1. Self control is an interesting name. You chose it by noticing it in a book. Do you have a lot of it or lack it?
In the life of each of us, we always lack self-control.
2. You guys already play together in other bands, is there anything about this band that you enjoy specifically?
I don’t think there’s anything special, we just took a slightly different approach to rehearsing and writing songs.
3. You started playing quite recently, Vitamiin on Nov 1st 2024 being your first show. How was it? Can we expect any recordings soon?
It’s scary to remember, I got really drunk and was pepper sprayed before the performance, but it was really cool. I don’t know, I think everything that will come out in the near future will be just demo recordings.
4. What are your songs about? Are you singing in Russian or English?
Our songs touch on many topics, such as fighting with ourselves, police, and problems of society. But for the most part, all the lyrics are personal experiences and thoughts. We sing in Russian because all the lyrics are written in it.
1. Latvians love to play trippy music instrumentally; Saturn’s Husk, Tesa, A Farewell to Words, Nostra etc. Why did you choose to go this direction? Have you thought about having vocals too?
Stoner rock/doom metal from the start of the project were a very loved genre of ours and the passion in making this type of music moved us to continue. We used to have a vocalist for a very short period of time, but it was decided that writing music instrumentally is (at the given moment) a better way to express our creativity.
2. I know that one of the band members is also part of Chosen By The Sky, playing a totally opposite style. What inspired you to start Anorexic Witches? And what other musical projects do you all have?
Germans answer: Chosen by the sky, which on the moment of my leaving was still called Chernobog, was my first experience of playing music in a band and doing concerts on public, so it definitely helped me to progress more.I left the band for quite some time now, found genre in which i am more comfortable and my main project at this moment is Anorexic Witches.
Kristers answer: As the bassist for the band, this was my very first attempt at forming a band. Throughout time, I had other projects for a short period of time, but focused primarily on Witches.
Maija’s answer: I have been playing and learning music for most of my life. I used to play the violin and piano in my childhood, and in my teenage years I found my passion for guitar. As I got to know Kristers the Witches was my first serious band experience and the stoner genre interested me, as it is melodic and has a lot of expression.
3. For how long does the band already exist? How long do you think you will play for? What are your future plans?
The band’s first rehearsal happened in July of 2023. There used to be an original lineup back in March, when the name “Anorexic Witches” and the logo for it was created. We’re definitely not stopping anytime soon, as we’re constantly evolving as a band. There’s still a lot of stuff to do while we’re at it, such as releasing music. Grind never stops!
4. Are you planning on holding on to the genre or do you think you’ll eventually morph into something different? Do you jam during your shows? Thank you for seeing you at Humanicide!
We most likely won’t be switching much genre wise, as the stoner/doom genre has the biggest influence on us, but of course, other music genres still play a role and inspire in our music writing. Example of it is making our interpretation of a Louis Armstrong song. Jamming is important to our music, we get ideas that way and create a musical bond between us in rehearsals and between us and the audience in concerts. See you at Humanicide!
A fresh screamo-emo band from the suburbs of Riga, Suki will open Humancidie fest with their unusual mid-west sound. They are underaged and full of energy, with members hailing from local hardcore punk bands Alkomulaator and Paškontrole.
1. Is the band name somehow tied in with the music you’re playing or is it just a random name?
Hello Dave, first of all it’s a pleasure for us to participate in this kind of event :DDD, the name suki comes from an estonian word that means autumn, we think it’s really tied to our sound,because we try to show our emotions through music and lyrics,music is not just a sound,but a whole experience from which you can learn something.
2. How did you guys start playing together? Who got the idea to form the band? What other projects do band members have?
At the end of 2023 our vocalist Nikita was looking for musicians for his indie band, he recruited acquaintances from school and was looking for a drummer for a long time, one day his acquaintance introduced him to the drummer Egor, it was the first band for the two of us and we didn’t really know what to do then, at that time our sound was inspired by Russian indie rock like (pasosh, sonic death, homeboy in luv, etc), later one day Egor wanted to cover a band called “sunny day real estate” which the rest of us hadn’t heard of, we all really liked the sound and started to get more interested in the emo genre and its subgenres, then his friend and his friend’s friend (Kolya and Vlad) joined the band, they have previously played in other projects such as alkomulaator, Pūķis un Vella Kalpi and others, After that we immediately started to make our own music and later started to think about new instruments, then we got a new member – Enija, who plays French horn, we have been looking for our signature sound for a long time and we think we are still looking for it.
