?: How long have you been playing for? Please tell a bit about CZOLGOSZ
band. By the way why did you choose this name for the band?
James: Czolgosz began a long time ago, i think in 1997. Keller had helped out with
an old band of mine called the FUCTOOBS (an all girls band with me being the only guy) and we played a bit with some friends in the AUGUST SPIES a couple of concerts, then Keller got some other freinds who were in rock bands, but wanted to be back to playing punk. so it was originally a side project for everyone. We would play occasionally in the basement of a trnasvestite bar here in Boston. They were great shows where there was limited musical ability, but crazy happenings during the concert. Plastic sex sheeps, dildoes, dragqueens, cheap beer, and other naughty and nasty things went on.
AS for the name CZolgosz. Well Leon Czolgosz was a polish immigrant in the usa. He was a worker and an anarchist. He never wrote a book, nor led a strike, nor gave any speeches. He was not some 'cult of personality' anarchist. He also assassinated the president of the usa (McKinnely) in 1901 and was soon thereafter executed by the state in an electric chair. We like the idea that you do not have to be famous to particpate in direct action or revolutionary politics. Also, his name is damn near impossible for yankees (and it seems everyone in the world outside of Poland) to pronounce, spell or say. During our first concerts the organizers would not even put our name on the posters because they did not know how to spell it.
?: Did the line-up change? Tell about the members of the band, Briefly ntroduce them.
James:Keller (guitar) and I (james-vocals) are the only original memebers. Matty started on bass about 5 years ago, and derek on drums since 2 or 3 years. We often have to have substitute members for tour, because we all work, and it is expensive to tour (we never made any money out of czolgosz), and hard to get the time off of work. Even we are going to Domincan Republic and Puerto Rico this january without MAtty or Derek. We have a Puerto Rican freind to play bass for us, and in Puerto Rico is a drummer we have never met who will play for us when we arrive.
?: How many records does the band have?
James: We have released on our own, or with the help of our freind RODENT POPSICLE RECORDS, 2 full CD's, 2 7 inches, a split CD with CRITICA RADICALA from Romania, and a split 7" with EN LA OLLA an immagrant band in New York City from Colombia, Poland and Mexico. (They sing in spanish and polish only). And soon a split with Opus Dead (spain) will come out somewhere in europe.
Lots of people have made their own bootlegs of czolgosz, which is fine with us. I know of a great one in Peru, a split CD with ANFO, a fucking awsome anarcho crust band from Lima, Peru. Someone in Costa Rica is going to bootleg a 7", and I have heard of other bootlegs in Colombia, Chile and Argentina. We encourage people to make their own bootlegs.
?: How was your concert in Poland?
James: We went to poland in the 2003 and 2004 tours (but not in 2001 and 2002, because the romanain band we toured with had only single entry visas to shengin states, so we could not leave from germany to poland).
We had great parties in Torun and Olsztyn in 2003, we were really impressed by the Rozbrat squat in Poznan (I think it has been evicted no?), especiall there libraries and stong political resourses. Both years we had great concerts in Warsaw. in 2004 we went to Szczenin, which has a solid anarchist scene. And I think best has been in Bialystok. Both years we played during Girlz In Action fests at Decentrum squat. What a great place that is. Of course, it was a little shitty in 2003 when the other guys in Czolgosz were attacked by fascists, but there was a strong street fight by people from the squat to help out.
Actually we really like poland, there is a solid scene. People have a similiar sense of sarcasm, similiar drinking attitudes (except we dont consider vodka to be a similar substitute to water), and strong
?: I have heard that after that you wanted to enter Belarus, but they did not let you. That is why you decided to make a song “Fuck Lu…" or are there any other reasons?
James: First of all that was big shit not getting to go to Belarus. I had a friend
from Belarus whom I had met during a Autonomous Action Conference I was an observer at. He helped to organize everything. But ultimately, the fucking visa issues. No NGO's would sponser us, and all this shit happened.
But we did play in bialystok that year with some bands form MINSk. We played our song "FUCK BUSH" and when we finished that song someone from Minsk yelled to us, "Yes fuck bush, but what about lu…, fuck him!" So immidiatly Keller made up a guitar rhythm, and the other played along, and started making up lyrics. The chorus we made up was, naturally, "Fuck Lukashenko!" which many people sang along. It was a great moment for us. When we got back to the states, we re-wrote the song. We recorded it first in Puerto Rico, where a bunch of friends from bands down there did backing vocals with us. That is for some cd projects in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Spain. Then we recorded it again for our latest album, the split with Critica Radicala from Romania.
