Našrot

Našrot...

...is one of the wildest hardcore groups from the Czech Republic. Before the revolution it was a cult band for drunkards, goofs and other suspect life forms. Našrot´s influences stem from The Dead Kennedys and The Who, and the end result was a typical Czech form of hardcore – very quick, short volleys with a pub theme. The pub and booze accompanied the band constantly and relentlessly; Našrot was unable to complete concerts due to frequent alcoholic indispositions. During the founding year the band was better known for its alcoholic excesses rather than for its music. In this context Našrot’s brand of music was always referred to as „pub-core“.

The group was formed at beginning of 1988 (March) in Havlíčkův Brod by poet and guitarist Petr „Hraboš“ Hrabalik, bassist Jiří „Martha“ Dvořák and a month later by drummer Josef „Jouza“ Bárta. All three were veterans of the local underground scene during the 80´s (they played in bands Maama, Křečový Žíly, Gumovej Knedlík).

In September 1989 Našrot recorded its demo – in a mind blowing three hours – entitled „Totálně našrot“ (with favorite songs Našrot /Devastated By Alcohol/, Hodnej kluk /A Good Boy/ and Hnijící královna /The Rotting Queen/). Although the music is incredibly fast and aggressive, the technical quality of the recording is downright miserable. During that time the band members shined at Punkeden ´89 - a festival in which 20 punk and HC bands performed. At the beginning of 1990 the band recorded 3 songs on a sampler of poor quality on the Monitor label entitled „Punk´n´oi – Rebelie“. At the same time Našrot appeared on two unofficial hardcore MC samplers „Nepříčet CS core ´88/´89“ and „Always The Same Victims“.. The musicians from the band also established a secondary live concert spin-off pub rock group named Jerry and the Alligators with Jaroslav „Jerry“ Růžička playing the harmonica. This band adopted the style of Dr. Feelgood and appeared only four times before braking up.

A year later, in March ´91 under the Monitor label the band released its debut album „Destructive Tour“ (with favorite songs Malá je naděje (Hope Is Small), It´s A Fucking World and Policejní stát /A Police State/). While the album’s mixing was not quite satisfactory, the music was very raw with socially conscious lyrics, rather unique for a band of this type in the Czech Republic. None the less the group was only partially capable of capturing its concert atmosphere and energy on the album. The band, however, managed to record their performance at Prague’s Rock Cafe where they appeared before members of The Exploited. This concert recording became available at hardcore events under the title „Nasrot - Live In Prague". During the summer and autumn the band performed in concerts in Austria and Switzerland with notable success.

From the summer of 1991, the band was writing new material which leaned heavily towards a blend of hardcore, rap and grunge known as crossover. Hraboš learned to work with English lyrics. During the spring of 1992 another alcoholic crisis hits the band, and only with the addition of a new guitarist Tomáš „Ceemek“ Hájek was new life breathed into Našrot. At the end of the year, the band’s new programme was completed. Originally the album was supposed to be recorded in Switzerland, however, thanks to the ignorance of the band members who actually take pride in their lack of organisational skills, no recording sessions transpired.

Following a series of outstanding concerts (the press has labeled them as one of the best Czech live bands) they finally succeed in recording their second album „Brain Investigator“ in September 1993 within 5 days which was released by the end of the year under the Popron label. All lyrics on the CD are in English and are influenced by the American hardcore/grunge scene (Faith No More, Biohazard, Nirvana, Mind Funk etc). As a nostalgic throwback to the 60´s the CD includes the cover track of The Doors single Break On Through. Critics gave the thumbs-up and sales were not bad. A video entitled 21 Reasons Why White Men Can’t Sing Rap appeared on TV. The other excellent songs were The Kiss Of The Death-Time, Lies, Hollywood and Simply Stupid Day.

