Publication:
MaximumRockNRoll

Author:
Felix Von Havoc

MRR #195
I spent the last two months touring Europe and Israel with Code 13. I had hoped to write on the road and e-mail my columns to Maximum but this did not work out. The internet is not quite as pervasive in Europe as it is in America. Internet cafes are expensive, and it's hard for me to type on the European keyboards, especially when I'm paying by the minute. So now you will hear my views on Europe and Israel, then next month back to the same old shit.

The most important thing I have to say is that spending two months on the road in Europe and the Middle East has totally re-affirmed my faith in the DIY punk movement. I may spend a lot of time here and in my Heart Attack column complaining about the state of the scene. Its easy to form an impression that I'm some jaded old fucker who thinks that hardcore is dead and everything's been going downhill since 1984. While that may be true in some areas, in the arena of DIY touring and internationalization of punk we have made great progress in the last ten years. The fact that we played 51 gigs in 15 countries still amazes me. We had some problems: I wrecked Clusterbombunit's van, and our 300 t-shirts sit to this day in limbo between Polish and German customs. As any band can tell you it's merchandising and not door fees that cover most of your expenses on tour. Due to wrecking the van and not having t-shirts we managed to lose money on the tour, but not much. Our whole tour was organized on a DIY level, we played a few bars and youth centers but mostly squats and autonomous centers across Europe.

About a year ago, I started writing to people in Europe about the possibility of booking a tour. Jens of Thought Crime Records in Berlin rose to the challenge. One of the first things we realized was that with a time limit of 7 weeks a lot of areas were going to have to be cut from the "periphery" of Europe. Hence we did not play in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Finland etc. As it was we had a lot of ground to cover in seven weeks. While driving distances in Europe are short by American standards gas is about four times as expensive and in some countries like France and Italy there are also very high tolls on the roads. As part of our adventure, Yahoo, formerly of Profane Existence Berlin and the Israeli DIY punk kids had organized a week and three gigs in Israel. Despite the aforementioned setbacks our tour was outstanding. We played some great gigs, got to see some great bands, visit places like London, Prague, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and Oslo, which four working class guys from Minnesota would otherwise never dream of seeing. For me the most satisfying part was meeting all the people I've been corresponding with for years in person. When you do a small record label you develop a network through trading records of pen friends around the world. Actually getting to meet these people and put a human face on the letters you've been exchanging was really great. I was constantly impressed with the dedication and purposefulness of the European punks.

In Europe the punks tend to be older, and more dedicated than in America. In the States punk is increasingly a commercialized commodity consumed by people in their late teens and early twenties as part of a youthful "rebellious" phase. Punks over 30, and even over 25 are pretty rare in America. In much of Europe it seems that everybody is about 30 and punks in their teens are hard to find. There is an established punk counter culture centered around the squatting movement and radical left/ anarchist politics. This is definitely a way of life that people believe in and are ready to dedicate themselves to, not just a passing phase to piss off some parents and teachers. After seeing how seriously things could be done I'm 100% more inspired to work at building the American DIY scene.

Most importantly people make it happen, people who are willing to take the time and effort to help out bands on the road and make shows happen. Without being overly sentimental I'd like to take this time to thank Jens and Thomas of Thought Crime Records, Frigga who drove and provided us with a van after we wrecked CBU's van, support bands MVD, Ebola, Wilbur Cobb and Cruetzfeldt and all the people who set up gigs for us, fed us, gave us a place to crash and lent us equipment.

Here then are some observations on things in Europe. First, I understand why so many bands prefer to tour Europe over America. You really are treated well and provided for in Europe. As I said things are taken more seriously such as sound, and amenities for the bands. 51 straight gigs and we got fed at every single one! We got free drinks at the majority of gigs as well. In ten years of touring in America I've rarely gotten meals, even when we nicely requested them and only gotten free drinks a handful of times. Sleeping spaces were also provided at almost every gig, again not always the case in America. There was a real PA and a sound guy, stage and sound check at a large number of the gigs. While this isn't so important to me, as I prefer a smaller more intimate gig over big stages and lots of monitors, it shows that things are done to a higher standard. We had only one gig (Hannover) cancel on us in the whole two months. We actually missed two gigs due to vehicle problems, and I'd especially like to apologize to the Copenhagen crew, we really fucked up and missed what I hear was a great gig. When I book gigs in America I count on one out of five being cancelled or broken up by the police before we get a chance to play. Sometimes the ratio is even higher than that. One gig in France was ostensibly halted by the police, but I never actually saw any cops interfere with a gig the whole time I was in Europe. This is a marked contrast to punk gigs in America. Here in Minneapolis trying to book punk gigs has been a ten year guerrilla was against the city establishment. I'd have to say that by most accounts the bands we played with in Europe were much better than the bands that open for you on tour in America. Of course we have our share of great bands in America but when you tour you don't always get to play with them. Too often its poorly rehearsed high school punk acts five years away from being real contenders.

