CowboyKillers (Myopic Dwarf #4)

This zine was done by Darren Watkins who was the guitarist of the Bristol HC/punk band ‘Shock Treatment’ (later he joined ‘Bad Blood’). I only got to see this issue. It was most probably sent to me for review: decent interviews but there was too much attention for the music-biz for me to like it…

#4 (1992) had interviews with Captain Sensible, ‘NoMeansNo’, ‘Herb Garden’, ‘Thrilled Skinny’, ‘CowboyKillers’ and ‘The Abs’; plus loads of reviews (tapes/fanzines/vinyl), a scenereport from Israel and some odd (meant to be humourous) bits…

This ‘CowboyKillers’ interview was with vocalist Dean Beddis after the releases of the Press & Run Like Hell LP & KKK Wives On Holiday EP (both out in 1990). The others in the band at that time were Darren Brewer (guitar), Gary Bush (guitar) & Will Cask (bass); a period where several drummers replaced ‘Kip Xool’. The mini-LP for Vinyl Japan (Dai Laughing) was announced.

Subvert (Hippycore #5)

My introduction to Hippycore (Mesa, Arizona) happened after writing to Jack Kahn (about his band ‘Desecration‘, which I got to know when Manic Ears’ Shane Dabinett asked me to help distribute the ‘Desecration’/’Subverse’ split-LP). That was the start of an inspiring correspondence and satisfying cooperation. I distributed loads of issues of Hippycore, releases of the Hippycore recs label and the world-famous Soy Not Oi booklet… Jack’s erudition supported my personal evolution over the years. I was glad to be able to give him a hug back in ’97…

Jack, together with Joel Olson (whom I later met when he toured with his band ‘Pissed‘), were the main editors of the zine but various people contributed (e.g. Erik Smyer, Chris Wilder, Walter Glaser, Bob Z, Lisa ‘Zugang’, Jackie Weltman and many more). I never got to see the first issue but I still cherish the others (2-7)… Each issue was packed with band-interviews, opinions, articles, reviews, poetry, funny bits, etc.

I don’t think I ever got to see the first issue (according to MRR, with ‘Toxic Reasons’, ‘Last Option’, ‘ K.G.B.’, ‘Corrupted Morals’ & ‘Electro Hippies’) but the rest is still available at Tilt! HQ… A (non-comprehensive) overview:

#2: ‘Adrenalin O.D.’, ‘Anihilated’, ‘Dead Silence’, ‘Dissent’, ‘Ripcord’, ‘The Varukers’, ‘Youthquake’; #3: ‘A.O.A.’, ‘Cringer’, ‘Excel’, ‘Lärm’, ‘M.S.I.’, ‘Stikky’; #4: ‘Burning Bush’ (Phoenix, Az), ‘Eco-Guerrillas’, ‘Generic’, ‘Heresy’, ‘M.D.C.’, ‘Moral Crux’; #5: ‘Crimpshrine’, ‘Half Off’, ‘Hunger Artist’, ‘Inhuman Conditions’, ‘So Much Hate’, ‘Subvert’; #6: ‘Geneticide’, ‘Negazione’, ‘Neurosis’, ‘Pollution Circus’; #7: ‘Christ On A Crutch’, ‘Conspiracy Of Equals’, ‘Screeching Weasel’, ‘Sins Of The Flesh’.

I believe the zine grinded to a halt when Jack and Joel started univeristy, both ending up in far away places as Buffalo, NY (Jack) and Minneapolis (Joel). Jack studied psychology and later became faculty-dean & president of instruction at Palomar College (San Marcos, California). In the early 90s Joel was one of the Profane Existence editors and later he became associate-professor of politics & international affairs at Northern Arizona University; he passed away unexpectedly in March 2012. He is remembered on an online archive… More on these lovable guys: Hippycore’s Jack & Joel (Tunga Tunga #6).

Joel Olsen & Jack Kahn

I already re-published the ‘Heresy’ interview (#4) but since there’s so much interesting material, as another example: the ‘Subvert’ interview from the 5th issue (a bit before the release of their The Madness Must End 7″, 1988). In the band (from Tacoma, Washington) at the time: Shawn Durand (guitar), John Grant (guitar), Marc Brown (bass), John Purkey (drums) & Eric Greenwalt (vocals).

B.G.K. (Nasty Facts #3)

Ralf ‘Winni’ Wintermeyer (from Bochum) was the singer of the HC band ‘Tu-Do Hospital’ (with guitarist Achim Weigel, bassist Olli Stratmann & drummer Bernd; known for their 1986 album Patients Of…). As he was presented in Martin Sprouse’s book Threat By Example: Winni travelled the world and studied photography. He contributed material for Maximum Rock’n’Roll and moved to San Francisco. Nowadays he’s a photographer and (graphic) designer for the entertainment-industry: 3am.net.

He donated issues 2 & 3 of Nasty Facts: #2 (84-85) contains interviews with ‘Kraut’ (taken from the British Black/White zine), ‘Jodie Foster’s Army’, ‘Inferno’, ‘Instant Agony’ (UK), ‘Upright Citizens’, Heart Attack’ (NYC), ‘Scream’; scenereports (Sacramento, Japan, Gran Ducato), a brief explanantion about straight-edge and odd bits. #3 (July ’85) presents ‘Adrenalin O.D.’, ‘Mottek’, ‘Asta Kask’, Weird Systeem (label from Hamburg), ‘Offenders’, Maximum Rock’n’Roll, ‘B.G.K.’ & ‘Pushead’; there’s also a bit on skateboarding, a large photo-section, a review of the Rock Against Reagan/Racism concert (with ‘Dead Kennedys’ & ‘M.D.C.’, etc.), scenereports (Hungary, Brasil, Belgium, …), reviews and more.

A listing for #1 mentions ‘J.F.A.’, ‘Adrenalin O.D.’, ‘Mau Maus’, ‘Appendix’ (Fin), ‘The Adicts’, ‘Uproar’, ‘Major Accident’, ‘Battalion Of Saints’, ‘Crudifix’, ‘The Fits’, etc.

The interview with ‘B.G.K.’ (Balthasar Gerards Kommando)’s drummer Marcel Verhoeven was done 84-ish (after the release of their White Male Dumbinance 7″. René van de Meer had joined as vocalist. The others were Tony Leeuwenburgh (bass; later guitar) & Steven Walraven (guitar).

[Translation below]

The following interview with ‘B.G.K.’ is at least a year old because it somehow got lost in the mail and came too late for the former issue.

Last summer ‘B.G.K.’ toured with the American band ‘Cause For Alarm’ through the USA and that was very successful for both bands. Since I learned more about the band in this way, I completed the interview and left out old, uninteresting things. The last recordings of ‘B.G.K.’ are on the White Male Dumbinance 8-track 7” [1984], which picks up where their album [Jonestown Aloha!; 1983] ended. Eight political hardcore songs, with the title-track being a real killer. The questions were answered by Marcel [Verhoeven], their drummer.

‘B.G.K.’ IS THE SAME BAND AS THE OLD ‘NITWITZ’ ONLY WITH A NEW SINGER! WHY DID THE OLD ONE LEAVE THE BAND AND HOW DO YOU FIND THE NEW ONE, ‘ARCHIE PUNKER’ [René van de Meer]?

