We are drumming out further bands.
The foothill Czech Woodstock camp will be visited by the punk YELLOWCARD and alternative dEUS. Together with KORN
they complete the traditional variety of the Krkonoše foothill mosaic.
1/6/2012
We are drumming out that American band Korn will be accompanied by other bands. The punk band Yellowcard and alternative dEUS will be playing at “the Battlefield” in the month of grain and ripening grasses, on the 16th to 19th of August. They will complete the traditional mosaic of variety, exactly as our Chief used to like it. This year’s 25th year of the oldest and not only musical meeting of its kind is dedicated In memoriam to our Chief Václav Havel and the Underground Guru Ivan Martin Jirous. They both used to be welcomed and regular festival visitors.
Yellowcard – an unhackneyed band
American band Yellowcard has performed in the Czech Republic only once, last year in Prague during their tour. Even though they were formed 15 years ago, this year’s performance will be their first Czech festival gig and we are pleased to bring this unhackneyed band. Alike The Subways a few years ago, who introduced themselves here under the mountains. The Yellowcard is a band that has not played here much and one could not see or hear them much. The Yellowcard boys come from Florida’s most populated city – Jacksonville. They gained popularity 5 years after their foundation, in 2003 through their album Ocean Avenue. Their punk music is enhanced with electronic violin and we would like to warn you that their live performances are usually much rougher than their studio recordings. As it sometimes is with some bands, their albums tend to sound softer, but the concerts are hard and full of energy. We believe that no moccasin will stay motionless and that you will support the band with your hectic dancing and return of energy. A single from their new album is currently being released and the band is getting praises from friends, critics and fans.
dEUS – the best Belgian band with love for alternative things under the mountains
dEUS were founded in Antwerp in 1992, based on a small but lively alternative music scene. Their music reflects various influences from musicians such as Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, Sonic Youth, Leonard Cohen or Smashing Pumpkins. What appealed to us will hopefully appeal to you, too – dEUS can combine features that might seem inhomogeneous and create fascinating musical mosaic. Music critics praise this, and so do both alternative and non-alternative fans and music lovers across Europe, which is unusual. dEUS produce music that crosses music styles and tones and creates a dazzling kaleidoscope. Their debut “Worst Case Scenario” from 1994 greeted the unaware world with its punk sound in “Suds & Soda“. Then in 1996 their probably the most famous album “In a Bar under the Sea“followed. This album was produced by Eric “Drew“Feldman, a Captain Beefheart Magic Band veteran, who had also played in a PJ Harvey band and with The Pixies.
In 2000, the main soul of the band Tom Barman decided to give the band a break to allow the members focus on other activities. A short break ended up in 4 years when the band only had an occasional gig now and then. Before Xmas 2004 their return became reality. “We were all really busy and the years were flying, “Tom Barman remarked later. “However, we realised that in rock music a few years is like ages. The reaction of people after our return was amazing. We played at many venues in front of a larger audience. It was more than we had expected.“
The album “Pocket Revolution” from 2005 offers a convincing return. After a year of sold out gigs Barman and his cronies with the love for all alternative and underground returned back to work. The song “Vantage Point” also features Guy Garvey of Elbow and Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife. “dEUS have reached new heights with their sixth album,“ this is what a prestigious British music magazine Q remarked and rewarded the recording with 4 out of 5 stars.
“After a while you are sick of singing about yourselves…“ Tom Barman said regarding the songs on their new album “Vantage Point.” In songs like “Slow” and “The Architect” I am writing about other people, which I had never tried before. One day I was preparing an interview for a Belgian TV with one of my heroes Nick Cave. He told me: “It is too easy to write about oneself.” That is really true. It is exciting to try new ideas.“
Sofar the last album “Keep You Close, “ recorded with a Canadian producer David Bottrill (Muse, Placebo, Tool etc.) was released in September last year. According to Tom Barman it is a passionate record, but also a dance one. The band has last scored in November 2011 at the MTV Europe Music Awards, where it won “the best Belgian band” award. The new chapter of their career might be even better than the first one.
We are drumming out from our foothill camp: KORN,
the heaviest band in the festival´s history, is coming.
They are going to please our romantic hearts with their heavy and innovative rhythms.
The 25th year of our cult meeting starts with the cash-on-delivery pre-sale of tickets.
The price remains the same as last year.
Trutnov, Good Friday 6 April 2012
On the Good Friday, it the time of the happy news about Christ´s resurrection, we are drumming out that our foothill camp will be visited by an American band Korn. We believe that they will uplift and revive our souls and that their heavy and innovative rhythms will please many a heart! This year’s meeting will take place on the traditional spot “the Battlefield” in the period of 16/8 – 19/8. Experienced visitors know that our Chief Václav Havel and the Underground Guru Ivan Martin “Magor” Jirous often used to visit this festival that was built on the underground foundations. Since they both departed last year, this year´s festival will be dedicated to them In Memoriam.