3. Do you listen to midwest emo on a daily basis yourself? What’s your influences?
We listen to emo on a regular basis, everyone in our group likes different subgenres of emo, for example: – Kolya really likes the band “title fight” and other hardcore emo bands; – Vlad likes Midwest emo and screamo (widowdusk, by the end of summer, oh my god elephant, camping in alaska); – Egor likes the earlier Midwest emo (dismemberment plan, Cap’n Jazz, september, Indian summer, brave little abacus); – Nikita likes skramz, emo violence, lo-fi screamo (orchid, prise, idialedyournumber, departmefrombearisland, your arms are my cocoon); – Enija likes Midwest emo (marietta, everyone asked about you)
4. Do you have a goal you wanna achieve as a band or do you just play music for fun?
Now we want to reach that level of fame and recognition so that we can travel to other countries, give tours and perform in interesting places. In our opinion Latvia lacks unusual concert venues.
1. Labas! After 3 years, Tureto Sindromas returns to Humanicide fest. Your show in 2022 at Valga is still in my memory as one of the funnest shows I’ve ever been at. You arrived late, and had to cross the whole of Lithuania and Latvia for a 30 minute pogo party! What do you remember from Humancidie 2022?
What we remember: – Drunken shenanigans on stage – Cruster eating band spaghetti with his hands, straight from the pot, during covid restrictions – Bassist receiving a beer can on his head during performance – Local woman interrupting show to say that “You all will die” – Hostel filled with sauerkraut fragrance – Seeing reality porn tv for the first time
2. Tureto Sindromas celebrated its 10 year anniversary in 2024. I’ve been a fan for a long time. Haven’t heard anything similar coming out from Latvia and always hated Choking Victim type of bands until I heard you! How’s the band going? What’s the secret for having the same 4 drunkards in the band with no member change?
All is well and the secret is friendship
3. Your 4th album “Trash-Humanism” came out in 2024. How’s it different from previous ones from your perspective? I like the mix of Lithuanian and English lyrics. And of course the “eiktunx” attitude!
Fuck knows, we’re just growing up
4 You’ve been touring a lot. Your latest tour was with Netvarkoi! to Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Germany. How was it? What are your favourite places to play at?
The tour was great because there was not a single thing listed in the answer number 1. 5. What can the Riga audience expect from Tureto Sindromas show in January? What do you expect from Riga? Ačiū for your time and see you at Humanicide!
We’re bringing total crapfest and hoping you’ll be bringing things listed in answer number 1.
1. Moi! Thanks for finding time to chat. I first found out about you in 2019 when a touring band Medicine Noose got your tape “Social Exclusion Blues” on their distro. Been listening to it since. In 2022 I finally got a chance to see you live at Mitäväliinimestäfest afterparty in Finland. Could you share the history of your band since autumn 2016 when you started? What has changed since then?
Thanks for the chat time! The biggest changes have been lineup changes, once for bass and drums each. Other evolutionary stuff may have happened at such a slow pace that I can’t even notice. It’s just your basic trucker hat sludge trudging on and on.
2. You come from Lahti. I haven’t heard of any band from there. How’s the scene in Lahti? Do you have any live venues and regular shows there?
Lahti has had noisy underground bands since forever! There’s a few small venues and some shows happening every now and then, not super busy but I think it’s cool.
3. In 2020 you announced a tour with Frogskin. You planned to play at club Depo in Riga. But I can’t find any information about this. Did the tour happen? Where have you played outside of Finland?
Covid put an end to our tour plans then. We have never played outside Finland. Humanicide and the adjacent Tallinn show are our first gigs abroad, finally!
4. Your sound is very 90s sludge. What bands do you consider as your influence? What Finnish bands could you recommend to check out? Sidenote: First riff on “Arseface” is pure gold!
Thank you, that’s the music that has inspired the whole existence of this band. I would consider Cavity, Floor and Eyehategod as my main influences. For fellow sludge fiends I’d recommend some newer Finnish bands like Ilon Lapset, Kettlehead, Stain and Slugphlegm.
5. The venue for Humanicide is really weird. It usually hosts rave parties. It looks like an industrial building with a huge disco ball in the middle. What can the Riga audience expect from your show? And what do you expect from Riga? Thank you! See you in January! Kippis!
The people can expect a good old sludgecore bulldozing with a filthy groove. I expect cheap vodka at the grocery store and a great party at the venue! Cheers, chuffed to play at Humanicide!