The old singer [Eric Peters] left because he kept arguing with the other members and because of different views regarding the future of the band. He wanted to be less political and play more funpunk. The new singer was an old friend of ‘B.G.K.’s bassplayer Tony [Leeuwenburgh]. He previously played guitar with ‘Geen Gelul! [“no bullshit”] and ‘Archie Punker’ is his nickname. (The old singer is now singing with the Amsterdam band ‘Outrageous’).

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR NEW NAME. WHERE DOES IT COME FROM AND WHO IS BALTHASAR GERARDS?

Balthasar Gerards was the murderer of the first Dutch king Willem van Oranje. We chose this name for two reasons. First: we don’t like the ‘money-sucking’ royal family, nor the people who rule this country on behalf of the queen. Second, a name like that shocks the monarchs of this country.

HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR NAME BECAUSE ‘B.G.K.’ PLAYS MUCH FASTER THAN ‘NITWITZ’ AND ARE THERE BANDS THAT INFLUENCED YOUR NEW STYLE OF MUSIC?

We changed the name because the ‘Nitwitz’ period of funpunk was over. Our opinions about music changed in two ways. We wanted to put a lot more of our political ideas into the songs and we were influenced by the first American hardcore countries that became known in Europe (‘Circle Jerks’, ‘Dead Kennedys’, ‘Hüsker Dü’, ‘M.D.C.’, etc.). We still like some of these bands but others got too commercial for us.

YOUR AND THE OTHER VÖGELSPIN RECORDS ARE REALLY CHEAP (around 12 marks [6 Euro]). HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO KEEP THE PRICE SO LOW, EVEN THOUGH THE PRODUCTION-COSTS ARE MOST OF THE TIME REALLY HIGH?

The production-costs don’t necessarily have to be high. It takes time to find a good non-commercial studio. That’s very important because almost every studio is far too expensive and the technicians are stupid cows. A good atmosphere and cool people to work with are much more important than expensive recording-equipment. Most bands are misled by gittering devices. But I think our records could sound a lot better, so we’re looking for another studio with cheap prices. The price of our records is fair at the moment, more expensive ones would be unfair. Record-pressing costs roughly the same everywhere.

DO YOU KNOW IN WHICH COUNTRIES YOUR ALBUM HAS BEEN SOLD AND HOW WELL IT’S DOING?

Our album sold 1,500 times in The Netherlands, a few hundred in Germany, over 200 in the US. ‘M.D.C.’ released Jonestown Aloha over there on their own R Radical label, just as they will do for the 7”. Our records were ordered by mail from Brazil / Spain / Italy / UK / France / Poland / Czechoslovakia (I’m not bragging!).

THERE ARE TWO SONGS IN DUTCH ON YOUR ALBUM AND THE REMAINING EIGHTEEN ARE IN ENGLISH. WHY DO YOU SING IN ENGLISH AND WHAT ARE THE DUTCH SONGS ABOUT?

We (‘Nitwitz’) started singing in English because it’s just the way it has to be when you called yourself a punk band in 78/79. But now things have changed, nowadays many (most) sing in Dutch. There’s no need to continue singing in English. For ‘B.G.K.’ there are two reasons to sing in English: the rhythm of the language works better with the fast music than Dutch, but more important: we want to communicate with people who don’t speak Dutch. Almost every Dutch punk understands English but nobody in the world understands Dutch. The first song (Isolatiefolter [“isolation-torture”]) happens to be in Dutch. It’s about solitary confinement in prisons/ mental hospitals. The second (Regering [“government”]) is in Dutch on purpose, it’s about our government and both parties there. It’s not about governments in general.

YOUR LYRICS ARE VERY POLITICAL, WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS?

That’s a difficult question, you want me to explain our political views in ten lines. I’ll keep it very brief: it boils down to a few basic things; freedom, peace, independence for everyone. Therefore, as a band and as an individual, we support different groups (anarchists, squatters) who have the same ideas. We played Rock Against NATO, Racism, Religion gigs and in lots of squats. We also have something like a band-policy: we dont’t play for expensive entrance-fees, we don’t do the ‘main act’ or ‘opening act’ thing because every band is the same, we don(t play in commercial clubs that rip people off, we keep our records cheap, etc.

ARE YOU INVOLVED IN ANY POLITICAL ACTIONS?

I already answered that in the previous question; apart from that we’re also involved with the squatting-movement and with no nukes, no cruise missiles, etc.

ON YOUR ALBUM THERE ARE TWO ANTI-POLICE SONGS (Tout Les Flics [“all the cops”] & Police Crimes). DID YOU HAVE ANY BAD EXPERIENCES WITH THE POLICE OR WHAT IS THE REASON FOR WRITING THESE?

Anyone can see the police-terror during certain incidents (anti-nuclear demonstrations, squatters were kicked out of their houses). We’ve had some minor, personal encounterss with the police, but that doesn’t count. We see the police as a very willing instrument of the ruling power, those who own everything.

IS THERE SOMETHING YOU HATE ABOUT THE PUNK SCENE?

I hate the macho attitude of some stud-freaks, violence, right-wing skins and idiots, hard drugs, non-thinking, consuming punks and a lazy, leaning-back audience. I like reaction, approval or disapproval. In short: I don’t like all the ideals of punk and the things that have developped out of it (sell-out bands, commrciality).

DO YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT THE GERMAN PUNK SCENE AND WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT?

I believe there are a lot of good bands, small labels and thinking people (fanzines) in Germany. Our gigs there were sometimes great, but sometimes very bad (Hannover !!!). I hope violence and destructive drug-use will come to an end.

WILL THERE BE ANY NEW VÖGELSPIN RELEASES IN THE FUTURE?

We want to release a new (3rd) Als Je Haar Maar Goed Zit sampler, but there have been no clear plans made. (Vögelspin is ‘B.G.K.’ and ‘B.G.K.’ is Vögelspin.)

Growing Concern (Wolfpack #2)

The 3 issues of this (Wolfpack) were scanned by Luc Ardilouze and provided by Philippe Tuffet…

It started out as an oi!/skinhead publication and turned into a straight-edge HC zine. The initial issue was titled Une Cause A Rallier (“a cause to unite for a common cause”); that became the subtitle…

The contribution of Franck ‘Michel’ Mundubeltz who did bass/vocals in ‘The Abhored’  (an a-political oi! band from Biarritz, French part of the Basque Country) seems to diminish after the first issue. In 1990 the band’s drummer was replaced by Manu (Emmanuel) Bichindaritz. The band turned more HC, Manu stayed until ’92; he became a militant for the the L.C.R. (Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire, “revolutionary communist league”) & N.P.A. (Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste, “new anticapitalist party”). The latter edited the following issues.