?: Tell a bit (or a lot) what you know about Belarus in general. Beginning with punk-culture and finishing with political situation.
James: Well that seems to be a question I should ask you. I believe that Lukashenko is the only, and last, open dictatorship in Europe. I mean, this ass does not even try to pretend to have some kind of sham democracy like they do all over Europe and usa. I will not give credit for at least being honest about it. I hear a lot about repressions, beatings, arrests, the problems Navinki has,
restrictions on free speech and freedom of press. I heard from another friend in Belarus, that during the protests in Keiv last month, nowhere in any tv or newspapers was there mention of the people going to the streets in Ukraine anywhere in Belarus.
I had a conversation with a person in Poland this autumn and they told me that in Belarus there was a reason to be anarchists. There it is the most difficult, with the least amount of resources, the least amount of freedoms, heaps of xenophonia, and everything to struggle for. I hope the last part is true, but until we can go there, I can only speak about what people there tell me.
As for the punk scene (sorry I answered your question backward), I think that bands like Contra La Contra have certainly brought gender and smashing patriarchy to the important level that it needs to be at. This certainly must only make people stronger there. Deviation is unbeleiveable, both politically as well as musically. I particularly enjoy when they mix in traditional music. It was a shame, Czolgosz was supposed to play some concerts with them in the past, but they did not make it over the border into Poland to play. We played with hard core bands Jiheart, Dissent and, Fresceusn, and they all seemed solid.
But really, we can not say more until we can actually enter the country.
?: What do you like and what you don't?
James: I like traveling, cats, cheese, cooking, and squats. I don t like Tequila, police, borders, bugs in my bed, and capitalism. Everything else in the world is a gray blur in between.
?: Do you wish to try to visit Belarus once again?
James: Yes, but it so difficult to cross the border, especially with a police record.
?: What is D.I.Y. for you?
James: Do It Yourself.
?: Does punk have any future?
James: More of a future than hoola hoops. It seems to have a shelf life of about 10 years wherever it sprouts up in the world.
?: Is there life on Mars? :)
James: I hope so. It would be a great feeling for humanity to find out that god was wrong, and that life does exist elsewhere.
?: What are you doing except CZOLGOSZ?
James: Work all the time. I am in NEFAC (an anarchist federation in northeast usa and eastern Canada), and am currently helping to organize LA RIVOLTA, a two day woman's festival in Boston in March 2005. And sometimes, when I have the time, I enjoy drinking really good wine with my brother, which we steal from the restaurant we work at.
?: What are your plans for the near future?
James: Czolgosz will play concerts in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic in January & Febrary in 2005.
?: Tell about Boston scene. What are you happy with? Is there any D.I.Y. literature? Maybe you can leave some contacts?
James: Maybe I am not the most optimistic person to talk about the Boston scene. Though, now it is getting really good. But there is a lot of apathy, punks for music not politics, nationalism, sexism and machismo.
But a really good band from here, probably the best, is the PROFITS. Check them out at www.theprofits.org.
Also there is Crusty Craig, he has corrospondance with punks all over the world. He get mail from punks from Paraguay to Nepal, Malaysia to Guam. His email is
destroythenegativity@yahoo.com. He also just got arrested again for having D.I.Y. punk shows in the basement of his house. He could use some cheering up.
For anarchist litereature etc, go to nefac.net and you can read a lot of anarchist propaganda. As for other punk sites, I guess there is a bunch of DIY and punk chat rooms and info stuff about boston, but I never use internet really except for email correspondence. But I will try to round up some zines for you. Strange, come to think of it, there are not many zines in boston anymore. When I was younger there were dozens, but not many people do them anymore.
?: What are your wishes to the readers of oD.I.Y.sia!" and to Belarusian punks in general? How can they contact CZOLGOSZ? Do you answer to letters? To all of them?
James: I wish you could all come to the usa, break things, work to earn a lot of money, that you bring back to Belarus, or anywhere else but here, and spend it on things other than cocacola or other yankee shit.
We have an internet site www.czolgosz.com: www.czolgosz.com
Please send correspondence, threats, and complaints to: czolgosz@czolgosz.com
or the traditional letter is always welcome send to
James Vertigo
PO Box 629
Boston, MA 02117
U.S.A.
James: Thank you for the interview. Sorry my English is terrible. It is true I am a yankee, but honestly, my shitty grammer and poor spelling is legendary.
