Romania - Bucharest 3

“Mediocracy broke up last year...they had been having some troubles for some time and around July decided it was over. Radu, the ex guitar player from Mediocracy, and 2 other friends started jamming and soon formed Killer Victim.

Killer Victim had their first show in February 2014. So far they have had had 7 gigs where they played some shows with local bands in Bucharest, opened for Comeback Kid, I Am A Curse and a big festival called Rockstadt Extreme Fest.

The next gig is next week in Bucharest opening for Negative Approach. In the following weeks they will start recording their first songs, which will be on split EP with Drop out Of Life. After that probably more gigs and hopefully a tour some time next year.

For the rest of the scene…you still can't say there is a real hardcore scene in Romania because people still seem to have different views about what that is supposed to be. But I guess some part of it is there because bands are really solid with each other and there are mostly the same people in all of the bands.

The problem is that most bands play variations of metalcore/post-hardcore, which means there isn't much variation...but some of them are still pretty good…at least for our scene.

Some bands from Bucharest worth checking out are:

The Boy Who Cried Wolf (post-hardcore)

Breathelast (metalcore)

Cap de Craniu (death metal/deathcore)

Void Forger (doom/crust)

Crossbone (crossover/thrash metal)

Valerinne (post punk/post rock)

Roadkill Soda (stoner metal)

There are also some young bands that have just started playing.

Ropeburn (stoner metal/hardcore)

Take No More (hardcore), who are probably the youngest band we have in our scene, since its members are all under 18 years old.

This is the event for the concert with Negative Approach, Something for the Core. As you can see it's a 3 day fest where most of our local bands will perform.

Almost all of them are from Bucharest except for…

Deliver the God (Brasov/deathcore)

The Dignity Complex (Brasov/progressive metal)

Coins As Portraits (Brasov/grindcore/experimental).

We have a few clubs where we can book shows almost any time…the only problem is with the period of the year because it all revolves around holidays and shit...so summer is pretty much dead here, except for big shows of festivals...I guess it’s the same as everywhere.

Distroy Booking and has booked bands like Straight Opposition, Born For Slaughter, Left In Ruins, Pavilionul 32, Despite Everything, Insane etc. DB is hoping to get more crust/metallic hc/grind bands because most of the bands are metal core.

VZR Graphics does artwork from time to time for bands like Corrupt Moral Altar (UK), Macula (Brazil), H8 (Romania), Born For Slaughter (Macedonia), Pavilionul 32 (Romania) plus gig posters and other related stuff. Take care!”

Romania - Brasov

"Unfortunately we are only a small collective who try to take as much as we can in our own hands. We have a few bands in Brasov, whom you should check out... Coins as Portraits

I Stared Into the Forest

The Dignity Complex

Deliver the God who approach a more metalcore-ish side.

We have started in 2011 our own independent label called Fading Halo Records, where we recently released the new I Stared Into the Forest EP called - Unframed Pictures of Our Epilogue, available for free here. There aren't any local zines but I strongly recommend Leave Me Alone zine

and Gluga Neagra who are also organizing events and much much more.

As time passes, fewer and fewer people attend hardcore diy shows here, maybe because the number and frequency of metal events increased (and dubstep haha). We have been organizing concerts since 2009 (not very often) under the name of Play Or Die Booking. Throughout time we changed lot's of venues, either because they got bankrupt or they fucked us over, cancelling shows the day it should happen. Currently we are doing shows at some kind of rubber laboratory of a company, through a friend of ours. It's pretty wild, as you get raw diy hardcore punk vibe. Thanks! Take care."

Label - Fading Halo Records

Fading Halo Records is a group of friends dedicated to promoting hardcore and related genres. We operate by diy ethics and are strictly against any of the hateful, discriminating ideas that have made their way into heavy music. Fuck anyone who tries to make business out of hardcore."

Tour - Beartrap/Witch Cult - Bulgaria and Romania

Day 32/Show 26/Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Woke up today and went to the grocery store. Then we drove out of Istanbul. The traffic there rivals rush hour New York City traffic. It took awhile to get out. Then crossing the border took awhile also. We didn’t really get hassled at all tho so that’s a plus. On this ride I finished a book called The Ethics Of What We Eat. Vegan or not, I suggest you read it. We got to the show and it is in a pretty nice bar called Beriozka. Danail and Nevelina booked the show and they are very nice.