During the summer of ´94 the band worked on a new set, and in the autumn hit the road on its (best organized) Mechanical Destruction Tour. In February 1995 a 4-track demo MC was recorded as a taste of what was to come. The Popron label was in favour, and in the summer of ´95 Našrot recorded the „Cornered Animal“ CD, characterised by a hard, monolithic sound bringing the band closer to a modern U.S. hardcore style said critics. Once again the album received excellent feedback, especially for its authentic sound and songs I Killed My Little Pony, Bastard and The Love Of A Psycho. The Jimi Hendrix cover Purple Haze was voted cover track of the year. Nevertheless zero support from the label and a poorly organised tour killed morale in the band. What’s more the band lost its rehearsal space in Havlíčkův Brod so work on new material was no where in sight. At this point guitarist Ceemek simultaneously formed a hardcore band named S.H.I.T. together with members of the group Ďeti. Despite personal problems (ie alcohol and chemical substance abuse) the Našrot machine ploughed forth. During this time a short documentary about the band appeared on the TV music programme 60.

The peak of the band’s concert dates occurred at Jam 96 which took place during the summer in Prague. Našrot shared the stage with world-famous acts such as Ministry, Iggy Pop, Bad Religion, Dog Eat Dog, Frank Black.

Našrot was to record their new album in March ´97, however, thanks to overly generous quantities of alcohol and performance enhancing chemicals, the band was unable to get its shit together. Simultaneously Našrot was thrown overboard by their label Popron. By June 1997 Našrot got their act together and recorded „The Guide To The Wild Years“ once again at Hostivař studios. Into the picture steps the label Save, a dubious organisation that released the new album at the beginning of 1998 (the video to the track Flashbacks does well on Czech music programs), however, with no distribution. The result was that all CD’s and cassettes collected dust for over 6 months at the B&M warehouse. The independent label Black Point saved the scene when it assumed all costs and began distributing the new album almost a year after it was recorded. Critics once again gave the new album a very positive response. The band incorporates a variety of HC-crossover riffs and is not afraid to change its sound after a decade of noise. Lost Generation, Us And Them and No Way In This Reality are excellent songs. As a traditional throwback the band selects the cover Paperback Writer by The Beatles.

At this point the band established their own website (www.nasrot.cz). At the end of the year Nasrot celebrated its 10th anniversary at Roxy, one of Prague’s best known clubs. In December Hrabos recorded his single entitled „Pop Promo Demo“ at the Hostivař recording studio with the assistance of the remaining band members. At the beginning of 1999 Nasrot’s drummer Jouza departed on a three month trip to India, and for this reason Hrabos recorded his second solo single „Rock And Roll Promo Demo“ (the song The Statue) with Žurnalista J. (aka Jiří "Komín" Komínek) on drums.

During the course of the year new material is slowly prepared and appears to be the most diverse in terms of style in the band’s ten-year history. During the spring of 2000 Našrot performed live very sporadically (accepting a new associate member Martin „Dréza“ Dresler - percussions), in order to record its latest album in July entitled „The Mirror & The Mask“ a collage of styles ranging from NYC hardcore school to funk and acid jazz spiced with arabesque ethno motifs. If the last album opened the door to experimenting with new musical styles, then The Mirror… drew the band into a new world of musical magic. It’s full of amazing songs – Life Is Elsewhere, There’s No Way, Snowing In The Desert, Highway 2000, Going To Shamballah, Arabian Magic Train. As a cover version Našrot selected the song I’m Free by British rock legend The Who.

This was followed by a series of concerts drawing from the album’s material. Due to the fact that the band’s members had little time (with only one exception) no new songs were written. „The Mirror & The Mask“ thanks in part to its atypical material and lack of promotion was not commercially successful despite the fact that some critics assessed the album as one of the band’s finest pieces of work. At the end of 2001 the group appeared live on the TV music programme Letadlo where they performed three songs from the album and the Black Point included one of Nasrot’s singles on its traditional sampler. Two of Nasrot’s tracks appeared on the soundtrack film director Petr Zelenka’s short film-story entitled „Powers“.

