Все знают, что грайндкор из Чехии - это знак качества

1. 
   
   Hello Curby! As an introduction, could you please give a short description of the history of Obscene prod., how was the label born, and what troubles (if any) preceded this?

   Hi Sergey! Curby here... I was really a big fan of this music and I still am. There's nothing else in it...I just wanted to support my favorite music...I started as a member of different fanclubs, then I did small DIY fanzine, then magazine, and there was another really natural step how to support bands even more so I launched Obscene productions as a label and mailorder...in the past there was no chance for Czech bands to be released by some Western label so I just wanted to give them this chance and I started to release EPs, tapes, then CD's, organized tours for Czech bands and simply tried to put our small country on World's metal/grind map...and it really happened I guess so my mission is complete and that's why I started to work with some international bands as well. Of course in the beginning of my label I didn't have money and I had lot more problems but this shows it works, you must try and do your best...

   What requirements do you have that a band must meet to sign with you and what further promotion can your label offer to such a group?

   Nothing special at all man, I just have to love the music and also people from the band. It's more about friendship than anything else...I am always trying to support friends! And of course good thing and big plus is when the band is active, doing some tours, doing shows, festivals etc.

   What is the most successful and most least successful releases of your label, both in financial terms and from reception among fans?

   Ufff...hard to say, a very good release is the death metal masterpiece "Elvenefris" from Lykathea Aflame, I just did a re-edition after 10 years and it's still selling great as this album is simply timeless. Also Macabre - "Human Monsters" mini LP, it was sold out within a couple of months. Also everything from Agathocles, Cripple Bastards or Birdflesh sells very good! Or Venomous Concept - "Poisoned Apple"! Bad sellers are things that have nothing to do with grindcore as Kaviar Kavalier "Studio Y" or Forgotten Silence - but I love those records so much that I released them even I knew before that it would not sell that good...

   
   

   As a child I was an exemplary child, although sometimes liked to fool around (kicking cats, crushed frogs on a bicycle), but then realized that i should change something in my life, and now it hit me, I began to drag money out of my mother purse to buy pirated cassettes Napalm Death and Obituary (they look very much appetizing). How you did you acquainted with brutal music and in particular the grind?

   Man, crazy story, but I did pretty much the same things...I was totally a crazy kid! Anyway I used to go to my aunt's for summer holiday and there was a group of young kids listening to extreme music already here...you surely remember those times, I even didn't have my own player, so I was more than happy I could listen to music at this place and share those great albums like "Scum" all together...we had a big room there where we met almost everyday and where we could listen to a good noise, have beer or two or twelve and have fun...I will never forget that feeling I had when I was listening to "Scum" for the very first time...it was like "Fuck...that's exactly what I was searching for all my life"!!! And I have goose bumps now when I am thinking about that hahaha....

   What caused such a dense concentration of grind in a relatively small Czech Republic? The high quality of life and full of carelessness of the population or other factors?

   No idea man, maybe good beer? I think in the past we had no future and we all young kids were just soooooo pissed off so of course then you have to go somewhere with this so lots of people just started to play the most extreme music...now it's a different story, our kids are not that hungry as we were and there's not much new bands anymore, but still some good new bands like Bowelfuck, But etc. 

   Can you call grindcore style popular in the Czech Republic? And what is the secret of such a large count of high-quality grind releases from your country? For example, Russia, nor many other countries can not boast of anywhere near as many high quality grind bands!

   
   
   Popular? What is it popular? Grindcore is a very extreme music, it has never been on TV and never will be so not that kind of popularity...but still lots of people in underground music know that grindcore from Czech is good and there's some quality for sure!

   In the Czech Republic we are seeing a huge amount of quality grind, like NCC (rip), Eardelete, Contrastic (rip), Alienation Mental(rip), Pigsty, Cerebral Turbulency (rip), Ahumado Granujo... etc, and very little representatives of the death metal. From death, I remember only fairly good Godless Truth, Intervalle Bizzare, Despise, Lykathea Aflame well, and oldies Krabathor / Hypnos, have I missed someone?

   Oh yeah, there's lots of more good grindcore bands like Needful Things, Say Why, Gride (that's really original music), also Ingrowing with new album kick ass, Lycanthrophy, Pigsty, or more like fast gore grind bands as Jig-Ai...

Death metal, I'm not such an expert on this genre but I think we have some death metal bands as well as... long time playing Tortharry, Fleshless, Poppy Seed Grinder, Martyrium Christi, Pandemia or brutal death metalllers Despise, and we have also two brilliant new death metal bands that follow Swedish old school spirit Brutally Deceased and March Of The Hordes. Check them out!!!

What a release plans do you have for your label in the near future?

