you're unknown band in Yugoslavia, so write something about band history & the members (jobs, ages, etc.)
dr.Green was formed sometime around 1996. some of us used to play punk/hardcore in bands like WC NEWS, TURBOREANIMACIJA, VARNU VEJAS. once our guitarist accidentally found out skanky guitar playing style. I think OPERATION IVY was the only band we've heard which used to play this kind of music. we knew almost nothing about ska then. it was new for us, new for Lithuanian scene. then our drummer left to play more hardcore stuff and it was good opportunity to start new band. we've started as four piece band, more punk with little ska touch. there was 4-song demo record, tour to Russia and Byellorussia, some gigs in Lithuania. we were diving deeper and deeper into ska ocean. we've started looking for horn players. one was found in a street, where he was playing famous themes to earn some cash. tenor sax player had decided to quit his former band and started to hang out with us. so, at the moment there are 6 doctors from 20 to 26 years old, from student to lawyer in mobile phone company.
describe your style & how did you decided to play it?
we like to mix various styles of music, no limits at all. of course, there are mostly skanky stuff, but we aren't pure ska band, some people call us punk/ska or skacore. I like to describe it as "ska/punk/whatever". some of us like funky, some - jazz, some - ska/reggae, some - punk/hardcore and here it comes - weird mixture of all these styles. recently most of us like to listen to African afrobeat master Fela Anikulapo Kuti or folk/reggae singer Manu Chao. these are only few of various music styles we like.
many fans of traditional ska say bad words for mixture of ska and pop/punk/hc. what is your reaction about it?
in my own opinion, it's not a bad thing to mix various styles of music. just look around and you'll see a lot of excellent bands which are diving from one style to another. I don't like when a band call themselves "ska band" because it's popular and because they have saxophone. lots of people are confused hearing bands which have nothing in common with ska, but which are presented as ska. I'm especially tired of American punk/ska scene full of punk bands with horn sections. on the other hand, those who like traditional ska only should be more open minded. I like traditional ska as well as various mixes with ska.
Russian band Spitfire is famous now on the world ska scene. do you think that by growing their popularity people are more interested in ska bands from Russia and ex-USSR republics?
well, I'm not sure it's somehow connected. if there is a good band, it doesn't matter where it came from. I don't like an idea that people interested in us because of our "exotic" nationality, I hope it's because our music.
tell me something about your lyrics. does lyrics are more important that music to you? what's your fave lyrics of dr.GREEN? what about that song talking about?
lyrics and music in our band go together. maybe music is getting more attention, because there 5 musicians and only one (me) who writes lyrics. of course, it's important what I sing about. there are songs against army service, violence, non-thinking way of life, some songs are just ironic love stories or just life stories. I like "comfortable coma" lyrics. it came from a movie ("Good Will Hunting" or "Fisher King" I can't remember). I liked the combination of the words. "my body is alive, but my soul is dead / so I chose to be spectator, not accomplish". it's fun to play it, because I try to sing a la L.Armstrong and our saxophone players sing in high "angel" voices (there is a girl singing on the record).
you have released one tape. how it is available for us in Yugoslavia?
unfortunately, it's not distributed in your country, but you can order it straight from us for 4 USD. or you can ask for CD-R copy for 5 USD. we have released our second album "The Sounds of Black & White Radio" in February. it was released by "Kablio muzika" (Kestas Krilavicius / PO Box 3041 / 2026 Vilnius / Lithuania; e-mail: kablys@takas.lt), so you can order it or ask for trades. there are some labels interested in releasing our second album on CD. it seems that Australian "Raunchy Rec." and Lithuanian "Kablio muzika" collaboration is most real at the moment.
what your name exactly means?
actually it means nothing, except its original meaning. we just like the way it sounds.
you were playing across Europe. who is a person who organized your gigs. I've heard that you played in Latvian prison?
