The story of Rock`n`Roll made in Pula (and Istria)

This is a blog where you will find music from one of the richest rock-scene from Croatia, the city of PULA rock-scene.There will be some Istrian music too, as Istria is the region of Croatia to which Pula belongs to.You will find here how good and different was the Pula scene, with some of the bands recognised worldwide.

WELCOME TO PULA!

PS:All the infos about the bands are approximative, and will be changed with every useful info I get from the members of the bands!

PPS: Please notice that the NON-HIGHLIGHTED name of a certain release is a part of band`s audiography, but not available for download, for not having the permission or for respecting the authors rights. Or, of course, not yet in my possession.

Monday 7 December 2015

DIONIS (1986-1991)

Another band I really don`t remeber much about, except that they were very popular among the teeny girls in Pula by the end of the 80s. They played a kind of Pop Rock, very sloppy at the beginning, then a little better in the second demo. They disappeared silently, years later their vocalist died, and Dionis remained just a memory. There is a video performance from a guitar contest, I will put it here as soon as I rip it.



Thursday 8 October 2015

THINK (1993-1998)


THINK were one of the bands I put in the section "bands I have no info about", but the vocalist Danilo contacted me and I got a few more infos, so it is fair to separate them. I was promised that the pic will arrive soon, so this is hopefully a temporary image.

THINK were founded by the split-up of Confusione Totale caused by the (then) obligatory army service. So Danilo and the CT`s guitarist and drummer joined together and formed Think in 1993. Think played a lot of shows during their existence, they even played outside Croatia, and recorded two demos, of which only the second is available. The first demo was given only to close friends, so it is a rarity today. They finally split in 1998.


1st demo, 1994 (??)

Thursday 3 September 2015

Some bands I have no infos about...


Well, this is a kind of posts I really don`t like, because I want to give you at least the basic informations about every band, but these bands here are bands I know nothing about. If any member, friend or fan knows something about these band and give me informations about them, I will move them to a regular personal title/post.

All I know and if can help you, Bakhuz played some New Wave/Alternative stuff, and the other band was Punk/Hardcore.



Friday 24 July 2015

FLANGER DANGER (2010-2015)


FLANGER DANGER was formed in 2010, by very talented veterans of the Pula Rock scene. The very next year they recorded their first demo tape, and in 2014 they entered the Partyzan Studio in Pula and recorded their first full lenght album. They play a kind of Alternative Metal, and if you ask me, they remind me of Soundgarden.. Try them yourself!
Update 2020: the band disbanded soon after the album in 2015.


demo CD "Sedam i druge apokalipticne pjesmice" 2011


Sunday 5 July 2015

KUD IDIJOTI part 3 - OFFICIAL ALBUMS (1987-2001)


Line up 1 - LtR - Tusta, Ptica, Dr.Fric, Sale Veruda


Line up 2 - LtR - Sale Veruda, Dejo, Tusta, Bucolini

Here is the part 3 (of 4) of the huge KUD IDIJOTI discography collection. As you may previously know, the band had 2 line-ups. The last line-up released just the last album, all the rest is recorded by the first and more known line up.
Among the album discography there is one EP compilation. The "Bolivia R`n`R" compilation (the band`s first LP ever) contains few demo tracks added. 
One more thing in the album discography collection is the "Omladina 1987" material (on video here!), which is actually just the KUD Idijoti (live) stuff from a compilation LP, but I put it here because it is their first appearance on a vinyl album (I remember that this was very important to Sale Veruda, who was and still is a vinyl record fan).
The last three albums are major label releases, so not downloadable.










LP "Cijena Ponosa" 1997

CD "Gratis Hits - Live" 1999

LP "Remek Djelo" 2001

Wednesday 29 April 2015

NEW VIDEOS OF BANDS FROM PULA!!!

HERE ARE SOME NEW VIDEOS MADE IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS!!

