History and Present of DIY Punk Scene in Czech town of Orlová

2018 DIY punk scene report for the Czech coal mining town of Orlova.

By zbpunk On Jun 29, 2018

This land tells its story in the silence between coughs, a disappearing landscape of coal mines, heavy industry, and polluted air. Orlová is part of that story. The town is located in the Czech part of Silesia, near the border with Poland. It was first mentioned in 1223. That’s quite old, aye? Well, not much remains… During the 19th century, Orlová quickly developed from a small agricultural township into a modern and prosperous town. With its large number of schools, it remained a significant educational centre for a long time. The main cause of this progress was black coal, and black coal is also the main cause of the town’s decay. There were plans to destroy Orlová in the 1960s, but it was eventually decided to move the town a few kilometres away. Around two thousand buildings were razed, the tram and passenger railway were closed, most of the schools were moved to nearby cities, and over 50,000 exhibits from Orlová’s museum collection were scattered across the Czech Republic.

There is nothing resembling a historical centre now, just an old church, a town hall, and a few other buildings around the old square, where hardly anyone goes most of the time. During the 1990s, around 36,000 people lived here; now we have about 29,000 inhabitants. Orlová is the only city in the Czech Republic with more than 10,000 inhabitants that does not have a railway station. Most people now live in the concrete jungle on the hillside. From time to time, we still feel tremors caused by mining activity, and cups fall from the shelves. Mining is now in decline, which is fine, but the problem is that nobody has ever come up with a strategy for when the mines finally close. Nobody has really considered what will happen to the people and all the companies tied to the mining industry. Still, it is not all bad. We have plenty of green space, and nature is steadily reclaiming land in many places around the town because the undermining makes construction impossible… And we have our punk family here, so let’s dig in.

The Emergence of the Punk Scene in Orlová

There was only one punk gig in Orlová before the Velvet Revolution in 1989 that I knew about, and it was attacked by the police. After the fall of the Bolshevik regime, the hardcore punk scene began growing throughout the Czech Republic, and Orlová was no exception. A significant event for the region was the 1993 Agathocles gig in Dolní Lutyně, a small township just a few minutes from Orlová. Around that time, a group of friends started forming bands, making cut’n’paste zines, and organizing protests, including antifascist demonstrations and even a blockade against the construction of a Shell gas station.

However, from the ’90s through the first half of the 2000s, Orlová was also a centre of the local neo-Nazi movement. This culminated in 1998, when a group of Nazi skinheads caused the death of Roma man Milan Lacko. They beat him unconscious and left him on the road, where he was then run over by a car driven by a police officer. Confrontations with Nazis were part of everyday life, and at nearly every gig during the first half of the 2000s there was a fight or some other problem caused by them, including tear gas grenades and Molotov cocktails thrown into venues. It was common for a band to stop in the middle of its set when Nazis attacked, while everybody went outside to fight them. Once the bastards ran away, the gig would continue. Apart from a few isolated shout-outs that were silenced very quickly, we have not had any problems with Nazis here for a decade now. I’m knocking on wood.

DIY Punk Bands in Orlová

At the beginning of the ’90s, a group of punks picked up some instruments and the first bands were born. Bands like Oporšica Okarerra, Broukofobie or Epidemie Podpažního Smradu—the first two were more raw punk/experimental stuff, and the third was noise, but everything cemented within the DIY hardcore/punk attitude and anarchist political views.

Makovec and Květináč who played together in Broukofobie and Oporšica Okarrera then formed noise core duo Stormnoise, fast raging music and lyrics focused on animal/human liberation, direct action, anti-consumerism etc. They played until 1996 and released a few tapes. They became quite well-known. In 1997 Makovec and Květináč were joined by Havel from Oporšica Okarrera and Broukofobie. Together they formed Hibakusha—a crust grind tsunami, Orlová’s oldest DIY band that is still very active!

They released five full-length albums, the first two on tape and the last three on LP, along with several split 7-inches, and also appeared on many compilations. Over the years, they played countless gigs and completed several European tours. In the time between Stormnoise and Hibakusha there was also Sunset, a doom metal project with Květináč and Havel from Hibakusha.

