Zemezluc is a group from Czech republic which
have been on the road for a while. All answers
by šoty unless otherwise specified…mars 2022
Please tell me a little bit history of the
group? You have been playing for a long time?
-We founded Zeměžluč with two other guys in
1986. Since we really couldn't play our
instruments (except for one of us), the first
gig took place in 1988. We played a few times by
the end of 89, but during the communist era it
was a big problem. So when totalitarianism fell,
we rolled in full steam... well, and then
the line-up changed about a
million times - it's just me who is left from
the original one, but the current line-up is
great, so hopefully it will last.
Please tell me a little about every member in
the group right now, age, family, work,
interests and something bad about everyone?
Earlier bands? Other bands on the side?
-Soty: 58, married, historian by profession, but
I make pewter miniatures,
my 4-years-old daughter, travel and history. I
can talk beautifully about how we shall love our
neighbor, but the practice is worse. Just and
only Zemezluc.
Barmy: 55, single, working in a factory, love
traveling and creating sounds, speaker collector
– Johan Segeborn's fan,I am good at yelling at
my navigation Show me another way you idiot! and
I'm also good at arriving and parking behind the
stage just as the
band starts playing earlier: Vzor 60, Last
Semtex for Saddam, Wild Screen. present: just
Zemezluc
Sam Jr: I am a civil engineer and I deal with
concrete, mainly for highways, airports and
bridges, I do testing and checking
microstructure under a scanning electron
microscope. I'm only 43 :) and I have 2 little
boys. My worst trait is probably that I like
food and I'm also a sweettooth, so I can barely
bear myself. I go to the shooting range from
time to time, it's really relaxing for me. I
have gone through a lot of bands of different
genres, and the Mad Pigs punkers are definitely
worth mentioning. I also play in punk rock band
Bloody Mary.
I can hear much different influences but mostly
punk and some hardcore, old Czech bands ?
Favorites from the past?
Soty: Clash, UK Subs
Barmy: GBH, Exploited, Partisans, and many more
outside punk genre
Sam Jr: I like hard music with rap and foreign
elements. I love Biohazard, Pro pain, Clafinger
or P. O. D. Otherwise, I like other music genres
such as jazz, blues, funk, etc. I actually got
into punk more than 20 years ago when I answered
an advertisement :) And punk didn't let me go
and I'm happy there :)
Zemezluc are you satisfied with the name? How
did it come up? What does it mean? You weren’t
afraid that some other band would be named like
this? Which is the best bandname you know?
-It has more meanings:
ze mě žluč - bile out of me
země žluč - earth bile
zeměžluč - centaurium (the flower)
It's the best name
What´s the best thing with playing live? Have
you done any since the covid came? What is your
strength as a liveband?
-The best thing about playing live is contact
with the audience, in short, the atmosphere
Yes, we have played - fortunately there were
sometimes a few months of so-called easing, so
we played wherever it was possible. Our strength
is that due to our age, we do not get drunk as a
young man before and while playing …
And where is best to play? And the worst place?
-Best – small clubs, worst – huge outdoor stage
How is to play this sort of music in Czech
republic right now? Which types of bands do you
have concerts together with? Which is the
biggest band you ever have played together with?
-Although the interest of people in live music
is declining, the punkscene is still doing very
well. Mostly with punk or h/c bands. With U.K.
Subs (for me)
How would you describe your music in three
words?
-Hippie Christ punk
What does punk mean to you, is it only a word or
is it a lifestyle?
-Sure, it's a lifestyle, but I'm already
settled, conservative and old punk.
Which song/album or group was it who took you
into punk/hardcore?
-Definitely Sex Pistols – The first album
What shall a young guy do today to shock their
parents as the way we did when we were young?
They have already seen everything ;-)? Or isn´t
it any idea to shock your parents?
-I don't know what he will do, but the
opportunity to shock was, is and always will be
there, using whatever ... and the fact that
teenagers need to shock their parents and not
only them, has belonged to a certain stage of
adolescence since ancient times ...
How is it to live in Czech republic right now?
Politically? Fascists? Antivaxxers?
-As anywhere in Europe - we have a new
government that will hopefully be better than
the clique of billionaire Babiš, the fascists
here are completely behind other populists of
which there is plenty of them here, and
antivaxxers, although they have a legitimate
right for their resistance, they sometimes
spread such crap that it's a matter for a
psychiatrist.
Is there any good bands from Czech repuiblic
right now? Is the
punkscene/metalscene/hardcorescene big? How is
it in your hometown?
-I think there are quite a few bands and punks
for how small country we are
What do you know about Sweden? Have you been
here sometime? What is typical Swedish?
-Pippi Longstocking
Have you heard any good bands from Sweden?