The first issue (Oct ’91) opens with Franck’s editorial to a drug-free youth with “Hey, chosen few!” over a pic of a bald guy with a ‘SlapShot’ T-shirt… It contains interviews with ‘Think Twice’ & ‘Man Lifting Banner’, and the French bands ‘Delayed Action Bomb’, ‘Les Skunks’, ‘Close Fight’ & ‘Pilgrims’. There’s a column entitled straight-edge & politics (by Manu) and an article on oi! In #2 (’92) there’s talks with ‘Growing Concern’, ‘Endpoint’, & Crucial response recs. Also 2 columns entitled Freedom: Myth Or (And) Reality (Manu), and Vigilance And Independence (Fred(eric) ‘Earquake’ Leca); plus a news-section & record-reviews. The 3rd issue (92-93) was dedicated to the Nouvelle Action Communiste Révolutionnaire (S.A.C.RE). It feature ‘Strength Alone’, Submission’ (UK), ‘Moribund Youth’ (Tur), Green recs (Ita), ‘Nations On Fire’ & ‘Red Alert’. There’s columns on Disinformation (Franck) and on International Socialism (Manu), news and a U.K. scenereport (by Tom Chapman).

[Translation below]

Do you remember ‘Think Twice’ (see Une Cause A Rallier # 1)? That wasn’t an isolated phenomenon: Italy has succumbed to the positive invasion and many other bands are spreading the agitation. Among them the Romans of ‘Growing Concern’, far from being the last. Already authors of an excellent EP on Break Even Point (the label of ‘Think Twice’), they seem to assert themselves more and more as a great hope, and it’s not after having read the words of Gianni [Pantaloni] (drums) and Andrew [Mecoli] (guitar) that you will contradict me… [The others were Massimiliano Carnevale (bass) & Paolo Piccini (vocals).]

So let’s start with the history of the band…

G: ‘Growing Concern’ was formed in the spring of 1989 by Paolo, Gianni and Massimiliano. Andrew joined us soon after. We even had a second guitarist, Marco who played with us for a month but had to leave us because of military service. Anyway, when we recorded our EP in the summer of 1990, he helped us out again by playing second guitar. We recorded a demo in January-February 1990 which was called Hood Crew 1990 but we don’t sell it anymore (it contained 5 songs which are on the EP in different versions and 3 other songs including a cover of an old hardcore band of Rome, ‘High Circle’). We have done over 30 concerts since we formed.

Can you introduce us to Break Even Point recs. How did the contact come about?

G: The guy who does the label, Giuliano [Calza], has been a friend of ours since ‘86. At that time he was playing [drums] in the hardcore band ‘High Circle ’. When the band broke up, he decided to set up his own label and as we knew him very well, he asked us to do an EP with him. He was also in contact with ‘Think Twice’ and therefore decided to produce their EP. Other Break Even Point releases are the second album of ‘High Circle’ (the first was released in ‘87 on Subcore recs, a label in Seattle) and a tape from ‘HeadSpring’ which was Giuliano’s band until recently. I think it’s a committed label because Giuliano is a really dedicated and concerned person. He’s been a hardcore fan since the early ‘80s and started this label only for the love and passion that binds him to hardcore. Break Even Point is not a way to make money.

Have you played in other bands before? Was it the same direction?

G: Before ‘Growing Concern’ I played in a really committed hardcore band called ‘Maximum Feedback’. We played together for 3 years and then split up. Before this, we released a self-produced 3-track single. In a way it can be said that ‘Maximum Feedback’ had the same orientation as GxCx: in the beginning we played fast and basic hardcore punk but we gradually evolved into hardcore thrash, that is to say slower and a bit more complicated with guitar-solos, which I didn’t like and that’s one of the reasons why I left the band. We had lyrics in Italian, quite politically engaged. Perhaps ‘Maximum Feedback’ was more political and engaged than GxCx because we refused any connection with the music-business. We decided to refuse independent labels and do our EP ourselves, play only in squatts and distribute via mailorder because we didn’t want to be in record-stores. That wasn’t the opinion of everyone in the band, and it’s also one of the reasons for the end of the band. Paolo played drums in a thrash/death band called ‘Outrage’; they released 2-3 demos and were quite popular in the Italian scene. He left the band and he joined GxCx. ‘Outrage’ was a typical death/thrash band with all the stereotypes of the genre but they were good.

Do you consider ‘Growing Concern’ to be a straight-edge band? What does this mean to you?

A: GxCx can be considered as a straight-edge band in the sense that all 4 of us have a positive attitude and believe that drinking booze or taking dope is unnecessary and sucks. We believe there’s a need to promote a strong and serious attitude against these things. In that sense, we can all proudly wear an X because that’s what SxE means to us. On the other hand, if you only consider the “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke” attitude, GxCx is not completely a straight-edge band since three members smoke (no joints) and one drinks a beer every now and then. Personally, I’m against drinking and smoking but most of my best friends do, so the most I can do is to say it’s bad for their health. I don’t want to be a judge and blame them for what they do. Remember that most of the time it’s the ones who yell the most that fall down the most easily.

What are your musical influences? Is music important to you?

G: I think our influences can be easily pinpointed! We’re influenced by ‘Gorilla Biscuits’, ‘Turning Point’, ‘Insted’, ‘Youth Of Today ’, ‘Sick Of It All’, etc. I don’t think we sound very original, we can’t say that we are the origin of a musical style because no one is (not even the bands mentioned) and anyway, the fact that we found our sound by following these examples can just mean that all of us externalize our power and our energy through the music: that’s what hardcore is musically. We’re interested in all kinds of music and it’s one of the most important things in our life. But hardcore has something more than other styles of music: it’s an attitude, a way of thinking and acting that really makes the difference. I think that hardcore and more generally the punk-rock movement is the most exciting form of musical expression today because it allows you to be involved not only as a listener but also and even mainly as an active individual who can freely create something personal and communicate, because of this creation, with other people.

One of the specific aspects of hardcore in general (and the SxE scene in particular) is the importance of such personalities as Ian MacKaye or Ray Cappo who’re considered “messiahs” by a part of the public. Is that what you are referring to in your song What U Say? Do you see this as the end of all individual freedom?

That’s a good question, but I think you misunderstood the song. What U Say was dedicated not to Ian MacKaye or Roy Cappo but to celebrities: those rockstars who believe they have the whole world in their hands because they have sold millions of copies of their album, while sometimes they don’t know that they are pawns in the hands of the recording-industry. What U Say talks about the enormous influence these people can have on their audience. When we say that they “worship shit”, we’re referring to the negative and self-destructive messages that most rockstars send to their fans, that is to say: taking the drugs, being drunk and being rebels against society by following such behaviour, which is ridiculous. They’re rebels but they have no cause. The song doesn’t refer to all the big rockstars; some are better than others because even though they consume hard liquour and in general ruin their lives, they restrict it to something that only concerns their private lives and they don’t dictate this shitty message to their audience, unlike some. When I see people trying to follow the lifestyle of their favourite rockstar, I think it’s not just the end of personal freedom but even the end of the individual. Everyone has their own personality, their own vision and their own experience, so you have to choose your own way while preserving your identity, not denying it. It’s not just about people who follow the example of ‘Guns & Roses’ or ‘Skid Row’, but even those who blindly follow Ray Cappo, Ian MacKaye or whoever, without even thinking what they are actually about.

I think there’s a bit of humour in your song Hood Crew (which deals with the importance of the hoodie, among other things !!!). What do you think of bands such as ‘Crucial Youth’ or ‘Grudge’ that criticise an image of the SxE attitude?

