Search - Uz Jsme Doma :: In the Middle of Words

It is a strange scene in the basement club....

Ivan Sever | MA, United States | 05/10/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On one hand, the band Uz Jsme Doma (We're Finally Home) stands lined up across the stage. On the other, the audience - shifting uncomfortably, whispering and nervously giggling - looks like villagers about to storm Dracula's castle. The band members appear to be mumbling to themselves, accompanied by the rah-tah-tah of the snare drum and only occasionally interrupted by an oddly placed bass drum kick. Unexpectedly, the sax player Jindra Dolansky lets out a blood-curdling scream and the band break into an insanely fast ska, in a 5/7 groove. Predictably the audience backs away - no-one dares to dance. "This always happens at the beginning," says Mirek Wanek to me later. "We call it 'teaching them Czech.'" He's the guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist, composer and the musical leader of the group since 1986. But then, just when you think this tempo cannot be sustained any longer, Wanek grabs his guitar and starts hitting it in an intricate rhythm pattern, and in perfect sync with the bass and the drums, for good five minutes."I used to bleed a lot, but then I changed the angle of attack. My fingers feel much better now and I'm still able to get the speed and the power I need," he says later. Finally, this 'song' ends with all the band members marching in place and doing bird calls. Uz Jsme Doma (the name could also be translated as an idiomatic Czech phrase for 'Now You Got It'), inspite of consistent touring, remain fairly obscure. The reason is definitely not their musicianship. ("We rehearse some songs for almost a year. We're not done until every cymbal crash and every shriek finds its place," says Wanek.) Their four albums released in the States did make their way to many college and alternative-music radio stations. (They all sport surrealistic cover paintings by Martin Velísek, who gets a credit on every release as 'playing the brushes.') Yet popular success still alludes the band. "I think we make people nervous," admits the sax player Dolansky, as he surveys the crowd with his dark, deep-set, and piercing eyes. So what is it about the music? Many people labeled the style 'jazz-punk,' and likened it to Frank Zappa, John Zorn and especially The Residents. "I did listen to them in Teplice where I was growing up," agrees Wanek, who is 36 now and bears a resemblance to Don Rickles. "But for the last ten years we've been touring and playing constantly, I can't relax by listening to music any more." The bass player Honza Cerha adds: "The only thing we really listen to is Jára Cimrman (a Czech surrealistic theater group)." I admit the band's music is not easy to listen to - everything is loud, fast, in-your-face and odd. But at the same time, that's what makes Uz Jsme Doma so fascinating. If you can, try to catch their live show; your mind will be opened to new experiences. "We are still trying to capture the show onto a recording. I'm not happy with any of them," says Wanek, as his voice trail off. "We're still searching...""

Uz Jsme Doma hits home

Ivan Sever | 10/14/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Is Uz Jsme Doma the greatest band in the world? Depends on your criteria. If what it takes to earn that title is persistence, vision, and virtuosity, then this veteran band from the Czech Republic is it.Since forming in then-Soviet Czechoslovakia in 1986 they've played more than 700 concerts around the world, released four albums (all of which are visual as well as aural treats), and have created their own myth through a pop-up book, documentary film, and relentlessly original compositions.Disc 1 is their first album in its entirety. Disc 2 is a selection of tracks from their 3 subsequent albums. (A better boxed set would include all 4 in their entirety, but for now be grateful that this much at least is now widely available.)I've written elsewhere: "Look in the cupboard and settle for a can of sardines from when Allen Ginsberg was crowned Prague's King of May. Add lead chips from a flaking steam radiator with just a dash of ferlinghetti and simmer over post-Cold War heat. Sprinkle in fallout from Chernobyl while stirring with a broken broomstick. Scrape the whole mess onto a scratchy Zappa LP (Hot Rats will do) and you're ready to eat with Uz Jsme Doma, the Czech Republic's hardest working band."That oblique introduction is as accurate as any description of their music is likely to get because UJD is not content to live in any single music category rut. UJD has visited every musical church in town but refuse to worship at any one altar. And why should they? The possibilities open to a sax-keys-bass-guitar-drums combo are endless and UJD is intent on exploring every angle, from mellifluous jazz to grating hardcore to hopped up ska, they combine genres willy-nilly. Picture ballerinas on a tarmac directing jumbo jets with flashlights and you're getting somewhat closer to understanding how UJD's alchemy of sound will set your spine a-tingling and open that long dormant third eye.The music soars, plunges, lulls, agitates, and keeps moving forward with energy and elegance, complex yet simple, ironic but sincere, laughter and tears, embodying all the anxiety and elation of our warped century.********WARNING*********Once you enter the world of Uz Jsme Doma there is no turning back."

Weird!

Jeffrey Jorgensen | Chico, California | 05/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is absolutly the best and worst cd that I own. With heavy saxaphone and super fast rythim guitar,it sounds like nothing else out there. Of the two cds, the live cd is by far the best, but the other one has its qualities as well. Uz Jsme Doma is kind of like a ska band...but not.It's...just Weird! And great. I can't describe it. In some ways, (when compared to American music) it's really off key. But then again, it's wonderfull! Note: This is not Eurotrash ethno garbage that is so common in America these days. It is a real live rock and roll (?) band...with guitars and INSANE drums! Buy it and see for yourself!"