well, it was our native Lithuanian prison actually. there was a big festival called "Roko marsas per Lietuva" and it was part of it. we supported Spitfire then. we haven't a manager who does everything. last year our friend was staying in Austria and he helped us with gigs in Austria. then there were Polish guys like Pietia, Marcin, Jacek, Michal who helped us to get gigs in Poland. recently we came back from our second tour. it would have been impossible without a huge support of Alex Holig, squater from Leipzig. our Russian friend Kolya (who used to work with Spitfire, Laibach, etc.) moved to live in Ireland. so he made some gigs in Ireland for us.
would you like to play in Yugoslavia (Bluekilla was here and gigs were famous)?
we would like to play everywhere and Yugoslavia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia are not exceptions. nobody of us have ever been to these countries, so that would be a great experience for us. this spring we have played with Slovenian band Pridigarji in Wien and they were great. I think there are much more interesting bands to play with. and people in south are quite hot.
tell something more about Lithuanian skin/punk scene.
our punk scene is quite young - everything started back in 1987 - ten years later Western punk revolution. at the moment there is only one stable underground club "Bombiakas", arranged in cold war period bomb-shelter. all Lithuanian and some bands from Australia, USA, France, Switzerland, Finland, Czech, Poland played there. the club is run by local punk/oi band Toro Bravo (you can get in touch with them - juozzas@takas.lt or bombiakas@takas.lt). actually there is no skinhead movement in Lithuania, though there are few guys who are really interested in it. the main d.i.y. label is "Kablio muzika" (po box 3041, 2026 Vilnius, Lithuania / kablys@takas.lt). the same guy is doing the biggest zine "Kablys" (I regulary contributing some material). also he is a singer in a tribal-vegan-emo-hardcore band called Bramborak. our guitar player plays bass in it. there are also sXe hardcore band SC, nice reggae-whatever band LMP, young punk band Klaustrofobikai Spintoje, freak-art-core project Vonia, few others. you can find all information about Lithuanian underground movement at website, which is run by our bass player Ve and SC leader Micius. www.hardcore.lt.
does ska scene in your area is connected with skinheads? do you think that skins are part of world ska movement?
as I said before there is no skinhead scene. no ska scene as well. no su much people are interested in underground stuff, so everybody is hanging out together. well, about world ska scene... I don't think, I simply know that lots of skinheads are interested in ska stuff. there is even stupid confidence that if you are a skinhead you should listen to ska. I'm happy to see every person who honestly likes ska music. like Oi Polloi said: "what it's inside your head is much more important than what it's on the top of your head".
does nazi-skins exist in Lithuania?
I don't think so. there are some stupid baldheads who say some nazi bullshit, but they don't have much strenght. so they exist, actually. like everywhere I think. the main problem that lots of lithuanians have nazi attitude, not even knowing about that. 50 years of Soviet system made all people suspicious towards "different".
have you ever been at some TV show?
yes. once we had an hour to present videos we like and talk what we like. so we introduced the audience to ska movement a bit and said our opinion about the videos we chose. well, it was good fun. next time there was a special programme with live stuff from a club. I wasn't there because I was ill, but others went to "play" with CD. it was good fun from the one hand, but on the other everything seemed quite poor (It was the first and the last time when we played with CD). after the "gig" there was a small interview. our bass player told some rude words so the broadcasting was cut off. there were few interviews as well - there was a cool guy on TV, he often promoted alternative stuff. unfortunately, he died in car accident few years ago. we've tried to make a video by ourselves, but because of financial reasons it was never finished.
plans?
it would be nice to release our new album on CD. we would like to play more gigs everywhere. at the moment, we are going to play in a big antifa festival "Kulturschock" in Berlin. then there will be an open-air festival "Tabuns 2000" in Latvia. of course, to record the 3rd album sometime. in general, to keep dr.Green going, because the band pushs us to do something and then to do something more, keep on moving.
something to add?
do not hesitate to contact us: po box 790, 2050 Vilnius, Lithuania or drgreen@hardcore.lt. and thank you Miljan for the interview. it was nice to hear from you.