A: So you saw the humour behind Hood Crew: that’s good because not everyone noticed it (Flipside criticised us for that song). Our Hood Crew can be considered as a symbolic response to the Better Than You Crew of ‘Gorilla Biscuits’. It’s just a song to sing along to at concerts, totally ironic and started out as a joke. We think that humour in music is good sometimes to clean up the macho shit that’s growing in hardcore these days. I’m not saying that, musically, we don’t like bands such as ‘Cro-Mags’, ‘Sick Of It All’ or ‘Chorus Of Disapproval’ but we don’t agree with some of the things they say. On the other hand, we don’t like bands like ‘Crucial Youth’ or ‘Grudge’ because their jokes, their gags aren’t funny and musically they’re not good. Anyway, who are these guys to laugh with the SxE if they’re not straight-edge themselves? Humour and irony don’t have to be expressed with these silly jokes.

What do you think of the mix of politics/hardcore? Do you think straight-edge or positive thinking is political?

A: For us, playing positive hardcore is already very serious and political, because we’re doing something that is totally the opposite of the general idea of a rock-band: we don’t just say alcohol and drugs are fun (like a lot of bands nowadays) and musically we play songs that sound like noise to an average audience. I think hardcore, punk in their genuine sense are in fact political and contrarian. For example: just the idea that during a concert there’s no division between the band and the crowd gets away from the common practice in classic rock’n’roll. If you talk about politics by referring to a band like ‘Man Lifting Banner’ (Editor’s note: see the interview of this brilliant Dutch band in #1 of Une Cause A Rallier.) who are communists. I think it’s entirely up to them to see if they want to express their political ideas so openly and this is another peculiarity of hardcore: everyone has their own political conception and their own outlook on life, and it’s important to preserve them in order to preserve everyone’s freedoms, as well as their identity. Hardcore is the best way to express your ideas; also, if you want to talk politics then do so, and if you don’t want to talk about anything, do that. After all, the listener is free to listen to what (s)he wants and is free to agree with what (s)he wants.

On your EP, you thank the Italian league against vivisection (L.A.V.). Don’t you think it’s a bit pointless to campaign for a movement like this when most people in the world are already starving?

A: Two of the band-members are vegetarians and we’re all against vivisection. We believe that cruelty against animals is bad and that science doesn’t need to kill them in order to achieve its goal. You say most people are starving today but you can’t stop me from believing that if everyone quit eating “non-human animals”, there would be no longer need to feed the animals that we kill. All the food we give them could feed thousands and thousands of people. Can’t you see we’re wasting our resources on creatures we wouldn’t need to feed? Think about it. Open-mindedness is the core thinking of SxE and hardcore, and caring for animals is one more step in the right direction.

What are your projects?

G: Our immediate projects are different participations in compilations: one on the French label Crab Song (Editor’s note: Stand As One, SxE division of this label.), one for the Italians of Green recs and a last one – which is ready – for the Italian squat label Isola Nel Kantiere productions [Isola Nel Kantiere was an occupied social centre in Bologna; the compilation is entitled It’s Pounding In!]: this compilation was recorded last year [Nov. ‘90] during a concert and contains songs from ‘Think Twice’, ‘One Step Ahead’, ‘Hide Out’, ‘Creepshows’ and ‘Growing Concern’, all Italian bands. We’re definitely going to do a split-EP for Crab Song but we don’t know when. As far as touring is concerned, we have nothing planned but we’re in contact with people who could organise concerts for us across Europe [Belgium: 93-01-09 & 94-01-08]. If anyone can help us, please contact us at my address.

Any last words?

G: I would like to thank you Manu, as well as your zine, for your support, and also all the people who helped and supported us. I would like to tell anyone involved in the hardcore movement to keep being active, helping out their scene, forming a band, doing a zine… Always keep doing the right thing!!!

GROWING CONCERN: Gianni Pantaloni, via C. Ferrata 23, 00165 Roma, Italy

Jeetje Mina (Het Blad Van Eduard #1)

Ron(ny) Goris, from Nieuwegein (near Utrecht) joined the band ‘Laitz‘ as vocalist in the spring of ’84. He did this zine together with 2 others: Joep van Liefland – bassist of ‘Laitz’ & a guy called Rob. The title translates as “the paper of Eduard”…

#1 (Jun 1985) contains info on the band Gepøpel’, the editors vent their frustrations and sentiments on various sociopolitical issues, there’s info on squatting of the Adolf Meyer Panden, a talk with 2 people of the feminist mag Jeetje Mina, etc.

#2 (Oct 1985) features HC/punk band ‘Behind The Dikes’, there’s an interview with someone of Stichting Digitaal (kind of an alternative music-school but also with recording-techniques etc.) and various columns. An interview of ‘Kikkerspuug’ didn’t materialise…

These are available on Michael K’s website (bacteria.nl).

Nowadays Ron plays drums in ‘The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation’ (jazz) and is a sound-mixer. Joep lives in Berlin and makes contemporary art/organises expositions.

Brob

I just came up with the name (Eduard is a typical name for a “koorbal”, a frat-boy), nothing else. Joep took the bull by the horns. I chickened out!

Ron Goris

The name of the zine just popped up. We played in a band, visited concerts, exchanged music (-tapes). We got a lot of our info from zines and wanted to do one of our own. The first issue came out at the time of the 1985 ‘anti-pope demonstration’ in Utrecht (which kinda got out of hand). It was hard to fill the zine with the two of us so we called it quits after two issues. There was no photoshop back then, no computers; we learned to (literally) cut and paste. Looking back, it was a special time where you tried out and set up several things. The good thing was that you did it together…

Joep van Liefland

As an example: an interview with two people who did the feminist paper Jeetje Mina (can be translated as ‘”jeez, girl”) – together with KwaMeid (“angry girl”), one of the few at that time. It was aimed at girls (14-20) and appeared every 2 months (started in 1983).

[Translation below]

This interview is with Nancy [Oudenaller ?] and Lonny from the girl [the Dutch word ‘meid’ is colloquial for young woman, lass, chick] magazine Jeetje Mina. They speak for themselves and not for all girls of Jeetje Mina. Jeetje Mina is made by 9 girls from Utrecht, and focuses mainly on girls and young women.

DO YOU THINK FEMINISM BROUGHT CHANGES IN SOCIETY OVER TIME?

Nancy: Yes, I certainly think so. In the past, women had a completely different position. In the past, the woman became a housewife and many more boys than girls went on to study. Boys and girls also interacted differently. They were seen as two separate groups, there was less equality.

Lonny: As a girl you now have more choice to do what you want.

Nancy: Feminism started with only women but now you see a lot of girls doing the work as well.

ARE POLITICAL VIEWS IN THE MAGAZINE IMPORTANT TO YOU?

Nancy: We’re not really politically oriented. I think it is clear that it’s a leftist mag. Feminism in itself is something left-wing.

WHAT MORE MUST BE IMPROVED?

Nancy: It’s hard to say, but I think the image that men and women have of each other needs to be changed. Women are still being raped. It also often happens that when a man and a woman are expecting a child, the woman stops working and takes care of the child, and the man has to earn a living.

HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT PORN?

Nancy: I think in porn the woman is portrayed as a lust-object. They’re depicted as tits and a pussy, nothing more.

SHOULD IT BE PROHIBITED? OR SHOULD THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO READ IT JUST DO THAT?

