It’s hard for me to accept that when it comes to the fight against oppression, it stops when it comes to animals. It’s hard for me to understand why speciesism is still accepted in our communities. Not that I would kick out the non-vegans, cause I have plenty around and I love them a lot. I respect their decisions, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t slowly kill me. It confuses me to see people connect with stray dogs in a second and find love and friendship with these animals, but then they choose to consume … their suffering. For me it’s clear, I will not consider food anything that comes from an animal. But why do others choose not to see this? I can definitely see that our realities are very very different. Germans have all these vegan options and the money all the time, at every corner. Romanians cook veggies and improvise new recipes to create something they used to eat before going vegan. Many comrades from around the world are freegans and eat whatever is free. That I also like a lot, but I’d love to be a freeganvegan. It makes a lots of sense, but it might take more of your time. It will also make you more aware of what you eat and where it comes from and it will make you realize that almost every
product on the shelves of the supermarket has suffering in it. Which of course, doesn’t make life any easier. But yet again, it’s called a struggle ‘cause it’s hard, not because it’s all fun and games. Anyway, please reconsider what you chose to consume and what not and how this affects the world we live in. Please don’t just keep the struggle against oppression just between the fellows of your own species…
To put and end on stress & this article… As this the universe is collapsing on all our shoulders and everyone needs to find a way to keep sane and keep on going. Keep on fighting. You need power to keep on resisting their oppression, either if it’s about full on police brutality, or fighting for animal liberation, or fighting for your house that some figure of authority tries to take away, or whatever the struggle might be. Not losing your mind and not giving up is a very important aspect in all our struggles and we all have to find something to do to keep it rolling. So, thank you, my friend for asking me to write for this zine, giving me the opportunity for therapy trough writing, the pain of not having Bikey in my life anymore seems more bearable now.
LOVE AND SOLIDARITY FOR Y’ALL! yours truly, A. For thoughts, opinions (positive or not), new friendships or collaborations, feel free to write to: leavemealone[at]riseup.net
Have you ever had one of those crazy dreams where everything seemed so real and so intense and you’re half asleep trying to fight it and all of a sudden you’re being woke up by some nut playing some Mariah Carey song on his car stereo at 6 in the morning? Well I did … after realizing I woke up and it was all a dream I kinda zombie rushed to the balcony to throw something at him but he had already left … or was that a part of my dream too? I was just mind fucked, looked left and right on the street and it was deserted. I needed some coffee to be sure I woke up and I’m not still dreaming… nobody dreams about drinking coffee, if you do you re fucking crazy. While drinking my coffee I was trying to put it all together because it left a weird sensation on me I had a sense of urgency and I needed to know why but it was all in vain…that brutal wake up call smashed to tiny little pieces every memory I had of that dream.It wasn’t that important anyway, just a dream, in fact a bad one. I’m not superstitious bout things anyway so why bother. It hunted me for a couple of minutes and then it was gone.
It’s been a while since I sat in front of a computer and wrote something. Pausing after every phrase and think about what you wrote and what you’re writing next. That process of creation and the constant thinking and overthinking going in your head, the way you try to chose your words to best reflect the subject, situation, thoughts and how all grow together to form a big picture. It s the third time rewriting my column and the more I write the more I realize how much I missed it. Today is also a good time to write, the heat and the humidity from the last few days were unbearable and I couldn’t stand still for more that 5 min on this chair and all I could think is how hot it is. Now it s still hot but the cold breeze makes it just the perfect weather. T. sent me the recordings of the new album he’s working on releasing and I can’t wait for the file to download and start listening. Got the headphones close and while the file was downloading I added a new layer of ducktape on the wire coming out of the headphone jack… every time I do it I think about how hard I wanna punch the guy that designed them in the face – the cable splits into a usb port for the preamp then mic and headphone jacks. the split is so close that every time I plug them the cables have such a weird position it’s
impossible for them not to break eventually. Download is done now let’s listen! Classical Pavilionul 32 sound and proof they can still deliver. Fierce riffs and brutal drums along with T’s voice brought in me excitement in listening a new record. It might not have the best quality sound but the songs just kick you in the head!14 tracks of fast trashy romanian hardcore charged with heavy political lyrics. They’re having a small european tour this summer so if you get the chance go and see them! It’s one of the bands you have to see live to really appreciate, they’re also good people involved in a lot of diy projects. Speaking of Pavilionul 32 i had a chance to go and visit Timisoara during the minitour I did with the group I have here and the first thing I did was to go to Piata 700 and visit what was left of the space that holds a special place in my heart – INCA. For those that don’t know it was one of the best places to go if you were a punk in the early 2000 in
romania, it had the best diy festivals and concerts.Bands from all over the world came and it was almost a non stop punk fest.. and where there’s punk there’s always problems and maybe this is one of the reasons the place eventually got shut down. People moved to other places and continued organizing events but when I arrived the last place they had – Atelier D.I.Y was closed down a few weeks earlier. From what I’ve heard it was a great place and resisted 5 years – hosting a shit ton of musical and non musical events. A place where people met and developed ideas, made groups, express themselves and rehearsed. It seems harder and harder to organize and maintain such a place and not give in into some business type compromise and that tells a lot about our dominant culture today and how hard it is for a subculture (or call it as you want) to make it’s presence known and also makes you conscient about how much of a great deal it is to have a space to express yourself without trying to fit to any standards – whether musical or political and just be
