I met Attila for the first time one year ago. Crippled Fox were looking for italian shows and i took the chance to let em play the FASTFEST (r.i.p.) as headliner. It was a good show! - too bad it finished a bit late than what scheduled; but you know, punx...
He was so cool to kick us in an already booked show with metal and punk bands in a rehersal space - and that show rocked hard!
1 when you start the band and why. are you the only original member left?
Attila – Hey Man, First of all, thanx a lot for this interview. CxFx started out back in the late 2008. I wanted to have a faster, shorter, funnier band than the other one i sang in, Motivation. I wanted to play drum as well, so i got the other members and we started as a secret project. During those times (and even today) people judge bands according their members, and not the music. This we wanted to challenge, so we kept our band in secret till our very first show. We got good response on the old myspace, people started guessing around, we got good comments and stuff, but as soon it turned out who plays in the band, some of the very same people started talking shit about us. Since some people don’t like this or that member they put down the entire group right away. So we won, because those kids we addressed with this trick made a big ass out of their mouth. Anyway, the first show was sort of okay. But since then things are changed a lot, and we became very popular all around the country (not many fans though) and worldwide. Several records and CDs, tapes had been released by so many labels, which we are so grateful, we had absolutely no idea we could make this much material.
As the second part of your question. Besides me, the bass player, Dontsee Turkey is the other original member. I went from drum to guitar, then switched to vocal when our vocalist left. Now i do both guitar and vocal on recordings. But actually the other guitarist Daddy Fox also kinda O.G. member of the band, he joined us back in a day for a 7” project and a couple of shows. He was sort of a „jump in” member of the band. But now, he is a full member. Drummer changes, vocalist changes, several guitarist had been played with us. We consider the FOX as a family where friends can come and play within.
2 it's gonna be your second time in italy, right? did you enjoy it last time (except for the fact that you played last and it was a bit late, sorry!). what do you remember more, positive and negative no filters feel free to tell what you want!
Attila – Yes, this goin to be the second time with the Fox. Although i played entire Italy with the other mentioned band of mine, Motivation. We played Wear Your Bandana Festival in 2010 in La Spezia. Whatta great show was that But back to CxFx.
Besides the fact we played last, and several people were already passed out, we enjoyed it, no doubt. Especially there were some dudes who wrote us a letter right before the gig that they flew by from Sardinia to see us at the festival. They were singing along and knew our lyrics. This was an amazing moment and it really hit me, that we have fans in Sardinia How cool is that!
I loved the entire festival, i extremely enjoyed your crazy show with You Suck! Whatta great energy, and the crowd was on the top. The other band i truly enjoyed was Carlos Dunga in the small room, hell of a circle pit and singing along during the whole set. Oh yeah, and bands like Reanimaniacs or Autistic Front, were amazing too. But you know, most of the time i had to stay behind our merch table, in this way i missed some bands who were cool as well.
3 how is it the scene in your town and, more generally, in Hungary? I remember we talked a lot about that last time we played in Budapest...please explain it to the rest of the readers.
Attila – Oh man, i had to answer this question a lot, and you know what a realised? Nothing is really changed for good. The thing is that Hungary somehow always adopts the worst part of trend or fashion, it doesn’t matter if it’s a music genre or anything else. But as for punk/hardcore, most of the kids got hooked on the „top hardcore” bands. I would rather not tell you names of bands, because i don’t want to offend anyone. Let’s say this. Those bands who got booked by big booking agencies, asking for at least 800-1500 Euros for a fuckin show (they don’t care that we still doesn’t have Euro currency, so basically we pay extra). Such bands telling big words on stage about the hardcore life, its attitude and all the crap you hear since decades, but after the show, they don’t really care their fans or anything else, just get the big money, and that’s it. I have friends who were drivers for such bands for a whole tour, and they told me stories. Stories that pisses me off, how such bands can behave, and calling themselves hardcore in every meaning. I understood most of the US bands coming out to Europe and their ass gets licked by the locals and they feel big by that. Yes, because in the States nobody gives a shit about them. Anway, so the real punk/hardcore music genre (80’s US punk/hardcore) kinda dissapeared here. The scene is divided i’d say. Those who call themselves old school hardcore fans basically like the now days „modern old school bands”. But that means only for the so called youth crew music, you know. Then there are the other scene where bands playing this mid 80’s DC style emo-punk, post-punk, surf-punk style. They usually play with neo-crust, dark northern style crust bands. In this scene sometimes you get real 80’s style punk/hardcore bands. You know bands who play like i don’t know, in the vein of Black Flag, or Circle Jerks, this kinda bands. And there are the other group who usually visits only the very famous top bands only. They don’t give a shit about D.I.Y. and stuff. May be they don’t even know the term at all. Who knows?
