[ SEE YOU IN HELL ]

Interview from Brazilian Nuvem Negra zine issue 1 (May 2009)


* Hi Filip! First, thanks to answer that interview. Please tell to the Brazilian punk/metal maniacs when SYIH was formed and if the line-up is the same until today.
Hi Bonga! Thanx a lot for your interest in our band and for sending some questions! SEE YOU IN HELL started back in 1999 and the line-up was almost the same as today: Jozka - vocals, Tom - bass, me on guitar, used to have different drummer back then and since 2002 Beno plays drums in SEE YOU IN HELL. We have also tried several second guitar-players, currently we have David playing with us occasionally as a guest, when he has a time. In the beginning we have played little different style - it was still hardcore, but more chaotic/metallic and experimental, as we used to be influenced by bands like CATHARSIS, RORSCHACH, ORCHID or BORN AGAINST. Since 2002 with the drummer’s change also our style became more straight forward, more fast and furious raw hardcore/thrash/punk!

* What’s your discography and your planned releases?
Demo 2000, split EP w/MINDLOCK, full EP, split EP w/THE PUBLIC, split EP w/MASSGENOCIDE PROCESS, „Umet se prodat“ {„Market Your Self“} LP/CD/tape, „Utok“ {„Attack“} LP/CD/tape, split EP {soon on miniCD too} w/CROW. We are also on many compilation tapes/CDs/vinyls, some of them are for example „Global Hardcore Noise“ double EP comp. and „Barbaric Thrash Demolition“ double-CD + EP both released in California or on these two compilation, which I put together - „Dying Alive/Living Dead“ LP {w/12 Czech bands, released in 2003} and „Spalte Brno na prach“ {w/12 bands from our city, released in 2008}. Both our albums were re-released on different formats {mostly CD/Cdr} all over the world in countries like Mexico, Japan, Belarus, Russia, Macedonia, Spain, Malaysia or Indonesia, often with translated lyrics to their local language. In Czech we released our last few records on Insane Society and Phobia Records, which are run by our good longtime friends Barvak {he came with us to Brazil in 2007 and will come again this fall} and Mirek. I think they are both the best current Czech labels... By the way the ltd. edition of „Utok“ LP/CD came in silk-screened cloth package and included double DVDr w/our Japanese tour footage and the ltd. edition of split EP w/CROW came with silk-screened cover, was pressed on color vinyl and included double DVDr w/our Brazil tour footage.
As far as the plans go as we have just released the split 7“ w/CROW few days ago, we don’t plan too much right now. Maybe full EP or full LP in 2010, maybe I will do 2nd volume of „Spalte Brno na prach“ LP, as the compilation was really successful {we did more than 1000 copies of the LP!} and it has attracted really good reactions. We will see, no hurry.

