Stepped Out from Split, Croatia are one of those bands that keep the flame and hardcore scene alive here in Croatia, also they have been around in the scene for a long time now, it was about time that I talked to their singer Bila about various topics.

HEY, I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME FOR MY ZINE. FIRST, CAN YOU PLEASE PRESENT STEPPED OUT TO THE READERS OF THIS ZINE WHO DIDN´T HEAR YOUR MUSIC YET?

First of all, thank you for the opportunity for having us in your zine. Stepped Out are five hardcore punk kids trapped in the bodies of adults. We were established in 2010 in our hometown Split, Croatia. The music we play can be described as mixture of 90s hardcore, melodic hardcore, punk rock and NYHC . We are proud to say that we grew up on bands like WARZONE, GORILLA BISCUITS, IGNITE, SNAPCASE, SHAI HULUD, SICK OF IT ALL, NO WARNING, REFUSED, SHIELD, STRIFE, RAISED FIST, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, LEEWAY, ABHINANDA, 7 SECONDS, CRO-MAGS, DAG NASTY, EARTH CRISIS, whole Youth Crew, Umea and European hardcore scene etc.

IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN THERE´S BEEN ALMOST THREE YEARS SINCE YOUR LAST RELEASE? WHAT IS NEW, ANY NEW SONGS? I HEARD THAT YOU ARE PREPARING NEW RELEASE, HOW WAS THE WRITING PROCESS? WHAT COMES FIRST, LYRICS OR MUSIC? I SEE YOU PREFER ENGLISH TO CROATIAN LYRICS, IS IT SOMEHOW A PREROGATIVE IF THE BAND WANTS TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE OUT OF LOCAL SCENE?

Yeah, I mean, we are working on the new album. It will be released this year, called ENVY & ALIENATION. Envy is some local heritage. Alienation is a global state of mind. It will be 5 or 6 songs, maybe more. We all work in companies, some of us are into sports also (Crossfit, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), so we are pretty busy, but new songs are something special for us and we are so excited, can’t wait to release this stuff. I am vocalist and write lyrics and the writing process is the easiest part. I write when I have inspiration and words then come out on their own. It depends, sometimes lyrics first, but last few times, music came first. As you saw, yeah, we write all in English because English is international language, most talked language on Earth, hardcore punk is international global music and movement and we want to spread our music world wide. We are not afraid of being underrated band cause we don’t sing in Croatian. People in Croatia mostly learn English early on in their lives and most of the people here speak English very good.

WHEN I READ LYRICS OF VOICES OF THE UPRISING BESIDES LISTENING TO THE MUSIC, I SEE THAT THEY ARE POLITICAL, BUT SOMEHOW FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF LITTLE, ORDINARY HUMAN, WAS THAT ON PURPOSE? DO YOU PREFER PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW THAT ANYONE CAN RELATE TO COMPARED TO SHOUTING THOUSAND TIMES HEARD SLOGANS FROM HARDCORE UTOPIA, WE ALL KNOW THOSE SLOGANS.

Stepped Out always write about what we see, what we live and what we feel. We write about things that surround us in our city, our region and our country. We also write about global problems… Our lyrics are not directly political but if you scratch the surface they are. We are not a political band that stands besides some political parties or politicians, but we separate good and bad things in politics and life of course. The biggest problems of today´s world are pollution and devastation of Earth, growing racism, repression and capitalism in its worst mutation. If you add to that list alienation of people, consumerism and conformism you have complete picture. We love hardcore singalong slogans and unity stuff. It keeps the scene alive and there is nothing bad in these ideas, the problem are the people in the scene who live totally different and opposite these things. There is greed, ego, narcissistic stuff, big and small bands, elitism etc.

HAVE YOU GUYS TOURED? WHAT ARE THE TOP THREE BEST EXPERIENCES AS A BAND AND TOP THREE WORST EXPERIENCES?

We just play some weekend tours or some festivals, we played just in Slovenia and Austria outside of Croatia, but we never played 7 or more days tour cause we are all working class guys and we don’t have label, tour managers, promotors or anything similar. We are on our own, totally DIY. But we would like to make 7 day tour and we would like to play interesting festivals. Top three best experiences are definitely SAWA fest (check out these guys and festival), PUNK ROCK HOLIDAY festival in Tolmin, Slovenia, and HARD CORE FOR THE LOSERS mini fest in Vienna. Also the biggest thing for the band was the opening for godfathers of hardcore Agnostic Front at VIVA LA POLA fest in Pula, Croatia. We don’t remember bad things.

HOW IS THE SCENE IN DALMATIA? ANY HARDCORE PUNK BANDS YOU CAN RECOMMEND AND ARE YOU GUYS SUPPORTIVE TO YOUNG NEW KIDS IN THE SCENE?

Yeah, we are very supportive for young bands since day one. There are not so many hardcore punk bands in our area (Dalmatia) but you should definitely check out bands like CRASSO DE ODIO (Zadar), E.N.D. (Zadar), ESSENCE (Split), Šibenik has punk bands like PONTE DE CARLA, RASPAD, and legendary band called NULA. Also in our hometown there is punk rock band called ŠPURIJUS.