Oh yeah, and there are the other bunch of people who listen to typical Hungarian style punk/hardcore. In that music you don’t really find the US style, if you know what i mean.
So, in such scene, Crippled Fox don’t really fit in. We play shows only a few times, and the audience is kinda mixed. We have may be 30 fans top in the whole country yeah… whatever. So this is what’s goin on here. Of course foreign bands who comes here usually don’t see the problems, they are just happy to play and that’s all. But if i have a chance i always like to talk to the bands and asking them what do they really think about. When they understand i’m not fooling around, they open up, and usually telling the same problems about their scene too. Which always surprises me. I know problems are everywhere, however, i can see some differences. For example in your country. I saw also the different scenes, heard many dudes telling stuff familiar to me. Yet you guys got awesome crowds most of the time, i see punk/hardcore/thrasher kids who aren’t joking around but live their hardcore life. They know the roots, they know the bands from back in the days, etc. So, that’s why i’m so excited to visit Italy again. You know, those kids know very well what do we play, no need to tell them „hey this is a thrashcore band”. You know what i mean?
4 is it so fucked up the political situation in Hungary?
Reading the italian press it seems like the line between democracy and dictatorship is very thin; at the same time some of those news remind me of the exactly same acting of our ex- prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (for example, i remember a press news dealing with the closure of Klubradio. Berlusconi used to do the same, firing people from newspapers and from tv news programmes) . Is Viktor Orban effectively so dangerous as they write?
Attila – I myself not into politics at all. Though i know there are serious corruption going on over here. Hungary was always fucked up whether it was in the Socialism, or after it, no matter, our political parties always rubbed this country. Viktor Orban is a wise piece of ass. He knows how to mislead his followers, yet the other political side is just the same. I often hear from other foreign people, that our country is fascist, and Viktor Orban is a fascist pig. It seems now days everyone is a fascist ha ha ha. But let me tell you this. It’s not just the political parties who are the problem in this country. Politicians are always the same. Some has values and some are not. I accept if a politician is putting extra money into his own pocket. Since the world is round and there are leaders, it was always like this. But i think there are limits. So, besides the fucking politicians, there are the citizens. Now, Hungary (mainly because of the media) is considered as a right wing country, we are often called as nazis, because the gipsy problem, or the jewish problems etc. I think Hungarians live in a box, a well build box, plus they are blindfolded too. Those poor minded, simple people who got no words or choices always turn to some extreme parties. They are unsatisfied. They don’t have much money, or a happy life, bla-bla, so the only thing left for them is to blame others, hate others, and they choose some right wing parties, and believes in National Socialism, start to hate other ethnics and so on. Now, we have such people a lot in this country. People must understand that their own happiness doesn’t really depends on the leaders. But, of course they are poor people. The rich doesn’t give a shit about any political parties, he got his fortune, why must he care about any political rules and shit. If they don’t like it here, they move somewhere else. Now, since our leaders fucks this country even more, the poor judgemental people creates more problem. That’s why we have this so many racist people here. Because they just want to blame someone. It’s the fault of the leaders and it’s their own fault too.
5 let's go a bit on personal issues. I know you are father of 2 babies. How is it to be a punk father? Would you have make the same decisions - parenthood speaking - as you would have been not a straight edge dude?
Attila – Yes, i have an 11 years old son from my first marrige, and i have a beautiful 1 year old daughter from my second wife. When my son was born, we lived in India. I was on a high speed spiritual life, spent my time mostly with meditation and all kinds of spiritual stuff you can imagine ha ha ha. So, during those years i wasn’t involved in punk/hardcore. I quit the scene in 1998, and managed my life focusing to move to India. I returned in 2005 for good. So being a punk father. Ha ha, i never really thought about that. It’s like this. To me punk means i’m a consciuos about the world around me, and i know how to stand on my ground. I don’t accept the whole society that is in your face. I’m kinda creating my own world so to say. In this way i teach my son how to deal in life. I teach him stuff that my parents never thought me, but i learned them on the streets and the outside world. I’m not labeling myself as a straight edge. I stopped that in late 1997. No need, what for? I can tell that i don’t drink, i don’t smoke and you know the rest, i’m vegan and so on. Once i smoked pot in India. It was in 2004. Anyway. Back to the point. To my kids i’m not that punk/hc person as i am at the shows. I can separate them. But what i transfer into my fatherhood is the mentality of being aware about everything i can. For instance. Both my kids are vegetarian. My son understand very well why doesn’t he take meat. He knows the cruelity behind the whole meat industry because i explain him. He knows not to believe in commercials, because i explain him that too. And so on. My son a wise little dude, and he dare to ask because he has full trust in me, and we can discuss about stuff on his level of understandings. I always thought to myself that i wanna explain everything to my kids as much i can whatever they may ask. Always telling him, not to believe the hype, he shall be himself. Of course, he is still a kid, but he listens from the very beginning, and this will pay off in the future.
