Refuse Records has long been a spark in Poland’s and European hardcore punk arena, but that spark got brighter last year with the label’s 200th release—a special 7” from Złodzieje Rowerów.
Celebrated in our pages back in May 2024 with a special interview with vocalist Jacek, and tied to lost master tapes and discovered backups, this piece crystallizes a band–label friendship that shaped an entire subculture.
It reaches back to sessions from 1997, resurrected on vinyl with newly salvaged audio. Once meant as Refuse’s first vinyl outing, it never got past rough mixes. Now it bridges the past and future, revealing not just old recordings but also the label’s sense of purpose.
Refuse Records‘ founder Robert remains driven by the spirit of archiving crucial moments of Polish hardcore punk. He sees the 200-release mark as both triumph and testament to that ongoing mission. This release also nods to Złodzieje Rowerów’ significance: from a small-town vibe to a style that meshed personal sincerity with dynamic American influences.
“Każdy inny wszyscy równi” still stands as a powerful anti-fascist statement, channeling empathy and sharp focus into unstoppable energy.
Looking forward, Refuse is juggling an eclectic lineup of upcoming records, from 80s punk gems like Ukraina, early-90s reissues like Ahimsa’s discography, to straight edge veterans like Point Of No Return, to new offerings from current hardcore acts like No Way (Refuse #203, IDIOTEQ interview coming up).
Fresh tours and special events loom large, carrying the label’s founding ethos into 2025.
Below, Robert unpacks the process behind that 200th release, discusses re-mastering older archives, talks about Złodzieje Rowerów’ enduring impact, and lays out what’s next for Refuse Records.
Read on for the full conversation, where we explore the madness of pressing vinyl, the stories behind those lost tapes, the future of archiving, some new exciting releases, new bands, and plenty more.
So, Robert, hitting that big 200 on the release counter with REFUSE, that’s gotta feel like a trip, right? Walk us through your headspace, man. Any wild reflections or a sense of “Damn, I really did that”?
I’d rather not recommend our readers to go through my headspace – believe me it’s safer that way ;)
Having 200 releases (or 200+ at the moment) is something I’m very proud of. It’s also something that can speak volumes about my own madness that has led to this situation haha. It’s the result of my never-ending interest in publishing the music, lyrics and art of bands and people who inspire me, move me, motivate me to keep going.
It’s definitely been and still is a journey, if not a crazy ride with all the ups and downs, deadlines, all the problems with pressing, printing, distribution and all that.
There are so many stories behind each release, behind the friendships with bands, spending time on the road with many of them.
2024 has been the hardest year for a number of reasons and I’m glad that this release number 200 – ZŁODZIEJE ROWERÓW EP has happened and is finally out.
For those 200+ (because I’ve just reached catalog number 206, even though numbers 197 and 204 haven’t come out yet). Through these two hundred releases I have had the opportunity to work with so many fantastic bands, artists and individuals that every sacrifice, every pain and stress has been worth it.
Working on the first tapes for bands such as KTO UKRADŁ CIASTKA, CYMEON X and ZŁODZIEJE ROWERÓW I would never have imagined where this road would lead me.
Deciding what gets to be the big 200, was that like choosing your favorite kid? Were there any other contenders fighting for the spot, or was ZŁODZIEJE ROWERÓW a clear winner from the get-go?
I had a few ideas about what to do with release number 200. Some options were on the table, such as doing a compilation LP with bands I’d released before – a sort of label sampler with previously released tracks or previously unreleased tracks.
Another idea was to do a compilation, but with live recordings from gigs I’ve booked over the years, because I have a lot of them recorded with a soundboard.
In any case, working on the compilations would have taken a lot more time, and since I had to decide what to do about releasing #200 in 2023, when I had to organise two big 30th anniversary events for Refuse Records, it was obvious that I wouldn’t find the time to communicate with so many bands and get all the tracks together in a short space of time.
So the idea of releasing ZŁODZIEJE ROWERÓW 7” which was to be Refuse Records’ first ever vinyl release, won out. This originally didn’t happened because their recordings were never properly mixed and mastered in the studio, and were eventually lost or deleted by the studio.
All of these tracks survived only because I recorded the initial mixes on cassette tape in the studio while I was there (I was dong backups on “Ciastka” song, a cover by KTO UKRADŁ CIASTKA).
