On their debut EP in early 2017, NEGATIVE VIBES have laid down 6 tracks in a little over 9 minutes. Combining equal parts oi! hardcore, raging 80s hardcore, and raw street punk, they instantly bring to mind the greats of the scene and have the blistering anger and power that many bands would give up their leather jackets for. Slated for later this Fall, their debut full length “Broken Mind” blends this amalgam of styles with a brutally perfect and organically sounding production and makes the whole thing work amazingly. Check out 3 of their new jams below, mark an amazing cover of “Policja” by 90s anarcho-queer crust punks HOMOMILITIA, and check out our introductory interview below.
NEGATIVE VIBES‘ debut LP “Broken Mind“ is out sometime in November 2018. The band will be supporting SHEER TERROR alongside Toruń based SCYTHE on November 22nd.
Answers by Andrzej (A) and Wiktor (W).
Hey guys! Thanks for joining us here on IDIOTEQ. Your new tracks teasing the debut LP ”Broken Mind” sound very powerful and feel like you’re moving even closer to the straight up and fast recent subject matter defined on your debut EP early last year. What’s changed for the band in that time? How do you feel as band now that another year has passed?
A: Hello, thanks for having us. Since we’ve recorded our first EP, we’ve played about 20 gigs including few abroad invitations, dealed with bass player change twice, now we are freshly after LP record and we are looking forward to another gigs this autumn.
W: We’re good as a band. Even if last rehearsal we’ve been played was at June. But in spite of it i don’t feel that we put band aside. There’s a lot of work with LP release, art work, booking gigs etc. It’s always something to do with a band. Now we need to go back to rehearsal regime which is not so easy because of our daily routines, other bands and life in general.
How did the band come about in the first place?
A: We’ve started in different setup, with a different kind of music. First it was supposed to be 80’s influenced oi! band but it didn’t happened for many reasons.
About a year later we decided to try again, Pasztet, our former bass player, joined and we’ve started again with different music ideas. After few months in February 2017 we’ve recorded EP and played our first gig.
What was the mindset going into this record? Musically, tell us a bit about your inspirations.
W: There was no big plan behind making riffs for LP. I’ve just recycle some sounds that I’m listen to so there is obviously lot of 80′ us hardcore and punk and piece of raw & primal oi!. I’m pretty content about songs we’ve recorded. There are all in certain style but they are also quite diversified so there is a chance that those 18 minutes of noise would not bored listeners to death.
Beside putting some catchy riffs it is important for me to play those songs with right dose of energy, aggression and nerve. I hope that we manage to do it right that.
What is the meaning behind the record? Is it thematically significant? Can you share some thoughts on the lyrical content of ”Broken Mind”?
A: I think that lyrics on this album are no as much ‘anti-something’ than it was on EP. They are more focused about thoughts and feelings which I deal with like isolation, anger, indecision.
There are some thoughts about society and reality which is really grey even if digital and pretty things surrounds us. You can also find some thoughts about far right fascination which you can observe in last few years among polish youth.
You did a great cover of HOMOMILITIA’s „Policja”. How conscious of that older Polish punk era are you? Tell us about your backgrounds.
A: I was never into old polish punk bands, I started discovering some stuff later and I can’t say that it was my influence in the past. Probably I was too young and there was no punks in my nearest area. However there is some good stuff coming out from Poland in late 80’s and 90’s and that song from Homomilita is definietely one of them. The lyrics wrote more than 20 years ago are still valid which is really worrying.
Regarding my backgrounds – before I discovered oi/punk which totally blew my mind when I was young, I was listening to metal and hip-hop music because of my brother.
He brought first tapes with music into our house and showed me stuff like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, NAS, Wu-Tang or early polish hip-hop like Molesta.Later I discovered Oi!/Street Punk and all that ‘skinhead stuff’ like: Analogs, Ramzes & The Hooligans, 4 Skins or Cock Sparrer. The music was fast and the lyrics was tough so it really blew my mind as a youngster.
W: I was raised in the nineties. This was the time when i discovered punk and hardcore music. At the time punk was pretty popular, half of kids in my primary school was in punk or metal. First of all i found all those polish popular punk bands like GaGa, Psy Wojny, Defekt Muzgó and Dezerter (most valuable band of all mentioned) but pretty fast i discovered underground DIY scene with all the diversity of bands, genres and ideas. I dig in to all of it and took everything it offered. I was listen to punk, hardcore, oi and crust from all over the world. I was reading lot of different zines and start attending gigs in my area. I believe this period of my life made me who i am and in some sense waste my life.
Homomilitia was one of my faves at those days so it came to my mind that it would be cool to make one of their song. Guess we made it in a right way.
How do you view the current state of Warsaw and our national punk scene? Can you recommend some cool new artists worth a check for someone not familiar with Polish hardcore scene?
A: There is a lot of gigs going on in Warsaw right now, sometimes there are two good shows at the same day. However I can’t see many new faces at them and there is no new bands as far as I know.
From the newer stuff I can definitely recommend Laxity – must see live.
Also check Embitter if you are into metal influenced hc. They just released online their new EP.
W: In my opinion scene is getting smaller every year. Not much new kids, reasonable gigs are mostly in big cities now and upcountry seems dead. It’s really bad when you looked 10 or so years back when there was plenty of bands and gigs in smaller cities. Guess hardcore or punk is no longer attractive for kids this days.
Beside this there are still some cool new bands and if you live in Warsaw you really can’t complain about number of good gigs.
Ok, so what’s next for the band? Are there any shows to coincide with the release of the LP?
A: It’s hard to say when LP will be physically available so we are not planning any release show now. We’ve got few booked shows in Poland at the end of the year so there will be chance to see us with new material.
W: No big plans. We will just let things happen and see where it will lead us.
Thanks so much for your time. Anything else you want people to know about? Feel free to drop your last words.
A: Thanks for having us!
W: Thanks for your interest. Check out other bands we’re involved in: Lazy Class (which will release it’s new LP on December), Prisoners By Choice, Slug Abuse and False Act. Cheers!
Thanks so much. Cheers and good luck with the new record promotion!
