This Side Up

1994. This Side Up formed in the summer of 1994, but it took several months until the right drummer was found. The band had tried two different drummers before they met Andrea through a common friend. The first rehearsal with this line up (Adam – bass + vocals, Jacopo – guitars + backing vocals, PG – guitars + backing vocals, Andrea – drums) took place in November the same year. The only song that has survived from those early practices is Changes, song that the band almost always opened shows with. 1995. The first show ever was on 7th of January 1995 with Eversor and Immaturi. In the spring of 1995 came out the first recordings (Impulse, Train To Nowhere, and She’s Got A Drug Problem) which could only be found on some compilations like Diversified Chaos CD (Motherbox) or Do It Yourself 7"EP (Goodwill), and it's probably better that way. Later in 1995 Struggle was recorded, and it appeared on No Time To Panic LP+7"EP/CD (Panic) as well as on Lunatic CD+zine # 3 (Lunatic). It's probably the song that made the band known around. Apart from that, 1995 will be remembered for their shows with Overflow (Croatia), Strawman (USA), Burning Heads (France) and Down By Law (USA).1996. In 1996 came the third session of recordings, and this one included Changes and My Life from the This Side Up/White Frogs -"Still Without An Answer" 7"EP (Goodwill), as well as Billy Bragg's cover New England that appeared again on a couple of compilations: Street Punkers CD (Mania), and Don't Attempt To Make An Effort CD (King). My Life ended up on some other compilations, like More Chaos CD (Motherbox) and Fuora Di Questo Mondo CASS. (Sniff) and it's been considered the band's 'tour de force'. Also, the "Still Without An Answer" 7"EP got released in the USA a few months later on Alarma records, ran by Lenin who at that time was the bass player in Los Crudos. In 1996 followed the shows with Skin Of Tears (Germany), Rhythm Collision (USA), Los Crudos (USA), and the great European tour with their friends Bruma. The tour embraced 4 countries (Austria, Germany, Luxemburg, and Holland) and counted 10 shows, mostly with the two bands headlining over each other, but also supporting bands such as Abhinanda (Sweden), 3rd Statement (Germany), Stormcore (France), Brightside (Germany), and Feeding The Fire (Holland). Shortly before the tour, the band recorded the fourth session of songs, including: Misanthropic Charity, Innocent Eyes, Mistakes, and Empty Shouts. Those were the last recordings with the old drummer Andrea, as he left after the tour to continue his studies for 6 months in Holland. Misanthropic Charity and Mistakes went on T-Rex One CD (Traidores), Innocent Eyes and Mistakes went on Attack! CASS. (Lifeline), Mistakes went on Ho-URK CASS. (Humanita Nova / Kekere Aquarium), and all of them, together with all the previously recorded material went on to be the A side of the split tape This Side Up / D.U.S.K.1997. This year gave the band the new drummer, but with the same name as the previous one - Andrea. One of the most important shows for the band happened exactly a month after Andrea joined in. In Ivanic Grad (about 30 miles from Zagreb, Croatia) This Side Up played with Integrity (USA), Damage Done (Germany), Fury Of Five (USA), and 5 Minutes To Steve (Croatia) in front of almost 500 people. It was a great satisfaction to see a bunch of people singing their songs and stagediving. After that great experience, This Side Up returned twice in the same year to tour Croatia (as well as Slovenia) and played 12 shows there, with some great bands like I Don't Think So (Croatia), Riot (Slovenia), Bez Panike (Croatia), No Limits (Slovenia), KOO (Croatia), Strelnikoff (Holland), Apatridi (Croatia), Scrawl (Germany), Debeli Precjednik (Croatia), Diverzanti (Croatia), Wasserdicht (Slovenia), Cruz (Croatia), ... For sure, the Croatian audience is like no other. The warmest audience in the world, probably.1998. In 1998 a bunch of concerts happened, the most important being "Monte Paradiso" festival in Pula (Croatia) where over 1000 punx gathered for a 4 day fest. That was the best This Side Up show up to date, both band and audience-wise. Over 20 bands played, some of them being Arturo (Italy), S.M.C. (Croatia), Very