In November Hrabos began singing at dance parties with the chill-out group Maradona Jazz, performing improvised Latin and lounge music. MJ comprised of current and former members of Plexis, Michael´s Uncle, Kamil Jasmín Band and of course Nasrot.

Nasrot began experiencing difficulties due to a lack of time to rehearse as well as personality conflicts within the band, creating a tense atmosphere. The band ceased its concert activities during the summer of 2002, and members agreed to write new material. A year later new material was complete. The album entitled „Psychorama“ recorded in September/October 2003 was inspired by the sound of the previous album. The music on the album can be characterised as ethno-hardcore. Once again heavy guitars and ethno percussion, along with strong keyboards and strings, hardcore metal riffs and oriental ornaments dominate the album’s sound. As opposed to „The Mirror…“, „Psychorama“ is not as heavy, instead it is gloomier. Especially songs We’ll Never Die, It’s My Homework, Downtown and War Or Peace And Love. As a traditional 60’s cover Nasrot chose Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love. The new album appeared under the Black Point label in December 2003. During the autumn of 2004 band recorded song Man In The Air for the soundtrack to Petr Zelenka’s film “Příběhy obyčejného šílenství”.

In March 2005 Hrabos began singing with hardcore-crossover group Ström. The band comprised of current and former members of Slut, Michael´s Uncle, Plexis and Nasrot and broke up in summer 2006. 

At the end of 2007 the band recorded the bed tracks for its latest album “Rag(e)time”. The new album was complete by the summer 2008. Music-wise the album is a summary of everything that fans of the band always liked. Tracks range from classic rock, hardcore, punk, rap, folk-rock, with most containing critical lyrics. Quality songs include Bloody Oil,  I Want To Take You Away From Here,  Only Pain, and Words Are Dead. Nasrot always records a cover track on each album. This time it selected Sunday Morning by the Velvet Underground from New York.

In December 2008 Nasrot celebrated its 20^th anniversary by performing a concert in Prague called “20 let Nasrot”. The concert was recorded on video and a year later footage was included in a documentary. A DVD entitled “Live in Praha” was released in 2011 as a supplement to a book authored by Radek Diestler about the band’s history entitled “Totally Nasrot, the story of our most unpromising band”.A second supplement came with the book in the form of a CD entitled “Unplugged” and containing the band’s reworked versions of older songs as well as new tracks Night in Lhasa. Due to a fast approaching publishing date, and a lack of pre-scheduled concerts at the time, the band was forced to record the "unplugged" album in a studio setting.  As a result of this the band's members felt obliged to offer something more to fans and in 2014 recorded a partially acoustic live concert released in 2015 under the title "Flashbacks - Live Unplugged". The album contains time-tested classic tracks but also several songs that have not as yet been released on any official studio album including Blues levnýho baru (Cheap Bar Blues) and Zmizíme ze světa (We Will Disappear From The World).

To the thirtieth anniversary of the band's existence, in 2018 a great compilation "The Best Of Našrot - Back To The Past" was released in the form of 3CD. It also includes two new songs: The Old Hobo and Dark East Mordor, with the second one filming a seven-minute video clip.

Following the Jam 96 concert someone proclaimed Našrot to be a world-class band. Too bad that thanks to its laziness, stupidity and virtually non-existent management, the band was unable to properly assess and realise its full potential. Thanks to the age of the band’s members, its not likely that it will ever enjoy any commercial success, however, one can expect that its albums and live performances will be of high quality.

