First, I will say something about my blog, which
may bore you a little after which I will move on to this particular band. After
that, I will try to write about bands that marked the punk scene of ex
Yugoslavia as well as worldwide. I will also try to illuminate some new bands
and the underground scene, predominantly punk bands, but metal, hard-rock,
hardcore will not be missed. The purpose of the blog is to connect people and
bands, to hear about each other, support and possibly hang out at all mad
future gigs.
So
Via Ofenziva is a Slovenian postpunk band from Ljubljana . They
worked in the first half of the 1980s. They performed musically under the
influence of punk and postpunk. The members of the band were Esad Babačić,
Zoran Železnik, Ivo Frančič, Robert Fritsch (Frič) (later playing in blues ,
boogie and rock'n'roll with Don Mentony Band ) They started their career days
at the cult discoclub FV. In the FV were the Borghesia and
Buldožerji , then Cao Pička , and later the Orkester Titanik , D'Pravda ,
Otroci socializma, Gas't'rbajtr's ( Demolition Group), Disciplina kičme,
Videosex, O!kult and others. They published the 1983 split edition
together with Cao Pička . Songs on the A side of the tape: Da Ti Rasfukam, Moj
Pir, Okna, Mrtvi Igralci, Minimalni Ritem, Po Mojoj Lijevoj Nozi, Jugoslavija,
Proleter and Lily Marlen.. The album announced the pledge of ŠKUC ( Študentski
kulturni centar ), which announced the Laibach and punk compositions such as
Borghesia 2006 compiled CD compilation. The bands like Čao Pičke,
Niet, Via Ofenziva, Berlinski zid, U.B.R., Šund, Kuzle, Buldogi, Lublanski psi,
Otroci socializma, Tožibabe, Indusbag,O!Kult, Odpadki Civilizacije, , fall into
the cream of the Slovenian punk.The song of this composition Proleter is
one of the greatest hits of the Slovenian punk. The Songs of See and Control
of Minds are on the compilation of ZKP RTVLJ Novi Punk Val from 1981.
Pankrti (The Bastards in Slovene) are a punk rock band from Ljubljana, Slovenia, active in the late 1970s and 1980s. They were known for provocative and political songs. They billed themselves as The First Punk Band Behind The Iron Curtain (one of their songs was titled, Behind the iron curtain old broads pull red beet). They are one of the most important former Yugoslav punk groups and one of the first punk rock bands ever formed in a communist country.
Gregor Tomc and Peter Lovšin, two young men from the Ljubljana suburb of Kodeljevo,
came up with the idea of forming a band in 1977. From the start, the
band was heavily influenced by the UK punk scene. Tomc and Lovšin were
the primary songwriters. Lovšin was the lead singer in the band, while
Tomc came up with the band name and was the band's manager.
The band started playing in the fall of 1977, practicing in the basement of Kodeljevo's
music school, and held their first concert at Moste High School.
Initially, they played covers of established punk bands including the Sex Pistols, The Clash and New York Dolls.
Some of the first original songs by the band that became popular were:
"Za železno zaveso" (Behind The Iron Curtain), "Anarhist" (Anarchist),
and "Lublana je bulana" (Ljubljana is Sick). They were included in the Novi Punk Val compilation album. They released their first album "Dolgcajt" (Boredom) in 1980 and gained the status of a cult band all over former Yugoslavia.
Their second album “Državni ljubimci” (State Lovers) was highly acclaimed by the public and gained an award for best Yugoslav album of the year.
In 1984, they released their Rdeči album (Red Album). The title is an obvious pun on the famous album by The Beatles with the colour red representing symbol of communism. The album featured a cover version of the famous Italian communist revolutionary song Bandiera Rossa (Red Flag), which is one of their most famous tracks.
The last Album was Sexpok (1987, ZKP RTVLJ) produced by Tomo in der Muhlen at SIM studio, Zagreb
One of their last concerts was in Tivoli Hall in Ljubljana in 1987, named Zadnji pogo (The Last Pogo Dance).
In 1996, the group temporarily reunited to perform as a support act for the Sex Pistols concert in Ljubljana during their Filthy Lucre Tour. In 2003, Pankrti were included in the 2003 Yugonostalgic Croatian rockumentary Sretno dijete, which deals with the former Yugoslav punk and new wave scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Reunion
The band's founding members, Gregor Tomc and Peter Lovšin, who is now a solo artist backed by the band Španski borci (Spanish Republican Fighters),
announced Pankrti's reunion concert in the Hall Tivoli for December 1,
2007 as a celebration of their 30th anniversary and it immediately sold
out.This show was followed by performances in Serbia and Croatia. These events coincided with the 2007 Sex Pistols reunion for the 30th anniversary of Never Mind The Bollocks.
