NONSENSE interview

here we go..this is the interview with Nonsense, band from Požega(Croatia).. this is something that I listen constantly over and over again in last few weeks.. big respect goes to Kktz who answered this my questions immediately as I send them to him..thanks on that.. I wait some other bands for few months to answer the questions.. BTW this is first interview with them since they started to play again.. okay view is quite informative so enjoy in it!..

c.f.: for the beginning, who/what is Nonsense?

kktz: hi, nonsense is underground band that Chucha, Gera, and me, kktz, started somewhere in '93 i think. at first we played improvised noisecore, soon including more structured grind tracks. after Chucha left for then obligatory army service, Gera and me recorded an diy demo in '94 called «Always Against», with more of hardcore crust punk influence too. After few gigs band split and Gera and me continued with playing in other bands, etc... in 2008 we returned as Nonsense.

c.f.: from where you get idea to act in two different line ups? how this works?

kktz: well, after Gera and me discussed playing again as Nonsense, it took some time to actually start with it because of our job and family responsibilities, etc... in meanwhile our friend Janez in Belgrade really liked the idea of bringing Nonsense back, and he was really enthusiastic about that. so i asked him if he wants to record some chaotic noisecore with me, and we did it. it was short of return to anti-musical roots of Nonsense. then me and Gera finally started to play together, also asked our old friend Dena to join us on drums. Gera stayed on guitar and i was on vocals only. Still without bass guitarist like in 90's. but with this line up we decided to try something a bit different than before, so we started to play fast old fashioned hardcore punk. in that line up we recorded one hardcore thrash demo. in  '09 we finally got bass guitarist in a band, a young punk rocker Mata. Right now we are working on music for new recordings in hardcore punk thrash style, so that's it, everything goes fine.

c.f.: you wasn't active for almost a decade (with Nonsense, I know that you have played in some other bands), what was happening with you in that period? has it many things changed since then?

kktz: it was more than 10 years, but we played in other bands like Senseless (Dena and me), Bad Justice / Nepravda (Gera), Fight Back (Gera, Dena and me), etc, etc... i also played in old Dislike line up, with Gera, Dena, and Smole, than Filip came instead me and they moved in more technical direction, so you see, it's some sort of family. back in first half on 90's we had a lot more time, with more of let's say wild life, and now, we have jobs, responsibilities, you know, life goes, it's not the same, but we still like to play together when possible. Gera has wife and kid, his wife Lidija was with him in Bad Justice, too. at some point because of my job in road building i had to quit all bands and was active only with my electro/noise project Gruuthaagy. lately i am not working outside of our region, so it was possible to start a band again.

c.f.: almost all your stuffs was released by d.i.y. labels from abroad.. how it comes to cooperation with this foreign labels?

kktz: back in 90's i was really into tape trading so i have sent a lot copies of our demo tape all around the globe, and good old underground network spread it even more. we ended up on one compilation 7'' EP released in Belgium with many grindcore bands of that time, all with short tracks, so it was all around too, we kinda made some name in diy underground circles. so when we returned and made it public via internet, some good people into old fashioned grind/noise/punk worldwide made a nice welcome job helping us with new underground releases. big thanx goes to Intestine Stew Tapes in Canada, Sludgesicle records in US, SaOrS in Greece, and especially BOG records in Belgium. BOG records released first full Nonsense 7'' EP called «Crna Statistika 1994 + 2008», including best of '94 grind/punk on side A, and two new noisecore demos on side B. any label interested to put our hardcore thrash punk stuff on vinyl too feel free to hit us.

c.f.: i know that you were active in bunch of other projects, bands, zines in the past.. what does the members of Nonsense doing besides the band?

 kktz: yeah, i used to be into zinemaking since second half of 80's till first half of 00's, zines like Udarac Drito, Schmutzig, Crni Humor, Fecal Forces Zeen, etc... unfortunately no time nor money for that anymore. still working on few one men projects musically, and all other Nonsense members are in other bands too. Gera and Dena are also playing in punk rock band No Name, and they are still grinding with Dislike, Dena is also in melodic hardcore band Loš Primjer, Mata played in hardcore punk band Anti Talents and he is in punk / oi! band Ljena Đubrad,  i may forget something, but you got the picture.

