HAOS

.. width="425" height="350" .. HAOS-The first punk band in Romania !!! 1991 - ...., Timisoara, Romania Status: Active Style: HC Punk "Haos and Punk in the Post Communist Thought in Timisoara, Romania" The years 1988-1990 in Timisoara, Romania were characterised (among others) by efforts to organise rock bands, combined with the attempts to form a radical-liberal ideology and with the crystallisation of an underground movement, after the revolutionary upheaval of December 1989. Against this background, the setting-up of a punk band in Timisoara seemed like a normal outcome. It only seemed so, as now, 17 years after, it appears that a sole event (even though it refers to a change of political regime) cannot bring in itself an overnight change in the society's mentality and habits. A series of trials have led, nonetheless, to the creation of the first group of punk music in Romania, Haos.The first years of the groups existence meant the gradual (or, rather, exponential) appropriation of the secrets of guitar, bass and drums playing, combined with the search for a conceptual meaning of freedom, that ought to be transposed into lyrics. We were searching for the real freedom, not the one offered to us by the regime led by President Ion Iliescu: 'There are fools who fight daily/For an obscure freedom/What I see overwhelms me/Their immense stupidity/From one compromise to the next/We cheat ourselves into subsistence/Slaves of a crazy faith/ That led us to dementia...' Haos was looking for an elitist-intellectual message that was transmitted through the means of an aggressive instrumentation. This was a novelty in Romania, which inherited from the communist regime a closed musical environment, deprived of the freedom of expression. The sources of inspiration lead directly to the frustration and the social outburst of Henry Rollins: 'Too late to give up, I no longer want to obey/These absurd becoming, this crazy torture', or towards a mild irony of Jello Biafras political thought: 'The theatre is walking backwards/From the game of happening hero-puppets pop up/Immense cohorts of criminal leaders/Cruel party leaders, mentally ill'Haos has been nothing else than the desire to express political and cultural freedom, coming from some kids who managed to own (maybe too early for their age) some ideas of classics of anarchism such as Bakunin, Kropotkin or Proudhon.A number of changes occurred in the band. Initially, the vocal was Dorin Hlandan, who had not much in common with any social or political message, and who, after about one year, succumbed to a better career: the marriage. Around 1992 Dan Nichici, an old friend, joined the band. He represented one of the pioneers of Romanian punk, with a well-defined model of thought and with a wide musical knowledge. Frustrated by the everyday mentality, he decided after one year to set up his own band, bearing a message of its own, Terror Art. Starting with 1993, for about 10 years, Haos and Terror Art represented the voice of protest coming from those youngsters who wanted something else. Also in 1993, Andrei Racolta, who was active for quite some time in the underground movement of Timisoara, joined the band. Good player, he took over the guitar and the vocals. Intelligent and with a firm personality, he soon became the bands frontman. A student of Architecture, he brings into light another forms of protest: the lack of social intimacy, the mass indifference: 'I stay at home, I am bored/In my dwelling cell/The state offered me a cell/Its all equal to me/Im addicted on TV/In my body I latently feel/Degradation' or the spreading of the consumer society, which brings about the everyday kitsch: 'I see ads/I am enlightened/Thats how I form my good taste/I take notes of all thats new/ In my agenda/ I can brag/ About how informed I am/I entered the society/I accumulated goods/Plenty/ All these are just a façade/ We were served by teaspoons/What we have to think about/And thus we are content/Out of ignorance/We are on the fast track/ To the consumer society/ What else could be better/ For the masses'With Andreis arrival, we also find an adequate name for the band: HAOS. What does Haos mean? This is a moment, a psychological moment in a teenagers development of thought. This is the moment when under good or bad influences, one can choose the wrong path or, on the contrary, follow an ascending track. In the haos moment, the person is extremely vulnerable and influenced. During this moment, the positive external influence is very important. The successful passage of the haos moment and the forming of myself represent the most important moment for the persons future life. 'Perverted system execution and needs/ Underaged violence is peaking/ Whats going on with me? / Am I still myself? ; Unable due to ignorance, unable to discern/ A multitude of influences amalgamate, but nothing concrete/ Generational conflict, lack of an intimate shelter/ Informational deprivation, cretin educational system/ Tears, crying, hysterical laughter, slow madness/ Disoriented masses, youth, latent suicide/ Lack of a worthy model/ Poverty, waste, desolating axiological system'The year 1995 brings about new changes: Cristi Miclea and Adrian Iacob decide to follow another way, targeting a larger public and bigger scenes. They set up the group Implant pentru Refuz. In the same year Adrian Paraianu joins Lorand Balla and Andrei Racolta in the band. He is a percussionist coming from another band of Timisoara. This structure of the band remains stable for about 8 years.The bands concerts were held in small clubs and obscure halls, the group not being accepted on larger scenes due to the explicit message, and also due to the somehow aggressive audience. The social thought model of the times did not evolve to the point of either allowing the free expression of a social-political message or to get rid of unnecessary violence during concerts. The members of Haos were promoting protests, but under no circumstances were they promoting violence.Around 2002, Adrian Paraianu, for unclear reasons, decided to leave the band, after 8 years of collaboration and friendship, and set up an alternative rock band, Persona. Ever since, Andrei and Lori are playing with more or less stable guests, the last ones being Arthur and Richie from the punk group NoMan'sBand (NMB).Concluding, Haos is a band that emerged in Romania during difficult times, when the post-communist collective thinking was still close to the one of before 1989. The band created a precedent, promoting a new musical style in Romania and trying to send a direct socio-political message, by the means of the punk music.Band members: Andrei Racolta - vocal/guitar (1993-....) Loránd Balla (Lori) - bass guitar(1991-....) Richard Alznauer (Richie) - drums (2004-2006) Arthur Ionescu inverted bass, guest (2005) Sergiu Popovici - drums (2003) Adrian Pârâianu (Floyd) - drums (1995-2003) Adrian Iacob (Tzava) - drums (1991-1995) Cristi Miclea (Mashi) - guitar (1991-1995) Dan Nichici (Nexantes, Schizu, Dudu) - vocal (1992-1993) Dorin Hlandan (Lendi) - vocal (1991-1992)antitodo