Here then are some critical observations. The European punk scene and especially the squatting movement are heavily dependent on the largesse of a liberal social establishment. While it is very inspiring to see people living together in squats and trying to build a counter culture I can only compare it to America and deeply question it. In America if you tried to pull off even a fraction of what the squatters do in Europe you would be in jail immediately and be paying fines and doing time for years. Furthermore, a large number of people are able to devote a great deal of energy to punk music and counter culture because they don't have to work. In most European countries you can collect unemployment or welfare pretty much indefinitely and students actually get paid to go to college rather than the other way around. I remember reading an interview with a guy from some band in a fanzine. He was asked what he did for work outside the band. He answered that he'd been unemployed for like seven years on the dole and focusing on his band full time. To Americans this is pretty mind boggling statement. I don't know anywhere in America where you could scam unemployment or welfare for seven years, and if you worked on your band full time like that you'd be pretty fucking good! It seems to me that the establishment in Europe tolerates and even subsidizes the punk and squatting counter culture in order to pacify the most radical and anti-establishment sector of society. The very act of embracing a counter culture on the very fringes of society effectively alienates the punks from other potentially disaffected segments of society with whom they might otherwise organize opposition to state power. As I've said before I think a similar process of neutralizing opposition among young people has taken place in America but with commercialism rather than counter culture. At the heart of this in both Europe and America of course is rock music, drugs and alcohol. That aside the European punk scene is much more politicized, class conscious and organized than America's scene could ever dream of being. Furhtermore, I saw very little evidence of right wing punk and hardcore, Christian hardcore or any of this other crap that is getting shovelled into the American scene as the mainstream society inflitrates our scene. Despite all sorts of rumors of thousands of Nazi skinheads I eventually saw none. Just a little racist graffitti (especially in Poland) and a guy wearing a Bohse Onkelz t-shirt. I'm not trying to downplay the threat of the far right in Europe, I'm just saying they kept their distance and had no visible presence on the street that I could see.

Two especially aggravating factors were the late start time of gigs, and the European tradition of encores at the end of your set. We played a lot of gigs that didn't start until very late, first band going on at midnight or so. We even played a gig in Switzerland where they asked us not to play until quarter past four in the morning! Clearly these gigs cater only to the unemployed. I can't see how anyone with a job could attend such gigs regularly and not get fired for coming in late. In the states of course you play your set, thank the crowd and walk off stage. In Europe this is considered a rock star thing to do. You have to mill about pretending to pack up your equipment while the crowd hollers for more, then jump back on stage and play more songs. For a band with a short set like us this was really hard to take. I hated pretending to be done playing and then "remembering" we knew more songs and playing a little longer. We often played the same songs two or three times because they wouldn't let us off stage. Another drag was the popularity of Disco in the punk scene. Quite often after the bands were finished playing would be an all nite Disco dance party. I mean maybe a little disco is OK for camp value but as I said a few years ago in Profane this manifests some disturbing trends. First that punks are taking another form of music more seriously than punk. I mean not everybody, but there were quite a few in France who were only there for the Disco. If thatís the case why be punk at all? Second, Disco was the music that punk rock was rebelling against in the 1970's. I know the 70's were a long time ago now but shouldn't punk and disco still perform their same roles in society now as they did then. Third, elevating recorded music over live music. OK so if disco is really so great, start a disco band! I'll have a lot more respect for someone who gets on the mic for what they are into than playing a K-tel tape over the PA. Fourth, disco is all about major labels and commercialism, I mean what's so DIY about that? Fifth, Chumbawamba, selling shit disco with corny insencere radical politics while suppporting the establishment. Do I have to continue, Disco Sucks! OK I hope the above comments don't get me banned in Europe. I'm just making some critical observations, and I welcome Europeans to criticize the American scene because there is certainly a lot here to criticize.

