OK, here are two Vaseline Children interviews that I`m not sure if they were ever printed. Both interviews were done by two Russian hc/punk thrashers and both were done via e-mail. The first one was done in August 2008. just before we went on tour with Fx Px Ox and second was done in Novemeber 2008. just two months after we broke up. Since you don`t get a chance to do a interview from such countries as Russia every day, we decided to answer this interview even though at the time we were broken up as a band. Second interview was done for a zine called On The Run but I don`t know what`s the title of the zine from the first interview... The first interview is kind off standard band info interview and maybe it`s not the most interesting interview ever but we always approached to interviews with the same enthusiasm no matter how (un) original were the questions. And reading this interview you can preatty much see where we stood as a band and as individuals. Also, we always all answered the questions, because in Vaseline Children there was no "leader", "frontman" or one main person who was in charge of the band, in Vaseline Children we were all equally important. The second interview has some preatty funny questions so our answers on this one are also funny and more laid back. It`s actually preatty cool that this goofy interview was the last Vaseline Children interview ever, haha! I puted also some clasic xVCx photos just to keep it more interesting. Soon I will put the list of all zine interviews that Vaseline Children did. And in the future I will put some more VC interviews here so stay tuned.
26th August 2007. "AJZ" Mulheim, Germany
The lost Russian Interview # 1 by Nick x Fury
1. Hello, VC. In first, please, tell me something about you. How and when you had formed? What did you want to achieve, when you was forming?
Zhbla: Hello to you my friend... My name is Zhbla (Blazh) and i’m the VxC guitarist...24 years old and a nice person :-) (at least i think so:-)I’ll leave the the techincal details about “how” and “when” to Gajo because he likes to write about that kinda stuff...We formed because we needed a good band to express our ideas and play the music we like...like any other band i supose...You get a few friend that are on the same wawelenght as you and you try to make something new and exciting...What did we want to achieve? Huh..i don’t know..maybe to stir some shit up on our local scene...to give our critical perspective on the state of the croatian punk scene...i think we pretty much did our job well till now...
Cane: hi nick! i'm mario and i'm 'singing' in vaseline children. gajo and zhbla formed band somewhere at the end of 2005., kiki and me joined in march of 2006.. we wanted to break this sterile tradition :) we wanna speak our minds and spread our message through this band. and have some fun.
Kiki: Well, let's start from the start. 3 years ago 2 guys started to have rehersals in Zagreb, and after couple of months they decided to invite 2 more persons and start a real band. They were looking for punks with diy attitude, talked to many people, and after some time 2 guys joined the band. It end up accidentally that all 4 members of xVCx were sXe, but it was always a personal choice. That means that we don't have songs about sXe, and if one of us starts to drink, he won't be kicked out of band.
Gajo: Hello Nick and all the readers! My name is Branimir but all my friends and enemies :) call me Gajo. I`m 30 years old and I play drums in xVCx. xVCx formed in november of 2005. At least that`s when we had first rehersal but in the begining were only Zhbla (guitar) and me in the band. In february 2006. Kiki joined us on bass and in march 2006. Cane joined us on vocals and that is still final line-up. We formed this band beacuse we wanted to play simple and fast angry hc/punk and we were frustrated with lots of things on Croatian hc/punk scene so we also wanted to say what`s on our minds and we wanted to conect with other people who thinks similar like us.
2. What your name means?
Zhbla: Haha...everybody wants to know this juicy detail...:-) nothing really, we just ripped off
one of our favourite 80’s band Violent children...shit..i think it’s way better than some
dis/war/hell/shit/youth/etc. clone name...
Cane: gajo and zhbla are responsible for name.
Kiki: I think that our name don't mean anything special. Our name was influenced by a name of a band Violent Children from mid 80s, because the first 2 guys singed Violent Children songs the day they decided to start a band.
Gajo: Oh, the name :)! Well, it means nothing serious. Zhbla and me were goofing around once at one hc/punk festival and we were hanging near some hotel where in the pool some children were playing around. Since whole that day we were singing songs of Violent Children (old USA hc/punk band) somehow the crazy idea came to our minds that it would be cool to name the band Vaseline Children :). And so be it.
3. Tell about the Croatian scene. How many labels, distros and zines leave? What groups should be checked up?
Zhbla: I’m not going to talk about the current state of the croatian punk scene in this moment cause i fear i would be way to negative...but let’s just say we had really good periods and and some bad ones...we have our ups and downs like everywhere i guess...There are a lot of good labels and zines, i’m happy about that...You should check out DHP/ak47 distro and label, Brand new place label (our singers label),burn their trends, and also i would recomend some serbian and macedonian distros/labels like Obsolete human, Ha-ko...As for zines..there are really a lot of good zines in croatia (three of us in the band make our zines also) but i’m not sure how interesting it is for you cause they are all written in croatian so....There are also some local political groups, initiatives and events ranging from food not bombs,anarchist book fairs, infoshops to anarcho sindicalism, but it’s a local thing mainly focused to Zagreb or Rijeka, Pula and some other cities...As for bands check out: Senata Fox, Evazija, Ljubiša Samardžić, Nulla Osta..i don’t know...there’s a lot of bands but i would strongly recomend our slovenian friends Mladina kina and macedonian FxPxOx
Cane: there are more and more zines lately. few labels and distros. we are only in bad position with places for shows. there are bands of all kinds, but i would recomend only senata fox because to me, they are best croatian hardcorepunk band ever.
Kiki: Croatian scene is fucked up. Maybe it's just my point of view, but I'm affraid that there are too many fucking consumers on this scene, and there are really few people who want to do something better, to do something different... something for the scene. There are lot people that call themselves antifascist, but they are just ordinary sexists without will of thinking and changing. In the other way, other people who are ok, are very passive, so you can fuck it. There are only few bands worth of checking, and the number of bands is falling. No one wants to play, to sing. I think because they don't have anything to say. We have few good distro's, it's ok, and zines of course. Maybe there are not so many zines, as it was 10 years ago, but I think that today, zines are better, more quality. What group should be checked out? I think Evazija and Leid should be checked out. Mladina Kina should be cheched out immediately, they are from Slovenija, and they kick ass. Even they are Slovenians, we are very connected with them and they are like family.
Gajo: Well, Croatian hc/punk scene is not that great lately because most of the people here are now caught up in myspace world and following american/western europe "punk" trends. There are some cool labels/distros like DHP & AK 47, Burn Their Trends, Demonkracija, Brand New Place... There are good number of zines and that`s probably the best aspect of our scene, beacuse still there are lots of people that read and care about zines... As for the bands, I don`t want to offend anyone, but there are not that much real DIY hc/punk bands here and even some bands that can be consider DIY and are playing some form of hc/punk music, I don`t think that we`re part of the same "scene". But I`ll mention you some bands: Senata Fox, Ljubiša Samardjić, Nulla Osta, Hijos Del Pueblo, Leid, Evazija...
4. What your songs about? E-Bay punx and spoiled emo kids is a realy problem? :)
Zhbla: Our songs vary from personal frustrations with our shitty lifes to criticism of the existing punk scene and resisitng opression, religious, capitalist and other...e bay punx are not a problem cause they don’t come out of their rooms, and spoiled emo kids are more funny than a thing that pisses me of :-)
Cane: our lyrics cover different topics but most of them are about hardcorepunk scene and our seeing of it. e bay punks fuck off is about selling punk records for enourmous price. just think what absurd it be if you see chokehold records on e bay selling for more than 50 dollars if you are familiar with their message. hm, about spoiled emo kids: i'm sick of those who wanna get popular through hardcorepunk scene while giving nothing back. if someone wanna be rockstar, it's not problem for me, but there aren't any chance that i'll help to someone who wanna achive it through using hardcorepunk scene.
Kiki: Our songs mostly say that we hate this world, people who live in this world, and expecialy stupid punks. Our songs criticize fucking rutine of a everyday man, religion, consumers (expecialy punk consumers) and other shit going on on punk scene (like trends, gossips...). We hate fucking macho idiots, sexists, hypocrites and punks who are addicted to internet (and can only be seen there).
Gajo: Our songs deal mostly with hc/punk scene and society around us. Some lyrics are more direct, some are more personal, it depends of the theme and the mood when the lyrics were written. Well, I`m not sure if there are many e-bay punx in Croatia but there are too many spoiled kids that are sort of internet generation. But there are also some "old punx" (they like to call themselves like that) that are caught up in todays cycle of myspace/internet forums/trendy reforming bands and so on.
Zhbla: Hello to you my friend... My name is Zhbla (Blazh) and i’m the VxC guitarist...24 years old and a nice person :-) (at least i think so:-)I’ll leave the the techincal details about “how” and “when” to Gajo because he likes to write about that kinda stuff...We formed because we needed a good band to express our ideas and play the music we like...like any other band i supose...You get a few friend that are on the same wawelenght as you and you try to make something new and exciting...What did we want to achieve? Huh..i don’t know..maybe to stir some shit up on our local scene...to give our critical perspective on the state of the croatian punk scene...i think we pretty much did our job well till now...