-I pour ashes on my head
Your lyrics, who does them and what influences
you? Never in english? Please tell me a little
about the following songs
-Fejsbuh
-Z Pozice Sily
-Revize
-I write the lyrics. Singing in English never
came to my mind – we perform mainly at home and
if our records go abroad, they have a text
attachment in English. I like when the French
sing in French and the Germans sing in German.
English seems inappropriate and pointless to me
if someone has no ambition to be a worldstar ...
Fejsbuh - it's horrible when you come to a pub
where four people are sitting at a table and
everyone is staring at their mobile phone
Z pozice sily - look at what is happening in
Ukraine – there is no need to add anything
Revize - slowly comes the time that it is a
problem to name a certain thing with a real name
- put what you want there yourself
Is there any subject that you never will write
anything about? Or isn´t anything sacred?
-I can write about anything
Politic and music, does it goes hand in hand?
Which is your most political song? Is it
important to get out your opinions in music? Or
is it OK to play music and not sing about
politics?
-Let others judge it, punk can't be apolitical
in my opinion, it has to be engaged and about
something – singing just about sex, drugs and
rock'n'roll is not enough for me, let other
genres fulfill that
Best political band/artist?
-Still Dead Kennedys for me
Do you think that music(lyrics and so on) can
change anyones life, I mean people who listen to
music? Do you have any example on that?
-Of course - I am an example of this myself and
I also know about people we have further
influenced ...
Your favorite recordcover alltime? Who does your
recordcovers? And do you have any good
recordstores in your hometown?
-I don't have a favorite cover, the covers of
our records – I mean, most of them in recent
years are made by a friend I share aesthetic
feeling with, he's on the same wave ... I live
in a village
Is it important to get out physical records of
your stuff? Why or why not? Vinyl, CD, cassette,
what do you prefer if you could choose whatever
? If you only would put out your records
digital, have you felt then that you have
released an album?
-For me, yes, because I'm from a generation that
grew up on solid mediaand I have it strongly
encoded inside me ... all our recordings have
always come out on a vinyl - so definitely vinyl
- you know I'm the old fox ---
Please tell me a funny thing which has happened
during your career
and under some gig? With this band or any other
band?
-I can't think of much, but maybe when we played
at the other end of the country and we came by
more cars from different places and the meeting
point was on the stage - and Barmy arrived at
the time we started to play - yes, we had 2
guitarists then - but recently it happened again
at another place and we stood at the stage for
half an hour and looked out for him in vain. We
were just two so we couldn't start playing and
in the meantime the poor man has been circling
the city for half an hour and the navigation was
still pulling him elsewhere ...
How does your audience look like? Which people
do you miss on your concerts?
-The audience is very diverse and if a few
people are interested, I don't miss anyone ...
Please rank your five favoriterecords, five
favoriteconcerts and five most important things
in life? And which is the record you have wanted
to be part of and played your instrument(vocals,
guitar etc)?
-I am not able to put so many records and
concerts into some top ten, I do not want to be
part of anything, and I will limit myself to the
best 3 things in life - faith, love and
hope
First, last and most expensive record ever
bought?
-I have never auctioned or bought a record for
an extraordinary sum
Is it boring with interviews? Is it much
interviews?
-Yes and no, but there aren't that many
Do you care about reviews? Which is the most
peculiar you ever had, with this band or any
other band you have been to? Have you ever
changed anything after a bad review?
-Of course, we are interested in what people say
in the end, but it has no effect, I mean, we
would not change anything based on that
criticism.
Which bands do people compare you to, is it
boring that people compare you to other bands or
is it understandable?
-We just play quite primitive punk, so it would
probably be comparable, but I'm not aware of
anyone doing that, either for better or for
worse
If you could choose five bands from the past and
the history and nowadays and both dead and
living bands to have a concert together with
your band. Which five have you been chosen?
-One would be enough – The Clash
Is music a good way to get out frustration and
become a nicer person outside the music??
-That's a good question, of course it is, but it
must be taken from the right end
Which is the most odd question you ever have got
in an interview?(Except this one)
-I really don't know
Which is the question you want to have but you
never get. Please ask it and answer it?
-If I mean seriously what I'm saying - yes I do
Futureplans for the band?
-Play concerts, make new songs and especially
let us enjoy it, otherwise it's wrong and it
doesn't make sense
For yourself?
-To be here meaningfully for some more time
Wisdomword?
-When you lie down in the evening and review the
past day, so that there is at least a little
thing that has made you or others happy
Something to add?
-Be yourself
A last question…. Beerfavorite sort? If you did
a beer for your band, which sort would it be and
what have it been called?
-I won't brew my own beer, but I like
top-fermented, Bavarian wheat beers