Updated on 07.03.24. (added an interview with DEFEKT + a time-table)
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Estonia is experiencing a new hardcore punk wave with youngster bands full of energy. Tallin’s very own Skoone, Düsentroop and Defekt will head south to play in Riga on Saturday, March 9th, supported by locals Defekts and Pidari.
Find interviews with all 3 Estonian bands below!!!
– 8€ donation for touring bands (at doors)
– BYOB
– Time-table:
19:00 doors
20:00 Pidari
then Defekts
then Düsentroop
then Defekt
then Skoone
– Ādmiņu 4, Riga 4th(!) floor
Cameras only towards the stage. Don’t explore the backyard. Don’t climb on the roof. Don’t be an asshole.
Supported by Rotten Smile crew.
Tallin’s autonomus anti-fa epicenter Ülase12 is facing a new wave of fresh blood. The young punk scene with full hands of activism and poor interest for social media.
Here’s 3 little interviews with our nordic borthers about the ideology behind their work, the history and more.
Hey! Skoone has been around for a while now. Could you please tell us a little about the band’s history? Where and how it all started? Does the band name has any meaning?
Aleksander Leetmaa tells the story of Skoone:
The first Skoone thing ever was DungelBæengel, which is a really stupid way to say tengelpung (an old way to say wallet in Estonian).
It consisted of me – Aleksander Leetmaa (vocals) – Arthur Leetmaa (vox of Defekt), Aldo Jakovlev (guitar) and Harry Ein (former vox of Lobotoomia, check ’em out on youtube). I was around 13 at the time but the other guys were a bit older. We did like 5 rehearsals and the only good thing to come out of these rehearsals was a primitive version of a later Skoone song “Pimedus”. This was around 2017.
A bit later Aldo and I wrote a song for a school project. This track “Rahvamürgitaja” (meaning population poisoner) and “Pimedus” (meaning darkness hahahah) are basically the first ever Skoone songs.
I think that to truly understand the history of Skoone, one must first understand where the name comes from.
The prototype name for Skoone was originally Kratt (an old Estonian folklore creature).
The name Skoone came from an old underground bastion located in North-Tallinn, Skoone Bastion. These tunnels used to be bombing shelters and run beneath the majority of oldtown and most of them have collapsed or have been turned into a museum.
Actually old ENSV punks used these tunnels to escape from the cops, for band practice and also just to drink and have fun.
I can’t remember exactly when was the first time we encountered the tunnels, but I know I was pretty young (probably 11 or 12). There were four of us: Aldo, my brother Arthur from Defekt and our mutual friend. Later we would bestow ourselves the title Founding Fathers.
We explored the tunnels now and then, but didn’t go there that often, because it was wet, dirty, smelly, dark and a bit creepy. Also no telephone signal or nothing.
But Arthur started going there with his classmates to get drunk or smoke cigarettes because no sane person, even police, would come after you there, which made it perfect for underaged drinking.
Skoone Bastion was the shit.
Every Friday and Saturday we would meet up with friends in the downtown Subway, buy only 2L Bock beers and candles and head inside the tunnels. At one point they walled the entrance off and we spent 4-5 days making a hole into the wall with pipes we found laying around. Just 2 hours straight each day, hitting the wall so we’d have a hole we could fit through.
I don’t know for sure how many times I have walked across the seemingly endless dark corridor on rotten planks suspended on putrid oily water that engulfs the whole floor. Bunk beds running across the walls, where people were scared for their lives on the 25. of march 1944.
I would always tell these stories and the history of Bastion to newcomers while we were walking to the main room.
I think we took a little joy in inviting random friends of friends or newbies with us to our underground lair. You could see the fear in their faces as we approached the hole in the wall, which marked the point of no return. There were many times that people would refuse to climb through the hole and would just leave. Actually the song Pimedus talks about the perspective of people not willing to enter the tunnels.
It’s actually remarkable how many people, if willing, can fit into a tiny room underground. During the glory days, there could easily be about 20 people in the main 3×6 meter room.
