Independent DIY punk-scene appeared in Belarus in the ending of the 90th. First of all it has started up in two Belarusian cities: Grodno and Minsk. Grodno is a city that's located near the Polish border and all independent information had come from there. The first punk-rock band that became the generator of all the anarchy ideas was called DEVIATION. By the way, this band still exists. Minsk is the capital of Belarus, therefore independent punk-rock appeared there quickly too, mostly with the help of a band called HATE TO STATE; bassist from this band was also busy with “NO MANIPULATION” distro and published “DON’T PANIC!” fanzine. And it's not surprising that these things helped developing and extending new DIY-ideas in the country. In the beginning of 2000th a set of different punk-hardcore bands has appeared. But in almost every case, these were bands which existed for a really short time, played just 1-2 gigs and then broke up not more then in a year. Sometimes they made a recording. There were many of them, but now almost everyone broke up.
From the outset of the DIY scene development we know just some attempt of squatting. Sometimes guys just rented a flat for a really miserable price and lived there. One of the most famous place, which was evicted few years ago, is a squat “MASTERSKAYA”, which was active for a few months in 2008. By the way, the film about this squat was created in Russian and is available with English subtitles. Link here: www.375crew.org (last news; click on the words “скачать”). This site was not updated for more than a year, but there it is possible to find some information about Belarusian scene and download some .mp3 of Belorussian bands, which existed earlier or exist this very moment.
Today we don't have as many bands as for example on the period of 2003-2008. In that time bands were created even in the small towns. But some bands still exist, we have gigs and it’s excellent! Probably, now small towns have many bands too, but they're absolutely underground and we cannot hear anything about them. So, here is the list of the most active bands for this moment with their short descriptions and contacts, which were possible to find:
DEVIATION (Grodno) – formed in 1995. As we wrote, it’s one of the first bands. They are playing punk rock sometimes mixed it with folk elements. They have clear anarchist position and really politized lyrics. 4 full albums were recorded and set of gigs in Belarus was set.
PARTIYA (Minsk) – was formed in 2000 and is also one of the oldest bands of Belarusian scene. They started to play middle tempo punk rock, but gradually sped up and began to play harder. As a result, they are playing powerful and fast crust punk. The band had played lots of gigs in Belorussia, during 2007-2010 made 5 tours for Europe, and also gave concerts in the neighbour countries. For the more detailed information, discography and for the downloading of records you should check their myspace (the link below) or this link:
www.primitive-distro.blogspot.com (section «PARTiYA»)
DESTROYERS (Minsk) – was formed in 2003 and is playing punk-hardcore. It’s one of the UK82 style bands, that are still playing. The band has 3 good albums. Now they are recording a new album. And they visited near and distant foreign countries several times.
BAGNA (Grodno) – the band appeared in 2005 after the legendary Grodno band
CONTRA LA CONTRA's breaking up. They are playing melodic d-beat/crust punk with nice politized lyrics. It’s one of the best bands in Belarus this moment. They have 2 splits (split CD w/I KNOW from Minsk and split 7” EP w/SKARPRETTER from Denmark) + unreleased tracks. They visited Europe with tours too.
I KNOW (Minsk) – the band appeared in 2005 and plays melodic crust-punk with anarcho-lyrics. Several time they visited Europe with tours and they’re known enough there. Discography: split CD w/BAGNA, split CD w/STAGNATION IS DEATH from Poland, and also 10” and 7”. Now they’re preparing to release a split CD w/ E123 from Russia.
BRUD KROU (Minsk) – another band from the capital city. They’re playing something similar to crust-hardcore with elements of the Swedish old-school hardcore. Also, as many Belarusian bands of this genre, they have very politized lyrics. They have one demo and split 7” w/ZORKA from Russia. At the moment the group is not playing...
I HOPE YOU DIE (Grodno) – the band was formed in 2006, and is playing melodic hardcore/crust. They recorded two demos and one EP. It's been told that band has broken up, but it’s not a fact. The band is very good, playing music of good quality with not less qualitative lyrics.
ALL DAY NIGHT (Minsk) – young enough, but already quite famous band, they were the first, who started playing neo-crust/dark hardcore here. Excellent sound and excellent lyrics. They recorded their debut album and visited Russia with mini-tour. Now they’re very active, often have gigs, and I hope that in future they’ll get success.
KAWAKAMI NIGHTMARE (Gomel/Kiev, Ukraine) – the band with the members from different cities. They’re playing noise and filthy d-beat with influence of DISCLOSE. Enough young band, had played some gigs and had recorded one demo and split CD w/DISGÖD from Indonesia.
DISHARMONIA (Gomel) – the first Belarusian band, which started to play d-beat/punk here. Young band, but perspective. Had recorded one album.
TOO MUCH BRAINS (Minsk) – one more young band (2009), which playing punk-hardcore. Sometimes they have playing gigs. Had recorded split with the next band:
DAMAGES (from Minsk too) – on this moment they’re in the process of recording a songs for split with Ukrainian band NE ZLAMATY!
VSIO VRANYO (Mogilev) – was formed by some ex-members of SIN PUESTO – the first D.I.Y. punk-hardcore band in Mogilev. They’re playing crust/hardcore with two male vocals.
ABSURD (from the Belorussian hinterland) – they’re exists from 2004 and playing punk-rock. They have some recordings and some splits.
MONDAY SUICIDE (Grodno) – was formed in the ending of 2010. They have one 5-songs demo of cool garage punk-rock.
And about another band you can to read on their myspace accounts:
PULL OUT ON EYE (Minsk)
FACE FORWARD (Minsk)
SORTA (Gomel)
It’s not all bands which playing on this moment. Only those bands that we could call to remembrance. Many bands (as stated above) sometimes have formed, sometimes have broken up. We can’t keep track of all events here.
On this moment among more or less active distros/labels we can mention the next (most of sites on Russian language):
«PRIMITIVE-DISTRO» distro | label:
okpunkrock@gmail.com
«CRIMECHORDS» distro | label:
syrtrudmai@yandex.ru
«ROAD TO FREEDOM» distro | label:
roadtofreedom32@gmail.com
«REVIVE!» distro | label:
revivedistro@mail.ru
«EVIL PUNK RECORDS» distro | label:
evil-distrex@yandex.ru
«PODPOL REVOLT» distro | label:
absurdity_86@mail.ru
What about topical and still producing fanzines that in this plan the situation is not very perspective, here's just some from: «оD.I.Y.sya!» (Minsk, www.primitive-distro.blogspot.com (go in section «оD.I.Y.sya!» , you can download there some issues); «UNTIMES» (Gomel; squatyourself(A)gmail.com); «TRYZNAS-KEFIRAS» (Minsk; yesfuture(A)gmail.com); «LOVE MUSIC HATE FASCISM» (Minsk; lmhf_zine(A)mail.ru)…
Thank for your attention! If you have some questions, propositions or just desire to communicate – write to us.
Scene report’s writing took part are:
Eugenio (squatyourself@gmail.com)
Mysh (okpunkrock@gmail.com)