Nancy: It shouldn’t be banned. I think the image men have of women needs to be changed here too and they just shouldn’t make those movies anymore because there’s nothing to it.

WHY IS YOUR MAG SPECIALLY FOR GIRLS AND NOT ALSO FOR THE OLDER FEMINISTS?

Nancy: Women are engaged in a different kind of feminism. They often have things and a career behind them. Something we don’t have. We are more concerned with things like school and parents. Girls are in a very different position than women.

Lonny: Women often write about girls, but of course girls can do that themselves.

WHAT ARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH ROLE PATTERNS AT HOME AND SCHOOL?

Lonny: I didn’t notice much at home about being treated differently as a girl than a boy.

Nancy: I haven’t noticed it at home either but I don’t have any brothers anyway. I think it’s harder for parents to let go of a girl than a boy.

AND AT SCHOOL?

Nancy: Yes, very much. I was very fond of carpentry and sawing, and girls weren’t allowed to do that. We got things like crocheting and knitting. I didn’t take it then. I had gone to the headmaster but I still had to make a rag-doll. Or sometimes they would come into the classroom and ask if there were any strong boys to carry chairs and tables. So I just always said yes but I wasn’t allowed to do it.

IS FEMINISM NOT JUST ANOTHER FASHION-PHENOMENON?

Lonny: Yes, suddenly there seems to be a lot of women’s cafés and women’s bookstores popping up. Many feminists also distinguish themselves in clothing and appearance. I was recently searching for a women’s bookstore that had just opened. I saw a woman with cropped hair and purple overalls that was painting. So then I thought that’s where it was. And it was indeed there.

Nancy: Yeah, they’re often like “You shouldn’t pay attention to your appearance, don’t put on make-up and all that.”.

IT IS OFTEN THAT PEOPLE THINK “FEMINISTS ARE MAN-HATERS AND THEY WANT MORE POWER THAN MEN ETC.”.

Nancy: Yes we have had a letter like this from someone but we thought it was a disgusting note so we didn’t put it in the paper. That woman wrote what a man should look like and that you should never fall for handsome men because they’re supposedly conceited. There was a real hatred towards men in it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT A COUPLE OF BOYS WANTED TO JOIN THE DEMONSTRATION DURING THE WITCHES-NIGHT AND WERE NOT ALLOWED TO DO SO?

Lonny: I think that’s a bad thing. I find it quite difficult to say when to do something only with women and when mixed; just like women’s eateries and such: I think that goes a bit too far.

Nancy: Also with girls-days and girls-festivals. I always find it much more fun when guys come too, there’s a very different atmosphere than when it’s women only. Guys and men should also get involved if they are interested. There are also guys who read our paper; that’s exactly what I like. I recently bought a men’s paper, which I like. I think both men and women should emancipate.

With these wise words we end this. If you want to get a copy of Jeetje Mina, you can do so in Utrecht at the Rooie Rat [political bookshop] and Broese & Kemink [bookshop]. For further information or orders (fl. 1,50 / copy): write or call Jeetje Mina / p.a. Nancy / Utrecht

Anti-Dogmatikss (Penetración #6)

“Their power lies in our misery – We don’t need them!!!” *** This was the “first anarchopunk fanzine” in Madrid, edited by Alberto Eiriz – “pioneer regarding the incorporation of the discourse and aesthetics of ‘Crass’ into punk of his country” – and Paz Goñi (vocalist of the female combo ‘Pelvis Turmix‘) & Juan Carlos Ruiz a.k.a. Ras Charlie Dread. The publication started as a music-zine but progressively evolved towards “more radical political positions”. Alberto wrote about “direct action collectives based on self-organisation and anti-capitalism”.

In his doctoral thesis (on the influence of punk and hardcore in the city of Madrid), David Álvarez García writes: >>Penetración’s editorial life consists of two periods: A first stage focused on music (1982-1983) that was promoted by ‘Charlie’ Juan Carlos Ruiz together with his brother and Alberto Eiriz. A second stage (1983-1985) in which Alberto Eiriz and Paz Goñi took the reins of the editorial project together with other collaborators […]. The musical part was maintained, and social & political themes were introduced. In this second stage, approximately 13 issues were published until 1985.<<

The people involved with the zine also did a programme on a ‘free’ radio-station and organised concerts. Alberto also ran a small distro.

Michael K. made 2 issues available (bacteria.nl/penetracion) => #5 (Jul-Aug ’84): interview with Phil of (the British) ‘Subhumans, ‘Sound Of Disaster’, ‘Lärm’, ‘B.G.K.’; scene-reports (Switzerland, Greece, Alaska, Sweden, Canada); presentation of ‘War Of Destruction (Den), ‘Wretched’, ‘Anti-Dogmatikss’; animal-rights article, contacts/reviews/news. #6 (Feb ’85): ‘Instigators’, ‘Scapegoats’, ‘Anti-Dogmatikss’, ‘Neurotic Arseholes’, ‘Tortura Sistematika’, ‘Funeral Oration’, ‘Bloedbad’, ‘Puinhoop’, many scene-reports, reviews, etc.

The www tells us the first issue was published in early 1982 in honour of the ‘Iggy & The Stooges’ song. The content was musical and varied, from Iggy Pop himself, to ‘The Exploited’, ‘Anti-Pasti’, ‘Discharge’ and ‘Black Flag’.

Brob

I’ve been involved in some collaborations, a book and a documentary (video). The film is entitled Lo Que Hicimos Fue Secreto (“What We Did Was Secret“), the book Zona Especial Noise [“special noise zone”; unfortunately only in Spanish – Chronicle of a Musical Destruction in the Spanish Underground of the 80s; edited by David Von Rivers]

Alberto

Fernando ‘Ferran’ (R.I.P.), guitarist of the band ‘Anti-Dogmatikss‘ (from Barcelona) talks about their early history (< 1985) and lyrics…

[Translation below]

Here we have a young band from Barcelona, whose music we could describe as fast-paced and thunderous hardcore. As you will be able to read in this story, written by Fernando, they have recently lost their drummer, these used to be: Dimoni (ex ‘Attak’), Saiwa (from ‘Odio Social’) and finally Manel (from ‘Shit S.A.’). It’s worth mentioning their participation in a concert at the university where they were accused of begin “coca-colonized” by the priests of the revolutionary vanguard there, denouncing them of being fascists because some friend painted ‘Stop The Weapons’ and ‘Pirates Rob You, Don’t Join Them’ (Good subject from this gentleman of the Piratas de Barna [Pirates of Barcelona; Alberto, a guy selling punk records in a non-official record-store (early 80s), also arranged gigs for some of the first foreign bands in Barcelona], a person we have in El Rastro [flee-market] from Madrid). In short: what can be said of someone who only demonstrates he’s having zero or almost zero intelligence and understanding. Why this marginalisation? Anyway, here they are…

 

‘Anti-Dogmatikss’ was formed in the summer of 1981, although ‘Sisa’ and Fernando had been rehearsing since June (when ‘Epidemia’ broke up), in the beginning we had a female vocalist who left because she was going deaf and by the end of December ‘Poly’ joined so we got to to the current line-up (‘Poly’ [Josep Urpí Gausachs] – vocals, Fernando [‘Ferran’; R.I.P.] – guitar, ‘Sisa’ [Narcís Gelador] – bass and Carlos – drums). At the moment we have about eleven songs although we really only have six ready (the ones on the tape).

