Artist: Grč
Label: Dallas Records
Released: 2008
Duration: 61:00
Rating: 5/5
With all the riches the Rijeka New Wave had to offer in its golden age, back in some not-so-distant past, the musical output of the freakish band Grč definitely stands out. Strange and, at first glance, utterly bizarre was this particular mode of artistic expression, run through the prism of that tool called music, which Grč used to raise hell on Earth. You could describe the whole thing as a kind of mature, avant-garde-to-the-bone version of punk, one that in its own totally singular way rebelliously negates everything that the then-prevailing way of life stood for, tucked inside the clam shell of yuppie social conformism, made to JUS standards.
Judging by the repeated “doomy” howling of riffs tolling the hour of judgment, the deliberate breaks with long, shouted recitals backed by sound effects that purposely bring back the noises of lathes, axe blows, crashes of violence and the like, we can easily add the adjective “horror” to the formula of punk. Above all, Grč want to amplify (through their expression) negative emotions (hatred, rage, personal agony, vengefulness) and, along the way, vividly awaken fear in the listener, the kind that makes even the thickest skin crawl!
None of this would work without the creator, ideologue, visionary, the first “butcher and executioner” Zoran Štajdohar Zoff, who reached for a means of expression that nobody before or after him has touched anywhere in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The unbearable situation of being a prisoner of freedom, which drives you into a state of schizoid, mad obsession, radiated by the clearly commanding quotes of Zoff’s dictating in the Grč sermon. The wordplay “they shed blood for freedom”, read on millions of WWII Partisan memorial plaques, you use as a way of pointing at a certain state of continuity, only that it’s pursued, in a phase when the imaginary harmony of “coexistence and peace” reigns, by other means.
Grč were known for their bizarre stage shows of sawing, mangling and chopping meat on stage with all sorts of handy props. Zoff was so clear and firm in his vision that the band members had a hard time keeping up, which is why he had constant trouble with a stable lineup throughout his career. So on this record we find material recorded by three different lineups of Grč. After all, with a band as interesting as Grč were (and still are), it’s plain that Zoff is basically everything Grč need. The reverse holds true too.
Precisely because of their controversial messages and provocatively extreme perversions, Grč were condemned to the status of the longest demo track record. “Još ima krvi” is in fact the first real official release on any audio format in the band’s history. And that’s after a full 26 years since Grč appeared on the scene. However you look at it, given the band’s fixed core axiom of defiance, that there must be no compromise, it’s precisely this dogged insistence on following their own vision that is an act of praiseworthy courage you don’t come across every day. Most acts, faced with such a conscious self-sentencing to wasting away from hunger, or in plain words “a hunger strike with no pension years”, would have given up long ago.
Grč made up for the lack of mass attention with their utterly twisted appearance and their willingness to hand the crowd an extreme provocation at any given moment . At times the totally absurd lyrics, deliberately pumped up to get the core messages across, come off as bizarre to the point of being disgusting, off-putting, annoying, not to say downright unbearable. If you feel the first cramps in your stomach, know that the band’s basic goal has been achieved. With their clear profile, Grč stand uniquely recognizable among countless acts, and with such a placed shock factor in their appearance, all the more appealing. A truly respect-worthy body of work that bred and self-amplified through all those years precisely by deliberately breaking wind in conformism’s face, defiantly and successfully holding up a mirror to it by smashing artistic frameworks and uncovering new dimensions of expression offered by the realm of rock.
With the track Krv je moje svetlo i moja tama, Grč set verses from the poem Jama by the Croatian poet Ivan Goran Kovačić to music and prove with their genius what can be achieved: verses that, in their birth-nakedness, i.e. without musical accompaniment, are vividly real in their horror on their own, take on a special redemptive quality in the hands of Grč! “Još ima krvi” is an outstanding document, with which the Dallas label finally rewards all the loyal fans of this band, and which at last gives Grč some well-deserved recognition and thanks, and nurtures respect for the band’s artistic contribution, not only to the era of the Rijeka New Wave movement but to world rock music. In all the described rot of human carrion, it’s not hard to find beauty, as long as at least one drop of blood seeps through it.
Lineup
Zoran Štajdohar Zoff – vocals (all tracks)
Zoran Klasić – guitar (tracks 2,7,10,13,14,16)
Miro Klarić – guitar (tracks 1,3,4,5,6,8,11,12,15)
Igor Modrić – bass (tracks 2,7,10,13,14,16)
Alen Badžak – bass (tracks 1,3,4,5,6,8,9,11,12,15)
Marijan Barać – drums (all tracks)
current Grč lineup:
Zoran Štajdohar Zoff – vocals
Orijen Modrušan Ori – guitar
Zoran Žmirić Kizo – bass
Zoran Kovač Kiss – drums
Production
Janez Križaj, Predrag Trpkov & Grč
Tracklist
01. Gospodo “Satanska”
02. Sloboda izlazi u javnost
03. Životinja
04. Klatno
05. Nož u leđa
06. Teške čizme na nogama slobode
07. Još ima krvi
08. Bez milosti
09. Prolijevaš mi krv
10. Crne rukavice
11. Gazim decu
12. Nikad robom
13. Nož u mojoj ruci
14. Noćas se Beograd pali
15. Raskomadana strv
16. Krv je moje svjetlo i moja tama
