Never stop looking around you

Fragility, decisiveness, solidarity, brutality. To an uninitiated observer, the hardcore punk subculture can seem full of contradictions and incomprehensible – too wild, untamed, and dangerous. But behind the wall of noise, aggressive guitar riffs, and ecstatic screams, you can hear the beat of a human heart. Banán has been active on the scene for over 25 years, and in this book-length interview, he talks about the ideals that once estranged him from his family, about gigs and legendary clubs, about shuttling between the solitude of the Šumava mountains and Prague record shops, about empathy, political activism, the May Day festival, and his long-standing collaboration with Antifascist Action. He reveals what happened when his band won an Anděl award, what connected him to a Miss Czech Republic, and how all of this relates to punk ethics and his inner principles. And he is not afraid to speak very openly, about others and about himself. If you are straight edge and do not drink alcohol like Banán, you remember an awful lot.

Banán (1979) is a singer and lyricist, concert promoter, music journalist, and an icon of the Czech hardcore punk scene. He has been a member of numerous bands (Balaclava, Lahar, Hanba, Hlinomaz, and Kovadlina), is involved in environmental issues, and has been hosting a show on Radio Wave dedicated to music subcultures, now called Modeláři, for fifteen years.

Maxim Horovic (1975) is a music critic. In 2006, he founded the music portal Diycore.net, and since 2010 he has been an editor, writer, and proofreader for Full Moon magazine.