Please give a brief history of the band, including current line up.
Dogshit: Brezhnev started in October 1988 and in all those
years I've never heard a 'brief' history, buy I'll try to keep it interesting.
The original line-up kept it together for 8 years, toured through out Europe,
brought out a full lenght CD and numerous 7 inch releases, plus compilations
too boring to name. Than Heidi the singer got run out for 'health' reasons
which were making it impossible for him to tour. After a German tour with
some 50 years old pervert from Leeds singing, I got sent by God himself to
save the Brezhnev-boys from oblivion. This I've managed to do...........just!
Like very good punk band Brezhnev seems on the verge of self-destruction
twice a week though in the 4-5 years since I've joined we've brought out
one terrible 7 inch, a kick ass full-lenght (North America Sucks), a tribute
album to ourselves (Decade: A Tribute To 10 Years Destroyka Punk) and we've
kicked out about 4 guitar players.
We now have the best line-up ever with Oeb Madskull (Drums), Motor (Bass),
Dogshit (Mic) and Mini-Manson (Guitar). We also have 15 of the best new songs
which we will be recording in November for the new Brezhnev album.
Discography.
Brezhnev debut - 1991
Join the Party - 1994
...In Vladiwookstock CD - 1995
Rocket to America - 1996
Steak Canadian - 1997
Norht America Sucks CD/LP - 1998
Decade; Tribute to Destroyka Punk - 1999
WWW. Bullshit/Control CD - January 2002
Why did you choose the name Brezhnev?
Dogshit: I've got no fuckin' idea and really it's a pretty
stupid name except you don't have ta worry about anybody wanting to take
it off ya!. Folk legend tells a story about how the original guitar player,
Ola Carbona, had met the man himself and had been so impressed with how a
man who was obviously in a coma could so effectively fuck up a country that
he decided to pay tribute to him in much the same way other bands from 80's
did with that other braindead leader Reagan. Most people we meet these days
have never heard of Leonid Brezhnev so they don't konw we picked it off a
Russian Party Chairman............ oh well.
Describe your sound.
Dogshit: Fucking loud........I think I'm going deaf! But
our sound seems to be changin all the time. Ten years ago Brezhnev was known
for Pistols/Ramones kinda punk, from the -Rocket to America (1996) through
Norht America Sucks we definately went way 80's hardcore and now I think
the new album is hardcore but with alot more Punk than the last record. If
I had to describe our sound in one word it would be: INTENSE
How did you find the U.K. scene on your last tour, compared
to the scene in the Netherlands?
Dogshit: We had a blast in the U.K. which is why we're
coming back in October. You can't really compare the Dutch and U.K. scenes
cause their completely different: Holland is very organized and there's a
lot more money about for bands whereas in Britain the scen survives in the
face of alot of disadvantages and in some ways that makes it better thouh
it might not always feel like it. One of the parts of the U.K. scene that
smokes all over the Netherpunk scene is the Brit fanzines are way better.
Lots of cool small zines whereas over here it's like zines always have to
have a glossy cover and a run of 5000 from issue #1 meaning they rarly get
past issue #6. It's been my experience that when punk zines make they're
priority an expensive presentation or a certain run number with a too frequent
deadline they start neglecting the things that really matter like getting
back to people and bands or the person that sends in their 3 dollar for a
copy. I've had this problem with most big 'punk' zines including 'Fracture'
and 'Reason to Believe'. Keep it small keep it punk.
What is the funniest thing that has happened to you whilst
touring?
Dogshit: Shit that happens on tour that leaves you dieing
with laughter often sounds stupid when you try to tell somebody later and
stuff that seems like fuckin' torture on tour is pretty amusing after a couple
days at home. Brezhnev has fun on the road as we always leave our hate for
each other at home and unlike most bands touring more often than not will
sae the band rather than finish it off. One time Motor was barfing alot and
managed to puke through his nose which I didn't know was possible and than
he threw up all over the hood of a big Mercedes while the fat German and
his son watched from the front seat. We had a real blast on tour with the
Bloody Sods in Germany last year when our crazy driver Wab shamed those yank
rednecks in an ass licking competition. We've done the classic of running
out of petrol on the Autobahn and than spent 2 hours driving around looking
for the venue in the wrong city........ funny as fuck lator but pretty grim
at the time.
Do you do any covers in your live set, if so what?
Dogshit: Your damn tootin' we do! And we've done it so well
for so long it's become a Brezhnev Classic.......... 'Proud to be a Canadian'
by the Dayglo Abortions. We love that song and have alot of fun with it so
I don't think we'll be droping it from the set any decade soon. We wanted
to do a Plasmatics cover but the logistics of the whole venture proved overwhelming
so we'll just stick with our Dayglos ditty.
What bands would you recommend checking out?
Dogshit: Some bands I've seen live in the last while that
I really liked are The Real McKenzies, Oppressed Logic, The Donnas, Seein'
Red, Zeke, The Bloody Sods, NRA, Human Alert, Voorhees and The Nitwitz. Mostly
I recommend checkin' out unknown punkbands that play anywhere near you. I
mean lets face it, 60 nutters freakin' to a no-name punk band playin' on
a carpet in a shit hole is a Real Punk Show!
Plans, gigs and releases planned for 2001.
Dogshit: The Hammer n' Sickos U.K. Tour 2001 starts in Boston
on October 5th and the rest of the dates will be somewhere on this website.
After that we go straight into the studio to record what will be our new
album: 'WWW.Bullshit/Control' which will hopefully be out by 2002 but we're
looking for a new label as our old label Vitaminepillen dropped us after
we started making tribute albums for ourselves........... Anyway we're pretty
happy with the songs for the new album and are pretty confident it's gonna
be a rockin' album so hopefully there'll be loads more fun in 2002!
Any final comments?
Dogshit: Thanks for the interview Rebecca and I hope lots
of people come out and support us on tour and take advantage of our amazing
2 for 1 CD Sale Stunt!! .......... Ya we can't give 'em away fast enough.
If you wanna get in touch drop us a line at:
BREZHNEV
Postbus 57159
1040 BB AMSTERDAM
THE NETHERLANDS
e-mail: dogshit81@hotmail.com / www.xs4all.nl/~fmotor/brezhnev/
|