The Polish Punk Scene
Let's take a trip to Poland and get to know the different sides of Polish punk. Arriving in the early 80s punk became something very special for the
Polish youth culture, the times were hard during Cold War it wasn't easy for most of the bands, due to strict govermental laws, to get their stuff officially released, records were sold under the counter and advertised by word-of-mouth recommendation.
Many bands who did develop during that time, showed a wide range of creativity resulting from the DIY-spirit. There were pure hardcore-punk bands, and those who were influenced by new wave and post-punk.
KSU
Started as a coverband playing songs by bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin etc. In 1978 they came up with the name KSU which were the first three letters on the license plates from that region;they started playing punk rock inspired by the Sex Pistols, Damned and the Wire.
In 1980 KSU plays for the first time at a big rock festival in Kolobrzeg. This was the first bigger rock festival where punk bands were allowed to play at. After the festival they received an offer from a West German record label, which they turned down.
Abaddon
The band was formed in 1982 in Bydgoszcz, under the name of Partyzantka Miejska ("Urban Guerilla"), which soon got changed to Abaddon. They played their first big shows on the well-known Polish Punk Festival Jarocin in 1983.
In May 1985 they recorded one of the best Polish album ever, the Wet Za Wet LP put out next year by New Wave Records from France. Obviously the record wasn't possible to get in Poland, so most of the Polish punks had just a tape copy of it.
In 1987 the band members got into conflict - some of them wanted to play heavier hardcore while the others prefered to change the style to more melodic punk. That became the cause of Abaddon's split.
Fortunately the band reunited in 2001, including new band members and even released a new album called Godzina Krzywd in 2004.
Brygada Kryzys
Brygada Kryzys merged from two legendary bands which appeared very early on the scene, namely Tilt and Kryzys.
In 1982 Brygada Kryzys released the so called "Black Album"showing the band's varoious styles, Post-Punk meets Reggea and one song of that album - Travelling Stranger - is pretty dark.
In 1991 they released another album called Cosmopolis which was more rock-orientated. The band still plays at several Polish Punk and Rock festivals.
Siekiera
Siekiera is without any doubt one of the best bands ever from Poland, they started in 1982 as a hardcore punk band, however after the release of the JEST BEZPIECZNIE 7" Single the band underwent a drastic
change, besides a new line-up the sound was now very new wavish.In 1985 they played again at the Jarocin festival, but the orthodox punk public didn't like their new wave image and music.The band released their only LP NOWA ALEKSANDRIA 1986, which is considered to be one of the best Polish new wave records. It perfectly captures that eastern European atmosphere.
The band split soon after the release of that album.
They were expected to reform in 1989 with an almost original line up , but somehow it didn't work out. However, Siekiera vocalist Tomasz Budzynski went on to form Armia.
Armia
Armia is besides Siekiera my absolute favourite Polish punk band, it's always fun when listening to their music; they play a lot of styles such as hardcore punkfrom the early days, Killing Joke inspired New Wave and Heavy Rock music with melodies that stick to your brain. They have also quite epic songs which the 30 minute title song of their last album
Ultima Thule shows. Their 1990 released album "Legenda" is truly a masterpiece and was groundbreaking for this genre.
They also play the classic Siekiera song "Fala" at their concerts.
Dezerter
In 1981 the group started under the name of SS 20.SS-20 was a secret weapon, a nuclear missile designed by the USSR. There were two designs of the missile, it was able to fly up to 6000 km, and was in use between 1975 to 1991, when the intoduction of international anti-nuclear war pacts made it illegal. the group experiened censors examining their lyrics before concerts telling them which songs they could not perform due to their subject matter.
Eventually the group came to a point that they were unable to even list their name on concert posters, and with more and more difficulty to perform under this controvercial name, the group had to abandon the title of "SS20". By the beginning of '83, the group had introduced the new name,
Dezerter
, at which point the members had solidified their sound, as a hardcore punk group.
Dezerter is amongst the best known punk bands in Poland and abroad. They are still releasing records.
Post Regiment
Post Regiment formed in 1986 in Warsaw is one of the very few Polish punk bands which feature a female vocalist, Dominika "Nika" Domczyk. They play straight forward hard core punk which is added by some strangeness like the use of jew's harps and overdubbed voice recordings.
Deadlock
Formed in the late 70s, Deadlock were amongst the first Polish punk bands their style was very inspired by the British 77-UK sound and sung all their songs in English,so they released an LP called Ambition in 1981 under Blitzkrieg Records. Probably the most English sounding punk band ever come from Poland. On that album there's also a cover of Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand UP".
In 1985 they released another record Name The Beast which was a worthy follow-up to their debut LP.
Tilt
Tilt started as a short-living punk band in 1979 and split early 1980, bandmembers of that early Tilt and Krysyz formed Brygada Krysyz. However, in the mid 80s Tilt was renewed and has released several records since then. The music is widely melodic rock orientated added by influences of jazz and reggae.
The band split in 2003.
Kryzys
Kryzys were like Tilt and Deadlock one of the very early punk bands in Poland, they played typical punkrock accompanyied by some trumpet. In 1994 there was a compilation called 1978-1981 released containing the band's music from that period.
1984
1984 is one of the most importand Polish New Wave Bands, their dynamic cold wave sound remind of bands like Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Alien Sex Fiend.
During the years the band underwent some personell changes but they never really split.
In 2007 they released an album full of new songs called "4891", which is quite reminiscent of their older stuff.
Variété
The band Variété was quite experimental, the sound of their first and self-titled album is pretty depressing and quiet accompanied by very minimalistc synthesizer sounds, the singer's voice has this valium effect like he would sing about the end of the world.
The band does still exist and released a new album in 2005 called Nowy Material in which you can sense a certain jazz and trip hop influence.
A very interesting band.
Made In Poland
The band with the imaginative name was formed in the early eighties, their sound was strongly influenced by heroes like joy division, the cure and killing joke.
A best of named Obraz We Mgle was released in 2006 containing all the band's hits.
MadameMadame is the group of Robert Gawlinski which played in the mythical Polish rock " Wilki " pop group. But he also collaborated with Made In Poland and mades his side-project: Opera as well as a solo project under its own name.
The band only released two records, five of their songs can be found on the great Polish New Wave compilation Nowa Fala.
De Press
Polish/Norwegian new wave band whose debut album Block to Block was one of the most influential Norwegian rock releases in the early 80's. With their unmistakeable blend of typical early 80's dark new wave rock and Eastern European influences (complete with Polish refugee Andrej Nebb), and also gained a following in Poland.