We try to deliver our songs as fast music and with sensible lyrics, because at the moment, it seems important to make committed music, so the name also is important to us: it defines ourselves a bit, we’re against dogmas because we believe that religion is as disastrous as any war and that ultimately everything is reduced to a problem of repression of the poor by the rich, of the people by the state, etc. Otherwise, who profits from the slaughter of animals? Who gains something from a war? The whole system is a dogma, people are silent because they are not given another alternative, they’re not allowed to choose about important issues. Why have they lead us into NATO? As ‘Attak’ said: we’re obliged to live in a society that we haven’t chosen for and therefore we must try to change it or simply set up our own alternative society.

Estado De Caos [“state of chaos”] is our most controversial lyric: we try to present a vision of how all this will end, the first verse talks about the lack of control that will set in when people get fed up with political twists, mismanaged teaching, religion, in short: of the system; in the second verse we state our aspirations and leave a little up in the air how to achieve them.

El Modelo De Español [“the Spanish model”] was, at first, aimed at the skins, today I suppose that we will try to change it because more than half of the skins in Barcelona are legitimate people who’re fighting for the same things as us and with the same ideas; I think that because of their way of thinking they’re not skins, although they adopt their aesthetics. As you can pick up from the tape, the lyrics that I send you do not correspond to what ‘Poly’ sings, since he changed it the very day we recorded; it seems to me that he has turned it around and tries to claim that the fascist position stops being the model of Spain and that most people accept our ideas, even if they’re not the least bit concerned about the problems we’re talking about.

Campos De Cruces [“field of crosses”] is the typical theme against war and military mobilisation. Religión & El Robot Del Futuro are two lyrics rescued from the ‘Epidemia’ era. The first one attacks religion and the alienation that it produces for humans, who stops thinking for themselves and start a belief based on a superior being that denies the evolution of man and his potential perfection (a more Marxist concept). The second is directed against manipulated persons (basically all of us), who do nothing to counter that manipulation. These lyrics are were written by my brother.

Fuego En La Moncloa [“fire in La Moncloa”; The Mocloa is the official residence for the Prime Minister of Spain] criticizes the system itself, from the military to the politicians, policemen, etc.; claiming anarchy as the only valid way out.

With Manel [drummer replacing Carlos] the band has been perfectly consolidated and we won a lot. On the one hand Manel is a better drummer than Carlos and on the other he fits in better with the rest of the band, both on an ideological and musical level. Now we started rehearsing new songs and working on the ones we had already rehearsed, arranging them a good bit. Our performances are going much better and in a short time we got a minimum repertoire with new songs such as Was A Boy?, Pierdete! [“get lost”], Barcelona, Anti-USA and a version of Bella Ciao [Italian protest folk song, modified and adopted as an anthem of the anti-fascist resistance] that we dedicate to all the active punks in Italy. As for lyrics, we continue to wellcome contributions from other people, like Pierdete!: written by Christian Dios; that talks about punks, weekend-nazis, who only hope that there are concerts to be able to easily start fights; it’s especially dedicated to the people who caused the closure of the Casal Dels Transformadors [anarchist squat/punk venue] the only place where the punk bands from Barcelona can play. Barcelona is a subject of ‘Joni D.’ [‘Joni Destruye’; Jesus Maria Sahun Castet] about the reigning apathy in Barcelona and in any city where everything follows a daily routine and no-one struggles for a new alternative that entails an improvement to a new way of life, not materialist but at the level of individual development. The other song we do at this stage is Was A Boy?, which is perhaps our fastest song, the lyrics are written by ‘Poly’ and talks about the manipulation of children by the system and the early inclusion of these children in a society which they don’t deserve and that will definitely mark them for their whole life. Anti-USA is another new ‘Anti-Dogmaticss’ song; it was also part of the repertoire of ‘Epidemia’ (the band ‘Sisa’ and Fernando were in) but we still liked it and decided to make it better and play it. The lyrics are by ‘Joni D.’ and are about the killing of 9 blacks in Memphis by the U.S. police after accusing them of being terrorists. Later it became clear that they were not. The lyrics raise the possibility similarities between the K.K.K. and the police; an issue that must always be placed in this context as it is not anti-USA but rather deals with a concrete fact.

When things started to work a bit, thieves stole our equipment from our space and we were forced to stop rehearsing, luckily after three days we found the thieves and the equipment: now we can give the name of the ‘brain of the operation’ so that people people can find out; it’s the kind of person that is goofing around as an anarchist, pacifist and friend of ‘Delincuencia Sonora’ [punk band from Madrid] (let’s hope they choose better friends). The guy is Pedro from Grabaciones Anfetamínicas [record-label] (‘Petete’) and in addition to being a thief, he’s a guy who doesn’t deserve to be involved in any musical context since he preferred to destroy parts of the equipment that didn’t fit his car than to leave it in the space.

Shortly after recovering the aquipment we went to Italy, Manel couldn’t come because the day before leaving, he was fired at his job and he was quite screwed up psychically. In Italy things weren’t too good either, because ‘Impact’ hadn’t done anything that they had promised and we couldn’t play anywhere; the only gig that was sorted, was the one in Ferrara (their hometown) and the day before the concert the city-council closed the Social Centre where we had to play, because of some rather difficult neighbours. The experience in Italy was amazing; there’s a lot of difference between the people there and over here: they are more active and they give less importance to material goods, there’s an incredible number of bands and people are very open to Spanish bands. I guess we’ll be back soon. When we got back we didn’t rehearse until the end of September. From here on we took up rehearsing again and we already did four more songs. Two of them don’t have lyrics yet, the others (Hacienda [“treasury”] and Ellos O Tú? [“them or you”]) do. Hacienda is written both by ‘Poly’ and Fernando, and talks about the destination of the taxes that everyone pays without wondering much about what they’re used for; we raise a tax-objection based on subtracting the percentage intended for weapons and the maintenance of the army and police-forces from the taxes that each one pays (we don’t!). (This percentage can be found in the general state-budgets for each year).

The other song Ellos O Tú? lasts only eight seconds and proposes reflection as a valid form of struggle because whenever there’s thinking, there will be more arguments that will give strength to our ideas.

Memento Mori (Extreme Derange #1)

This zine took off (Oct ’88) with Horst & Norbert Glatz (Regensburg, Bavaria) at the helm. Half a year later Norbert seemed to have disappeared and Waltraut Wette (with whom Horst ran Scum distribution; that also carried my zine) helped out. I have 2 issues but I can’t recall if there where any more. A few years later Horst founded the label Extune Tonträger.

#1 features Koma tapes (Holger Schmidt/Thosten Zahn), there’s a presentation of the ‘Grinning Kids’, ‘Scraps’ & ‘Memento Mori’ interviews, reviews (gigs), and the story of the pirate (Klaus) Störtebeker (also a punk venue), etc. In #2 we get interviews with ‘F.F.F.’, ‘Satanic Malfunctions’ & Frank Herbst of Your Chance tapes, a presentation of ‘Gash’ (Melbourne), reviews (zines/records), a brief scene-report from Poland and more.

