ASS-END
OFFEND 2005 Summer Euro-Smash Mother Fucker
Before I begin, let it be known to all: The punks in Eastern Europe
know how to put on a fucking show! I have never seen this much enthusiasm,
sincerity, generosity, comradery, ...should I keep going? I am permanently
inspired. Now we’ll start at the beginning...
June 27th - Pocatello, ID - Our first night of tour. The show was
in a park and our merch got soaked by the sprinkler system that
kicked on during the middle of a band’s set and everyone fled.
I’m sure passersby were entertained by all of it. After the
show we ended up at a party at some apartment. Some guy got offended
that they had written ‘Fuck the U.S.A’ on their wall.
So he left and returned with a drunk, crazed army fuckhead jock
who recently returned from Iraq. I was leaving the apartment when
he came into the hallway. He was about 6 feet from me when he pulled
a gun out of the front of his pants and raised it, pointing it at
my face as I quickly stepped back into the apartment and locked
the door. I could hear him outside saying he was going to ‘fucking
kill everyone’. One of the girls knew the guy and she went
out into the street with him where they screamed at each other while
we left. It has been a long time since I’ve had a gun pointed
at me and I wasn’t expecting it. Things can get fucked up
so fast! This was a discouraging first day of tour, with 9 weeks
to go. The right wing needs to open their fucking eyes and understand
that despising the U.S. for its human rights abuses and its neocolonialist
agenda does not default someone as a supporter of terrorism, and
that freedom is a void ideal in the absence of equality.
June 28th - Reno, NV - Before the show watching drunk homeless dude
harassing people and getting some guys to buy him beer because he
was 86’d from the gas station, then leaving before they returned
so they drank his beer. Later we heard that he pulled a knife on
someone and they beat him up. Oh, and the show was fun.
July 1st - Oakland, CA - The Hazmat is a crazy place, to say the
least. People were lighting off firecrackers everywhere while bands
played and fucking in the hallway by the bathroom, Marcus relentlessly
trying to light me on fire with a cigarette lighter. When we played,
somebody set off some firecrackers right next to my face. My right
ear was completely deaf for the next 4 days. We stayed with friends
in west Oakland & someone tried to break in to the van but luckily
Brent was sleeping in the van and he scared them off with his big
stick.
July 4th - Seattle, WA - Another fun show, but I hate the 4th of
July. America: Fuck You; Marcella Ricky: rest in peace.
July 5th-6th - We spent 2 days with our friends Danny & Spoon
in Olympia; built a loft in the van and I bashed my thumb in the
sliding door of the van. My entire thumb was purple and gross.
July 7th/8th - Drove to Seattle, got on the plane at 1:30 pm, flew
over Hudson Bay, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, and into Amsterdam,
then got onto a smaller plane, into Warsaw, PL July 8th at noon.
Only 11½ hours went by for us so it was like midnight at
noon. This was the first time I had ever left the United States
(except for childhood camping trips to Canada -but that doesn’t
count for much). I felt as if I had a great weight lifted from me,
like I had been cured of a lifelong disease!
Josh bought his tickets separately from us so he was on another
flight. So we met him, Wojtek, Maja, and their friend Karolina &
her dog Gappa. It was very surreal. We were getting into a van with
3 polish punks and a really smelly polish dog. I was very uncertain
of what I should expect. First we drove to the El Blaska Squat and
met everyone there, then downtown via the bus that has a fee but
it’s not enforced at all so no one pays it. We walked all
over the old part of Warsaw in a delirious stupor. After taking
a variety of busses, getting lost, we finally made it back to the
squat and getting much needed sleep.
July 9th - Ciechanowiec, PL - Daria, one of the squatters who lived
at El Blaska, made us yummy crepes and tea. Then we joined her and
her boyfriend Phillip on another excursion near downtown, to a market
where we got drenched in rain. Then we left Warsaw, drove through
small farming communities to Ciechanowiec for our first show in
Europe. Along the road in the countryside there are teenage girls
in super short skirts. Josh asks and it is confirmed: they are prostitutes.
Another interesting thing we noticed right away is that there are
very few SUV’s (we might have seen 2 the entire trip). Ciechanowiec
had a population of 20,000 people before the war and 5,000 after.
The population has still not regrown. We originally were to play
in Bialystok but the squat was evicted there so Darek from Oreiro
got us on this show. Before the show we ate at an outside bar/ café,
and they had a huge pot of free vegetarian food. Everyone went fucking
nuts at the show, then went back to the bar and we watched drunk
guys dancing on the tables and falling all over each other.
July 10th - Before leaving in the morning we went to the outside
agriculture museum on the side of town. There is so much old culture
that is preserved. Then we spent the day driving through Lithuania
and into Latvia. The countryside is beautiful here. We drove all
over in the dark couldn’t find Josh’s friend’s
house so we are going to sleep by a gas station.
July 11th - Valga, Est. - Ate breakfast at the border of Latvia
and Estonia on the beach of the Baltic Sea. Visited the park in
Mazsalaca - ‘Skanakalna Dabas Parka’ and walked the
trails along a lot of old wood carvings. Today’s drive was
much shorter than the all-day drive yesterday (actually Wojtek did
all the driving and we didn’t do shit!- This is one of the
nicest things about this part of our tour!). There was a really
awesome band practicing when we first got to the club called No
Fun, although they didn’t play the show with us. We met some
kids who showed us to a grocery store. The show was awesome, lots
of young kids and not a whole lot of drinking, probably no less
than a show in the states. This is interesting because of the lack
of underage drinking laws, and because beer is cheaper than most
soda and even bottled water! These kids had so much energy, it was
the best feeling to be around them. They are not shy or self conscious.