yourself period. In the last years I’ve lost contact with the scene in romania and the little trip we did in eastern europe made me feel like home again. I’ve met some old friends that I haven’t seen in a long time and some new ones and realized how much it all changed and that people are still struggling and not giving up on our scene. The last years passed so quick and so much has changed and for a somewhat of an outsider it seemed so great how things developed over the years. I’ve never stopped listening to music, going to concerts and protests since I moved to Italy, I’ve met a great deal of good people here even found some great friends to make a band but it’s just doesn’t feel I belong here and this feeling grows day by day. You know there are events that can turn your life upside down in the most fucked up way and the more you try to escape it you realize things are going nowhere and you should just stop fooling yourself stop running and just walk. Life doesn’t begin with today and it doesn’t end when you’re dead – but for you! so make the best of today I guess :3
A special shoutout to the Timisoara, Bucharest, Bistrita and Cluj crew, Leave me Alone fanzine and to all the people, bands and collectives supporting their local scene! Be a part of your scene not the scenery ;)
No Tav.The Terrorist is the State. by W. December 9 th. At dawn take place 4 arrests and various searches in private homes and occupied houses between Torino and Milano.The allegations are serious – Terrorism, damage by fire, detention and transport of war weapons. Charges which call for a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. The disputed facts took place the night between 13 – 14 of may (2013).That night the gallery construction site in Chiomonte (a small commune of Val di Susa – an alpine valley situated in the western part of Piemonte) was attacked by unknown persons who manage to enter the Torino-Lyon TAV railway building-site damaging some equipment using molotovs. An act of sabotage like many others in the history of the NO TAV movement. Just one of the many acts of resistance of a Valley which for more than 20 years fights against the construction of this “opera” so useless, costly and devastating to the area. A
project motivated purely by the greed of large industrial groups and mobsters who won contracts. A project that only feeds the greed of big banks like Intesa San Paolo and big political parties who support the project. A huge machine draining the public funds for private business which in recent years swallowed around 60 billions of euros for building a railway that serves no one (the existent one – Frejus is in fact underused!) filling an entire valley with asbestos and other toxic substances and the wallets of those speculating with money. Against the movement that opposes all of this the government is using more and more oppression. These arrests are only the last chapter of a democratic history based on tear gas fired at eye level, beatings, bulldozers, media terrorism, expulsion orders and pressed charges. Of a democracy that increasingly erases the boundaries between internal and external war. With its concrete and steel fences, barbed wire and military presence (often composed by returning troops from the “peace” missions in Afganistan) that in Valle di Susa exceeds in comparison with the population/troop numbers of those present in Herat. The alleged accusations against Chiara, Claudio, Mattia e Niccolò – the names of those arrested, are valid (and can be carried out)in this climate of war.The nature of the crimes they are accused of (terrorism) is such as to prevent any possibility of obtaining pre-trial confinement different than prison. It involves high security imprisonment in the penitentiary system.A monstrosity within a monstrosity which calls for, among other things, the isolation from common prisoners, censored mail, reduced visit schedule, air vents and opaque plexiglas windows. A situation of real torture aimed to psychologically destroy these comrads and at the same time create some monsters to put on the front page of the news papers. Dangerous and violent anarchists that came from outside to terrorize the local population.A lie that the mass media obsessively repeated these last years like a mantra but nobody in Val di Susa ever drunk.An attempt to divide a large and heterogeneous movement who has never agreed to divide itself between the good and the bad.A movement that repeatedly returned the accusation of terrorism to the “sender”, taking the streets in solidarity with those arrested and to reaffirm that the real terrorists are those who ravage the territory in
the name of profit, who militarize it those who break you bones and throw you in prison. Those that put on equal levels acts of sabotage with terrorism that kills defenseless people. On that night of may the only “victim” was a compressor and also to be noted is that no one present inside the construction site ever reported the slightest scratch…An action that is defined as terroristic by the magistrates not so much for its specific characteristics but for the fact that it was carried out “in order to force the local authorities to refrain from the creation of a public work(“opera”) of international importance”, “thus causing serious damage to Italy and the European Union”. What the prosecutors really want to tell us with these formulas is very clear: Anyone who opposes in concrete terms to the decisions of the State and the U.E is most likely to be charged with terrorism.Anyone who fights against government decisions in a concrete way it considered to be a terrorist and treated as such!It’s clear that Val di Susa is no longer only a matter of “a train track” and no longer only a matter of business.It’s a challenge the state doesn’t want to fail.A challenge it can’t afford to lose.Losing would give out hope and strength to those not willing to give up and continue the struggle.The struggle against high velocity train tracks, airports, mines in Val di Susa as well as in Nantes, Rosia Montana, Chalkidiki and many others all over the world. For their lives, their future and their land.For a system free of exploitation. For these reasons the defense of the comrades arrested and investigated for terrorism is not only an act of solidarity but the claim of a struggle that goes beyond the borders of one or more countries. Understanding the stakes of this repressive operation that today affects the No Tav movement and relaunching the resistance in Val di Susa as elsewhere is a matter that concerns each and everyone. On May 22nd (2014) the trial for the four No Tav has started.They continue to remain in jail.