* In SYIH sound we see many Japcore influences. First, when you start to get into this type of sound? Second, SYIH was created to play this type of punk music or was natural when you started to practice? Last, Top 5 Japanese bands of all time to you.
Yes, you are totally right, since our first LP, which was released back in 2003, our sound became more and more influenced by classic Japanese hardcore sound. Some of us used to listen to this stuff already long time ago, for example my old band MRTVA BUDOUCNOST used to cover songs by CROW and GAI already back in mid 90’s... Back then it was really difficult to find more Japanese hardcore/punk recordings over here, but I used to be big pen-friend with Kawakami {rest in peace!} from DISCLOSE and with Ryuji from BATTLE OF DISARM in cca 1993 - 1997 and got lots of stuff from them. Also in 1997 BATTLE OF DISARM toured in Europe and I saw them two times, which was great! So in 90’s I listened mostly to Japanese crust/raw punk bands like BATTLE OF DISARM, C.F.D.L., DISCLOSE, ABRAHAMS CROSS, CROCODILE SKINK, FRIGORA, COLLAPSE SOCIETY, GLOOM... Later I found great classic Japancore bands like DEATHSIDE, FORWARD, LIBERATE, ASSFORT, JUDGEMENT, PAINTBOX, GAUZE, WARHEAD, GOUKA or D.S.B. and I would say that these bands are biggest influence to SEE YOU IN HELLs sound today {but of course we are not so good like them, haha!}. We all love their high-energy straight forward hardcore/punk style! Also you should note that most of Japanese bands usually don’t split up after few years and punx don’t leave the scene after just few years of being active like over here, it’s not unusual to see bands in Japan playing for 10, 15, 20 years... they are indestructible, haha! This is very encouraging!
So as I said, we did not played this style right from the beginning, but I think the change of style was slow and kind of natural as it did not happened through one night. Also I don’t think that we imitate Japanese hardcore bands or steal from them. Mostly we just try to take the energy, passion and rawness from them I would say. We have very close relationship to Japan - I visited this country two times as tourist {well, mostly to see shows and to buy records, haha!} and we toured Japan in 2006. Also our friend Shingo released both our records on CD in Japan on his Too Circle Records label. And we have also organized gigs/tours for FRAMTID, NK6, DUDMAN, D.S.B. and VIVISICK here in Czech and Slovakia, which was always a great experience!
It is super-difficult to name just top five Japanese bands of all time, I love dozens of them! But I will try - probably DEATHSIDE, JUDGEMENT, FRAMTID, GAUZE and D.S.B.

* Many people in Brazil love SYIH sound and you, like a person, too, when you toured here for the first time. But we don’t understand your lyrics if we don’t get an English translation, so tell to the people what your lyrics talk about.
I am really happy to hear this since we had a great time in Brazil on our tour - some of the best time of our life! We can’t wait to tour Brazil again this October! Our lyrics are written in Czech language - you know, it’s more natural for us to write lyrics in our original language since obviously we can best express our ideas and feelings this way. We have never thought about singing in English! Also one of the greatest things about hardcore/punk is the cultural diversity - we all love sounds of Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian or Swedish hardcore bands singing in their own language... this rules!
Our older lyrics were more depressive - about alienation of man in modern society, about technologies ruling our life, about break-down of communication and isolation etc. Some of our more recent lyrics are about fighting this shit back, being true to your instincts and attitudes, about never giving up and going straight ahead to fulfill your dreams. As I said, we always try to provide the translations {at least to English - at www.seeyouinhell.cz or on our records}, so anybody interested can check them out.

* Why SYIH don’t have a permanent second guitar player?
Hahaha, that’s a good question! We have tried many people during the first years of our existence, but it had never worked, so we gave up and continued just as 4 piece. We just used our metal-head friend in studio for our two albums to play some hyper-speed complicated solos in few songs. Then, just before our Brazil tour with RATTUS in 2007, we asked another our friend Paaya from FESTA DESPERATO if he would go with us as a guest playing second guitar and he did agreed. After the tour we decided to try another guy {but no hard feelings, Paaya is still good friend of us!}, David, but since he was too busy with his another band THEMA 11 and later moved from Brno to Prague {200 km away} he can not play/practice regularly with us. So we use him only in studio and for some special gigs and tours. He will come with us to Brazil as well. Make sure to check out his other band called TUMMO {THEMA 11 split up few months ago after more than 10 years of playing}, if you like DISFEAR/ENTOMBED - www.myspace.com/tummo666.

* You already tour many countries. What country is the most organized and with the better infra-structure to the bands and audience? What is the worse?
Japan is obviously the most organized country in the world and Japanese hardcore/punk scene is no exception. Perfect p.a. and backline, sound-checks starting already early in the afternoon, really professional clubs {usually small places for 50-100 people only and the sound is really LOUD!}... also Japanese bands are playing short super-intense sets and are really hard-working, which shows in their live performance. But the audience in Japan is not always very crazy, sometimes yes, but sometimes it is quite calm... Also there is no food, drinks and sleeping places arranged for the bands most of the time. I think that the infrastructure for hardcore/punk often reflects the general conditions in the country where you play, so when we travel abroad we usually know what to expect. For example in Germany or Netherlands there is long tradition of squatting movement and the state also financially supports independent youth houses, so everything is usually organized very well there. If you go to places like Brazil, Macedonia or Romania, you know that the backline and p.a. probably won’t be the best, but we don’t cry about it. One of the best things about DIY hardcore/punk scene is the international cooperation, touring abroad, meeting new people, seeing new bands and new countries. And we are very grateful that we have the possibility to travel all over the world with our band!