Našrot are

• Petr "Hraboš" Hrabalik - lead vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar
• Jiří "Martha" Dvořák - bassguitar, double bass, background vocals
• Josef "Jouza" Bárta - drums, percussion
• Tomáš "Ceemek" Hájek - lead guitar, acoustic guitar

Discography

• Našrot: "Totálně našrot" (MC-demo, Fuck rec. 1989)
• "Nepříčet CS core ´88/´89" (MC-sampler, Šot rec. 1990,  Našrot - three songs)
• "Always The Same Victims" (MC-sampler, Stres rec. 1990, Našrot - three songs)
• "Punk´n´oi - Rebélie!" (LP, MC -sampler, Monitor 1990,  Našrot - three songs)
• Našrot: "Destructive Tour" (LP, MC, CD, 1991, Monitor)
• Našrot: "Live In Prague" (MC-demo, Fuck rec. 1991)
• Našrot: "Brain Investigator" (CD, MC, 1993, Popron)
• Našrot: "Promo Demo" (MC-demo, 1995)
• Našrot: "Cornered Animal" (CD, MC, 1995, Popron)
• Našrot: "The Guide To The Wild Years" (CD, MC, 1997/8, Save)
• "Viděno Sudem" (MC-sampler, 1999, Football rec., Našrot - one song)
• Našrot: "The Mirror & The Mask" (CD, MC, 2000, Black Point)
• "Mimo Sud" (MC, CD-sampler, 2000-1, Football rec., Našrot - one song)
• "Black Point Sampler 2001 - The Czech Alternative Music & Parallel Pop"
  (CD-sampler, 2001, Black point, Našrot - one song)
• "Sběrné sudoviny" (MC, CD-sampler, 2002, Football rec. Našrot - one song)
• Našrot: "Psychorama" (CD, MC, 2003, Black Point)
• "Black Point 2002 - 2004" (CD-sampler, 2004, Black Point, Našrot- one song)
• "Příběhy obyčejného šílenství" (CD film soundtrack, 2005, Sony Music Entertainment, Našrot - one song)
• "Návrat k Sudu" (CD-sampler, Foot Ball Rec. 2006, Našrot - one song)
• "HB-Fest" (CD-sampler, Cecek Records 2008, Našrot - one song)
• Našrot: "Rag(e)time" (CD, 2008, Nasrot)
• Našrot: "Live In Praha" (concert 2008, DVD 2011, Nasrot - Petrkov)
• Našrot: "Unplugged" (CD, 2011, Nasrot)
• "Perštýnská vražda" (CD-sampler, Foot Ball Rec. 2011, Našrot - one song)
• "Viděno dvojmo" (CD-sampler, Foot Ball Rec. 2014, Našrot - one song)
• Našrot: "Flashbacks - Live Unplugged" (concert 2014, 2CD, 2015, Nasrot)
• Našrot: "Totálně našrot" (original demo of 1989, LP - reedice 2016, PHR)
• "Viděno dvojmo 2" (CD-sampler, Foot Ball Rec. 2016, Našrot - one song)
• "Plexis - Kašpar v nesnázích" (CD, PHR, partly album, partly tribute sampler, Našrot - one song)
• Našrot: "Back To The Past" (3CD-sampler The Best Of Našrot, 2018, Nasrot)
• "Viděno dvojmo 3" (CD-sampler, Foot Ball Rec. 2018, Našrot - one song)
• "Stálo to za to!" (2CD-live sampler, ÚSD & Popmuseum, 2019, Našrot - four songs)
• "Sanitas Animae" (benefiční hudební kompilace více než 100 kapel, Bandcamp 2020, N - one song)
• "Viděno dvojmo 4" (CD-sampler, Foot Ball Rec. 2021, Našrot - one song)
• "Headliner - Viděno Sudem" (CD-sampler, Foot Ball Rec. 2022, Našrot - one song)
• Našrot: "Live In Prague" (original MC- live demo of 1991, LP - reedice 2022, PHR)
• "Viděno dvojmo 5" (CD-sampler, Foot Ball Rec. 2023, Našrot - one song)
• "Plexis Tribute" (CD-tribute sampler, Still Born, 2023, Našrot - one song)

Management

• Jakub Tauber
• Šubrtova 2007, 580 01 Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic
• phone: +420 777 905 594
• e-mail: bravogril@seznam.cz
• web: www.cecek.com