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Misfits of every stripe

From the ashes of Anti Fest, a wild time in Prague 6
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By Marika Ley
For The Prague Post
July 30th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Psychobilly kings Mad Sin bring their assault against "mainstream crap."
Photo by LAWRENCE IMPEY
Ready for duty: Rico Rodriguez.
Subculture Fest


When: Aug. 1 and 2
Where: Kemp Džbán, Nad Lávkou 5, Prague 6
Tickets: 580 Kč, available through Ticketpro, Ticketstream, Ticketportal and at the venue
For more information, check
www.subculturefest.cz
In the wake of the superbly catastrophic demise of Anti Fest, the Czech Republic’s main alternative summer festival, a brightly colored phoenix has risen from the ashes: Subculture Fest. It remains to be seen if the production will be able to overcome the disorganization of previous anarcho-society fringe festivals. However, the lack of like-minded competition should be a boon to attendance.
“I don’t know how many people will come,” admits Tomáš Ashta of Tiger Heroes, the group producing the festival. But he’s optimistic. “We are attracting all sorts of subculture people. It doesn’t matter if you are punk, psychobilly, skinhead or rastaman. We have e-mails coming from people from Sweden, the UK, Germany and Bulgaria. It will be a great subculture party!”
According to anthropologists, there are six key manifests of subculture: abhorrence to work, ambivalence to class, association with territory over property, preference for a social group over natural family, refusing to be lumped in with mainstream society and reveling in exaggeration on multiple levels. The lineup Tiger Heroes has assembled should tap all that, and more. In particular, booking the Misfits and Mad Sin as headliners says a lot.
The Misfits’ “twisted dream” started in 1977 in New Jersey, where singer Glenn Danzig and bassist Jerry Only took the name of Marilyn Monroe’s last movie to further immortalize her legacy of being tragically misunderstood. This will be their only European date this year, which the promoters hope will attract fans from all over the continent. The Misfits have made legends of themselves through their use of horror and B-movie imagery and classic 50s-style crooning to thrash 4/4 rhythm, influencing other, more mainstream bands ranging from Metallica to Marilyn Manson.
Longstanding psychobilly kings Mad Sin, formed in 1987, have most certainly been inspired by horror punk and B-movie mentality, with a style more theatrical than most psychobilly bands. Without abandoning the psycho-horror lyrical content, their musical arrangements have widened to incorporate other variables.
“The scene is getting too small and we have to fight against mainstream bullshit,” says Mad Sin founder and lead singer Köfte DeVille. “We have to stick together — the punk scene, hardcore, and psychobilly, ska, whatever. It’s the final frontier against that mainstream crap.”
Of all things not mainstream this fest has to offer, it particularly has an affinity for ska and Oi! “The Eastern Europe music scene has changed more to ska-punk sounds,” Ashta explains. “Ska is in fashion in Europe — it’s considered new wave and lot of bands have ska/reggae influences in their music. I don’t know if it’s good for the subculture scene, but it’s good that this music is available to a wider audience.”
Ska-reggae trombonist Rico Rodriguez, a legend on the ska-reggae circuit, should enjoy the new wave of ska interest. The Jamaica-born musician played with the likes of the Specials, Bob Marley and the Wailers and the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
Joining him in the lineup will be England’s third-wave ska celebs the Hot Knives, who have directly cited the Specials’ 2tone Records era as an influence.
Among the many local and East European acts to check out, Ashtar recommends  Hungarian ska act Last Minute, Prague-based Czech-Celtic punkers Pipes & Pints and the all-star psychobilly group Carlos & his Howling Coyotes (a local band made up of members of Green Monster, Mordors Gang, Lucky 7 and Bad Tones).  
The original lineup for the festival was fewer than 10 bands. So how did it go to 20, and then to more than 40 international acts? “The idea wasn’t to do it so big,” Ashtar says. “But Džbán [with its camping and swimming area] is a great place, and the bands are available. So why not do it?”

Marika Ley can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (30/07/2008):

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