6 Which are the main changes - if there are - between when you started moving into the hardcorepunk scene and today?
Attila – When i started in late 1992 punk/hardcore was sort of new thing around here. Besides the fact that we had a punk scene in the whole 80’s but that scene were more on the UK Punk trip, and US punk wasn’t really spread out here. When some bands formed in the 1993 – 1996 era, hardcore was really underground, really D.I.Y., united, friend circled. There were no fashion, no trends. Except, we all shaved our head, and wear military pents with hoodies, and we tried to dress the most simple way. There were only 5 bands in the capital, including mine. Only 1-2 bands in some bigger cities around the country. I’m talking about those who played the old school US style hardcore. Back then the shows were wild, we knew nothing but stagedive all the time. Sometimes violent too. There were some extreme fights, sometimes only a little. There were moshing, sing alongs, and all the great shit you can imagine at the shows, but stagediving was the essential thing to do. Back in the days bands played nothing but old school hardcore. But as soon people get to know more of the new school shit from the States, many of them has changed. New music appeared with new followings and in my eyes the whole thing kinda died. There was the other thing for me to quit the scene, because things wasn’t the same before. I didn’t mind to quit, i felt it right.
When i came back from India, i was hooked up by old time friends and they invitied me to sing in a new band. I did it and i got back to the scene. Except them, i didn’t know anyone in it. All the bands, and faces were totally new to me, and i realised that these young kids had (and even today has) no idea of the roots of punk/hardcore. (Respect for the few who does!) Many of them got into it in the mid 2000’s, and basically they listen to bands from the same era. And that’s it. When i saw this problems i started Honest For Truth Records to document and release those old time bands from the scene. In this way, many kids got to know of the past. I’ve made a fanzine under the same name, released 11 issues packed with interviews of old timers both from Hungary and from the States. I’ve made 2 english version too.
The main changes…i’d say the main problem is that now days hardcore kids got no real idea what’s hardcore actually all about, its attitude, mentality and music.
What i think is that now days the term of „hardcore” represents the high class, fashion oriented, something totally different music genre. And genre like „fastcore, thrashcore, power-violence” is keeping the actual and real punk/hardcore alive with its D.I.Y. attitude.
7 Which are the main goals of CRIPPLED FOX?
Attila – Main goals? I don’t know. We just write a lot of songs to release in any kinda format. We love to have split records with bands we like. Playing shows, touring, you know regular stuff in a band’s life. But, a California tour would be nice (which we already talked about with an organizer, but he disappeared). Yeah, definitely would be an awesome thing to walk through Venice Beach ha ha ha May be release a split with You Suck!
8 Why you called the band this way? It's a funny name!
Attila – Our O.G. singer Willy Fox Da Vox were fooling with his friend on Fluff Fest, trying to create new and crazy mosh styles. And there is this move you practice in primary school gym class, the Crippled Fox. So, he tried to mosh around according that exercise move. Hence the name. We loved it
9 Next projects with the band? and what about side projects?
Attila – Next project is definitely to release our new full length album titled, „Throw Up A V That Stands For Venice” on 12” Lp, perhaps CD as well. There goin to be a tape release too. Then it seems we got a deal with one of my favorite band The Shining from Holland. We gonna make a split 7” at the end of this year. Before that we’d love to make a 4 way split with No Mistake from the States, probably another US band, and our side project FxAxSxTx. And, here i answer the second part of your question. We created a side project with a cool singer friend. Why did we do that? Why not, we had an extra free time, so thought to make something fresh. I didn’t wanted to make another Crippled Fox, so the project (as the name shows) is a fastcore band. We ain’t gonna play out a lot, we’d record only 11 songs and that’s it. Just having fun with it. Besides, we don’t have enough fast bands in this shitty country, so a plus one is actually good.
10 ask me a question i forget to ask you!
Attila – Well, i don’t know. I think this interview was pretty cool, and i enjoyed answering your questions. But i guess you forgot to ask, when we’d make a split record together All right, thank you again for the interview, thank you reader to spend time to have a glimpse into Crippled Fox. All the best.