Write to:
Chiara Zenobi, Claudio Alberto at this adress: Casa Circondariale via Maria Adelaide Aglietta 35 10151 Torino – Italia Mattia Zanotti, Niccolò Blasi at this adress: Casa di Reclusione via Casale San Michele, 50 - 15100 Alessandria - Italia
SoBS: Introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about how did u guys got together to form Killer Victim. Viez: Hey!I’m Viez, I play vocals. Well we were talking for some time to start a hardcore band but only when the four of us got together a few nights skating the streets of Bucharest that we decided to give it a try.We had some difficulties at the beginning because we didn’t have a rehearsal space but eventually things worked out and here we are! SoBS: KV is a new presence on the Bucharest scene but you all have played in other bands before.What are some of your previous projects, what motivates you musically as a band/individuals and where do you draw your influences from?
Viez: My former band, along with Radu, was called Mediocracy. For me it was the band that taught me what a band really is and how things work . I can only speak for myself but I guess we all draw our influences for everyday life, things that bother or make us angry, society, etc. My motivation is to address some topics that I feel need to be said, or need a coverage in the underground scene, so that we don’t just go to shows to mosh, get fucked up and go home. I grew up going to diy hardcore/punk shows and besides having the best time, I always got to learn something, from the bands on stage or the people who showed up at the gig, it gave me a feeling of belonging and awareness and I always wanted to be a part of that.
SoBS: To my knowledge you don’t have anything out right now except for videos from your gigs, are you planning to release a Demo or E.P soon?And since I mention it, you did a great cover to “Voi meritati sa fiti negati” (You deserve to be denied) from Terror Art why did u chose this particular song to cover? Viez: We don’t have anything released yet because we just started to play shows. We wanted to first get some feedback from live shows and then record something. I guess an ep or something will come very soon. The cover is a thing I wanted to do for a long time because I think Terror Art was probably the most influential punk band ever to come from Romania, the lyrics in particular striked me from the first time I heard them. I chose that song because first of all I already knew it by heart and it was one of their best. It’s also very actual even to this day. SoBS: More or less the local scenes seem to gravitate to a specific musical style or message. How does your sound/attitude fit into the scene in Bucharest? Viez: I guess people can relate to what we play because despite the fact that there aren’t too many hardcore bands in Bucharest, people do listen to a lot more music that they did some years ago. So when a band like us playes the music that we do, people
tend to support it. Granted I only talk from the feedback we got so far…but seeing that most of us in this scene know each other more or less I think it’s pretty safe to say we are well received. SoBS: How would you define KV in just a few words? What were the reactions after your first shows? Viez: KV is our way of taking part in the diy hardcore scene, with our own input, sound and ideas. It’s angry, fast, slow, dirty and loud!Just the way we like it! Like I said the reactions were mostly positive.We’ll see what comes next.. SoBS: What do you do in your day to day life and how do you avoid, or try to avoid the day to day routine? Do you have any non musical projects? Viez: Avoiding routine is probably the hardest part. I for one work two jobs doing graphic design, plus my own project where I do artwork for bands and such so I tend to keep myself pretty busy. If I get tired of too much work or just don’t feel like it, I go out and get smashed so I guess it all works out in the end haha!
SoBS: Tell us a bit about the D.I.Y. scene in Bucharest.Any good bands we need to check out maybe some cool places to visit if one happens to be in town?
