dr.GREEN interview for Garaz zine/PL

what is the history of dr.GREEN? why did you decided to play ska?

Domas: 1996. cold cold winter, a neglected empty building (ex-sweets factory) in the middle of Vilnius Old-town. for few months it was like unofficial underground club called "Latakas". usually temperature inside was under zero. for some time it was like a rehearsal room for punk/hc band WC NEWS. at this time Verbaitis, ex-Lithuanian punk monster TURBO REANIMACIJA bass player, joined the band. a bit later the band tried to play their punk song "vitaminas k" in a different style, not even noticing the entry into ska fields. soon the drummer left WC NEWS for heavier performance and it was a good opportunity to start something new. ex-WC NEWS members Mindas, Verbaitis and me invited Saragosa, who played drums in freak-punk band VARNU VEJAS before. 1996.05.09 is the first time when dr.GREEN entered a stage for the first time during the legendary underground festival "Durniu Laivas #5". quite chaotic and full of fucked-ups performance got some positive reaction mainly because of ska elements. it's quite strange but Lithuanian underground scene was unfamiliar with ska at that time and it was something new for all of us. we were getting deeper and deeper into jamaican riddims. I remember how we listened to "United Colors of Ska" compilations ordered from Rock'n'Roller - it was one of the first introduction to modern ska, not poppy 2-Tone stuff. then we went for a quite funny tour in St.Petersburg clubs, where we have got our first "lessons" from local ska heroes SPITFIRE.

ve: Funnily, the first sax player was litteraly found on the street. I just sat on a bench eating a sandwich on a hard working day and was listening to a nearby sax player. i did not realise that it might a horn player, we were looking for for some time already, 'till he played the pink panther theme, making lots of mistakes. then i was hit by the idea: "hey, this fella plays sax, i must talk to him". so, gedas became a member of our band.

Domas: one horn player wasn't enough for us, so we invited Konanas, punky 2-Tone band TAI KA? sax player. he still plays with his original band. so, at the moment there are horn section is with double alto and tenor saxophones and we would like to make it even bigger with trmpet or trombone player.

Konanas: Actually I was not invited to dr. Green Verbaitis came to me and said – be at the rehearsal on Sunday evening. So actually I had no choice. But that moment has changed my life – at least now I have very short haircut.

who are you, what do you do in your free time, can music be way of life?

Domas: music can be way of life and it is, but it's impossible to live from music, especially if you play some kind of underground stuff. our bass player Verbaitis work as a sysadmin, he's really into computers. Drummer Saragosa has no stable job - last winter he spent in Marocco (he didn't play in Poland) working as a driver, translator, even actor in a movie making. now he works at a design studio. Mindas plays guitar with INVAZIJA and BRAMBORAK, sometimes works as a sound engineer. Konanas is a lawyer in a mobile phones company, Gedas studies journalism at the University of Vilnius. I'm a publisher relations manager in a subscription agency.

mostly we spend our free time playing, organizing gigs, writing for local zines, listening to music, watching movies, drinking beer and smoking dope.

is the ska music very popular in Lithuania?

Domas: no. it can be called a huge success if 100-200 crowd comes to see dr.GREEN or TAI KA? gig.

mass media doesn't support any jamaican beat, except the most popular B.MARLEY, NO DOUBT, MADNESS. though our tune "Jura" was on one radio station tops for few months and they play our new stuff from time to time, but it has nothing in common with ska. there are few hundreds who know more about ska, then there are few thousand who see ska as MADNESS and the rest even don't know what is ska about…

how does Lithuanian scene look like?

Domas: Lithuanian scene is almost dead, but there are some bands, zines in Vilnius. the main place for underground lovers is a club called "Bombiakas" arranged in a cold war period bomb shelter. recently the authorities wanted to close down the club, but after few protest publications in papers, the desicion was cancelled and "Bombiakas" even got a promise for a help. the club is run by oi! punks, but you can hear all kinds of underground music there. we also run some kind of unofficial club called "Green" for our friends. it is like a private club, but we do open parties from time to time. it is our rehearsal place as well.

there are some cool bands like INVAZIJA - melodic, raging, interesting hardcore, TORO BRAVO - powerful oi!punk, LIPNUS MACHARADZOS PIRSTAI - honest reggae-whatever band, already mentioned TAI KA? and few more.zines aren't very popular, but there are some with "Kablys" zine in front of them.

do you have some right-wing fans, what is your opinion on political engaging to music?

