For the better half of the last year, I have been completely head-over-heels obsessed with Polish punk. The style has an inherent darkness, even if it’s just a really bouncy punk song, which really sets it apart from the rest of the world’s punk and hardcore; it ends up sounding completely different from what anyone else was/is doing. I just wanna give a rundown of some of my faves. The majority of these records—the earlier, Communist-era ones—were released on a label called Tonpress, which was an offshoot of the government-controlled publishing arm, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, or KAW. The label didn’t only release punk though—in fact, since it was one of only a few labels in the country at the time, they released many current biggies like UB40, Olivia Newton-John, and even the Beatles and Small Faces, along with Joy Division, New Order, and a Polish version of the Hell Comes To Your House comp. The posi side of the government pressing these records is that there are thousands-upon-thousands of copies floating around, so they’re still attainable at a reasonable price ($15-$20). Even if you gotta resort to eBay, it won’t mean that rent will have to wait another week. Here she goes…
The most well-known of the early Polish punk bands is most definitely Dezerter, in part due to DOA championing them after one of their European tours, resulting in MRR’s release of Dezerter’s earliest material as the Underground Out Of Poland LP in 1988. The first Dezerter platter is the Ku Przyszłości EP, and with 50,000+ copies out there, it’s rather easy to score. These four tracks are great primitive hardcore punk rippers. It’s fairly rudimentary and the band was definitely more straightforward than a lot of their regional contemporaries, but it still has a certain desperation and disregard that really helps the songs gel in your brain.
I think the title of “my favorite Polish punk record” has to go to Armia’s second LP, Legenda. With its use of horns and keyboards (don’t be turned off by that at all—I think horns usually have no place in music, but they work unbelievably well here), this is one of the most unique and dark punk records ever! The moody melodies, brilliant guitar playing, haunting vocals, and tungsten heaviness (not in a metallic way, either) just weigh massive here and give the listening experience an incredibly cold feeling. Fuck, I love this record. Released in 1991, this LP wasn’t as easy to snag for a number of years as some of these other records, possibly due to the government dropping its involvement in the music industry in 1990, but it was reissued a couple months ago—try www.wmoichoczach.com.pl for a copy. Also, I urge you to check out the videos on YouTube for the Legenda songs. I consider these videos to be of the purest brilliance, though, I’m sure many would disagree due to the “circus atmosphere” of it all. Decide for yourselves.
Hot on the heels of Legenda’s greatness is Post Regiment’s self-titled first LP recorded in ’91 and ’92. I think this was originally a CD-only release but I may be pulling that shit out of my ass. This band really killed it with the originality and inventiveness of their riffs, and absolutely nailed it in the melody department like no one else. I’ve listened to this record hundreds of times and the outro to the fourth track, “Religia,” still gives me chills every time—near perfection. This record has also been pressed a couple times, so it too shouldn’t be that hard to find. The band actually never recorded a bad note, really. Their second LP, Czarzły, was still amazing as well, as was the third, Tragiedia Wg Post Regiment—though that LP was Post Regiment backing up the singer of Tragiedia (another early Polish band) and playing unrecorded Tragiedia songs, so it’s not quite a Post Regiment record.
A bit more so than Dezerter, TZN-Xenna and Abaddon were the most straightforward hardcore of the ’80s Polish bands. TZN-Xenna’s Dzieci Z Brudnej Ulicy/Ciemny Pokój single, in its whopping three-and-a-half minutes of bopping hardcore, is a stone-cold classic! The B-side jammy even busts out some DK’s-esque reverb-drenched surf-y guitar leads. You can find this relatively cheap, too. Abaddon’s Wet Za Wet LP on the other hand can be a bit pricey. This came out on the French label, New Wave, which probably has something to do with it, as most of the New Wave catalogue are masters of evading capture. To me, Abaddon has more in common with Finnish rippers of the time like Skitsofrenia-era Riistetyt than anything Polish. Another dynamite record.
And last-but-not-least, we have the real wing-nut of the bunch, Śmierć Kliniczna. I don’t really know where to begin with this one. I can only liken their song structures to the Minutemen or Big Boys—busy and bouncy basslines, clean guitar (which is also the least prominent instrument in the mix most of the time), crazy-ass drumming, and a real frantic, herky-jerky feel. Couple that with some demented kook singing and horns thrown in here and there, and you’re left with something truly original. This might take some real hard listens to get used to, but I promise, it will grow like a fungus. The only release of theirs that I’ve listened to at length is the ASP/Jestem Ziarnkiem Piasku single. I know they have at least one singles but I’ve only heard it once. This one comes around a lot and is usually really cheap, like $8-$10.
Others worth checking out that I haven’t really sat down with are Moskwa and Siekiera. There are amazing, but criminally short, videos of both bands floating around the net (I know for a fact that they are on that one website where you can find any video that you want, who’s name I already wrote once, and will not say again cause this ain’t no fuckin’ ad) from the fabled Jarocin festivals. At least watch the Siekiera one from the ’84 fest. It’s weird footage but you can see just how massive and fuckin’ crazy these shows were. We have tons of photos from some of these fests here at the house that absolutely blow my mind—20,000+ punks wild’n out in the dust. I’ll leave it at that.