Diversity and this year´s dedication
With the upcoming spring and in the time of the good news, we are sending the smoke signals from our foothill camp to announce that this year’s intersection of musical styles will be represented by an American band Korn, which will ensure even more extreme diversity of styles than we have been used to.
However you might feel that this year´s dedication has nothing to do with a metal band Korn, this might be misleading. It is diversity and variety that attracts our tribe like a moth to a burning candle in our Wigwams. Artists representing various styles will share the stage; underground, classical music, jazz, world music, pop, metal etc., exactly as our Chief Václav liked it. Korn will be the icing on the cake of this four-day meeting. The underground tent will not only host lectures, moving pictures and discussions, but there will be music until the late hours, exactly how Magor fancied it.
We believe that it will please their souls…
Korn – the heaviest band in the 25 years of the festival history.
The lids on the pots will be jumping up.
As the experienced ones know and share with the younger inexperienced ones while sitting round the camp fires, it is typical for Trutnov that along the folk songwriters, underground, jazz, pop and world music bands our audience is used to welcome world known representatives of hard and metal music. This coincidental tradition was started in 1997 by Faith No More. The music journalist Petr Korál confirms this: “I take the concert of Korn at this year’s Trutnov festival as another confirmation of an unwritten tradition when an event that is damn far from a heavy metal festival hosts a refreshing gig of a really heavy group, which is cheered by the tolerant Trutnov audience. Korn will therefore join Faith No More, Sepultura, Soulfly, Mötorhead, Arch Enemy, Suicidal Tendencies, Fear Factory, Cavalera Conspiracy, Moonspell and others that have already experienced and enjoyed the specific atmosphere of our foothill camp.“
It is great that the band and their manager have found us and expressed a wish to play in our camp. We bet that lids Krakonoš´s pots will be really jumping up this year because we are going to host one of the heaviest bands. It fascinates us with their innovative methods, enriching the heavy and metal music and moving it further. Korn are always a step ahead.
Who are Korn?
In the United States Korn have sold almost 17 million records and they have received six Grammy nominations, two of which have been turned into awards – for the songs “Freak on a Leash“ and “Here to Stay. As the journalist Jaroslav Špulák says about this year’s shamans: “They are considered to be the creators of so called nu-metal. The first Korn album was called after the band and as soon as it was released it was obvious that the world music scene would be quickly changing. Korn took the best of metal and surrounded it with a modern approach. Moreover, their fans over the ocean understood it and the album became platinum twice. The Europeans loved it, too. Music journalists started to write about nu-metal. “
Korn became an example for a number of other bands, such as Linkin Park, Slipknot, Papa Roach or Limp Bizkit. In their beginnings they were a support band of Metallica and they are a favourite band of divine Ozzy Osbourn, who used to take them on his tours. Later Korn used to overshadow Ozzy and their concerts were gaining more power. As the journalist Petr Korál adds: “Korn became one of the most popular bands of the modern rock metal generation and they were also very well received by the critics. This generation only little associated with the creative methods and various clichés so typical for all those hard & heavy icons of the previous two decades. It was Korn who upgraded the under-tuned sound of the seven-string guitars to the imaginary New Testament. “
Will Korn move the foundations of “the Battlefield” or the minds …?
The advance guard of the legendary Korn was the last years year’s performance of their ex-guitar player Brian “Head“ Welch, who co-founded the band in 1993. The rhythms of Brian’s band shook the foundations of “the Battlefield” and evoked the sound of the home Korn, who should crown the message this year. The music of Korn might vibrate the area enough to move the foundations of the planned development or the waste pipes that have already been laid on this holy ground and that are threatening the festival existence. However, a better solution would be if they could move the minds of our modern masters who want to build up “the Battlefield” and if they could change their mind regarding building on a green field. This might be only naive wishful thinking though…
Korn´s last record with electronic features not only enriched and hardened their music, but it also moved metal a step further. The sound on their last album is very raw. Does it also remind you for example of the Nine Inch Nails sound but with a larger dose of metal? This will enter our romantic hearts and we can’t wait! It is interesting that this music often appeals to young and fragile girls. We can also imagine how many of their orthodox metal fans have been infuriated by Korn´s innovative approach. Korn can not be put into a certain category and that is exactly the right for our festival camp.
“I am absolutely excited about the new record. I am even more excited by the fact that it will make our fans furious. I absolutely don’t care what they will think. We can never win it with our old fans. Some of them got stuck in 1994 when we started,,“ are the words of the lead singer Jonathan Davis after the release. „I am sick of the fact that everybody marks Korn as a great-father of nu-metal. It pisses me off. We do not want to fall into nostalgia. I would say that we created a new musical style while recording our last album. We call it future metal. “ Yes. Thanks, Jonathan!
