Konflikt

One of the most known contemporary bands in the post-communist countries was founded in April 1990 under the name ‚Azyl'. Songs like ‚Taki sme'‚No army', ‚Stroje' etc were written in this period. The band was getting more known in the year of 1992 when they renamed themselves to ‚Konflikt A' and after releasing their first album ‚Taki sme' they began to be more and more acknowledged. This album made the band famous and gave them opportunities to appear in the media (‚Anti nazi' won twice the Czechoslovak charts and remained 13 weeks in the top 20 with their other song ‚Syn ulice') . The song ‚Preco?' (Why?) (about the separation of Czechoslovakia and blames Meciar for it) haven't had such ‚luck' in the medias. Right after ranking nr.3 the first week it was censored by the government. In 1995 Konflikt presents its 2 new songs from their new album in VTV, but the band neglects any other appearance in the TVs and remains ‚underground'. Until 1997 the list of members has changed many times and the band gives concerts only in Slovakia. The next year they start to conquer the clubs in the surrounding countries. Till then no Slovak band have ever given concerts abroad except such legends as ‚Zona A' and ‚Davova Psychoza'. Konflikt appears in many major cities in Europe where no Slovak punk band has played before. Now they're the most playing punk band in Slovakia. In 1998 they left out the ‚A' from their name just because of the organizators who had problems with the spelling (they were Konflikta, Conflikta, Konflict A, Konfliktika, etc...) so they became just KONFLIKT. Concerning their music, they play their own hard punk-rock with elements of other styles and genres. The songs are basically hard but melodic. In March 1999 they release their new album ‚Mea Culpa' and this album already clearly shows their trends. In September 1999 they released a live video tape ‚Konflikt - Live in Abda', in February 2000 an EP ‚To Protect and Serve' with 6 tracks especially for the German market. In April 2000 the German punk legend ‚Daily Terror' recorded an album for their 20th anniversary, they asked Konflikt to re-record their song ‚Preco?' for this album (Preco? II.). The same year Jury releases a compilation ‚Punk-Rock Made in Europe' born from the friendship of the starring 23 bands on the album from 15 countries. Jury decided to release this compilation as an answer to the release of the compilation ‚Punk-Rock Made in Slovakia' which wasn't supported by Konflikt. He wanted to show that it is possible to release an album at lower costs (without a big label and commercial bands) together with other ‚big guns' of the European punk-rock. In November 2001 they released their 3rd album ‚No Return...'. This album is also filled with various instruments (accordion, Slovak traditional flute) and genres, but the music remains the good old Konflikt-punk. They chose not to release albums as often as other bands staying by the motto ‚Quality over quantity'. After co-organizing Hungary's biggest punk fest ‚Uj Hullam Fesztival' Jury decided to make his own festival called ‚Punk Island'. The aim of this festival is to give opportunity to play to the Slovak underground scene as well as to bring known foreign bands to Slovakia - but the main is to found such a festival in Slovakia saving the fans from travelling abroad to see their bands on stage. The first year of this non-commercial fest (no sponsors!) 26 bands appeared from Europe and there were 1300 fans from Slovakia and the surrounding countries having fun together as one big family. The second year it was 38 bands and 1500 fans and the third year it was 40 bands! The first part is for unknown and young bands to present themselves on stage, in the second part there are the biggest bands from the surrounding countries plus a few bands from greater distances, the third year it was Regatta 69 (USA). The fourth volume continued the line and the forthcoming years will do so as well. In 2004 a new guitarist joins the group so Konflikt plays with two solo guitars since then - one can feel it on their live gigs, they are harder and tougher. In April 2005 the band celebrated its 15 'birthday'. In September 2005 they appeared on STV (Slovak TV) in a late night music show 'METRO' (the first band ever, playing live hard music on a public TV) and they shock the people and break the records in TV ratings. In November 2005 they shoot their new video. The new (4th) album was released in March 2006, and called Sapere Aude. At the end of December 2006 Palo Chodelka, the former guitarist from slovak rock band Liquid Boogie Roll joined as lead guitarist to this group. all info taken from http://www.konflikt.sk/indexeng.html and http://www.palochodelka.com/new/index.php?lang=EN&where=1