* What country or region you wanna play and never do it? Why you want to play there?
Well, that’s tough to answer since we have played almost everywhere in Europe + in Japan and in Brazil too, which is really lot of traveling! Maybe next year we will be able to play in Turkey, which could be pretty interesting since not many hardcore/punk bands played there so far, it seems there do exists small scene of underground maniacs... In 2011 we may try to tour USA, which would be a blast, I have seen some shows in the west-coast {Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego...} few years ago, when I was there and they were really good. Also we have helped to many American bands with gigs here in Brno, so I hope we will be able to play there one day too. Also Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia would be great as well! But since we have only 2-3 weeks every year left for touring, I am not sure if we can make it everywhere, haha!

* Why do you choose Brazil to tour again in October of this year? Why so few days here?
As I already said, we had really great time on our first tour in your country! Fabio {SICK TERROR} did really good job with our Brazilian trip back in 2007 and it was great to tour together with RATTUS, who were really cool and friendly guys as well despite their somewhat “legendary” status! We met many cool people who have helped us a lot and saw tons of killer bands and in general we enjoyed our Brazilian visit a lot as there were no problems during this tour, everything was perfect! We hope to repeat this again in few months!
We can tour for two weeks only because we are very busy with other things in our lives as I already said in previous question... but I think it will be OK, just short and intense tour! So far the tour schedule looks like this:
16/10 Belo Horizonte 17/10 Divinopolis 18/10 Rio de Janeiro 19/10 day off 20/10 ??? 21/10 Sao Bernardo do Campo/SP 22/10 Sao Paulo 23/10 Anapolis 24/10 Gama or Brasilia 25/10 Gyn/city
Make sure to check out our website for any updates or feel free to ask Josimas/DISKONTROLL who organizes our tour! We can’t wait!

