anger is a gift (1999-2006)

Intro text from the booklet that came with the album “Everyone Has the Right to Live. Only I Have the Right to My Own Life!” (1997)

This booklet comes with a cassette featuring a printed cover and labels. If you paid more than 10 DIN (That would be around €3 today) for all of this, postage not included, you’ve been ripped off.
What you are reading right now is meant to serve as the introduction to the booklet accompanying our first (hopefully not last) self-released cassette. As such, it represents the closing of the first link in a long chain that we fully intend to keep building. That first link covers our work from November ’95 until we entered the studio on January 8, 1997. The band existed before that period, but serious work only began in November ’96, after the lineup change — when Paja moved to vocals and Čankus joined on bass.
It took a lot of ambition, willpower, time, money… but the fact is — we did it. We didn’t allow the lack of equipment, the inability to rehearse regularly (simply because we didn’t live in the same town), or a number of other obstacles to defeat us. We are living proof that if you truly want to do something, you can do it. Of course, it takes sacrifice, effort, and determination. We hope our example gives some of you the strength to create something on your own. Our experience has no moral authority. It’s basically a synonym for mistakes. Hopefully you’ll be smarter than us and learn from other people’s mistakes — meaning ours.
The material contains 14 songs, including two instrumentals and one cover of Oi Polloi (“Nazi Scum”). Considering that we are not professional musicians and that this was our first time in a studio — and only for 10 hours (mainly due to financial limitations) — we are more than satisfied. If we were to record it again…
As you’ve probably noticed, the lyrics are in Serbian. We do not support the idea that speaking the language of the place you live in is some kind of nationalist statement. Any such interpretation, believe us, is rooted either in chauvinism or in plain ignorance. For those who don’t understand Serbian, translations are included — so no one is left out.
When it comes to the lyrics, they are not just backing tracks for riffs. They express our thoughts and attitudes about society and life within it. We don’t want to impose our views on anyone. We simply want you to hear what we have to say — and if you agree, you can accept it, or develop your own perspective. After all, as the album title says:
“Everyone has the right to live. Only I have the right to my own life.” Of course, our freedom and our lives should never threaten the freedom of others.
Hatred, weakness, death, violence, dissatisfaction, envy, wars, nuclear testing, uncontrolled deforestation… all of it comes from human beings. Sadly, it is the harsh reality that surrounds us. People are what they are — we can’t change humanity — but we shouldn’t forget that everyone can improve themselves. There is one part of the world you can certainly improve: yourself. A person is born blind, but seems to die short-sighted. We want to offer people the other side of what the media feeds us daily and to be — if we cannot change the system — at least an alternative to it.
They can tie us up, torture us, put us in chains — but if our spirit is healthy, our thoughts cannot be destroyed. And thoughts are the most powerful weapon in the fight against this twisted system. Respect for people and love for one another should be a constructive force.
Finally, we invite everyone who reads or listens to this to get in touch (addresses are somewhere in the booklet). Let’s not allow honest communication to be blocked by stupid divisions based on appearance, music styles, or anything else. If you want to criticize us, praise us, argue, or simply make new friends — write to us. That’s it for now. We hope you’ll hear from us again through future releases. All band members, besides Debeli Samuraj, are involved in other bands, making fanzines, running distribution… Enjoy.
We would also like to thank and send greetings to the Stanišić and Sombor HC crew and to everyone who helped in any way (you know who you are). To you who bought this, taped it, traded it — and to the global DIY/HC/PUNK scene for endless inspiration.
Joso (for covers, stickers, and tons of other things), Neša (for the drawings), and Miloš (for computer work) deserve to be named — because without them, this wouldn’t look the way it does.
The End.

Uvodni text iz bukleta koji je išao uz album “Svako ima pravo na život. Na svoj život imam pravo samo ja!”, 1997.