Not much, really...I have just released a record number 100 and now I am seriously thinking where to go with my label...it's difficult to do label today and support bands...but right now I'm talking with awesome Finnish grinders Feastem about releasing their new album "Avaritia Humanae" and this record will be released by end of September or early October for their upcoming European tour. Beside that I have not much plans what to do...

How do you think if a varieties of grindcore have a smell of (with porn, scat and gore is clear) what would smell would you say there was for the social/ political grind?

Grindcore has always been a style with attitude, look at me I'm vegan thanx to grindcore!!! But I have nothing at all against goregrind, I can understand that some people just like music and don't care about lyrics that much...and of course no one can take gore things or porn things serious...

All our readers are very concerned about the current to this day question - what is different from the grind and grindcore? :-))))))

Hahaha, I really don't know what to answer to this question and grind is my music and lifestyle more than 25 years! I really believe that grind is just a short term for grindcore.

In your passions / hobbies listed on the obscene website such items as travel and you probably traveled already all over the country and Europe. What places of Czech Republic, after the Obscene Extreme fest, is there anywhere in particular you recommend to visit for tourists from Russia and other countries?

Sure man, I simply love travelling...it gives your life wings I guess! It's something special that you can visit and enjoy other countries, meet different people...Czech republic is beautiful and still cheap country, of course everyone knows how beautiful city Prague is, but I can also recommend to visit Cesky Krumlov which is a nice, small city in the south of Bohemia, it's something like a medieval city, the downtown is totally awesome and they there is also the second biggest castle in Czech there...I go there from time to time (last time with Exhumed last April) and all friends are just blown away with this city...I can also recommend Karlovy Vary but Russians know it's a very nice city as a big population of Russians live there...also Kutna Hora with the world famous Bone Ossuary is fine, and Trutnov is the gate to the Czech highest mountains Krkonose, very close like 20 km from there there is the Adrspach-Teplice Rocks area, really a nice place. Nice nature!

Can you dispel a myth? is it true that in the Czech Republic as in Germany beer dominates and there is a high level of alcoholism?

Man, sure, Czech republic is probably the only country on the planet earth where is beer CHEAPER than lemonade!!! Can you believe that? Especially in pubs, I have not been drinking for 15 years now (I'm ex alcoholic by the way hahaha) and I always pay more when I go to pub with my friends...it's a crazy world! And the Czech nation is a real beer nation, almost everyone drinks beer here almost every day...and of course there're a problem with alcoholism as well!

As a traveler, is there anywhere in this world or any other where have not visited yet?

Oh man, I never visited many countries, so far I have visited just like 80 countries, maybe more...shit I have to count it again hahaha...so there's lot more I want to see!!! My goal was to see 100 countries in my life and I think I can do it if I'm lucky enough...I would love to see Iceland, India and also Russia, but I still need to get visas and it's simply too complicated...

Where did you get the idea to organize your fest? What organizational difficulties if any did you encount at the initial stage?

I always wanted to do a big grindcore festival...there wasn't anything like that back in 99 when I started with Obscene Extreme...my big influence was the Fuck The Commerce festival, I was there in 98 and it was simply an excellent festival, and it was one of that things that kicked my ass to do something...My first idea was doing just one festival for my 25th birthday but reactions after the first volume was so great from both - fans and bands that I had to continue! Now it's an every day work, all year long, but I don't regret all this my time as every festival gave me back much more...that friendly atmosphere, all those fans going from far away, it's simply unique chance how to meet grindcore fanatics from all over the World in one place and enjoy some really fine bands, legends of grind music but also promising new bands! And man first volume and even the second one were crazy, I didn't have much experiences so from year to year I did better...

Are there people who are helping you in organizing this event, or you do pull a whole edifice on itself?

Sure! Usually most of the work is my work, like booking bands, selling tickets, booking flights, hotels etc. etc. Martin helps me a lot doing artworks of our flyers, posters, website, everything around computers etc., James writes all that awesome intro text for each band for our website and fanzine, Sobi translates all to English, all this work is really important to do a good festival! And of course during the festival there's like 150 people helping me...

Based on what criteria do you select groups to participate in the fest? Is it mandatory that the group would have to like you personally? And what style in this matter do you give preference to - death or grind?

You know, it's a very easy thing, I'm a fan of extreme music since 1986 or 1987 or something like that...I really love music, it's my big passion and I always wanted to help the bands and I just continue to help our scene, it's so easy like that...there's not much chances for young bands to play a big stage so that's what we do with Obscene Extreme festival!!! So every year I listen to lots of bands and try to pick up the best one for the fest!

No, I don't need to know the band personally, why? But it's always good when I can see the band live as playing live is something different than a record. I just want to choose bands that will kick our ass at the fest! I really love grindcore, but I like Swedish death metal as well, thrash, good gore grind, crust, d-beat, even punk and hardcore...