At the beginning of the millennium, a new generation of punks appeared, and I was part of it. We started attending the gigs but we also wanted to make noise and scream our frustrations out to the world.

After a few rehearsal-room projects, Extrudovaný Výrobek was founded in 2004. We played raw hardcore punk with a strong anarchist message. Our first gig was a catastrophe. It was so horrible that the sound guy started playing other music through the PA during our set, haha.

Extrudovaný Výrobek was then transformed into Tupak Amaru—anarchopunk in the vein of Anti Product, Antischism etc. From time to time, I hear stories about how Tupak Amaru were radical environmentalists because we toured by train. Well, of course we did (and still do) care about the environmental issues, but the reason for the touring by train with all the amplifiers etc. was very simple—none of us had a car back then, so it was our only option, haha.

We released a split tape with our friends from Jihlava R.P.O. and a full-length LP before we split up in 2012.

Kahkashan started in 2006 and there were two lineups—the first played more straightforward crust punk, documented on the split 7-inch with Camara de Gas. After the line-up change Kahkashan became more blackened crust and they released a CD with new material. The band split up in 2010.

Rites of Refusal was a short-lived emo/hardcore punk band. They played only a few gigs and released nothing, but the shows were energetic and great! This band also laid the foundation for the better-known The Sin of Lilith and Anne M. Christiansen.

Anarchist folk punk Tyranie Identity was founded in 2005 and lasted until 2011, we played many gigs on demonstrations, under the bridges, in the fountains and also on some regular venues.

A.D.L.M. was total noisecore, with every gig lasting under two minutes. On the other end of the sound spectrum were Awberah, a dreamy instrumental indie-rock—before this band, the people in it played in a similar project called Triangular Shape.

Breakfast Club played rolling heavy-weight orchidesque hardcore punk with great lyrics. There were also grind bands like Es Una Mierda (great lyrics!) and Karnatvar, but they are long gone now. Same as Sedmá Generace, basically anarchopunx doing hip-hop with lyrics strongly focused on the environmental issues.

Around 2009/2010 The Sin of Lilith was formed, they played for a few years and became quite popular with their screamo/emo hardcore with a touch of ’90s French emo. Shortly after they split up, a few members formed a new band called Anne M. Christiansen. It was following the same style and they released one tape, one benefit digital album, and just recently they appeared on the benefit EP for Anarchist Black Cross with Empty Hall of Fame, Kovadlina and Aralkum.

The last ones are Olomouc based crust punk in the vein of Severed Head of State, but they are connected to Orlová through one member, they also released one tape and now preparing material for a new split LP with friends from Samorast.

Other bands like Aralkum are Apolita and Osawatomie. Osawatomie with their crusty/emo/violence and ironic, straightforward lyrics recorded one tape, but they’re not playing anymore.

Apolita, on the other hand, are a very active hardcore punk band, with one full-length LP and a split 7-inch with Alkalmotlankodik. They are playing fast hardcore punk like A Global Threat. Rosa Parks were born from ashes of Tupak Amaru, more melodic but still very angry anarcho-punk, you can check it out on some of their splits—split tape with Smích Hyen, split 7-inches with Aliusterra and Gattaca and a split 10-inch with Tendencie.

Pacino is now a very popular band in the alternative circles—put Dinosaur Jr. into a blender with Indian Summer and you’ve got Pacino. They have a few tapes and one LP out.

If you are into some dreamy soundscapes and delayed guitars you should check Livelike, they play instrumental post-rock. Crawling from the dark corners of Orlová are Dno, dark crust metal, they are playing gigs quite often and have one tape out but are preparing music for an LP.

If we talk about more metal stuff, we need to mention Brahmastramantra—total raw noise/black metal mayhem.

Hledání is anarchist folk punk, with lyrics focused on animal/human liberation, personal freedom etc. They physically released two split tapes—one with Cácory and another with Stick and Poke—and are now working on a new album.