The whole thing had a little religious tinge to it. As mentioned before, 2L Bock was the drink that everyone had to drink. It passed clockwise and when stopped, everyone shouted “WHY IS THE BOCK STANDING”. The first ones to drink were always the founding fathers and the first sip of the first Bock had to be poured to the ground as an offering to the Gods of the Bastions. Newcomers had to chug the Bock for 10 seconds while everyone else was counting. (We usually stopped at 7 or 8 and kept repeating that number for a while.)
After the school thing we decided to play the songs live, or at least try to.
So we hit up our mutual friend Karl aka Priidik aka Okulaar aka Peep aka Pepu (drummer of Düsentroop), who was just starting to learn drums. And another friend Alexander “Sass” Kaseste (not to be confused with Aleksander “Sass” Leetmaa) who was supposed to play the trumpet. We played a cover of an old (debated to be the very first Estonian punk artist: Irwin Art Project) song called Keevitajad (meaning welders). The recording of this is actually up on our youtube page and if listened closely, you can hear Kaseste dying on the trumpet in the background.
Sadly, after some rehearsals, we decided the trompet wasn’t for us, so Kaseste left.
We asked our friend Steven if he wanted to play bass for us, even though he had never touched that instrument before. And also we found a face-tattooed core guy called Zhuurik to play rhythm guitar for us. Steven was later replaced with Kaseste, who had started learning bass and was already miles better than Steven.
We had our first show on 30/08/2019 at a DIY spot, Mõru, which was basically just some little rented space turned illegal bar/venue. All the equipment was rented and the local drums were the worst set we’ve ever had to deal with. It was a legendary and historically significant show for the scene of today (which started in 2016).
We played with Vimka (defunct batshit hardcore band where Kalli played guitar) and Lobotoomia (also defunct hardcore band), where Kolk from Düsentroop/Defekt used to play guitar. The place didn’t last too long but hosted some really great shows.
Zhuurik, as it turned out, had some serious fucked up shit going on with him and was banished from the scene, now replaced by Richard Jerbach.
A little after that, our drummer Karl left for mandatory army service. So now we had find a new drummer. Siim Volkmann (from one of the best black metal band of Estonia at the moment: Soerd) played with us for a bit and we also played a show in Valga with some Latvian bands. Sadly he had other things to do so that’s when Kalli Talonpoika (from everything good) joined us. At first he was supposed to play with us until Karl came back from the army but he is still with us. (Oops.)
From that point onwards Skoone became tighter, faster and angrier.
One day I was day drinking with Sett (vox from Düsentroop) and we noticed some younger punk kids sitting on the other bench, listening to an old Estonian punk band Vennaskond (a good but “entry level” band). This amused us so we decided to blast Extortion back at them. After a while we decided to talk to them. They were much younger and seemed to recognize us. We took those underaged rockers with us and bought a shit ton of beer. Later one of the guys sent us (Skoone) a video of him playing one of our songs “Ärevus”. He said that he had learned our whole EP from just listening to it. Turns out the kid had a band of his own called Critical Corruption (the worst band name ever) aka C.C. and he himself was of course Richard. A few months later Zhuurik was banished from existence, Richard replaced him, and that about brings us up to speed.
What other musical projects are Skoone members part of?
Aleksander Leetmaa – vocals (guitar in Düsentroop, bass in Defekt)
Aleksander Kaseste – bass (bass in Ave maria and Düsentroop)
Aldo Jakovlev – lead guitar (guitar in Intrepid and Viktor Kuu, makes electronic music as ultra.laundry)
Richard Jerbach – rhythm guitar (vocalist/guitarist in C.C., replacement bassist in Huiabella Fantastica, solo artist)
Kalli Talonpoika – drums (drums in C.C., Ave maria and Estoner, vocalist and songwriter in Kalli Talonpoika and the Sunshine Band)
Skoone has already played in Riga once. It was at Lokal House last year in May. Saddly Lokal House has ceased to exist. Was this your first time aboard as a band and what do you remember from that night? What would you like to be the same or different this time?