During this session, in addition to the four tracks that have now been released on the ‘Każdy inny wszyscy równi’ EP, some other songs were recorded – three tracks that were released on the ‘New day rising’ compilation CD in France (different versions of ‘Każdy wszyscy inny równi’ and ‘Scena’, as well as the track ‘Siła’ with my guest vocals) were recorded.
Two other tracks are ‘Melo-dramat’, which was supposed to appear on some compilation but never happened, and ‘Popkultura’ – a LA AFERRA cover.
Here’s the original:
The entire 1997 session was finally released in 2009 on the ‘Gdy wrzała krew 1995-1999’ (along with tracks from the debut cassette and live tracks), and most of the tracks from the 97 session were transferred from an audio tape I brought from the studio.
ZŁODZIEJE ROWERÓW were a special band in the history of the label, as their debut cassette was one of the first released on Refuse (cat. no. 003, but technically it was released before numbers 001 and 002).
It was this band that motivated me to treat the label as something more real, as it was initially just a short-lived, low-budget project for fun to release a few cassettes and that was it.
A few months after the release of that cassette, when I saw hundreds of people going crazy during their set at the Noc Walpurgii festival in Warsaw in April 1996, I fully understood not only how great the band was, but that what we were doing together was important and that interest in the band was growing.
It seemed that the growth of the band went hand in hand with the growth of the label. Up until their last show in 2010, we had done a lot of shows, tours, releases together and to date, they are one of the most important and successful bands to have been released on my label. Furthermore, their released are still some of the best-selling releases in the label’s history. All the reasons are clear that they deserve to be on the label’s 200th release.
It is also cool that two of our good friends Maciek ‘Hoody’ Olinkiewicz and Jarosław Składanek, who were in KTO UKRADŁ CIASTKA (their cassette is Refuse 001) were involved in this release working on the layout of the limited and regular cover.
The first side of the KTO UKRADŁ CIASTKA cassette on Refuse is live recordings from the 1993 show in Zambrów, which was organised organised by… Jacek, singer of ZŁODZIEJE ROWERÓW. So there you go…
Limited versions of this EP on orange vinyl and test pressing consist original project rom 1997. I found it at some point in my label archives and we decided to use it for this release.
From your veteran ears, these 2024 masterings versus the OGs, what’s the scoop? Is the tech now giving us a real edge, or is it just polishing the cannonballs?
It really depends… if it’s a new mastering of some classic release from the 80‘s and 90’s, it might be interesting, but not necessary. Sometimes it’s a way to sell the same release over and over again. Anyway, I know of a few examples, like the HERESY ‘Face up to it!’ LP, where the new emphasis on this recording was stunning compared to the original.
What is different with the archives of unreleased and not always perfect studio material, demos or live recordings.
The history of Polish punk hardcore has so many recordings that still need to be resurrected and restored.
New technologies really help here and can give new life to all these recordings that are part of our cultural legacy. Only a dozen punk and hardcore releases came out in the 1980s.
Many releases in the 90s were only released on cassette and a few on CD, but not on vinyl. Now that AI is coming to our doorstep, it will open up many new possibilities and, used in the right way, it can help even more in restoring old recordings. I’m sure it will also lead us to new mixes and masterings of some classics.
Mastering’s come a long way. With your experience, do you reckon it’s worth revisiting old classics for a remaster every decade or so?
It also really depends… Sometimes it’s not necessary to work with something that is golden already, like with punk and hardcore it’s not necessary to have a perfect and clean sound and often that’s how imperfect sound of these records are integrated into our DNA.
In my opinion, most of them shouldn’t have so much interference until something is clearly wrong with the original tape, mastering or pressing, because we know that some great releases have suffered from production deterioration in the past.
Circling back to the importance of ZŁODZIEJE ROWERÓW in the hardcore punk scene, can you condense into a nugget of wisdom why they’re such a heavyweight in the community? What made the band so important for the scene?
Many of those who followed this band, listened to their songs, read their lyrics, attended their shows, can agree that this was a very special band.
Musically, they were different from almost everything that was happening on the Polish scene in their time. They mixed straight-forward but emotionally driven hardcore punk with influences from Verbal Assault and Dischord Records bands, but they did it in such a way that we all felt it belonged to that time and place, not just a straight-up version of American bands.
So compared to a lot of bands from Poland, maybe they sound more influenced by USHC, but on the other hand they are very original and very local.
Being a band from a small town in eastern Poland was something that played a big part in their unique approach.
