HUNGARIAN SCENE REPORT (unedited)

It’s strange.

I have written a scene report focusing on mostly the people who are then started to become my friends and since all of them had bands, all of them were practicing almost at the same place and all of them were hanging at almost every show. So I made up a name as a joke to call this group of ours somehow. Since then more than two years have passed and now I felt that there is still music played by Magyars that deserves to be covered.
It deserves to be covered because every scene needs representation. It’s the know how of how we live among each other, how we create something new, what’s different to other places or how is it similar almost everywhere. This is not gonna be just facts, the number of local bands are much more than the sum that will appear within these lines. It’s just the bands i enjoy the most whom I like to swing my beer to at weekday shows when I forget the rest of my weekdays.

 The scene I wrote about two years ago, the Defekt scene, is having it’s dusk. The rehearsal room that even some foreign bands had experienced and was a center of late night hangouts, and crazy jamming, crawling on the floor and spontaneous festivals just failing cause of slacking. Get 30 punx and try to squeeze money out of them every month right on deadline time. Until this cataclysm, the room has served as a great space to create so much joy and friendships, new bands, new project, served as a recording space and as the perfect hangout spot. Among the filth there was always treasure.
But people are getting older thus have to have more responsibility and the parties what once were crazy, nihilist and utterly weird are now just became mellow hangings and early goodbyes due to waking up early at painful hangover mornings. But it seems that since the nihilism disappeared bands are becoming better.
With the political system and the whole world and how it’s working just getting worse and worse here there are still people not just shrugging their shoulders and joining the line but trying to create their own secret world, their own platform to express themselves and have a huge fucking amount of fun either as a threat or as protection.

Hungary has been put on the map. Budapest and Szeged are hosting all the great shows for touring bands from all around the world and other cities are holding possibilities for punx with free time to maintain their teenage riot. Pécs and Debrecen are on fire as well as Győr and it’s region who are being solid columns of the Hungarian punk underground for years.
The main agenda here is: Things must happen. If a band wants to come here and the promoter feels like he needs to book them, it will happen even if at a collapsing rehearsal room or around a tree in the beer garden of a medieval castle's yard or in the basement in some burn out bar for burn out people. And if there is the right amount of people with the right type of mood, magic could happen. If there is one thing that people here are good at is lose there shit to bands they can be enthusiastic about.
Standing in the middle between east and west and interestingly exotic and professionally good punk the one time when Hungary could be a champion is when we are appreciating the bands who have come here. The Hungarian soul is tired and doesn’t really look outside of it’s own room thus when people came into our rooms then we are filled with gratitude.
Having many people even in my room I have learnt through others’ stories it’s almost the same everywhere else. You just have to start doing things on your own and if you have the will you will at least end up with a scene that is your home.
Just put yourself out when you have something. Or invite the world inside your room if you have nothing. Share with the world and open your fucking eyes and help, appreciate, love what you have around you. Just try and do and the rest will follow.

From the punk house-like rehearsal space that was a living room for many of us for years, from the forever collapsing ruins of the defekt scene few bands have grown out at the finale moments of decline. The always balancing into an abyss, drug dazed pop punk of FOR MY FRIENDS have transformed into FAKE SHAKES which still has a bearded soul and an indolent but in every chord youthful sound that is performed by various kinds of kids who like to hang out, do crazy things as they are obsessed with climbing to high places while high and this has lead to many atrocities with people being protective about their roofs. Their warm hearted but cold faced melodic songs have rather filth and pining over let downs of either assholes or failed romances than about shining happiness of bubble gum pop. They are those weird kids who sit at the back of your house party and smash things not because they are here to destroy but only because they are like this. Nowadays I try to be late from their shows but since I’m that kind of guy who always there too early I always end up watching them and when I do I do not regret it.

LÖMBIHEAD was something like a quintessence of the Defekt scene with playing music they have figured out for themselves and having shows as weird as it could be or as how drunk they were. People getting naked, the band getting naked, then there was a solo, some improvised chant on teenage sadness fueled by frustration, just total chaos. After some line up changes and a semi-legendary last show they have formed TUMO with which they are writing new songs, having a slight different approach on strange music and they have a new drummer as well. Their music and lyrics still feel like it’s haunted by dementia or demons. They left behind the surf feel from their previous music and replaced themselves from a nuclear beach into a rotting garden where they play this Rev. Summer influenced SST vibe guitar jamming still punk based forever rock. Rock music for a fermenting society. Sticking to their awkwardness their live shows keep being strange, with changing instruments between members and looking as weird as it’s up to what drugs are influencing them in the moment. Having some trouble with finding a drummer and being disorganized nihilists they have only recorded two of their songs with slacking howling vocals but maybe the future is holding some luck for us and they will came out with a proper but still damaged release in the future. One thing for sure when they willing to play their instruments and focus a bit magic is happening and this utterly creative guitar jams start to work as perfect slacker punk songs for all your doubts and paranoia. You might follow.

