Hello, can you introduce your band?
Hello to you my friend and to the
readers of Lonerider webzine. Bronco Army is a band formed by me, Toni on
guitars and vocals, Jaxsie on drums and vocals and Carlo on bass. I am the older
one and I have a part time job at the local university. I began playing skinhead
music with Tumulto 64 in the late 90’s, after that I took part in a few other
projects before forming Bronco Army in 2009. Jaxsie works now in a parking lot
and played in psycho/punkabilly and 77 bubblegum bands before her first Oi! band
called BullDroogs, which released a good split 7”ep with Bronco Army. That band
splitted up and some time later she joined us! Carlo is the younger and also the
newest member in the band, he is unemployed at the moment and has no previous
experiences with bands.
Can you say something about each album from your discography? How did you get
in touch with record labels?
We never really got in touch with any label, we were lucky enough to be found by them! It’s difficult to comment our own records, but let’s try!
Demo 2009 - With a few songs in portuguese and containing the first version of Skinhead SP. Poorly recorded but with enough quality to show the power of the songs.
Bronco Army/Bulldroogs split 7”ep - A very raw and strong release containing the songs Vadia and Olho por Olho. The tracks by Bulldrogs are also great!
Royal Thugs CD - Our first full length, released by the great Czech label 4Subculture records. With all songs in english now, and a furious and heavier sound.
For The Love of Rock n’ Oi! split CD with Bronco Army, Shaven Heads and The Prideful. A great release I must say, especially if you have the digipack version. Somebody wrote about it:“3 orthodox skinhead bands for the price of 1!” hehe we liked that!
Young Warriors 7”ep – With versions in red, black and camo vinyl, which is already a collectors item. A great production with a rough sound and Slade cover in it.
You Know Who We Are CD – Our second full length, now on the German label Skinhead Beat records. A very simple but unique release, 100% about the cult. For proud skins only.
We also took part in some compilations such as This is Oi! Not a Fashion and United Skins vols I and II, and it’s worth telling that our next release will be out soon, on the German label Subcultural records. It’s called Greetings From Backstreets and it’s our best recording so far, as it shows the real sound we’ve been trying to make for years.
Where do you get inspiration for your sound and your lyrics?
Our inspiration comes basically from the passion we
feel for the skinhead cult, our traditions and our way of life, we also talk
about facts of a regular skinhead day by day, as for the sound, I think we sound
a lot like the 80’s oi! bands, with a pure skinhead rock style, no metal, no
hardcore…
You were on European tour. Can you say something about it, how was it? How
did you feel in Europe? Were you satisfied or disappointed?
It was great! “Satisfied” can’t be the right word
to describe this tour, we are amazed for everything we lived, saw and felt! Not
only the gigs were fantastic, but we also had the chance to get to know so many
nice people, making new friends and hanging out with proud skinheads like us. It
was the experience of a lifetime! We played with bands we respect and admire a
lot and we must say that the concert in Czech Republic was brilliant! What a
great night! We already miss the good friends we made there, the boys from
Prague and Brno. We will meet soon again for more beers and Oi! my brothers!!
Can you say something about today skinhead scene in Brasil? Are you in touch
with some bands from other countries from South America?
The Brazilian skinhead scene is a mess. There are
lots of skinheads but most of them join the movement with the intent of adopting
this or that political stance with the respective sub-label and then dedicate
their lives to victimize themselves and make virtual provocation against other
skinheads or people they consider as enemies… it’s a fucking sick modern gang
mentality. Of course there are also some nice and decent people, but we are a
minority inside a minority. We have some friendly bands in Brazil, like Cwb Oi!
and also the Brutal Skins from the neighbor country Chile.
Can you say something about the Brazilian bands from the past Garotos Podres,
Virus 27 and Histeria Oi!?
These are three historical Brazilian bands with a lot of relevance to the Oi! scene.
Garotos Podres have always been very focused mostly
on working class themes, for they hail from the industrial region of ABC in Sao
Paulo. Still never being a skinhead band, I consider the first 2 LP’s very
important for us, and their music influenced lots of people with catchy songs
like Suburbio Operario or Eu Nao Gosto do Governo. Unfortunately as time went
by, they became more and more left wing inclined and don’t play anymore small
gigs nowadays. I am still in touch with their former drummer, a very nice person
who runs the Brazilian label Rotten Records
Virus 27 was also a very important band. They begun as punk rockers but soon
turned their music towards the Oi! style. Their first LP, Parasitas Obrigatorios
is a classic, a real must have with songs like Vida Longa Aos Skinheads, Gastos
Nucleares among other great ones. They were real pioneers in national Oi! music
and also one of the first (if not the first!) to sing proudly about skinheads!!
They became more nationalist on the second record and started to play
exclusively for the carecas gangs before splitting up years ago.
Histeria Oi! is the most obscure of these bands.
They released a very raw and powerful LP in the 80’s and a few songs for the
compilation series Oi! Um Grito de Uniao some years later. Their first LP had
the real face of suburban Oi! music, with themes that all suburban kids could
identify with. We recorded two Histeria cover songs that should have been
released in a tribute to them, but due to some problems between label,
organizers and bands this tribute will probably never be released…
Is there some place, where we can buy some of your merchadise? Do you have
some T-shirts or anything else? Do you know, where to buy TUMULTO 64 - Calçando
as Botas album?
