Rabies / Instead of constantly rewinding, sometimes the only solution is to press stop.

Brno's own skate-punkers are one of the best local exports with several enviable highlights in their CV. In addition to the current collaboration with Ovcharka Industries on the cover of their new album, or being featured in the selection of new releases on the Punk Rock Museum profile, they are also being helped with the distribution of their new album by the well known Punk Rock Radar. To add some more to all that, they recently supported the famous Zebrahead and they will also be swatting mosquitoes at the Mighty Sounds festival.

We had probably the most comprehensive interview together to date. About the new album High on Sugar, about the narcissistic manipulators and also about dealing with death. Oh yeah, and I took a quick trip to Brno for an exclusive photos for the article. Let´s dive in.

The cover design of the new album, as well as the overall visual identity, was taken under the thumb of the world-famous creative duo Ovcharka Industries. Why did you decide to choose them for the project and how did the collaboration proceed?

The cover is the most important thing, it´s your identity, and you always look first and then listen. At the same time, it all has to fit together like an ass on a pot. And when we started to build the whole world around the motto “High on Sugar”, we knew that we wanted the visual to be really distinctive and a little more exciting.

Ovcharka fit into it quite naturally. Their old-school cartoonish, sugar-themed style and everything we wanted on the cover suited us like nothing else. We had prepared a really big concept of what we want to say, what everything should be on the cover. And the girls took it all in, understood it and actually moved it even further. We made a call together to get to know each other and also mainly to straighten out some things, because the girls are from Russia, they live in Thailand, and we wanted to be sure that we have it set up in a human way. Well, it turned out great. The whole collaboration went very naturally. They understood us, they enjoyed it, they were mega professional and at the same time completely cool. We even made an animated cover version of our single Candy Shop together, which really excited us. You can find part of it on our Spotify for each song. So, for us, the Ovcharka team is simply top. They´re great people doing great work and we will definitely be happy to come back to them again. We say hello to the girls overseas!

You chose the central theme of the record to be a quick dopamine rush. Has your view on social media and similar resources for, let's call it, "creating artificial happiness" changed in all the time you've been a part of this universe? Do you regulate your contact and work with these technologies?

Yes, this is exactly the theme that is hidden in the album. A quick supply of dopamine is everywhere today, not only on social networks, but in all of life. The pace in which we live has become almost absurd and the environment pushes us to make quick decisions, quick purchases, quick scrolling... There is so much information that people don't even bother to sort it anymore and we actually live very superficially, and we don't value the ordinary things that we have in life that much, we also draw attention to this. Everything has to be fast, instant, easy... and ideally you don't get too worked up about it, otherwise you give up. But honest work works on completely different principles, huh? It's the same with the creation of an album. It takes time, we in the band struggled with it a lot recently and we didn't know how to do it, but now we finally found a common flow, how to handle it all and it helped us quite a bit to move on. We have families, we have jobs where we have to travel to, responsibilities and music is our hobby. Everything has to fit together somehow.

When I return to that question, it is also about how we approach it in general. We are still the generation that remembers what it was like when we were children and we ran outside without a mobile phone. And that, in our opinion, is a very fundamental difference and perhaps an advantage over the younger generation. Thanks to that, we know what it's like without those technologies, what it's like when nothing happens for a while and you're just being yourself and just existing. But at the same time we know that it is all now and that you cannot avoid it. So we try to somehow find a balance. It's not that we reject it, but rather we guard it more because we know how easily it can consume you. And how do we do it? For example, by consciously choosing what we let in, what gets into our heads, and how often we look at these things and think critically about them. So actually, yes, it's about regulation. And not just in the way that you spend half the day staring at your mobile phone and scrolling Instagram, but how you approach it, what you take from it and how it affects what you do. All of this together is something we realize more and more as we get older. It certainly shapes us all somehow.

The public’s exposure to music has also evolved significantly in recent years. In the song “MTV,” you analyze the nostalgia of the way we used to get information about music and pop culture in general, but then you point out the overly simplified accessibility of entertainment through streaming and other social platforms. Do you manage to process what’s coming at you from all sides, or do you filter your music consumption and have, let’s call it, established ways of what you let in?