For mutant rockers there is PISS CRYSTALS. Started out as a project of two friends who were in dozen bands so if one of their bands had to cancel a show out of boredom these two guys created PISS CRYSTALS to be a fill in band so they would be able to travel and play anyway. The weird mix of everything that J Mascis has ever done starting from DEEP WOUND through DINOSAUR JR. till riffing ‘Sabbath-ish doom with pinch influences of kraut rock, PISS CRYSTALS is a band of music buffs who wanna entertain themselves. Never been taken seriously, still they are a core of a scene of bored youth, thus always being a lot more than juts noise. Sometimes their rehearsals transform into a huge hangout where at one point everybody is freestyle rapping to dumb beats provided via a broken Casio. Live they always end their sets with freestyle rants against the punk scene’s stupidity. It is punk music because it’s played by punk kids who like music and weird ideas and noise and have enthusiasm over professionalism.

ZEN FASCISTS has formed from the ruins of PLAN BEER with taking a circle run and sitting behind different instruments but having almost the same members on different positions. The music that was once guitar driven and smart and punk now has turned into something more simple and threatening with it’s balanceless bouncing. Oi influenced noisy and grooving, aggressive hardcore with lyrics about being a loser and lost in social life. They are not menace, it’s the world that is and through their music and lyrics it’s even more bizarre. Rage fueled with awkwardness this band has the least hardcore look and the geekiest approach of playing fast punk music. The name comes from a DEAD KENNEDYS song so they have no romantic relation to such bad people as far right wing extremists. Having just a demo recorded and two shows played after rotting in a rehearsal room for years and finally recruiting a bass player for live shows and writing future riffs, ZEN FASCISTS is a new but a mostly promising band.

Another fine mutant band is Wryness. The most flaky pothead band of all. Started out as TEKKEN (yeah the video game) but after some line up changes they had their name changed as well. There is just something magical in the experience of witnessing WRYNESS play. I loved them all the time when they played in rehearsal rooms. That fragile beauty that they carry with being more of the visceral players of their instruments than trained ones. Their bass player learnt to play bass on a two days speed trip when he couldn't sleep so he figured out how to jam. Their sets are always paused by recesses to drink beer, smoke weed or huff some rush. Their music is strange. Since they attempted to make as many weird pacing changes in their music as they can. This makes the whole sound a collapsing one but on their middle tempo runs they emerge the floating paranoia of the kids of the black hole. Somehow the band is so little, still they could sound really huge. One by one their tracks would not stand out alone but over all especially in live or listening to their whole album to have your soul soaked in their desperate and desolated lyrics is an experience we always search for in punk music. It’s like old hungarian punk, or KAAOS. Finnish or Japanese hardcore. They sound like a group that has only read about hardcore and put it together in their heads not as if they have first hand experiences with the genre. It’s punk played by the beaten more like an idea of how they should sound and not following rules. They born outside the box.

MUDPIE is a quiet new band formed roughly a year ago. Their take on punk music is backed with longer songs which gave enough space for them to play out their post punkish post hardcore-ish riffs. They have weird melodies that are just as much catchy as it sucks you into a vortex of anxiety and gloom. They stay in mid tempo but the vocals are harsh and mostly screaming while the lyrics move on a personal level digesting everyday disappointments and bedroom frustrations. Their music is moving forward coming out from the headphones. They are awkward in a lovely way and beyond their never smiling live presence is some focused, teeth grinding will to play their songs in the best way. They are not changing the world or challenging you with their music still you can lose yourself in their flood of stretched out guitar riffs and relatable gloom.

VEX is a punk band with a bit raging and collapsing hardcore influenced music. Pure and fast, inspired by the early era of amazing west coast hardcore they also have some dry melodies infused into their sound. They are always rehearsing and occasionally playing with adorable awkwardness. Not melting anyone’s face still they are forcing out all the frustration from themselves. In a way they don’t seem to have too many ideas of how and what they wanna play, but they are doing it anyways cause they are sure they wanna do it. Strange pace changes and just lively ideas of the whole structure of songs with sometimes solos that sound like they are on psychedelic drugs. It’s fun to see them play and go along with their version of doing punk. I mean being drunk, being punk, being at a basement and seeing such bands is just magical, or it could be that and I’m glad that I belong to such a scene. Oh by the way all the members of VEX are girls.  

NORMS is a band where I sing so I try not to swallow my own dick too deep. We play fast hardcore punk soaked in disgusting noise.

