BIO

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Crime scene: Idrija…
Idrija is a Slovenian town, in the 1980s known for its mercury mine, lace, stuffed dumplings, a psychiatric hospital and a punk band named Kuzle. Today the town is predominantly known for its two big companies, the apathy of the locals, the lethargy – in short, it’s a ghost town. Well, it wasn’t always like this…

Who are those dicks?
On the remains of several rock and punk bands a group of young boys got together in the 1980s and formed a band. They had a lot in common: they were full of hormones, read a Yugoslav rock magazine Đuboks, were fanatically buying vinyl records in Stara Gorica — and breathed and lived punk. Members of the band, which was later named Kuzle, were: Iztok Turk – guitar, Bojan Lapanja – vocals, Dušan Moravec – bass guitar, Boris Čibej – guitar. Our rehearsals were accompanied by rats and similar vermin in the basement of Rudniška dvorana (The Mine Theater).
The initial crew changed and finally stabilized with the arrival of guitarist and author Dare Kaurič, whom the existing members stole away from the rock band Amen. The name of the band was his idea, which earned him some fried cheese with tartar sauce, paid by the rest of the group.

Dare was joined by: Bojan Lapanja and Vito Vest (together) as lead vocals; Iztok Turk, who played drums; and Dušan Moravec playing bass guitar. Vito left after the first concert.
Boris Balant as a permanent collaborator wrote some lyrics (also the author of Moja mama – which was first adapted by Videosex and later by Big Foot Mama, so hardly anyone knows the original version was made and performed by Kuzle) .

Over the next two years we made nearly sixty songs and had thirty-some gigs, appeared on radio and television and issued the compilation LP Lepo je (It Is Beautiful)… The drummers changed twice: first came Bojan Pajer and later Iztok Lampe. But soon it all came to an end… Dare was the first to serve the army, a year later Bojan. Light years of military service changed everything and Kuzle became history. People went their ways.
Our first concert was the opening act for the Buldožer band (a review was published in the Stop magazine – one and a half line was dedicated to Kuzle… Was it good? We forgot.). Later we performed in Idrija Youth Club where a group of faithful fans formed and later followed us to concerts all over Slovenia. Only a few months after our first practice we were already recording (on a portable stereo tape recorder) the high school concert in Idrija, which we later, after listening, named “Promašeni slučaj” (The Lost Case, after the suicide character’s nickname from the Alan Ford comic books). In that period we sent our demos to “daddy” (Igor) Vidmar, who immediately arranged a concert at the FV (a breakthrough into the Capital) and a “studio” recording at Radio Študent. We recorded Če se rodiš cigan (If You Are Born a Gypsy), Prazna generacija (Blank Generation), Ne vi mislt (Don’t You Think) and Ti si zvezda (You’re a star). Kuzle become widely known among youngsters and we scored our first invitations to concerts. The performances in Idrija, Metlika (with the comrades of Indust Bag), Goriška Brda and Novo Mesto are among our best memories… In Novo Mesto Dule exchanged has Rickenbacker bass guitar (albeit only a copy) for a liter of wine, which the others slightly less alcoholized members of the band managed to exchange back, but not without some tough negotiations.
Allegedly we had a very good performance on the FF Day in Ljubljana, but due to the excessive consumption of ABVs we don’t remember much. Less fond memories take us to a club near Koper, where the crowd apparently never heard punk before and insisted on our playing “Smoke On The Water”, which we then blasted in our own way (we jerked off the main riff for about 15 minutes, until the last metal fan “came”).
Soon after the idea for the LP “It Is Beautiful …” emerged. Kuzle contributed three songs: “Vahid” which the people already took as their own, the first Slovenian trash punk song “Laugh” and the prophetic “Stay an idiot.”
We applied for Novi Rock 81 (New Rock 81) and were invited to a meeting with the RTV Ljubljana editorial board, which broadcast the concert live on the radio. Maestro Mojmir Sepe, speaking on behalf of Radio Slovenia and self-censorship, banned the song “Do you remember, comrades?”. At the meeting we didn’t bother bickering with the sly radio people and finally (in quite an anti-punk gesture) agreed to the ultimatum.
Comes Novi Rock… The time between the sound checking and the gig crept way too slowly and we spent it drinking abnormal amounts of beer, which meant that only minutes before the performance we were reviving Itko who was literally unconscious. It would be a lie to say the we performed professionally anyway. It was a disaster, but, it nevertheless had its bright moments…