Mit der Sängerin Karolina der polnischen Band CF98 konnte ich kürzlich ein Interview via E-Mail machen. Wir haben über gesprochen und noch einigem mehr. Das Ergebnis könnt ihr hier sehen und lesen.
Hello. Please introduce the band CF98 and what does this band’s name mean?
Hi, we are CF98 and we play energetic, fast and full of melodies punk rock called also skatepunk. The name was invented long time ago, when we were super in love in punk rock bands from across the ocean – California and we can call it today as our teenage dream back then. CF98 states for californ chemistry element with 98 electrons and can be used in small bomb production, no joke!
Your 2019 release Rotten To The Core and the 2020 release Dead Inside sound very similar (the release title seems to mean the same). What’s the difference for you and what topics you sing about? If you like you can explain the ones from Dead Inside more precise here.
Both EPs were recorded in the same studio, mixed and mastered by the same guy Haldor, probably this is the reason they might sound familiar. But the main difference is the producer – in 2020 we invited someone to produce music with us for the first time ever and that person was well known, talented and extra nice guy Ishay Berger from Useless ID band. We are super proud of this cooperation, we never thought this would help us so much and teach us so many new things from experienced guy like Ishay.
Both EPs touch similar topics – from social injustice, stereotypes, politics to never giving up on your life, always finding positive side, PMA, unity and friendship. Both ePs were also released recently on our first time vinyl ever.
You toured Japan. What was it all about, did you something you wanted to see in your free time? Did you have enough time for sightseeing?
Touring Japan was an amazing adventure for us. This was not only our first tour by plane, but it was also first time playing gigs so far away from home. We played 5 shows in total, RNR tour booking agency (Waki <3) took care of us, arranged everything and also took us to the most amazing places like old town of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya and his parent’s house. We couldn’t just play shows, we were too excited, sometimes we woke up at 5 am to go sightseeing or eat another plates of sushi haha.
How do you feel living in Poland as a melodic punk band? Is it hard? How are politicians now?
Our genre is not very popular in Poland, there are only few active bands playing similar music to ours. This genre never found here many listeners, that’s why we were so shocked and amazed by european scene, festivals, bands and new friends when we started to play more shows abroad in 2018. Politics are shit like everywhere else, there are always minorities, people, feminism and values we need to stand for. We are in this big punk rock family, we feel the need to fight for the place we call home, but it’s the rest of Europe where we found more people like us – skate punk freaks.
What was the most surprising tour you had? And which band did you enjoyed the most? Which surprised you and why?
Oh man, we met so many bands in so many countries, we can’t talk about one. But I can tell you about our longest tours – to Ukraine and UK. I know, completely different directions, but we spent millions of hours in the van (yes, we drove there!), experienced how people live, what are their struggles, how shows look like. This is a wisdom you get and no one will ever take it away from you. These 2 tours were the longest and most mentally and physically demanding and we survived!
Do other bands / people from other scenes and / or musical background help each other? Like hardcore scene helps melodic punkrock and vice versa? Is there a lot of help each other involved, was it stronger once or is it growing stronger because of the politics e.g.?
We are lucky to play mostly with amazing people from other bands, we help each other a lot, we support music od other bands cause this is what punk rock community should be all about. About not being alone in this and hard work. If we experienced something not cool from any band – they probably know about it but we will not mention here any names. Life is too short for that! it is also so important to talk about equality values, but it was loud and clear all the time in punk rock for me. It is hard to be non political nowadays – this simply can’t exist, this is part of our lives now, if you want it or not.
Do you have lyrics in Polish? And what are they about? Do you have translation somewhere to make people understand what you sing about?
We used to write albums in polish – that was really long time ago, totally different times. English is a bridge between so many scenes, people, communities and it is also a great language to sing, that’s why we write songs in english for 4 years. Everyone can understand what we sing about, everyone can relate to them or sing with us at shows, which makes those songs even more powerful and meaningful. Lyrics to our songs are always available f.e on youtube (YouCF98 channel)
Are there a lot of concerts in Poland – except now since Covid-19.
There are a lot of shows in Poland in general, polish people love attending to live concerts, maybe not melodic punk rock but we still work on that However not every band visits Poland during their tours, this is hard to accept but unfortunately not every band is popular here. that’s a shame but this is exactly the same struggle with our genre.
Speaking of Corona. How hard is it to survive as an artist in Poland right now? How do you help and support each other? Are there some Corona skeptics as well?
We need to remember that music scene are not only bands, there are producers, stage engineers, stage managers, drivers, van owners, venue owners, bookers – a lot of people work so we can actually see the band/show. As far as I know, the government helped those people a little in Poland, but this is still not a lot – most of our friends in music business changed their jobs. We are lucky we all have jobs we could still save during this crazy year, but we realize that not everyone is lucky. Hard times with a lot of live streams and staying in touch with our listeners – this is all we can do. We also promote other band’s releases so more people know about them.
What does the future hold for CF98? What are your plans? Thanks for the interview.
We released EP last year as well as this year, we planned so many shows in Europe and outside for 2020, so we hope it all will all be possible in 2021. We are addicted to playing live, traveling, touring, we are addicted to friendship and good people around. We really hope the future holds new songs, more festivals, brand new releases, another shows somewhere far away. But now – please check our Dead Inside EP – let’s start with it Thank You very much for this conversation, have a great day everybody out there!
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