I was particularly tired at this show for some reason so I slept thru the 3 opening bands behind the merch. My in and out of sleep memory reminds me of a death metal band that yelled the song name before every song. The other 2 were kinda grindcore/metal from what I remember. Playing with bands like these reminds me that Hardcore/Punk Rock isn’t everywhere in the world. When we toured in Central America 2 years ago it was like that in Honduras. We were told we were the fastest band to ever tour/play in most of Central America. We both played and everyone moshed and circle pitted. The lights in the place made me sweat a lot and now I feel like shit but it was a good show so it was a good night. After the show we drove to Danial’s house to sleep. We got here at 12 and are ready for sleep. Most of the shows we have played recently wouldn’t have started yet. This is awesome. We have to wake up early for a long drive tomorrow but other than that today was alright.

Day 33/Show 27/Sibiu, Romania

This is the half way point of the trip for BearTrap. 65 days total and we have hit the half way point. Today we woke up early to drive to Sibiu. It was a 9 hour drive thru mountains, across borders, on ill-paved back roads. The amount of dead dogs we saw on the side of the road was disgusting. Finally we make it to the show. We eat some fake chicken, vegetable mix kinda thing and some rice. It was awesome.


The club we are playing tonight is called Bohemian Flow and it is 2 rooms shaped like tunnels underground. There is absolutely no ventilation and every one is smoking. It will be hard to breathe tonight. The first band, Stuck in a Rut plays. They are a fastcore band and the kids go wild for them. After them it’s Witch Cult and kids also go wild. The same for BearTrap. I like the room the show was in a lot. I liked the people also. It was a good show. After the show we drove to the apartment we are sleeping at. I was told that Stuck In A Rut is playing with us in Timisoara tomorrow as well. I was also told the show will be really good tomorrow. Most of the time when people say the show will be bad, it’s good, and when it will be good it’s real good. So hopefully it all works out tomorrow.

Day 34/Show 28/ Timisoara,Romania

Today we woke up and drove to Timisoara after we stopped at a grocery store. Outside of the gas station across the street is a dude in a Municipal Waste shirt who was at the show the night before. I see he has a sign that has a different town on it and imagine he is hitchhiking home. It’s a 5 hour drive to Timisoara. When I got to the show this dude was there. This speaks volumes to me. I have friends in America that won’t be bothered to drive more than a half hour for a show and this dude hitchhiked 5 hours, and not even to his home. I forgot to thank him and now I feel like an asshole. Anyway when we got to town we met up with the promoter, Ionut. We went to his apartment and he gave us ample fruit and made us a shitload of pizza. It was awesome. Then we went to the venue.


It’s called Atelier DIY and I was told it’s the only diy spot in all of Romania. It’s a room in the 2nd floor of a factory that used to produce cloth for shirts and stuff. This room was pretty small and again everyone is smoking, I’ll never get used to this. Anyway, Stuck in a Rut played again. Tonight I actually talked to their friend, Alec, who went to both shows with them. She told us that everyone thought we didn’t like the show the night before and that we seemed mad or something. I always find this funny because it’s partly true, always. I find it funny that people always think that because we aren’t a talkative group of people and that we don’t ever seem happy that we automatically hate them and their shows. It has happened all over Europe. I sing in a punk rock/ hardcore band because I am mad, and playing the songs brings that out in me. Aren’t we all there because we are mad and socially awkward? Anyway, it was awesome to clear the air to Alec and hopefully she tells the rest of Romania we aren’t huge assholes, just misunderstood. I’m waiting for questions from her for an interview for her zine called Leave Me Alone.

Stuck in a Rut was good again tonight. Then I was on merch duty. Then Witch Cult and BearTrap played. It was cool and people seemed to dig both of us. It’s our drummer, Alastair’s, birthday so I sang happy birthday after the set and the crowd joined me. It’s the most sing-singing I’ve ever done in public. After that it was back to merch duty again for the last band. After the show we headed to the place we were staying and since the drive is short tomorrow we sat around and bullshitted. Falling asleep at 6am and hopefully not waking up any time soon.