* What do you know and like about Brazilian "old" punk/metal scene? And nowadays? The best bands for you.
You know, with old Brazilian bands records it used to be really difficult over here - same like with the Japanese ones I mentioned above. In Czechoslovakia {this state split up to Czech and Slovakia in 1993} there used to be Communist totalitarian regime until 1989, which meant among other really fucked up things also the total isolation from outside world, closed borders to “Western” countries, censorship and strict control of culture and youth movements in general. Of course that punk rock and hardcore used to exist here already back in the 80’s, but it was mostly in total underground {illegal gigs, recordings only on dubbed tapes etc.} and due to isolation many of the old Czechoslovakian bands just imitated the best known UK punk bands like THE EXPLOITED or SEX PISTOLS. Hardly anybody knew anything about Swedish, Japanese or Brazilian hardcore back then!
After 1989 {I was 14 when the old regime collapsed} we slowly started to learn about foreign DIY hardcore/punk bands and also about more “exotic” punk scenes. You should remember that back then there was no internet, no myspace, no MP3s... I think that I have heard about Brazilian hardcore for the first time through these Finnish maniacs - “fake Brazilians” {hahaha!} FORCA MACABRA, who have played cover songs by LOBOTOMIA {“Mosh To Die!”}and RATOS DE PORAO {“Paranoia Nuclear!”} and as their drummer Otto found his girlfriend and future wife here in Czech, they have played here quite often in early 90’s! Of course I don’t mention SEPULTURA, which used to be really popular over here among metal-heads back then as well and which were of course the very first Brazilian band I have heard {their “Beneath The Remains” LP}.
From the punk/hardcore stuff I have found out some recordings from OLHO SECO and RATOS DE PORAO first, later also stuff by ROT {very popular band among Czech grindcore maniacs!}, ABUSO SONORO etc. Later I got more and more stuff during 90’s, mostly through record and tape trading. I also started to correspond with some people from Brazil like Junior from MASHER {in 1997 I put together comp. EP called “More Noise By The Nice Boys” with two songs from MASHER!} and Cazela from NOISE... I remember many Brazilian “protest grind/noise” bands from this period - like MAYHEM DECAY CUDGEL, ACAO POSITIVA, NECROSE, STOMACHAL CORROSION, HINFAMY, DEADMOCRACY, STUPID PATRIOTISM, INDUSTRIAL HOLOCAUST etc. I have couple of comp. LPs {“Edge Of Painful Sensation”, “Sem Estilos Para Definir O Nosso Ódio”, “Nao Somos Tao Violentos...”} and various tapes with these bands... really radical ear-bleeding “music”, haha! Then of course I love all these classic bands from the 80’s on compilations like “Ataque Sonoro”, “Sub”, “Contra Ataque”, “Grito Suburbano”, “ABC Hardcore” etc. My favorite bands from this old stuff are obviously RATOS DE PORAO, OLHO DECO, INOCENTES, PSYKOZE... also ARMAGEDOM, LOBOTOMIA, OS REPLICANTES and COLERA {we have played with all these four bands in Brazil or in Europe}. SEE YOU IN HELL also played gigs together with F.D.S., EXECRADORES and ROT here in Europe long time ago! Of course I also like Brazilian raw punk/crust shit, both new and older bands - UTGARD TROLLS, NEUROSE URBANA, DEATH FROM ABOVE, DESASTRE {I tried to help them with their planned European tour few years ago, but it was sadly cancelled, well, at least we have played together in their hometown Gyn-city!}, BESTHOVEN, SCUM NOISE, DISKONTROLL, LIXO, UNDER THREAT, ABALO SESMICO... also 90’s anarchopunk bands from “Cenas Anarcopunk” and “Resistencia Anarcopunk” comp. LPs - EXECRADORES, METROPOLIXO, DISCARGA VIOLENTA, POS GUERRA etc. And finally more recent fastcore/thrash stuff like SICK TERROR, MUKEKA DI RATO, MIERDA, I SHOT CYRUS {by the way, I had their T-shirt on me when my first daughter was born, the hospital demanded that father has to wear a white T-shirt when he wants to be present during the birth and I SHOT CYRUS was only white T-shirt I had back then, all the other were black, haha!}, D.F.C., ALARME, INFECT, ATROZ, REPULSORES, UNIDOS PEL ODIO, FISICOPATAS, SOCIOFOBIA, D.E.R., WC MASCULINO etc. etc. It was great to see some of these bands live when we toured Brazil!
For sure Brazil has one of the best hardcore/punk scenes in the world! I like the energy and rawness of South-American bands in general, also stuff from Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico etc. Please send more Brazilian bands to Europe to tour here - so far we have helped to SICK TERROR, SOCIAL CHAOS and ARMAGEDOM with gigs here in Brno, more bands are welcome!