-Well, our merchandising can be purchased from us (we prefer trades though), we still have most of our CDs available, but no more 7”eps… people can also get in touch with the labels Stratum, 4Subcuture, Skinhead Beat, Shout Proud and now Subcultural Records (in Subcultural they have some new cool t-shirts available!). Unfortunately Tumulto 64 Calçando as Botas CD is quite difficult (maybe impossible) to find, as only 300 copies were pressed!
How do you look on the politics in skinhead scene. I once read a scene report about Brazilian band Locomotiva, where you were marked as an antifa band. It seems that you have the same jokers like everywhere in the world.
I think
politics in the skinhead scene is crap, especially because it attracts a lot of
mongoloids like that. The article was written by an anonymous asshole who
probably doesn’t know anything about the scene he was talking about and even
less about our band, and it surprises me that a supposedly “serious” website
degrades itself publishing that kind of rubbish based on rumours and lies, and
not to mention that a 5 year old child have a better vocabulary… and the
funniest thing is, Locomotiva’s drummer actually come to our latest concert, he
is a nice guy and we had a great time together. We are not against left or right
wing, we are against morons like the guy who wrote that article. To be honest,
we are used to internet warriors accusing us all the time and always coming up
with a different bullshit, I think it’s part of playing in a skinhead Oi! band,
we can’t and we don’t want to please everyone around us, so, rumour spreaders
and shit talkers can fuck off and die.
Endstufe, Brassic or Dieter from Kill Baby, Kill had gigs in your country.
Were you on those concerts? What were your best concerts in your life, where you
were as a visitor?
We don’t know much about the gigs you mentioned, as they didn’t happen in our area. My best gig as a visitor was definitely Superyob in 2009. Mr. Flame has some kind of “light”, something difficult to explain, that concert literally changed my life for better and inspired me very much…
Do you collect music records? Do you have some labels in your country, where
you can buy records or you must buy it from other countries? What are your most
valuable albums in your collection?
We are not
really big collectors, we can’t find Oi! and punk music in record shops here and
it’s really expensive to import, not to mention that our custom officers are a
bunch of criminals, who charge expensive taxes to liberate the stuff sent from
abroad. We have some good labels as Rotten, The Firm and Dunkel Records with a
few great new releases worth checking. I think our most valuable pieces are a
few Skrewdriver 7”eps, the Vadia 7”ep by the mythic Brazilian band Dose Brutal
and No Potential Threat LP, by the English band Riot Squad, released in Brasil
in the 80’s on the extinct New Face records, a very nice and rare album.
Can you recommend to us some new bands that you like? And what about older
ones, for example from the 80s? What kind of bands do you prefer?
We really prefer older bands, as we are very influenced by classic oi!/skinhead
rock bands like Crux, Skrewdriver (early years), Combat 84, Menace, Blitz, Snix, Tolbiac’s Toads, Skinkorps, etc, and among the newer/ not so old
we would mention Sorry No!, Schusterjungs, Orthodox, Rampage, Likedeelers, Abtrimo, Rien Ne Vas Plus, Brutti & Ignoranti, etc.. there are so many
to be mentioned, but the ones above are constantly in our record players, making our days better and filling our lives with inspiration and pride for this cult!
Do you listen to some mainstream music? Do you like some mainstream bands?
And what is your opinion on ska or hard core music?
Well, not the
recent brainwashing mainstream music, it has never been so horrible. When we
turn on the radio nowadays it sounds like there is no hope for the world and the
human race!! But lots of songs from the 90’s, 80’s and even 70’s are very nice
and pleasant for us. We do enjoy some ska, it’s funny and nice to listen
sometimes, but not skacore and these kinds of hybrid stuff and apart from some
faster punk bands, we don’t listen to hardcore at all, especially this new
trendy big shorts ny hardcore/metal/hip-hop style, it’s not our cup of tea.
Brazil became more popular, because of your MMA stars. What do you think
about Junior Dos Santos, José Aldo, Renan Barão or the older ones like Wanderlei
Silva or Nogueira brothers?
Holy shit, you
know it much better than us hehe!! We know that MMA made our country famous
worldwide and we have great champions, but it’s not our thing. Too much physical
contact for my taste, it’s a bit gay, isn’t it? (don’t tell them I said it haha!!),
we prefer the old school fights, like boxing for example.
You will have football World Cup in you state this year. Will you go on some
matches? Do you have team to win the world cup title?
No way! The
tickets are very expensive!! Professional football nowadays is not for working
class rebels like us anymore, it’s just big, filthy, profitable business. We
hope Germany wins this cup!
Future plans?
Keep playing, composing and recording new songs, we also hope we can go back to Europe for a bigger tour this time, in more countries, and when it happens, we will definitely play in Czech Republic once again, and it will be great to meet you and all the friends we made there, for more Oi! and lots of Kozel beers!!
Last words?
Thank you very much for this interview and for the space on your website, we really appreciated it! We would like to say to all skinheads who are reading this, to stand united and faithful to our cult, rejecting the bullshit and all the negative things that only bring us down. We are much better than the fucking society, let’s stay like this!!!
