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Skarpretter is a more-than-slightly-pissed-off political DIY punk band. We’ve been together since 2004 and grew up in the scene around Ungdomshuset, where we had our home and heart was until its eviction in March 2007. Now we reside in a basement somewhere in the not-so-wonderful Copenhagen. The following is a tale of an unforgettable journey to the wild East in the spring of 2008, complete with dirty squats, disco punks and broken vans.

DAY 1:

We left Copenhagen on the 22nd of April. Bleary eyed and absolutely not very pretty looking, the crew met up at about 6:30 in the morning and crawled in the van. The ventilation system was broken, so the heater was on at full power all the time: which meant driving with all the windows rolled down. At least we really got the feeling of being on the road “with the wind in our hair” and all that shit.

I was still hopelessly sleep deprived after the Copenhagen ’08 Festival two days before. This is an annual punk and hardcore festival featuring a large part of the local DIY bands in Copenhagen (the idea was originally to feature ALL, but there’s too fuckin’ many now). Last year there was no festival because of the eviction of Ungdomshuset (the city’s last real DIY venue, with a 24 year history). But this year the festival returned and took place in the Grey Hall in Christiania. It was a blast; 21 bands played and the whole weekend was clear evidence that the punk and hardcore scene is still thriving here, in spite of the fact that the bastards evicted our house. Hardcore punkfuckers HJERTESTOP are still my personal darlings, but many great new bands have surfaced lately, like NIGHTFEVER, ØREGAS, RIPPIN HEADACHE as well as an entire wave of kid-punk bands full of energy and attitude. The two best being HØKSPÆNDING and REAKTION. If anybody wonders when you stop being a “kid punk” then the brats from Højspænding have the answer for you: It’s when you lose your last baby tooth. After that you’re a boring sellout ADULT!

Back to the van: We drove all day and arrived in Prague at about seven in the evening. The first stop was Squat Milada, a middle sized and a bit worn out house, dwarfed by huge building complexes all around. Most of us have been there before; for my own part eight years earlier. It’s great to return to a place after so long and see that it still has the same punk mentality and DIY ethics (and dirty dreadlocks) that are put in the high seat. It’s a good thing that these places are around at all, especially considering the aggressive attacks from the authorities against all self-governed free spaces these years.

We played first and then UNIT 21, from Texas, took over the stage. The only problem was that the mixer for the PA died in the end of our set; black smoke was the only thing coming out of it. But the Unit wasn’t set back by this; they delivered a really energetic set, with Corey, the poor singer, screaming his lungs out without a mike.

Online Magazine - Feature Articles

By Abigail D.

Imagine this. You are sitting at a meeting of Quakers (curiosity got the best of you). After the quiet prayer meeting, some folks in the group start talking about how this country is fueled by greed, banks are failing, and how some of them were going to start pulling their money out of banks and pooling it amongst themselves. Others agreed and talked about the prospects of such action. Then they started talking about how nice it would be if the US got back to an agrarian society and how a different Quaker chapter in another state had bought land and started a self contained community based on trading for goods rather than buying and selling. These ideas get tossed around for another 5-10 minutes when all the sudden, 6 FBI officers armed for battle bust the door down and yell at everyone to hit the floor. One man gets up and walks over to an FBI agent. He pulls out a small recording device hidden inside his shirt, hands it to him, and walks out the door. After he leaves, everyone in the room is put under arrest. Their crime? Domestic Terrorism.

What? Quakers labeled as terrorists? That makes no sense.

That’s true, but under the recently passed Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, anyone who does not fall in line with the “system” can be considered a terrorist. HR 1955 as it is referred to, was passed by the House of Representatives in October 2007 by a vote of 404-6 and is currently being considered in the Senate with an excellent chance of it passing. Under this bill, anyone who has ideas that go against the United States government could be considered a terrorist and punished as such. This is a thought crime bill, plain and simple.