Click here to read the interview in Spanish | ENTREVISTA (ESP)

‘Borghetti Crew’ is the title of the split album between the band Azione Diretta, often featured in our pages, and Brigade Loco from Bergara, in Euskadi. The release date, 13.12, is not at all casual for two politically-minded bands. Precisely on the occasion of the release of this split, we decided to ask a few questions to this Basque band, which already has several releases under its belt.

Radio Punk: Hi Brigada Loco, this is Radio Punk… Nice to meet you! Your name has recently resonated on the Italian social pages for a project together with Perugia’s Direct Action! Let’s start with this: how was this project born and how does it develop?

Brigade Loco: The project was born thanks to the friendship born during the trip we made to Rome in April 2019, for the Acrobax Shout festival at the Cinodromo. There we coincided with different groups and among them was Azione Diretta, with whom we made a certain relationship. They invited us on Monday to go to the Curva Nord Perugina for the Perugia-Lecce match and there began a relationship that lasts until today. Later we could invite them to Bergara to play in the gaztetxe (social center) along with Madbeat and some local bands and let’s say that from that day began the first ideas of doing something together in the future.

Radio Punk: From what we see there are two things that make you very similar to your fellow adventurers Perugini, the link with your land and the passion for soccer, what do you say to this?

Brigade Loco: The truth is that they are two points in common and two key points for us. We are proud to be Basque and to live in Euskal Herria. We are deeply rooted in our land and our culture. The soccer theme has also been important. Brigade Loco has always had the south end of Anoeta as a meeting point. We like to go to the south end of the stadium on match days of our team, Real Sociedad.
Also, that soccer match in the north curve of Perugia influenced the relationship between both musical groups.

Radio Punk: Have you already listened to the songs of your last album “Aurrera Doa” and “Solo per en control”, what do they talk about?

Brigade Loco: “Aurrera doa” is a song about self-improvement. It talks about how important it is to fight for yourself in the worst moments. Life is a constant struggle. “Solo pero en control” is a version of the band “Fiachras” that we followed a long time ago (nowadays unfortunately they are no longer active). It tells the story of Lope de Aguirre, a Basque conquistador, known for his brutality and for declaring war on the Spanish empire, being himself a conquistador sent by the Spanish crown to South America in the 16th century.

Radio Punk: We use the musical answer to enter the political sphere, for years the Italian comrades have maintained and imprisoned the Basque independence struggle as a reference point. What is the situation? 

Brigade Loco: Today, with the armed revolutionary cycle already finished, the situation of the historical left-wing pro-independence movement is more focused on the electoral struggle and on disputing the hegemony of the Basque bourgeoisie and on bringing the political prisoners to Euskal Herria. At the same time, other groups emerge with more autonomous dyes and with messages and demands closer to communism and the proletariat.

Radio Punk: Let’s go back to the music… Do you have any future plans to play in Italy?

Brigade Loco: We would love to play in Italy again and if possible in more than one place to keep getting to know new realities and experiences.

Radio Punk: Can you describe the punk music scene in Euskadi? Tell us your impression

Brigade Loco: We refer to the scene in which we move as “street music” in which we include punk, oi, punk-rock, folk-rock… where the important thing is the attitude and the coherence of the bands. Let’s say that the health of the scene is quite good. Bands are coming out in the last few years, and many concerts and new festivals are being organized, many of them self-managed. We think it’s important that the scene is alive and active and that young people feel attracted to it to keep it alive.

Radio Punk: Last question NO, in a small space to say whatever you want, absolutely free subject…

Brigade Loco: Thank you very much for this opportunity, we hope to see you soon on Italian lands and a greeting to all the comrades who support the scene there! Daje forte!

Credit Photo: Aingeru Bidaurreta Photography

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L'articolo Interview with Brigade Loco (EN-ESP) proviene da Radio Punk.

After meeting him in the hills of Euskadi (Basque Country), we decided to have a chat with Eduard of Mendeku Diskak (Revenge records in Basque), punk, hardcore, and oi! label based in Euskadi. Knowing that there is a lot to say, the very short intro ends here, enjoy this interview!