Viez: Well..depends on what you want to hear. In my opinion the Bucharest scene is not that complex, and we are mostly the same people in all the bands. You can Check out Drop Out Of Life, wich is Radu’s other band.They play some good metallic hardcore reminiscent of bands like Converge or Integrity. Void Forger is also a good band, they play a style of doom/crust wich is very good and they are also very hard working. One of the very few bands from Bucharest to go and tour outside of the country! Other bands worth mentioning are CapdeCraniu(death metal/grindcore), H8(metal/hc/rap),Crossbone(thrash metal),TheBoyWhoCriedWolf(posthar dcore),Valerinne(postrock),Roadkillsod a(stonerrock),Enviroments(drone/noise/ ambiental). SoBS: Who are you looking forward to killing this year? ;) Viez: The first nazi or priest I come across haha! SoBS: What is in store for the future and where can people contact you? Viez: We want to play as many shows as possible, in as many places as possible, maybe record something soon and just..survive I guess. We only have the facebook page at the moment but I hope to get that fixed some tome soon and maybe do a
website or something..we’ll see. Find us at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kill er-Victim/264380730404889 SoBS: If you want to add something now is the time to do it! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview! Viez: Keep your eyes and ears open, go to shows and support diy! See you soon! Cheers!
SoBS: Let’s jump right into it and tell us who are you, where are you from and what is Intrigue. Hello. We are Intrigue from Croatia, to be more specific, from Zagreb, although none of us are really from Zagreb, we just live here. The band is built out of 4 members: Ivona sings, Mišo plays bass guitar, Ivan is the drummer and I (Máteja) play guitar. We are quite a funny bunch. We are oldish punks, ¾ straight edge, still angry and hungry for punk fun. SoBS: Did you played in other bands before? Do you have other musical projects you’re involved in? Our drummer Ivan used to play in the band Dying in this place, bassist Mišo o sings in the band Dispro and used to sing in Dying in this place, Ivona is the vocalist and Intrigue is her first band ever, and I used to play bass and sing in INxSANE for 15 years before this band came to being. SoBS: You’re a very political charged band, all of your songs tackle religious, social and political subjects but sometimes also towards some sort of self criticism (in a positive/constructive way).Do you think people and the D.I.Y. scene today need a little dose of it? What the DIY scene needs is a healthy dose of reality. Kids are bitching about nothing happening, that there are no shows, that no good bands exist and alike. The reality is the opposite. They just sit on their asses and don’t go outside their safe little rooms to check out the shows, read a damn book and get interested. The new generations never really got in touch with the whole “diy scene” cause they were never used to it like we were. We used to go out and bought cd’s, tapes, vinyl, zines. We read about music, about the politics behind it. Of course there are exceptions and there are some younger kids getting into that kind of thing but the reality is that most of them just sit at home in their safe worlds functioning as some kind of scene police without even being a part of the scene they are bitching about. Self criticism is always good. It takes us further and makes us stronger. We don’t need right wing politics in the scene, we don’t need apathy, we don’t need super technical music without a message behind it. We need passion, anarchism, love and creativity.
SoBS: And since I brought the D.I.Y. scene in the discussion, please tell me about the current situation of your local scene. Also - Can you recommend some bands, zines, distros and maybe places to go if someone happens to be in Zagreb. The scene in Zagreb is amazing. There’s a bunch of bands. Bunch of zines. Punk/hardcore/alt shows at least 2 times a week I’d say. Bands worth checking out: Black Sails, Dispro (altohough they are from Split), Black Gust, Divided Minds, Modern Delusion, Sentence, Jaded, Shin, Ponor, Tomorrow We Hunt, Bastinados, Lack of Soul, Kurve, Mašinko, and many many many more. As for Zines – the oldest one that is still around is the International Old School Conspiracy, there’s a new one called Čebula and some others. The people are politically active and we have wonderful squats called Reciklaonica and AKC Medika (where most of the DIY shows in Zagreb happen). SoBS: You’ve done some touring after releasing your selftitled EP. Can you tell us about your experiences and maybe some crazy stuff that happened while touring? We had some weekend shows and had loads of fun meeting new people seeing old friends. Crazy? Well our drummer likes to stay up late and he’s the oldest one, midlife crisis I guess SoBS: What are some of your musical influences and what Croatian bands people might have not listened to (new and old ones) but should? Our musical influences are hardcore bands from the 80’s, Minor Threat, 7Seconds, Black Flag. Lately I am into Sista Sekunden, Boston Strangler, Good Clean Fun and many more. We also listen to a lot of melodic stuff like Jawbreaker, Hot Water Music, Iron Chic, Sommerset, As Friends Rust, but we like the harder stuff like From Ashes Rise, Tragedy, d-beat is great, as well as modern hardcore bands. It’s just a bunch of different punk/hardcore related music styles that we do listen to but primarily the influences of the band are uncompromising straight in your face punk and hardcore. Preferably as raw as possible. For list of Croatian bands you have to listen to see above question. SoBS: Are there many bands in Croatia that have girls in them, or only girl bands? Do you think that the scene as a whole gives enough support to girls to get into bands or make bands?
