Drünken Bastards offers not only raw music but also an equally wild mentality.
These five mad Hungarian maniacs play dirty, alcoholic metal & punk—a blend of old-school black/thrash,
'80s hardcore/crust, and punk'n'roll. Since forming in 2004, they've been raging from party to party,
fueled by booze and chaos. With their second album on the way, we caught up with frontman Captain
for a no-holds-barred interview.
MORBIDZINE: Hails! Great to chat with one of the Hungarian perverted punky black/thrash guys. First of all, thanks a lot! Let me start by asking: Pete Fire was diagnosed with cancer. What’s the current status of his condition?
CAPTAIN: Hey! First of all, thanks for having us in your zine. Yeah, the latest news are the worst in the band’s history. As we posted in our official statement: Pete has been diagnosed with cancer—specifically lymphoma. The hospital treatments have already started, but the whole procedure could take up to 6 months. It means we had to cancel all of our shows for 2010, but we won’t stop working. Together we decided to write our third upcoming album during this period. So far we have 5–6 new songs and we have an idea for the whole concept as well. Of course, all the cancelled shows will be rescheduled in the spring after Pete gets better.
MORBIDZINE: Can you tell us more about the second full-length madness called Horns of the Wasted? It includes some songs from the debut—I guess those are re-recorded versions?
CAPTAIN: Horns of the Wasted is simply the best recording I’ve taken part in so far. Raging, violent, and massive as a nuclear warhead—I’m really proud of this album. Yeah, there are more old tracks on the album than new ones, but we decided to re-record them because we wanted to show the real potential of those songs. I like them in their old format as heard on Posercrusher, but the debut was totally low-produced while Horns of the Wasted became extremely massive. This new sound gave new life to the old tracks as well.
MORBIDZINE: You did a mini tour with Morbosidad in Hungary. How was that experience?
CAPTAIN: It was both fantastic and a great experience as well. All of the Morbosidad guys are very cool and they’re a truly devastating band on stage.
MORBIDZINE: Your music blends pure metal and punk—satanic, dirty, and drunk rock’n’roll, thrash, hardcore punk, black metal... Would it be accurate to describe you as “black metal guys in a party atmosphere”? Also, what inspires the band outside of music?
CAPTAIN: Partly right, because me and maybe D-Beat Hasselhoff have a black metal past; the others came from the thrash/hardcore/punk scene. But we all love both hardcore and extreme metal bands—the only thing that matters is whether it's an old band or a new band playing old-style music. We really don’t care about modern sounds or any kind of modernization. Our main inspirations apart from music are: parties, alcohol, sluts, street fights, drugs, hate. In two words: our life.
MORBIDZINE: “Drünken Bastards”—the first word seems Hungarian, the second is English. How did the band come up with that name?
CAPTAIN: The word “Drünken” isn’t Hungarian. It’s English—we just added umlauts to the “U”. So without them, it’s just “Drunken Bastards”. Our name in Hungarian would be something like “Részeg Fattyak”.
MORBIDZINE: You’ve mentioned being influenced by old-school black/thrash/punk bands like Venom, Sodom, Bathory, Broken Bones, and Driller Killer. What are some of your other favorite bands? And was G.G. Allin a major influence? I think there’s a cover of “Eat My Fuk” under the title “Destroy the Factory,” right?
CAPTAIN: Haha, I like G.G. Allin, but everyone can see he had only a few really cool tracks like “Bite It You Scum” or “When I Die”. As I mentioned, I listen to many styles of aggressive music from crust/punk to black metal. The list of my favorite bands is endless, but here are some names: Blasphemy, Wolfpack, Iron Maiden, Beherit, Possessed, Verbal Abuse, G.B.H., Motörhead, Slaughter, Dismember, Autopsy, Thin Lizzy, Discharge, Superchrist, Agnostic Front, Sarcófago, Voivod, etc. Nope, the cover is from Eat My Fuk’s Wet Slit & Bottle of Whisky LP. Totally G.G.-influenced sleazy punk n’roll—just way better than G.G. ever was, haha. By the way, Eat My Fuk is a project by guys from Abscess/Autopsy/Von.
MORBIDZINE: If G.G. Allin were still alive and you shared the stage with him, how do you think the night would end?
CAPTAIN: I can’t imagine, haha, but he is dead so it’s better if we talk about something else.
MORBIDZINE: In your 2007 debut, you covered a song called “Üsd a Nőt!” by Herma Florida. Who were they, and why did you choose that song?
CAPTAIN: Herma Florida was a Hungarian metal/punk band around 1993 and did just a few songs. The band was formed by members of Angel Reaper after they disbanded.
MORBIDZINE: What kind of girl inspired you when you wrote “Alcoholic Big Tits”? What's the story behind that track?
CAPTAIN: All the silicone-titted drunk sluts in the bars. There are too many stories behind that song, haha.
MORBIDZINE: Who were you targeting with the name Posercrusher? Was it directed at mainstream stupidity and post-modern symphonic metal trends—or bands like HIM, Korn, etc.?
CAPTAIN: You, your mother and sister, and basically everyone else, haha.
MORBIDZINE: Many '80s thrash bands are reuniting these days, but most of them can’t recapture the old magic. Instead, they go for groovy modern thrash. What’s your opinion on this?
CAPTAIN: Don’t dig up the dead!
MORBIDZINE: Who would you most want to drink with? Maybe Jack Daniels with Lemmy or Cronos?
CAPTAIN: With Lemmy, man. No doubt!
MORBIDZINE: What do you think about the current state of rock’n’roll? Are there any newer bands you follow? We know you like Barbatos, Rötten, etc.
CAPTAIN: There are many cool rock’n’roll-inspired underground bands today. Just think of bands like Ronnie Ripper’s Private War, Eat My Fuk, or Superchrist.
MORBIDZINE: What were the last albums you bought? And any recent albums that disappointed you?
CAPTAIN: I still collect LPs and got a lot of cool stuff in the last few weeks like Sadistik Execution and Desaster box sets, old Motörhead bootleg LPs, Slaughter – Strappado PLP, and some first-press oldies like D.R.I., Onslaught, Mortal Sin, Voivod, etc. Too many to mention. On the other hand, there were many shitty releases that disappointed me—but luckily I can’t remember them.
MORBIDZINE: You seem to have a strong friendship with Yasuyuki. Do you think you’ll ever do a project together?
CAPTAIN: Yasu is one of our dearest metal brothers, very cool guy. Pete Fire had a project planned called Samurai Blood in the past and involved Yasuyuki too. But I don’t think it’s going to happen.
MORBIDZINE: Are you into football? We just finished a pretty boring World Cup. Any thoughts on the latest tournament and Maradona’s Argentina? Hungary had a great team in the past, with legends like Puskás. Why do you think the Hungarian team hasn’t seen success like in those old days?
CAPTAIN: Yes I am, and I totally agree with you—the 2010 World Cup was the biggest failure in football history. What a fucking shitty and boring (and noisy) tournament! Fuck those vuvuzelas! About the Hungarian team—Puskás’s generation was one of the greatest in football history. They played with passion. Nowadays young players just go into football for money. That’s the difference.
MORBIDZINE: Thanks for your time, Blizz. It’s been a blast. Any last words to end the interview?
CAPTAIN: Thanks for the chance, comrade! Wait for Horns of the Wasted and get in touch with us at:
vorkuta@hotmail.com or
www.myspace.com/drnkenbastards. Hails to the Turkish legions of the dead!
Motherfucker in the sky.