GUSTAFI - HITI SE NA MENE


ANTITODOR - KAPITALISTIČKA


SASA 21 - KRATKO I KONKRETNO


VIA LUCE - NE DA MI SE


OLIVER KOVACH - NINA


BARBARI - 4


NIGHT EXPRESS - ZA TEBE


NEZAKCIJ - STRAH


2CELLOS - HYSTERIA


NOLA - DRUKCIJE



ZGOBECENA SHAGOMA - ZBOG6



ANGER - BE STRONG, GET STRONGER



2CELLOS - THEY DON`T CARE ABOUT US



BON VOYAGE - ZBOG NAS



ZGOBECENA SHAGOMA - TRALFAMADORE



NOLA - DRUKCIJE



DOGMA - KOLIKO TREBA DO TEBE

Thursday 2 April 2015

LOGARITMI (1963-1967) / BEATSTONES (1967-1972)

LOGARITMI (1963-1967)

One of the very first rock bands in Pula was a band that, accidentally, was formed by my father, Dominik Dinko Bijazic, and was called LOGARITMI. Actually, they were a cover band all the time, they never wrote their own song, but anyway Rock`n`Roll entered the city of Pula. Initially, they played covers of instrumental bands such as The Shadows and The Ventures, to pass to vocal containing songs by Beatles and Rolling Stones to name a few. An interesting fact is that in Logaritmi, two members of the most popular band from Pula ever, Atomsko Skloniste, started their musical carreers; Bruno Langer and Sasa Dadic (respectively later bassist and drummer, the rhythm section of the first Atomsko Skloniste line-up from 1975 to 1980). As the technical possibilities in Pula at the time were almost zero, there is NO AUDIO OR VIDEO RECORDING whatsoever of Logaritmi. All the pictures here are my father`s private collection. All the pictures are made around 1966.








BEATSTONES (1967-1972)

BEATSTONES was the follow-up to Logaritmi, just before the band transferred to Italy, where they will remain and play until early 1972. There was a slight line-up change as not all of them were ready or willing to leave Pula. As my father told to me, there was a 1 COPY vinyl made of one of their live shows played in Italy, and it supposedly remained in Italy, as Emmerich Horn, decided not to come back to Pula. I tried to search the guy, but completely without any possible success.



Friday 27 February 2015

SAKE (2001-)


This is an excellent Punk Rock band of the 2k generation, but already lasting for almost 15 years. In 2014. the band signed for the independent Geenger Records label from Croatia and released their first official album. In their carreer they won an important croatian underground festival HGF, and played many shows all over the region, including almost all important independent music festivals. Of course, more to be heard from the band in the future.


Demo 2002

Demo 2005

Demo 2008

Album material 2011./2012. (officially released in 2014.)

CD "Getaway" 2014
(the link provided for the album is an external link provided by the band, soon a blog`s own link)


Friday 23 January 2015

BESPOSLICARI - 1984 MATERIAL RELEASED ON VINYL!! EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!!


30 years passed since the recording of Besposlicari`s only material which was at the time released as a self-titled cassette. The swedish record label NE! RECORDS released this great material on vinyl three decades after its recording. The album fully represent the Pula Punk Rock wave of that moment, and with an excellent recording this album is truly a huge document of  a time and a band.

For the first time, Pula Rock City blog is bringing you an exclusive interview with the band`s mainman Romeo Djomlija (guitar). He asked me to post the interview in both original language and in english, so I will post it first in croatian language, and for all you non-croatian speakers, just scroll down to the end of the croatian version.

Endless thanks to Romeo for the record and the answers

Questions and english translation by me.


Make sure that you get your record at this link:

CROATIAN VERSION


Možeš li nam kratko o početku Besposličara?

-Besposličari su nastali kao odgovor na glazbu koja se svirala početkom osamdesetih, u to vrijeme nisi više imao žestokih pravovjernih rock i punk bandova, sve je nekako postalo biznis, bandovi koji su `78 svirali punk su jednostavno nestali sa scene, ili su se promijenili u skladu s vremenom. Mi smo htjeli nešto suprotno, tako da smo se ja i Matić (vokal) dogovorili da radimo pravi punk band, kasnije sam uzeo Frica (bass) i Stipicu (bubnjevi) i to je bilo to. Ja sam Fricu rekao samo 2 stvari - prvo da svira jednostavno kao Dee Dee iz Ramonesa i drugo da uvijek mora imati rezervni kabel. Poslušao me je i kasnije napravio karijeru u Idijotima. A mi smo za 2-3 tjedna napravili kompletan program.
I još jedna stvar u vezi Ramonesa: danas je to neshvatljivo jer su Ramones postali prihvaćen kult band, ali sredinom osamdesetih oni su bili jako podcijenjeni, smatrani su za prevaziđen band, stvar prošlosti i svirati u to vrijeme muziku koja izvire iz njihovog nasljeđa je bilo totalno protiv struje.

Mnogi van hrvatske ne mogu vjerovati pod kojim su uvjetima nastajali i opstajali bandovi u Jugoslaviji. Pod kakvim ste vi uvjetima svirali u to doba? Prostorija? Instrumenti? 