THE NEXT THEME IS KINDA SCENE ELITISM. I KNOW THAT BILA HAS BEEN AROUND FOR AGES, JUST LIKE ME AND I WILL DESCRIBE A SITUATION. I AM OUTSIDE IN FRONT OF A GIG PLACE HERE IN MY HOMETOWN. THERE COMES A GUY WHO I PLAYED WITH IN THE NINETIES, A BIT DRUNK, HE WAS NOT IN THE SCENE AND GIGS LIKE FOR TWENTY YEARS NOW, LIKE HE OUTGREW HARDCORE AND STUFF, YOU KNOW. THEN, WE TALK AND THE GUY STARTS TALKING HOW TODAY´S KIDS SUCK, THERE IS NO SCENE, IN OUR TIME EVEN SHIT WAS GOLDEN HAHA, THEN I TELL HIM, NO DUDE, THERE IS A SCENE, STRONGER THAN EVER. FULL OF GREAT BANDS, FULL OF GREAT PROMOTERS, ZINES, BUT THERE IS NO YOU. HE WALKS AWAY. HAVE YOU HAD SUCH EXPERIENCES? HOW ARE YOUR FEELINGS TOWARDS OLD KNOWN HARDCORE BANDS REUNIONS? I THINK IT IS BITTERSWEET. MIXED FEELINGS KINDA.

This is not elitism this is stupidity. If you say that you outgrew hardcore punk you were never into it for real. It was just a trend or just a phase in your life. Even if you were out for some years for different reasons like job, family issues, addiction, health issues, moving to other city, other country, and other things happened in your life, you will come back someday if you have been into it for real in the past. For sure. It happened to me. As you said the scene is bigger than ever. Thousands of new bands, lots of good vibe and some new fusions and (sub)genres. I’m pretty thrilled with bands like TURNSTILE, ANGEL DU$T, HIGHER POWER, MALEVOLENCE, FURY, ONE STEP CLOSER, BROKEN TEETH… Croatian new bands like SHIN, JADED and PONOR. Check out these bands.

HOW MUCH IS HARDCORE CAUSE AND MESSAGE IMPORTANT NOWADAYS? DOES THE SITUATION IN EUROPE LOOK PRETTY SIMILAR TO 1930S TO YOU? IT DOES TO ME.

Hardcore punk message is always important. We are all now in the middle of global crisis with this pandemia and the whole world is changing. Bad times and bad situations like crisis always brings out the worst people on the surface. But we must surround ourselves with positive minded people changing our micro sphere by moving step by step. The message will stay the same. If we live like we preach it will end in good. Unity, solidarity, friendship, compassion, empathy and mind power will lead us to better days. For example, if you read and live hardcore punk lyrics and then come into so called real world with this statements and commitments you can implement these things into an already existing system that is mostly bad and thus easily change the world for the better. I recommend organizations like Hardcore Help Foundation, check out their work.

WHEN I WAS LIKE 18 YEARS OLD, I READ IN MEDIAS RES(OLD CROATIAN FANZINE DONE BY MARKO STRPIC). THERE WAS A COLUMN BY MARKO BIJESNI IN THERE IN WHICH HE STATED THAT HE FEELS AWKWARD BEING THE OLDEST KID AT THE GIG BEING ONLY 25 YEARS OLD THEN. WOW! I THOUGHT THEN, WHAT WOULD I BE LIKE WHEN I WAS 25 OR 30, WOULD I STILL BE IN THE SCENE AND STRUGGLE TO KEEP IT ON THE MAP? NOW, I AM 43 AND STILL GO. DO YOU THINK THAT AT SOME POINT IN LIFE, HARDCORE JUST GETS AND ASSIMILATES IN YOUR BLOOD AND CELLS AND ATOMS OF YOUR BODY AND BECOMES ONE WITH YOU?

The scene is changing and goes through different circles and eras. If you love the music, the message and believe and live by these things you will always be the same. It’s not so hard to understand but society and environment are pretty important for our survival. For example, if you live in fucked up environment you have pretty good chances to fall. So, life is hard, what can I say. We must learn and read. We must teach each other. Education, knowledge is power.

OKAY, CLASSIC ZINE QUESTION FOR THE END. WHAT ARE IMMEDIATE NEAR FUTURE PLANS FOR STEPPED OUT? ANY CLOSING WORDS AND MESSAGES OR SHOUT OUTS? THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING TIME TO BE IN MY ZINE. IT IS AN HONOR.

Envy and Alienation (new album) is the only plan for now. We are in process of making songs, then we will record a demo and then we go to the studio. Of course playing gigs and festivals also. I would like to make some videos and CD, TAPE, LP for our fans and record collectors . We would like to play tour one day, make some new friends around the world. Shout out to all Split Hardcore Punx, shout out to my Friends, Family Forever fest crew, shout out to Zadar Nigdjezemska crew, Zagreb and Zabok hardcore crew, Pula punk and hardcore kids, and all our fans worldwide. Thank you for having me (us) in your zine it was my (our) pleasure.

Keep it in touch! Punk’s not dead, Hardcore lives!

Bila, Stepped family

https://steppedout.bandcamp.com/