Cane: hi nick! i'm mario and i'm 'singing' in vaseline children. gajo and zhbla formed band somewhere at the end of 2005., kiki and me joined in march of 2006.. we wanted to break this sterile tradition :) we wanna speak our minds and spread our message through this band. and have some fun.
Kiki: Well, let's start from the start. 3 years ago 2 guys started to have rehersals in Zagreb, and after couple of months they decided to invite 2 more persons and start a real band. They were looking for punks with diy attitude, talked to many people, and after some time 2 guys joined the band. It end up accidentally that all 4 members of xVCx were sXe, but it was always a personal choice. That means that we don't have songs about sXe, and if one of us starts to drink, he won't be kicked out of band.
Gajo: Hello Nick and all the readers! My name is Branimir but all my friends and enemies :) call me Gajo. I`m 30 years old and I play drums in xVCx. xVCx formed in november of 2005. At least that`s when we had first rehersal but in the begining were only Zhbla (guitar) and me in the band. In february 2006. Kiki joined us on bass and in march 2006. Cane joined us on vocals and that is still final line-up. We formed this band beacuse we wanted to play simple and fast angry hc/punk and we were frustrated with lots of things on Croatian hc/punk scene so we also wanted to say what`s on our minds and we wanted to conect with other people who thinks similar like us.
2. What your name means?
Zhbla: Haha...everybody wants to know this juicy detail...:-) nothing really, we just ripped off
one of our favourite 80’s band Violent children...shit..i think it’s way better than some
dis/war/hell/shit/youth/etc. clone name...
Cane: gajo and zhbla are responsible for name.
Kiki: I think that our name don't mean anything special. Our name was influenced by a name of a band Violent Children from mid 80s, because the first 2 guys singed Violent Children songs the day they decided to start a band.
Gajo: Oh, the name :)! Well, it means nothing serious. Zhbla and me were goofing around once at one hc/punk festival and we were hanging near some hotel where in the pool some children were playing around. Since whole that day we were singing songs of Violent Children (old USA hc/punk band) somehow the crazy idea came to our minds that it would be cool to name the band Vaseline Children :). And so be it.
3. Tell about the Croatian scene. How many labels, distros and zines leave? What groups should be checked up?
Zhbla: I’m not going to talk about the current state of the croatian punk scene in this moment cause i fear i would be way to negative...but let’s just say we had really good periods and and some bad ones...we have our ups and downs like everywhere i guess...There are a lot of good labels and zines, i’m happy about that...You should check out DHP/ak47 distro and label, Brand new place label (our singers label),burn their trends, and also i would recomend some serbian and macedonian distros/labels like Obsolete human, Ha-ko...As for zines..there are really a lot of good zines in croatia (three of us in the band make our zines also) but i’m not sure how interesting it is for you cause they are all written in croatian so....There are also some local political groups, initiatives and events ranging from food not bombs,anarchist book fairs, infoshops to anarcho sindicalism, but it’s a local thing mainly focused to Zagreb or Rijeka, Pula and some other cities...As for bands check out: Senata Fox, Evazija, Ljubiša Samardžić, Nulla Osta..i don’t know...there’s a lot of bands but i would strongly recomend our slovenian friends Mladina kina and macedonian FxPxOx
Cane: there are more and more zines lately. few labels and distros. we are only in bad position with places for shows. there are bands of all kinds, but i would recomend only senata fox because to me, they are best croatian hardcorepunk band ever.
Kiki: Croatian scene is fucked up. Maybe it's just my point of view, but I'm affraid that there are too many fucking consumers on this scene, and there are really few people who want to do something better, to do something different... something for the scene. There are lot people that call themselves antifascist, but they are just ordinary sexists without will of thinking and changing. In the other way, other people who are ok, are very passive, so you can fuck it. There are only few bands worth of checking, and the number of bands is falling. No one wants to play, to sing. I think because they don't have anything to say. We have few good distro's, it's ok, and zines of course. Maybe there are not so many zines, as it was 10 years ago, but I think that today, zines are better, more quality. What group should be checked out? I think Evazija and Leid should be checked out. Mladina Kina should be cheched out immediately, they are from Slovenija, and they kick ass. Even they are Slovenians, we are very connected with them and they are like family.
Gajo: Well, Croatian hc/punk scene is not that great lately because most of the people here are now caught up in myspace world and following american/western europe "punk" trends. There are some cool labels/distros like DHP & AK 47, Burn Their Trends, Demonkracija, Brand New Place... There are good number of zines and that`s probably the best aspect of our scene, beacuse still there are lots of people that read and care about zines... As for the bands, I don`t want to offend anyone, but there are not that much real DIY hc/punk bands here and even some bands that can be consider DIY and are playing some form of hc/punk music, I don`t think that we`re part of the same "scene". But I`ll mention you some bands: Senata Fox, Ljubiša Samardjić, Nulla Osta, Hijos Del Pueblo, Leid, Evazija...
4. What your songs about? E-Bay punx and spoiled emo kids is a realy problem? :)
Zhbla: Our songs vary from personal frustrations with our shitty lifes to criticism of the existing punk scene and resisitng opression, religious, capitalist and other...e bay punx are not a problem cause they don’t come out of their rooms, and spoiled emo kids are more funny than a thing that pisses me of :-)
Cane: our lyrics cover different topics but most of them are about hardcorepunk scene and our seeing of it. e bay punks fuck off is about selling punk records for enourmous price. just think what absurd it be if you see chokehold records on e bay selling for more than 50 dollars if you are familiar with their message. hm, about spoiled emo kids: i'm sick of those who wanna get popular through hardcorepunk scene while giving nothing back. if someone wanna be rockstar, it's not problem for me, but there aren't any chance that i'll help to someone who wanna achive it through using hardcorepunk scene.
Kiki: Our songs mostly say that we hate this world, people who live in this world, and expecialy stupid punks. Our songs criticize fucking rutine of a everyday man, religion, consumers (expecialy punk consumers) and other shit going on on punk scene (like trends, gossips...). We hate fucking macho idiots, sexists, hypocrites and punks who are addicted to internet (and can only be seen there).
Gajo: Our songs deal mostly with hc/punk scene and society around us. Some lyrics are more direct, some are more personal, it depends of the theme and the mood when the lyrics were written. Well, I`m not sure if there are many e-bay punx in Croatia but there are too many spoiled kids that are sort of internet generation. But there are also some "old punx" (they like to call themselves like that) that are caught up in todays cycle of myspace/internet forums/trendy reforming bands and so on.
Cane howls, 08th March 2008. "MC" Brežice, Slovenia
5. With E-Bay have understood) And what do you think about myspace, soulseek and the other internet affairs? That is better for you: printing zine or the internet-zin?
Zhbla: I’m really against my space cause it slowly destroys any real communication betwen human beings and it just turns everything in this superficial and non personal scheme that is easy to use but it will leave you empty in the end...It is really fucked up when i meet people that i’ve been coresponding with over the e-mail and then realise that they are totaly uncapable of a real face to face conversation...it frightening... I don’t use myspace, any messenger services, forums or any such thing...actualy i just use the internet to check the news and write long e-mails to my friends i rarely see. Printed zines (photocopyed actually) ...net zines are mostly crap bur there are some good ones...
Cane: someone made our myspace and we still don't know who did it. it's became so normal to have myspace profile and sometimes people look you like you're freak if you don't have it. i don't care about it. most ridicolous thing that people are 'collecting friends' who in most cases actually are people that they never saw or met or talk to them. of course, authentic zine on paper is always better then web zine.
Kiki: Myspace/facebook is the worst capitalist bullshit and it changes people. You know, there is a paralel punk scene going on on the internet, and lots of people from the internet scene are so addicted that they don't percieve punks who don't have their internet profile when they see them on gigs. They are losing abilities to comunicate without monitor and mouse. I think the problem is that on internet everybody is so cool and hot, and interesting, comunicative, succesful and smart, but only in their dark rooms. When they come out, they are little frustrated dorks without selfconfidence
Gajo: Well, from some of my previous answers you probably guessed that I don`t have such a positive opinion about myspace. I mean, if myspace is your thing, OK, do it, I don`t care. But don`t think that the DIY hc/punk scene is some virtual cyber scene and people/bands that have more than 2000 "friends", what`s up with that, I don`t understand it. As for soulseek, I don`t have nothing against it, even thought I don`t use it, I think it`s cool that you can find some music through soulseek. I prefear defenitely printing zines over web-zines. I mean, I even don`t know that much good web-zines and I know plenty of great printing zines so that`s probably says it all. Internet si cool for comunication but for wasting time is not that cool. I`d rather "waste" my time with my friends somewhere outside or with myself in my room listening to TSOL and Rikk Agnew :).