Jaroslav Špulák comments: “Korn have released many albums; some were excellent, others a bit worse, but they are always looking for new ways. They found it on the last one called The Path of Totality, where they joined nu-metal with dub-step. And they did such a great job that in the end they approached followers of both styles which had very little in common until then... Korn are going to arrive in Trutnov in this condition then and it is going to be an exceptionally aggressive rock ride as well as a meeting with people who have never got stuck in one style of music.“
We are drumming out… This year’s Open Air Festival Trutnov will be again on “Na Bojišti (The Battlefield)”.
We also believe that we will be able to hold our meeting
on the traditional place next year, too.
To please you we are bringing the names of the first Czech bands.
The Underground tent will be renamed and given a facelift.
In the months of cold, snow and hunger; January – February 2012
Even though our wigwams are still surrounded by sorrow, the mountains are crying and the valleys are filled with tears cried after the departure of our Chief Václav and the father of underground Ivan Martin “Magor” Jirous and despite the fact that the mountains are covered with plethora of white snow and our tee-pees are surrounded by frost, we are drumming out the first news earlier than usual: The Open Air Festival “Trutnov 1987-2012” will be held traditionally in the month of grain and ripening grasses in the term of 16.-19.8. 2012. Our foothill camp will experience a few changes.
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The piping on the festival meadows has been laid down and the mains for the future development are ready. However, we still believe in our traditional meeting in the same place next year again. Funnily enough, the apparent crisis might actually help us.
In the month of falling leaves and disappearing sun, the local representatives gave a go ahead to the building of engineering mains on the neighbouring fields, which are now ready for future development. However, this year’s meeting will be held in the traditional place again, and we hope that it will be so next year, too. It is a paradox that the apparent economical crisis might actually help us. We believe that with the end of construction and development boom, there will not be any development activity on the fields. The town hall has prepared everything for the construction, but the rest depends on the building lobby, intentions of the owners, hungry diggers and arrival of a suitable investor with a wallet full of coloured papers.
Fauna and flora is needed for life as well as for the festival…
As you know, the festival meeting can only happen if the neighbouring fields are available. We use them to accommodate two stages, to build tee-pees, there are holy fires and the grounds also serve you – several thousands of fellow warriors and your tents and cars. No other fields in the area can substitute them. The reasons wary. The roads leading to them are either too complicated or they are going to be built up, too. For example there will be a new road with a roundabout. As it is well know, the town hall decided that the land next to the festival grounds will be built up and this decision was re-confirmed not long ago. The new festival place on the outskirts of Trutnov, which we found, was sold to developers to be used for commercial purposes. The Mayor has said that festival, which was in the past held under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and the president and our Chief Václav Havel, is a commercial activity like any other.
Underground tent of Ivan Martin “Magor” Jirous
Despite the fact that our festival sanctuary needs long-term visions and it is not possible to plan ahead and expand under the current circumstances, there will be a few innovations in our foothill camp. The Underground tent will be extended and undergo a few changes. It will be renamed after the Guru of the Czechoslovak underground and newly called “The Underground Tent of Ivan Martin “Magor” Jirous,” who left our hunting grounds not long ago. The tent will be bigger and its programme will focus even more on the underground concerts held until the morning. There will also be lectures and projections. Some of you might remember that it was here when the two hour discussion with our Chief Václav Havel took place. The tent has also seen a discussion with the preacher Jakub Trojan, who buried Jan Palach (the man who set himself aflame as a protest against the 1968 Russian occupation), Vinnetou (a character from a very popular series of films about Red Indians based on books by Karl May) and a direct Woodstock participant. This year’s festival will extent its programme by theatre performances. Another change will be relocation of part of the camp with non-profit and ecological organisations into the area below the Underground tent. This will create a better area for the theatre performances as well as an area for a kid camp. Also the number of vegetarian tents will be raised.
Heralds and fixed stars
As always, this year will not be short of various oddities, happenings and musical extremes, which are so renown for our foothill camp. Here is the first taste of Czech bands that are coming: The Plastic People of The Universe, Jiří Schmitzer, J.A.R., Irena Budweiserová, Vlasta Třešňák & Band, Neruda, Sto zvířat, Mňága a Žďorp, Petr Váša and Ty syčáci, Zuby nehty, Visací zámek, Baťa & Kalábůf něžný beat, N.V.Ú., Už jsme doma etc. After many years, Vladimír Mišík with his band ETC will return to Trutnov stage and for the first time we will host the legendary songwriter Jaroslav Hutka.
Geronimo
To please your eyes and souls we are attaching a capture of our Festival tribe from the last year.
VÁCLAV, OUR CHIEF, LOOK AFTER US...!
