Interview with PARTiYA

First of all tell me the band's history!

***PARTiYA band was formed in Minsk (Belarus) in September 2000. We are playing crust-punk: sometimes in pretty up-tempo, sometimes in mid-tempo or something of that kind. At first there were 3 guys in the band, starting the summer 2009 there are 4 members.

Today PARTiYA is:
Mysh - vocals
Obezyana - guitar / back-vocal
Elka - bass
Majonez - drums

In 2007-2011 we had five tours and played in Poland, Germany, Czech rep., Slovakia, Slovenia, Belgium, Holland, Lithuania, Switzerland, France, Ukraine, Russia... From time to time we also play in different cities of Belarus.

I know have 2 released stuff, the Childhood, and a split. Others?

***About records (what is usually called discography):
• «A/YA» (we don't distribute it now from our personal considerations)
• «GARAGE-CONCERT» – demo record
• test record which includes 4 tracks. There we experimented with sound. The result wasn't very good. So these songs were not included anywhere
• «PUNK IS MY LIFE!» - record of 2003
• PARTiYA / LOS ESPECTROS - split-disk of bands from Belarus and Puerto-Rico. Songs for a split are taken from «Punk Is My Life!» and «Despierta» records; split was released in Finland in 2004
• «CHILDHOOD» - record which was made at the beginning of 2007
• «LIVE IN BREMEN» (concert in club «Friese» 31.01.2009)

• «STATISTICS» 7 new songs, they were recorded at the end of 2008 and were released as a split with TROTZREAKTION (punk-band from Dresden) on vinyl (7 EP) in Germany at the beginning of 2009.

• «ASSHOLERAISERS» was recorded in april of 2011, we have already this CD now!

And upcoming plans:

CD :______PARTiYA «assholeraisers» (today CDs is available!)

VINYLS:___PARTiYA «assholeraisers» (we still search for labels to release a vinyls! detailed information [here])

SPLIT CD:__PARTiYA / AGATHOCLES (Belgium)

SPLIT CD:__PARTiYA / MISTAKE OF GENETICS (Russia) / HUMANITY REGRESS (Russia)

TAPES:____PARTiYA / KAWAKAMI NIGHTMARE (Belarus)

Who writes the lyrics? I think your lyrics is not so tipical!
Majonez: Our vocalist Mysh writes all lyrics. Yeah, lyrics is not so typical for other punk-bands. I think it is because Mysh is "not so typical" person. he-he))). Sometimes his songs are about social problems, problems of authority and human rights. some lyrics is about personal stuff…
Mysh: In lyrics i touch on many points, that excite me, i try to write about it from my heart. it is for you to decide if i succeed in it. There are comments to my lyrics in booklets of the records «CHILDHOOD» and «ASSHOLERAISERS». I hope that these comments help to understand what i thought and felt in the moment of writing the lyrics.
Your music is so crazy and little bit complex. Do you like the classic punkrock bands? Or crust, and grindcore is better? :) What is your biggest influence?
Majonez: When we started we were listening to local belarusian/russian and polish punk/hc bands. Now I think we have big influence of grind or crust bands such as Agathocles, Nuclear Death terror. For me all diy bands deserve attention. Sometimes I listen to classic punk-rock bands… It depends on mood;
Mysh: The same for me it depends on my mood what kind of music to listen to. i like crustpunk, grindpunk, anarcho-punk bands. But generally i like music of different styles and i like classic punk-rock bands too.

Partiya is DIY band? What do you think about the DIY ethics?
Majonez: Yes, PARTiYA is a diy band. All our records are distributed on Mysh’s «primitive-distro» or other distros. I think DIY ethics is the only way to resist commercial culture. And It is a only way to exist like an independent artist or band.
Mysh: Punk and commerce are absolutely opposite they don’t make sense together. If somebody makes money on punk-rock and calls himself or herself a punk it is very stupid at least. Punk-scene and commerce don’t have anything in common!

Let's talk about Belarus! Say something your country, about the bore weekdays, political system, etc!
Majonez: Most of us are working 8 hours 5 days a week. There is nothing interesting about it I think. After work we try to find time for band-practice or hang up with our friends.
The political system… I think it is dictature. President of Belarus is the last European dictator. There are big troubles with human rights, no independent mass media.
All political actions are restricted. If some guys (not only anarchist, even soc-democrats) try to make some activity on the streets the demonstrations are very brutal repressed. You can find videos on YouTube if you will search for «Police is smashing peaceful demonstration in Minsk» or something like this. It is sad.
Mysh: I would like to add that the situation is getting worse..It is getting worse from the winter of this year. It is normal in our country to stop the demonstration or make a man in prison just because he went out to the centre of the city to express
his silent protest. It is a cop state and to live here is unbearable. If to speak about nature and the rest it is ok here. There are beautiful landscapes, rivers and lakes. You can spend your time well here. Belarussians are considered to be hospitable people. But i am afraid that after all these repressions and infringements people may become angry. I hope that this trouble will go away…

What about the concert in Belarus? Have DIY shows and bookings? You can organize some shows?
Majonez: Sure… we have DIY shows with not only local bands but bands from ex-USSR or EU. Shows are not very often that‘s why a lot of people come to concerts. But we have no squats or independent places. That’s a reason why we rent clubs for show. In summer guys make a lot of garage concerts or open-air parties in forests with diesel generator.)))
Mysh: As i answer these questions long after Majonez unfortunately i have got bad news. So in july cops in civilian clothes entered the club, where we after have punk concerts are often held, the concert should be cancelled and 7 people were taken to the police office. As a result one guy had a criminal case, another guy was underage so police let him go, other guys were fined and were arrested from 5 to 15 days. People just came to the concert and were punished for it.
I am not an organizer of conserts, but i can give contacts of people who do it and i can always help with it. We would be very glad to see you here!!!