6. VC is a sxe band? What sxe means for you?
Zhbla: Huh...you could say that in a way cause all four of us are sympatizers of the sXe ideas..but i wold say that we are just a d.i.y hc/punk band...we never talk about it in our songs and on stage..It’s just something personal that i’ve found to be working out good for me...I’m tottaly opposed of following any kind of rules and i hate when good ideas turn ito some kind of a stereotipical movemet so i still find sXe a way of thinking about everything i do in my life, and it’s just one of the things that influences
my life , like also anarchist idea and way of thinking..so it’s a complex thing, and defenitely NOT a musical/fashion/whatever trend...Don’t let anybondy tell you there are some fucking rules to follow in sXe...
Cane: yes, we are straight edge band . for each of us, it's personal thing. if you don't find yourself familiar with alcohol, drugs, irresponsible sex, it's your choice. i don't see sense in singing only about edge.
Kiki: A personal choice. I'm sXe for 3 years and I still enjoy being sober.
Gajo: Well, we`re all sXe in the band but when we were forming the band, we never thought of making it a sXe band, it was just a coincidence that we were all sXe and ended up in the same band. We don`t sing about generic sXe topics and even if we talk a lot on our gigs between the songs we never talk about sXe itself. But still, there are always some people that hate us because we`re sXe or for some other stupid reasons, so I guess sometimes we can`t escape from the sXe label. sXe to me means a lot but it`s my personal choice and my way how to deal with this fucked up life/world. OK, sometimes I X my hands but it`s just for fun, I don`t want to preach to no one about sXe. Everyone should decide what`s best for him/her. By the way, I`m sXe for 11 years now and I`m still "Youth Crew" in my heart, hahahaha!
7. What bands have influenced on you? And how you characterised music which you play?
Zhbla: I listen to shitloads of diferrent music but the stuff that influenced the songwriting and our sound are just no bullshit fast hc/punk bands like Tear it up,FxPxOx, los crudos,the rites, minor threat, black flag...lots of old and new bands...
D.I.Y. hc/punk dude!
Cane: we call ourselves hardcorepunk band. hm, influences: we listen to different types of hardcore but if i speak only for the band, it's tear it up, f.p.o., minor threat, black flag, ssd, dys, early youth crew.
Kiki: All good bands that have something to say made an influence on us, in some way. Of course, there are some bands who influenced us more than the others, but i think that each of us have own favorite bands. On the sound of xVCx, Tear it up influenced a lot, Black Flag too. Some early and youth crew band too.
Gajo: Our music is simply hc/punk. You could say it`s "old school" but we`re not youth crew type of band, we`re not 82 copy type of band, we`re not modern hardcore type of band so it`s just hc/punk :). Well, some people said/wrote that we have some similarities with Tear It Up, so I`m fine with that :). Lots of different bands have influenced me personaly (from Tear It Up and The Rites to Husker Du and Descendents) but as for the band, I could say that we would all agree that bands that most have influenced us are: Tear It Up, Mladina Kina, Minor Threat, Black Flag, FxPxOx, Youth Of Today, The Rites...
8. Hardcore = punk or not? What do you think about it?
Zhbla: Hardcore/punk...that’s it...It’s the hardcore of the punx...doesn’t everybody know this by now? :-) You can talk about “punk rock” as a musical style, but “hardcore” just by itself doesn’t mean anything...But when you describe music with the Hardcore/punk description it means that it’s dedicated to true d.i.y. punk underground movement...
Cane: of course.
Kiki: Today, when you say hardcore, I imagine the style of music that's called NYHC. I hate it because there's nothing but being tough, trendy, macho idiot who's meaning of life is to visit agnostic front concert. On the other side, when you say punk, I imagine fucked up, often narrow minded drunkard who thinks that provocative appearance is the meaning of punk. I think when you take those 2 terms and bind them together you gain something more subversive, more critical, more inteligent, more DIY (well, you should). For me, being subversive, (self)critical and diy is meaning of hardcore/punk, cause it shouldn't be another ordinary fun-scene, it' should be place where you can be what you really are, where you can get support of a people you'll call friends. But NOOOOO!!!
Gajo: For me hardcore is punk and vice versa at least from Black Flag when punk became hardcore punk. But offcourse, there will be always some people/bands that will call themselves hardcore or punk or whatever even they have nothing to do with hc/punk. And we can`t do nothing about it but at least we know what`s really the truth :).
5. With E-Bay have understood) And what do you think about myspace, soulseek and the other internet affairs? That is better for you: printing zine or the internet-zin?
Zhbla: I’m really against my space cause it slowly destroys any real communication betwen human beings and it just turns everything in this superficial and non personal scheme that is easy to use but it will leave you empty in the end...It is really fucked up when i meet people that i’ve been coresponding with over the e-mail and then realise that they are totaly uncapable of a real face to face conversation...it frightening... I don’t use myspace, any messenger services, forums or any such thing...actualy i just use the internet to check the news and write long e-mails to my friends i rarely see. Printed zines (photocopyed actually) ...net zines are mostly crap bur there are some good ones...
Cane: someone made our myspace and we still don't know who did it. it's became so normal to have myspace profile and sometimes people look you like you're freak if you don't have it. i don't care about it. most ridicolous thing that people are 'collecting friends' who in most cases actually are people that they never saw or met or talk to them. of course, authentic zine on paper is always better then web zine.
Kiki: Myspace/facebook is the worst capitalist bullshit and it changes people. You know, there is a paralel punk scene going on on the internet, and lots of people from the internet scene are so addicted that they don't percieve punks who don't have their internet profile when they see them on gigs. They are losing abilities to comunicate without monitor and mouse. I think the problem is that on internet everybody is so cool and hot, and interesting, comunicative, succesful and smart, but only in their dark rooms. When they come out, they are little frustrated dorks without selfconfidence
Gajo: Well, from some of my previous answers you probably guessed that I don`t have such a positive opinion about myspace. I mean, if myspace is your thing, OK, do it, I don`t care. But don`t think that the DIY hc/punk scene is some virtual cyber scene and people/bands that have more than 2000 "friends", what`s up with that, I don`t understand it. As for soulseek, I don`t have nothing against it, even thought I don`t use it, I think it`s cool that you can find some music through soulseek. I prefear defenitely printing zines over web-zines. I mean, I even don`t know that much good web-zines and I know plenty of great printing zines so that`s probably says it all. Internet si cool for comunication but for wasting time is not that cool. I`d rather "waste" my time with my friends somewhere outside or with myself in my room listening to TSOL and Rikk Agnew :).
6. VC is a sxe band? What sxe means for you?
Zhbla: Huh...you could say that in a way cause all four of us are sympatizers of the sXe ideas..but i wold say that we are just a d.i.y hc/punk band...we never talk about it in our songs and on stage..It’s just something personal that i’ve found to be working out good for me...I’m tottaly opposed of following any kind of rules and i hate when good ideas turn ito some kind of a stereotipical movemet so i still find sXe a way of thinking about everything i do in my life, and it’s just one of the things that influences
my life , like also anarchist idea and way of thinking..so it’s a complex thing, and defenitely NOT a musical/fashion/whatever trend...Don’t let anybondy tell you there are some fucking rules to follow in sXe...
Cane: yes, we are straight edge band . for each of us, it's personal thing. if you don't find yourself familiar with alcohol, drugs, irresponsible sex, it's your choice. i don't see sense in singing only about edge.
Kiki: A personal choice. I'm sXe for 3 years and I still enjoy being sober.
Gajo: Well, we`re all sXe in the band but when we were forming the band, we never thought of making it a sXe band, it was just a coincidence that we were all sXe and ended up in the same band. We don`t sing about generic sXe topics and even if we talk a lot on our gigs between the songs we never talk about sXe itself. But still, there are always some people that hate us because we`re sXe or for some other stupid reasons, so I guess sometimes we can`t escape from the sXe label. sXe to me means a lot but it`s my personal choice and my way how to deal with this fucked up life/world. OK, sometimes I X my hands but it`s just for fun, I don`t want to preach to no one about sXe. Everyone should decide what`s best for him/her. By the way, I`m sXe for 11 years now and I`m still "Youth Crew" in my heart, hahahaha!
7. What bands have influenced on you? And how you characterised music which you play?
Zhbla: I listen to shitloads of diferrent music but the stuff that influenced the songwriting and our sound are just no bullshit fast hc/punk bands like Tear it up,FxPxOx, los crudos,the rites, minor threat, black flag...lots of old and new bands...
D.I.Y. hc/punk dude!
Cane: we call ourselves hardcorepunk band. hm, influences: we listen to different types of hardcore but if i speak only for the band, it's tear it up, f.p.o., minor threat, black flag, ssd, dys, early youth crew.