Their lyrics touched many people with their honesty, sincerity and awareness. They didn’t pretend to be something they weren’t. They didn’t pretend to know all the answers, they weren’t part of an Olympics of who was the most radical, they weren’t interested in being categorised by style or limited to an audience.
They wanted to play for everyone and treat everyone like a human being, not a fan or follower. This band wanted to share something personal with their audience and treat them with the utmost respect.
Their lyrics were often unique and dealt with personal, social or political issues that other bands did not. They were well-written, intelligent lyrics that had a serious impact on many people.
The EP’s opening track ‘Każdy inny wszyscy równi’ is one of the best anti-fascist/anti-nationalist songs to emerge from the Polish scene of the 1990s:
“There are no exceptional nations, only exceptional nonsense, repeated over and over to become the truth, but there is only one truth. We play this song to tell you that the Germans were not the only ones who murdered prisoners. We play this song to make you realize, no nation has ever been sacred. I did not choose the place where I was born. Just as I did not choose the skin I wear. One race, human race – reason dictates, does not pay any reverance to the flag or the emperor. Pole, German or Russian – meaningless names. In Portugal or Nepal same people on earth. One land, one world. This is obvious for us. And regardless of religion, each different all equal. Regardless of gender, each different all equal. And regardless of skin, each different all equal.”
They had no problem playing first at gigs when all the other bands were arguing about being the opening band. Their sold-out in a matter of days and packed final show of December 2010 proved it all.
Everyone who was there will always remember this show as one of the best and most important they have ever attended. Fortunately, we have it documented on the 2xLP/CD + DVD album ‘Finał’ (last copies are available via Pasażer Records), as well as partly in a film about the band – “Punk rock wg. Złodziei Rowerów”.
Ok, so Robert, let’s talk about your plans for 2025. What do you have in store for this year?
There are a lot of plans for 2025. Some of them are still completely secret, but I can tell you now that some exciting releases are in the works at Refuse Records.
What I can share right now is an early discography of AHIMSA 1991-1992 2xLP (one of the first sXe-oriented, drug-free hardcore bands in Poland and most likely the first completely vegetarian band) and a CORRECTIVE MEASURE 12‘ (great furious and aggressive hardcore from Maine, USA, following their 7’ from a few years ago, also on Refuse Records) – both of which should be released in early 2025.
Also in the pipeline is UKRAINA and their ‘84 4-track demo on 7’. They were a raw hardcore punk band from a small town in eastern/southern Poland, one of the first, if not the first, to inform punks in Poland about straight edge. They still exist and are more into the classic punk rock sound, but their early material was fast and aggressive hardcore punk.
Vinyl reissue of ‘All punk cons’, the second release from SAIDIWAS, the anarchist vegan sXe band from Umea, Sweden, originally released in 1997 on CD by Desperate Fight Records.
Legendary political sXe band NATIONS ON FIRE with a collection of early 90s tracks from their 7”s, demos and compilations entitled “Hope for a dead scene” 12’.
Perhaps the discography of Dutch radical left straight-edge band FEEDING THE FIRE from the early 90s will finally be released this year. We are still trying to find one unreleased track to make it complete.
In terms of current bands, there should be: the debut 12” from PERIPETIJA, a new sXe hardcore band from Serbia.
FROM BELOW 7” – a new band from North Carolina with members of Catharsis and Point Of No Return (co-release with Bitter Melody Records from the US).
And REAGNITION 12”, a new band from Warsaw with members of Cymeon X, Sunrise, Kto Ukradł Ciastka, Agni Hotra, After Laughter and many others, sounding very much in the 90s HC style.
Plus a few others that are still a mystery. Some of the bands I’m working with have declared they’re going to the studios in 2025 to make new recordings, so we’ll see later what those plans bring.
As for shows and tours, there are a bit more than last year: next is PUNITIVE DAMAGE/DESGRACIADOS tour in January/February starting at Can’t Keep Us Down in Barcelona, MOIRA weekender (Prague and Leipzig, February), NO WAY+LOCKDOWN (4 gigs in Germany, Poland and Czech Republic in April), BODY FARM+SLUTBOMB in September/October, GO! + G.U.T.S. in October, CORRECTIVE MEASURE in October, ACADEMY ORDER tour and probably a few more…. in addition to the aforementioned, there will also shows with bands such as NOTHING WORKS, SIDESTEP, SPUTA, SHAETTERED, ANTI-SYSTEM.
A small Refuse Records showcase will take place in March in Warsaw with HEATSEEKER, MOIRA and REAGNITION.
2025 – here we go!