The U.S. punks could learn so much from them! The freedoms they
have are not taken for granted. They were asking for our autographs
after we played and I found myself asking for theirs! A lot of kids
ask for autographs and photos, it’s not saying they think
you are a big rock star, it was just a gesture to be friends, at
least this is how it seems to me. We had a lot of good conversations
concerning social politics, DIY culture, and the differences in
the challenges the punk scenes face in our respective countries.
We recorded an interview for a local zine, but by this time everyone
was really drunk and there was a lot of trailing off so I’m
not so sure the interview will turn out too well. All the bands
we played with tonight are from Latvia. We had to rent power converters
for our amps and tonight Tom forgot to use his and it blew a fuse
in his amp. So we borrowed and who knows when we will find a new
fuse. I am still awake and it’s 5:30 am. It’s so hard
to get to sleep every night, my brain just won’t shut off.
We drove through three countries today and into a fourth one tomorrow.
I have never been so far away from home and I have been on the verge
of a nervous breakdown, but at the same time I am in love with this
place. Everyone here seems so sincere; it has revived what little
hope I have for the human race. I am afraid that Americanization
will fuck it up. I am afraid of a lot of things right now. Going
back to the U.S., and worse: Montana. I am also really worried about
my Grandmother, she’s really sick and I worry that something
will happen while I’m gone. I want to be able to tell her
all about this trip. She has been a music teacher her whole life,
and is still an amazing piano player. It has always been her dream
to travel the world playing music.
July 12th - Tallin, Est. - We met up with JMKE and we walked all
over downtown Tallin. The other band we played with: No More Rock
Stars, were really good and they were the first straight-edgers
I’ve met over here. They were really nice guys. I found it
interesting though that they were completely against politics, be
it anarchism or capitalism, they had no opinion. Tom got accosted
by a prostitute (She said “hey big boy” and proceeded
to rub a golf club against his junk) and Brent got shoved by some
big dude, I re-smashed my already smashed thumb in the very same
place. Wojtek was stopped by a cop when he went to bring the van
around to load up (and Tom was bothered by yet another prostitute).
We waited in the street wondering what happened to Wojtek and finally
he returned and we were very relieved. Then to Villu and Tirts apartment
to sleep. Well, I went to sleep, Josh, however, put some serious
hurt on a bottle of vodka.
July 13th - Today we got on the ferry and floated over to Helsinki,
parked under a bridge to relax, walked downtown, then to the squat,
which used to be a fire station. We made jokes that the fire station
was probably closed down because the fire trucks couldn’t
get down the terrible road! The first floor there is a practice
space, second floor is the big room where bands play, and a kitchen.
The third floor has a small room with really filthy barracks, and
a big room with a upper loft to the Anarchist Black Cross office.
There is a lot of activism here, and it shows in all the flyers
from past events and huge syndicalist flags everywhere. The Hero
Dishonest people showed up and hung out but we were the only band
to play, the band from Israel didn’t make it. We ate vegan
stew and everyone drank and I tried to sleep in the barracks but
all the dust gave me terrible allergies and I ended up on a couch
somewhere. Finland is far enough north that there are only a few
hours of semi-darkness at night.
July 14th - Before leaving Helsinki, Marku showed us to look at
old churches. My feet hurt from walking so much! After the show
we slept in the attic of a squat where Brent found Twin Peaks books
that were translated to Finnish. We later learned the attic was
a free store and Brent could have kept the books.
July 15th - Today we drove back to Helsinki, took the ferry back
to Tallin, then drove to Rakvere, a small town of 22,000. There
is an old castle that was built in the 13th century. We met up with
JMKE again and the show was a blast. I met some really friendly
racists, which was awkward because I told them I am anti racist
and they still wanted to be friends. Fuck! I met a kid who had never
met an american before, never been in a fight and never known anyone
who owned a gun. Oh, how I wish I could say the same! (I’m
not a gun control advocate but most people who have guns in Montana
are fucking idiots about it). We stayed with a girl and her parents.
Wojtek tells me that in Poland when you turn 18 you must either
go to college, or do community service for a year, or serve in the
military for one year. New recruits are put through terrible initiation
pranks and suicide is common.
July 16th - Fono Fest took place in a field outside Cesis. The show
started at noon and we got there in the evening. There was probably
about 600 people. But by the time we played at 4:30 in the morning
(the show went all night) there were about 60 people. Josh went
to Riga to see his friend for the next few days.
July 17th - We got little sleep, ate an awesome breakfast, met the
AntiManiax- our companions for the next 9 days, and drove to the
Green Club in Vilnius in an old run down building (which has just
been evicted to make way for new development). I met a Lithuanian
skinhead but the conversation didn’t get very far because
of language barrier. Then we ended up at a straight edge guy -Dennis’s
place where there were kids who traveled from other countries. People
from Belarus, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and the U.S. all
in a room together trying to communicate, usually using English.
I checked my email to find that my grandmother has been in the hospital
for three days now with pneumonia.
July 18th - Went to a store and asked for an international calling
card. The cashier gave me a dirty look and shook her head. I bought
some food, walked out and sat down for a minute. Two security guards
came out, pulled out whipa-sticks and stood there looking intimidating
so I left. Okay, not everyone here is nice after all! I guess there
are assholes in all areas of the world. It’s unavoidable.
Then we drove to Kaunas. I bought a bottle of Kvass (a drink made
from the acid of rye bread -tastes sort of like root beer) which
looked as if it was made by a local business. It turned out to be
made by Coke. I had been tricked! Antis café was unorganized
but still really rad, it got more and more packed as the night wore
on. Bieska, who set up the show, had us stay with her, her parents
and grandparents, and a rat named Bulga (they all live in a house
that was pretty nice, although there was no operational toilet in
the entire house.
July 19th - We were scheduled to play in Klaipeda, Lithuania at
Club Melnarage but nazi skinheads put a bunch of people in the hospital
a few days before during a show so the club was closed down. So:
Day off. We went swimming in a small lake, stayed at Bieska’s
again.
