DISTRESS / ACCIDENT 05.09.2018., Stara Škola, Novi Marof

awesome week, when it's about gigs in Novi Marof is behind us.. first we was having two hardcore punk crust bands from faraway Finland and just 3 days later from the same far away St. Petersburg comes mighty d-beat crust machine Distress which are on almost a month long tour celebrating 15 years of existence.. I was really looking forward for this gig since I 1st heard for it from L, some month ago when he arranged it, I mean it's not that every day such great bands are coming in Novi Marof, not even in Zagreb nor anywhere in Croatia actually to be completely honest..
finally this bloody Wednesday comes and it was time for the gig.. again this stupid and awkward situation when I go to the gig alone, but it didn't bothered me to much this time 'cause I was sure it will be worth it.. I arrived few mins before 21:00 when the start was announcend  and shortly after the Zagreb crew from Accident came and fly in directly on short sound check.. they were interesting punk band to me since they first time appeared some 3-4 years ago but then after 2 released albums, few pauses in their work and some line up changes I somehow forgot about them until few months ago when they play few live shows and festivals in a row so the time for Marof has come as well and supporting Distress was a great opportunity for that..
somewhere around 21:30 gig started with some more metallic intro as I was expected from Accident but already with 1st song things got in place and we get good dose of fast punk, not this boring generic style of punk but more in let's say Disorder's way.. they played both of my favourite songs Victims and Break the Law and those two was the best part of their show which was relaxed and with a lot of little mistakes, in one song drummer lost its stick like 3 times, also when they play intro again at the end as outro they succeed in that just from the 3rd try, hehe but it wasn't exhausting to watch but kinda nice and funny.. even they say something like not to blame them cause they are little drunk, still they are in Zagorje (region here in Croatia known for heavily drinking), hehe, so we didn't hold it against them..
right after they finished the guys from Distress started to set up their gear, put a big banner with sign saying something like "in d-beat we crust in booze we trust", make quick sound check and everything was ready for some serious crust desolation..
and after a short pause they started with their set.. from the start very powerful and mighty, with sound quality incomparably better than it was on Accident, I mean I like the simple raw sound of hc punk bands live more than anything but when you hear something that massive and powerful you must notice and hear the difference.. two great guitars, where the one with more of those short wicked solos was something quieter or it just seems to me from the place where I was standing, other guitarist occasionally play its guitar with wine bottle (heheh), great d-beat drums which the drummer plays with incredibly ease or at least it seems so, greasy bass and harsh crust vocal from hell.. very loud and powerful crust machine which shook the Stara Škola well.. as they are from Russia there was some fun in the crowd with Russian language, which have some minor similarities with Croatian during all their set and atmosphere even half dead because of small number of people started to get better with every song.. while announcing song Eat the Shit they look back on political situation in Russia, they didn't avoid to mention recently held football world cup and similar expensive events and parades in their country, massive amounts of money their government stands out for military, etc while many people don't have anything to eat.. so with that they show us that political side of them which would be hardly noticeable cause they sing mostly in Russian..
for the end one or two more songs as encore.. I really don't remember when some band lately in Marof was asked to play bis and this also maybe proves on some way what kind of a band played here tonight..
I would be lying if I said that I was the biggest fan of Distress, knowing all their albums, etc before this gig but I noticed them already long ago and was listening them often and now I will sure pay even more attention to their work and I hope to hear some new stuff from them and of course to see them live again somewhere..
definitely not the wildest fun gig but musically Distress was the best band that ever visited Novi Marof and to me the best gig already for a while..

you know it's about a good band when they play d-beat crust and have white vinyl cover.. and on inlay it says play it at 666 RPM.. you immediately know - that's it!..

for the end, there's video of one song by Accident below recorded with go pro camera or something like that.. I think that the whole their show was recorded but for now just this one song is published on youtube.. I didn't noticed if someone was recording Distress, if was please let me know.. I just realised how the space in Stara Škola looks even better in video than in real, hehe..
until the next similar dis never ending nightmare in Novi Marof...stay well!..