Popular references
A movie was made about their first album Dolgcajt (Boredom).
Another movie named for one of their greatest songs "Totalna
revolucija" (Total Revolution), examined the band's role in the
appearance of punk-rock in socialist Slovenia.
In the Croatian-produced movie Sretno dijete (Fortunate
Child) they were also portrayed as having played a very important role
as the initiators of a new music scene in Yugoslavia.
An exhibition of their photos was held at the Modern Culture Museum in Slovenia.
The rock band Azra mentions Pankrti in its song "Balkan":
Brijem bradu, brkove, da ličim na Pankrte
Translation: I shave my beard, moustache to resemble Pankrti (regarding Azra's frontman Johnny Štulić's transition from hippie to new wave).
In the Slovenian film Outsider, some of the soundtrack is original Pankrti music and most of the characters were named after those from Pankrti songs.
The Slovenian punk band Racija
recorded a song entitled "To ni bla Metka" (That Was Not Metka),
apparently parodying Pankrti's song "Metka". This Pankrti song was
included in the Yugoslav new wave-related movie Dečko koji obećava in the scene in the student campus restaurant.
The legendary BBC Radio DJ John Peel introduced them to a wider audience in Great Britain.
You will surely notice that I will just write at the beginning about the bands that first left the stamp on the punk scene in Yugoslavia (Balkan) - of course.The second band I will write about is Motus.
I want to move fast and strong
to break and crush everything that stops me - was the first sentence ever written for a Motus song.
First demo was recorded on January 3rd 1988 and the adventure has begun.With the song Živjela sloboda stvaranja theydeny strict style labeling
through freedom of everything contributing to the atmosphere of a
certain song. Motus’ logo also symbolizes that, a man breaking borders
in every direction possible.
Although in the beginning of 1988 there was no HC/punk scene in Zagreb,
their concerts had good attendance, which encouraged formation of more
bands alike: Euforija, Loše ponašanje…
After 3 demo tapes were recorded, the album Everything is disco but
hardcore was released on a cassette, and next year (after the releases
on various compilations) an LP Cogito Aude was released by Viennese
label Sacro Egoismo.
What came next was a number of concerts abroad, mostly Austria (first
gig was on May 29th 1989 with Soul Side in Arena, Vienna). First video
was recorded in 1992 for the song Hala.
Next album, Nasred puta, was released in 1995 by our own label, Fast & Strong.
Afterwards Motus plays gigs and enters the studio.
Album Razlike was made in only 2 weeks, in a very short time and most
pleasant way, since they were spending entire days together, living a real
punk life.
Zagreb promotion was held in newly-open club Močvara and, out of
Croatian borders, in Chelsea club, Vienna, with their friends Z.L.F. Animated video was recorded for song Dobro jutro.
Album Psi was released by Zvuk Močvare in 2004. Album Mašina was released by PDV records as a CD and LP. Line-up: Sinke – drums, Vanja – bass, Kizombie – guitar, Krumpa – guitar and Hogar – vocals.
About whom I will write first rather than the band Paraf.Paraf was a punk rock and later post-punk band from Rijeka, Croatia, known as one of the pioneers of punk rock in the former Yugoslavia.
Punk rock years (1976-1980)
Following the expansion of punk rock in Europe,
teenagers Valter Kocijančić (guitar, vocals), Zdravko Čabrijan (bass)
and Dušan Ladavac "Pjer" (drums) formed Paraf in 1976. They played their
first gig at Belvedere in Rijeka on December 31, 1976. The band's early live appearances were at Rijeka high-school parties along with the bands of similar musical orientation, Termiti, Protest and Lom. During the late 1978, the band started performing frequently, even outside Rijeka. They played in Ljubljana, Belgrade, Zagreb. The band also performed at the Novi Sad BOOM festival, as well as an opening act for The Ruts concert in Zagreb. In 1979, they released their debut single "Rijeka", a cover version of the Ramones song "Chinese Rocks", but Kocijančić signed as the song author in order to test the Yugoslav critics of the time. Despite the intention, it was the Džuboks magazine journalist Petar Luković who recognized that the song was a cover version. The band also appeared on the various artists compilation album Novi punk val 78-80, released by ZKP RTLJ in 1980, with the song "Narodna pjesma" ("Folk Song").