Radio Punk: Kaixo! As promised, here we are for the interview! After our last meeting (thanks again for your availability) I had a lot of questions in my head, but let’s start from the beginning… In case someone doesn’t know you, would you like to introduce yourself? How long has Mendeku Diskak existed and the usual things…

Mendeku Diskak: Hi Max! Thanks for your interest in Mendeku Diskak!! My name is Eduard and I’m originally from Valencia, I moved to the Basque Country in 2014 and the label started in 2017. I was friends with some members of the band ORREAGA 778 before moving here, we knew each other from other punk bands they were involved with in the past and once I moved here we used to hang out quite often. Then we started collaborating: driving them to gigs with my van, taking care of their merch, helping out with their internet presence, etc. At some point, it came up with the idea to release their records and that’s how the label started.

RP: One thing that immediately struck me is your extreme passion, for music as well as DIY, which can be exemplified by the second promo tape (which you let us have and it’s a blast), would you like to explain the idea behind this and the first tape? Why produce a tape of exclusive tracks in 2022?

MD: The idea was to do something different in order to promote new releases and at the same time support the punk media projects like radio programs, fanzines, webzines, etc, sending them songs that were not available on the internet so that could attract attention to their projects. With social media, youtube, etc it seems that they are losing importance because bands can “communicate” directly with fans, so it was a way of giving them preference and highlighting their job in the scene. A part from that,  I’m not a fan of the spam promotion on social media, it makes me lose interest when a band or a label is promoting insistently even months before the record is out,  posting this and that, rehearsals, recording sessions,  sneak peeks of their cover art, etc, etc, it’s too much for me. So I didn’t want to do the same and I came up with the idea of releasing a promo tape with songs that initially can just be listened to on the radio programs that play them. In general, people loved the idea and it had a great impact.

RP: Another aspect that I find very interesting: I’ve noticed that you pay a lot of attention to detail: you can see it for example with the production of the Ogro cassette, or if you notice the utmost care in the various vinyl (paper weight, inserts, etc.). It seems to be a good way to give importance to the punk subculture/counterculture and sometimes a little is enough, would you like to tell us your opinion?

MD: As with the Promo Kasetea, I wanted to do something a bit different with the other releases, and the way is using different materials for a more personal/original touch. If we press all our records at the same pressing plants and use the same type of cardstocks and finishes, it’s sort of boring, industrial production for mass consumption. But it’s not easy at all, I’ve been struggling with different print shops, high costs, delivery troubles, etc, so I’m not sure how’s gonna be in the future. Making things different is always more difficult and more expensive, but I think it’s worth it to buy nice-looking releases with great printed materials. I get very disappointed when I buy records and you can see that they used the cheapest option for the printed materials, it’s like they don’t care, they just want to save on production costs. So for my releases, I didn’t want that. Besides the fact that nowadays everybody can “consume” music in many cheap/free ways thanks to the internet, songs just become files online, and for me, it’s very important also the presentation, the art, the image, the textures, it’s like a piece of art that you can listen to, see, feel/touch, etc.  I think people who make the effort to pay for a physical release deserve something nice in return, not cheap and shitty stuff.

RP: We are very pleased to see that you often produce bands in their early days, it’s a good bet for a label and we believe it is at the same time essential to keep punk alive. So we take the opportunity to ask you what you think of the Basque, Spanish, and Catalan scenes… in short, do you see anything new? Is there turmoil?

MD: Yeah I’ve released lots of new bands, demos, demos pressed on vinyl, I think it’s important for the personality of a label to bring out new bands that are the in same line stylistically. I love to discover new bands and if they make an impact on me and fit in with what I think is Mendeku’s world regarding to the music, the ideas, and the art,  then I offer them to work together on a release.