* The Czech punk/metal underground scene have many great bands, great gigs and festivals and a great vinyl price!!! Tell to the Brazilians how do you see Czech scene nowadays. And say some active Czech bands for the Brazilians listen to.
Well, I think that Czech has really strong and very active hardcore/punk scene already since the 90’s. There are really tons of bands, lots of vinyls {there is one of the last remaining vinyl factories in the world, so many Czech bands still release vinyls}, some good gig places, labels, fanzines etc. I would be an endless list of names if I should talk about everybody, so just very briefly... from the 80s and early 90’s I would definitely recommend recordings by bands like RADEGAST, F.P.B., TELEX, H.N.F., SMRT MLADEHO SEBEVRAHA, A64, KRITICKA SITUACE, STRES, L.D. TOTENKOPF or SVOBODNY SLOVO... They did mostly demo/live tapes only, but some of this stuff was later re-released on vinyl or CDs. In mid 90’s the active crust, raw punk and extreme HC scene started, check out the vinyls by bands like HEARTLINE, CUL DE SAC, NONCONFORMIST {from Slovakia}, PANGS OF REMORSE, MRTVA BUDOUCNOST, LIES AND DISTRUST {they did also split LP w/DISCHORD from Brazil!}, HOW LONG?... Also Czech used to have pretty active and well-known grindcore scene since 90’s, check out the early records from MALIGNANT TUMOUR and also stuff by bands like SOCIAL DEFORMITY, TWISTED TRUTH, SERIOUS MUSIC, NEEDFUL THINGS, INGROWING or PSYCHOPATHIA.
There are tons of bands to recommend from the current scene - from extreme HC/fastcore definitely GRIDE, LYCANTHROPHY, SAY WHY, RABIES, SHEEVA YOGA, DEPRESY MOUSE, PRUMYSLOVA SMRT, KOBRA 11, PRUGELKNABE... from raw punk/crust/d-beat bands like LIFE POSESSION, MASSGENOCIDE PROCESS {r.i.p.}, SICHERHATE SYSTEM, TOMORROWS HELL, HOMO CONSUMENS {r.i.p.}, D.E.I., GUIDED CRADLE {who moved to U.S. last year}, JONESTOWN, DISNEY, DEMARCHE, RED INSECT, RUCE PO OBRNE, MESSERSCHMITT 109, KULMA... from thrash definitely LAHAR, STOLEN LIVES, RAPSOD, RADIOLOKATOR...
I would also like to mention the scene here in Brno and around since there are couple of great bands as well like the crusties RISPOSTA {new LP out soon on Insane Society!}, EVIDENCE SMRTI {great demo out!}, FESTA DESPERATO {now sadly inactive due to drummer’s departure}, KORUBO {also with great demo!} and RESURGO, classic punk bands MAD PIGS {back from Japanese tour, Brazilian tour maybe next year?}, ZEMEZLUC {oldest punk band in Brno!} and THE INTRUDERSS, fastcore maniacs AGE OF DEATH, REAKCE NA ZMENU {r.i.p.} and SCARTO etc. Check out the v/a “Spalte Brno na prach” LP if you want to learn more about our local scene.
Most of these bands have some vinyls/CD’s out, you can also find them on myspace I think.
Some of the best labels are Insane Society, Phobia, Ultima Ratio, Psychocontrol, Papagajuv Hlasatel, Dead Heroes, Clovek, ABACK, Samuel, Malarie, Olga Hepnarova etc. etc. Many records are released in D.I.Y. cooperation of 10 or even more labels putting their money together.
There are many zines, but since 99% of them are written in Czech language, it has not much sense to talk about them, I would just like to recommend the English edition of Drunk Nach Osten zine which is written by Paaya and which you can download here: http://dno.maskcontrol.com. It is 100% dedicated to Eastern European hardcore/punk scene and for me this is one of the best zines around!
About the gig places - in Prague there is Milada squat, 007 Club and some more places, in Brno there is Yacht Club, Vegalite Restaurant and in few months hopefully also new DIY space, in Roznov pod Radhostem there is Vrah Club, in Zlin there is U Tetoura pub... these are the most famous and longest running, but there are some rock clubs, pubs or village halls to play almost everywhere. Also we sometimes organize gigs in our small practice room, which is always a great fun since this place is for only like 30-40 people max. Of course there are some international summer festivals like Play Fast Or Don’t {my favourite!}, Obscene Extreme, Fluff Fest etc.
The most known website about Czech hardcore/punk is www.czechcore .cz, where you can also get the most actual info about gigs organized here. If you are interested in more information, just feel free to contact me!

