Description

In order to "explain" Attent!on, one has to dig down a bit deeper into the history of the European Punk- and Hardcore-scene. After the end of the last British Punk wave in the beginning of the 80s, the mainstream music media didn't have any interest in Hardcore. Hardcore initially started as a reaction against the original Punkbands, who sold out to major record companies. By 1987 it seemed the big labels had succeeded in buying up quite a few Hardcore bands. Raw energy and political substance was replaced by a marketable image, which often proved out to be sexist, racist and rightwing. Acceptance on a social or musical level was pretty much nonexistent; you had to create your own space. An increasing amount of people from the Punk and Hardcore scene identified with the ‘Do It Yourself’ school of thought, thus creating their own spaces. The stale music industry didn't have any interest in these new and young bands, which back then, were bursting out of Turin, Nottingham, Amsterdam, Milano, Oslo, Berlin, the Ruhr district in Germany and a hundred other cities. For the first time contacts were made among each other, the lack of suitable live venues saw people travel for hundreds of miles, just to see a couple of bands and meet a few friends. Little by little a network of concert promoters, bands, fanzines, live venues and squats developed, where you could create your own cultural life and identity. An exchange between hardcore punks from the most remote areas of Europe took place, at a level which will never be reached by any politician spewing empty phrases and law proposals. The principle of living and working together across borders was already practised and lived out in the Punk and Hardcore-scene, long before the European Community caught on to the idea. However this happened on the clearly formulated principle of ‘Cooperation! Not Competition!’. To me, this European Cooperation peaked with the band Attent!on, who first began to make themselves noticed 1988. Geographically hard to place, as the members came from: Germany, Norway, Poland and Denmark. The individual band members are: Viggo Mastad (Guitar, backing vocals, ex-Angor Watt, Israelvis) from Norway; Martin Billert (Bass, numerous bands) from Poland; Gustav Kaspereit (Drums, ex-Pissed Boys, ex-Ugly Food) from Germany and Kent Nielsen (Vocals, ex-L.U.L.L., ex-Ugly Food) from Denmark, now living in Germany. In 1988 Attent!on released the 12’ EP 'Hearts Of Stone', receiving rave reviews from all around the world. 1991 the 7"Single 'Greetings From Norway' followed, both on X-Mist Records (Nagold, Germany), each of them a classic in the history of European Hardcore. The idea behind Attent!on, then and now, is musical communication, drawing on both the human and ideological side of things. With their strongly inspiring music and lyrics, the band once again reaches a new level, clearly pushing their musical expression to the limit, lyrically never satisfied by treading the usual topics common in the scene. The band Attent!on provide 4 individuals with the possibility of expressing their ideas, without having to give in to mainstream territory, or the structures of rock business. I deliberately avoided using any kind of musical labels/genres in this Attent!on bandbio. A brain and a pair of ears is bound to be at hand – decide for yourself. Track listing: 1. Last Night 2. From Brooklyn To Avalon