About the scenes, like everything in life, you can find a lot of mediocre stuff and a little bit of really good outstanding stuff. What I always look for in the bands I release is that they offer something different and special, not the copy of the copy of the cliche, I appreciate originality and personality. Some bands and people (potential record buyers or concertgoers) are happy with the standards and not stepping out of the line, and I’m fine with that, but it’s just not my thing. My main focus is on those who have a more critical approach, a different eye, and taste, the ones who are able to assimilate, filtrate, and produce something with a twist rather than copy or replicate, so they can do something really unique and personal.

RP: Out of context question, you’re not Basque if I’m not mistaken… can we ask you what led you to go and live in Euskadi? Would you like to tell us an anecdote about your move?

MD: Yeah I’m from Valencia, but I was sick and tired of living there, needed fresh air, wanted to change my life at the moment. Me and my girlfriend felt that the Basque Country was a good option, we like the weather, the mountains, the musical-cultural-political history, the fact that is in many aspects like living outside of “Spain”, we thought we were going to have a better chance in life being here, that’s why we moved.

RP: A topical question, what about Spotify, Bandcamp, Youtube? I ask because while chatting we touched on the subject. Do you see social media as an opportunity to distribute music or do you also see a danger that music can sell out and DIY lose importance?

MD: for the bands, all means of promotion are always good, especially with younger generations that base their lives on their phones. As a record label, I basically use Bandcamp because I like the setup, it’s like a showroom where you can click in and listen to or download all the releases of the label, all together and organized chronologically, it looks nice, it’s useful and makes sense. I hardly post anything on the label’s Youtube channel, only a few videos from the bands I release. About Spotify i don’t use it and I don’t really have any interest. But I encourage the bands I release to post their stuff there if that helps reach more people. At the end of all they are all means to an end, in the internet era the means have changed so we all should adapt, but personally, I still believe i’m just a record label, I release records, that’s my job.

RP: An inevitable question about Basque punk, starting with Kortatu and Negu Gorriak up to more recent times many bands have decided to sing in Basque, a strong political choice if you consider that in Franco’s time speaking Basque was illegal… Do you think this choice is still maintained or do younger bands prefer to sing in Spanish or English to be more ‘understandable’ and to target a wider market?

MD: It’s been always bands singing in Spanish and bands singing in basque, from the early punk bands some chose basque language, like Kortatu (although the early stuff was in Spanish and they learned basque along the way) Delirium Tremens, Baldin Bada, Jotakie, Hertzainak, Zarama, most of these bands came from basque speaking families and smaller towns. Then you have Cicatriz, RIP, Vulpes, Eskorbuto, Vómito, La Polla Records, coming from bigger industrial cities/towns, some of them from families that migrated to the Basque Country from other parts of the Spanish state, who didn’t really speak basque nor used in their songs. 

Nowadays this split still exists, although since the 80’s kids learn it in school and must have a certain level of proficiency, not all of them choose the basque language for their lyrics, let’s say the bands that do it it’s because they have a more activist approach to the language, it’s still a political battle and they want to reflect it with their songs or just because it’s normal for them to express themselves in basque because they are natural speakers. I guess some bands that choose Spanish feel more comfortable to express themselves in Spanish, probably thinking that they can have a wider audience or simply they don’t have that activist approach to the language issue, they just don’t care that much. The ones who sing in English…I don’t really understand why they do it, if they think it’s gonna give them more exposure I doubt it. You get exposure when your music is good. And the most terrible thing about singing in English is having a thick non-English accent. It sounds like a joke.

I personally prefer that the bands I release from the Basque Country would sing in Basque, I think it’s a beautiful language, aggressive sounding, unique, complicated, diverse, but at the end of all it just depends on the bands themselves, whatever they choose I have to respect it.

RP: Having touched on political themes we ask you, how important is politics to you in the choice of the groups you produce? You note that there are a number of shared values (anti-fascism and anti-capitalism for example), but how much weight does this have for you?