In 1997 Horst opende a comic/book-shop: Comikaze, and since 2001 he sells comics/movies online via the heComic platform…

Brob

Waltraut and myself did Scum distribution; unfortunately he moved away from Regensburg so I quit the distribution. Nowadays I do a small comic bookshop and sell/ swap comics in a network. Now and then I still buy a fanzine or punk vinyl…

Horst Glatz

‘Memento Mori’ was a German metal-influenced hardcore-punk band from Neuhofen (near Ludwigshafen, Germany). They did an LP (The Cultural Value Of Fear, Distrust & Hypochondria) that was released on my friend Frank Babel’s label Blasting Youth recs in the beginning of the 90s. At that time ‘M.M.’ were: Thomas (bass), Mich(a)el Volkmer (drums), Sacha (guitar) and Jochen ‘Delle’ Dell (vocals; ex ‘Die Perversen Weihnachtsmänner’). ‘Delle’ and Mich(a)el also played in ‘Die Wehrkraftzersetzer’ (WKZ) and ‘Die Perversen Weihnachtsmänner’ before. When ‘Memento Mori’ quit, ‘WKZ’ was reactivated. This interview was with Mich(a)el in the band’s early days (with guitarists Alex and Stock), just after the release of their first self-titled album (’88).

[Translation below]

IF I READ THINGS CORRECTLY, ‘WKZ’ [‘Die Wehrkraftzersetzer’ – “military force subvert” – other band with ‘M.M.’ members] ARE NO LONGER EXISTING. OR IS IT JUST THE NAME THAT IS CHANGED; IF SO WHY?

It was more or less just a change of name: only Stefan, our former ‘WKZ’ vocalist, is no longer in the band. In the meantime, however, we have 2 new guitarists. We’ve changed the name for the following reasons: a) We all started our civil service, which a ‘wehrkraftzersetzer’ probably wouldn’t do; in my opinion the civil service is just as involved in the planning of the war as a soldier with arms. Theoretically¸ as a consequence; you would have to refuse and b) We were fed up with singing in German because hardly anyone pays attention to the lyrics (unfortunately); well, at least not live, where you pick it up. So I think you can express yourself better in English (more beautiful language). In order to be able to do this, however, you would have to be able to speak English properly, and none of us can do that very well. Furthermore, English is an international language and we would like to be more successful internationally. Finally, the name ‘Memento Mori’ (latin; meaning something like ‘remember your mortality’), was much more appropriate for present times because some, no, many, irresponsible industrials & politicians and dull majorities don’t want to be aware of things.

WHY DO YOU MAKE MUSIC; TO BE ABLE TO VENT YOUR AGRESSION, BECAUSE YOU THINK IT’S FUN, TO DO SOMETHING OR DO YOU WANT TO REACH PEOPLE AND HOW?

I started making music 5 years ago. That suited quite well to at least contain the frustration, that I had during my schooling at the time, a little. It was and is still mostly bestial fun and of course we want to reach people. For a while it was frustrating for me when e.g. the majority of the people attending concerts didn’t give a damn about our messages and most of the lyricsheets that we used to hand out at every performance didn’t get read. Nowadays I’m relatively satisfied when people enjoy themselves during our concerts. But it would be nice when they got up from their ass more, like for example in ’67-’69.

I THINK IT’S ABOUT TIME TO LEARN A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE BAND (LINE UP, HISTORY …). GET STARTED.

5 years ago, when ‘Grauschleier’ [“gray haze”] was founded by Gunter [guitar] and myself, we were total beginners; first we taught ourselves everything (unfortunately it stayed that way with Gunter until the end). Different bassists, then ‘Delle’ [Jochen Dell] came to replace Markus as vocalist. Name-change to ‘Wehrkraftzersetzer’. Alex then replaced Sime (now in ‘Dioxins’). Change of bassist (backing-vocalist): Nik, then Stefan. We stayed together quite a long time in this line-up. This was followed by a compilation-LP, the ‘WKZ’ EP + the ‘WKZ’ LP [1986]. ‘Delle’ and I recorded the ‘Perversen Weihnachtsmänner’ [“pervert Santas”] EP [1987] with two others and we were on a compilation-LP. After the ‘WKZ’ LP: the new name and a completely new programme in English. Two compilation-LPs. Then Stock joined us as 2nd guitarist. The ‘Memento Mori’ LP got recorded. [1988] During the recordings for that LP, guitarist Gunter quit after 5 years due to incompetence, or we threw him out because of that. Holger joined the band as the new guitarist. We are currently working on a new programme. The ‘Memento Mori’ EP should be released soon (not yet with new songs).

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF DO IT YOURSELF?

From a musical point of view, I’m in favour of taking lessons, because it’s incredibly inspiring and stimulating, and there’s no messing around with the wrong techniques or finger-positions, as we have done for too long. But you learn yourself most of it by rehearsing, practicing and copying.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MOST IMPORTANT: THE LYRICS, THE MUSIC, OR BOTH?

In the past, the lyrics had absolute priority. That is why, as I said, I was rather disappointed at the time when they received so little attention. Today my opinion is that first of all the music has to be right, then you can also pay attention to the lyrics.

WHAT ARE YOUR LYRICS ABOUT?

Most of the lyrics were written by an American G.I., because we don’t think we understand English well enough. They’re therefore mostly about and frustration regarding America. I also wrote a few more lyrics at a time when I was feeling very bad mentally. I think mainly because a relationship was breaking up. The lyrics are about aggression against my environment, and about depression and what went through my head. All pretty negative. In the meantime, Stock has written another song. I think it’s about his past but it hasn’t been put to music yet.

ON THE DEMO AND ON THE BENEFIT-COMPILATION THERE’S THIS SONG MARTYR THAT YOU DO. DO YOU MEAN THAT EVERYONE SHOULD EXPEL THE EVIL THEMSELVES? LIKE SHOUTING OUT YOUR UTOPIAN WORDS OUT ONTO THE STREETS AND ON PAPER, BUT THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE GEING YOURSELF, OR SHOULD WE UNDERSTAND IT ANOTHER WAY?

These lyrics are written by our American pal Jason Kendall. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what he means by it. I think that everyone should start with themselves but since hardly anyone does that, I think it’s important to spread your opinion to others in the streets and elsewhere. And shouting is just more effective than e.g. writing a letter of complaint to the federal chancellor. We don’t see ourselves as ‘martyr’s.

HOW DO YOUR LYRICS CONNECT WITH YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE?

My lyrics are about my everyday life and perceptions, the others probably don’t have that connection.

WHAT’S YOUR VIEW ON POLITICS, THE ENVIRONMENT AND EVERYDAY LIFE, IS IT TIME TO CHANGE SOMETHING? IF YES HOW?

Of course it’s high time to change things. Unfortunately, we don’t do much more than call for it through our music. But who’s listening to us? To a certain extent, we even support the silence of some people by making them feel good while listening to our music and keeping still instead of going out on the streets. In the meantime I’ve come to the point that I believe that the only meaningful fight against the omnipotence of the state is terrorism. Everything else ultimately doesn’t bring any change that is of any use. Of course it would be different if everyone, or at least many more people, would take part in non-violent resistance and demos. Something like that paralyses the strongest state. But everyone thinks (s)he’s fine and doesn’t care about the others.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF ‘MEMENTO MORI’ LOOK LIKE?

