IDIEDTHISFEBRUARY

Location: Novi Sad, Serbia

Year active: 2023 - Ongoing

Members: Em Drakulic, Luka Salak, Stefan Duka

Related bands: give.me.the.gun, Labud, Plik

FFO: Jeromes Dream, Eaglehaslanded, In/Humanity, .minmo

Ah, yes. Novi Sad, the great old punk kingdom and Odense's southeastern european sister, the city that's as flat as a board and extremely friendly to bike riding, vegan, straight-edge, antifa punks, making sure to keep fascists and neo-nazis afraid of their very own existence. A lot of those things are what makes me love this city. Even more than my own hometown.

And most importantly, my very own friends who reside there, especially Stefan of give.me.the.gun, who has formed an upcoming screamo band along with Em and Luka. With the exception of Luka, both Em and Stefan have their own noise projects respectively.

The band in question is Idiedthisfebruary. They started performing in Novi Sad a couple times and performing in Belgrade for the first time. Whilst performing, they dropped their 2 Song Demo EP.

Here we're on a Wonka boat trip to the noisy garbling sample of this legendary Japanese 90's mindfuck which sets us off to the lo-fi chaotic mess of "Caught in a Daydream" lasting 2:26 of runtime, all hell set loose until we get to that somber moment of 1:10, building up to epic catharsis mode. Then we follow up to 2:38's "Rapid Eye Movement", challenging us with their epic breakdown, being occasionally prevalent throughout the song. Here are some of the lyrics to go by:

"Used to hate the Sun and now the sky's getting red

Every day I breathe, I can't get out of bed

 All my flowers wither as I turn into a slob

The months turn to years as the days turn to fog"

If that doesn't perfectly capture depression, then i don't know what does.

DEMO

A year later of following their touring, the band officially dropped their debut release "These Fading Years" at this exact month after their initial demo's release. An 8-track EP was recorded in Brutal Studio, mixed/mastered by Filip Djurovic and its artwork done by Vivi. Needless to say, it was quite worth the wait.

I've spoken with Em, the guitarist at the time of their gig and he jokingly pointed out how i have to look for new words to describe their show every time i write them a gig review, which sent me laughing, saying "you're totally right, better wait for your EP then!"

The EP opens with "You raise your arm, I turn away", with wearied, monotonous spoken words, lamenting on the effects of physical abuse (One more day to feel lobotomized/Talk to me as if i were a child, But no matter what you say/You raise your arm, i turn away), building up to screaming crescendos. After the lacerating chaos of 29-sec "I Won't Play Your Fucking Songs", the band delves further into themes of existential crisis (Get in the Fucking Robot, In Love With Misery, etc.) and depression (Rapid Eye Movement, Nothing), matching the overall depressive mood to the generous amount. Despite that, the mixing can be slightly muddy and most of the guitar work (trebly at best) is almost nearly upfront than the rest, and it wasn't as punchy as i thought it would be. Nevertheless, it still maintains to be a listenable experience for half an hour.

THESE FADING DAYS

GIG REVIEW: LAMENT NAD SOMBOROM (27.4.24)

A little while ago, i was invited to perform at Sombor and this was my opportunity to participate in such a small Vojvodinian town, as well as visiting it for the first time. It is located an hour away from Novi Sad and just close in-between the borders: Croatia from the West and Hungary from up North.

On that gig, it has been revealed to me that i would be performing along with Sombor's newcoming local act Getintherobot, Idiedthisfebruary and Quasarborn from Novi Sad. Before the announcement, the local folx wanted to invite me as a surprise guest, because one of the member celebrated their birthday that day. However, the organiser blew that surprise for all of us, thus having my name on the poster for all to see. Although the outcome was so lame, i was, nevertheless, very happy to be performing along with my good friends at one gig. I've always wanted to perform along with them as much as they want to perform along with me, and this was a dream come true.

Anyway, as i came to Sombor by bus, Klemo, the guitarist of getintherobot and his girlfriend came to pick me up and showed me around the town. It was all clean and the scenery was all green, which was however ridden by right wing corruption. They'd tell me all the stories of how the entire town being full of drug addicts and how the pair have faced oppression from the police, simply for looking differently. Not only that, i was also told that the Russian people who took refuge in Serbia, aren't even allowed to do anything they'd want, e.g. touring with the band, otherwise, they'd be deported back to Russia (unless they have a dual citizenship), which is, in my opinion the most depressing thing i've ever heard.

