"Forget apolitical hardcore, that's just about fun and testosterone." That's what Dario, vocalist of Serbian hardcore band Staticø told me via email. "Always stand with minorities, the oppressed, the left behind—anyone suffering injustice, violence, or discrimination. And don’t be afraid to speak out about it, loud and clear," he continued in an exchange about his band's forthcoming album, the fittingly titled Absurdity of this World.
"Staticø started during the COVID pandemic, not really with some grand ambition to be a serious band, but more out of a need to escape the hopelessness and anger of being stuck at home," Dario wrote me. "We’ve been friends for decades, all played in various bands before (some of us together), but none of us had an active project at that point. So we just started jamming to let it all out.
"After we recorded a few songs, people started inviting us to play shows, and Robert from Refuse Records said he was down to put out a 7”. That pushed us to get serious, finish more songs and start practising regularly. After the EP, we added a second guitar, so the current lineup of Statico is: Kuzman, Karanke, Steva, Ilić, and myself."
"Not a Catwalk," the first taste of Absurdity of the World, does a bang-up job of showcasing Staticø's sound, but KAJSLAJSS also took a stab at it: "I wouldn’t say there’s one specific hardcore subgenre or band we were aiming to sound like. People often link us to '80s Italian hardcore because of our name, but honestly, we’ve been shaped by all kinds of scenes—American, Japanese, Yugoslav, Scandinavian, UK—you name it."
With Absurdity of This World scheduled for a late August release, Dario shared some background on the project. "Originally, our longtime friend Robert from Refuse Records was going to release it, but I really wanted local labels to be involved, too. Ordering records from abroad is often expensive for people here, so this way the LP will be more accessible across the Balkans.
"Besides Refuse, it’s also coming out through Out of the Darkness (a Serbian punk zine focused on the ex-Yu scene), Onesnaževanje uma (a new Slovenian label run by our friend Simon), and us as a band—through our label Ayran Sounds (be sure to spell it correctly A-Y-R-A-N, not to be mistook for Aryan. It's a beverage similar to Balkan/Turkish version of yoghurt)."
On the subject matter covered on Absurdity of This World, Dario said the following: "Lyrically, the album is more political than our debut single. Not because we planned it, but because the world has gone completely nuts—so much injustice, despair, rage, and helplessness everywhere.
"We thought COVID was the peak of madness... then came new wars, genocides being live-streamed, horrors we’ve never seen before, the rise of the far right globally, housing insecurity, inflation, economic collapse, obscene wealth inequality, and less freedom and justice for regular people. There’s never been more fuel for anger and lyrics, sadly."
Since it's not often I cover bands from Serbia on the website, I made sure I asked Dario about the hardcore scene there. "In Belgrade, our hometown, the post-COVID period saw a real explosion in the scene, mostly thanks to the DIY space AKAB Okretnica, which unfortunately shut down six months ago. It was the only autonomous venue run by punks, with gigs and events happening several times a week. Now we’re back to booking shows in clubs, so the pace has slowed a bit.
"Across the region, there’s still a lot going on—tons of bands, shows, festivals, and labels. In Serbia, aside from Belgrade, Novi Sad and Smederevo are pretty active. Other cities not so much, but there are some great punk/hardcore festivals in Vojvodina that have been happening for years. In the broader region, Zagreb is leading the way with amazing bands and gigs, followed by Pula, and a bunch of summer hardcore punk festivals all over Croatia.
"Some active Belgrade bands to check out: Majak, Kpax!, Peripetija, Disznotor, Ukor, Urlik, Reckoning, Warthodox, Neven, Eva Ras, 3 AM…"
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Absurdity of This World will begin shipping in early September via Out of the Darkness, Refuse Records, Onesnaževanje uma, and Ayran Sounds. The pre-orders are open now.
Staticø on social media: Instagram
Tagged: statico