DIY - Atelier DIY, Timisoara

DIY survival guide

Romania - Bucharest 2

Bucharest 1

“All the important stuff is already on the blog, so there's nothing much left to say. As far as I know, there are only 2 hardcore bands in Bucharest…

ProoF is a hardcore-metal band formed in 2007. The first EP "Blood Money" was released in 2010, currently working on material for the second release.


H8 are veterans of the scene, kickin' asses since 1995! Their latest album "Printre Voi" is a fuckin blast!


Our local promoters for the hc/punk scene:

Bring The Noise


BHCB


cheers!”

Romania - Timisoara 2

Romania - Timisoara 1
Reclaim!

"The Underground Timisoara Festival started 15 years ago, in the mid 90s when still almost nothing was existing in Romania at level of punk, diy or activism...the festival during the years promoted many different styles, which later on developed into small little scenes... with their good and bad parts... but still, that is for others to analyse, not me.

Even from the first edition, the festival was haunted with problems, interference from the city to stop it, police repression against travelling people during the festival, conflicts with local nazis, intent of total commercialisation by a student organisation etc etc... all this situation built up to the moment when in 2008 there was the only year when The Underground did not take place.


At the moment the Gluga Neagra Collective have decided to take over the organisation of the festival and since 2009 we have organised RECLAIM! Underground Timisoara festival, a little more dynamic, a bigger international participation and much more of a Do It Yourself ethic to the organisation (no sponsors permitted! not big sound companies! no shitty bouncers etc!).


Timisoara has been the place where there is actual proof of punk rock existence and organisation during Ceausescu’s time! There is a highly repressed small punk community in the Plopi neighborhood, I might add. When the underground appeared and in the following years, Timisoara was one of the most influential cities in Romania... together with punk rock city Craiova, it was an example to be followed by younger friends in Bucharest, Cluj, Brasov, Iasi, Bistrita etc etc

Anyway, since Romania entered the EU, migration also starts to affect the local scene... leaving less and less people taking care of local stuff... and also, this way allowing the "nazi" scene to grow... leading to attacks on punks, concerts or actions...same also, cop attention was given to the "scene" and more troubles arrived... for some... (I remember for the last festival one person got a 300euro fine for sticking Underground posters!).

When more than music was needed Timisoara scene organised and presented itself with INCA social center... another long attacked project by all sides…city inspectors, police, nazis and hooligans etc. After 5 years of hard resistance people got thrown out in the streets by the city again...

2009 brought the Atelier DIY smaller size project, but run on the same principles: self-organisation, do it yourself, autonomy and collectively run, hosting diy shows, film evenings, discussions and an infoshop.

As more people left the scene or the city, the few people left in Timisoara are faced with several different problems in organising anything. This is why, we have started this International Campaign of Support which we hope people will join in.

I know, reality is harder... and there are friends and comrades in prisons who need our solidarity, others in hospitals, or others with trials or legal problems... of course these people deserve our support more than anyone, and for the rest of the year we also try to get involved in supporting good causes...

But also the reality is next: in all the chaos and madness of the contemporary world, "crisis", blah blah ... killing the Underground will be a fatal thing for all 20 years or more of building a resistance movement in Romania. Even more, we think the Underground should be a place to again put the engine of alternative culture and get a radical critique working, and inspiring other people to keep going, and not to give up... we want to make "not giving up" COOL again... in a society, and a scene where all people are depressed and ready to give up... we wish to affirm our silly (maybe) belief that "giving up is NO alternative for us!"

As we see it now will be 20 bands (Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Czech, Serbia, Romania...) playing the concerts. Then we plan a set of discussion and workshops on themes like: diy film-making, feminism, pirate radios, self-management, diy publications, food not bombs etc


Also this time we plan a collaboration with Sub Art collective from Slovenia, regarding sound and stage management, mobile kitchen and more... some of you know festivals like Bakanika Core Festival or Krastival in Slovenia, which were organised by our friends. It is the first time that a festival has such a dimension of collaboration between do it yourself collectives in 2 different countries (ex-communist east/central Europe/Balkans). Also a second collective from outside Romania, Serbia will join in...

