DAK Bambucha is an association based in Varaždin, Croatia, whose goal is to promote underground and alternative culture and events. They organized tons of gigs in last two years and hosted many Croatian bands and foreign bands that came touring through our part of the country.

The burning problem for the town of Varaždin is that there is no club or alternative space where the gigs and other events could be held. By the way, Varaždin is beautiful baroque town in the north-northwest of Croatia and in the last 25 years of me being part of this scene, there was always a great scene there with bands like Ateisti, Potres mozga, Apfuken, Corpse Grinder, Directed crew and many others coming to mind immediately when I think of the 90-ies. I sang in band called Corewar in the second half of the 90-ies and I remember with smile superb gigs in Gracija, BKD Željezničar and Rogoz, not only with my band, but every Varaždin and Čakovec band played there at least once a month.

The 2000-s somehow brought status quo, Gajba crew tried to do something with couple of festivals on Drava river but in my opinion everything somehow stagnated until some new kids arrived on the scene backed by few of the older kids that survived in the scene from the 90-ies.

Nowadays, Varaždin again has a healthy and small, but compact scene with bands like BKD, Senf, Gemišt, Fajrunt, One Step Away(okay half of the band hehe) and Mališa Bahat being the most active ones right now. What I love about the scene here is that every kid comes to gig, no matter being punk, skinhead or metal  oriented and they somehow all hold each others backs.

DAK Bambucha was formed to help organize gigs, but the burning problem remains the place. In the Summer, the guys kept the scene alive by organizing DIY gigs in the backyards of the members´houses, the old farm house and similar. They did a couple of gigs in the caffe bars, but the owners of the bars were not to keen on punk hardcore gigs. So, the problem remains and the city mayor and politicians have absolutely no hearing for some freaks trying to revive and keep the flame of the scene burning.

So, how can this problem be solved? In my opinion it is about being loud, agitating, sharing, promoting, the hard work will in time be rewarded with some club or a space of some kind for organizing things.

This was not going to be gig report, but I have to write this one. Yesterday night the guys organized another nice successfull gig in nearby village called Sračinec in the Dom kulture(free translation from Croatian being Culture house) with four awesome bands playing. First, melodic punks Fajrunt from Varaždin warmed the crowd with their awesome songs from their two albums, backed with couple of covers by Mikrofonija and Ateisti. Bakterije from my hometown Čakovec were next. The kids went mad and the pogoed, moshed and singalongs were in order on the slippery tiles of the floor but everyone who fell down was quickly picked up by the other kids in the pit. Bakterije played the set of their hits from the first two albums mixed with three new songs from the forthcoming new album and the new stuff blew my head away live. The guests from Pula Antitodor led by legendary frontman Todor who is already 40 years in the scene were next. They changed their lineup again and I saw that they have a new drummer and the guy is really young, someone told me he is 17, but he plays his drum set better than many other older colleagues in the scene. Antitodor set was mixed with material from all four of their albums, with one Kud Idijoti cover thrown in and the kids enjoyed it from the first to the last minute. The last band to close the evening were Partleki from my hometown, in fact the two guys from Bakterije plus legendary ex Motorno Ulje frontman Lazar on bass and vocals. Partleki finished the great gig triumphantly with their set of punk covers of famous children songs haha.

So, what is the point and the conclusion of this feature? Help, solidify the ranks, agitate, share, everyone can do their part and we can all enjoy it all the way while doing the hard work for the scene. Remember, there is no global scene without your own local scene.