July 20th - Drove to Riga, met up with Josh, ate pizza, went to
the Depo and watched a show. The organizers warned us that tomorrow
night’s show might not go so well because nazi skinheads always
come to shows when a political band or a band from america plays
and the Nazis in Riga don’t fuck around.
July 21st - Walked all over the old part of Riga, drove by a parked
cop car, I looked inside and there was an officer sleeping in the
drivers seat! Went to the Depo wondering if we were going to get
lynched by nazi’s. They never showed. We had a blast and the
anti maniax slayed through every song. They were a lot of fun to
tour with; very friendly people.
July 22nd - On the way to Kuldiga I saw a boy and girl, probably
8 years old, on the side of the road in a small town and they were
trying to hitch a ride! Zabadaks is a DIY youth center with an upstairs
with barracks for travelers who need a place to sleep. These were
much nicer than the Helsinki barracks. I played table tennis with
a guy who spoke not one word of English and we had a blast. We walked
all over Kuldiga, the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen!
A bridge goes over the river that separates the town and there is
a waterfall. Also, I don’t think I have ever breathed air
as pure as this. There is a cheap liquor store called Krustpunkts
(means Cross point, but ironic because many punks buy from there).
The Kuldiga flag bears much resemblance to the anarcho-syndicalist
flag. Perhaps only I would recognize this.
July 23rd - Kolonija was a weeklong diy youth camp located in the
middle of a field somewhere in between Alytus and Pivasivnai. Tonight
is the last night of their camp. During the antimaniax’ set
some kids from the camp blew and juggled fire. I wondered how long
before they set fire to all the dry grass surrounding the whole
camp. The show was over by 10pm and the organizer asked us to play
another show in a town 50 kilometers away. The place was a fancy
restaurant in a sort of resort community. When we first arrived
an old flamenco band was playing. We felt very out of place. The
guy who set up this show had made flyers and we were on them, even
though he had not asked us or the antimaniax about it until 2 hours
before it happened.
July 25th - Warsaw, Poland - Got very little sleep and walked all
over downtown Gdansk. We’ve been trying to get a show in Berlin
for tomorrow but it’s not going to work out so Wojtek had
a friend set up a show for us tomorrow in Wroclaw. Today’s
show in Warsaw has been the height of the tour, and really, the
height of all my experiences going to shows. I wonder if any show
will ever compare to this one ever again. The Fabryka squat is the
only fully standing building in the center of an area of demolished
buildings all around. We met up with the Against Me dudes and Warren
showed us to the roof where we looked out over the area of rubble
surrounding us. We could also see the downtown area in the distance.
We were fed awesome vegan dinner. Toward the end of the night there
were about 200 people there. During our set people danced really
hard and had much fun. This is my first time seeing a ‘leap
frog’ circle pit and a ‘row boat’ pit. Fucking
hilarious!
July 26th - First we went to the squat where Wojtek, Maja, Karolina
and others live. They made us dinner. We invited Karolina to join
us for the rest of the trip and she agreed. Then we went to the
venue, another squatted building downtown. We played for about 30
people, a really long set, walked all over downtown, rode the bus
back to the squat.
July 27th - Vsetin, Czech Republic - We got searched at the border
because there is a rave happening this weekend and people are bringing
drugs with them. Ironically the only suitcase they searched of ours
was mine, the only straight edger in the group. In Vsetin, we went
to the river and dipped our feet in and skipped rocks. The show
was a lot of fun. Lots of people in a small space. Karolina spilled
a full beer all over me and then laughed and said it was all my
fault. Sure, pick on the straight-edger. After the show I got into
an argument with the show organizer. I have a tattoo that I designed
that has a circle-a and hammer& sickle. He accused me of being
a ‘communist’. His only definition of communism is the
soviet one, which is possibly the worst example ever. I tried to
explain that I am not a Leninist and I believe in individual freedom
but I also believe in equal opportunity which is highly ignored
in capitalist systems. He would not hear my side of the story. I
understand that many people in Eastern Europe suffered because of
the soviet army and they equate the hammer and sickle with the swastika.
But the meaning of the Hammer & Sickle is simple: Workers of
Industry and of Agriculture Unite! To say this symbol only represents
soviet style communism would be to ignore both it's initial meaning,
and the fact that the symbol was used by many Libertarian-Communist
groups and parties. I am not saying that I adhere to or even agree
with the ideals of every group, but the Russian Revolution had such
great potential and was unfortunately ruined by authoritarian ideals.
It should go without saying that the only true and realistic form
of Communism is an Anti-Authoritarian one. It is time to take back
the Hammer & Sickle as a symbol for what it really is: a symbol
of the necessary unity of the impoverished people of all nations
to destroy the exploitive tendencies of capitalism, nothing more!
The origin of the Circle-A symbol is not very clear, but it is said
to have been first seen during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Later,
French Anarchists used the old slogan "Anarchy is Order"
(Proudhon) to give new meaning to the circle. Speaking of the Spanish
Civil War, there have been so many books written on this subject
and the circumstances were very complex, and in no way am I trying
to simplify them, merely giving one brief detail: One of the unfortunate
reasons for it eventually being unsuccessful was due to the breaking
apart of unity between the Anarchist militias and the Communist
militias, ironically this was in part due to the Soviets' involvement
near the end of the uprising. It is clearly evident that the only
way the human race has any hope of bringing about a new society
based on Social Equality, Economic Equality and Personal Freedom
is through the unity of all anti-authoritarians, whether they consider
themselves to be under the banner of Anarchism, Communism, or no
banner at all.............Umm...........So after the show we stayed
with a Russian guy who spoke not a word of English, but we had conversations
anyway.
July 28th - Today we went to 2 of the 3 Auschwitz camps. I won’t
say much about this except that anyone who denies the holocaust
needs to visit Auschwitz and see the mountain of human hair, the
stoves made specifically for burning bodies, the photographs of
a great number of the inmates, which line the walls of the buildings.