The more experimental side of the town is represented by Neural Corrosion and Cairnem. Both of them can be very dark, but also dreamish. The first one is more into progressive rock and Cairnem is more ambient/soundscapes-based stuff. Neural Corrosion physically released three CDs and one split 10-inch with Teh(A)nu, which is punky breakcore with a strong anarchist background. Teh(A)nu has released (besides the split with Neural Corrosion) split tapes with Schaffer and another one with Kajaxian Hero plus some digital albums.

Tárn is an Orlová/Turku based experimental, philosophical, hip-hop-oriented project with lyrics in Finnish. A.V.T.K.S.N.S. started in 2004 and it spits out some noise/industrial/ambient from time to time to the present day. A similar project was K.B.S.—sort of schizoid sound collages. If you like electronic dub, you can check Elfarran.

Boris Balkan and Cherry Bombs are projects from the Rosa Parks guitarist. Boris Balkan is a d-beat hardcore punk worship and Cherry Bombs is more about Californian punk-rock. Hope is total dumpster sound disnoise—no future, no hope?

You can check most of these bands and download their recordings for free on the Bandcamp page diysceneorlova.bandcamp.com.

What About the Zines?

During the 1990s Makovec from Hibakusha was doing some zines, the best known was one called Makovec. It featured political issues, bands, personal feelings etc.

Květináč, also from Hibakusha, was behind the poetry zine Květinka—11 issues were published and then Makovec (who moved to the other part of Czech Republic around the same time) and Květináč came up with the idea of starting another fanzine focused on poetry and literature called Potraty Mozku, but I think just Makovec was doing this zine.

Another poetry zine from Orlová was Tichá Gradace. Similar fanzine as Makovec’s was Cesta, this one was made by Roman from nearby town Rychvald, but he is deeply connected to the DIY scene in Orlová and Futra club.

The only active zine now is V prach cest—anarchopunk travellers zine, three issues out, they are working on the fourth one now.

Local DIY Labels

The oldest label and distro is Killing Art—again, you will find Marek (aka Květináč) from Hibakusha behind this activity!

We’ve got three labels in Tupak Amaru—Hitchin’ to Revolution, Screaming Mind, Follow Your Dreams—but then we agreed that it will be better to merge it into one label instead of having three personal labels in one band. So now we’re doing Rosa Punx Collective label and distro.

Twelve-Fifty records is Martin’s (Neural Corrosion / Cairnem) label. Kořeny Baobabu was a label active in the past, Mr. Bao—the guy behind this label, was also doing a website, focused on anarchist music, movies and politics called Kořeny Baobabu dosáhly jádra země.

There is also a digital benefit label called Nunatak Records, and this one is part of the Coffee Breath Records, but is solely focused on anarchist folk/punk and acoustic music. Everything on that label is available for a free download, but people can voluntarily pay for the records and all the money collected goes to support anti-authoritarian/animal rights causes. You can check the list of supported activities on the Nunatak Records Bandcamp page.

Futra

Futra is a collectively run venue, now more than 20 years old. It has always been a gathering place and a safe haven for open-minded people. It has remained a crucial centre of all DIY activities in town. We are organizing gigs (we used to organize gigs also in the nearby town Dětmarovice, but now everything’s happening in Futra), lectures, art exhibitions, vegan dinners, movie projections and happenings, focused on animal/human rights, environmental issues etc.

Futra changed the place one time, the old one was much smaller than the current one. I remember that during the Police Bastard gig there were around 150 people inside so if you wanted to go to the toilet, the best option was just to stage dive and let people take you there on their hands, because all the way there was filled with people haha.

Inside Futra we have zine and book library, freebox, rehearsal room and a recording studio. An inseparable part of this venue is a low-threshold club for children and young people in difficult life situations. Just recently, the Futra collective founded a social cooperative and opened a tea room, which will provide work for people with disabilities, experience with mental illness etc. You can check more on www.futra.cz or on Facebook.

(Photos by Cunesk8, Klub přátel staré Orlové, and from Hibakusha’s archive)