-Svirali smo pod odličnim uvjetima, susjedi su bili dobre volje i podnosili su glasan zvuk. Instrumenti su bili pravi, Fender je bio Fender made in U.S.A., ne Kina ili nešto, mogao si lako nabaviti polovne instrumente za pristojne cijene, a one priče da je vani sve bilo med i mlijeko su lažnjak. Šta misliš da su britanski teenageri odmah svirali na Gibsonu? Punk bandovi onog doba (Pušteni S Lanca, npr.) su bili srednjoškolci bez prihoda i svirali su na jeftinim instrumentima, ali svugdje je to tako, dok ne zarađuješ od sviranja niti ne sviraš na jako skupoj opremi. Uglavnom ako su ti starci dali neku kintu mogao si kupiti pristojan instrument, ako ne iza srednje škole si odvajao od plaće pa si onda nešto kupio.

I koncerti su u to doba bili avantura i band je mogao biti zadovoljan ako je sve proteklo kako treba. Jeste li imali problema oko koncerata, mozda neku anegdotu?

-Ma opet ta propaganda da onda ništa nije valjalo, to je laž, sviralo se po mjesnim zajednicama i bilo je odlično, milicija je došla kad je koncert trebao biti gotov i to je u biti bio jedini problem, da nisi mogao imati tri bisa, zabava i druženje su bili prvoklasni.

Anegdota? Na povratku sa koncerta u Labinu Matić je htio zapaliti cigaretu. Auto, zadnje sjedalo, noć, prepunio je Zippo sa benzinom tako da mu se to sve  prolilo po rukavu i cijela je ruka planula, ali on je prvo staloženo pripalio cigaretu (sa ruke) i tek nakon toga uz Fricovu pomoć gasio plamen.

Kada su Besposličari prestali svirati i zašto? Ti si oživio jedan od najuspješnijih pulskih bandova ikada, a ostali članovi?


Zadnji koncert Besposličara je bio u Boškarici na nekom skupnom koncertu, Fric je odmah drugi dan otišao u Idijote, Sale ga je uspješno vrbovao. Ja sam nekako poželio svirati garage rock, punk scena je bila na zalasku i u biti rekli smo sve što smo imali za reći.


Agilni švedski izdavač NE! Records je u nekoliko izdanja oživio uspomenu na Pulski punk-rock 70-80ih, već su uglavnom najvažnije snimke tog doba konačno našle svoj prostor na vinilima. Je li to konačna potvrda kvalitete te scene i tog materijala?


Ta pulska scena je uvijek bila drugačija od Zagrebačke ili Riječke scene. Možda je Istra takva zemlja. Okruženi morem, odijeljeni planinom Učkom, jedini prolaz je u Trst i Sloveniju, I tako smo ti mi kao Besposličari imali dosta koncerata u Kopru. Boris Furlan je kasnije izdao prve singlice KUD Idijotima. 


Iako predviđam odgovor, osjećam se dužnim pitati te: hoće li doći do nekakvog makar i krnjeg reuniona Besposličara u svrhu promocije ploče?


Naravno da ne.


Budući da te sad imam tu, koristim priliku da te pitam isto za The Spoons; hoće li uskoro biti nekog reuniona?


Vjerovatno nikada, pjevač Brunetto je Ljubljani a sa ostatkom banda se rijetko vidim. A osim toga zadnjih desetak godina ne mogu podnijeti classic rock bandove, vratio sam se ponovo u punk rock vode.

                                       


ENGLISH VERSION

Please tell us in few lines about the beginnings of Besposlicari.

-Besposlicari were formed as an answer to the music that has been played in the beginning of the 80s, and at that time there were no more true intense rock and punk bands, everything became business, and bands who played punk in 1978 simply disappeared from the scene or they changed according to the times. We wanted to do something completely opposite to that, so Matic (vocal) and me agreed to do a real punk band, so we were joined later by Fric (bass) and Stipica (drums) and that was it. I told Fric just two things – first one to play simple as Dee Dee from the Ramones and the second one, always to have a spare cable. He listened to me and then later made a career in KUD Idijoti. We made the complete program in just 2-3 weeks. One more thing about the Ramones: today it`s incomprehensible, because Ramones became an accepted cult band, but in the mid 80s they were underrated a lot, they were an overcomed band, a thing that belongs to the past and playing a kind of music that has roots in their heritage was completely against the wave.

