How’s everyone doing during this crazy Apocalypse? In the world where all upcoming gigs are being cancelled and going out for a pint can apparently be life-threatening, we thought you might be bored sitting at home. Here’s a little treat – a full gig of Brazilian HC legends, Agrotoxico, from their 25th anniversary tour, supported by our very good London friends from The Restarts and Left For Dead, recorded by Tutek in Unicorn, Camden in 2018. This isn’t just a gig, this is a family coming together.
We proudly present:
Agrotoxico – an iconic Brazilian HC/punk band and a driving force of the São Paulo DIY scene. They emerged in 1993 from the grassroot punk scene of the post-regime Sao Paulo, the city that well remembers Fim du Mundo (eng. End of the World) the ‘grande festival punk brasileiro’ – a legendary two-day HC/street-punk festival dated 1982, attended by 3,000 punk-rockers, that ended with a violent police raid. Coming from a historical background of a twenty-one year-long period of military dictatorship in Brazil, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Agrotoxico puts their hearts and minds into standing up for freedom and human rights. They’re influenced by the first wave of Brazilian, English, Finnish and Swedish punk. Strong in their liberal beliefs, their ethos touches upon important topics such as climate change, third world inequalities, fascism and repression.
These guys have been around for over 25 years and they have been continuously and actively touring the world with passion and diligence. They regularly kick ass at the European HC/punk festivals and tours, also in the UK. Their first gig shot by Tutek in London was organised by our friend and notorious cider-head Robak in 2013, at the small and cosy (though legendary) venue Grosvenor in South London (which sadly fell prey to gentrification). If you have happened to go to that gig, and you had fallen asleep drunk as Robak did, you are welcome to watch it on Tutek’s YT channel (linked above).
Most recently in the UK, you could have seen them at the Rebelion 2019.
The band is currently working on a new album to be released this year. One can only hope their song ‘’Fim do Mundo’’ (from the record Libertação, 2007) is not a self-fulfilling prophecy and we will soon conquer the overwhelming global chaos and learn more about the plans for the upcoming record.
Agrotoxico
The Restarts – a left wing, pro-LGBTQ, anti-racist punk band formed in East London in 1995. Although often described as street-punk, they are a pretty multi-genre punk squad that started off thrashy and fast, and then had a turn towards steady-paced 77-style good old punk-rock with some tuneful elements of ska. Kieran Plunkett (bass and vocals) who started the band (together with Darragh O’Neill and Mik Useless) after learning to play three chords, is the only original member. After Useless had been replaced by Alan Campbell, who ultimately also had to leave the trio for the UK Subs, Kieran was joined by the Dutch guitarist Robin Licker in 2003. In 2008 Darragh was replaced by Belgian Bram Provoost. (And in this very line-up the band held a ‘Sickness of the Mind’ record release gig shot by Tutek at the Boston Arms in 2013 available to watch here). Provoost was succeeded by Basque drummer Jeremy Hayat in 2015. The revolutionary spirit of the Basques country is now deeply rooted into the band’s agenda. Although the line-up has changed over the years, the band’s ideology remains the same. They are engaged activists caring not only for causes in their own backyard – such as the most recent protest against coronavirus-related evictions – or facilitating music workshops for rehabilitation for vulnerable adults, prisoners, young offenders and patients with mental illnesses in London. But also they’ve been continuously raising awareness on deprivation of human rights within the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They are politically conscious punks with their hearts on the right side, letting their frustrations to fuel them as musicians. The band has been constantly busy touring in Europe and States but also visiting further corners of the punk rock world such as Libertad Festival on the desert island in Indonesia. Their upcoming tour to Canada and the US (which included them as a headliner at Punk Rock Bowling in Downtown Las Vegas) has unfortunately been postponed until autumn.
The Restarts
Left for Dead – UK DIY antifa punk band playing old school punk rock with a melodic but aggressive edge. Started off in 1996 with their first gig alongside The Restarts and Hellkrusher at the Acton Arms in Hackney. (If you happened to be present at that gig, do get in touch with us!) Since then they have played numerous gigs with The Restarts, and the two bands are basically one family: Kieran Plunckett used to play the bass at LFD until replaced by Trystan O’Connell, and in 2000 the bands released a split EP (Legacy Of Bigotry / Going Nowhere). Even before that, in the late nineties, LFD had started touring to Germany and Czech Republic, which resulted in the release of a split with Czech band In Fect. They are also keeping close comradeship with the antifa Sao Paulo crew. In 2018 they recorded a split with Flicts, (with Jef and Arthur from Agrotóxico playing bass and guitar). This year August (assuming that the coronavirus shitstorm is over by then) they are scheduled to play alongside yet another Brazilian punk veterans, Sub Existencia (active from 1986) and Colera (set up in 1979), which was the first Brasilian punk band to tour in Europe. The gig, to be thrown by South London Punk Collective, is expected to be quite a massive thing considering Colera, if we are not mistaken, had played in Europe only three times so far – in 1987, 2004 and 2008.
LFD is celebrating their 25th anniversary next year, so we will be looking forward to getting shitfaced in their honour. In the meantime our thoughts are going back to one of the first gigs of them that Tutek has shot back in 2014.
Left for Dead
To sum up, all the bands mentioned belong to one huge antifa worldwide crew and for that they will always have our respect. We hope this gig will bring you some good memories. We will meet you all as soon as this clusterfuck is over.
Stay safe mofos!
LDP crew