My friend Janis Chakars (Citizens Arrest, Grey C.E.L.L., Hell No) just shared the following with me and I wanted to share it with No Echo's readers. -Carlos Ramirez
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“From the beginning of 2022 all our musical activity is aimed exclusively at charity and support of the armed forces of Ukraine,” says Artem Trubetskoy of the band Sick Solution.
Punks don’t usually rally for armies or wars, but Russia’s full-scale invasion has made defense of the country imperative.
“If Russia stops fighting there will be no more war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine,” says Maria Rubel of the band Pustosh.
The civilian Rubel found herself caught in the middle of a battle where the explosions were so intense, bright, and constant that she could not tell whether it was day or night. Food and communications were scarce. The experience caused her to abandon her pacifist beliefs.
The Philadelphia community radio program “Items of Interest” hosted by Citizens Arrest guitarist Janis Chakars will be airing the stories of Ukrainian punk and hardcore musicians and scene participants and playing their music.
Chakars worked with the Ukrainian punk and metal website Neformat to gather the testimonies.
The radio show includes Andriy Zholob of the band Beton, who got a lot of attention at the start of the war with a cover of The Clash’s London Calling rendered by permission as Kyiv Calling. Zholob just finished a tour of duty as a military doctor.
This is not the first attempt by Chakars to bring the plight of Ukrainians to the attention of Americans. In 2022, at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he and Derik Moore, who he plays with in Citizens Arrest and Grey C.E.L.L. put together the compilation album Band Together: A Benefit for Ukraine, which included seven Ukrainian bands, two of which are on the radio show.
The benefit album received a lot of attention in mainstream media outlets like The Philadelphia Inquirer and WHYY.
You can listen to the program on G-Town Radio (WGGT-LP) at 92.9 FM in Northwest Philadelphia, at gtownradio.com, or by asking your smart speaker to play G-Town Radio. The show airs Friday, June 7, 5:00-6:00 p.m. East Coast time.
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