We felt that we somehow owed it to ourselves to see this place.
Krakow was the last show in Europe. Then went walking around the
town, left Krakow at midnight, got to Warsaw in the early morning,
said our goodbyes and got on the plane.
July 30th through August 27th - After getting off the plane, going
through good old paranoid american airport inspection, the tour
was only half over. 4 weeks of long drives, expensive gas, arguments,
frustration, barely making it show to show; then coming home broke
as hell. Any DIY band who’s done a U.S. tour knows how this
is. I still had a lot of good times during this part of the trip,
met some really friendly people, saw friends made from past trips,
but this spiel is long enough already, so I’m quitting here.
Since coming home, and playing our final show, and not being in
a band for the first time in 5 years, I am yearning to get back
into it. It seems I have more panic attacks if I’m not screaming
at someone on a daily or even weekly basis. It is somehow therapeutic.
-Matt
Svendsen
This section by Dan Lawlor:
Life seems to really begin after the adventures are over. It’s
been an amazing summer! Things I never would have imagined I would
be doing say 5 years ago I’ve had the incredible opportunity
to do these past summer months.
Now that it’s winter in Montana (and this one seems to be
fitting the endearing stereotype we seem to have conveniently forgotten
about Montana winters over the last 4 or 5 years: cold, heaps of
snow, colder and never-ending). I find myself once again in the
lethargic mode of becoming ever dependent on the in-doors, heat,
and staying warm. This means a lot of things. All the shit put on
shelves and forgotten about, takes on a renewed quality of interest
and or inspiration. Time to sit down with loads of coffee, tea,
or alcohol and get some shit done finally! Summer always fills me
with the overwhelming desire to let loose, live adventurously, and
the experience-it-now-and-reflect-upon-it-later-in-writing feeling.
I tried to keep a daily journal of touring for two months this summer.
But I found I lost interest in dryly slopping out the days motions
and decided to leave the writing for future times when I could sit
down and form a more introspective “big picture” angle
on it all. That and who wants to sit and write when you could be
out interacting with new exciting people and fully appreciating
where you are by having fun with new friends and new places.
The international DIY punk scene is what we’re talking about
here. People sharing ideas, music, frustration, and well...life.
Now, I won’t be so shallow as to say the music is all that
it’s about, because that is just a small facet to a large
fucked up synthetic diamond, formed of human excrement; but still
a gem, nonetheless. Music just happened to be the medium we chose
to represent ourselves across the seas in foreign lands this summer
touring as the band ass-end offend. We did not hold any answers
to life’s many nuances. Instead we raised our voices and unleashed
some aggression along with everyone else who showed up to the shows
we played. What we found were rooms full of excited dancing kids
most everywhere we went in the Baltic countries. Now take into consideration
that a lot of this area has only been free of Soviet occupation
for less than twenty years. Sometimes in the u.s.a. we forget (in
the midst of bitching about how fucked up things are here) just
how lucky we have been comparatively to other places around the
globe. Basically we have always been able to freely organize, discuss,
and protest what we want legally in a nonviolent way. I’m
not saying that everything is happy-peachy-keen here in the good
‘ol u.s. of ‘merica cause that certainly is not the
case. All I’m saying is that it could be hell of a lot worse.
We met an extraordinary guy named Villu and played with his legendary
Estonian punk band J.M.K.E. Sometime in the late eighties Villu
was locked up in a mental asylum pretty much for writing political
lyrics about the fall of Soviet Russia and oppression in the area
at the time. Of course, now, things are much better than they were,
but it’s just amazing to hear stories from people who experienced
it first hand and not that long a go.
More than once we were posed with the question “why Eastern
Europe and not the more popular bigger cities in the west”?
Well a lot of that has to do with Josh Vanek, who originally sparked
the plausible idea of ass-end offend going to Europe in the first
place. Having served in the peace corps in Latvia and also taking
another Missoula band (The Volumen) on a closely mirrored tour a
few years ago, Josh had a good framework for us to go on. We threw
out our collective tentacles and started contacting anyone we could
think of with any ties to D.I.Y. music in Eastern Europe. After
a few failed attempts at collaborating with organizers and lots
of scribbled out routes on maps of the Baltics, we finally had a
plan in place not three weeks before we flew out, barely. The first
people we met in Poland were Wojtek and his girlfriend Maja, who
would be our drivers for the next eighteen days across Eastern Europe
and into Finland via ferry. They quickly became our good friends
and helped us feel more comfortable and at ease as it was the first
time 4 of us had been over seas. The language barrier was more like
a language “pothole”, meaning it was less of a problem
than I had expected at first. Most younger people had been taught
a good amount of English in school. So as long as we kept the slang
to a minimum, communicating was surprisingly smooth. Most nights
we found ourselves in various squats and former squats that were
now paid for by groups of people who either lived there or helped
organize events and shows in the spaces. It was incredibly inspiring
to see this happening with such efficiency and passion. Only on
a few occasions (mostly in between shows while driving) did we have
to find our own meals and beer. At almost every venue we played
there was someone there who had gone to the trouble of cooking delicious
vegan meals for the bands and organizers to fill up on before or
after the show. The attention payed to this sort of treatment is
something that is becoming all too uncommon at shows in the u.s.