You would be surprised but yes. We have a really cool scene where girls take part in the community which is great cause everywhere else it’s mostly a male dominated scene which is a shame for an egalitarian scene like the punk/hardcore one. There’s Shin, with a female vocal, now already dead Ugly Fucks, Sentence, Ponor, Bastinados, La Kurtizana, Amok… all bands with girls playing and/or singing in them. SoBS: A lot have changed in the last years and the concept of D.I.Y. at least from my point of view lost a lot of it’s political charge and even the radicalism against certain politics, way of doing things etc to some it became a routine and not something unique that offered new and challenging alternatives. What is your opinion and if there was something to be changed what would it be? The internet changed a whole lot. And globalism and postmodernity. Punk has become mainstream and DIY kinda lost its edge. People of all political options now go to shows and listen to punk. Right wing kids come to shows and we let them join. No more animal liberation, no more radical left wing politics, no more antifascism. I’m not saying all of it is gone, but somehow I have the feeling that it all lost in importance, people are more interested in music and not the message behind it. They just wanna have a good time without any obligations. First and foremost if something has to change, it’s the thing that we need new blood. There’s a lack of new kids. There are some and they’re cool but we need more. When we were young we went to every show (now that I am older I pick my battles – as in shows I am going to, some people might say that I am a hypocrite, but man, I don’t care) nowadays kids don’t have the feeling of the role they play in all of it. SoBS: When can we expect a full lengths LP from you and how can someone order a physical copy of your EP? Do you have any tours planed around Europe soon? No LP plans, although we’re working on new songs. No tours as well. Just weekend shows. We are all busy with different stuff. Some of us study, some of us work. About the EP, if you want one just drop us a mail at intriguexband@gmail.com SoBS: Thanks for agreeing to make this interview and if you like to add something I didn’t covered here s your chance! Thank you. This is our first interview and we’re happy we could be a part of this zine.
SoBS: Lets jump right into it with the classical question - When did Vera Renczi formed? And why did you decided on this particular name for your band, tell us a bit about it’s origin? Vlad: We started playing almost 2 years ago. Misu and I used to play in Stuck In A Rut, but then our drummer quit right before we were supposed to go on a short European tour. That was the end of Stuck In A Rut. We wanted to make something a little bit different from Stuck, faster and more like powerviolence, and we knew Marius played the drums and he was into this sort of stuff. We made some rehearsals, wrote some songs and then Vera Renczi took shape. The name is actually taken from a famous Romanian serial killer. Vera Renczi was a woman who between 1920 and 1930 poisoned 35 men. A fitting name for a pv band. SoBS: What previous bands have you played in and are you involved in other projects? (not necessary musical ones but related to the d.i.y scene/activism) Marius: I’ve been involved in some punk bands in my hometown. Mishu: I played guitar in a punk-rock band called Los Pogos and bass in a ska-punk band – Dance Trauma. After that I played guitar in Stuck in a Rut together with Vlad which later became Vera Renczi. V: As I said earlier I used to play in Stuck In A Rut. Other than that I was involved in the DIY scene for almost 10 years now. Right now, apart from booking shows in Cluj
and playing with Vera, I’m working on the Leave Me Alone zine and I’m involved in the PAC (https://www.facebook.com/piata.autonoma.cluj) and some other projects that revolve around this idea of community and mutual aid in an non-hierarchical way. And we also have an animal rights advocacy group that at the moment seems to be kinda slow, but hopefully that will change soon. SoBS: Did u decided on a particular style when you made the band or it was/it is more about the message and having fun? How would you best describe your music? Ma: We have never discussed what style to have. From the first rehearsal each of us knew what he wants to play and what he feels and then VR emerged. V: Ha, we were supposed to play powerviolence. I don’t know if what we ended up playing can be called that. I started using the label of sludgeviolence because it’s sounds funny and because of the numerous sludge parts we, but in the end I don’t really care if we fit in any category or if we sound “true” or not. For me the main goal of this band was to have fun and release some steam. It’s really great to have a place where you can spill your guts and take out some of the pressure of the outside world. I guess that’s why our songs are so negative and bleak sometimes. SoBS: A lot of people seem to like you and you show at No Border fest was a Bomb!Why don’t you have a Demo or E.P. out by now?!Do you have any plans to release something in the near future? V: We’re lazy. I could tell you tens of reasons why we couldn’t enter a studio, but ultimately it all comes down to the fact that we’re basically lazy. At one point there was this idea to record something in Timisoara at the Atelier DIY, but now that the Atelier is gone, I don’t know. I hate professional recording studios and we don’t have the gear to do it ourselves. SoBS: What were the first bands you remember listening to and what good bands do you have on repeat in your playlist right now? Ma: Hmmm… I’ve always listened to a large spectrum of music genres , which I choose depending on the weather: weeks when I listen only to sludge: bongripper, acid witch, sleep, conan, toner low etc. ; also other genres like crust (dystopia, tragedy, finisterre, nausea, ironlung, doom, witch hunt); crack rock steady (morning glory, daycare swindlers), d-beat (all the bands that start with Dis-). Mi: Led Zeppelin and Dire Straits when I first started listening to music. The Offspring was the band that got me into punk-rock (although I didn’t know it at the