Uz ovaj buklet ide i kaseta sa štampanim omotom i nalepnicama. Ako sve to platite više od 10 DIN (danas bi to bilo oko 3E), poštarina nije uračunata, znajte da ste prevareni.
Ovo što trenutno čitate trebalo bi da predstavlja uvod za buklet koji ide uz našu prvu (nadamo se ne i poslednju) samoizdatu kasetu, koja bi kao takva trebalo da zatvori prvu kariku u dugačkom lancu, koji ćemo svakako nastaviti da gradimo. Prva karika je obuhvatila naš rad od Novembra 95te pa do ulaska u studio tj. 08. Januara 1997. Bend je postojao i pre tog razdoblja, ali tek od novembra 96te tj. menjanjem postave, prelaskom Paje na vokal i dolaskom Čankusa na bas, počinje ozbiljniji rad.
Trebalo je mnogo ambicije, volje, vremena, novaca…ali činjenica je da smo uspeli. Nismo dozvolili da nas savlada oskudica u opremi, nemogućnost održavanja redovnih proba (iz prostog razloga što ne živimo u istom mestu) i niz drugih poteškoća koje smo ipak savladali. Mi smo živi dokaz da ako neko nešto stvarno želi, može to i da uradi. Naravno uz malo odricanja, volje i truda. Nadamo se da ćemo nekome od vas uliti snagu da i vi nešto sami uradite, povučeni našim primerom. Naše iskustvo nema etičke vrednosti. Ono je samo sinonim za greške. Vi ćete nadam se biti pametniji od nas i učićete na tuđim greškama, tj. na našim.
Što se tiče materijala, on sadrži 14 pesama od kojih su 2 instrumentali i jedna obrada od OI POLLOI (NAZI SCUM). Obzirom da nismo profesionalni muzičari i da nam je ovo bio prvi ulazak u studio i to samo na 10 sati (prvenstveno zbog finansijske situacije) mi smo prezadovoljni. Kada bi sve ovo ponovo snimili…
Kao što ste primetili tekstovi su na srpskom i iza bilo kakvog shvatanja da govoriti jezikom sredine u kojoj se živi predstavlja nacionalno obeležavanje mi ne stojimo. Svako ovakvo shvatanje, verujte nam, ima osnovu ili u šovinizmu ili u primitivizmu. Za one koji ne razumeju srpski postoji prevod tako da nikom ne ostajemo dužni. Kad smo već kod tekstova valja napomenuti da nam oni ne služe kao pratnja za rifove već govore o našim razmišljanjima i stavovima o društvu i životu u njemu. Nikome nećemo da namećemo naše stavove i razmišljanja, jednostavno želimo da čujete šta imamo za reći pa ako se slažete sa tim vi to možete prihvatiti ili izgraditi neki svoj sopstveni stav o svemu tome. Uostalom kao što smo rekli nazivom albuma: “Svako ima pravo na život. Na svoj život imam pravo samo ja!”. Naravno da svojim životom i svojom slobodom ne smemo niti želimo ugrožavati slobodu drugih ljudi.
Mržnja, slabost, smrt, nasilje, nezadovoljstvo, zavist, ratovi, nuklearne probe, nekontrolisana seča šuma… sve to potiče jedino od čoveka i sve je to, nažalost, surova stvarnost koja nas okružuje. Čovek je takav kakav jeste i ne možemo ga menjati, ali ne treba zaboraviti da svako može da se popravi. Postoji jedan deo sveta koji sigurno možete popraviti, a to ste vi sami. Čovek se rađa slep ali izgleda da umire kratkovid. Stoga mi želimo da ljudima ponudimo drugu stranu onoga što nam svakodnevno serviraju mediji i da budemo (ako ga već ne možemo menjati) alternativa postojećem sistemu.
Mogu nas vezati, mučiti, baciti u okove ali ako nam je duh zdrav naše misli ne mogu biti uništene, a one su najmoćnije oružje u borbi protiv ovog izopačenog sistema. Poštovanje prema čoveku, ljubav prema bližnjem treba da bude konstruktivna snaga.
I na kraju pozivamo sve one koji ovo pročitaju/poslušaju da nam se jave (adrese su tu negde u bukletu). Nemojmo dozvoliti da nas u iskrenoj komunikaciji sputavaju neke glupe podele oko izgleda, vrste muzike i dr. Ako nas želite kuditi, hvaliti, raspravljati ili jednostavno steći nove prijatelje, slobodno se javite. I to bi bilo to, za sada. Nadamo se da ćemo se čuti na nekom od naših sledećih izdanja jer svi članovi benda pored Debelog samuraja sviraju u još nekim bendovima, pravimo fanzine, radimo distribuciju… Uživajte!
Želeli bi da se zahvalimo i usput pošaljemo pozdrave stanišićkoj i somborskoj HC ekipi i svima koji su na bilo koji način pomogli (znate vi ko ste). Tebi koji/a si ovo kupio/la, snimio/la, razmenio/la i globalnoj DIY/HC/PUNK sceni za neiscrpnu inspiraciju.
Joso (za omote, nalepnice i brdo drugih stvari), Neša (za crteže) i Miloš (za kompjutersku obradu) su ipak zaslužili da budu imenovani jer bez njih ovo ne bi izgledalo kako izgleda.
Kraj.