Getting music to people is extremely easy today thanks to the networks... until it's actually terribly difficult to break through. Because when everyone can do it, you start to drown in it as a listener. It is not so much about quality or quantity. More about the endless noise and rush. And that is exactly what our "MTV" is about. That was the beginning and the first contact with the waterfall of music, colorful images, pop culture... the first window into the world, which until then we only knew from cassette covers or Bravo posters. MTV was basically a very weak concoction of what happens every day on the Internet today. But it was a major turning point for us when they turned on our cable box in our neighbourhood. Until then, someone had to record something, burn it, bring it to you... and suddenly you're sitting in front of the TV and you're staring like crazy. Videos, colors, noise, craziness... teenager in paradise. For the first time, we had the feeling that the big world is actually just one press of a button away. Today, the access to content is of course multiplied a thousand times. It comes at you from all sides, the algorithms throw anything possible and impossible at you. And honestly, we can't imagine what it's like to grow up in this non-stop digital mess from birth. The pressure, the chaos is enormous.

We try to choose our bubbles very carefully. Consciously. But we still want to keep that teenage mindset and be curious, be open to new things, let yourself be surprised. You just need to add critical thinking to it.

But it still applies that if you wanna search, you will find. Music, people, ideas, opinions, different views of the world. And that's actually still the biggest punk, isn't it?

With the widespread use of social networks and dating apps, there has been more talk about narcissism, manipulation and superficial relationships in recent years. The song “Two Magnets” focuses on toxic relationships. Do you have any specific experiences with this way of making friends, or do you know any, let's say horror stories from your environment?

Dude, Brano, that´s another great topic, it's actually quite gnarly to discuss it here like this with you. In our band, we probably don't have any extra horror stories from Tinder or similar apps, and we're more like the kind of people who tell ourselves a lot of things and try to solve things before it becomes a drama. But that does not mean that the topic of toxic relationships does not concern us.

When a person talks about narcissism or manipulation, it doesn't have to be the extreme case that pops up on YouTube in the video "10 red flags of a toxic partner". Everyone has maybe a small piece of narcissism in them, the need to be admired, to hear that they are great, to feel that they belong somewhere. The problem is when it gets out of hand and someone starts to feel that the other person exists only to constantly confirm all this to him. And there is already a thin line between love and manipulation.

“Two Magnets” actually came about quite spontaneously, when one of us was going through a rather wild breakup, where there were a lot of emotions, confusion, maybe even manipulations. And sometimes it just happens that two people get stuck in that vicious circle of "we´re drawn to each other, but at the same time we´re hurting ourselves". They're like two magnets that attract each other, but since they're upside down, it just never clicks properly. And in that chorus "two people are lost in rewind" is exactly the moment when you keep coming back to things that should have been left behind a long time ago. But instead you keep rewinding it. And sometimes the only solution is to press stop and move on.

The lyrics of the song “Shadow Fighting” are also about mental health. Are they about a specific period or is it about a long-term battle with demons?

Yes, "Shadow Fighting" is not about one bad moment, but rather about how a person really fights with things that cannot be seen for a long time. It's those moments when you're alone, your head is racing and you don't know how to stop it. You fight with fears, doubts, with shadows that have been left behind somewhere, and at the same time you may look completely fine on the outside.

The text says it exactly "shadow fighting in the dark": you fight silently, no one sees it, but for you it is as real as anything else. It's simply a song about those difficult moments that many people experience, even if they don't talk about it. But at the same time, it's not about giving up, it's more about the fact that even if you fall, you'll get back up. Take it easy for the fiftieth, take it slow, but you won't give up. For us as a band, it's a reminder that no one is alone in this. We all have our own demons, but the point is that it is possible to face them. Sometimes with the help of friends, sometimes through music, sometimes simply by surviving another day. We love that song.

Politics is no stranger to you on the new album, which you touch on with songs like “Luke Skatepunker” and “Instant Karma”. The former, for example, talks about skateboarding as a universal cultural tool across different social circumstances and conditions around the world. Do you, as a band or individual members, participate in various benefits or events to support human rights?

Sure, it might sound like a joke at first, that “Luke Skatepunker”, some kind of cosmic warrior on skates. But we were serious from the beginning. Everyone in this world of ours fights and lives in some way, is shaped in some way, and sometimes it is simply necessary to stand up to things that are wrong. Skateboarding and punk have always had this rebellion in them, and they were always subcultures that stood on the right side of the barricade. Both were about freedom, about community, about a place for everyone who might not fit in anywhere else.

And “Luke Skatepunker” is actually the hero of this generation and it's a fight with bad guys, but in a different way. It's not about violence, it's about attitude. About the fact that every world sometimes needs its own superhero, even if he only has a skateboard and three chords. And that it can be done with humor, but without cynicism. Just fun that cleans up the negativity, as far as it goes: "For the love of freedom, we'll never bend. May the force be with you, until the end."