Domas: I personally would like to think that most of our fans are apolitical, cause in my view all politics are quite dirty and makes you into a small system part. that is why I don't like Polish scene a bit: there are too many rules, laws how you should act, love, hate, speak. Lithuanian underground can be blamed of lacking ideas, conceptions, but it's really honest (I still remember posters about animal rights and a frozen dog barking behind a locked door in Gliwice squat) and people just want to have fun. and it's ok with me, till there is no physical and emotional violence.

Konanas: Each of us has strong ideas about the entire scene political support stuff. We could never play in a gig, which is strange for us ideologically.

what is your opinion for racism problems, during my being in Vilnius, I've met Zalgiris nazi-fan, who told me about nazi punks?

Domas: really? I've never met local nazi punks in Vilnius.

Konanas: speaking in general there is a lot of problems regarding racism in Lithuania. Not only speaking about white or black race. More problems we have with the conflicts on nationality or sexual orientation basis. Fortunately in underground scene the majority of bands members and fans are tolerant dudes, at least those who come to our gigs and those we play with.

are there many ska bands in Lithuania and in other ex-Soviet Union countries?

Domas: not really. the most outstanding is of course SPITFIRE from St.Petersburg, Russia. then it is Latvian band VOICEKS VOISKA and Lithuanian TAI KA? - all ska bands I know. there are more bands which use ska elements, but they can't be called "ska bands". even dr.GREEN aren't "ska band", actually… too many bands in nowadays call themselves like that, we don't like it.

how does the situation in Vilnius look like, some problems with nazis, during gigs or there is strong crew of anti-nazi fans?

Domas: mostly people having a good time during gigs. you can always spot few baldheads in green-white (local football club "Zalgiris" colours), but they are not agressive, so there is no need for a strong anti-nazi crew. not many of them are dr.GREEN supporters as we always stop to play when we see violence in a crowd, we prefer skanking, shouting, drinking, smiling.

what bands impressed you mostly?

ve: for me, the best are Fishbone, with their relaxedness and the wonderful capability to do whatever on their songs still sounding great. norwood fisher, yeah. it's nice to listen to NYSJE, but that's not an influence, it's more of a favourite. others -- i guess, the Toasters, a bit of the Bosstones, a bit of the Specials, a bit of P-FUNK and James Brown. a new and fine discoverys for me were Hepcat, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, MANU CHAO and SUBLIME. they're my best mp3's to listen at work :).

Domas: personally I listen to the Clash, Ramones, Dr.Ring-Ding, Spitfire, Adjusters, Skatalites, Nofx, Operation Ivy, MM Bosstones, Skankin' Pickle, Ejectes, TIKIMAN, MANU CHAO, LINTON KWESI JOHNSON, FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI and many more, but I can't point out one and say: "they really made an influence on me, I want to sing like …" - all of them have something interesting.

Konanas: I like various artists, but there are some bands what I call “genial”. These are VOODOO GLOW SKULLS, SKANKIN’ PICKLE, CANDIRIA, BLUNT TRAUMA, FUNKADELIC, DESMOND DECKER. As I play saxophone big impression and influence on me was made by VGS horn-guys with their freak-punk-ska-looser-core sound.

is the "ska'n'go" your first material, are you going to record some more, when?

Domas: yes, it is our debut album. there were few demo songs recorded before, but "ska'n'go" is the first our full-lenght release. thanx to our friends from QQRYQ Prod., Nikt Nic Nie Wie, Shing it was quite wide distributed in Poland.

in the end of 1999 we've recorded and mixed our fresh stuff called "The Sounds of Black & White Radio". this time all recording and producing madness were made by ourselves, mostly by our "bossman" Verbaitis, he even managed to sing in one song! there you can find our double horn section, even female vocals in few tunes. in my view, new record sounds more solid and groovy, maybe a little bit softer from the first sight, not so punky. the album should be released by "Rock'n'Roller" in Poland in February. you can get CD version as well from "Kablio muzika" (p.o.box 3041, 2026 vilnius, litwa; e-mail kablys@takas.lt) label. check it out!

what is yours opinion on your material, is it good, would you like to change anything?

Domas: it's quite hard to judge about yourself. well, "ska'n'go" stuff was a natural reflection of what dr.GREEN were doing back then. it's interesting, few songs were included on a tape, but we've never played them live. tunes like "(tavo nugaroj) Kablys" or "Mano mire draugai" were played live only few times. they just "died" naturally. few old songs were changed a bit and "S.K.A.T.A." even re-recorded on our new album. lonely horn section sounds quite poor. in general we were not happy with Dutch "Via Ritmo" studio mixing, but releasing was delayed almost a year, so we were in hurry. I think we would change everything, because it's not very interesting to do the same thing twice.