I cannot stress how nice it is to get a free meal when you’re
out traveling and trying to be as frugal as possible with what little
money you have. All in all, the 3 weeks we spent traveling through
Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and the Czech Republic
were 3 of the most exciting and memorable weeks of my life. If a
helicopter fell out of the sky and chopped me into a thousand pieces
tomorrow, I can honestly say I would die a satisfied person, but
there are countless more adventures awaiting. I plan on making a
move out to Portland, OR as soon as I scrounge up enough money to
make it happen. Along with a few other close friends, I hope to
continue to be able to play music and be a part of this always interesting
community of incredible individuals who make things happen with
what few resources are available. Until that happens I’ll
be right here in Missoula, MT attempting to save money on my shitty
ass kitchen wages and trying to stay warm though the next few months
of winter. Nöströvié!! (‘cheers’ in
Polish)
Nice
patches, dude. An interloper’s guide to squatting Eastern
Europe. -by Džoš Vanek
Howdy. My name is Josh, and between 1997 and 2000 I spent about
two and half years living in Latvia, a Baltic Sea-bordered land
of enchantment. I was a high school teacher with the U.S. Peace
Corps. Since leaving in 1999 I’ve been back four times to
visit friends, see music and to bring back my friends. The following
thing struck me as a hopefully a good complement to what I’m
positive will be a thorough and interesting European tour diary
that Dan and Matt have done. The following is my highlights reel
with some complementary (free) analysis and, well, you know, context
about all this, if you’re interested.
Some Background: I met Ass-End Offend at some point in the year
2000 in Missoula. Aside from having a daggone unwieldy name, they’re
a ferociously awesome punk group. Hang tight, there’ll be
some more explanation about that later. Between 2000 and 2004 they
self-released three great singles. After witnessing them get tighter,
better and take more and more musical chances, I asked them if they
would record an LP for Wäntage. They said they would, drove
down to San Francisco and came back with 12 songs. At some point
in late 2004, working with Ass-End Offend on the “Character
Assassins” LP, and seeing how hard they worked to tour the
entire U.S. behind it, we started to discuss how to get them to
Europe. Ass-End Offend are Tom, Brent, Dan and Matt. They play hardcore
DIY punk, and are for the most part from Montana. Most of them now
live in Missoula, with the exception of Brent who lives up in Kalispell,
near Glacier National Park. Their music is heavy, fast, desperate
and alternately violent, hopeful, gloomy and inspiring. Probably
for me, most important hook is that the songs are interesting, short
and tonally, always really satisfying. Tom invested in good bass
equipment at some point, and added a thick, deep dimension to what
had started only as a pretty solid hardcore group. Brent is a punk
vet whose playing is really unique and musically ambitious, Matt
was a later addition who came from some good angry screechy punk
groups (Venal IV and the Antidifrancos) his second guitar added
substantial heft and power to AEO’s attack. Dan Lawlor well,
Dan is a Lawlor, and Lawlors can drum.
At some point, we started talking about it, and lo and behold they
were all excited by the idea of going to Europe, knew it wasn’t
going to happen easily, and were committed to working hard at it.
For close to a year, we met monthly to plan, set out tasks for ourselves,
update on our progress and rethink our strategy. After doing some
early budgeting, we knew that in order to make it work, we’d
need a couple of things in place 1) additional dollars to rent a
van and equipment once we got there, and 2) plane tickets. The rest,
we figured we could get taken care of.
After deciding that plane tickets would be our individual responsibilities,
the real hump to get over was finding the dollars to make the van
and equipment rental reality. We decided to ask our friends if they’d
help us raise money, and folks resoundingly came out of the woodwork
and put together the Punk Rock Prom (II). 6 total Missoula bands
played, each played a couple of another’s songs. Punk Rock
Prom, after all was said and done, was a blast and raised just over
$2000 for the tour.
Originally we wanted to spend our time split between western and
eastern Europe, with the idea that we’d make better money
in the west, and spend less in the east. For numerous reasons, none
of them particularly interesting, touring the west didn’t
work out. We’d hoped to tour with some other bands and then
we’d hoped to get help from a hardcore booking company, and
both didn’t materialize. We regrouped, and decided that we’d
focus on Poland, the Baltic countries and Finland. After getting
back, I honestly am glad to have gone where we did.
Euro-Highlights Reel
Just after the fourth of July, we boarded planes for Warsaw, Poland
and spent the next three weeks tooling around eastern Europe’s
Midwestern-style farmland in a hot Mercedes van named “Biedrona”
(ladybug in Polish). The whole damn thing was a lot of fun, and
it opened my eyes to DIY culture, squatting and modern society’s
best example of conscientious objection to capitalism. I think overall
what I enjoyed most about it, was going with a purpose, rather than
just as a vacation. I’m all for vacations, don’t get
me wrong, but having the objective of getting to shows, and making
things work as best as possible, having fun, with a bunch of people
from my home was incredibly satisfying now that I look back at it.
Moreover, setting up shows over the internet, and really only communicating
with people over email, and finally getting to meet them was a strange
and pretty exciting experience too. Having the reason for being
there with a band gave me a reason to easily meet people, which
really enriched the whole thing in a way that traveling as a tourist
hasn’t really ever done for me. Honestly other than one or
two cheesier promoter types, everyone we met was really interesting,
proud of their towns and scenes and incredibly hospitable. My favorite
towns and venues, and the reasons are as follows:
Elblaska Squat (Warsaw, Poland)
“Elba” as I think it’s called was the administrative
offices for a trucking company, I believe. It’s a two story
building on a three or four acre piece of fenced land with some
dilapidated warehouses and loading docks. The place is well along
in the dis-use, disrepair end of things, but functions well and
houses between 10 and 15 folks. This was the first place we went
after getting off the plane, and it was my first ever, real-deal
squat. The folks who lived there were really welcoming, after the
initial, “what’s the deal with these clowns” sort
of once-overing. A couple dudes were out in the yard welding bike
frames together, other people were reading, a few friends came by
to drop off some furniture, and there was a big weedy field where
we played Frisbee until passing out from exhaustion. In the morning,
a nice girl named Daria cooked us pancakes, and we went to try to
do some shopping at Warsaw’s legendary market. It started
to rain buckets and we aborted the mission.