Kiki: All good bands that have something to say made an influence on us, in some way. Of course, there are some bands who influenced us more than the others, but i think that each of us have own favorite bands. On the sound of xVCx, Tear it up influenced a lot, Black Flag too. Some early and youth crew band too.
Gajo: Our music is simply hc/punk. You could say it`s "old school" but we`re not youth crew type of band, we`re not 82 copy type of band, we`re not modern hardcore type of band so it`s just hc/punk :). Well, some people said/wrote that we have some similarities with Tear It Up, so I`m fine with that :). Lots of different bands have influenced me personaly (from Tear It Up and The Rites to Husker Du and Descendents) but as for the band, I could say that we would all agree that bands that most have influenced us are: Tear It Up, Mladina Kina, Minor Threat, Black Flag, FxPxOx, Youth Of Today, The Rites...
8. Hardcore = punk or not? What do you think about it?
Zhbla: Hardcore/punk...that’s it...It’s the hardcore of the punx...doesn’t everybody know this by now? :-) You can talk about “punk rock” as a musical style, but “hardcore” just by itself doesn’t mean anything...But when you describe music with the Hardcore/punk description it means that it’s dedicated to true d.i.y. punk underground movement...
Cane: of course.
Kiki: Today, when you say hardcore, I imagine the style of music that's called NYHC. I hate it because there's nothing but being tough, trendy, macho idiot who's meaning of life is to visit agnostic front concert. On the other side, when you say punk, I imagine fucked up, often narrow minded drunkard who thinks that provocative appearance is the meaning of punk. I think when you take those 2 terms and bind them together you gain something more subversive, more critical, more inteligent, more DIY (well, you should). For me, being subversive, (self)critical and diy is meaning of hardcore/punk, cause it shouldn't be another ordinary fun-scene, it' should be place where you can be what you really are, where you can get support of a people you'll call friends. But NOOOOO!!!
Gajo: For me hardcore is punk and vice versa at least from Black Flag when punk became hardcore punk. But offcourse, there will be always some people/bands that will call themselves hardcore or punk or whatever even they have nothing to do with hc/punk. And we can`t do nothing about it but at least we know what`s really the truth :).
20th August 2007. "Garaže" Bratislava, Slovakia
9. How pass your rehearsals? What first of all for you: lyric or music?
Zhbla: Usually me or Gajo allready make all the music and the lyrics at home so we just come to a rehersal with that and we put it together...and then we play until we are fucking sweaty, tired and deaf :-)
Cane: music and lyrics are equaly important ot us.
Kiki: Rehersals are fine, we play a lot these days bacause we are going on tour for couple of days. For me, and for others, I think that lyrics are equaly important as music. No, maybe the lyrics are not that important, but the attitude is very important. You know, lyrics are just a small parts of your attitude, so when we are talking on stage between songs, it's not necessary to talk about lyrics. The whole attitude is what separates us from being regular, normal people, so it's sad to see punks without attitude.
Gajo: Our rehersals are something special :). Sometimes we are in the negative mood and sometimes we are in the positive mood but everytime we play rehersal or a concert, we bring out lots of energy and sweat. As for all bands where I play (or have played) both music and lyrics are very important to me. But for lots of bands that I listen, sometimes I don`t care that much about the lyrics if the band is not that serious but all the bands that I consider my favorite bands, the lyrics are also very important to me.
10. What releases do you have? Are you going to release something in the near future?
Zhbla: S/t cd on a few balkan labels, s/t 7” on trashbastard form germany, selfreleased tour cd, split cd with mladina kina and homesickhome, “who the fuck is davor kristijan” cd
and soon it should be out as a Lp on trashbastard , oh yeah and a discography so far casette...
Cane: we have out s/t cd and 7', 3 way split cd with mladina kina and home sick home and first album on cd with stupid name :) we would like to release split 7' with mladina kina because they are great and we love them as friends and as a band.
Kiki: Well, we released xVCx selftitled record, it's our first. Then comes the 3way split with Home Sick Home and Mladina kina, and our newest material is released not a month ago and it's called «Who the fuck is Davor Kristijan?!». Near in the future we'll release a cassette with all our material on it.
Gajo: We have released so far:
1. S/T CD/7˝ EP 2006. (CD have 12 songs and it`s released by few Balkan labels (DHP & AK 47, Burn Their Trends, Brand New Place, Ha-Ko Bastards & Obsolete Man) and 7˝ EP has 10 songs and it`s released by German label Thrash Bastards)
2. Never Gonna Shut Up Tour CD 2007. (8 songs, self released and sold out)
3. xVCx/Mladina Kina/Home Sick Home 3 Way Split CD 2007. (same material as Tour CD, minus one song and this was also released by same Balkan labels as first CD)
4. Who The Fuck Is Davor Kristijan? CD/LP 2008. (15 songs, CD is released by same Balkan labels as previous two CDs and LP will be soon released by Thrash Bastards from Germany and Refuse from Poland)
5. Discography Tape 2008. (DHP & AK 47, all studio material at one place (2006. - 2008.), 35 songs)
That`s it so far :)
11. Does anyone of you have a side-project (may be zine or distro)?
Zhbla: I think we already answered that but...I make a zine (soon it will be 10 years from the 1st issue) and i play in another band with Gajo...i’m obsessed with bycicles so i ride them all the time...also interesed in some political (anarchist) activities so i help around when i can...stuff like that...
Cane: i'm doing disto and label called brand new place.
Kiki: Of course, we are well known scenesters :). 3 of us are writing our own zines: Ovo je nekad bilo drvo, International old school conspiracy and Viva la evolution. Some guys play in other bands (Evazija, Leid, already mentioned) and the 4th guy has a label.
Gajo: We`re all involved in other punk activities. Zhbla is doing a zine called Ovo Je Nekad Bilo Drvo (means: This used to be a tree once (8 issues so far)) and play guitar in Leid. Kiki is doing a zine called Viva La Evolution (4 issues so far). Cane runs label/distro called Brand New Place and sometimes do gigs in Zagreb. I`m doing a zine called International Old School Conspiracy (7 issues so far and 5 issues of newsletter with the same name). I also run a zine distro Master Baba and play drums in Leid and Evazija and have few projects with my friends from Mladina Kina (10˝ Monkeys and HC Ninjas).
12. What do you do out of group? Job, school... ? How spend a free time?
Zhbla: No job, no school:-) i’m a dropout , but i’ll have to find a job when we come back from the tour...Bycicles!!!
Cane: i don't do anything. i had few part time jobs and i guess i will try to find job after this tour. music, food, friends, love, bike riding, nervous breakdowns.
Kiki: Some of us have work, some don't. One of us studies on college. Free times we spend on bikes, playing instruments, visiting our punk friends from other towns, going on gigs, doing our zines, thinking criticaly and talking about problems...
Gajo: Kiki is still studying, Zhbla droped out last year from coledge and is looking for a job, Cane sometimes help his dad at his work and I have been working for few years but none of my jobs were serious jobs. As for free time, I like to spend it most alone in my room with my friends from Tear It Up:), doing zine and recording mixed tapes for my friends or spending time with my friends hanging outside or playing rehersals or visiting my friends from Dravograd in Slovenia.
Žbla doing youth crew jump
12th January 2008. "MC" Postojna, Slovenija
13. Tell something about your European tour. What countries do you visit? Do you want to play in Russia? :)
Zhbla: I think somebody else will answer you that, i’m just happy that we are going with our friends from FxPxOx ... i Think we actualy had an offer to tour russia, but had no time and money then....I want to play in russia...why not? Alway nice to go somwhere new..
Cane: we will tour together with f.p.o. from macedonia. this will be their last tour. we'll play in croatia, slovakia, czech, poland, germany, holland, belgium, france, slovenia. we would like to play russia, but we still need visas.
Kiki: It was fun! But not just fun. We were amazed with new cities we arrived to, but in a punk way. It's nice to visit squats and youth centers in Europe and saw how people function there, we talked with them about their scenes and problems they have. For me, it was nice, but important experience cause I found out that nothing is imposible, you just have to know right people. We visited Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Austria and Germany. I'd like to visit Russia and play there, but I'm not certain if that's posible.
Gajo: Our first tour was in 2007. from 17. 08. to 29. 08. and included 13 gigs in Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany. That tour was done with our friends Mladina Kina from Dravograd, Slovenia and it was one of best times of our life because we`re totaly in love with guys from Mladina Kina so that and good gigs & nice people on tour made the tour really special. Our second tour will be from 29. 08. to 20. 09. 2008. with our friends FxPxOx from Skopje, Macedonia and it includes 21 gigs (two days are off) in Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Slovenia. I can`t wait to go and I hope it will be great like last tour. Yes, I would definitely like to play in Russia. I hope I will, one day :).