Expensive Porno Movie (Holland), Scotch Woodcock (Italy), Brain Blockade (Germany), Brigade Of Death (Macedonia), and more. Other than that, the shows with Avail (USA), By All Means (Italy), Scared Of Chaka (USA), Burning Heads (France), Rangorax (Croatia), Brand New Unit (Canada), Superfan (Germany), Gout (Ireland), plus a few cool festivals (Nettuno, Pesaro and Perugia) and a short Croatian tour all happened in 1998. In the summer the band recorded 13 songs for the upcoming CD album on Goodwill / Dirty Old Town / Riot / World Upside Down / Zivjela Komercijala record labels, plus a cover of New Wind by 7 Seconds for a 7"EP compilation tribute to this great band.1999. 1999 saw the release of “7 Reprises De 7 Seconds” 7”EP (Wee Wee), a compilation consisting of 7 covers of 7 Seconds songs. The bands on the compilation are Endstand (Finland), Fake Hyppi (France), Intensity (Sweden), Second Rate (France), Stranded (France) and This Side Up. Later the same year a split 7”EP between This Side Up and Doc Hopper (USA) was released on Vagabond Heart. The 7” was supposed to come out in time for the US tour, but actually came out just after it was finished. The 7” contains 6 songs, 3 by each band. This Side Up has Crossroads, Today and a cover version of Billy Bragg’s New England. The US tour happened between July and September. Almost 40 dates were played in about the same number of days. The tour started on the East Coast, went up and down the inland US and finished on the West Coast. For the first part of the tour This Side Up was joined by a New Jersey’s outfit Fire Season, an excellent young band that proved to be fun people too. Also, we ought to mention the roadie Bryan and the merch girl Michelle whose help was precious if not essential. The band played with a plethora of known and unknown bands, some of which being Oi Polloi, Elliott, Piebald, Panthro UK United, Juliana Theory, Casualties, Violent Society, Unseen, Talk Is Poison, Useless ID, 7 Days Of Samara, Alistair, By A Thread, Himsa, Thumbs Down, Your Mother, Hers Never Existed,… It was an awesome experience where the band played record stores, clubs, schools, garages, basements, living rooms, backyards, pubs, parks, campuses, community centers and weirdest places you could think of.2000. Throughout 2000 the mixing of the album was done, which was really a long and at times painful process. The engineer was seldom available so the band had to mix the songs and record the missing parts in patches of time he was there. Finally, towards the end of the year the album was sent to the pressing plant. During the same year two This Side Up songs made their way onto a couple of compilations. Today was featured on LT1 – Punk Radio CD (Bad Luck) while Common Guy ended up on Italia Punk 2000 CD (Be What You Are!).2001. In January 2001 the full length finally saw the light of the day. The album is entitled “Caught By Surprise” (from the song called Innocent Eyes, featured on the album) and contains 15 songs; 12 brand new, recorded during the same session as “New Wind” and “Crossroads”, and 3 bonus tracks (My Life, Changes and Struggle). It got positive reviews and reactions and a few songs seem to have made the most impact, being Today, Common Guy, and Stay Away. In the summer the band embarked on a mini tour in Croatia and shared the stage with Let 3 (Croatia), Elvis Jackson (Slovenia), Scuffy Dogs (Slovenia), Analena (Croatia), Guranii (Romania), SMUT (Macedonia), AK47 (Croatia) and a few others.2002. The band decided to call it quits at the beginning of 2002. For a while no new songs had been written and some of the passion had been lost, so it seemed to be the right thing to do. Looking back into the 8 year history, a lot has been achieved; personally and as a band. A lot of passion, time, sweat and money has been put into the band and it was somewhat sad to let it go, but at that time it seemed the best choice, so one last show was held at Forte Prenestino in Rome together with PHP (the label mates), Happy Noise and Rappresaglia. The show took place on 16th of February 2002 in front of 600 people and was a great event. From then on, This Side Up has been history. Thanx for reading this and your interest! Goodnight.(6th July 1994 – 16th February 2002)