time). Ratos de Porao was the first hardcore band that I remember. Now I listen to all sorts of stuff.. But the ones most likely to be on repeat are Thou, The Body, Noothgrush, Hatered Surge, Insect Warfare, Iron Lung, Grief. V: Actually the one band that I remember listening constantly in the last 10 years is Alkaline Trio. Not very “trv”, I know. But I love pop-punk and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I don’t really have one or two bands that I can say influenced me in one way or another, I always listen to a lot of stuff from many kinds of genres. Right now I’m listening to a lot of hip-hop and Darkthrone. I love the way they sound since the “Dark Thrones and Black Flags” album, they are way more punk that most of the bands that pass off as punk today. I’m also really digging the whole pv revival in the US, bands like Full of Hell, Dead in the Dirt, Curmudgeon or ACxDC sound so good and are so much fun live. SoBS: What do you think about the scene in your city as a whole? Are the people supporting the concerts, bands, diy activities and initiatives? How would you describe D.I.Y. and the D.I.Y attitude? How do you think things changed over the years? V: The scene here seems literally stuck in time. For the last 4-5 mostly the same people are showing up to shows. I think we’ve also been charging the same entrance for about 5 years now, although the living cost has grown considerably in that time. On one side I like that we manage to do this and keep shows affordable, but on the other it’s getting harder and harder to offer bands at least gas money so most bands that play here have to do it on their money, which sucks. It also sucks that we have to do shows in bars and clubs but since we are so few people it’s hard to find an alternative and support that alternative. There are some plans for a place of our own, where we could do more than just shows and projections, but for now we are stuck with the bars. Do people support the DIY culture? It’s hard to tell what DIY means anymore. I mean for me, DIY is a way to get some self-sufficiency without involving the capitalist market or the state and doing that through networks of mutual aid and solidarity. But now the term DIY has been so appropriated by the capitalist system that it turned into this super-individualized notion where you no longer need anyone to do the stuff you need (of course you still have to pay for the stuff, but it seems that money has become so abstract that many can’t even make the connection between money and labor anymore). DIY is constantly attached to ridiculous trendy capitalist bullshit like self-made jewelry or furniture or shit like that, that just end up being sold for a profit anyway. But I think it’s important to promote DIY in our scene even though many seem to take it for granted. Ultimately if we
want a scene that is run by the, kids for the kids, doing it ourselves is the only real way to go. SoBS: How often do you play outside of Cluj and did you had any concerts outside Romania? Any chance to see you soon around Europe? V: We don’t really play that much anymore. Not even in Cluj. We are all busy with other stuff at the moment and since Misu moved to Timisoara it’s hard to get in the rehearsal room. SoBS: For those that don’t know your city is time to time a hot spot for Romanian and/or Hungarian nationalistic propaganda (especially on national days), what is the day to day reality in Cluj and why do people still insist promoting hate by using the same bullshit they use every year when the real problems lie elsewhere? Ma: In Cluj you can’t really feel such a strong influence of the hate-speech. Actually in this area, you can feel it the least, considering the history of the towns, which were always multicultural: romanians, hungarians, saxons… Being from transilvania, the blood that runs trough your body is probably coming from all these “nationalities”. From my point of view, there are less people that tend to have this hate-speech in this area, than in other parts of the country. V: Well, about 15% of the inhabitants of Cluj are of Hungarian descent. There was a time a few years ago when the ultras from the two football teams would clash on the streets and they were mostly motivated by ethnic hatred, but that was it. There is not much xenophobia here really. Of course there are some small nationalist groups from both sides but their impact is minimal. There is racism directed at the Roma communities though. And unfortunately it has become institutionalized in a way that prevents them from accessing even the most basic forms of subsistence. There is ghetto of about 2500 people right next to the garbage dump. This is ghetto mostly created by the evictions performed in the last 20 years by the local authorities. There are local initiatives by various groups to combat this issue but they are a minority and they speak for a minority. And minorities don’t win votes. This in my opinion is a way bigger problem that xenophobia and the so-called hungarian-romanian clash. Even though there is much talk about the threat of Hungarian separatism in Romania, I don’t think this is a very real threat and it’s just a scheme to divert attention from real problems and get the votes from insecure people that are looking for scapegoat.