Some bands bring the whole scene together with their unavoidable awesomeness that none of the followers of the various sub genres could deny.
HUMAN ERROR is one of the oldest running bands in Hungary who are still fresh and have not stopped for a second to take a break. They had myriads of members but still holding two original ones. They play merciless crust/grind music that is not a style I really love but their live sets are just pure energy of punk perfection this way becoming a devoted fan of theirs is not a tough job. They go way beyond genres and styles it’s just that force that is marching down from the stage in a form of an evil black mass that will push you down or grab you in. They have an agenda to clear out and set straight the confused minds who have been lost in the muddy forest of business grind and false punk. They hate their works and on their own way they are survivors because they have their eyes open enough to see the horrors of everyday and feel threatened by it. Not as if they are squatting and fighting the cops all the time, since in Hungary there’s no such thing as a squatter - street protest scene. It’s just that resistance that resonates in them. They are frequently touring and booking bands from all over Europe here in Budapest. Silently they climbed up to some legendary position that they have never self proclaimed. It’s simply staying true to what you are believing and doing it in the way you feel like it’s right. And at one point your shows will just become huge events in punk terms and people will bounce their every day struggle out from themselves on your shows. It’s not easy to keep a band running for 15 years and it only happens on very rare occasions that a band after this long time still could be fresh and not burnt out. They have just recorded an upcoming full length which is much anticipated. And seeing them on stage they are not a slight different from all the young kids blasting their music they play to escape high school reality. Only HUMAN ERROR’s angst is rooted deeper and they have less mercy. 

Their guitarist who was the latest addition to the band and has been playing for more than a decade in decent bands and in a way forming the face of Hungarian hardcore/punk but he is with them for 5 years now. He has a solo project called DISKOBRA which is a great mix of old Hungarian punk/hardcore and some DISCHARGE worship DIScore. The overall damaged flavor is coming together with drunk rage against the inexplicable bullshit of this world we are living in. His simple but sharp lyrics and plain but striking songs serve as a perfect background music if you are having an angst rush. It’s the voice of your friend who reminds himself how cruel life is sometimes and goes on diatribe rant at some point of a night spent with chugging cheap liquor. He plays live shows with a full band and the things that have been said between songs are just pooping the party that much that people realize the outside world is a trap and only our spaces could bring us temporary joy. It’s just good to see people slowly leaving their 30s still giving a fuck, doing new things and caring about the present and future rather than blame the now by glorifying their past because they have become old. People like him are as much inspiration as young kids having no fucking idea on what to play and just blast out wonderfully shitty noise. It’s the angst and endurance for still giving a fuck that is magic in everyone who are willing to create. And DISKOBRA is a total keeper of raw, fast and disgusting hardcore/punk.

CHAPPA’ AI is a noise band what is distant from our planet thus labeled as space grind made up with Stargate fans who share the drummer with DISKOBRA and HUMAN ERROR. This group of total creeps and misfits plays a confusing mix of speed freak grind and harsh noise. Somehow transforming their live shows into a performance art preformed by people who are the furthest from doing anything with art and performance. It’s their weirdness and love for bizarre noises that keeps the band running. And of course a shitloads of weed. 

RÁKOSI has become one of the other longest running bands of the scene who are loved by everyone. Starting as a guerrilla band who though uninvited showed up at random shows to take over the stage for their shocking 5 minutes sets. They have become one of the well known Hungarian bands since LENGUA ARMADA has released three of their demos on two 7”s. They still are about what’s mostly happening in their hometown where guitarist and singer still live. How the countryside is going bankrupt as much financially as morally. They have a strange method of writing songs since the last two demos were written and recorded during weekends. As the first note was played for the first time on a Friday afternoon, after they freshly had escaped from a week long work, on Sunday evening they had their new songs recorded. Somehow they are able to transform the hungarian frustration into punk hardcore perfection. With their shows becoming gatherings where the punk and hardcore kids find themselves among each other sweating their desperation out. Most of the people couldn't really understand the specific topics this band is singing about but they can feel the anger and scorn that they have. They do have the issue of being a bit stuck in Hungary since they only go if they are invited but even this way they still could stay fresh and as time goes by more people love them. What they deserve for sure. They are the absolute beast of the Hungarian punk noise wall that is standing as a defense of your frustration that you might have to shelter in your everyday but since it’s totally normal to have it and let it out sometimes their shows are the best places for this explosion.

The half of RÁKOSI lives in Szeged. Szeged is a little treasure box near to the Serbian border. It’s a small city with few people who are willing to sacrifice too much of their time to from new bands on every weekend, rot in rehearsal rooms for endless hours and book cool shows. Most of the bands are sharing members since seemingly the whole city has only two drummers for eight bands. The method is, instead of packing everything they like in every music into one band they create new bands for all the micro-sub-genres they like and listen to. One thing is sure, most of the bands are heavily guitar driven. Let it be the cornerstone of the modern scene KEMÉNY HENRIK with all members from ex and current bands. Playing music that is post. Not the sounds of future but they are bringing the post from everything especially from hardcore / punk and while it’s being a fact that they are playing punk, they play their guitars that much and have an overall sound that launches them into their own space. It’s funny since the members out of the stage seem so unorganized and strange while on stage and on record there is full control. Lyrics are varying between Hungarian and English and it’s just amazing punk profession that they play.