This month was also sponsored by Inside Out 7", Brain Killer demo, and all the “Disbones” Disclose records. Send your White Trash Trash Is Truth 7" to me care of the MRR PO Box.
MOSKWA from Jarocin fest '86
SIEKIERA from Jarocin fest '84
The most well-known of the early Polish punk bands is most definitely Dezerter, in part due to DOA championing them after one of their European tours, resulting in MRR’s release of Dezerter’s earliest material as the Underground Out Of Poland LP in 1988. The first Dezerter platter is the Ku Przyszłości EP, and with 50,000+ copies out there, it’s rather easy to score. These four tracks are great primitive hardcore punk rippers. It’s fairly rudimentary and the band was definitely more straightforward than a lot of their regional contemporaries, but it still has a certain desperation and disregard that really helps the songs gel in your brain.
I think the title of “my favorite Polish punk record” has to go to Armia’s second LP, Legenda. With its use of horns and keyboards (don’t be turned off by that at all—I think horns usually have no place in music, but they work unbelievably well here), this is one of the most unique and dark punk records ever! The moody melodies, brilliant guitar playing, haunting vocals, and tungsten heaviness (not in a metallic way, either) just weigh massive here and give the listening experience an incredibly cold feeling. Fuck, I love this record. Released in 1991, this LP wasn’t as easy to snag for a number of years as some of these other records, possibly due to the government dropping its involvement in the music industry in 1990, but it was reissued a couple months ago—try www.wmoichoczach.com.pl for a copy. Also, I urge you to check out the videos on YouTube for the Legenda songs. I consider these videos to be of the purest brilliance, though, I’m sure many would disagree due to the “circus atmosphere” of it all. Decide for yourselves.
Hot on the heels of Legenda’s greatness is Post Regiment’s self-titled first LP recorded in ’91 and ’92. I think this was originally a CD-only release but I may be pulling that shit out of my ass. This band really killed it with the originality and inventiveness of their riffs, and absolutely nailed it in the melody department like no one else. I’ve listened to this record hundreds of times and the outro to the fourth track, “Religia,” still gives me chills every time—near perfection. This record has also been pressed a couple times, so it too shouldn’t be that hard to find. The band actually never recorded a bad note, really. Their second LP, Czarzły, was still amazing as well, as was the third, Tragiedia Wg Post Regiment—though that LP was Post Regiment backing up the singer of Tragiedia (another early Polish band) and playing unrecorded Tragiedia songs, so it’s not quite a Post Regiment record.
A bit more so than Dezerter, TZN-Xenna and Abaddon were the most straightforward hardcore of the ’80s Polish bands. TZN-Xenna’s Dzieci Z Brudnej Ulicy/Ciemny Pokój single, in its whopping three-and-a-half minutes of bopping hardcore, is a stone-cold classic! The B-side jammy even busts out some DK’s-esque reverb-drenched surf-y guitar leads. You can find this relatively cheap, too. Abaddon’s Wet Za Wet LP on the other hand can be a bit pricey. This came out on the French label, New Wave, which probably has something to do with it, as most of the New Wave catalogue are masters of evading capture. To me, Abaddon has more in common with Finnish rippers of the time like Skitsofrenia-era Riistetyt than anything Polish. Another dynamite record.
And last-but-not-least, we have the real wing-nut of the bunch, Śmierć Kliniczna. I don’t really know where to begin with this one. I can only liken their song structures to the Minutemen or Big Boys—busy and bouncy basslines, clean guitar (which is also the least prominent instrument in the mix most of the time), crazy-ass drumming, and a real frantic, herky-jerky feel. Couple that with some demented kook singing and horns thrown in here and there, and you’re left with something truly original. This might take some real hard listens to get used to, but I promise, it will grow like a fungus. The only release of theirs that I’ve listened to at length is the ASP/Jestem Ziarnkiem Piasku single. I know they have at least one singles but I’ve only heard it once. This one comes around a lot and is usually really cheap, like $8-$10.
Others worth checking out that I haven’t really sat down with are Moskwa and Siekiera. There are amazing, but criminally short, videos of both bands floating around the net (I know for a fact that they are on that one website where you can find any video that you want, who’s name I already wrote once, and will not say again cause this ain’t no fuckin’ ad) from the fabled Jarocin festivals. At least watch the Siekiera one from the ’84 fest. It’s weird footage but you can see just how massive and fuckin’ crazy these shows were. We have tons of photos from some of these fests here at the house that absolutely blow my mind—20,000+ punks wild’n out in the dust. I’ll leave it at that.
This month was also sponsored by Inside Out 7", Brain Killer demo, and all the “Disbones” Disclose records. Send your White Trash Trash Is Truth 7" to me care of the MRR PO Box.
MOSKWA from Jarocin fest '86
SIEKIERA from Jarocin fest '84
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