Projects in Timisoara now:

Gluga Neagra Collective/Atelier DIY space


Food Not Bombs


Fanzines:

Gluga Neagra (diy hc/punk)


Slogan (diy/anarcho)

Mauvais Jours (situationist)


Lovekills collective/festival (anarchafeminist)


Bands diy:

Pavilionul 32


Livia Sura


Haos


Nomega


The Bad Days Will End


As one of conditions was in 2009 when we started the new project of festival was not to collaborate with commercial sponsors of any kind, we find relevant only presence of public and bands, and the interactions and future actions between them!
so this will be in order to help the bands with transportation money... but other stuff such as: sound transportation, sleeping place, the space for the concerts and workshops, printed materials, food are just few of the other expenses for this years festival that we need help...this is why we appeal to bands playing this year, or other bands we worked with, and people we know...

One more detail frequently forgot, and most of the times shamefully not mentioned by local people... small collectives taking care of the events during the rest of the year (because its not just one event we do... it’s constant work) are sometimes faced with situations that is hard to imagine in many western countries... like sometimes not even having the money to buy bread or toilet paper (they always get pissed at me for saying this to people... but fuck off, this is reality... not apology). Asking such people to contribute from their own pockets would be hilarious.

It’s reality, that nobody complains is fucked... we just explain it, and do whatever we know, or can in order to survive.

So, please write to me in case you would be interested in organising a benefit concert or other type of event for this year’s Underground Festival in Timisoara.

If you are a band, and don’t want to organise a concert in your town... but want to play it... just write us, we are "diy gipsy mafia" most probably we know some collective or space which could help you make it in your town or area.

Also if you are person or group who want to help or need some band, or more info... just write me at: pavilionul32@yahoo.com and I will help.

WE REALISE THAT THERE ARE 100 BETTER CAUSES TO SUPPORT THAN THIS...
AND WE REALISE THAT THERE ARE 100 CONCERTS HAPPENING IN YOUR CITY IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS...
BUT IF YOU, LIKE US, THINK THAT THIS ACTION DESERVES YOUR SUPPORT, BY ALL MEANS WRITE AND HELP... BECAUSE IT MATTERS."

Tavi

Romania - Bucharest

I live in Calarasi (somewhere around Bucharest). In my city the most listened to music is the very commercial hip-hop, pop or electronic music (not the good one) - so, nothing special.

There are people who listen to good music such as classic rock, metal or folk, but I think that HxC is almost dead here :D.

A long time ago there was a bar, Underworld in Exil. When it closed I think I heard about punk rock for the first time =)

On the video, Gabi from Molotov Cocktail talks about the bar, saying things such as the bar is opened when they want to, the prices are low, they are listening to less commercial music etc.


Like it says on the blog, Cluj and Timisoara are ''the best places''. Bands such as Pavilionul 32 and Haos are so amazing :D.

PeacexUnity

Romania - Cluj-Napoca

rock norris - opened the show. local band. first show. they play something like mix between metalcore and melodic hardcore like strike anywhere and stuff like that. wasn't really impressed by their overall attitude, but they have time to grow.



stuck in a rut - by now the mixer got all fucked up. it took like 40 minutes to fix. the club had a curfew so we had to hurry and played without a sound check. it was still fun.



drip of lies - awesome band. they play a mix of dark hardcore and crust. it was a great show, everybody went insane.



vodka juniors - greek band. used to play tharshcore/skate punk but now they are into reggae,dub and stuff like that. played only the older songs. it was fun, songs are a little too long though.



no turning back - i wasn't expecting this band to rule so hard. sucks they had to cut it short because of the curfew. but they we're great. so much energy and such a positive attitude.and the guys in the band are really nice dudes. the negative approach cover made my night.







overall great show.

Bistritz Hardcore Brigade
Thrashsilvania Bandana Collective