And the scene? Bands, zines, webzines?
Majonez: Maybe 10 years ago all belarusian bands played punk-hc, now the situation is little bit different: guys try them in different styles of music such as crust\anarcho punk, neo-crust, classic punk rock, grind core, post-rock, hip-hop etc. Some of them I think are really good.
Mysh: At the beginning of this year my friend Eugenio (KAWAKAMI NIGHTMARE band) and I wrote an article about diy scene in Belarus. But everything changes and there are some new bands. So this article should be corrected, but generally the
information in this article is actual. From time to time i change this article and add something new in it. To download this article click here http://www.mediafire.com/?gdhkj7lo4awkj8g But if this link doesn’t work write me and i will send you a new one.

What is the biggest difference between the west european scenes and the eastern? I'm hungarian and I love some czech, slovakian, Ukrainian bands, but i think this bands not too polular! Why?
Majonez: I don’t know. For me it’s a big question too. Maybe band must make some activity to become popular, to organize some tours, communicate with other bands, play in high-technique. Or it is because people are lazy bastards,not interested in finding something new, or to have new connections. I don’t know.
Mysh: The difference is that european scene has much more freedom and there are places where concerts are held without any problems. I mean squats, independent clubs, pubs, etc. I know some famous (but not popular i think) bands from Czech republic, I know less bands from Slovakia and Ukraine. Now there are many D.I.Y. bands and all of them are trying to do something. May be some bands don’t play such good as others, but anyway they deserve attention. These bands are not so famous but they shouldn’t give up!! To be famous is not a sense of life, ideas are much more important.

Many people around me (me too!) travel west EU to look for work. This is a big social question. What do you think about this?
Majonez: I think “quality of life” take place. People will not leave their houses and families to go many km away to find some job and to send home some money if their life is good. I think it is problem of capitalism and globalization.
Mysh: I don't think that this question can be answered exactly. Many people face the problem of searching a job and all people have their reasons of this problem. It is difficult for me to speak about it as i have never looked for a job in EU. But it is an important problem that should be discussed. But i 100 % agree with you.

What about primitive distro? Just a distro or have some self release?
Mysh: «PRIMITIVE-DISTRO» is mostly distro than something else, but from time to time i make some releases, when i have an opportunity to do it. So it is mostly like distroand a bit lableI. I began just from the distribution of PARTiYA's releases, then «PUNK-ROCK WITHOUT BORDERS» compilations, «oD.I.Y.sia!» zines, and gradually it grew up into distro/label. But you can check yourself how it looks now. If you are interested in some positions for your local distro you are always welcome. Write me if you would like to get something or exchange. I am always interested in distribution of your and my releases in via «primitive-distro».
You can find everything about my distro activity here http://primitive-distro.blogspot.com/ Now i have this blog and add something new there from time to time. I would be glad if you visit my blog. Pay attention that it is not only one page with news. You can find sections «oD.I.Y.sia!» zine, «PUNK-ROCK WITHOUT BORDERS» compilation, PARTiYA
band etc upper on that web-blog. You can download, read the information or listen to music there.

I read organize the Partiya EU tour? Whats the news? Have some fixed dates?
Mysh: Yes, it is true. I hope it will be great and in some days we are going on tour. I am looking forward to going on tour. As there you get great impressions, visit new places, meet new people and so on... We will have conerts in Poland, Germany, Czech republic,
Hungary, Austria, Holland. You can see details here: http://primitive-distro.blogspot.com/2011/08/partiya-assholeraisers-euro-tour-2011.html

The last question: Please give me a list of the “top 10 favorite bands of all time” :)
Majonez: Ha-ha) i think Partiya is №1)))))
Mysh: I am sure that Majonez is kidding. I don’t like any hit parade. I don’t have any list of bands .As i said i like different kind of music depending on my mood. I have some favourite bands but it is not like "top 10". I always listen to much different music. Ok, i can mention some bands that are very important in independent scene from my point of view and i respect them bands and people who bring good ideas into masses.
Such bands are SLAVEBREED, NASUM, AGATHOCLES, MASSGRAVE, HUMAN COMPOST, OLE AND THE ORKS, LA CASA FANTOM, TRIGGER and more others… There are some great belarussian bands that deserve attention for example deviation, CONTRA LA CONRA, HATE TO STATE, BAGNA, I KNOW. You can listen to the music of these bands in the internet and i hope you won’t be disappointed.
At last i want to send my greetings to everyone who knows us. We hope to see you soon. Thank you for waiting for my answers for so a long time. I could answer quicker but i was really busy. Thanks for your attention and interesting questions. And thanks to Alenka Shesterenka and Alesia for help with translation.
SEE YOU!!

Some contacts with us:
okpunkrock@gmail.com
http://primitive-distro.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/partiya