If it is not a secret, please tell us about the conditions groups can expect when coming to Obscene Extreme. Do you pay them? As the organizer, do you arrange travel, accommodation and food or is that the responsibility of the groups? This question concerns, first of all, newer group but also more established acts.

Sure, when you want to book bigger bands today you need lots of money for their transport (especially flights from Usa are very expensive during summer!), hotel, transport from the airport to the fest venue and back, and of course their fee, food, drinks...bands don't get much money from their labels anymore so they need to get those money for their show, that's why so many shows, festivals etc. It's not easy to pay all that big bands as the price is very different from 3 years ago...For smaller bands I try to help as much as I can but it's not that easy as budget for the whole festival is bigger every year, especially festival area, sound, stage, lights, toilets and so on are big part of our budget...

Does the district where fest is held, have the cooperation of the local population and how do they relate to the fact that every year on their land is going to a crowd of rabid fans of extreme music? Have you any difficulties arisen in this regard? Any major problems?

No, we don't really have any problem with Trutnov government or people from Trutnov, of course it's not so easy for them to have festival close but on the other hands it's good for the city that so many people travel to Trutnov, it's good for the hotels, pubs etc. etc. and Trutnov is really a nice, small city so I believe that people can go back one day to Trutnov for holiday...Most of the OEF fans and supporters are really nice people and they don't want to disturb anyone in the city...also why? We just wanna enjoy this party that we have to wait for all year long. Of course sometimes someone is drunk as fuck, but it happens at every festival...

What questions do you have to solve personally during the festival?

Hahaha, what a question? I do EVERYTHING that has to be sorted out somehow! I remember few years ago I slept like 1 hour per day, now it's much better as a lot of good people help me and I can really trust them as they do their best for the festival! So it's more relaxed for me and I can enjoy some bands as well!

Obscene Extreme exists from the year 1999 .. During this time a lot of bands played - from completely unknown to the real stars. With whom you have encountered any problems, both personal and organizational character? Maybe someone has proved to be a damn rock star, or just behaved like the last asshole.

Yeah, over 500 bands have already played Obscene Extreme festival! Mostly we have no problem, really...I choose bands that are already my friends or I know them from some tours or other festivals...I can say just Impaled Nazarene were little bit weird guys...and none of the bands has any stupid rockstar attitude!

Who really ripped me off are D.R.I., I think I did maximum to bring them to OEF, I paid all travel expenses to them, I paid all fee upfront (even in contract was 50% and 50%), but their manager pushed me to the wall and I had to pay another 50% just before the fest, then you know the story...just the singer and the drummer arrived and played with a Czech guitarist and their roadie Mike on bass. It was just a 20 minutes show, but I was happy even for that...anyway their singer Kurt told me they will figure out the fee when they go back to the Usa, but they just did't answer my emails and their manager called me a loser from the third world, so this is really a lack of respect...I feel its just a rip off, shit happens of course I totally understand this, everyone can have medical problems...but taking all the fee, no sorry or an explanation what really happened? I still don't know I can just speculate about it...

Last year marked a sad fact that ceased to exist two relevant European Festivals of Death - German Death Feast Open Air and Swiss Mountains Of Death. Currently in Europe, practically did not remain major thematic fest dedicated exclusively to death / grind orientation, except for the Neurotic and Obscene. Your opinion - what is wrong? The general decline of interest in brutal music or something else?

I really don't know what happened...I just know guys from Death Feast Open Air did their "Extreme" fest thing and it makes me laugh...I even wrote them an email what the fuck is this Extreme fest for and they didn't give a fuck and simply didn't answer to me...Mountains Of Death was a cool festival even I have not been able to visit it, but I know it from my friends and I know promoters of this festival and they are really honest and very good people...actually I even don't know why they stopped to do that festival...you know doing just death metal and grindcore festival is an uneasy thing, you need black metal and you need also some hardcore kids, then some trendy metal from a big label, then this and then that and then you can do a big festival...you see it on the line-up of big festivals, it's just a mix that has to attract everyone...but this is honestly not my style, so I do what I like...

Are there among musicians people, whom you could call with certainty your friends?

Oh yeah, absolutely!!! Imagine I'm a friend with the heroes of my teenage time, Danny Lilker, Shane Embury, Mitch Harris, Barney, Dean Jones, Giulio The Bastard, and much more....if you told me 20 years ago that I would go to Danny's house and he would be hanging out with me and driving me to Canada and back, I would tell you're a crazy man! But it all happened man...it's great to have such cool friends and especially when you know they're also good persons! It's something special when you see all this big heroes just washing his dishes as you do at home hahaha...