SoBS: Time for little game! If you were to have the chance to travel in time to change history what would you do? You can be as violent as you like ;) Mi: Behead the Neolithic farmers and herders and feed them to wolves/lions/tigers. V: I would probably just go back a few months and try to save our cat Doris. I know it may sound selfish but I don’t really see any moment in history where one person could make such a difference. Maybe go to the first monkeys that left the forest and just say “no! stay in the fucking forest, you will ruin the world!” haha. SoBS: Any last words, threats, shoutouts? Ma: BLARGH V: Thanks for the interview and the nice times we had we you and your comrades in Romania. Also thanks to all the people that make up this scene, bands, promoters and people who just attend shows. Take care!
SoBS: When did AntroPong started and what was the main reason or motivation for such a project? Antropong ”started” 3 years ago... I think first collection was planned in 2011, but failed to make it, but ”the struggle continues”... I guess. 'Motivation' was the fact that little or nothing is known about Romanian Underground (music, politics, culture, arts) and much is getting lost along the way – leaving place for confussion or urban legends. This way you get stuff that happened 15, 20, 25 years ago in Romania undocumented... articles/stories/studies about ”underground” are pretty lame as they lack a proper documentation. When we speak of the ”Romanian Underground” might be that some will say ”not much” was done / happened (who decides what is ”much” and ”not much”?)... but people did spend time money energy emotions etc believing working trying to build something different than the shit we was/are being shoved down our throats as ”normality”... I tried 'Otherground' as term of description for the 'movement' I document, for me all people trying to create something different are part of this... I guess leaving behind some proof of what I was/am part of and saying to people who did it that their efforts were written down somewhere... even if most might think/feel that they did not achieve nothing by doing them.
SoBS: You’ve just released your first work Fanzinul Fanzinelor TM, a collection of independent fanzines and magazines published in Timisoara between 1994 until present (2013).Tell us something about working on this project, what were the main difficulties you encountered and do you think you managed to realize everything you wanted to in the end? How was it received and what were the reactions to this book until now? FF-TM it started something like 2 years ago and was suppose to be the second collection by AP. It was a work slowed down by my own personal problems. The project was made by people at thousands of km one from others. Not to this moment did all people involved meet each other... with this I don't mean we are a big conspiracy, I guess I am trying to say that it was difficult (more like physically impossible) to ”to sit down and make a plan”... so, Chaos was our guide. Initially the project was meant to be about fanzines in all Romania, but as contacts with some of the zine-makers in other cities were lost, and communication was going hard or nowhere, I decided to keep it just to Timişoara, where there were many zines and had copies of most of them. I think that the difficulties have made so that in the end the book did not come exactly as expected. I will never achieve all I want... I want too many things (smile). But still, I am very content with this first set printed. Later on, I discovered some more zines and leaflets that I would have included... oh, well. Reactions were good, people liked it, I did not really insisted on getting reviews or opinions on it because actually this was a ”test print”... (read next question) SoBS: The book has almost no presentation(this is one of my biggest disappointments), and no conclusions which seems a bit odd. Someone that has no idea about the history of the Timisoara Underground/diy movement picking up this work isn’t he left with only pictures? If this was due to time constraints or maybe other factors will the next volume going to add something to the first? Well, your disappointment is my and our (?) disappointment... yet, I am sure we all got bigger disappointments in life (smile). The introduction, presentations and conclusions were written and changed and changed 10 times maybe.