The tour is finally fully booked! 18 shows in 19 days; 2 shows in Finland, 1 in Estonia, 2 festivals in Latvia, 2 shows in Lithuania, 3 in Poland, back to Latvia for another festival + a club show, ferry to Sweden, a show in the Netherlands, then 3 shows in Denmark, 1 in Norway and the grand finale at a festival in Sweden! This is gonna be the longest tour I’ve ever done. In my top 3 is Woodoom tour in 2019 with 12 shows in 7 countries and Pidari/Hellbastard tour in 2023 with 10 shows in 9 countries (from which 3 didn’t happen!).
But my summer run is not gonna start there! Two weeks before the tour I’ll be playing with Смерть a free show in Riga at the Latvian Academy of Art, then 2 days later we will be traveling to Finland to play with both Смерть and .338 at the Manserama, an indoor skatepark festival. After that I’ll crash for a week in Tampere for band practice. On the first day of the tour I’ll actually skip the show and travel to Tallinn instead, leaving .338 to play in Tampere with a fill-in bassist. In Tallinn we with Смерть will open for the mighty Weedeater and on the next day after that while the band will go back home I’ll be traveling north to Helsinki to catch .338 on our second tour date and jump back in on the schedule!
My hypothesis is that I’m gonna feel a bit isolated during the tour due to being the only one out of 8 in the tour van who doesn’t speak Finnish. But that’s all right, I’ll keep myself busy with editing after show videos on my phone, reading books and drinking. Oh hell, there’s gonna be shit ton of drinking. Finnish alcoholics touring south where booz costs 4 times cheaper! Holy shit a hellraiser!
The dates are
03.07. Riga, LV – Latvian Academy of Art with Смерть A friend of mine is having her bachelors done and she wants to attract an audience to see her work so we thought of helping her out (and have a public rehearsal before the Finnish date). The show is gonna happen on the 3rd floor, room number 38. It’s a free party with BYOB. The rest of the academy is gonna be closed so we all can feel like creeps in a castle!
05.07. Tampere, FIN – Manserama .338 guitarist and songwriter is part of the organizers team. The whole festival is a skateboard competition with punk and metal bands playing here and there. The line-up for our day is fantastic! Estonian metal punk brothers Hõbekuul are opening, then Bosnian punks Lopoč, Finnish best friends Mörv (with whom .338 is releasing a split before the tour!), then .338 and finally Смерть.
16.07. Tallinn, EE – Paavli Kultuurvabrik & Tampere, FIN – Vastavirta-Klubi .338 will start the tour with the hometown show while I’ll be traveling 4 hours south to meet up with Смерть guys once again and play for the biggest crowd we’ve ever played for!
17.07. Helsinki, FIN – Playhouse bar I’ve never been to a Playhouse but as far as I’ve heard they are some kind of DIY venue usually closed during summer but opening up specially for the .338 show!
18.07. Tallinn, EE – Ülase12 Ü12 is a great DIY antifa venue. I’ve played there countless times and this is not gonna be the first time for .338 either. Ü12 didn’t want to book us at first because of all the touring bands in the Baltics due to Munky Pride fest but our previously booked-newly-opened venue The Krypt canceled so Ü12 took pity on us.
19.07. Vandāni, LV – Munky Pride fest Latvian Obscene Extreme festival is mostly hosting gore and grind bands but weirdly enough we are squeezed in between two ska orchestras. Later same night Choking Victim member’s new band Public Serpents will take the stage. Never been a fan of skacore but this will be a nice “check” in the list of bands I’ve seen live. I’m proud of the opportunity to show my Finnish boys the peak of Latvian DIY fests in 2024.
20.07. Ropaži, LV – Ļunku Ļembasts fest I planned to book a Riga show for us but with Munky Pride, Hard’n’Heavy, Punk & Rock and other festivals all happening on the same weekend the idea disappeared. Lucky Skala Bünte got us a spot in a tiny pagan festival just outside Riga. Having zero expectations but the roof to sleep under, food and crazy few people in the audience is more than enough. And we might even be headliners for this one as much as I know.
21.07. Vilnius, LT – XI20 The old and legendary XI20 was the childhood house of my punk teenager era. And with friends I made 10 years ago we’re gonna rock the old basement on a Sunday night. Great queer place, home of many local bands. Stage for many touring bands. This will feel like playing a hometown show for sure!
22.07. Kaunas, LT – Garazh Surprisingly for myself this will be the first Kaunas show where I’ll find myself on a stage and not the other way around. The only Kaunas’ metal venue Lemmy was not interested in booking us so we had to settle down with a garage. Probably nothing more than that but I don’t mind! We are bringing our own gear and while the booz, speed and weed will keep coming we will keep rocking!
23.07. Gdańsk, PL – Paszcza Lwa 24.07. Słupsk, PL – Motor Rock Pub 25.07. Białystok, PL – Balance Klub Haven’t played in Poland in 5 years and haven’t been in any of these venues ever but 2 of these shows are booked by a member of Polish crust sort-of-legends Death Crusade and one of them is by punks that are bringing Flower, the USA Nausea-type crust band over for a festival in August! So I have my trust in them.
26.07. Renda, LV – Zilonis fest Friends in west Latvia have invited both Смерть and .338 to play at their annual countryside festival. Few years ago when I first played there it was a small gathering of friends in the middle of a forest but since last year the festival has grown up to a level of a decent stage and a TV crew coming over to document the action. It might not be the biggest, most original or best organized festival but it for sure is on a list of must-attend Latvian DIY events this summer.
27.07. Liepāja, LV – Gypsy camp Back to Liepāja! The craziest, most active metal city I’ve visited in recent times. Our friends from Trencheard drunk talked that they are trying to book themselves a spot as an opener band for .338 and if that works out, the show will be legendary! It’s an open air stage in the backyard of a rich man’s hotel (the dude declined us to pay the full fee but sends pictures from his vacation in Zimbabwe or somewhere instead for no reason). Anyway on a run of best parties in Baltics we can’t skip Liepāja so it is what it is and fuck the money!
29.07. Groningen, NL – Waterskaap Last minute addition is a show in the north of the Netherlands at the water tower squat after a relaxing day off on a ferry across Baltics sea. It’s not much, just a door-deal but we could use some quality weed, a roof to sleep under and warm dinner, and hopefully a bed or mattress or a sofa. 8 fat and smelly crusties in one van, wasted and passed out in a tent for the third week is not the healthiest way to keep sane.
30.07. Thylejren, DK – Thylejren an old Yeah I don’t know about this one… It’s supposed to be a festival ground and an empty and forgotten village for the rest of the year. But somehow we managed to book a show there in the north of Denmark. It’s organized by friends of our driver and guitarist so I’ll let them deal with this!
31.07. Aarhus, DK – SideSporet My very favorite venue in all of Europe. I’m trying to add SideSporet on every tour I organize. The place and the people there are phenomenal. One story out of a million that just came to my mind is from the Hellbastard/Pidari tour last year when one of the tour members had kidney problems and he had special needs, like a clean bed to lay down and specific medicine to inject and so on. All promoters were informed and took it seriously. But when we arrived in Aarhus, a local friend of mine came to our sick crew member, gave him a few grams of weed and speed and wished him a good recovery. The sick guy ended up snorting all night and shaking the whole day.
01.08. Copenhagen, DK – Ungdomshuset Impossible to book a city if finally caught! A guy on socials reached out to me and offered to book a show. And why not? I have heard only good things about this venue! It’s supposed to be with a big stage and plenty of room for mosh pits. Hopefully there’s nothing else happening nearby and we can have a little K-town crustival!
02.08. Oslo, NO – Boksen The story of booking Boksen is hearthwarming. Last year I played in Oslo with Pidari and a lighttech came to me after the show and gave her contacts just in case I ever needed help there. We were struggling to book the date and I remembered about the contact, reached out and boom – she got us a gig! And will do lights as well. Punk is love!
03.08. Gothenburg, SE – Fragile Mountain fest And finally for the second year in a row I’ll get on a Fragile stage to impress unimpressible crusties that have heard the same d-beat pattern for the last 44 years. The crowd is a bit lazy there but the organizers are cool. Hopefully I’ll have the power to chat with the crew about the difference between Swedish and Baltics scenes during the night time again.
04.08. And then home. Our vocalist lives in Sweden so he will just take a train, Finns will take a ferry to Turku and I’ll take a ferry to Riga. The goal is to sell around 10 books during the tour to pay for the ferry in case we go in minuses.
July is gonna be a pain in the ass. Being a punk is a full time job. Thanks for reading. See you in shows!
New month, new party! First of all, Eyehategod and Dopelord will play two separate shows in Riga at the same time. Last time something like this happened was in 2017 when Mayhem performed at Melnā Piektdiena while Dying Fetus was live at One One. Sloppy promoters not talking to each other, especially when they work at a professional level (I heard they actually talked to each other later when Dopelord organizers were looking for a new venue after the previously planned Vagonu Hall got closed. But it was too late. Tickets were already selling for both shows separately). Anyway, either you’re team american alcoholics or team polish potheads, there’s an afterparty for both of them, on May 17th (Friday) super originally dubbed as “EHG / DOPELORD AFTERPARTY”.
The cool thing about the afterparty show is the location. Most of Diskultur (this is Diskultur – the promoter who’s blog you’re reading) shows happens at Ādmiņu 4 nowadays. Humanicide, Filthy Hangout, Turboballe… All of them start to get mixed up so to spice things up, the afterparty will be held at a new spot, called “CULT”, a raver / beer pong playhouse right above a pool bar “BAMS” on Cēsu 18 in Riga.
To enter you have to walk through the pool house, pass the bartender, enter the backdoor stairs, climb to the 3rd floor and there you go, a punk show! Hidden and confusing, I know. Because it’s not a house project / squat / regular punk venue, there’ll be some rules! (Oh no! Not the rules!)
Just for this time, to understand the limits of our new hosts;
1. No age restriction but you’ll have to show your ID so the bartender knows if they can legally sell you alcohol. 2. No BYOB sadly, yeah, I know. So get hammered beforehand or support the venue by buying a beer from the bar. P.S. they’ll check the bags! Don’t try to smuggle or smuggle smart! 3. 8 euro donation for touring bands. Regular damage, nothing new. 4. “Zobens un Lemess” bar is around the corner. The last time there was a punk show nearby, youngsters went to the infamous pagan bar and pissed on the tavern’s floor. The bartender took the young punk’s jacket and forced him to clean up his mess with it. Full blown punk experience.
Your time table for May 17th:
13:00 wake up with a horrible hangover after the great Thursday party. 15:05 force yourself to go out for a beer. Maybe it will help. Or breakfast, or coffee. 16:20 get nostalgic about the show. 16:50 realize there’s an afterparty today. 16:53 start to google where the fuck is Cēsu 18. 19:00 doors open. Weird location. Need time to find the right place. 20:00 Skala Bünte starts. Cool hardcore with metal. Bunch of kids in the crowd. 21:00 Degra introduces themselves. Weird looking pals. Probably Lithuanians. 22:00 Alkomulaator tries to speak in Latvian. Gives up. Привет! Мы краст из Риги. 23:00 Night Lives goes into the vibe. Grownups. Nice atmodoom. People trip balls. 00:00 fuck. You end up at Zobens and Lemess. Why is your jacket smelly and wet?
I’ve written about S.B. before. They still collect the biggest crowd, still play energetic, look young and attractive. Kind of the same phenomenon that happened with Pauls Raimonds, the previous local cult band. There’s a lot of similarities. Skala Bünte are looking for their own sound, copying basic hardcore and metal riffs, while adding their own flavor that is yet to be found. Same with Pauls Raimonds. Skala Bünte drummer mentioned Pauls Raimonds dummer as his inspiration. So there goes the generation influenced by the previous one. Perfect. “Punk” works again. Bands like this never last. They experiment together as a band but always split up to go separate directions, when the sought is found. Same with Tavas Māsas Nāsis, Pidari, Pauls Raimonds and other local short term stars. Will see what the future holds for Skala Bünte. Hopefully they will choose a different pattern. I booked Skala Bünte as the opening band just because most of the attendees arrive early.
Degra is an emotional post-metal type of band. Over the years they have changed a lot. From black metal to d-beat crust to queer-themed punk band to emo. I first booked them in 2019 for the 2nd Humanicide festival. And they were on fire. 2 girls in the band, shrieks, double bass pedal. Then I booked them in 2023 for Disbaltics split album presentation and later for Queer Punk fest in Warsaw. I think the lyrical and visual transformation in the band happened after they got the new bassists who suggested the stockings, nail polish and girly clothes for the band’s outfit as a joke. But after Kaunas Pride march and the vocalist’s family member coming out as trans, the band bravely adopted the provoking outfit and still wears it today. I booked Degra because the band is coming to Riga for Eyehategod anyway so why not throw them a party!