Václav Havel – the last of the Mohicans – has left
December 18, 2011
Our mountains and valleys are still crying tears and we are crying with them. Our Chief has left; the one whose blue eyes used to sparkle and whose spirit used to soar as an eagle even though his body was giving up. Our festival tribe was made an orphan. The one who meant everything for me has left. Everything will be different from now on. It will be divided into the period before and after Václav Havel. The news approached me while walking along a street in Brno; something rustled around and my head got dizzy. I still find it hard to find the right words. My heart is heavy and my head is full of memories of this extraordinary man. There is no bigger personality in our land and only now we are staring to recognize who we have lost. Many countries can envy us for having Václav Havel and they do. Yes, I am one of the followers of the truth and love and our Chief, who was sometimes pejoratively called “truelove”. I believe that if Václav Havel was nowadays at the castle, this country would have a bigger prestige and it would be more respected. However, as it usually goes in these lands, those who would not even reach Václav Havel’s ankles are those who spit on him the most. I believe that it will change now and Václav Havel will start to be fully appreciated.
Even though it might sound pathetic, I feel that with Václav Havel I also lost my youth years; times when my own personality was being formed. We met when I was 16 or 17. I am grateful for the fact that Václav Havel and those who surrounded him significantly influenced and co-determined the direction of my future steps. I am grateful that I am part of the generation that experienced him. Without Václav Havel, even the Trutnov festival would not exist in the form that we know it in. Even in the times of deep totality, Václav Havel took place at our cultural meetings and various unofficial concerts. It was not a problem for him to drive to some village in the middle of nowhere and it was sometimes quite a paradox when the Chief parked his Volkswagen next to shabby police Škoda cars and then this high profile dissident sat among the long haired youths. Of course these cops, who rarely missed such cultural evens (if they were not trying to abolish them), saw this with great dismay. The fact that the Chief did not refuse invitations to various meetings gave us great spiritual support and strength to continue. That is one of the reasons why he became Chief of our festival tribe.
In the recent years we have looked after the Chief’s garden in Hrádeček. Even in the times of deep totality we admired how tastefully and moderately Olga and he decorated it. In the times of general bad taste it was unusual. Everything had its order. No wheels from hay wagons, kitsch objects made of china or flower pots imbedded in tyres. Not even present times with plastic windows and showing off of property owners´ wealth did not influence Hrádeček. Several times I have been present when somebody saw Hrádeček for the first time. “This is it?” you could hear behind the content of these surprised words. Many had expected something different and pompously spectacular. The interiors were specific and full of order and peace. No Ikea furniture. Hrádeček has been and will always be a cult place. I wish it stays as it is for the coming generations.
During one of the last autumn reorganisations of flower beds the Chief remarked with a smile that he was looking forward to seeing the result in the coming spring. I am terribly angry with myself that in the last weeks I did not visit the Chief and that I was postponing my next visit to Hrádeček. I did not want to disturb. Apparently it was stupid. I will be blaming myself until the end of my life. Our last visits were very nice, strong and cheerful. We went to the cinema, to the pub and watched the news. Once before the news he complained about the direction the world was going. Another day when we were, together with the photographer Bohdan Holomíček, the nun and the director Andrej Krob, going to the pub after visit to the cinema, his blue eyes were sparkling. The Chief tasted perhaps everything the pub offered, it was long after the closing hours and the bodyguards were getting impatient by the bar. The Chief would have stayed until the morning. We left long after midnight. The face was shining and the spirit was strong, even though the body was starting to give up. I last experienced it with him a month and a half ago. Then we met at Václav´s birthday where I forgot his framed photography. Later I brought it with him to Hrádeček. On the front there is an inscription from the party that was held when he finished with his presidency. Nine years later he signed it for me on the back, smiling. It was our last meeting.
Whenever even complete strangers visited Václav at Hrádeček, he did not hesitate to treat them generously. He was not mean, he loved company and people. No matter whether a worker, homeless, important intellectual or politician, they all left with a great feeling that they had good conversation and that they shared something interesting. Unlike his castle successor Klaus and similar types, he did not listen to himself but mainly to others. That was our Chief’s greatest gift. I do not know anybody that would be disappointed after a discussion with him. He loved people, company and discussions. His humility was impressive. In the recent years it shined from him more and more. It was pure happiness when during some discussions his blue eyes shined and his spirit took off like a hawk.
The Chief left quietly and his recent meeting with the Dalai Lama was more than symbolic. I believe that the Chief and Magor will invent some crazy games in the Underground heaven, from which they laugh at what shallow matters we are involved in. He told me I was his friend. And as a friend I am crying now. The Chief of a world format has left us. Václav, our Chief, look after us!
Martin Věchet, Geronimo Open Air Festival Trutnov