c.f.: you rarely play live..what is reason for that? does people call you at the gigs?

kktz: we don't have touring plans, that and our jobs and responsibilities just don't go together neither we can afford to lose money. after we started to work again we only played two local shows here in Požega, and we really didn't tried much more than that. but it is possible that we will play from time to time some show around here, not just Požega, as some friends and people already asked it. if possible we will play live, as we really like it, but don't expect too much gigs.

cf.: in your noise  is strong feel of ex yu hardcore '80s and '90s influence, but unfortunately today there aren't many bands sounding like that.. what do you think why is that so and which are your favorite bands of those which are active today (not only from Balkans, but worldwide)?  .

kktz: you know, trends change, new styles come, etc... it's all natural. there is also some sort of revival for old school hardcore worldwide, but we really try to be rooted in origins of former Yugoslavian hardcore approach, as we too feel that it is something that is missing today. and after all that's what we really know, we have our own identity, so why not taking inspiration from that. as band members, we all have our own taste in music, Gera likes old school thrash / death / crust, Dena is into grindcore but also more melodic stuff, Mata is into old punk, oi!, etc... i like noisy and fast hardcore, some old school metal, industrial and other darker stuff, but we are all in this band together for a reason, and that's that we all really like that old former Yugoslavian sound. each member has it's own favorites, well, we all like Damir Avdić especially for his lyrics, more individually or as friends, Atentat Na Sluh, Motherpig, Atomski Rat, True, are some bands that we can mention. i am not sure if we have any todays worldwide bands that we all like equally as band, it's very individual, so we just respect that.

c.f.: most of your things in this new hard core thrash line up are covers from some older bands.. what are plans for the future? can we expect some new songs?

kktz: you are right. we play like 3 types of songs; 1) some old Nonsense songs in a bit different way, 2) old songs that we have made in our other bands and that we think are fitting to Nonsense as well, sometimes a bit changed too, 3) cover songs by other bands, mainly former Yugoslavian stuff from 80's. We play covers because we want some great old songs to live again, not to be forgotten, and to show our respect for such music. we will continue to do so, our new material comes from all 3 types, but we also have some brand new songs and they are quite unique i think, taking all that influences and adding something of our own. musically we may be a bit more open for different sounds to present what we lyrically try to picture too, and it's harsh and dark side of life at Balkans, without any preaching, just presenting it as it really is, through our own way of playing.

c.f.: Požega was allways cradle of the crust punk and all other kinds of bands? how is today situation?

kktz: there was lots of diy hardcore/punk/metal/noise stuff here, that's true. i mentioned most of today's bands that are connected to us. something is always happening. it's nothing big, but for such small town it's good. there should be released a compilation with bands from Požega that have been playing and managed to get something recorded in all this years, many that i didn't mentioned here, some before us, starting with late 70's, so it may be a nice document. now we have some local pub where occasionally some gigs happen too, and where most of us hang around as punxs are working there. Studio Depth is here too, i guess that's it.

c.f.: what is your opinion about free downloading music from the net and about internet in generaly? do you considere internet like advantage of todays d.i.y. bands or you're more for good old "hand to hand" and ordinary post things?

kktz: we don't have as much time as we have had, also postage costs are too expensive at here, so you can guess, we have nothing against what came with internet when it's about practical aspects. still, there was something really great about the old way and new generations may not experience it if we let it all die, so some balance between the two is probably the best.

c.f.: you pointing up that you aren't politically correct band.. what is reason for that, years of experience or something else?

kktz: I already mentioned what we try to picture with our music and lyrics, but we are not here to judge all, sometimes negativity in our music speaks for itself. so yes, it comes from our life experiences, things are not always that simple as any ideology wants it to be. we have our own attitude as band and we are not trying to fit into any scene as way of thinking. we also use irony in our work, 'cause after all, it's just a band.

c.f.: future plans with the band, releases, gigs, etc..? 

kktz: to record our hardcore stuff in this new line up, than we will see what way to have it released. some gigs are discussed too, not on hurry for anything, just naturally progressing i think, hope it will stay that way.

c.f.: for the end, if i wasn't ask something and you would like to add + message to readers..

kktz: I think this was quite informative, thank you for interview and we just have to say hello to all our friends. nothing more to say,  we are at www.myspace.com/nonsensefuckingnonsense