Kino/disco (Ciehanowiec, Poland)
One of the first exchanges we had upon meeting Wojtek (“voyteck”),
our driver on the tour, was learning from him that the first show
that I’d booked, in Bialystok, en route to Latvia, had been
cancelled. In a pretty excellent introductory move, Wojtek put out
a call to folks involved in the punk scene to see if there were
any shows the band could get on. Within a few hours we learned that
there was a show in Ciehanowiec (“chee-ha-nov-its”)
and that the promoter was happy to add Ass-End to his bill. The
town was due east from Warsaw, about two hours drive. Ciehanaowiec
is a town of maybe 4,000 people, with a nice pair of lakes at its
center and a big ethnographic museum. The promoter’s name
wad Darek, and he had done a good job getting the word out. Rural
eastern Poland on a Saturday night! I was a little apprehensive,
but the turnout was great, we were treated to some vegan pasta and
sauce, cauliflower salad and Lech beer. Darek is an incredibly nice
guy, and he threw a good show. Most of the openers were decent rock
and roll, or punk. Ass-End slayed and sent the crowd at the former
disco into a spastic frenzy. Darek’s band, Oreiro, who have
a record out on Trujaca Fala from Sopot, were excellent, melodic,
heavy, dramatic hardcore. Definite hometown favorites who had the
kids literally bouncing off the walls. The show had to be over by
11PM or so we ended up at a beer garden, where we were approached
by local, middle aged women and told we must dance. I did. Tom did.
And that was that. We spent the night at Darek’s aunt’s
home by the local school dormitory. In the morning, while Wojtek
installed a new stereo and a fan, we went and checked out the mill
pond, old farm equipment and houses at the ethnographic museum.
To have somewhat happened onto the show, we came away ahead in about
fifteen ways.
Rockiklubi (Valga, Estonia) Valga, Estonia is a little border town
of about 15,000 people. “E-stonia” as its called because
of it’s tech saavy population, is by far the furthest along
of the former soviet republics. That’s largely because it’s
right in Finland’s back yard, small, ethnically pretty homogenous
and concepts like good government and transparency were piped in
for years via Finnish television, so that when they had the chance,
Estonia new what they wanted to do, swallowed the toughest pills
earliest, and have seen economic growth steadily every since. Arrr,
so anyway, Valga is a town down in the south end of Estonia where
a guy named Ivo had set us up at his “Rockiklubi.” The
venue was the second floor of a public sauna in one of the shitty
ubiquitous apartment buildings that are all over the former Soviet
Union. The space was a great DIY venue, and Ivo was a really nice
guy who did sound, and let all the bands stay at the venue so they
could return home the next day, after missing the last buses. Most
of the bands had come from nearby Latvia, and after the show each
17 year old member proceeded to drink close to 6 gallons of beer
and smoke 45 cigarettes over the next 7 hours. I’ve experienced
this type of deal before and its appeal lasts about 37 minute for
me. So, I found a nice quiet landing above the club part of the
venue, and crashed for several hours. Meanwhile the local teens
got plowed and swore a bunch and polluted themselves, which is what
you do when you get away from your family (with whom you live in
a three room apartment until you’re 25). Hey-ho! Rockiklubi
has a really unique feel. Go there and watch a band if you get a
chance.
Zabadaks (Kuldiga, Latvia) After having spent the better part of
four of five days in Riga, and at the beach, I was ready for Kuldiga’s
small-town charms. Zabadaks is a large retrofitted barn that some
ambitious locals have turned into the country’s best punk
rock venue and community center. When I lived in Latvia, I lived
just up the road from Kuldiga, and have some great memories of seeing
cramped, wild shows in crazy basement spaces, and walking the town’s
old winding streets with friends, so Kuldiga is always a bit of
a homecoming somehow. The venue itself was given to NEKAC –an
nonprofit dedicated to supporting noncommercial music and culture-
by the city, and it was improved using hours of donated time and
a decent sized EU grant. Now it functions as a truly positive, low-cost
center for kids (mostly) from all over the region. Since I was there
last with Volumen, they added lots of sleeping space to accommodate
the kids who miss the last bus to stay for a show or movie. Zabadaks
is thoroughly good vibes, and is an example of what more of us should
try to do in the U.S. Their website, www.nekac.lv, has all kinds
of pictures and explanation.
Laura Ziemele and Edžs run the place, and do so flawlessly.
Laura is also responsible for some great silkscreened designs, such
as “less hardcore, more music” and “dari pats”
(Latvian for do-it-yourself). The show was well attended, however
I missed most of it to catch up with friends who’d driven
down to say hello.
Alytus Region (Alytus, Lithuania)
To say this deal was way the fuck in the sticks, is to put it mildly.
We got to the town nearest the camp, and were provided with the
requisite drunken, swearing-in-Polish (“kurwa”) local
guide to get us the final 6 miles. Darius, an Alytus guy and hardcore.lt
contact, had set up a summer camp called “Kolonija”
for young people from his town. The theme was DIY, and they’d
spent the week learning to cook, discussing politics, learning to
blow fireballs and hanging out in the beautiful rolling hills of
southern Lithuania.
The show was literally played on grass, much to the chagrin of the
Antimaniax who were on this portion of the tour. It struck me as
perfectly invigorating, we were fed, given beer, and paid fairly.
There were about 20 kids, mostly 15 -17, or a bit younger, I’d
guess. They seemed pretty into Ass-End and went perfectly apeshit
for the more accessible songs of the Antimaniax. At some point Darius
made it clear we could have a second show, if we wanted at a night
club in Druskinkai. We accepted and drove for a couple hours further
to this resort town, to a beautiful, high end club called Kolonada.
