Crowfish: Bulgaria’s Punk Band That Never Fits in a Genre Box

Crowfish started around 1997 in Varna, Bulgaria, during a period of political crisis and deep uncertainty about the future. By the mid-to-late ’90s, Bulgaria already had its share of angry punk and heavy hardcore bands, but Crowfish took a more introspective path, creating melodic punk and indie/emo-driven songs that felt deeply personal without being detached from the world around them.

After their early demo tapes, the trio of Chavdar Manolchev, George Pehlivanov, and Bozhidar “Bojo” Atanasov released From Crowfish to Revelation on tape in 1999, followed by their self-titled album and touring in 2002. In 2003, the band followed with Requiem for a Broken Heart, a record that pushed their sound into more expansive and alternative territory. Their fourth album, simply titled IV, came out in 2008, and Crowfish disbanded the following year.

They returned in 2023 for the annual Hardcore X-Mass festival in Sofia, followed by more shows, a new EP in 2024, and work on a new full-length album. In this new interview, singer/guitarist Chavdar Manolchev talks about the band’s beginnings, the story behind their records, touring Europe from Bulgaria, and what keeps both Crowfish and the Bulgarian punk scene moving forward.

Crowfish started in 1997, at a time of hyperinflation and devastating economic, financial and political collapse in Bulgaria. Coming from the hardcore scene, it would have made sense to channel that anger into songs about corruption and social inequality, yet Crowfish took a more introspective and emotional direction. How did that come about?

Chavdar: I think from the start we didn’t want the band to be so politically involved through the lyrics. Instead, we tried to express through the music how we felt in the changing world around us and the emotions we were experiencing. We never had any conversations about it; it was just the way we felt represented us best and complemented the music.

Crowfish released several tapes in the late ’90s before signing with the German label Freecore Records for the self-titled CD in 2002. The album also came with a video for “Away,” a song that was also featured on the now-legendary Freemind compilation and became one of your most beloved tracks. What’s the story behind that album, and how did “Away” become such a cult song?

Chavdar: Well, in 1999 we wrote the album, and I think at the beginning of 2000 we went into the studio and recorded it for the first time in Varna. “Away” and several of the songs had been part of our live set long before we released the record, so people already knew the song and it was becoming one of their favorites.

By the end of the year, we decided to part ways with Valentin Deskov, and Bojo replaced him on drums, actually coming back to the band, as he was our first drummer. We started rehearsing and wrote two more songs, “Get Away” and “Emptiness,” that we decided to add to the album. Since we were not happy with the quality of the recordings we had made up to that point, we decided to record the album again at Stain Studio in Sofia, this time with Bojo on drums. I remember it was winter when we recorded it, and it was very cold in the studio. We decided to record the instrumental part together live because we wanted to capture the band’s live energy in the sound and the overall feel of the album.

Actually, the video did not come with the album. We made it later, around the recording of Requiem for a Broken Heart.

The band always had a strong command of English, both in the poetic, personal lyrics and in the way you sing with such natural pronunciation and phrasing. Who wrote the lyrics, and what was your approach to writing?

Chavdar: I write the lyrics, as this helps me connect the music with what I want to express through the song. I feel it’s more natural for me as a singer to write this way. I usually write the music first, and the lyrics come later.

I’ve always thought of Crowfish as something of an emo band, but it has never been easy to trace your influences or compare your sound to any one specific band. What were you listening to at the time, and what shaped Crowfish musically?

Chavdar: Growing up as music fans, we always listened to many different things, and I guess they influenced us in different ways and inspired us to be musicians, to make music, and to be who we are. I can’t be specific, as there are too many bands and artists to write down. The list would be too long, but it was a lot of different stuff through the years.

Requiem for a Broken Heart was my favorite Crowfish album. What pushed the band forward into that more expansive sound? I’ve seen words like “progressive” and “alternative” rock attached to Crowfish, which are not always tags warmly embraced within punk circles.

Chavdar: We always tried to evolve musically, and Requiem was the natural evolution of our music at that point. We wrote the album over about a year, and the process was very positive. Everything came together in a really easy and natural way. I remember that the song “Requiem for a Broken Heart” was the last song we wrote for the album, and we wrote and arranged it while we were on tour in Germany.

We never really tried to fit into or be part of any specific genre. We always wanted to be honest in our music as artists and to be who we are, rather than trying to fit in a box. But we were always part of the punk scene in a way, and this gave us freedom.

In the early 2000s, it wasn’t easy for Bulgarian bands to tour across Europe, but Crowfish were one of the few who actually did it several times. What was it like coming from Varna and playing all these squats, social centers, and DIY spaces abroad? George was also involved in Varna’s DIY venue Area 51. Was that club partly inspired by what you experienced on tour?