After several delays, the band debut album A dan je tako lijepo počeo... (And The Day Started Out So Nicely...) was released by ZKP RTLJ in the Spring of 1980. Due to provocative lyrics, the album was classified as kitsch
product, and thus liable to additional taxation, despite subsequent
changes to some of the lyrics as well as the selection of a different
album cover. In line with the punk rock ideology, the band addressed
several topics which were at the time new to the Yugoslav rock: the
songs featured ironic usages of communist slogans, mocked, at the time, one of the most popular bands, Bijelo Dugme,
in the song "Pritanga i vaza", insulting the police in the censored
version of "Narodna pjesma", and dealt with social themes typical for a
port city. The album was produced by the band's close associate Goran
Lisica "Fox", assisted by Igor Vidmar.
After the album release Valter Kocijančić left the band, later
joining the band Istočni Izlaz, until quitting his musical career and
becoming a teacher, which is also his current occupation. He was
replaced by a female vocalist Pavica Mijatović, under the pseudonym
Vim Cola, and the former Zadnji guitarist Klaudio Žic. The latter soon
left, while two new members - guitarist Mladen Vičić "Riči" and keyboard
player Raul Varlen - joined the band. With the arrival of the new
members, the band also changed their musical style, moving towards post-punk, influenced by British bands such as Gang of Four and Wire.
Post-punk years (1980-1986)
The
new musical orientation was presented to the wider audience on the
second synth-laden studio album "Izleti" ("Excursions"), featuring songs
"Pobuna bubuljica" ("Acne Uprising"), "Nestašni đački izleti" ("Naughty
School Excursions"), "Javna kupatila" ("Public Bathrooms") and
"Federico u bačvi" ("Federico in a Barrel"), the latter being inspired
by the Federico Fellini film Casanova.
The album also featured their classic cold-wave single "Tužne uši"
("Sad ears") with the memorable chant "Ležim na leđima i plačem a suze
mi teku u uši" ("I am lying on my back crying and tears are flowing down
into my ears").
Guitarist Vičić left the band after a series of promotional concerts and was replaced by a former Termiti
(Termites) member Robert Tičić. The new lineup started working on the
third studio album. However, before the album was mixed, the
twenty-two-year-old Tičić suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage. His
replacement was former Konjak guitarist Mladen Ilić, later the founder
of the band Psi (Dogs).
Their third album Zastave (Flags), released in 1984, was produced by the band themselves with Borghesia member Aldo Ivančić. Inspired by Miroslav Krleža's
multi-volume novel of the same name, the album featured lyrical themes
related to the recent European political history. Most of the album
featured somewhat obscure thematic references and occasionally absurd
lyrics set to sparse, post-punk-influenced melodies such as the Gang of
Four-like "Kad se oglasi" ("When the [Trumpet] Sounds") or
Wire-influenced "Zastave". In other songs, such as the ethereal "Oj
ponose moj" ("Oh, my Pride") and the bizarre collage "Zlatno Doba"
("Golden Age"), Paraf explored interesting and fresh approaches to both
songwriting and production. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the album was
largely ignored by the mainstream audiences.
Paraf eventually disbanded in 1986. Pavica Mijatović and Zdravko Čabrijan got married, moved to island Krk
and started a tourist business. Drummer Dušan Ladavac joined Let 2 but
left the band before it evolved into long-lived and influential
alternative rock-act Let 3.
Reunions
The
original Paraf lineup reunited in 1994 in order to perform at the
Ri-Rock festival, the third Fiju Briju festival, as well as to perform
several solo concerts. In 1996, Kocijančić performed the song "Rijeka"
with the ad hoc group Blagdan Band, and the recording of the song appeared on the live album Pallach's not dead.
The original lineup reunited again on December 13, 2003, and the
recordings of the songs "Rijeka" and "Hit tema" ("Hit theme") from the
performance were released on the various artists live album 25. Ri-Rock,
released by Dallas Records in 2004. Four years later, in 2008, the band
reunited in both the punk rock and post-punk lineups at the promotion
of the Riječki Novi Val box set.
Unreleased material
"Goli Otok" ("The Barren Island")
was a rather provocative and highly controversial song about the
maximum-security, top secret prison and labor camp on the inhospitable
island near Rijeka
(where, aside from common criminals, the authorities also kept some of
the political prisoners well into the 1970s), that was never officially
released, but only performed live.
Another suppressed song from the period was "Narodna pjesma"
which featured censored lyrics on the debut album, but the original
version appeared on the Novi punk val 78-80 compilation album.
