Monday 11 October 2010

Dramatic Battle Interview

* Originally published in issue # 6 of “Hammer Fall” magazine

1/ Presentation the members of the band

D. Battle – lead guitar, lead vocals. Twenty years-old. Fitter.
R. Battle – rhythm guitar. Twenty years-old. Tattooist.
J. Battle – bass guitar. Thirty years old. Computer stuff.
J. Battle – drums. Twenty years old. Government employee.

2/ History and production of the group
The band was formed about 2000 or so playing a classic blend of Oi!-RAC in the vein of bands such as Skrewdriver, Combat 84, English Rose, Freikorps, Endstufe, etc... At first there was only one member and he recorded a low-quality demo-CD entitled “Violencia Nocturna” (Nocturnal Violence) playing all the instruments; some time later the band got a regular line-up and recorded the mini-CD “Terroristas” including 4 tracks which became very well-known over the Spanish nationalist scene; later the band recorded a 2-way split together with Depresion (Spanish Streetpunk band) which got them a bit better known abroad. About two years ago, the band recorded a 4 track mini-CD called “La vida en un pacifico nuevo mundo...” (Life in a new pacific world... ironically making fun from a Jehowah’s Witnesses panflet talking about “peace and love between races all over the world”) under the name of DB (to avoid anti-racist laws here); the 4 songs included have become anthems (you can believe me) among Spanish nationalists since the lyrics are more direct and deal with social/political problems with tons of irony and humour. Again, the band suffered new line-up changes and got a new member, me, and started to play in a regular basis all around Spain.
Being honest, the band started as an unpolitical patriotic Oi! band, but later on the original member and founder took the right path towards nationalism. He was sick of the PC Oi! scene and left-wing infiltration and Dramatic Battle turned into a true RAC band... Til the moment we have played with bands such as Estirpe Imperial (Spain), Zetazeroalfa (Italy), Brigada 1238 (Spain), Mas Que Palabras (Spain), Retaguardia (Spain), Frakass (France), Blue Max (Germany), Aufbruch (Germany), Guarda de Honra (Portugal), Hobbit (Italy), Delendha Cartago (Italy), Testado (Italy), Kriminal Tango (Italy), Gesta Bellica (Italy), Hate For Breakfast (Italy), Legittima Offesa (Italy), Post Mortem (Spain)...

- “Violencia Nocturna” (“Night violence”), demo-CD.
- “Terroristas” (“Terrorists”), 4-track mini-CD.
- “La infamia hace la unidad” (“Infamy makes unity”), split-CD together with Depresion (Madrid Streetpunk), 3 songs.
- “La vida en un pacifico nuevo mundo” (“Life in a pacific new world”), 4-track mini CD under the name of DB.

3/ Tell us about the band name and why you chose it?

Since the beginning, the founder of the band wanted an epic name, a strong and real name. In his eyes, life of a young working class Spanish man is a fucking dramatic battle full of trouble, abuse, injustice,… if you have love for your country and think about the situation you’re in, you realize everything’s getting worse and there’s no return. Our greedy Government doesn’t care about the national working class and our land itself. Capitalism set the rules.
About the fact of having a name in English is quite simple, skin culture is so influenced by his mother language and so we thought the name of the band would fit better in English. We have some songs written in English but we don’t rehearse them nowadays.

4/ Main themes approached in your songs

Well, basically about social problems, the hard life of a young Spanish man in this corrupt and inmoral society, the skinhead way of life (or what’s left of it!), patriotism/nationalism, our cultural identity, our rejection towards “democratic” politicians… and don’t forget irony and sense of humour!!

5/ Your musical influences ? 6/ Your preferred bands current and passed?