14. What the most shitty in the world? :)
Zhbla: Your english? :-)) just kidding, it’s way better than my russian :-)))
Cane: hippies.
Kiki: Lazyness and passivity.
Gajo: There are too many bad stuff in the world and that`s why we`re all so fucked up because this world is not a normal place to live, at least not for me. But I think that all evils are coming from imperialistic capitalism that will eventualy destroy us all, including whole planet, so I hope that day will come soon so we can end this fucked up world.
15. What are your non-musical activities? What do you think about FNB, direct action and etc.?
Zhbla: I answered that allready in my previous answers so i’ll skip that now...But in short. I support it...
Cane: some of us are helping food not bombs here in zagreb and all of us are supporters.
Kiki: I don't have non-musical activities connected to the scene (or activism) other than a zine. I was an activist of Green Action, but i quit because lack of time. Sometimes it's not easy for me to be connected because i live in a small town near Zagreb, so I have to travel every day. I think FNB, direct action, etc. are nice and important, but although I participated sometimes in FNB, I'm more interested in other things.
Gajo: For myself I can`t say that I`m active in some non musical activities (unless you consider making a zine also a non musical activity?) but I support local FNB actions and sometimes some other direct actions. Zhbla said more about this in his answer about the Croatian scene since he`s more in contact with people that are doing some non music actions than me.
16. Nazi in Russia is a big problem now. How with it in Croatia?
Zhbla: Yeah, we know, and i get fucking terrified when i read about it...We’ll you have some incidents here and there, but i suppose you can’t compare it with the situation in russia where people actually get killed...there’s been a rise in numbers in the nazi/football hooligans/right wing/whatever scene here in the last few years...but honestly i still don’t feel treathened...It’s relatively cool for now...i don’t know..i just dont feel scared here in Zagreb...
Cane: yes, we know what happened in russia. here was problem with nazis in 97 and 98. but there are lot of football supporters who are nazis. some people i know get death treath from them.
Kiki: I know that nazism is a big problem in Russia, I even saw some documentaries about neo-nazism in Russia on the internet and it's totaly fucked up because Russian nazis have support from the whole society, in a way – from police and politicians. And they kill people. Here in Croatia, something like that is almost unthinkable. It was unthinkable even 10 years ago when problems with nazis were something, although I'm not the person who can talk about it. Today, we don't have problem with nazis. I think that there are some guys who declare themselves as nazis, but they don't do trouble. There are of course football hooligans, but they rarely have something against the punks.
Gajo: Yeah, I`ve heard some stories about fuckin` nazis in Russia. Here is not that much problem at least in Zagreb but maybe in some other towns (like Dubrovnik for example) is a more problem with local nazi hooligans. But I guess Croatian "nazis" are nothing compare to Russian nazi assholes beacuse Croatian nazis are not organized at all and are bunch of spoiled rich teenagers that are just stupid in the head. There were more problems with nazis here in 90`s and from 2000. - 2002. but now there are more those typical football hooligans who you don`t see that much on the streets unless it`s some big football game going on in the town. Here, football is a big thing and it`s really fucked up to see how lots of people are behaving here when it`s some big game going on or world wide championship, or European championship or whatever. I hate all those stupid fucks, nazis, football hooligans, nationalists, sexists, homophobes, it`s all the same shit to me!
12th January 2008. "MC" Postojna, Slovenija
13. Tell something about your European tour. What countries do you visit? Do you want to play in Russia? :)
Zhbla: I think somebody else will answer you that, i’m just happy that we are going with our friends from FxPxOx ... i Think we actualy had an offer to tour russia, but had no time and money then....I want to play in russia...why not? Alway nice to go somwhere new..
Cane: we will tour together with f.p.o. from macedonia. this will be their last tour. we'll play in croatia, slovakia, czech, poland, germany, holland, belgium, france, slovenia. we would like to play russia, but we still need visas.
Kiki: It was fun! But not just fun. We were amazed with new cities we arrived to, but in a punk way. It's nice to visit squats and youth centers in Europe and saw how people function there, we talked with them about their scenes and problems they have. For me, it was nice, but important experience cause I found out that nothing is imposible, you just have to know right people. We visited Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Austria and Germany. I'd like to visit Russia and play there, but I'm not certain if that's posible.
Gajo: Our first tour was in 2007. from 17. 08. to 29. 08. and included 13 gigs in Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany. That tour was done with our friends Mladina Kina from Dravograd, Slovenia and it was one of best times of our life because we`re totaly in love with guys from Mladina Kina so that and good gigs & nice people on tour made the tour really special. Our second tour will be from 29. 08. to 20. 09. 2008. with our friends FxPxOx from Skopje, Macedonia and it includes 21 gigs (two days are off) in Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Slovenia. I can`t wait to go and I hope it will be great like last tour. Yes, I would definitely like to play in Russia. I hope I will, one day :).
14. What the most shitty in the world? :)
Zhbla: Your english? :-)) just kidding, it’s way better than my russian :-)))
Cane: hippies.
Kiki: Lazyness and passivity.
Gajo: There are too many bad stuff in the world and that`s why we`re all so fucked up because this world is not a normal place to live, at least not for me. But I think that all evils are coming from imperialistic capitalism that will eventualy destroy us all, including whole planet, so I hope that day will come soon so we can end this fucked up world.
15. What are your non-musical activities? What do you think about FNB, direct action and etc.?
Zhbla: I answered that allready in my previous answers so i’ll skip that now...But in short. I support it...
Cane: some of us are helping food not bombs here in zagreb and all of us are supporters.
Kiki: I don't have non-musical activities connected to the scene (or activism) other than a zine. I was an activist of Green Action, but i quit because lack of time. Sometimes it's not easy for me to be connected because i live in a small town near Zagreb, so I have to travel every day. I think FNB, direct action, etc. are nice and important, but although I participated sometimes in FNB, I'm more interested in other things.
Gajo: For myself I can`t say that I`m active in some non musical activities (unless you consider making a zine also a non musical activity?) but I support local FNB actions and sometimes some other direct actions. Zhbla said more about this in his answer about the Croatian scene since he`s more in contact with people that are doing some non music actions than me.
16. Nazi in Russia is a big problem now. How with it in Croatia?
Zhbla: Yeah, we know, and i get fucking terrified when i read about it...We’ll you have some incidents here and there, but i suppose you can’t compare it with the situation in russia where people actually get killed...there’s been a rise in numbers in the nazi/football hooligans/right wing/whatever scene here in the last few years...but honestly i still don’t feel treathened...It’s relatively cool for now...i don’t know..i just dont feel scared here in Zagreb...
Cane: yes, we know what happened in russia. here was problem with nazis in 97 and 98. but there are lot of football supporters who are nazis. some people i know get death treath from them.
Kiki: I know that nazism is a big problem in Russia, I even saw some documentaries about neo-nazism in Russia on the internet and it's totaly fucked up because Russian nazis have support from the whole society, in a way – from police and politicians. And they kill people. Here in Croatia, something like that is almost unthinkable. It was unthinkable even 10 years ago when problems with nazis were something, although I'm not the person who can talk about it. Today, we don't have problem with nazis. I think that there are some guys who declare themselves as nazis, but they don't do trouble. There are of course football hooligans, but they rarely have something against the punks.
Gajo: Yeah, I`ve heard some stories about fuckin` nazis in Russia. Here is not that much problem at least in Zagreb but maybe in some other towns (like Dubrovnik for example) is a more problem with local nazi hooligans. But I guess Croatian "nazis" are nothing compare to Russian nazi assholes beacuse Croatian nazis are not organized at all and are bunch of spoiled rich teenagers that are just stupid in the head. There were more problems with nazis here in 90`s and from 2000. - 2002. but now there are more those typical football hooligans who you don`t see that much on the streets unless it`s some big football game going on in the town. Here, football is a big thing and it`s really fucked up to see how lots of people are behaving here when it`s some big game going on or world wide championship, or European championship or whatever. I hate all those stupid fucks, nazis, football hooligans, nationalists, sexists, homophobes, it`s all the same shit to me!
Kiki, Cane and Žbla doing stand up comedy act
07th July 2007. "VUK" Varaždin, Croatia
17. What do you know about Russian punk/hardcore scene? Do you heard any russian groups?
Zhbla: Actually not as much...razor bois? Really dont know....stupid me...But you will teach me? Right?
Cane: i know for how we feel, george harrison and frank castle gonna break your neck. is captain america label or band?
Kiki: To be honest, I don't know a lot about Russian scene. We heard about punks got beaten or killed by nazis, and I've read Russian scene report in one zine maybe 2 years ago. But maybe a year ago I've been listening one hip-hop band from Moscow with sXe sharp skinhead in it. The band was awsome but i haven't remembered the name, sry!
