Polish Punk Tapes

I had the opportunity to interview Michel Pryzyborowski, who ran a tape label in former Communist Poland, distributing forbidden Western music to Polish punks. Michel was located in a small town near Gdansk and wrote American and European labels to get the original albums he would dub many times to create copies. Polish bands had no way to create original albums, so distributors would often tape live concerts and distribute that recording as an album. These recordings contain the conversations of the people in the club and unintentionally capture the feeling of a time, as well as the music.
A machine like a tape recorder could only be found in a foreign shop, where Polish citizens had to use American dollars as currency. Michael's father had been an activist within the resistance and in 1983 was offered the choice of prison or a one way ticket to America with no opportunity to come back. Michel was able to get his cassette recorder from the dollars his father sent from New York. Much love and thanks to Ana Pabis for acting as simultaneous translator.

Michel and I in his one room apartment in a "Bloky" (Communist Housing Estate)


Tape of the Polish band Armia (Army) created by buying cheap "official" tapes and dubbing over them.


Tape of the American band Nausea recorded in Germany but re-packaged to be sold in Poland. I appreciated that the name of the tape was scratched into the plastic.


Tape of the Polish band Dezerter, the red paint gives the music an especial ferocity. You can get music from Derzerter here.


Tape of the album Frankenchrist by the American band Dead Kennedys. This tape Michel had personally made and distributed. He made a point to tell me that this was the first one that all the others came from. Notice the handmade cover.


I asked Michel what his favorite American band was and he said MDC. This is a hardcore band originally called the Stains who moved from Austin (my hometown) to California and became rather famous. Here is an audio clip in which Michel talks about this, and I understand perfectly even though I dont understand Polish since we are really speaking a language of shared histories.