Well, if there is a chance to actually help somewhere, we go for it. We did benefits for Ukraine, one for example right in Brno at the Exhibition Center when the first refugees arrived. Or an event with Mighty Sounds for the Cheiron Foundation. We are open to everything that makes sense and brings people together.

The topic of ADHD or concentration problems is also a current topic in connection with the modern and fast-paced era. The song “Pocket Guitar” talks about the classic worry of a creative person who gets a great idea in a situation where he cannot physically record it and when he does, it is too late because he forgets about it. However, it also talks about the factors that distract us every day and dilute our ability to concentrate. Does the author of the text himself struggle with maintaining attention and is this his testimony?

Good point! We do not want to trivialize the topic of attention disorders, whether congenital or rather those "absorbed" from today. But it is a fact that we live in a time when everything is available immediately and everywhere, and a person is quickly overwhelmed by it. Information, notifications, scrolling where everything falls on you and concentrating on one thing is an increasingly big challenge. Honestly, who among us regularly watches the news on TV at 8pm these days? You learn most things from social media, and even by mistake.

“Pocket Guitar” was originally created as such an exaggeration, but it quite accurately describes, for example, Matouš's creative process. Sometimes an idea just hits you at a moment when you don't have a chance to note it down, for example in the shower, in the car or while sleeping. And if you want to go back to it later, that's fine. And sometimes it's not even possible by force, you just don't say to yourself "now I'm going to sit down and write a hit". We don't understand headlines like "the band went into the studio for two weeks and made an album". That's probably nonsense.

For example, Patrik could tell how Matouš hummed a motif in his ear at one in the morning during the last recording session, because we were missing a piece of the song for the next day. So yes, distraction, inspiration and humor go hand in hand here.

The consequences of the Covid pandemic are still felt today, whether economically or significantly affecting the psyche of the planet's inhabitants. The concept of transience automatically came to the fore. The song "Twilight Zone" is about not wasting time because each of us has little of it in the world. Is this song also a tool for you to personally process the topic of death?

Yes, we wrote “Twilight Zone” as an escape from reality. We were inspired by the original series and all those mysterious episodes, where time and space behaved completely differently, and you never knew what was real. In our song, we brought it to the present. Until the night in the city, where the rules don't apply, reality is a bit blurred and everything is about the feeling of the here and now. Enjoying the momentum.

For us, it's also a kind of soundtrack for when you just jump into the car, put on some music and drive aimlessly, just like that, for that very feeling. And at the same time, in that refrain "we're still young, but we're caught in the night" is also hidden the realization that all this is fleeting. That even the most intense moments will end one day. It may not be overtly about death, but the theme of transience is definitely there. And that's what we enjoy - that the song can be something different for everyone. For some, a pure vibe, for others, deeper reflection.

The album is being distributed in the US by Punk Rock Radar, which is another big highlight. How did you come to this collaboration?

We´ve known Punk Rock Radar and John since the very beginning. He's a real hard worker who built his profile from scratch and works tirelessly to promote our subculture, whether it's punk, skatepunk or pop punk. We have been following him since the very start, and he always wanted to cooperate. Now it naturally resulted in the fact that he became our main distributor for “High on Sugar” for the USA and also for certain similar bands like us. He got the record in advance, just like you, and he is going to do his traditional analysis of the record live on the YouTube channel as part of “First Listen” reactions together with Dylan from Dying Scene. In addition to the listening here, where he evaluates individual songs from 0 to 10, he is also going to do a classic review of the album. We are really curious how it will turn out and how our album will do in the American quality test!

How was it working with Damián Kučera, who was in charge of the sound and production of the album?

Well, Damián is a dude, you know. Actually, we always made the album ourselves, from recording to mixing. At most, we occasionally sent some stuff to Germany for mastering, but we never relied on anyone else. This was the first time we really started working with someone who helped us choose what made sense and what to do. We were with Damián during the entire process, we chose from our demos, made the first selection, what is good, what is bad, what can be adjusted to make it sound better and more distinct.

And how it all happened was really important. It took place in a completely relaxed friendly atmosphere where we felt good, which gave us space to create the best we could in the given time and conditions. Damián is simply a great producer, he knows what he's doing and can move our things forward. And above all, he knows how to make decisions that were able to determine the right direction for us. Oh, and it makes excellent coffee!

By having a similar vision and interests, we got along really well, and what was created is something that has never meant anything to us before. Our favorite work with him got us to the result that is “High on Sugar”.