Sure we were mistaken, and a little worried about what would happen
if we weren’t, we found the manager, and asked what the deal
was. Sure enough, this was the spot. Punk music on after the flamenco
band! Everyone from the bands were pretty sketched out, just anticipating
that a) reactions would be only negative or b) this was just some
freak show type attraction for the yuppie clientele. Ass-End took
the stage and cleared the place of all but five or six folks, one
of whom was a well-known academic who took the mic and did some
screaming. Antimaniax seized the opportunity to lecture Lithuania’s
nouveau riche about their excessive lifestyles, albeit with far
to much pompousness to be at all effective (for me). To see privileged
western Europeans lecturing the emerging middle class of the former
Soviet east about their excessive consumption is something I will
always cherish for its sheer absurdity. The club’s manager
fed us all extremely well, paid us fairly, and arranged us a free
spot to spend the night. Weird, but positive, somehow.
Fabryka Squat (Warsaw, Poland)
Fabryka (factory) has got to be damn near the top of the list of
the most ambitious projects that punks have ever been involved with.
The place is a four story building sitting on a 10 acre plot of
land right in the middle of Warsaw, Poland. Pulling up to it, my
jaw dropped about three or four times, each further than the last.
We pulled up and went up to check out the fucking castle of DIY
squats. The first floor was pretty well bombed out, and the second
was where the action happened, with a huge bar and distro area,
a large hall with a stage and a big rec-room with couches. The third
and fourth floors were all filled with apartment/studio type living
arrangements. We climbed up on the roof with the drummer from Against
Me! The place was fully set up to hold off attacking forces! Stacks
of rotten eggs and empty bottles were all set up and ready for use,
behind plywood battlements. The show was awesome, with a little
head-bobbing for Ass-End Offend, and an apeshit crowd for Antimaniax
and Against Me! This was my first experience with Against Me!, and
the couple of them I met were pretty nice, though pretty spaced
out after some massive drives across thousands of miles of shitty
eastern Euro roads. The couple of songs I’d heard previously
hadn’t grabbed me at all, but seeing them at Fabryka made
me a believer. They play with the same kind of telepathy that bands
like the Minutemen did.
A couple of other notes: the sound man was in Dezerter, one of the
most famous punk bands to come from Poland! We saw our friend Darek
from Oreiro at the show, and he informed us about the preparations
for his marriage to his sweetheart in a couple weeks. Since we were
there, I think the city government of Warsaw has taken over the
property -which not surprisingly had a high commercial value- and
sold it off to a business.
Commentary/Analysis: The more I think about the crusty/squatter/hardcore
scene in eastern Europe, the more I’m really fascinated and
excited by it. The philosophy of most folks, mostly from my conversations
on this trip, and what I’ve read, is to live as much as possible
outside of the capitalist system, which they equate directly with
exploitation. I can see that philosophically there’s some
credence to that, however I’m still pretty convinced that
capitalism is a natural way to swap things, services, etc. with
other people, and to date, there’s been no better way explained
to me. The fact that every DIY show has a market place where cash
is exchanged for records, patches, shirts and zines strikes me as
a simple, but pure message about the inherent utility of currency,
and that a market place has a real, honest freedom about it. If
you feel like something’s not worth what they’re charging,
don’t buy it, or see if they’ll sell it for less!
What excites me most about the squatter/DIY/hardcore scene is the
monumental will these folks muster and ingenuity they draw upon
to put together everything necessary to live a life outside of mainstream
society. The folks involved with the DIY hardcore scene in eastern
Europe get involved, and really, without 100% participation, there
isn’t a scene. Fabryka squat was an awesome place, volunteer
run, and across the board a real community undertaking. That community
work part of things has always struck me as really the most valuable
commodity within punk rock. You don’t like the cost of beer
at the store, figure out how to make your own, or buy the old ones
that are still alright, but past the use-before date. Don’t
like paying rent? Find an old building and occupy it. Don’t
like working as much as normal folks, or don’t like the type
of work they do? Find work that suits you better and do as much
of it as will meet your basic needs. It’s pretty ballsy stuff
for the most part, and I salute people who figure out how to make
it work and live it. There aren’t many of us who can figure
out how to align our lives that much with our values, and while
there are people among them who get preachy, there are jokers in
every scene, and they shouldn’t speak for it. It does strike
me, that for as active people are, folks tend to be active in a
pretty stock set of ways: anti animal oppression and pro-veganism,
anarchist or, anti-organized government, anti-war, pro-bike, pro-dreadlock
and pro-metal hardcore. While I either agree with or respect most
of those things, I’ve always been somewhat let down by the
lack of dissention within the political philosophy and little musical
experimentation within this scene. I dig power-chord metal rock
as much as the next guy, but there’s much more to be done,
and if DIY’s going to be more than a fad that people grow
out of, then it needs people to start talking about realities like
better government, and not just some bullshit “no heroes,
no masters” sloganeering. Ahem!
I also really enjoy that folks from the DIY/hardcore/squatter scene
practice the utmost in thrift, figuring out little scams for every
damn thing from riding the trams without tickets to dumpstering
vegetables for meals to living essentially rent free and tapping
in to water and sewer. It’s a little naïve to assume
that water and sewer don’t at some point present themselves
as costs to other, normal people down the road (say through higher
water and sewer costs), but, nothing’s perfect. Eastern European
folks spend there summers canning the extra food their gardens and
forests produce, so there’s already a pretty strong tradition
of doing it yourself there, where nutrition and meals are concerned.
The few kernels I took away from this trip are as follows: 1) Never
wait for somebody else to do it for you. People with far fewer resources
than we have at our disposal in this country are doing double the
grass-roots work than we are here. 2) Want to save money? Get comfortable
not spending money, and making other entertainment for yourself.
3) Most vegan food and European hardcore is good (especially Infekcija
from Wroclaw), though the fact that Europe hasn’t produced
bands like Lightning Bolt or Deerhoof is pretty telling about the
state of musical creativity. One major exception is Super Girl and
Romantic Boys from Warsaw. Maija, our co-captain turned us on to
them, and they are excellent. Thanks for reading, friend. Email
me (joshvanek@yahoo.com) if you want any contact information, want
to debate some part of this, or want to hear more.