This is why I call it a ”test print”, I cannot ask peoples opinion about a story... it's more interesting when they also see... now people have some idea, one closer to what AP wants to make. To answer, for the existing copies left there is a plan to make a small booklet with short stories of each fanzine... and as a second print might be out sometimes in the future, it will include pages of presentation in Romanian and English and technical+content boxes (geek-info on aspects like what type of layout, format, number of copies etc and list of articles/contents inside each zine). So, yes, time, distance, life and myself made it impossible that first 100 copies have it included. I think this booklet should be available for download on AP website sometimes in the future... Dog knows when. There is not only pictures inside! Stop spreading rumors, now all kids will want it for the pretty pictures. The presentations are necessary for sure, and some of my conclusions on the topic might be interesting to read, but the stories and the contents of the zines should help the reader make an opinion. I think I do not want to spend more words than needed, the possibility of one ”otherground rebel” person to read an article from 1994 1997 2001 written by people like him, should be already an achievement... To hell with my conclusions! Anyway, we will see what happens next. SoBS: Since we’re talking about fanzines, do you think that they’re that important to a scene? By the way...do you remember when you wrote your first fanzine? I think is important to communicate your ideas and to communicate yourself. Yes, that is important... some play music, write lyrics, make graffiti, other make spaces, festivals, demonstrations, write blogs etc - all of them are part of this communication inside of a ”scene/movement” thing. ”It's not the form”... fanzines were about communication, sharing information, ideas, feelings, presenting projects... building Other kind of community/s... all others forms of expression above mentioned serve same goal. So, fanzines/publications are not more and not less important than any of the others forms of expression in the ”otherground”. Nothing is crucial, yet all matters... are eyes important to the human being? Fingers? Hands? - you can live without all of them, right? Of course, might be little
bit more difficult to fight your enemy, shooting arrows while being blind, or handling the bow without fingers... or hands. Anyway, I think fanzines were important and useful in the past, now Internet seems to be making most of them to seem ”unimportant” and ”not so useful”. In the end, to be honest, we do live virtual lives in virtual times, might be ”only natural” to read virtual zines about virtual scenes also. I don't know... I made first zine in 1997... I remember. SoBS: This is a self published book so i imagine that some crazy effort was made to make it available in printing form. Have you tried or will you try to get in contact with independent book publishers for this project? Yes, Effort was crazy indeed... he still is. AP slogan is ”Pong Is Freedom. Pong Is Life. Pong Is Working Hard.” Did speak to some just to get some ideas, but I did not insisted though too much. Not interested loosing more time with bureaucracy and protocol... besides that... Antropong IS the independent book publisher! Don't care if ”the kids” will read my books... don't care if independent media or anthropologists will appreciate it... The books are out there... you want one... make an effort... find it. I am not showing myself or my projects on anyones throat... neither do I try to present them as shinny uber-cool things to buy or own. SoBS: How would you describe the D.I.Y scene in Timisoara today, it’s not about putting labels or if it’s better or worse but are people/bands still involved/interested in creating free spaces and keeping alive the underground movement in the area? I think I don't have a clear idea about Timisoara. As Antropong is a one man nomad tribe I live less in that city. To make a point... I think Timisoara is less cooler than what ”people saying that is cool” say it is, and is much cooler than what ”people saying that is not cool” say it is. There is stuff inside of what I call ”Otherground” happening since 30-35 years ago... there are people who are children of the people from the 90s which were
younger brothers or cousins of people in the 80s... sometimes you see this (this tradition of 'Other') in peoples lives, ideas, words - sometimes not. I learned, when I speak about Romania, to applaud any and all efforts in the ”Other” direction... not just the Do It Yourself. Still, in Timisoara the DIY spirit of self-organization can be found in some very nice projects or individuals in the present or in the past (examples should be looked for elsewhere though)... SoBS: Tell us what were/are your favorite fanzines and some interesting books you recommend reading. You give me too much credit, my friend. I will skip this one... (smile). SoBS: This volume is also part of a series , tell us a little about it and when can we expect to see volume #2. Its a series of 10 (until now) similar books... on different topics. ...the most advanced work is on ”Otherground Romania” a book plus 4cd compilation with 100bands from the last 20years in Romania (punk, post punk, hardcore, extreme, noise, experimental etc). Actually this was meant to be number one but as the process of getting the songs from all bands proved to be harder than expected... we release first the FFTM. Anyway, financial reasons have blocked this project to happen in this spring... I guess Pong must work Harder. (smile harder also) SoBS: Where can people order Fanzinul Fanzinelor Timisoara and where can they contact you? There is the antropong.webserv.co website (which also is under construction) – there will be more news and all stuff. Generally you should find them at Pavilionul 32 band concerts... antropong @ webserv.co is an contact email which you could use to ask if there is any available copy and how to get it. I don't know, when we were younger, you remember (maybe), was a real adventure getting some tape with X album of X band, or a fanzine, or a book... now everything is everywhere – and no one wants it... what to do?
AP secret HQ SoBS: Do you have anything else in the works besides this huge project ?! Yes, quite a few... wish I could stop keep on starting new ones. SoBS: If there’s anything you want to add here’s your chance! Thank you for doing the interview and looking forward to volume 2! Thank you too... was a nice and annoying surprise, your interest. I am also looking forward... to whatever is gonna come. Good luck with the zine!
Compilation tracklist:
1.El Banda – Psy 2.Attrito - L'incubo della quiete 3.Despite Everything - No Smoke Without Fire 4.Delicje - Po drugiej stronie lustra 5.Grandine - Pericolo Legale 6.Landverraad - Amputy 7.Pavilionul32 - Sicrie de beton 8.Intrigue - We're the punks that never knew how to play 9.Produkt - Dalej isc 10.La Grande Industria Del Vuoto - Tensione 11.Contrasto - Piu' Di Mille Parole 12.Acute - Dioxins 13.GenteStranaPosse - Tutto e niente
Thank you for reading and see you next time! XoXo Sick of Being Sick #3 - 2014