MD: Honestly not much anymore, I’m 42 and in my youth years politics had great importance for me and everything I did. But the years pass by and the disappointments, the frustrations and the questioning comes, it doesn’t mean that one is switching sides or believing in opposite ideas, it’s just that you give it less importance to the fact of voicing constantly strong opinions or tend to relativize things a bit. I don’t have the need for a constant political speech anymore in my life. I prefer when facts speak, not when there’s much talk and propaganda. I run a record label and my main focus is the music, of course with proper lyrics or nice ideas involved but i’m just releasing records, not political campaings. I did it in the past so I felt I had to do something different this time. I obviously will never release anything that goes against my principles, can’t stand any sexist, homophobic or racist shit, that’s obvious, and none of the bands I work with would ever have lyrics promoting fucked up ideas or attitudes.

RP: Let’s go back to simpler questions, would you like to tell us an anecdote of the craziest/weirdest/funniest thing that happened to you with a band or at a concert?

MD: To be honest I can’t really think of really funny stuff, maybe it was funny when it happened or among the people that happened to but remembering it out of context doesn’t seem so funny. I had a few weird encounters with police officers while driving bands on your, in France, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Spain, the Guardia Civil are assholes and very politically motivated. In general it’s been always the “are you carrying drugs?” thing. In Poland a couple of police officers tried to rip me off showing me a fake radar stating that I was going too fast, after a discussion and with the language barrier we could go and they didn’t see a fucking sloty from me…
Getting lost on the road is something nowadays seems impossible to believe, but yeah, I did tours before the GPS was common and that shit happened, asking for directions, going round and round the same area without finding the spot, etc etc.
Got a bunch of flat tires on the highway, not fun at all to unload the whole van and change tires… Got terribly sick a couple of times, one with respiratory problems, another one with terrible stomach ache, another one with a broken finger because of a bar fight, I couldn’t drive on that tour anymore, the bandmembers did, had medical assistance in France, then again in the Netherlands, the whole tour went by and I was most of the time on strong painkillers that made me sleep almost the entire driving time…
I’ve seen death really close to us when a huge truck had a crash on the lane next to us on the highway when going through a bridge over the sea in Galicia… I still remember it perfectly and talk about that sometimes with the people who was traveling with me in the van (one of my old bands)

RP: We’re about to run out of questions, you’ve been in the business for a while, you’ve even had a chance to step on stage… Do you have any advice for young labels or small distros?

MD: Not really, I mean, maybe what worked for me doesn’t work for other people or vice versa.  And I’m not sure if I’m really in the position of giving advices to anyone. There’s a lot of stuff you have to learn by yourself, everything related to the work with the pressing plants, the printers, dealing with bands, etc etc, you learn on the way, learning by doing, I keep making mistakes and learning from them, that’s life I guess. You have to try to do things first for yourself, how you feel them and how you want them, and then for others, because if you try to make everybody happy, if you constantly try to please others before yourself,  at some point you’ll get frustrated, and people is gonna use you. 

RP: Before we say goodbye, as we usually do, let’s ask you something not strictly related to punk music, ie: favorite film/favorite book? Favorite non-punk record?

MD: I don’t really have any list of favorites, I enjoy films that are telling a good story and they catch your attention with that. I loved some classic stuff like The Godfather movies for example. I also enjoy most of Tarantino’s stuff, most of Ken Loach movies, Kubrick, sci-fi and dystopian stuff, or Spanish directors like Eloy de La Iglesia (El Pico 1 and 2, Navajeros), Jaume Balagueró (Los Sin Nombre) or Alex de La Iglesia (Acción Mutante, El Dia De La Bestia, La Comunidad)

About books, I don’t really have any favourites either, some books made an impact on me because of the age, the time when I read them, my life circumstances, etc. I can tell you the last one I read is “I’m Not Holding Your Coat” from Nancy Barile.

My favorite “non-punk” are definetly from metal bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Slayer or Metallica, mostly their early stuff, I have no interest in whatever they did after the first few records. I also love ACDC. The last ones I got for my collection were the soundtrack of the 6th season of Game Of Thrones (bought it basically just because of the song “Light Of The Seven” ) some hip hop like Wu Tang Clan and Notorious B.I.G. or some Death Metal like Necrot and Undergang.

Interview by Max

Support us:

We are a DIY project and you can support us, if you like, in the following ways:
– you can take a look at our catalog and order records, CDs, books, pins, and more;
– you can join our open call with a previously unpublished article.