Now about the audience ... It's no secret that people always wildly freaking on the Obscene Extreme, engaged in all kinds of licentiousness, thumps, burps, shit, wears panties on his head, well, simply a pig and crust'ing. What is your attitude to all sorts of excesses in the behavior of the public?

Dude I don't care who you're and why you're at OEF...if you're friendly and you want to enjoy weekend with us than everything is fine with me!!! And that's what our fans do every year...and we are freak-friendly festival, it means we don't care if you are different, it's big plus to be different in those days when money and career is sooooo important...most of the people care what other people think about them and it's juts bullshit to me, if you're a good person then you don't' need to care about what other people think about you...why?

What can you say about the groups from Russia, which already shone at the fest (Septicopyemia, Purulent Jacuzzi, Komatoz), and which will perform this year (Cephalic Impurity and S.C.A.T.)? There were applications for participation from other Russian groups?

Also Distress, they were the first Russian band playing OEF! Amazing d-beat crust! About Septicopyemia, I think they really enjoyed the whole OEF back in 2009 and you totally understand what it is all about and that's very good! Purulent Jacuzzi played as the first band at one of our volumes and the first stage diving came after like 5 second and then they played a great set! Komatoz is also a very good band, full of energy, more thrash than anything else those days but still kick ass! Unfortunately Cephalic Impurity didn't play this year and I didn't see S.C.A.T., I must check them out on youtube later on! And yes, Russian bands want to play OEF for sure!

This year's fest have VERY strong line-up - Suffocation, Cephalic Carnage, Asphyx, Origin, Nasum, Krisiun... What do you expect from the festival this year?

Madness hahaha! And it was a really good volume with great shows, especially Nasum was something that I'll never forget in my life and I think this show is now in my personal top 5 shows of my life and I have seen many shows...it was really a great fest with good vibe again, maybe the best one in OEF history!!!

How would you answered the question of a stranger about why he needed to visit Obscene Extreme this year? :-))))

You want something absolutely different? You want your life's experience? You want to meet people that like music like you from all around the world? Then you don't need to think anymore, go to OEF and have fun!!!

Which group would you most like to see playing on your festival, but for now you can not accomplish this for some reason? Perhaps, for example, that you would like to bring Impetigo, but they for a long time broke up ...

Probably Bolt Thrower!!! I'm trying to bring them every year but no luck at all, they play 1 or 2 festivals during summer season and so far their choice was other festivals...and Impetigo for sure, or Repulsion...and ABBA as well!!!

We know that you're a big fan of football ... Which team do you support and who do you think will win the European Cup this year?

Man, of course I was supporting the Czech team, even we have a soooooooo stupid coach those days...anyway, it's nothing I can change and our team did the best...it's no more Nedved, no more Koller, no more Poborsky, no more Smicer (those players had huge passion for the game and fire in their hearts, not like today's players that are sick rich when they're 20 years old) so our team is very poor those days...my favorite and the team that should have won was Holland and see they even didn't qualify from the group!!! Anyway, Spain are the real kings of ball right now, it's no doubt! In the final game they played just amazingly!!!

Do you have any permanent work or money which you use to fund the label and fest or is the money they bring enough for your life and times?

No, last 12 years this is my job, mailorder, label and festival...it's a great life, I do what I really like and I can be at home with my kids...

Are you in contact with the guys from Bizarre Leprous, Lacerated Enemy, Nice to Eat You, and other Czech labels?

Sure thing! We still exchange our records as we did long time ago...

If it's not a secret - how long have you been a vegetarian and what, in fact, pushed you to such a decision? Do you miss meat and higher protein foods? Do you have any regrets in this matter??

Actually I was vegetarian just one year since then I'm maybe like 20 years vegan...it's really important for me to live cruelty free life! I simply can't have blood on my lips...it's all about ethics. Anyway, we (vegetarians and vegans) care a lot about what we eat so I'm not afraid of anything...I don't miss meat, I felt really great when I changed my life style! Even my kids are vegan (oldest daughter) and vegetarians (3 smaller kids) and of course we want the best for them as any other loving parents so we still read books, news about our so called "diet"...my vegan experience is just great and I feel really good all the years so that's what I want to present to my kids...

For so many years of being in the inferno of brutal underground you have not lost your original fervor. Do you have any desire to disengage with this business, retire and no longer bother to concerns about the organization of the fest?

From time to time I'm really pissed off as everything changes a lot, sometimes people just disappointed me but in the end I always find new energy...one festival just ends and I'm already thinking about another one...so I have my plans for 2013. I'll move with Obscene Extreme festival to other continents and during that year we will do Obscene Extreme America, Obscene Extreme Asia and Obscene Extreme Australia! And in July of course the root festival in the Czech republic, see you later and thanx for the interview!!!