I first met Žurka in 2013/14 and not short after we figured out we both are born on the same day in the same year. We tried to celebrate our birthdays together in 2017. I organised a little show at NABAKLAB in Riga but two of the headliners cancelled and the whole show didn’t happen.
A year later, in 2018 we tried again. We organised a birthday bash at the sauna house FUKUŠIMA in Riga with 20 people capacity. Sludge band SLØGA and hardcore punk band M.P.I.S.A. both from Vilnius played that night together with a local traveller BEYOND THE BORDERS. It was a cold and snowy night and we all squeezed together around the drumset and went in sauna afterwards.
In 2019 we came up with the name HUMANICIDE, taken from DYSTOPIA’s song. The gig happened at REPUBLIKA bar in Riga with black metal punk band DEGRA from Vilnius, black’n;roll band HÕBEKUUL from Tallinn, hardcore punk band HUIABELLA FANTASTICA from Tallinn/Helsinki, crust band PROJECT DEKADENZ from Tartu and sludge bands SKAVEN VANTH and WOODOOM from Riga. PŪĶIS joined for an acoustic jam on the bar floor. Saddly finnish grands ROTTEN SOUND played in Riga on the same night so we ended up splitting the already small Riga scene in half.
HUMANICIDE 2020 was a blast. It happened in Kuldīga city. A well known metal-head town in early 2000s. We teamed up with local guys from doom band ZVJOZDOČKA and organised the festival at their rehearshal space that was an empty industrial house on the border of the city. The virus was already a thing back then and we managed to do the show right before it started to spread in Latvia. Around 120 people showed up. We invited Chezch post-black metal band CHANDRA and a few new names in Latvian doom / punk scene – WOODOOM, ZVJOZDOČKA, DEBESIS, D.R.OWN and ZINTNIEKS. The night was heavy. A week in advance we made a DIY bar, sold everything for 2 Euros. Bar got its own tape juke-box. We had a backstage balcony to watch the show from higher ground.
2021 edition was booked to happen at the same place but Latvia got it’s first lockdown and the whole thing got cancelled.
For 2022 edition we booked Valga Rockiklubi on the bordercity of Latvia and Estonia. No events were allowed in Latvia till January 11th so making it in Estonia was a logical solution. You could get there with a train from Riga, the last train station being on the Estonian side, so you were able to legally cross the border with no virus rectrictions check-up. A loophole. Most of 2021 edition bands got booked for 2022. Latvian biggest name in post scene TESA, WOODOOM crust reincarnation СМЕРТЬ, Tartu punk bands PROJECT DEKADENZ, KURITARVITAJA, SÜLIVERI, a doom band TRACHEA together with Vilnius’ TURETO SINDROMAS. The venue had no bar so visitors were allowed to bring their own alcohol. Few days before the show PROJECT DEKADENZ and SÜLIVERI cancelled due to positive covid tests. So MUUMIORU SS from Tartu and UGUNS step in.
The 2023 edition was the biggest one so far. It happened at Ādmiņu 4 in Riga. Lithuanian jazz punks CHALAT JAZZ, Finnish hardcore punks DART, GAZE and HAUTAUSTOIMISTO, Riga legends RŪSA and TESA, as well as local crust bands TRENCHEARD, СМЕРТЬ and PIDARI performed on 2 stages. The venue was packed. It was a grandiosso night! And a terrible hangover…
The 2024 edition will happen on January 13th. All info on a previous post.