* We know you played in the 90´s band MRTVA BUDOUCNOST. When and why you get into the DIY scene? You already played in other bands? And the other guys?
Yes, I started MRTVA BUDOUCNOST in 1994 and we split up in 2000. I continued with SEE YOU IN HELL, from the other ex/MRTVA BUDOUCNOST the drummer used to play in PANGS OF REMORSE {extreme HC/power violence style, they split up in 2003 I think}, the bass-player plays in FESTA DESPERATO and EVIDENCE SMRTI, one of the singers used to sing for LYCANTHROPHY for a while and the 2nd singer has emo/post rock band called MY DEAD CAT now. MRTVA BUDOUCNOST released 3 split EPs, 2 LPs, tons of tapes, split tapes, comp. tapes and vinyls, we also toured Europe couple of times... but we are dead for 9 years already and have no plans for comeback.
I got interested in punk scene back in late 80’s and after 1989 started to play in some local punk bands, but nothing so serious or interesting. MRTVA BUDOUCNOST was the first band worth a mention, where I played. Also since 1993 I do my zine called “Hluboka Orba” {27 issues out till now} and since 2003 me + other SYIH members are active with our “United Crusties” gig collective organizing more than 70 shows here in Brno so far for bands from all over the world like MIGRA VIOLENTA, TRAGEDY, 9 SHOCKS TERROR, MUNICIPAL WASTE, BURIAL, PISSCHRIST, DISTRESS, PAVILIONUL 32, BORN/DEAD, LIFE SENTENCE, FUCKED UP, VISIONS OF WAR, CATHETER, GASMASK TERROR, FROM ASHES RISE, GIUDA, HOLOCAUST IN YOUR HEAD, SUMMON THE CROWS, SOTATILA, ACTIVE MINDS, HELLBASTARD, BLOODY PHOENIX, CAPITALIST CASUALTIES, MOB 47 and many many more! LOBOTOMIA will come very soon to play here as well! Also every December we organize the annual “Killed By Brno Festival” with many Czech hardcore/punk bands from all over the country. Last year SEE YOU IN HELL played dressed in Brazilian football dresses and we performed couple of cover songs from OLHO SECO and RATOS DE PORAO. Of course it was a huge riot!
Sometimes we donate the money from our gigs to worthy benefit causes like for example we donated to campaign fighting the plan to build US army base here in Czech, we donated money to local Food Not Bombs chapter or to planned local DIY space. Also sometimes we have “free box” on these gigs, where people can throw free records, CDs, zines, T-shirts and anybody can take something from it. Also last year we organized huge vegan/vegetarian dinner before one of our festivals to promote meat-free diet.
From the other members only the ex-band of the drummer Beno is worth a mention - they were called LOS SOMMROS and used to play in early to mid 90’s - raw fast hardcore, very good for these times, also covering bands like OI POLLOI, DISCHARGE or EXTREME NOISE TERROR... but they had no releases at all, only few live tapes.

* Here in Brazil it’s really hard to live in a DIY way, you have to be in a regular work to get money and just survive. Do you have a regular work?
We all have regular work since it is almost impossible to make a living from hardcore/punk over here {only very very few people can do it - like Barvak/Insane Society and some guys from Day After label}. Jozka is a train conductor checking out the tickets, Tom works in chemical laboratory, Beno is pharmacist and I am social lawyer in Roma ghetto and have another side-job as lawyer for junkies in organization which tries to help them. David works for some university in Prague as administrator I think.

* Filip, thanks again for the interview. To end, quick answers.
Five top bands of all time?
Impossible... probably ACTIVE MINDS, DEATHSIDE, INFEST, GRAZHDANSKAYA OBORONA, CRIPPLE BASTARDS {only the old stuff!}, GRIDE, AGATHOCLES, CAPITALIST CASUALTIES, RIPCORD, HERESY, CODE 13, OI POLLOI, COMPLICITE CANDIDE, BLACK FLAG, LOS CRUDOS... sorry that’s little more than just five, haha...

God?
Fuck Off! Religion is a refugee of fools... I am strict atheist.

Obama?
Better than Bush, but we will see... well, nobody could have been worse than Bush...

Skinhead/Oi!?
I like some 80’s oi bands {esp. from Italy}, but I prefer other styles much more.

Veganism?
I am vegetarian since 1991, our singer is vegan.

OK, thanx a lot for the interview too, I hope it’s not just an endless list of band-names, hahaha... see you soon!