You Suffer; They'll Tell You Why

Every so often as an interviewer it’s instructional to be reminded you’re not half so goddmaned clever as you think you are.
See, given Suffering Mind’s chosen appellation and penchant for punky throwback grindcore, I had thought it would be a humorous icebreaker to ask guitarist Kuchar “You suffer but why?” My thinking being it would make for one of those pun-y, self-satisfied U C WHUT I DID THERE? kind of leads. Instead Kuchar rhetorically handed me my comedy ass as he used the question as a chance to delve into his band’s decidedly jaundiced outlook on life.
“Well I may say about two things causes the suffering: first is an interactional dystopia,” Kuchar explained gamely. “We live in the strange world where even the closest persons make others suffer. Bytheir acts,words,many different things. People are hostile, frustrated, often aggressive… There’s too much ignorance and selfishness which creates sad image of mankind.”
I can’t really argue with that answer. But like Ron Popeil used to said, but wait, there’s more.
“Second thing is a hydra called system, a ruthless monster with government, religion, military, police heads,a monster created by man but now totally under its control,” Kuchar continued. “It’s hard to fight even with one head. A hydra without one head is still strong and dangerous. Cutting off a head will regenerate shortly cause all heads are needed to [ensure the] system works correctly. Authority and religion always go hand in hand enslaving by brutal power and false promises.”
With a killer, crusty full length racking up accolades all around the weberverse since 2008 and a slurry of splits (including a sweet callabo with similarly outfitted boy-girl band Lyncanthropy) to their credit, Suffering Mind are set to spread the pain evenly over the globe in 2010 with a new long player on 625 Thrash and Crucificados Pelo Sistema followed by more tag team efforts with Phobia, Audio Kollaps and possibly Magrudergrind or P.L.F.
That’s a heavy agenda for a band that insists on keeping true to their punk roots. It’s not just Suffering Mind’s crusty sound that sets them apart from their more metallic European peers but also a fierce commitment to handle their own business as well.
“There’s still lot of bands that want to have punk face and prefer to be connected with punk scene,” Kuchar said. “Just like us. In our music you may hear lot of different influences: from grindcore, crust, thrash to metal and sludge. We record all stuff D.I.Y. and we have control of how we sound. It’s lot of work, but after it’s done you’re just happy that you do something from start to end by yourself.”
And while those of us sitting at home brushing Cheeto dust off our keyboards may opine at how vibrant and robust the Polish scene appears from the outside, looks can be deceiving. While the former Eastern Bloc country boasts Squash Bowels, Exit Wounds, Selfhate and the tricksome Antigama to its credit, Kuchar said all is not Zywiec and sunshine from a ground level perspective.
“Well I don’t think that Polish grindcore scene is too big,” he said. “We don’t have too many bands and situation with gigs is not too good in my opinion. If you want to play a gig in Poland it’s only few places where you can play and get more than several people in audience. From time to time there’s some bigger grindcore fest like Mosh It Up for example when more bands play and people come to see them. Smaller gigs have low frequency even when some good grindcore bands play. That’s why Polish people pick also the Czech Republic fests like Obscene Extreme or Play Fast or Don’t. There they can see more bands.”
Suffering Mind’s punk ethic and approach set them apart from their countrymen in more ways than one.
“Mostly Polish bands play gore grind and there’s not too many bands connected strongly to the punk scene. I think that people asked about Polish grindcore bands will name Dead Infection, Squash Bowels and Neuropathia first. What for Suffering Mind: we sound probably bit different to them. Or maybe not? Well everyone can listen and have their own opinion about that.”
We all suffer. Do we really need to ask why? Just listen to some fucking Suffering Mind.