Konanas: some of our songs I find not far from that sound I would like to listen in my player, but my dream is to move away from our music any flatness of sound in both ways – changing a bit our conception of music and improving our professional playing skills.

where did you played concerts, do you like it, is it important for you to have good contacts with fans?

Domas: you get lots of emotional energy during gigs, though you loose lots of physical energy as well. we really enjoy to play live when the sound is good and people are active. one of the best moments is to have few beers (or few joints) with people after a real good gig. not to listen how you cool and stuff, but to extend the communication which was started during a gig. we've played in completely diferrent places like jail, kindergarten, army barracks, punx wedding, parks, squats, clubs one of the funniest events was to play acoustically in a cinema. wonderful gigs were at "Fish Fabrique" in St.Petersburg, EKH in Wien, we were excited to play in "Afryka" fesitval in Torun, but 3:30 in the morning wasn't the best time to play for us after long driving.

why did you decide to edit label, are you going to keep this co-operation in the future?"ska'n'go" in Zona Records, is it big, well-known

Domas: we co-operated with Zona, because Mindas worked at that time there. we didn't have cash for printing covers and tapes, so Zona helped us. they had quite wide distribution and decided that it is better to release a debut album under quite known logo. Zona was the first independent label in Lithuania, after the USSR split-up. they re-released DEAD KENNEDYS, SUGARCUBES, JOY DIVISION, BILLY BRAGG, PIXIES, etc. albums on LPs, tapes, CDs. together with Finnish label "Stupido Twins" they released the Baltic states alt. music compilation "Balts Bite Back". Zona released Lithuanian punk classics compilation tape, underground or young bands like TURBO REANIMACIJA, MARICHUANA, FLAXON, SEXUAL GIANT, EMPTI, BIX, etc. they used to organize "the festival of the worst bands", "Vilnius Rock" with the EX, TREPONEM PAL, the FALL, CARTER USM; SONIC YOUTH, SUGARCUBES, TOTEN HOSEN, POP WILL EAT ITSELF and other progressive bands gigs.. there was no any documents, I don't even sure did Zona get their money for releasing our tape back. during the last year they distributed alternative dance music stuff, but it didn't save them from "the death" - they doesn't exist anymore.

do you support some football or basketball team, what is the situation in Lithuanian stadiums?

Domas: I used to be a hard-die fan of local football team "Zalgiris". it was quite strong during 1987-90 and 10-15 thousand crowd in a stadium was usual. Lithuanian championship is very poor: the best players went to play abroad, people disappointed by shabby play left stadiums - usual attendance now is few hundred people. so far, I see no chances to improve the situation, though "FBK Kaunas" was bought by the same man, who is one of the main persons in "Zalgiris" Kaunas - basketball team, last year Euroleague winner. in general basketball is the most popular sport in Lithuania.

I've read in football fans fanzine about their clashes, unions, etc. but it doesn't come out of stadiums, so I don't much about them. though I've heard lots of rumours about how foreign football fans were beaten up in Vilnius for only being opposite team supporters - it's foolish. our band aren't any team supporters, even more - most of them can't stand sports at all.

Konanas: Actually I like football very much and I’m a bit worried about nazi and racist tendencies among football fans. And I think that something should be done, because it happens when people think you are nazi-skin if you like football and go to the stadium. And I don’t wanna offence basketball fans but I hate basketball ‘cause for me it is a middle-class bourgeois bullshit. Also I don’t want to make any connections between music and sport, when there are some stereotypes that for example ska is the music of football fans, skateboarders listen to hardcore, etc.etc.

ve: non-participation in sports is bullshit. why watch, when you can just go out and do it yourself. thought being the fattest in the band I don't take part much in these activities.

future plans?

Domas: releasing "the Sounds of Balck & White Radio", promoting it. arranging our euro tour in April. we gonna play in Poland (Torun probably), Germany, Belgium, France, Ireland, Austria, Czech. plans in general are to play.

is there some skinhead scene, some bands which you could advice to anyone, or rather your fans are traditional rude boys (are there some Polish people between your fans)?

Domas: there is no skinhead scene at all, but you can try to listen to TORO BRAVO - anti-nazi oi!punks band, playing powerful but melodic sing-along-stuff. they released their debut tape recently, you always find out about them through "Bombiakas" club, cos it is run by band members.

our listeners are mostly punks, students, just merry people, no real rude boys at all. so far I didn't meet any Polish guy, who would skank along dr.GREEN, though we were interviewed by local Polish paper "Gazeta Wilenska".

[Dr.Home]