Abaddon – Wet Za Wet

Legendary punk band Abaddon formed during 1982 in the city of Bydgoszcz, located on the Vistula and Brda rivers of Northern Poland. In these early days, the band was called Partyzantka Miejska (Urban Guerrilla), however the name was soon changed to Abaddon (the Hebrew term for doom, destruction and hell) and fronted by a singer called Wolf. Their first appearance took place at the renowned Jarocin Festival in 1983, one of the biggest and most important rock music festivals in Cold War Europe.

Not long after Jarocin, Wolf left the band to continue his studies, so the vocal duties were taken over by a good friend of the band called Waldemar “Kiki” Jedyczkowski, who had been helping the band since their beginnings. With the addition of their new singer, Abaddon made a huge leap forward not only in terms of their production, but also bringing a much faster and aggressive sound. In 1984 and 1985, Abaddon played two more times at the FMR Jarocin, this opened many doors for them helping to make new connections and become one of the most popular punk bands in Poland.

At this point in time, they met a Yugoslavian journalist called Peter Barbarić. He was impressed by the band and invited them to play shows in Zagreb, Izola, Belgrade, and two gigs in Ljubljana, which was made possible with Abaddon pretending to be a folk band in order to get the necessary travel passports from the Foreign Ministry of Poland. Playing abroad was a rare thing for a band under the state-communist regime, so they took their chances and spent all their money earned from the six-day tour to finance a recording session in Ljubljana’s Studio Činč, owned by Barbarić’s friend Borut Činč.

Wet Za Wet was recorded in one take in May 1985 and all recordings were given to Barbarić since there was no chance in hell for these songs to be released in 1980s Poland. Thanks to his connections in the West, the LP was released via French label and zine New Wave in a print run of 2000 copies. The front cover with Jewish menorah and names of Holocaust victims was also Peter Barbarić’s idea (a Jew himself) and the band didn’t even know who New Wave Records were. The record was impossible to get in Poland at the time but some copies were eventually smuggled from Paris and Berlin. Three years later the songs “Wet Za Wet” (An Eye for an Eye) and “Kto?” (Who?) from that Abaddon debut LP appeared on the Jak Punk To Punk compilation LP.

Musically, Wet Za Wet contains nine impressive tracks with solid vocal delivery by singer Kiki, reminiscent to other Polish punk classics like Dezerter, Moskwa, and Siekiera, and a dynamic range of influences including Dead Kennedys, hardcore bands like NOTA and BGK, early crossover-thrash of DRI, and even some melodic post-punk parts reminiscent of Polish greats Brygada Kryzys. The lyrics on Wet Za Wet are also excellent, with poetic verses and angry choruses depicting issues like the historical March 1981 events in their hometown of Bydgoszcz, the Apartheid in South Africa, the arms race and fearmongering Cold War mentality, and probably not the first but definitely among the best ‘80s Polish antifascist punk songs called “Koniec Świata” (The End of the World)—a stunning track about the Holocaust that pulls on your heartstrings and deserves every single bit of love it’s receiving and more. 

Wet Za Wet was released on cassette tape by various labels during the ‘90s, but got its first vinyl treatment since the 1986 original in 2012 thanks to Robert of Warsaw Pact Records. In 2021, Warsaw Pact repressed the LP on blue vinyl that comes in a beautiful gatefold package, a nice poster, and a zine containing a lengthy interview with Abaddon’s drummer Tomek “Perełka” Dorn on the band’s history and foreword by Patrice Herr Sang of New Wave Records who released the original Wet Za Wet LP in 1986. Great job on this one!