ASS-END
OFFEND - SUMMER 2005 US/ EUROPE TOUR DATES
June 27 - Pocatello, ID @ Ross Park w/ The Dregs, Urban H.G., Loiter
Cognition
June 28 - Reno, NV @ The Spacement w/ Negative Nancy, Dog Assassin,
Landmine Marathon
June 30 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell w/ Japanther, Jetomi, I Hate
You When You're Pregnant
July 01
- Oakland, CA @ The Hazmat w/ The Shattered, Lid Toker, Skinned
Alive, Population Reduction
July 03 - Portland, OR @ The Know w/ Iron Lung, Ohuzaru, Lords Of
Light
July 04 - Seattle, WA @ Ss Marie Antoinette w/ Iron Lung, Ohuzaru,
Lords Of Light, My Disco, Off Minor
July 09 - Ciechanowiec, Poland @ Kino w/ Non Conforma, Daisy, Oreiro
July 11 - Valga, Estonia @ Rockiklubi w/ Morala Aieja, Dark, Ricibas
Briviba
July 12 - Tallin, Estonia @ Von Krahl w/ Jmke, No More Rock Stars
July 13 - Helsinki, Finland @ Vuoritalo Squat
July 14 - Tampere, Finland @ Vastavirta-Klubi w/ Grind Death, Menopaluuna
July 15 - Rakvere, Estonia @ Kära Kants w/ Jmke
July 16 - Cesis, Latvia @ Fono Fest w/ Antimaniax, Million Dead,
Deep Insight, Rentokiller, More & Relsy, Pia Fraus
July 17 - Vilnius, Lithuania @ Green Club w/ Antimaniax
July 18 - Kaunas, Lithuania @ Antis Café w/ Antimaniax
July 19 - Klaipeda, Lithuania @ Club Melnarage -(Cancelled)
July 20 - Liepaja, Latvia @ The Fontaine Palace -(Cancelled)
July 21 - Riga, Latvia @ Klubs Depo w/ Inokentijs Marpls, Antimaniax
July 22 - Kuldiga, Latvia @ Zabadaks w/ Antimaniax
July 23 - Druskininkai, Lithuania @ Kolonada w/ Antimaniax
July 23 - Alytus, Lithuania @ Kolonija Midsummer Camp w/ Antimaniax
(2 Shows In 1 Night)
July 24 - Gdansk, Poland @ Rado!Stacja Eklektyczna w/ Against Me!,
Antimaniax, Calm The Fire, Die Last, Via Media
July 25 - Warsaw, Poland @ Fabryka Squat w/ Against Me!, Antimaniax,
Mise En Scene
July 26 - Wroclaw, Poland @ Free House
July 27 - Vsetin, Czech Republic @ Pod Klenbou w/ Endrophobia
July 28 - Krakow, Poland @ Kawiarnia Naukowa w/ Hodoronktronk
July 30 - Seattle, WA @ The Catwalk w/ Born/Dead, Schifosi, Countdown
To Armageddon, Slightly Less Than Nothing
July 31 - Tacoma, WA @ Hell's Kitchen w/ Barricade, Owen Hart, Up
Falls Down, Chiodos
August
01 - Spokane, WA @ Ichabod's w/ Countdown To Armageddon, Doomlit
Sky, Everything Beautiful
August 02 - Great Falls, MT @ N.W. Center w/ Countdown To Armageddon,
Old Shoes, Noise Noise Noise, etc.
August 03 - Lincoln, ND @ Dj's Pizza w/ Countdown To Armageddon,
Schifosi, Love And Warfare, Wicked Darling
August 04 - Madison, WI @ Skatehouse w/ Solovki, Maclaine
August 05 - Minneapolis, MN @ Red Sea Bar w/ Ass, The Holy Mountain,
Municipal Waste
August 06 - Des Moines, IA @ Hairy Mary's Bar w/ Wartorn, Blown
To Bits, Holy Mountain
August 07 - Milwaukee, WI @ Sara-Lou's House w/ High On Crime, The
Holy Mountain
August 08 - Lexington, KY @ 129 Clay (House) w/ The Fall Line, ?
(A Local Band)
August 09 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Roboto Project w/ Suburban Death Machine,
The Krum Bums
August 10 - Rochester, NY -Cancelled...
August 11 - Boston, MA @ Regeneration Records w/ Conversion, Social
Circle, Poison Control, Disrespect
August 13 - Brooklyn, NY @ 805 Driggs #3 (Warehouse) w/ Hüver
Flags, Four Deadly Questions, Rabia
August 15 - Baltimore, MD @ Charm City Art Space w/ Army Of Jesus,
Bastard Sons Of The Apocalypse, Disrespect
August 17 - Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds w/ J.Page, Stereotyperider,
Escape Grace
August 18 - Gainesville, FL @ The Ark w/ No Omega, Reactionary 3
August 19 - Athens, GA -Cancelled
August 20 - New Orleans, LA @ 4830 Banks w/ The Robinsons, Zydepunks,
Jerkoff Jackoff Frigface, Eldon Ahrold
August 21 - Dallas, TX @ 4911 Belmont w/ Army Of Jesus, Bastard
Sons Of The Apocalypse
August 22 - Austin, TX @ Sound On Sound Records w/ Army Of Jesus,
Bastard Sons Of The Apocalypse, Signal Lost
August 24 - Denver, CC @ 15th Street Tavern
August 25 - Slc, UT @ Todd's Bar w/ Le Force
August 26 - Berkeley, CA @ Gilman w/ Bullets In, Lords, Akimbo
August 27 - Portland, OR @ James' House w/ Maraud, Carl Weathers
For Governor
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