As we made it to the Dve Krigle Debele venue, we've waited for the boss to open up at 6PM. The February's and Quasarborn (both from Novi Sad) came to and we all took time to practice once more, as well as doing a sound check and getting warmed up while people are coming around. Since some of our sets are pretty short, the entire event begins at 10PM.

After the thorough discussion between the organisers and the bands, they decided that i, as Eva Ras, would start the event. I didn't know what would come to this, but i didn't mind about it. Duka of the February's insisted he'd be in charge of taking pics of my set with my camera, and did so with amazing results. Strahinja, the bday boy and the bassist of the Robots had this to say about my set:

"The opener for the gig ''Lament Over Sombor'' was Eva Ras.
A one-man ''jack-of-all-trades-of-balkan-emo'' screamo project by Filip.

He enters the stage with his exorcism-like performance which indulged the crowd 

with huge amount of shock and took everyone by surprise (since that kind of shows 

are not usual in this place).

As the body rises so does the ambient of the nightmarish/gloomy background music 

which introduces us into the starting track for the night. With raging screams 

and thundering instrumentals we enter the emo night through Filip's 

genius design.

Through his setlist we stumbled upon various kinds of screamo songs including 

a cover of Placebo's Nancy Boy, which brakes every form of toxic-masculinity 

and brings out the light out of him and shines upon all of us present in the 

venue. Short but remarkable is how would i put it for his show, since really 

it was a show, not a gig.

Listening his performance for the first time live was one of the best gifts 

i could imagine for a birthday party, since i grew my music-listening 

experience based on his lists.

Unforgettable and impressed, i cannot wait for the next show and hopefully, 

will be able to attend one!

Thanks for great time, Eva Ras!"

Special thanks to Stefan for the pics!

Up next is Sombor's newcoming Getintherobot (whose track i've reviewed on), followed suit. After their debut single 'Arsonist', they told me that the stuff afterwards will be more emoviolence focused. So when they took their turn, they weren't wrong. It was definitely the most exciting thing i've ever witnessed. The band also took their time to celebrate their member's birthday, which was very sweet.

Strahinja, celebrating his bday.

Up next is Novi Sad's Prog Thrash Metal band Quasarborn. Now, Prog isn't my thing, per se, neither do i hate it. BUT to my surprise, i realized that Dimitrije of Nabod is playing for the band. You could tell that he's been pretty busy lately. Anyway, Quasarborn kicked off and got everyone headbanging for good 30-or-so minutes. And as i got out for the fresh air, someone else told me that one of the members crowdsurfed, to my surprise. So, they pretty much ate up most of the venue lol.

And finally, Novi Sad's Idiedthisfebruary were the last to take the stage. Every time they hit off, they come off more brutal than ever before. The crowd got more rabid, everyone moshed, thrashed and grabbed the mic to sing along, more crowdsurfings emerged. It was a fucking beautifully intense shitshow <3

The gig in Sombor for me and everyone else on board is definitely something unforgettable this year. I've met so many new people there and visited the town for the very first time, it's been quite an adventure. Looking forward to performing there in August again. MAKE VOJVODINA EMO AGAIN!

give.me.the.gun.

Location: Novi Sad, Serbia

Year active: 2021 - Ongoing

Members: Stefan Duka

Label: Self-released, Khya Records

Related bands: Idiedthisfebruary, Labud

FFO: Jeromes Dream, Usurp Synapse, Combatwoundedveteran, Merzbow, Atrax Morgue, sueisntfine

As i was filming and editing a live set for Labud, i took myself a trip down the memory lane and recalled one of Duka's first projects that i discovered back in 2021. I remember trying to reach out to him via Bandcamp to no avail and then happened to accidentally meet him at AKAB Okretnica some time later. It was up to that point when he revealed himself to be behind this project that made me completely flabbergasted. And i am definitely glad that i met him.

give.me.the.gun., a ghastly lo-fi emo/noisecore hybrid came to mind. A solo project that is nothing short of ferocious. As of 2024, the project had released two EPs and a split release so far.

