On the occasion of marking "50 years of punk culture", the NGO Muzika Alternativa Kultura is organizing concerts tonight at Haustro in Podgorica by two bands, "KBO!" from Kragujevac and the Montenegrin band "Roba bez grece".
While "KBO!" has been known to the regional punk audience for four decades, "Roba bez grece" has only recently gained its fans, and the fact that they are doing well is also evidenced by the fact that last year, with the help of audience votes, they secured a performance at Bedem Fest.
As they explained in an interview for "Vijesti", their genre "has always been based on punk", but during the creation of their own material they began to delve into grunge and noise.
In the meantime, they had more performances, worked on new material, and in an interview for "Vijesti" Rade Obradović (rhythm guitar and vocals), which with Branka Teofilova (solo guitar and backing vocals), Vasa Manojlović (bass guitar) and Donata Berbata (drums) makes up the band "Roba bez greške", this time he spoke about the reason for the performance - 50 years of punk culture.
At the beginning of the conversation, he reveals how significant it is for them that they, along with "KBO!", were chosen as Montenegrin representatives to celebrate this anniversary.
"We are pleased to be performing with the legendary and one of the most influential punk bands in this region at the celebration of 50 years of punk culture. As a band that has relatively recently presented its original work to the audience, being the opening act for 'KBO!' has special significance for us," replies Obradović.
He also hints at what the audience can expect tonight when it comes to their performance, but also how much "space" they will have on stage.
"'Roba bez grece' has 17 songs ready that they plan to perform at this performance, which is about 90 minutes of active playing. We also have one new thing that we will premiere at the concert in Haustor," the singer and guitarist boasted.
"Since we already had several performances at various festivals last year, and closed it with a solo concert at Cafe Berlin in Podgorica, the audience that visited our performances can expect a good gig, as before," he says.
Obradović also reflects on the occasion of the gig - 50 years of punk culture, and comments on whether the slogan "Punk's not dead" from the album of the same name is also true when it comes to Montenegro and the year 2025.
"The band 'Exploited' definitely celebrated this 'slogan' with the album 'Punk's Not Dead', which has remained to this day. Punk is definitely not dead in the former Yugoslavia, because if we look at the scene, in my opinion, it is the most active direction in rock culture," believes the "Vijesti" interlocutor.
"Montenegro now has, I can say, two iconic punk bands - 'DST' and 'Punkreas', which have left a strong mark, and thus paved the way for the future," Obradović singled out colleagues with longer experience in this musical direction.
They are also his choice when it comes to his favorite punk artists.
"From our area, these are the inevitable 'KBO!' and 'Trula koalicija', 'Atheist rap', 'KUD idiots'. Also the aforementioned 'DST' and 'Punkreas' from the Montenegrin scene. There are many bands, but as a local patriot, I have mentioned here only those from our speaking area," the musician points out.
10 songs will be included on the first album titled "Biću dobar", and "Roba bez greške" plans to release the first video.
In his latest interview for "Vijesti", the singer and guitarist of "Robe bez greške" said that they are actively working on a new album.
"The album we're working on has been in the works for a long time. Our goal is to release it as soon as possible so we can move forward with new songs. We expect it to be released by November this year at the latest," he announced at the time, but the deadline has been extended a bit, so Obradović clarifies when we can expect new material.
"'Roba bez grece' is in the final stages of its first album, which will be called 'Biću dobar'. The album will contain ten songs. We expected the album to be released earlier, but there was a small delay that has now been overcome and the album is in the mixing phase. We will soon start with the first video as an announcement of the album, which we will release on platforms," promises the musician.
Bonus video:
