Tour - Beartrap - Poland

Day 41/Show 35/Wroclaw, Poland

Woke up early for a 3 hour drive, COOL. Got to Wroclaw after driving thru the middle of nowhere. It was raining/haleing and it was really cold. We got there so early we had nothing else to do except walk around. We went to the old town area and saw some old shit. Then we went to a vegan café that translated into “bad meat”. Some people got some stuff, I made some tea. After that we walked back to the venue. The show is in a semi-legal squat called CRK. We had some heated fooseball games and waited around for the show to start. Lukasz booked the show and is my favorite promoter. Not because he booked the best show, but because he picked up on me being a sarcastic asshole and gave it right back to me. Best sense of humor all tour hands down. This show had 4 touring bands on it and no locals, but there were a good amount of people there. Everyone seemd to enjoy the show, and the room wasn’t that cold considering how cold it was outside. After the show we went back to Lukasz' apartment where me and him talked more shit to each other before bed. Today is April Fools Day. April fools on me of course because I thought I escaped winter, but its snowing in Warsaw. Kill me now.

Day 42/Show 36/ Warsaw, Poland

Really April fools on me cause that asshole Lukasz lied to us and it isn’t snowing in Warsaw. The drive here reminded me of driving on back roads in Massachusetts. It's weird to me that there isn’t a highway that goes straight from the 2nd biggest city to the capital of the country. We were supposed to be playing the Elba squat tonight in Poland but a few days ago they got threatened with eviction so the show couldn’t happen there. We got added to a show that was already booked in a club in Warsaw and we don’t fit the bill. 3 NYHC style bands. Pawel put us on the show and I'd like to thank him for that. Anna booked the show at Elba and got us on this show when Elba got evicted so I'd like to thank her for that. This show was looking grim for us. Only people who seemed to be into heavy hardcore were in the club. Not a punk or a denim jacket in sight. We were playing 4th and 5th out of 5 bands so we figured we would play to no one at all. Right before we played some punks showed up and this show was actually pretty cool. The people who came to see us were real cool to us. Any show is better than a day off, but it didn’t seem like this one would be much better and it ended up being pretty good. After the show we went to Anna's apartment to sleep. I love sleep.


Day 43/Show 37/ Gdansk, Poland

Woke up today and drove thru Warsaw. It looks like a pretty cool place. The road to Gdansk wasn’t too bad. We stopped for some McDonalds Wifi. We got to the venue and a few minutes later the promoter, Robert, came with the food. Vegetable stew with rice and potato salad. Chocolate muffins for dessert. It was very awesome. After that we waited for the show to start. Witch Cult and BearTrap played 3rd and 4th and both sets went pretty good. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The venue was called Klub Infinium and it was a small room with a stage. It was a good room for us to play in. After the show we went back to Matt's apartment to sleep. We love sleep.

Poland - Poznań

"A few bands from the Poznań area that haven't been mentioned yet:

Fausto Coppi - a mixture of crust punk and grindcore with some hc influences. Believe me when I say they sound amazing.
bandcamp


Astrid Lindgren - a new band from Poznań. Melodic hc/punk with emotional attitude. They just released a split CD with W Kilku Słowach.



Cymeon X - hc outfit formed in 1991. One of the first polish straight edge bands. They recently reunited and released a new LP.


One Kind Word - a youth crew band with female vocalist. They name Youth of Today, Chain of Strength, Gorilla Biscuits, Judge, Insted, Cro-Mags, Bad Brains and Minor Threat as their influences. They released a demo tape which is available for free download.


Apatia (ex-H.C.P.) - formed in 1989. One of the longest active polish hc bands. Their songs consist of thought-provoking lyrics and members support activism, veganism, vegetarianism and straight edge. They disbanded in 2011. Stiepan (bass) went back to recently reunited Cymenon X, Jędrek (guitar) plays in Epileptic Walk.


Next Victim - sludge/crust punk with female vocalist. They released a split LP with From the Depths (USA) not long ago.


Word Is Mine - a hardcore/metal act. They are currently recording tracks for their EP/LP. Demo to download for free.


All Wheel Drive - a melodic hardcore outfit. They released a demo and LP. Krzychu (drums) also used to play in Apatia.



Artwork: the (in)famous Raf 'Wechter' Wechterowicz

D.Y.R.E.K.T.O.R - hardcore/crust punk not from Poznań, but from a nearly placed town called Piła. EP Piekło w samym sercu raju for free download."

Poland 9

Poland 8

"Other bands from Poland:

Last Dayz


Iron To Gold


ThugxLife


Identity


Desperate Times


Slip


Last Believer


Hard To Breathe


Death Row

Reality Check


Pain Runs Deep


Deadlift


Gigs on youtube:

Iron to Gold 1

Pain Runs Deep/Deathrow/Deadlift

Iron to Gold 2

Iron to gold 3

Strong So Far

Last Dayz

I am certainly missing alot of bands, but I tried to recall those worth checking out. 3/4 of them are quite new.

Oi!”

Poland - North 3

Poland - North 2

“Our scene grew in the last year to be one of the strongest in Poland. Many new local faces are being seen at every show, also some people from other cities have moved in. We've seen many shows with lineups without any foreign bands that turned out awesome. The attitude at shows is really good, unity isn't in bad shape. It feels like you're at a good party at someone’s house, everybody's there chillin' and its all cool.

New bands from our city that have emerged last year:

Outbound - bringing back the 90's vibe


Marksman - kinda post-hardcore but real good


Work For It - youngbloods, possibly good in 2012

Collina - not really new, but they have changed the lineup in 2011


Sick Shit - short-lived phenomenon


live 1
live 2

Poland 8

Poland 7

“I'm from Częstochowa, a little city with great people involved in our scene :)

From my city is Regres - this band has been active for almost 11 years.


With my friends we go to shows around our country pretty often.

For bands, check –

Last Dayz
bandcamp


Deadlift


Sick Shit

Desperate Times


Nice Shoes


Schizma


Strong So Far


Stone Heart


Polish HC is still on the top hehe :)

Check out these good labels –

In Our Hands Records


Refuse Records


I think the polish scene is pretty strong, people know each other etc.
Come here to any show :)”

Poland 7

Poland 6



"I wrote you last time that NNNW has issued new albums of Cast In Iron and Government Flu. Today I got a pack with them and both records kick ass! And the layout of both is pretty awesome too!


No Sanctuary Records is going to put out a 12" split of Slip and Last Believer.

No Sanctuary together with Scream Records have also put out a great Calm The Fire one side LP - "Blackout". The layout of this one is also really cool.




There will be also reissue of April "Prolog" and "Kill Depression" on LP made by few record labels...

APRIL KOLEKTYW

NO PASARAN

NO SANCTUARY

PASAŻER

REFUSE

In Our Hands Rec. has issued the new Identity EP. Identity is my favourite polish hc band and this record is their best. It's totally worth checking.


I have checked polish bands on the blog and there isn't anything about Epileptic Walk from Poznan.


They put out their demo on-line.

Cheers!"

Poland 6

Poland 5

"YO!

I haven't kept abreast of the scene lately but now I can give you some fresh news:).


The Bold And The Beautiful and Icon Of Evil have released a split recently.


NNNW should issue Cast In Iron and Government Flu new albums.
GF new song


And here is some fresh blood:)

GET OUT! (Czestochowa)


THUG x LIFE (Poznan)


Cheers!"

Poland - Trójmiasto

Poland - North 1
Poland - North 2

I'm from Gdansk in northern Poland, it's the part of area called Trójmiasto (Tricity - because it consists of 3 cities that are nearby each other: Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot).

But the scene is not that big at all. It's still underground and the audience at the shows is generally always the same, from 50-120 people.

We have 2 main venues which are Anawa pub for small shows and Ucho which is much bigger, it has been used for festivals and other bigger events. We have an annual DIY hc/punk fest in this venue every July.


At the beginning of the year we decided to make a place for shows and we've transformed an old garage into nice place but it has only held 2 shows in January and February this year.

You can see the photos from it at the myspace of (I think) the best known local band Calm The Fire.

The other band worth mentioning is Strong So Far!


There are also some other bands from this area but not all are still playing. Check these…

Filth of Mankind

No Reason Why


One Foot Japan

There are also at least 2 new bands coming, one newschool hc band and the other is my band, we are about to record a demo tape after the new year.
We have here, I think, one of the biggest straight edge communities in Poland and a big crew of kids that travel the whole country for shows, just like the Boston crew used to do in the 80s :D