Alkomulaator is the Смерть-inspired russian crust machine based in Riga. Honestly, one of my favorite bands in Latvia right now. They have adapted the d-beat song writing and added their own filthy slow parts that opposite of Смерть sounds more hardcore than doom. The missing element might be the lack of energy from the band. The drummer wants to destroy drums and that is noticeable on any show they play but the vocalist comes from the post-punk scene and keeps his act passive, more emotional and hopeless than angry. But that’s ok – their style! The dude is traveling to other Baltic cities for punk shows and gets to know the sound aboard. So the lack of energy might be a choice instead of ignorance. Anyway, the music is great! And noone plays crust in Latvia besides Alkomulaator (and well, Смерть).
I can’t say much about these gents. They come from Joensuu in the south east part of Finland with (as far as I know) no local venue. But the scene there is not dead, gladly! I know at least one other Joensuu crust band (with a long ass Finnish name that I can’t remember). Night Lives play a mixture between post-metal and hardcore that they themselves call dark hardcore but sounds more like neocrust to my ear. A great finisher for a stoner afterparty! For fans of Neurosis & Tesa.
All 4 bands on May 17th are a little emotional but definitely powerful sounding. See ya in CULT!
Text taken from GRÜST #3 zine, published on 06.2023.
GUYS CHILL WE COOL…
TURBOHOBO the vocalist here, telling you the story!
BROKEN ENGLISH FOR BROKEN TOURISTS
You’re holding a punk zine in your hands. Probably used to roll a joint. Check for leftovers!!! You never know.
This one’s called GRÜST. Kinda like CRUST but with a G. It means PUSH!!! Push the scene. Inspire youth to make communities, activism, create zines and music with ideology. You know, pushing them to care!!! And I’m so desperate I decided to write this one in English. The international internet language.
In the last 5 years the Riga scene has been reborn. It’s been years, man! Last time something like that happened was in the 2000s/10s. Jerked chain: if you ask me. Youth has no one to look up to. No idols. No metal dudes in their 40s wearing leather jackets with a WOLFBRIGADE backpatch, questioning themselves if the NO FUTURE they soo riot against has actually arrived.
Damn it’s a foggy Wednesday night…
So the scene before the last wave and this wave was really calm, almost not existing. Punks got married, moved to a better paying country, started to play post-metal or switched to the STURM scene (our local industrials). And the ones that stayed didn’t evolve along with the scene. Because there was no scene!!! …Well you got the idea. Nowadays the older guys naively believe that they can keep the scene like it was in the old days. Like it was when humanity didn’t try to accept each other as much as they do now. At least in Europe.
And so here’s something we did to inspire youth that they can step up and change something. We organized something revolutionary – first Latvian Queer Punk fest! In Eastern Europe… ex-USSR country. Yeah… We are the first European country with a gay president, tho! So in your face Western Europe!
In a week-long festival we led lectures about safe sex, sexperiments and sex traumas. During the second part of the week we held a queer patch workshop with a beautiful acoustic concert in the background. We also organized two punk shows with female fronted / queer bands. They were packed! Even the police paid a visit. Busted 3 underaged kids for public drinking. Luckily we stopped them from coming inside. Backstage was used as a joint factory. And weed in Latvia is as illegal as heroin or meth or whatever. Anyway, for 11 grams you risk 7 years in prison. I actually was once caught with that amount. Cycled to a pagan metal festival 60km outside of Riga with a full bag of weed. Had those small plastic pockets and scales with me. To sell obviously. When I noticed that they had cops with dogs patrolling at the festival’s camp side I rushed to the backstage area to give my bag to a friend and act a fool. While I was waiting I got surrounded by 10 pigs and their snitching paw patrol. Got escorted straight to the cops van with my hands locked behind my back and a taser pointing to my waist. “If you try anything funny I’ll shoot!” God damnit. It’s fucking weed you morons. I came up with a story that I’m a bartender and a customer that knows me (but I don’t know him because obviously I don’t know all customer’s names) sold me weed. A little lie to not bust my dealer or anyone actually. Cops didn’t believe me because I had pockets and scales with me. “Well… I carry scales around so I know how much weed I put in a joint.” – “And pockets?” – “Oh, they came together with scales at the tobacco store.”
I had to work 180 hours of forced labor and pay around 300 eur for having 11 grams. Actually on paper they were only 9 grams. I don’t know if cops smoked a little bit themselves or saved my ass (less than 10 grams – 1 year probation, over 10 grams – 5 years probation) but I’m 100% sure they took some of it! Corrupted fucking system’s slaves.