Mainly European classic Oi! and RAC. About the bands, they’re too many to mention all of them here… An example: old Skrewdriver, Brutal Combat, Skinkorps, Evilskins, Komintern Sect, Camera Silens, Close Shave, English Rose, Razors Edge, Combat 84, Indecent Exposure, Endstufe , Storkraft, K.D.F, Freikorps, Holsteiner Jungs, old Böhse Onkelz, Peggior Amico, Plastic Surgery, Orlik, Kratky Proces… nowadays: ZZA, Hobbit, Legittima Offesa, Kommando Skin, Blue Max, Malnatt, Ultima Frontiera, Hassgesang, Legion of St. George, TMF, Frakass, Hais et Fiers…



7/ Your projects with short and long terms (Cd, compilation, concert…)?
Who knows?... We have just finished the recording of some new stuff but we’re not sure when it will be released. Also, we were asked to record a couple of songs for a compilation, but finally it didn’t work…
We hope to play more gigs in Spain but especially all over Europe (if it’s posible), for the moment we only played once in Italy…

8/ Tell us about the concert organized last November in Valladolid.

Well, it was a nice gig to play since there were some very good Italian bands such as Gesta Bellica (one of our favourites ever), Legitima Ofesa, HFB… The lads from Valladolid are very good friends of us and they are making a very good work out there. Having their own clubhouse, the OVNI (UFO), they have managed to hold a regular series of gigs without being harassed by authorities and they’re taking here some of the best bands around… The 20-N concerts used to be organized in Madrid, but due to police pressure and boycotts people decided to move them to Valladolid since there’s a full equipped nationalist club where the gigs are able to be held without any problem.

9/ Tell us about the "28" comrades arrested.

Well, the fact is that these comrades went to a Democracia Nacional (Nacional Democracy) meeting held in a hotel in Madrid to talk with the leaders of this party since they were spreading lies and bullshit about them and some other different groups and organizations… (most of the arrested are very good friends of us and that’s why we are worried about the facts).
This party, DN, tries to be the “national answer” for all the patriots out there with restrained statements against immigration, crime, unemployment, etc (that are still too radical for the established democratic forces), but the truth is that they have become just like the rest of the average political parties and use the same tactics.
I guess not all the members of this party are stupid blockheads (there are some good peopel inside), but their leaders are just a bunch of profiteers who just want to be worshipped and followed by blind masses. I really think they have lost their minds ‘cause they are always crying they are the one and only worthy nationalist party around saying the rest of the groups are nothing but scum and that they are the “true alternative”. For them, the other groups are full of old people longing for Franco’s days or revolutionary radical leaders with no political agenda or government infiltrators or drug-addict hooligans looking for senseless violence… in their eyes, they are the only ones who can save our nation from the rotting system we live in.
It seems that they really believe their ridiculous paranoias and don’t have scruples about writing lies and absurd stories on Internet about their rivals accusing them of the most horrible crimes to show they are the only “pure patriots”.
So, when the 28 lads showed up at the front of the hotel asking for some answers there was a little argument and one of the leaders of the party was punched (a little bit). All of them said there was not any problem and that they were not telling lies. The DN “security service” just disappeared as if by magic… but then the full gear riot police got out from nowhere and started to arrest the 28 lads. After the arrests were done, some members of DN went out the hotel cheering and clapping the cops and saying they were welcome… our friends couldn’t believe it!!
Later on, at the Police station, members of DN went to bring charges against some of our comrades… Another funny thing is that they were in very good terms with the cops and making jokes about the situation…??? For us, they have prepared a sort of an ambush calling the cops the day before… Anyway, it was 20 of November, a dangerous date since police and government are ready to arrest nationalists to “avoid” violence (so they say).
The day after, DN stated that the 28 arrested were a bunch of hooligans trying to boycott their meeting and that police action was right and adequate since they are a political party which asked for protection. They even said three of the arrested had to go to hospital since the DN security service (the same that disappeared) had smashed them… But, if they smashed the attackers, why did they call police???
This behaviour is totally unacceptable for us… They have lied and they have charged our friends with false crimes pretending to be the victims. DN tries to show they are not NS or racists and don’t care to point at the rest of the nationalist parties and blame them of being the dangerous “right wing”. By the way, their main leader is the singer of Spanish well-known RAC band Division 250, but today he totally regrets what he did before. They don’t allow skinheads on their ranks but they are always trying to organize RAC concerts and meetings where they welcome skinheads (their money is worthy, not their look). Many people into the nationalist scene are fed up with the behaviour of this party… sooner or later everybody will turn their backs on them due to their treacherous tactics.

