Srecko (my brother) and I live door by door with Zoran, the drummer since 1983. So we are friends since we were kids. Darko and Zoran were classmates in primary and high school, where they actually formed Potres in 1991. After six years, in 1996 Srecko and I have joined Potres and until 1998 we have played in this line up: Darko – guitar, Zoran – drums, Srecko – bass and Borko – vocal.

In the year 1998, after we recorded ‘The Third Shift’ CD for ex- Sick Mind Records, Malisa (guitar) came to Potres as a substitution for Dusan who was a band member just for short. Since 1998 we play with Malisa on a lead guitar and I think that this is finally the winning combination. We are all great friends and everything seems to be perfect. Why get together for a bend? Well, I suppose that it was at the very beginning just a high school fun. After that it growth up in an open rebellion against the Milosevic’s regime. Now, when that bastard is where he should be ten years ago, I’m afraid that there is nothing left to sing about. So, we are forced to make love songs… ha-ha!!!

There are no main themes, actually in new songs. They are all different among themselves. Some of them are about people’s stupidity, others about every day life, love, hate, football, our society which is in a middle of transition process, ourselves, etc. Musically people can expect much better Potres then on ‘The third Shift’, basically it is a punk rock with a lot of influence from different junk we all listen.

That period was very hard for all of us. Since 1997 when we recorded previous CD, until 2003 when the new one was recorded a lot’s of trouble came to us. First there was a NATO bombing in 1998, after that we fought against Milosevic’s regime, had some troubles in personal lives, etc. We didn’t want to rush with the new CD. Songs were made one by one, corrected many times, some were rejected. After all, Potres is our hobby, not a job. I can’t tell you anything about new CD or when it’s going to be. I suppose not soon.

Potres does have many meanings in Serbian language. It could be translated as quake, shake, shock, concussion, convulsion, etc. I think that nobody remember why we picked up that name. One for sure is that we shake the ground when we play, yeah!!!

At the very moment there are just a few bands in Serbia that play this sort of music. Globally, the scene is OK, you can find a lot of gigs every day, kids are making zines, forming new bands, trying to do something new. Mostly kids are playing some hardcore or California punk style. Oi/Punk bands are very rare. New bands usually split of before they record anything and the old ones, like us, play here and there, and wait for years to record something new.

After we broke the ‘wall’ of blockade, many foreign bands run to our country as a fresh new market to earn more money. In just 2 – 3 years we saw many famous and infamous bands like Metallica, Iggy Pop, Massive attack, but also some worth seeing like Red Alert, PTTB etc. Those gigs are pretty expensive for our standards, but somehow, we manage to see everything that we love. I would like to see alive Dropkick Murphy’s, because they are my favorites, but I don’t know if it is going to happened ever.

We’ve played so much covers in our history that I really can’t remember all of them. At the moment we are playing We Are the Boys (Blitz), Take’em all (Cock Sparrer), cover of some Serbian old bands etc.

For me or you ask for definition? It is my way of fighting and surviving, way to be what I am, good time with mates, my youth and my inspiration. It helped me to stay normal during 10 years of wars, sanctions, police beating, having no money, bombing and all other ‘usual’ things in Serbia.

All plans are stopped considering Malisa’s departure to army. We shall play some smaller gigs and we plan to go to Bulgaria on 18th. of august this year to play some gigs with another band from Serbia (Totalni Klosari). No new releases until we see what is going to happened with new CD and until Malisa come back from army.

Thank you for interview, I hope that people in UK will like or new CD although we sing in Serbian language. Maybe our next CD will be in English, who knows. Then we will conquer all Europe, ha-ha!! I would like to say hello to Robert/Nordisc, our true friend and man who helped us to survive all the hard years. Thank you mate! Cheers to all punks an skins all over the world!