It was our first time abroad as a band. Everything was perfect besides Riki’s guitar breaking and his pedals being stepped on 50 or so times. Otherwise the crowd and energy was excellent, we’re hoping for more of the same!
Latvian punk band Alkomulaator covered one of Skoone’s song. Have you heard the cover? Do you know anyone from Alkomulaator band? Do you have cover songs on your set-list as well?
Yeah, we’ve heard of their cover, it was really cool and surprising to discover it. We have known Pavel for a while now, the guy used to ride his bike or hitchhike just to see us in Estonia on multiple occasions. Now that’s dedication! He also organized C.C.’s first show in Riga.
We’ve occasionally played a cover of Moblapood, originally by Müstika on a 1999 punk comp. No idea when it was recorded, though.
We’ve more consistently been playing a cover of “BMW & NBA” by Koer, a legendary Estonian punk band which evolved into Vaiko Eplik & Eliit.
The song is originally about small town jocks who just drive around in their cars and fight all day. The refrain of that song translates to “BMW & NBA, I like to fistfight!”.
We changed the lyrics a bit so now it’s “RMV & PWA (two infamous nazi bands in Estonia), I like to fistfight!” to make fun of boneheads who just want an excuse to brawl.
A song on our EP, “Mis kell on? pt. 2” is actually a cover of an estonian dance/rap song, but we haven’t been playing that one too often.
Two of Skoone members are part of radio series MÜRA. Can you tell us more about it? I have heard there’s an underground zine as well!
Kalli:
Correction: a member of Skoone (Kalli) and Mihkel Kolk from the two other bands host MÜRA. It’s basically a radio show that is meant to give more unknown underground stuff in Estonia a platform to be heard, promote shows and also to broadcast bigger developments in the scene a la album releases and so on. Besides that it’s just me and Kolk playing music that we like, leaning heavily on loud and aggressive stuff.
We record the shows at Ülase and they’re on air every wednesday at 5 PM.
At the time of writing this, we’re about to have Buzhold as guests on our show talking about their new album and last time we had Arthur Leetmaa from Defekt, who is a co-creator of the MÜRA zine, which is about a year older than the show.
The zine is run by Arthur and Mihkel and focuses heavily on documenting the social aspect of the scene, as in how the people of the scene think about things and so on. There’s also art and poetry and other kinds of write-ups, so it gives a pretty panoramic view of the scene.
Thank you! See you in Riga! What should we expect from Skoone this time?
Total annihilation.
Hey! Tell us please, what is Düsentroop? How the project started? Who’s playing in the band and what other project does bands members take part in?
Düsentroop is basically just five guys who like the same type of music (eggpunk, hc punk and powerviolence) playing a combination of fast, short and loud. The name itself doesn’t mean anything, not in estonian anyway. “Düsenteeria” (shitting yourself to death) + “psühhotroop” ( LSD, DMT, weed) = Düsentroop yaknow. Sass said he wanted to do some other shit next to Skoone with Pep. Play some riffs and drink some beers. Then we met Sett and thought that he needs to be in some band with us you know. At one point Mihkel got out of the mandatory military service and joined. At that point we started hunting for a bassist. The first guy that tried out was Svart (also named Alex, stop naming your kids Alex or Aleksander) from Hukk but he was too shroomed the one time he tried out. Then we asked Kaseste one night when we we’re out drinking. He accepted and never left. The rest is history. So the band consists of Pep on drums he was in Skoone once upon a time and now drives his car around. Mihu on guitar he used to play in a sick ass band called Lobotoomia before they broke up and now he’s doing a zine with Arthur from Defekt called “Müra” and a radio show of the same name with Kalli from Skoone, C.C. and a bunch of other bands. Then we have Alexander “su ema gei” sass on bass who also plays in Ave Maria and Skoone. Aleksander “sass” Leetmaa also on guitar but he’s in Defekt and Skoone as well. And then Sett on vocals, I don’t do shit. Real soon all of us are gonna live in like a 5min radius of eachother in Kalamaja ’cause the sassid are moving in together.