Gajo: Hey, I know something, maybe not a lot, but I˙ve read some Russian scene reports and interviews with some bands. I love Frank Castle Gonna Break Your Neck!!! I`ve also heard George Harrison, B`67, Razor Bois... I would definitely like to found out some more stuff about your current hc/punk scene... You can always write me for my zine, what`s going on in Russia...
18. Tell something at last!
Zhbla: At last! :-) well thank you for this interwiew, it was a real pleasure answering your questions...take care and keep the d.i.y. spirit alive...Zines fucking rule...Love...zhbla...
Cane: hi, my name is god. fuck you! :)
Kiki: Thank you for your interest on xVCx and for doing an interview with us.
Gajo: Thanx a lot for interest in xVCx, it was interesting answering your questions, I hope we didn`t bore you with some answers... If you want to know anything else about xVCx, write us at: xvaselinexchildrenx@hotmail.com or if you want to write us for any other stuff, just write! You can also contact me on: gajoimasa@yahoo.com or at my home address: Branimir Gajčević, Kauzlarićev prilaz 15, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Thanx again and stay in contact! Tear It Up, Tear It Down!!!
07th July 2007. "VUK" Varaždin, Croatia
17. What do you know about Russian punk/hardcore scene? Do you heard any russian groups?
Zhbla: Actually not as much...razor bois? Really dont know....stupid me...But you will teach me? Right?
Cane: i know for how we feel, george harrison and frank castle gonna break your neck. is captain america label or band?
Kiki: To be honest, I don't know a lot about Russian scene. We heard about punks got beaten or killed by nazis, and I've read Russian scene report in one zine maybe 2 years ago. But maybe a year ago I've been listening one hip-hop band from Moscow with sXe sharp skinhead in it. The band was awsome but i haven't remembered the name, sry!
Gajo: Hey, I know something, maybe not a lot, but I˙ve read some Russian scene reports and interviews with some bands. I love Frank Castle Gonna Break Your Neck!!! I`ve also heard George Harrison, B`67, Razor Bois... I would definitely like to found out some more stuff about your current hc/punk scene... You can always write me for my zine, what`s going on in Russia...
18. Tell something at last!
Zhbla: At last! :-) well thank you for this interwiew, it was a real pleasure answering your questions...take care and keep the d.i.y. spirit alive...Zines fucking rule...Love...zhbla...
Cane: hi, my name is god. fuck you! :)
Kiki: Thank you for your interest on xVCx and for doing an interview with us.
Gajo: Thanx a lot for interest in xVCx, it was interesting answering your questions, I hope we didn`t bore you with some answers... If you want to know anything else about xVCx, write us at: xvaselinexchildrenx@hotmail.com or if you want to write us for any other stuff, just write! You can also contact me on: gajoimasa@yahoo.com or at my home address: Branimir Gajčević, Kauzlarićev prilaz 15, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Thanx again and stay in contact! Tear It Up, Tear It Down!!!
Kiki and Cane looking mean
23th February 2007. "MC KK" Krško, Slovenija
23th February 2007. "MC KK" Krško, Slovenija
The lost Russian interview # 2by Ilya
1. Hey guys tell me about your way in beautiful punkrock world?
Zhbla: Punkrock world is not beautiful, it’s shitty...but we still love it :-)) Our way? Playing in bands, doing zines, riding bikes, listening music,spending time with friends, cooking good food, drinking beer (just me :-), reading books...what else?
Zhbla: Punkrock world is not beautiful, it’s shitty...but we still love it :-)) Our way? Playing in bands, doing zines, riding bikes, listening music,spending time with friends, cooking good food, drinking beer (just me :-), reading books...what else?
Cane: i get into hardcorepunk at the end of elementary school/beggining of highschool after listening tons of metal and some more crappy music. Still, i find hardcorepunk most likely. Not just music, it's more way of life :)
Kiki: That the way aha aha, I like it aha aha. Disco punk, of course!
Gajo: Hi to all On The Run readers! My name is Branimir but most of people call me and knows me as Gajo (which is my nickname). I`m 30 years old and I`ve been involved with punk from the middle of 90`s. Also I`m sXe for 11 years now and it still feels great to be straight and alert and to have a positive mental attitude :). I think that punk rock "world" is not so beutiful anymore and I don`t see myself anymore part of lots of things that are now considered to be punk. You can say that I`m critical and cynical about punk now more than ever. I`m just trying to do the things my way and if someone likes it, cool... If not, I don`t give a fuck...
2. What influences on your choice play fucking dirty hardcore punk in spirit 80's?
Zhbla: Cause it’s fun, simple and honest...i like all sorts of music but fast and raw 80’s style Hc/punk was always my favorite type to play and listen...I’ve been listening to punk my whole life and i must say that it has given me a chance and teached me to use my head and think for myself..If it weren’t for los crudos and minor threat i don’t know where i would be now....i’m not a good musician and i can’t play nice mellodies... so what choice do i have except to make some fucking noise?
Cane: I guess we took some influence from 80's bands because we didn't want to be another metal/screamo/sludge/insertmodernphrase influenced hardcore band. We wanted to have real hardcorepunk band with message but without being copycat and being stuck in the past.
Cane: I guess we took some influence from 80's bands because we didn't want to be another metal/screamo/sludge/insertmodernphrase influenced hardcore band. We wanted to have real hardcorepunk band with message but without being copycat and being stuck in the past.
Kiki: Diy hc/punk bands from 80's to modern old school (but strickly diy hc/punk) bands. From Black Flag, Minor Threat to Tear it Up!
Gajo: Well, definitely lots of bands had influence on us from the 80`s, 90`s and 2000`s. When we started with xVCx we definitely wanted to play pissed off, fast & raw hc/punk so we did it. I think that all of us in band are personaly mostly influenced by our friends from bands Mladina Kina (from Dravograd in Slovenia, best Slovenian hc/punk band ever!) and FxPxOx (from Skopje, Macedonia, best Macedonian hc/punk band ever!). Musicly, also Black Flag, Tear It Up, Minor Threat, Youth Of Today...
3. How such this fucking awesome name VASELINE CHILDREN was born?
Zhbla: Out of boredom, singing Violent children songs the whole day... nothing special and dramatic...
Cane: i'm not right person to answer this question. Blaž and Gajo came up with that crazy name.
Kiki: Two sick diy addicts associated and made decision to start band who will openly say every critics about how local punk scene is fucked up. They gathered 2 more guys and the rest is history.
Gajo: One hot summer day on some punk festival, Zhbla end me were talking about starting a hc/punk band and we were singing Violent Children hits whole day. As we were next to some pool where some children played and since we`re old perverts, it was like a bless from a junk messiah that we should call the band Vaseline Children. And the legend is born.
Gajo: Well, definitely lots of bands had influence on us from the 80`s, 90`s and 2000`s. When we started with xVCx we definitely wanted to play pissed off, fast & raw hc/punk so we did it. I think that all of us in band are personaly mostly influenced by our friends from bands Mladina Kina (from Dravograd in Slovenia, best Slovenian hc/punk band ever!) and FxPxOx (from Skopje, Macedonia, best Macedonian hc/punk band ever!). Musicly, also Black Flag, Tear It Up, Minor Threat, Youth Of Today...
3. How such this fucking awesome name VASELINE CHILDREN was born?
Zhbla: Out of boredom, singing Violent children songs the whole day... nothing special and dramatic...
Cane: i'm not right person to answer this question. Blaž and Gajo came up with that crazy name.
Kiki: Two sick diy addicts associated and made decision to start band who will openly say every critics about how local punk scene is fucked up. They gathered 2 more guys and the rest is history.
Gajo: One hot summer day on some punk festival, Zhbla end me were talking about starting a hc/punk band and we were singing Violent Children hits whole day. As we were next to some pool where some children played and since we`re old perverts, it was like a bless from a junk messiah that we should call the band Vaseline Children. And the legend is born.
Žbla and Gajo ripping hard
23th February 2007. "MC KK" Krško, Slovenija
4. Tell me about members your band? what engaged every members in this fucking life???
Zhbla: I’m doing nothing special in the moment...trying to find a job cause i have no money, dropped out of college, my girlfriend left me... happy stuff :-) you know? Since the band’s broken up i had a shitty time, for a lot of different personal reasons...i have the worst time in my life but better days will come... In the meanwhile i work on my zine, make new songs with gajo....I’m also involved in some Anarchist activities... helping with the Anarchist bookfair that will go for the fifth year now... So there is a lot to do...
Cane: i did vocals.
23th February 2007. "MC KK" Krško, Slovenija
4. Tell me about members your band? what engaged every members in this fucking life???
Zhbla: I’m doing nothing special in the moment...trying to find a job cause i have no money, dropped out of college, my girlfriend left me... happy stuff :-) you know? Since the band’s broken up i had a shitty time, for a lot of different personal reasons...i have the worst time in my life but better days will come... In the meanwhile i work on my zine, make new songs with gajo....I’m also involved in some Anarchist activities... helping with the Anarchist bookfair that will go for the fifth year now... So there is a lot to do...