Chavdar: We were lucky to have the help of our label, but it was still hard and expensive for us. On our first tours, we had to travel to Germany with a regular passenger bus with the backline, and it was hell. But we didn’t care about the difficulties. The chance to play and travel around Europe was great for us.

We had the chance to play in many amazing places, and we met many people who became our friends through the years. It was a really special time for us.

Area 51 was a special place in Varna for several years. I think it was inspired by our experiences, for sure. George put a lot of effort into it. It was sad when they had to close it, and it was a very hard time for all the bands in the following years, as there were no places in Varna where we could play and organize concerts for a long period of time.

Crowfish also appeared on the 4-Ways split with Maniacal Pictures, SPOT, and Plastic Bo, which was a really fun release because all four bands sounded so different. Looking back now, which Bulgarian bands from Crowfish’s original run between 1997 and 2009 do you think were the most interesting or important?

Chavdar: There were many special and important bands. Maniacal Pictures were one of my favorite bands since the beginning of the ’90s, and I am very happy that I had the chance to play with them through the years. It was a great time, and there were many bands from all over the country. SPOT were great. George was involved with them for some time and played bass.

KPD-0 and Cigaretta were different and special bands for me, and they made really interesting music. There were many melodic punk bands at that point as well: Just a Product, Empty Face, Catalyst, Emo 23, Off, How Much, Plastic Bo, Linoleum. It was great to see so many bands, all of them different and all of them great in their own way. There were more bands for sure, and I hope I am not forgetting too many, but those were creative times, with many concerts in many cities in Bulgaria for the whole scene.

After Crowfish disbanded in 2009, there were ideas for new melodic punk bands, first Map of the World and later Entreat. What happened with those projects? Looking back, what do you think makes a band work when the people involved are older, with more responsibilities and less time than they had in their twenties?

Chavdar: At one point, we had that idea, yes, and as we started to create new songs, we decided to start a new band. We wrote new material, and I still have the demos and the songs, but I don’t think we will release those ideas. It just didn’t work at the time, and at one point we decided to end the project. There were some great songs, but it was not what we wanted to do at that moment.

Both you and Bojo continued playing in Outrage, who started in the ’90s as a more traditional heavy hardcore band but have since moved toward a much bleaker, more political sound with crust and black metal influences. Did that feel like a natural progression, especially as you were all getting into different kinds of music over the years?

Chavdar: Outrage is a very special band for us. In a way, this was a natural evolution, and all those songs started coming naturally when we began writing our next record after Последен шанс (Last Chance).

We had listened to a lot of d-beat, crust, death metal, and grindcore since we were kids, so those influences naturally came into our music and changed it. We tried to express everything we were feeling inside and write about the injustice around us.

Crowfish reunited in 2023 for the annual Hardcore X-Mass festival in Sofia, and since then you’ve played more shows and festivals. You’ve also released a new EP in 2024. Was the plan to bring the band back properly, or did things start rolling again after that packed reunion with all these people stage-diving and singing along?

Chavdar: We started playing before the Hardcore X-Mass show, and our initial plan was to make a show later, when we released the EP. But when Alex [Last Hope, organizer of Hardcore X-Mass] called us, we decided to do the shows, and it was amazing. It was a really special moment for us.

We started writing new songs immediately, as this was our idea if we started again: the main reason behind a reunion should be the chance to write new songs. So I think by the show, we had most of the songs for the EP ready.

Crowfish has never been released on vinyl. Is that something you’ve thought about doing, especially now that the band is active again?

Chavdar: We wanted to release all the albums on vinyl, and we started the project several years before the reunion. I started working on the art for the records, but everything failed, as it turned out that the masters of all the albums kept by Stain Studio are now lost. We tried to make a master for vinyl from the CDs, but we didn’t like the results, so sadly we abandoned the idea. For now, we can’t release them.

How is the scene in Varna doing right now? It seems that finding venues and dealing with financial limitations has become a problem for punk and hardcore scenes in almost every city outside the capital. What would you like to see more of in Varna, and what do you think the scene needs to keep going?

Chavdar: I think the scene is evolving, as always. There are times when everything is harder, but we and all the bands somehow manage to survive, make shows, and release music, so I am sure everything will evolve naturally one way or another for the better. I would like to see more new bands coming with new albums, and more young people creatively involved with new ideas in the scene. And probably this is also what the scene needs to keep going.

You’re currently working on a new album. When can we expect it, and what can you tell us about it so far? Will any of the songs from the last EP be included?

Chavdar: We just finished writing the album and everything is ready, so we hope in the next few months to start the recording process and mix it by the end of the year. But we will see what happens, as everything depends on many things we don’t really have control over.

And no, the songs from the EP will not be on the album. It will be 11 new songs. For now, there is no title of the album that I can share with you, unfortunately, but we are really excited for it and can’t wait to record and release it.

Thank you for the interview and for the great questions.

Photo galleries from Crowfish’s reunion shows by Asen Nikolov.