I don’t know. We just want to get better, play in for more people, also make some money, sell more records, reach more people. And of course we don’t want to forget the fun.

HOW DID YOU LIKE THE INTERVIEW?

Found the questions good, was in the mood to answer them and think it’s good if someone can understand my message. However, it’s primarily my opinion and the others would certainly have a different opinion about some parts.

DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO VENT OR A QUESTION FOR ME?

Nope!

Here I would like to thank Mich(a)el, the drummer of ‘M. M.’ for answering the questions. The ‘M. M.’ LP is available from ‘Delle’ for 14 DEM including postage. If someone would listen to my advice: the LP is really worthwhile, medium-paced hardcore, good vocals and lyrics.

Lebensreform (Union Of Individuals)

This zine is a merge/split of 2 existing European zines: Blind (Jan Baumüller, Mainz, Germany) and Potential Friend (Philippe Tuffet, Bordeaux suburb, France). The language used is English (for both not their mother-tongue). It’s dubbed a “youth-crew anniversary issue” and all about (old-school) straight-edge and being a threat to society/revolution, refusing consumerism/materialism. There’s older and newer interviews with bands such as ‘Mainstrike’, ‘Eyeball’, ‘Lebensreform’, ‘Reinforce’, ‘Lärm’, ‘Chain Of Strength’, ‘Refraining’ (Spain); and record-labels (Third Party recs & Keep It Alive recs). Plus scene-reports (The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Roma, Münster, Spain, France), reviews and columns/opinions.

Brob

Jan was living in France at the time. He was the first guitarist of ‘Headway’ [HC band from Toulouse] but took of to study medicine in Germany… I’m teaching economy and sociology in a high-school. It was through HC/punk that I got politically conscious. No longer really activist…but I’m still leftist, sXe and vegetarian.

Philippe Tuffet

‘Lebensreform’ (from Hamburg) (not really a straight-edge band) played thrash/ hardcore screamo. late 97  they had 2 7”s out on Per Koro (Licht + Luft + Leben & Retor) The line-up was Christian Wruck (drums), Mark Wehrmann (guitar), Dennis Becker (bass; also in ‘Loxiran’; replaced Niels Abele) and Sven Christiansen/Chojnicki (vocals). This interview was done during their 1997 Euro tour (which also landed them at the Vort’n Vis, 97-10-12)

Rattus (Manic #4)

After the ‘Ripcord’ tour that I organised (‘Napalm Death’ tagged along), I went to visit John & Baz in Weston-super-Mare (July ’87). One day Baz took us to the St.Paul’s squat (home of ‘Chaos UK’) in Bristol. The band was rehearsing in their living-room and upstairs I met Tim Bennett (Children Of The Revolution) & Shane Dabinett… The latter had started his record-label Manic Ears and I would help distribute his records. Before he’d done this fanzine (Manic; The Manic Zine early on) and released tapes.

From the www: “I did the fanzine from 1983 to 1985, it was inspired by the Children Of The Revolution fanzine that Tim Bennett, who was also involved in the Bristol scene, was doing. We shared an office in the back-room of Full Marx bookshop when Tim started his label C.O.R. with some inheritance-money; he kicked off his label with ‘Chaos UK’s Short Sharp Shock…”

Shane sent me extracts from #3 (’83-84) with ‘Amebix’, ‘Rancid’ (Bristol), ‘Wretched’, a piece on being gay, info on squatting, the police-state; & #4 (Jul. ’84) with ‘Chaos UK’, ‘Rattus’, ‘Sanction’ (Exeter), ‘Cult Maniacs’, ‘Eat Shit’ (Nebraska), ‘Stress’ & ‘Selfabuse’ (UK), squat info, an opinion on feminism by Brickette Deville, etc. People can read the contents of the first two issues from the covers above.

Brob

>>I started doing a tape-label then too, so me and Tim was working out of this back room in Full Marx; he was running C.O.R. and I was doing Manic fanzine and the Lethal Dose tape-label. I was very inspired by what Tim was up to, and he started to make good headway when he put out the ‘Stupids’ EP, followed by two ‘Stupids’ LPs.

Then Full Marx changed premises and Tim found some really old office-space at the top of this run-down building. It was at that time that I met a guy from the other end of Bristol called Mark, who did a fanzine called Ears Of A Dead Man; it was not so popular as Manic or C.O.R. but Tim had stopped his fanzine due to his record-label commitments… He was doing eighteen hours a day on the label at that point. So I got together with Mark and started a mail-order distribution by fanzine networking, and Mark came up with the idea of calling it Manic Ears distribution, using the ‘Manic’ and ‘Ears’ part of our fanzine-names. However, Mark didn’t put a lot of effort into the distribution, and I was working up in this shitty old office-space with Tim, running Manic Ears mainly by myself. In the end, Mark just said he wanted out of it and left me to do it all. Tim lost that office-space and we moved our separate operations into our bedrooms in our homes; I had a little room off my bedroom that used to be an old kitchen at some point, and I converted it into an office to run Manic Ears distribution and the tape-label, and later Manic Ears recs. Tim was in another house running his label out of his bedroom.<<

Shane Dabinett, Bristol (Manic Ears blog)

The ‘Rattus‘ interview was with bassist Tomppa Marjamäki and ‘manager’ Vote after their European tour in the winter of ’83. The others at the time were ‘Anniki’ Anssi Nieminen (vocals), Jake Marjamäki (guitar) & ‘Vellu’ Pekka Hyvärinen (drums).

Policy Of Three (Rejkt Communication #1)

This zine was probably a trade of a free copy for possible distribution. Or perhaps a donation from a friend/band in the area. It was edited by James Ingrassia from Roanoke, Virginia. This issue (#1) had interviews with ‘Policy Of Three’, ‘Current’, ‘Bleed’, ‘Mohinder’, etc. There had been Rejkt #0 before, with ‘Hose Got Cable’ & ‘Jermflux’. At the time Jamie was the singer of a band called ‘Churn’ and the guitarist of ‘2 Hour Delay’. He also sold records/zines at demonstrations/shows.

Brob

I did two issues. Maybe three. At the time I had hoped to create a forum for promoting local kids on their own writing while adding interviews of bands I enjoyed and didn’t see presented in zines at the time.

“Rejkt” was an uncommon way to spell the word reject. Not much of a story. I Just felt that it was a way to embrace the feeling that these thoughts within the punk-community were uncommon, non/traditional and not mainstream, and therefore “rejected” by the popular opinion or the masses in some way…

James ‘Jamie’ Ingrassia

‘Policy Of Three’, a political SxE emo band from New Jersey, toured Europe in the summer of ’95 (e.g. 95-07-02). In the band at that time: Adam Goldstein (guitar/vocals), Chris(topher) Fry (drums), Eric ‘Bull’ Gervasi (bass; later ‘400 Years’) and Jeff Fisher (guitar/vocals). They had a self-titled 7” out on Scott Beibin’s Bloodlink recs (recorded March ‘93), and the Dead Dog Summer LP (recorded Sep. ‘93) & the American Woodworking 7” (out in ‘95) both on on Old Glory recs. They were part of the Cabbage Collective in Philadelphia that put up shows in the basement of a church. ‘Bull’ also distributed records at a local anarchist bookstore.