Soo… The Queer Punk fest. On the 7th and last day of the festival we organized yoga with PIDARI playing in the background.
It was an early Sunday morning. A yoga teacher was leading the group in the rain, hiding only herself from it. She was flowing and we followed her. I played clarinet, PASTNIEKS acoustic guitar, MINITURBO drums and ARMADILLO synth. Without melody, without rhythm. Like a Gregorian chant OM kinda vibe. The jam started to breathe together with the yoga teacher’s breath. Friends gathered around, spread out the blankets on wooden pallets and stretched along. Rain was falling the whole morning. But yoga people didn’t mind about it. Absolute calmness. Rain was the 6th instrument in the performance (5th being the teacher’s voice). People passing by froze. Waited a bit. Enjoyed their present. What a beautiful moment to exist!
Sometimes after longer festivals I take a sketchy pill to pass out. To switch off my brain after overworking. To give my mind a break, to stop running. Forced turn off. But on that day I learned something new – to meet myself with peace. No, not by meditating or concentrating. Not by thinking about creating peace. No! I didn’t even have to make an effort. I didn’t catch myself calming myself and giving my brains a rest. Process ended and I slowly started to be aware of my thoughts. Wow! Such a peaceful moment with an empty mind. I stopped running. How beautiful to spend the well earned rest with myself alone in the moment. This chapter ended and the next one will start soon. What’s next on the list? We’ll see… Let this one end first.
This happened 10 days before PIDARI European tour with HELLBASTARD.
It was a beautiful week full of love. PUNK IS LOVE! Remember that!
The ideology behind this fest was to unite two minority groups of Latvian society. We need to support each other against USSR mind-sets that still live among us. We are power, bro! We also received a lot of hate during the week. Nice! Bigots care to comment on our actions! Triggered small-minded people = free advertisement for us. Fuck who you want. Look how you want. What is this? Nazi Germany? Be free, kid!
PIDARI MANIFESTO
Would we really call our band FAGGOTS and perform at queer shows? It’s not a Russian swear word. Fuck russia! It’s Latvian. Means ASSHOLES, HOOLIGANS, RUDEBOYS. Something you say to a young skater boi that nails a sick trick – BĻĒ, PIDARS! AHUJENNA, VECĪT! (“Fucking hell! That was rad!”) So yeah we named our band PIDARI.
We started off as a wedding band, actually. Shared drinks with mother-in-laws and earned cash at seaside cafes. Same 100 Latvian schlager and country cover songs on repeat every weekend.
Yeah well fuck that… It’s not about the money, man. Fuck money! Fuck capitalism and fuck this fucked up system where you need to have wealth to survive in a society. Fuck it!
One day we decided that we have to make a punk band and play punk with an attitude! Pass the message, you know!
So we got together to STICK THE HATE IN THEIR FACES. It was October ‘22. We managed to write some pretty angry tunes despite having a blues guitar teacher, jazz drums student, music programmer and a burnt out crustie in the same team.
9 months later we got Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland under the belt. And we didn’t stop there. In late June ‘23 we are going on tour with UK crust pioneers HELLBASTARD. Yeah the same guys who’s ‘86 demo is the reason you call your stinky-drunk-all-black-wearing-passed-out-on-your-momma’s-sofa pal a CRUSTIE and not a DIRTBAG, YELLOW-TEETH or whatever.
Oh yeah another thing – social media? Nah! You wanna hear us? Come to our shows. This is live music and not some hearts and followers collecting instagram pages. We are music! We are in action! We are energy that we share with you LIVE! Don’t need to exchange politeness in the comments section. Come to the show! Shake hands. Buy merch or sell merch. Hell, even better – trade merch! That will give way bigger support and respect than re-sharing a facebook story.
Yeah, it’s all about that. Being alive! Maybe no one will remember us in a few months. So what? We will! Live your own life to the fullest!
Not the smartest decision for a touring band but oh well… We are just some jazzy crust band from an exotic country named after an LGBTQ N-word. We actually made the punk band play 3 shows only and disband. On the 3rd show ARMADILLO even smashed his bass on stage. The end. BASTA! Yeah, well we thought so too. And look where it has led us! Touring bands from Latvia is not a thing. We have maybe 20 punk bands in total from which maybe 3 have played in Estonia or Lithuania (neighbor countries). Latvian punk bands touring Europe are a rarity. You should stick to this zine like Yugi sticks to his rare Exodia cards.