L'articolo Interview with Mendeku Diskak proviene da Radio Punk.

For this episode of Lost and Found, I would like to present to you, for no particular reason, three records of three quite different genres, from three different places on the European continent… maybe they have something in common, maybe not.
As far as I’m concerned, I simply liked them and I really think they deserve at least one listen, then it’s up to you! Enjoy reading (and listening)!

Kronstadt – Quai de l’Ouest

A couple of months ago, quite by chance, I came across the latest release by the French band Kronstadt from Lille, entitled ‘Quai de l’Ouest’. Intrigued and attracted by the band’s name (I’m a simple person: I recognize a reference and I dive into it, as the second band in this article confirms) I put on my headphones and pressed play. The first chords start, followed shortly by a pressing rhythm, the voice starts, simple structure: verse-chorus-verse with some very short solo in the middle. Ok the first track is gone, they almost convinced me, but I’m curious, I want to understand the lyrics. Relying on Bandcamp and an online translator I start deciphering song after song. Result: already at the first track, when I got to the verse “Comme un feu de flammes, on brûle d’envie d’exploser“, I was convinced and bought the album in digital format… I said before, I am a simple person after all.

Leaving aside my silly thoughts here’s to you some overall comments: ‘Quai de l’Ouest’ is a tasty record, it doesn’t bore, when it seems that the tracks start to resemble each other there is some variation that keeps the curiosity alive, the lyrics are interesting and well written. An excellent taste of French punk.

A band to keep an eye on (on Bandcamp, they are not present on other social networks) under the theme ‘Amour & Anarchie’. What else should I add? 

OGRO – S/T

Always in my random wanderings around the web, I come across this video on youtube…

Immediately I think… IF THEY ARE CALLED OGRO THEY CAN NOT BE SPANISH, SURE THEY ARE BASQUE. While I’m mumbling, I click play… Ok, if before I took you to France with quite melodic punk sounds, now we are in Euskadi, immersed in a wild punk with a good dose of hardcore.

In this case, I can’t find the lyrics, poking around, with a minimum amount of effort because even in this case the band is allergic to social networks (after some days that I wrote this article I found they have a new Instagram account) I can understand that the band comes from Bermeo, Euskadi precisely, and that there is a physical format of this album: 250 copies in audio cassette format with printed bag, cassette holder, booklet, pins, and various gadgets. Pure DIY, that’s amazing!

As for the music: rough vocals, pressing the rhythm, pounding bass and drums, lashing guitars… 6 tracks for 11 minutes that pass too quickly.

If you like hardcore and DIY this is a pearl not to be missed! 

I Giugliola – Oh povero te!

Here we are at the last record of this Lost and Found, after two foreign releases I come back home. Once again, we change genre, discovering the Polp-Rock of Giugliola, a band from Verona. The band’s sounds can be distracting and confusing, as we go from a 4/4 track to a 9/8 one… Don’t jump to conclusions, they play Polp-Rock but the Giugliolis have a real punk soul. Click on play, let yourself be captured by the first arabesque notes of the record and you will be immediately catapulted into the ‘great discomfort’ of the Veneto province. Congratulations to I Giugliola for having dedicated this first song to Caldiero, a pleasant village and at the same time a symbolic non-place in the deep Veneto province… 

Each track on the album tells a story, in a funny and irreverent way. The lyrics juggle puns and uncomfortable truths, delivering a precise blow to the tranquillity of everyday life. Trust me, the next time you have a coffee at the bar, nothing will be the same.

Musically the album is very varied, between choruses and solos you will never get bored! A good bass that pushes, drums always precise, keyboards with the right amount of psychedelia, solid guitars, and a voice always ringing that accompanies us from one story to another, nothing is really missing! Excellent musical quality for a really complete and well-made album.

Oh poor you, if you didn’t know Giugliola yet, know them now!

Article by Max

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L'articolo Lost and Found 7 – Kronstadt, Ogro and I Giugliola proviene da Radio Punk.