10/ Which band would you like to play with

Humm, it would had be a pleasure to play with the good old Skrewdriver or No Remarse, but that’s only a dream, hahaha… We’d like to play with bands such as Kampfzone, Endstufe or English Rose, to mention a few.



11/ Do you know the actual French bands?

Yeah, we know bands such as Frakass (we played with them in Leon, Spain, very good band!), Hais et Fiers, Lemovice, Rembarre (good and impressive new band), Hotel Stela (very nice Hussard Rock!), Bordel Boys (not sure if they’re still playing), Cellule 23, we also like Fraction Ile de France, Insurrektion, Vae Victis, …

12/ How the scene skin occurs to Spain?

The Spanish (true) skinhead scene was very active about 6-7 years ago… then there was a huge pressure from the Government and the re were less concerts and organizations: police arrested all the memebers of Hammmerskins and B&H 5 years ago and they’re always looking for skinhead crews to charge them with everything you can imagine…
There were many skinheads into the football firms but nowadays most of them have become casuals… though there are still some skins into several football crews.
Today it looks like there is a sort of resurrection and there are some new active bands and shows every 3-4 months, more CD’s and many websites and blogs supporting our scene.
Anyway, there is still a little discord due to personal differences but the most of the times can be solved without any problem.

13/ Speak us about the repressive system in Spain?

Well, as you can imagine we suffer the same repression every nationalist faces all around Europe… our ideas and points of view are banned and persecuted and there’s no real freedom of speech. About 10 years ago Spain was a very free place to live… you were able to say whatever you want and there were no laws against our ideology… nowadays is very different: our politicians have followed the rest of European countries and now is very hard to show your views. Everytime we organize a concert or a nationalist meeting police forces ask you for your ID cards or try to stop the event, not to mention the extreme left-wing crying and moaning about the “evil nazis” reporting our activities to police or mass-media…
The funny thing is that extreme left-wing organize dozens of concerts and meetings every weekend (most of them illegal) and they have NO police around and even the newspapers talk about them saying they’re making “cultural activities” or “actions against racism”… usually, their meetings become into riots, disturbances, violence,… but no one seems to care about it.
Last year, dozens of antifascists attacked a Police station in Madrid’s downtown injuring some cops. About 10 of them were arrested but immediatly left-wing parties, associations and newspapers started to claim for their release and saying it was a slight confrontation started by young teenagers… Politicians and mass-media totally support antifascists and even justify and excuse their actions. There have been many attacks against young nationalists on the streets and police only arrested a few of the attackers… most of the assaults are not solved and police don’t care about it. The antifascists really have a total impunity in Spain: they always look like the victims and the truth is that they are the ones who attack and assault other people because they don’ have the same ideas…
An example: on june, the Hammerskins were judged in an important court in Madrid… An antiracist organization was present as private prosecutor. There were no proof against them, their phones were taped illegally, no crime was proved, there were no “victims”… finally they were condemned to one year and a half for nothing, just because the mass-media and antifa groups put the court under pressure. Police invented crimes and attacks and their statements was their only proofs… there’s no justice!!! Meanwhile, ETA and left-wing terrorists get very low jail terms after they killed or try to kill innocent people… this system really sucks!!
Another example: Josue… He has been condemned to 27 years in prison alter he killed in self-defense a well-known violent antifascist who cornered him into the subway together with more than 150 left-wingers (in the wagon there were about 40-50, outside more than 100). He only tried to save his life and acted before the mob started to smash him (it was obvious they were going to beat him up) but the court didn’t care about it!! They try to show that Josue attacked 150 thugs alone!! Now, the mother of the dead antifa has created an organization against fascism and racism… she profits from her son’s death, what a shame. Now, just imagine if the situation was the other way round: an evil neo-nazi killed by a non-violent antifascist who was attacked by a horrible mob of fascists… I guess everybody (politicians, mass-media, the Catholic church,…) will demand his release and label him as a hero.
By the way, Josue was going to attend a DN meeting in a working class neighborhood invaded by immigration… DN didn’t want anything to do and left him alone…

14/ The last words?

Fourteen words!! Ha, ha, ha… Well, thanks a lot for the interest in the band and the interview. Hope to see you at a gig one of these days…

Ave Europa!!!

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