We have absolutely no idea how the style of music that we are attempting to play should actually sound like. A country solo in the middle of a crust song, a reggaeton song that finishes off with doom and blast beats underneath the tunes of standard jazz. A wonderful trip.
In August PIDAR are going on another tour. This one will take us to Finland and back with our Tampere friends .338, a high caliber d-beat band. TURBO Dave the vocalist from PIDARI is playing bass with them as well.
Всё в меру or All in Measure is an undiscovered treasure in the local grunge scene, due to being in the russian circle and having a poor connection with the bubble that is known as the Riga scene. The band has 1500 followers on instagram (slightly more than Nikotīņi, the “cult” local band) and still remains unknown for most. Their music video for a single “EVTANAZIJA” that has a potential to win somekind of Latvian music award, being professionally filmed in various wild areas (Lithuanian hill of crosses, school, church, jumpscene from an actual bridge, epic makeup for face scars, underwater takes etc.) has been published for 8 months now and has only 500 views. What is this phenomenon of a band? Where do they get their ideas and how can they afford to realise them?
Here’s an interview with Riga’s grunge/stoner band Всё в меру.
1. Hey! Thanks for finding time to chat. First of all, let’s start from the very beginning. How did the band started? Who’s in it? And what’s the idea behind this project?
Hi, Dave, thanks for having us and for the pleasant remarks about our music video. Band was founded in 2020 in Riga by two classmates – Eduard (vocals, guitar) and Daniel (Drums). We went through frequent line up changes until last year when Oleg (bass player) reached out to us from Daugavpils and Jānis (second guitarist) just by hanging around enough got into band.
Original idea behind the band and its name was blending bunch of rock sub-genres, making a new sound, which could introduce itself to a broad audience. Gradually, replacing naive youthful dreams, a more rational and professional approach to the music emerged, leading to a more defined and individual style for the group. Additionally, the name carries a philosophical undertone, signifying harmony in life and with oneself.
2. From the latest posters of your shows I can see you are sharing stages with other local bands that has russian members. Is there some kind of wall between russian and latvian bands in the Riga scene? Why is that? Any story from your experience? Is there a reason you switched your band name to english from russian?
Well, we don’t think that there’s a “wall” separating local russian and latvian rock scene minding that we share the same venues and perform niche, underground music. We’re all in the same boat. Cooperation with russian groups is primarily driven by the fact that we know each other better, closely communicating and rehearsing in the same place. Changing the band’s name and the language of songs to English was our deliberate decision, driven by the future plans to expand into a more global, English-speaking market.
3. Who writes songs in All in Measure and what are they about? How would you describe your music for someone who hasn’t heard of it? What can FILTHY HANGOUT attendies expect from you?
Every member contributes to songwriting, but the lyrics are always written by our vocalist, expressing his and our worldview, attitudes toward society, and the values of the community. This often involves positioning ourselves against societal norms, valuing freedom, and the importance of individual opinions. As our name suggests we induce broad spectre of rhythmical sensations. Gloomy, angsty vibes to uplifting and rioting motifs, our songs will rock the shit out of your intestines, so we advise you to not miss our performance.
4. Could you tell the story behind the music video of “EVTANAZIJA”? How did you afford to film it? I have jumped from that Jugla bridge for fun as well until I was informed there’s floating logs underwater. How long did it took to get ready to jump?
The concept of the song and its video initially envisioned the purposeful creation of a psychedelic, chaotic, atmospheric journey capable of lingering in memory long after viewing. Without exaggeration, it is our most ambitious project in the band’s history. We invested a considerable amount of money, effort, and time in bringing the video to life. Most of the shooting took place in June 2022, a 5-day thrilling adventure across various corners of Latvia and its surroundings in a fully loaded minibus with bags, drums, boards, and equipment. This journey was accompanied by daily filming, sleepless nights, and various challenges.
Ultimately, upon our return to Riga, tired and worn out, fate had its own plans, leading to the irreversible damage of all the filmed files. Thus, we had no choice but to redo the entire journey in August. In the end, despite all the difficulties, we are pleased that the video is available for viewing, and you can watch it. As for the lake jump, for us, it’s nothing ordinary – our vocalist regularly practices it every summer. Later on, the jump from this bridge became a symbol of initiation into the group for future members.
5. Thanks for the interview! Looking forward to hear you live on April 20th!
Again, thank you, Dave, we are grateful for this opportunity and really psyched to be a part of this upcoming hangout of yours!