His debut EP "selected.recordings.", consists of 5 tracks with diverse styles within the lo-fi production. Tracks like 'Whyhavealifewhenyouhavetheinternet', 'xepoj' and 'mr.coathangersayshello' serve themselves as the most harrowing form of lo-fi emoviolence/noisecore. Distanced, amateurish, but soulcrushing and cathartic production within the mist of grainy noise further compliments the raw aspects of the DIY Hardcore punk aesthetics, while 'wakingupfromacomain2001' and 'carpemortem' backs up the short-timed skramz offerings with screeching, pulsating and disturbingly long noise compositions ala Merzbow and Hanatarash, making up a half-an-hour runtime for this magnificent rollercoaster ride of an EP.

This kind of quality continues in the form of a 2023 split with Eva Ras titled 'Similar Genes, Distant Relatives' with 3 tracks and a cover. His side starts with a melancholic instrumental opener 'Burning Bridges', succeeding with screeching 50-second noisecore/emoviolence 'Hello, I Hate Myself'. Ironically, another screeching noisy interlude 'New Year, Old Me' gives the listener a 2-minute break before finally concluding his side with his I Wrote Haikus cover.

Halfway through the year, GMTG dropped another EP titled 'Worm (oh, it's a dreadful life)'. Only this time we're hearing a more upfront and less abstract production, but still maintaining the lo-fi aspect. The first three tracks border on the influences between Jeromes Dream, Usurp Synapse (for its punchy compression in 'I think you don't love me anymore') and Combatwoundedveteran, with the exception of a post-rockish instrumental 'left' rocking with Unwoundish inflections as the calm ambient soars for 2 minutes before finally closing with an interlude cover of Novi Sad's cult Neocrust Reflections of Internal Rain. The band is definitely influential to Duka's contributions to this project and other bands that follow.

In conclusion, give.me.the.gun. is one of the most promising solo projects i've ever come across in my lifetime. Its entire discography and Duka's contribution to the scene gives hope to the other up and coming newcomers to Novi Sad scene and hopefully influences the rest of Ex-Yu. I am looking forward for this projects' further releases in the future. MAKE VOJVODINA EMO AGAIN.

GIG REVIEW: MAKE VOJVODINA EMO AGAIN (Idiedthisfebruary, See It My Way, Ubili Su Batlera, Brazde) 3.2.24.

Yay, another gig review! This time taking place in Crna Kuca (CK13), the DIY antifa venue located in Novi Sad fifteen minutes away from the nearest train station.

The even in question is "Make Vojvodina Emo Again" aiming to promote emo/screamo bands from Vojvodina, particularly in Novi Sad. It also happens to include one band from Belgrade in support for their Vojvodinian neighbors.

Starting off with Idiedthisfebruary, their chaotic projectile rollercoaster runs for usual 15 minutes with Evangelion projection blaring in the middle of their set. This isn't my first time attending their show, so i was able to catch up again. With that being said, compared to the disappointment from the disengaged crowd at Zappa Barka, this time they have proven to be chaotic, kinetic and more engaging to their Novi Sad audience. Their frenetic presence has definitely paid off the event big time.

Up next is Novi Sad's acoustic emo trio See It My Way, ready to set the change of pace with something calm, serene and maybe joyful. Now, this is the first time i'm seeing them and i am enjoying the hell out of it. Their entire acoustic shtick made the entire scene wholesome and cozy. The entire setlist ranges from their own songs to covers such as Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" and Debeli Prijecednik's Nema Me with a guest vocalist on stage, as well as being very engaging with their audience in between takes. I am used to more aggressive acts on the venue, however i don't mind seeing this group for a change.

Afterward follows Ubili Su Batlera from Belgrade, who are prepared to shake the nest with riveting passionate hardcore with more moshing and more crowdsurfing, lasting around 30 minutes. The one that struck us all is that epic track probably named "Ubili su ga" that will be appearing in Hali Gali's upcoming compilation. With so much happening for just 4 minutes shows how raw and epic it can all get. The Butlers definitely steal the show.

Then comes Brazde to finish off the event with their warm and heartfelt midwest emo sentiments for the last 15 minutes of their set. In comparison to the Butlers, Brazde keeps it concise and not too rowdy but still engaging to the core. Being the last band to play on this bill makes sense, as the entire melancholic atmosphere sets the bittersweet farewell of the event very well. 

This event is honestly one of my favorites that i've ever attended in my lifetime. I look forward to seeing up and coming bands at this event in the near future and spread the word as much as possible. Thanks to CK13 and Rebuild Collective for keeping this small scene alive. MAKE VOJVODINA EMO AGAIN.