Cane: i did vocals.
Kiki: I'll say for myself. I'm bass player called Kiki, student of history and archaeology. I belive that diy ethics is one of most important things, so beautiful and creative. Diy who can save the world, but people are all fucked up and we all deserve to die in fucking apocalypse!!!
Gajo: As for my life... I try to spend lots of my time with people that I love and I also like a lot spending my time alone with my music (did you know that Tear It Up guys squatted my room? it`s true story :)). Also playing raw and energetic music with my friends is really important to me and I love doing zine a lot and writing long e-mails and letters.
5. You believe in UFO, thrash zombies, vampiers, wolfmans, bigfoots, giant squid and others satan Evil spirits!!???
Zhbla: Well i really like the Misfits, does that count? :-) UFO’s come by my window every night to say hello, trash zombies are all the people in this fucked up town, and acctually, our singer is the giant squid!
Cane: i don't believe but i find interesting in that lizzard people are rulling this world on head with kris kristofferson :)
Kiki: Look, satan doesn't exist, so zombies are not his servants. They are independent and they don't give a fuck about religion. Vampires and Ufo also doesn't exist, but zombies will come and fix this fucked up world. They are the best cop killers and punishers for all yuppies and businesspeople. George Romero hides them in a super-hidden place, and waits for right time to free them. They are more powerful than werewolves and giant squids, remember that.
Gajo: Well, I listen TSOL almost every day. Is that spooky and bizarro enough for you?
6. Tell me about Used garage, what is this and how you recorded in Used garage?
Zhbla: It’s Usud garage, and Usud is one nice and friendly death metal band that lend us their garage and equipement to record...The garage lies in the depths of hell called knežija neighbourhood... We recorded it fast,raw and sloppy..the way it’s supposed to go...
Cane: it's usud garage, not used. usud is death metal band from zagreb in which garage we recorded songs which were on 7“/cd and 3 way split cd with mladina kina and home sick home. When we recorded for first time there with their drummer Branimir, we were together in band for little bit more than two months. Second recording there was little bit stressfull because first time there was some trouble with computer and we didn't do anything. And second time we recorded almost everything but Ivan, guy who recorded us that time fucked something up and we recorded everything again from beggining. It alway took less than three hours to record everything and we liked it that way.
Gajo: As for my life... I try to spend lots of my time with people that I love and I also like a lot spending my time alone with my music (did you know that Tear It Up guys squatted my room? it`s true story :)). Also playing raw and energetic music with my friends is really important to me and I love doing zine a lot and writing long e-mails and letters.
5. You believe in UFO, thrash zombies, vampiers, wolfmans, bigfoots, giant squid and others satan Evil spirits!!???
Zhbla: Well i really like the Misfits, does that count? :-) UFO’s come by my window every night to say hello, trash zombies are all the people in this fucked up town, and acctually, our singer is the giant squid!
Cane: i don't believe but i find interesting in that lizzard people are rulling this world on head with kris kristofferson :)
Kiki: Look, satan doesn't exist, so zombies are not his servants. They are independent and they don't give a fuck about religion. Vampires and Ufo also doesn't exist, but zombies will come and fix this fucked up world. They are the best cop killers and punishers for all yuppies and businesspeople. George Romero hides them in a super-hidden place, and waits for right time to free them. They are more powerful than werewolves and giant squids, remember that.
Gajo: Well, I listen TSOL almost every day. Is that spooky and bizarro enough for you?
6. Tell me about Used garage, what is this and how you recorded in Used garage?
Zhbla: It’s Usud garage, and Usud is one nice and friendly death metal band that lend us their garage and equipement to record...The garage lies in the depths of hell called knežija neighbourhood... We recorded it fast,raw and sloppy..the way it’s supposed to go...
Cane: it's usud garage, not used. usud is death metal band from zagreb in which garage we recorded songs which were on 7“/cd and 3 way split cd with mladina kina and home sick home. When we recorded for first time there with their drummer Branimir, we were together in band for little bit more than two months. Second recording there was little bit stressfull because first time there was some trouble with computer and we didn't do anything. And second time we recorded almost everything but Ivan, guy who recorded us that time fucked something up and we recorded everything again from beggining. It alway took less than three hours to record everything and we liked it that way.
Kiki: Usud garage, not used. Usud means doom. And you're all doomed when George release his zombies! Usud is «vegetarian death metal band» and they have garage with all the super equipment for recording. They are so powerful that they can borrow garage for other bands to record. So we entered their seceret zombie clan and they gave us permision to record. With powers of «doom» we recorded our material in a no-time.
08th March 2008. "MC" Brežice, Slovenija
7. OK, what about your city? i don't found information about where are you from?
Zhbla: We are from Zagreb, Croatia, a little ex-yugoslavian fucked up country full of ignorant assholes and lying bastards trying to sell us the great “european dream”... i moved here few years ago and my home town
is just a one hour drive away from Zagreb...Zagreb is a nice town to live in, not to big not to small but sometimes it’s pretty boring cause the punk scene sucks in the moment...few days ago a squat were the shows were organised was evicted, the city is trying to shut down any form of alternative and youth culture..now you just have crappy bars and discos...fuck that shit... the future doesn’t seem so bright in the moment...
Cane: drummer and singer are from zagreb, bass player is from samobor and guitarist is from novi marof. but we had rehersals in zagreb.
Kiki: We all come from Zagreb, capital of Croatia. I study there, but I travell to Zg every day from my sweet little hometown called Samobor (direct translation – «Onlypine). And the other guy is from his sweet little hometown called Novi Marof (not direct translation – New Farm) but he lives in Zagreb. Other guys are locals. Zagreb is ok. Nothing special.
Gajo: You`re right, there`s no info on the record where are we coming from and that is kind of lame... We`re from Zagreb (capitol city of Croatia). Well, at least Cane and I are from Zagreb, Zhbla is not originaly from Zagreb but most of the time he lives here and Kiki lives in a small city very close to Zagreb. As for Zagreb, I don`t know what to tell you. It`s like every other city with its good and bad sides. What I don`t like here are most of the people that live here, so most of my friends are from other places. As for some punk "scene" in Zagreb, there`s no any at this moment, at least I don`t see it...
8. I very love hardcore punk bands 80's! sometimes i think if i have Time machine i could visit
very much shows old bands!!! what shows you want visit with help super duper TIME MACHINE????
Zhbla: That’s a tough one...i would probably first stop by in the 90’s to check out some born against and los crudos shows, and then...who knows...some Hüsker dü, black flag, reagan youth, nausea...maybe i would end up dissapointed if all the legendary bands wouldn’t live up to my expectations...sometimes it’s better not to know and just enjoy the present...
Cane: hard question. If that would be possible, it would be cool to see black flag, minor threat, bad brains, dag nasty, husker du, negative approach, discharge, antidote, cro mags, agnostic front, society system decontrol,dead kennedys, napalm death, uniform choice, youth of today, judge, bold, gorilla biscuits, side by side, alone in a crowd... list would be to long. better then than now when you see tons of old bands doing reunions or still playing but without ounce of energy they had back in the day.
Kiki: Uaaaa, Time Machine. With time machine I would travel through time and kill jesus christ, adolf hitler, bounch of nazi assholes, commie assholes, capitalist assholes, kennedy, but before he was shot. I would kill bounch of people just for fun, expecialy croatian politicans. Hardcore gigs? 80's??? No, I would travel to disco shows, studio 54 and stuff like thatJ. Just kidding! Look, I think that we today have wrong perception of 80-ies and i think that there was more fucked up situations and brutal fights on Black Flag gigs than today. Let the past be the past, we have to be more concerned with future.
Gajo: Once I got back with time machine to a Circle Jerks show and it was a really shitty show and I found out that lots of 80`s hc/punk bands were just into sex, drugs and r`n`r. Fuck that shit! But yeah, I also love 80`s hc/punk a lot...
9. Tell me about Andreas Knobloch (THRASHBASTARD) he is really cool man!!!!?
Zhbla: Yeah, really cool and a handsome lad indeed :-)) It is really cool that he showed interest in us, cause let’s face it, we are not from sweden, north america or any other “cool”part of the world...we are from the balkans, ex yugoslavia and very few people give a chance to bands frome here..so a big thanx to him...
Cane: i had most of contact with andreas before we all met him this year in berlin. He seems like a really nice guy. He didn't even heard our music when he wrote me a first e-mail about vaseline children (vasko from fxpxox told him about us). and he asked me if i could send him recording so he can hear it. He liked us since he released 7“. I guess we wouldn't be able to do two tours without his help.
Kiki: So cool and cute!!!
