Siekiera

Siekiera was one of the most influential and popular post-punk bands in Poland. With fast, aggressive music and lyrics filled with obscenities, the band was a sensation at the 1984 Jarocin Festival. After lineup changes, the band switched to new wave and dissolved in 1988. 

Siekiera formed in 1982 or 1983 in Puławy, Poland, under the name of "Trafo". The line-up then was Tomasz Adamski -guitar-, Tomasz Budzyński -vocals-, Jerzy Janaczek -bass-, and Irek "Borys" Czerniak -drums-. They started by playing cover songs of UK Subs and The Exploited. In the autumn of 1983 they changed their name to Siekiera (Polish for "Axe"). There is a legend that the name came from a guy who heard their music and compared it to an axe. The original line-up was Tomasz Adamski (a.k.a. Dzwon)- guitar, leader, the author of all lyrics and music-, Tomasz Budzyński (a.k.a. Budzy) -vocals-, Dariusz Malinowski (a.k.a. Malina) -bass-, and Krzysztof Grela (a.k.a. Koben) -drums-. For a while some guy called Piotr Szewczyk played guitar, but they fired him because of his blues influences. 

In 1984 they played their first official show in a club "Remont" in Warsaw. They also performed at the Jarocin Festival, and they were well received by the audience. In October 1984, after a huge show with TZN Xenna and Youth Brigade, Budzynski left the band (he wanted to have some influence on the band's music and lyrics, but Adamski wasn't happy about that). With that line-up they played only 6 shows. After that Budzynski formed a band called Armia (with Robert Brylewski). 

Tomasz Adamski reformed Siekiera with two new members: Zbigniew Musinski -drums- and Pawel Mlynarczyk -keyboards-. Dariusz Malinowski took the vocal duties (besides playing bass). In February 1985 they recorded eight new tracks, some of them were played on the radio. In May and June they recorded some songs for an EP and the 'Jak Punk to Punk' compilation LP. In 1985 they played again at the Jarocin festival, but the orthodox punk public didn't like their new wave image and music. 

In 1986 Siekiera released their only LP, 'Nowa Aleksandria' -it is influenced mainly by Killing Joke and regarded as one of the greatest Polish albums of all time. In 1987, a new guitarist, Wieslaw Borysewicz, was recruited, and Tomasz Adamski concentrated on singing. In 1987 they also played a mini-tour with Variété, a Polish new wave band. Finally, in 1988 they broke up. They were expected to re-form in 1989 with an almost original line up (with Stopa who used to play in Moskwa and Armia as the drummer), but somehow it didn't work out. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]