Next I'll tell you about Israel. I urge everyone to read the Israeli scene report and interview with Dir Yassin in the final issue of Profane Existence. (still available from PO Box 8722, Minneapolis, MN 55408). Israel has a dedicated DIY scene that is small but 100% true to the game. Israel is a pretty conservative and militaristic country, although heavily Americanized. Just being punk there is a taking a stand. We played three gigs in Israel, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. All three gigs were with Negative Impact and Dir Yassin. Negative Impact played melodic hardcore sort of like the first Dag Nasty album. Dir Yassin are an excellent fast hardcore band with ex-members of Nekai Naazta who you may remember from their LP and 7" on Beer City. Dir Yassin reminded me of a cross between Los Crudos and early Poison Idea. They will soon have 7"s out on Thought Crime and Lengua Armada and plan to tour Europe and the USA. Also from Israel is Useless Idea who play a more pop punk style. Readers may remember that pop punk is not really my thing but if you like that kind of music Useless I.D. has a few CDs out and have toured the US, they were really nice guys. Israel doesn't get a lot of foreign bands and we were really the first DIY hardcore band to play there. A band called Your Mother from California played a few gigs in Israel a year or so ago, but I think they were more of a pop punk band. The Exploited and GBH played Israel in the early 90's but for the most part the kids in Israel see the same three local bands over and over. So as you can imagine they were pretty excited to see us. In fact I would venture to say that the Tel Aviv show was one of the most exciting and energetic shows I've ever been to in my life. Tel Aviv reminded me a lot of Miami, it was very cosmopolitan and Americanized, but in Jerusalem you really knew you were in the Middle East. Haifa was a very industrial town, but had a super energetic scene as well. Really all three cities are within two hours of each other and Israel has a very good bus system so a lot of people went to all three gigs. We ate a lot of really good vegetarian Middle Eastern food and got to spend a little time sight seeing and relaxing as we had only three gigs in the six days we were there. Most importantly I got to hang out with the Israeli kids and learn about their scene and their society. In America we are taught a lot of bullshit propaganda about the political situation in the Middle East and it was very interesting actually talking to people on the spot and cutting through the bullshit propaganda. I realized how very different what the media tells us and reality are in an strife torn part of the world. I'll have to admit that I uncritically accepted a lot of things about Israel that I've had to reconsider now that I understand the reality much better. I hope that the Israeli DIY hardcore scene continues to become connected to the rest of the international scene and that more bands can go to play there. Although we flew from Germany the most cost effective way would be to take a ferry from Greece. Once again I'd like to thank Yahoo in Berlin, the guys in Dir Yassin and all the people in Israel who came to our gigs and hung out with us, it was something I'll never forget.

Twin Cities thrash HC band Scorned have a blistering new ep out. Although they sing in English they included a lyric booklet with lyrics in French, German, Spanish and Japanese. This was pretty easily accomplished since its not too hard to find some people in the punk scene who speak different languages, but it makes their ep that much more accessible to people around the world. The last time I can remember a band doing this was Huasipungo.

There has been a great deal of slagging going around between the editors of MRR and other fanzines lately. Frankly, since I don't live in the Bay Area this all means nothing to me and my views are of course not those of the editorial staff or board of directors etc. Let me say this much, I don't buy a many zines, when I do I buy them for the articles, interviews and information about records such as ads and reviews. I think I speak for most zine readers when I say that I don't really give a flying fuck in a rolling donut what the editors or different zines think about each other. If dissing another zine is the only focus of your zine I think you will find your readership pretty limited, and you'd probably be better off just staying on the internet where gossip and shit talking is done more efficiently. Here in Minnesota and Wisconsin the quarrels between zine editors in California just aren't front page news.

Speaking of Upper Midwest Hardcore, not to be missed is this summers Old Barn Punk Fest in Jim Falls Wisconsin. Here's how you get there. Get a map of Wisconsin, find Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. Jim Falls is just a little bit East of Chippewa Falls. The Old Barn is between the two dams in Jim Falls. There is really nothing in this town except for a gas station and the Old Barn, so if you can find Jim Falls on the map you are there. The line up of bands as it stands is Friday: Scorned, From Ashes Rise, Deadstate, Nine Shocks Terror, Talk is Poison and Dreadnaught. Saturday: Inflicted, Code 13, Brother Inferior, Ruin Acre, Spider Cunts, React, Disagree, Detestation. Sunday: Antisocial Behavior, Calloused, Despite, Word Salad, Distraught, Aus Rotten, Oi Polloi and the Varukers. Donít bother calling up to get your band on the bill because its already booked up and there is a waiting list for bands who want to play in case of cancellations. If you miss this show you are a poser. The finest in punk and hardcore at a campground in Wisconsin, what more could you want?

Publication Date:
January 1, 1988

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