Gajo: Oh, Andreas is cool sexy motherfucker :). Seriously, he helped us a lot with releasing our 7˝ EP and getting to people hear us from all over the world. We spent some cool times with him in Berlin on our last tour.
18th August 2007. "Kino" Dravograd, Slovenija
10. What you think about Russia and about russian punckrockers and bands?
Zhbla: We’ll i really don’t now much about your scene...actualy i have never seen a russian band on tour here... I know only that your politicians are total assholes (like your primeminister Putin the biggest asshole of them all for example) and that you have a very big problem with nazis...that’s all...sorry...
Cane: I still think that russia is way too cold and it would be only possible to tour there in summer :) don't know too much about russian bands. Sadly, i know for deaths of punks caused by nazis.
Kiki: About russian punk scene and bands I know very little. I have some old tape «We are all positive» and it didn't impress me. I'm more imformed about russian nazi scene and fucked up situations with homophobia and xenophobia. No, wait! I lisened to Hoods Up, hip hop hardcore band from Moscow. That was great, I had it on a tape. But everything I heard from Russia is another death of some active punk or another antifascist activist. Depresive! We in Croatia don't have big problems with nazis, thank shit.
Gajo: As for Russia I know only what i read in books, comics and zines plus what I saw in movies and documentaries. As for Russian punk, I`ve read some scene reports and few zines and I know some bands like Frank Castle Gonna Break Your Neck (they`˙re great!), George Harrison, Razor Bois, B`67, Svinokop... That`s definitely not much but I`m always interested to find out more when I see something coming from Russia (band, zine, scene report...). Also few months ago we did interview for a Russian zine (don`t know the name) with a guy called Nick Fury, maybe you know him?
11. Tell about the best show which you have play?
Zhbla: Uh..i don’t know..there were so many great gigs...it’s always great when you have your friends there that support you and like your music, when the atmosfere is friendly without any macho bullshit, everybody is having fun, sweating, singing along...stuff like that...that feeling when you are finished playing, tottaly wet from the sweat, you can’t speak, just smiling and thinking what the fuck just happened...if you play in a band you should know that feeling...
Cane: I liked most of shows in slovenia, first show in zagreb, first show in belgrade, mülheim last time, berlin...
Kiki: I don't know – there isn't just one. We made awsome shows expecialy in Slovenija, because, there people are really amasing. Our best gigs were like: nice friendly circle pit, lots of stagediving, happy faces and smiles, tons of sweat, singalong and talking between songs. Krško, Dravograd/SG, Postojna... those were the times.
Gajo: There were too many great shows we played as xVCx and I`m not exaggerating. Some of our best shows were definitely in Slovenia in towns like Dravograd, Slovenj Gradec and Krshko. Those shows were always preatty intense, full of energy with high adrenalin going on and ultra positive atmosphere (circle pits, stage diving, singalong, slam pogo...). But we also had some cool shows in Rijeka (Croatia), Varazhdin (Croatia), Belgrade (Serbia), Skopje (Macedonia), Postojna (Slovenia), Berlin (Germany), Brno (Chezch), Bratislava (Slovakia), Mulheim (Germany)... In Zagreb people didn`t cared too much about us and didn`t liked that we were always talking a lot between our songs. To us it was never just "shut up and play" shows. Oh yeah, once Zhbla and me were playing xVCx karaoke show on the skate ramp in Dravograd, Slovenia. We played almost whole xVCx set plus bunch of covers, that was great experience!
12. What would be if the president of CROATIA became HENRY ROLLINS???????? he he!!!
Zhbla: I would hate him like any other president, and he’s just an old asshole so who gives a fuck about
him...
Cane: he can't became president of croatia because he isn't born in croatia and he isn't croatian. And since i see all presidents as assholes, i wouldn't see him as anything else. He wanted to be talkshow host, and there he is.
Kiki: He and his friend George Romero would free all their zombies, and all stupid croatian people would get a life becoming zombies!!!
Gajo: If Henry Rollins was president of Croatia I would be a prime minister :).
25th November 2006. "Big Rock Mamma" Rijeka, Croatia
13. For today anybody from you plays outside groups?
Zhbla: We’ll me and Gajo have a new band called Junk messiah, somethin simmilar to the Vaseline style of hc/punk...the other two members are from slovenija and they played in a great band called mladina kina, great guys and great band, we shared many gigs and a tour together, and they are a great inspiration ...we also play in a more heavier and dark band called Leid. Something like his hero is gone/born against/whatever stuff...but we are looking for a new singer so that is waiting on the side for now...
Cane: me not.
Kiki: Yes, but not me.
Gajo: Huh, Beside xVCx I played drums and sang in bunch of bands over the years... Some of those bands were: Theysuck! (sloppy 80`s hc/punk without a guitar), Evazija (raw hc/punk with engaged lyrics), 10 Inch Monkeys (slower hc/punk, Black Flag meets Tear It Up), Lasting Values (modern "old school" hc/punk with youth crew influences), Equal (youth crew hardcore), Izloir Band (melodic hc/punk)... Now I play drums in: Junk Messiah (The Rites meets xVCx :)), Mitja & Gajo (two man band - tough & pissed off hc/punk), Ugly Fucks (fast as fuck raw hc/punk) and Leid (sort of 90`s sounding all over hc/punk). I also sometimes helped other friends/bands when they needed drummer for some gigs/tours. So I shared some times with: FxPxOx (from Skopje, Maceodnia - fast & great hc/punk), The Truth Of XXX (from Kraljevo, Serbia - modern "old school" hc/punk with some youth crew influences), What They Fear (from Postojna, Slovenia - fast hc/punk), Samouprava (from Dravograd, Slovenia - pissed off hc/punk), Kill Greed (from Dravograd, Slovenia - tough hc/punk)... So now you can see that I love playing hc/punk :). I also used to do a zine with my ex girlfriend called No, All! (4 issues were out) and I`m still doing a zine called International Old School Conspiracy (7 issues and 8th is on the way) plus the IOSC newsletter (5 issues so far). IOSC is dedicated to DIY hc/punk + some stories about 80`s hc/punk bands + some personal ranting... I also have a zine distro and I write a lot for other zines. I used to run tape label/distro called Master Baba Tapes and I just started with new tape label called Bizaro Records.
14. Are you like use vaseline??? In what purposes? :)))
Zhbla: Since the band has broken up i don’t use it any more but usually we used it on tours when the nights were long and lonely and we had nothing to do in our van... Ask the FxPxOx drummer Dzhano...he knows :-)))
Cane: It protects cuts and scrapes. When it first appeared, Vaseline was promoted as an ointment for the protection of cuts. The jelly creates a barrier that keeps the air, water and bacteria out, promoting healing. It prevents windburn by creating a barrier between the skin and the wind, helping to prevent windburn. It helps psoriasis by lubricating the patchy, itchy white scales and keeping eczema under control in dry weather. It helps to eliminate lice, by smothering and snuffing out the lice, when thickly applied to the scalp, when nothing else works. It moisturizes chapped lips and burns to prevent dryness and promote healing. It may help minimize allergies by trapping pollen when placed under the nose, thereby minimizing the pollen spores entry in through the nostrils.
Kiki: I don't use vaseline because today there are better lubricants at the market. But vaseline is still in my good memory :).
Gajo: Once I used vaseline to fuck Dzano, the sexy drummer from FxPxOx but I think that he wouldn`t mind even if I fucked him without using any vaseline :).
15. What wishes you tell our punk readers!!!???
Zhbla: Support this (and of course other zines) zine and your local punk scene, keep it simple and d.i.y! No egos and rockstar bullshit...have a nice day...
Cane: there's not much to said. Don't let others to tell you what you do, use your head, take responsibility for your actions, don't tolerate intolerance... cliche things mostly but punks like it.
Kiki: I wish you happy transformation into a punk zombie! ...and stay DIY while you're halfdead (undead), or I'll make you completly dead!!!
Gajo: I don`t know... Listen to your parents? Just kidding :). Treat people you love with respect, listen good music and stay bizarro :).
16. Thanx thrashers!!!!!!! and very best wishes your bands!!!! play thrash and make happy punx aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
Cane: you're crazy. I tought that our english is bad...
Gajo: Thanx Ilya a lot for interest in xVCx. I just want to say that Vaseline Children broke up but any questions about xVCx (xvaselinexchildrenx@hotmail.com) or anything else will ne answered. If anyone wants to write me, my personal e-mail is: gajoimasa@yahoo.com
Russian punx, keep it up with good thrashing! Tear It Up Tear It Down!!!
xGajox von IOSC
Contact: xvaselinexchildrenx@hotmail.com
Branimir Gajcevic
Kauzlaricev prilaz 15
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Clasic xVCx pose photo! Look at these straight edge studs :)
25th November 2006. "Big Rock Mamma" Rijeka, Croatia