The band doesn’t have any social media, nor any recording available online. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard of you? What are song about? Why do you choose to anonymus?
Our music is uncomplicated, loud and to-the-point. No song goes over 3min and we try to destroy everything on and off stage as fast as possible. The songs are about love, self-destruction and moments of violence. But mostly love and everything that comes with that shit. I don’t think we’re anonymous really, we just dont have social media ’cause fuck that shit come see us live pussy!
What plans does the band has for future?
We’ve been sitting on an EP since summer but it’s almost finished now so when that shit gets released you’ll get to hear it online or on cassette and listen to our pretty little songs at home.
Thank you! What should we expect from Düsentroop at their show in Riga?
Expect disorder, raw d-beat and broken english i guess.
Defekt is another anonymus project from Tallin with little to no info about the band online. Could you please tell a little bit about the history of Defekt? What other projects are band’s members taking part in?
Begin with maksim(drum) and mihkel(kitarr) (and many other frends) getting together and jamming and doing stupid shit, we then wanted more……
we figured that he would be perfect in making worlds evilest and shittiest music…….
then we took sass into the equation and it realized to us that we can make some very sinister evil groovy music tohether………
we started defekt
The drummer Maksim Malyshev is also the drummer of “Hukk”
The singer Arthur “Tont” Leetmaa has An industrial/aggrotech project “Consecrated Despondency” and is a vocalist of a black metal band “Värdjas” and is also the co-founder of the “Müra” magazine
The bass player/in our case the rythm guitar so to say, Is Aleksander Leetmaa, he is the lead singer of “Skoone” and the rythm guitar of “Düsentroop”
On lead guitar we have Mihkel Kolk, He is also the lead guitar of “Düsentroop” and The co-founder of the “Müra” magazine
Defekt describes their sound as schizosludge. What does it mean? What makes it schizo? What’s the meaning behind the suicide rope in the logo?
Well we really use this labeling because it’s usually necessary to include a musical style something for live shows, and alsof because “Sludge” might be pretty close to our style, however we don’t want to use any one label to describe our music, we use a lot of different influences, depending on the band members personal taste, a song can have parts that resemble of extreme metal, parts derivative of hardcore punk, parts that resemble Skramz(early screamo) or just experimenting with what fits, but overall the point of the sound mostly is reflective of insanity, misanthropy, bitterness, loss and regret, to me as a singer personally this projects fills the role of therapy in a way.
To answer the question of “what makes our music schizo?” Long story short is our hectic genre hopping and lyrics that would be fitting on a wall of a psych ward.
The noose in the logo in a way represents the different musical influences of our band. The noose being made out of a cable reflects the bands noise, hardcore, sludge influences while the shape of a noose more is more derivative of DSBM (depressive suicidal black metal) and reflects on the bands misanthropic and self destructive lyrics and music.
There’s couple of bands named similar to Defekt. There was a raw punk band in Riga Defectives and now we have a hardcore punk band Defekts. I know 2 more bands in Europe with the same name. Why did you chose this name and have you thought of making a show with only bands named “defect”? Have you ever been mixed up with another band?
Well, I suppose the name “Defekt” seemed fitting for that kind of music we’re making, relating more to individual self image and relationships with others. The word can be derivative of mental illness.
We haven’t really been mixed up as far as I’m aware, but that’s probably due to the fact that we have not made a release -Yet.
And yes we have had the idea of doing a live show with only bands named “Defect” or a variation of that word so to say.
What can we expect from Defekt during their show in Riga? Thank you for your time!
Hard to say, as our music and lyrics are from wall to wall misanthropy while longing, regretful while unforgiving, from manic to psychotic, from numbness to emotional outbursts – and so on. Maybe the word “mental” would be fitting.
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Preparty on 08.03. same place:
https://fb.me/e/3Dzl4rSRi