Bands connected to this group are ARGUMENT CLINIC who are bringing the modern interpretation of the core Ramones-ish music with finally a singer who could use a bit his voice and they for sure are delivering catchy melodies and BERKUT who are a new group formed from IMPERIAL SPIES and RÁKOSI and SPARK and KEMÉNY HENRIK. Being a tornado of guitar sounds BERKUT (written with ciril fonts) is crushing, interesting, challenging, untamed force of smart rage. Like a formula that knows what and how will destroy. They only played few official and non official secret shows and a demo is about to be recorded. The future is unwritten.

This town is a perfect example for if you have the good people and the will you will make great things together. Do you wanna conquer the world? All right, but even if you don’t succeed you will need people around you, you can hang with, sit through nights in bars or play the best music is possible: Your music. Organize shows, or just cook offs. Movie clubs and collective radio shows. Have million other bands there and just be supportive. Try to do Food not Bomb cooking for the homeless. Fill bars with their yelling. Open their farm for festivals and recording sessions. This is what Szeged does.

 

Just like Győr and it’s region. That place for me feels like a bubble. With so many strange and alienated kids. During this summer I went there to play at a local festival. It was amazing. There was one point when I was hanging in this kitchen of a nice family house. Four shaved headed guys were around me. They are YOUTH VIOLENCE. I was eating their pizza, they were eating freshly picked cherry. Making fun of each other, throwing the cherry stone on each other. They were worried of whether they could buy weed later or not. Few hours later in a room that was dripping in sweat they just start to execute all your hope. With homemade distortion pedals and with homemade anger they start to boom. Their music is fast the lyrics are desperate and angry in another level. It’s just pure hate of the unfair world that is keeping them in constant struggle. But also it’s the sound of joy that they still could give a fuck enough to transform this into something so powerful that through projecting the daily shit something beautiful comes out.

Their bass player and drummer have another project called WHO SAWS VIOLENCE REAPS STORM. More complex and darker band with literary-like lyrics about all the familiar sufferings. The members look so weird like they have their own little world which I’m almost sure they really do.

Life in Hungary could be a struggle and they say from such a desolated soil great things could grow out. Artistically and not biologically. There is one band that is just robbing everyone’s heart with their honesty of how they are painting their picture of every days spent with surviving the oppression. It’s ANOTHER WAY. Having a member who is working 12 hours shifts at a shitty blown out industry and other two members being all around the world all the time to release a new full length it toke many years for them. Once an unstoppable band that just played everywhere for almost nothing but played there hearts out all the time seemed to be vanished for some years. Having line up changes and inner conflicts they are back and everybody is bowing their heads in front of them. ANOTHER WAY is basically three weirdos playing as fast as they are angry and they are really angry. They are originated in a small rural town in Hungary with no hope so they paved their way out from this reality with every raging song they have written. You can call it fastcore, power violence, hardcore or punk. This is just angry music played in Hungary by people who still do care and kept hanging on to their teen angst. With some metallic riffing after taste. This band is another universe. They live by their on terms and while the whole scene is watching what are they up to they are just going on their own way. Hermits of the punk scene who appear to show how and what their universe is. The much anticipated full length that has been delivered this year is a great testament of their still burning torch. With having parts where even they couldn't keep up with the speed they are playing on, still they are a nonstop ugly terror that pours on you as a tsunami.  

Those who not only seek self relief but have a bigger plan with all this, they are RIVERS RUN DRY and their label / collective the DZSUKHELL RECORDS. RIVERS RUN DRY has started out as something like epic or neo-crust with three guitars and very long songs. But since two of the members are living in different squats in different countries seeing them in all together when not on tour is as rare as seeing the whole WU TANG CLAN on one stage. Now they have perfected this dark-heavy sound into something that is no longer crust or punk but just this dark mass that is sucking you in and not letting you out. With having enough span and space in their songs for the instruments to send out on adventure missions there is always something that could grab you. To be honest I like music that is simpler and less constructed but live even I could be a believer since they are so heavy and unstoppable. Also they are carrying a distro with books, zines, records. They are putting shows and releasing records from the local scene. Proving it’s not such an extra job to put or keep some meaning in all this. Heard their rehearsals feel like a picnic with eating cakes, drinking tea and discussing issues of life. These guys are strong column of the Budapest diy scene.  

This is it.

most of the bands' music (among other local bands) could be found here: http://heart-a-tact.blogspot.hu/