A lot of people outside Croatia cannot believe under what conditions the bands started and survived in Yugoslavia. Under which conditions you played back in time? Rehearsal room? Instruments?


-We played under perfect conditions, the neighbours were of good mood and tolerated our loud sound. The instruments were true ones, the Fender was a Fender made in U.S.A., not a Made in China or something, you could procure yourself a second-hand instrument for a good price, and all the stories that abroad was everything milk and honey are simply fake. Do you think the british teenagers started playing on Gibson`s first? Punk bands of that time (Pusteni S Lanca i.e.) were high school students without any income and they played on cheap instruments, but everywhere is like that, until you start making money out of music you don`t play on an expensive gear. It was mainly if your parents gave you some extra money that you could afford yourself a decent instrument, if not, after high school when you started working you put apart some money from your wage and then buy yourself something.


The concerts were also an adventure back then, and the band could have been satisfied if the thing ended the good way. Have you ever had problems around gigs, maybe some anecdote?

-Well, it is that wrong propaganda again, which says that nothing was good, that`s a lie, we played in our local community clubs and it was great fun, the police came just when the gig should have ended and that was basically the only problem, you couldn`t play three encores, the parties and the friendship among us was first class.
An anecdote? On the return from a concert in Labin Matic wanted to light up a cigarette, in a car, backseat, night time. He overloaded his Zippo lighter with lighter fluid, and it all spilled on his jacket sleeve and the whole arm set up in flame, but first of all he steadily lit up the cigarette, and only then started to extinguish the fire on his arm together with Fric.

When Besposlicari ended playing and why? After that you made one of the most important band of the Pula scene, and the others?

The last Besposlicari gig was at the Boskarica ex-madhouse, on a gig with lots of other bands. Fric went to KUD Idijoti the very next day, Sale Veruda recruited him very successfully. I somehow desired to play Garage Rock, the Punk scene was at its very end, and in fact we said all that we had to say, so there was no reason to continue.

The agile Swedish label NE! Records revived in few releases the memory on Pula`s Punk Rock of the 70s-80s, mainly all the most important recordings of that period found their right space on vinyls. Is that the ultimate confirmation of the quality of that scene and that material?

-The scene of Pula was always different from the ones in Zagreb or Rijeka. Maybe Istria is that kind of country, surrounded by the sea, naturally divided from the rest of the country with the mount Ucka, and the only and faster way out was through Slovenia to Trieste. So as Besposlicari, we played a lot of  gigs in Koper (Slovenia). Boris Furlan (Slovenia Records owner) later released the first KUD Idijoti singles, the first underground vinyl releases from Pula.

Even I can foresee the answer, I feel obligated to ask you: will there be any - at least with a truncated line up - reunion of Besposlicari for the promotion of the record?

-Of course not.

And as I got you here right now, I will use the opportunity to ask you the same for The Spoons: will there be any reunion soon?

-Probably never, the singer Brunetto is in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and I rarely meet the rest of the band. And beside that, the last ten years I can`t stand classic Rock bands, I actually got back to Punk Rock.

Thank you very much Romeo, it was a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to make this interview with you. I wish you all the best in the future and more and more good music coming your way!

           

Saturday 3 January 2015

VIA LUCE (2013-2017)


Via Luce is a brandnew rap/hip-hop project made of Pula`s premiere rappers Cannone, Filijala and Dean Kostroman, with addition of two members Dino Popovic and Filip-Domagoj Pacic. The thing was cooking for a long time, and in 2013 the project became real. At the end of 2014, Via Luce released a great album (in croatian language) called "U Zemlji Cudesa".
The first video "Dobrodosli U Pulu" (Welcome to Pula) gives you a speeded up ride through the city of Pula.
After the passing away of their member Dean Kostroman in 2017, the band ceased their activity.

Friday 2 January 2015

2015 !!! HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!


Well, dear people, we are a year older, and should we say - a year wiser !!

I wish you all 
a lot of Rock `n` Roll.

This wasn`s supposed to be a rhyme, but hah, there you go !

This is the year of new decisions, as every new year is supposed to be. So I decided to expand this blog in a way that you will be able to read reviews about new releases, watch also some old concert and videos from the rock scene of this rocking city, and also, and I am proud to announce it, some interviews with actual and past musicians of the Pula Rock scene.
So stay tuned, many surprises goin` on in year 2015, check the concertschedule here on the right, maybe a band from Pula/Istria plays in your city one of these days !!

Again, have a beautiful 2015 !!

Getting in it with the brandnew Via Luce videoclip !!