Agressiva 69

One of the most popular and well-known rock and industrial groups. They are the music trend forerunners in Poland. The group was founded in 1987 by two musicians, Tomasz Grochola (vocal) and Jacek Tokarczyk (guitar). They prepared the material for their first album "Deus Ex Machina" that was released in 1992, after signing a contract with SPV Poland. Afterwards, Bodek Pezda (keyboards, vocal) joined the group. The group performed on Polish then biggest rock meeting, Jarocin (50 000 people), and there they met Robert Tuta, keyboards. In the following years, the group gave a number of concerts, including all the important Polish music events, to name only few - another time in Jarocin, two times at Odjazdy Festival with Young Gods (Spodek hall in Katowice for 10 000 people). In 1994 new album “Hammered by the Gods” was released. The Brum (influential music magazine) recognized it as a the best industrial recording of the year. In 1994 the group also organised music festival Industriallooza, that within next two years took a place in several Polish cities. The aim of this action was to promote electronic music and to help young, talented musicians to perform. The true Agressiva 69 career started after signing contract with KOCH International Poland in 1996. The group recorded their third album “2.47”, with a new member, a guitar player Slawek Leniart. The album was released also on the Western market (Germany, Austria, Netherlands). The good opinion about “2.47” album was confirmed by music market (musicians, journalists, music companies employees) who unanimously took a decision about awarding them nomination to Fryderyk (Polish Grammy Awards) in The Best Techno Album category. One of the most important events in the group history was a performance as a supporting group on The Prodigy concert (26.12.1996). Agressiva 69 as the only one group was chosen and invited to perform their music in Spodek (Katowice) for 10 000 people. The Prodigy musicians were highly satisfied with Agressiva’s performance. The next great initiative of the group is release of the remixed Agressiva 69 pieces made by DJs. The recording was enclosed to the XL magazine in April 1998 that was sold in 50.000 copies. The band idée fixe was to create an album that would be a tribute to Depeche Mode. In 1999, the album “Master of Celebration” was released. The most important Polish musicians willingly contributed to the project and provided excellent covers of the “12 glamorous hits by DM”. The album was a huge success and was very well recepted by the Polish DM audience. The Agressiva 69 musicians are also co-operating with a number of Polish moviemakers. Their pieces can be found on 5 movies soundtracks. Furthermore, Bodek Pezda and Slawomir Leniart are producers of many soundtracks. Agressiva 69 is mainly a concert group .They gave numerous performances abroad - they played in Luxemburg and Germany, where they took a part in the one of the biggest independent festival ZILLO in Hildesheim near Hannover, where about 40.000 spectators admired their performance. They played in the as superb companionship as Paradise Lost and New Model Army. In Netherlands, they represented their country on the international music festival EUROSONIC 2000 in Groningen. The group gave a concert on the biggest stage of Grant Theatre. Afterwards, the British magazine Music&Media released their piece “Point of View”. The concert was transmitted on the whole Europe by internet and Netherlands's radio stations. Agressiva 69 played at Eurorock 2000 Festival in Belgium, where they gave a concert with such stars as The Mission, Front 242, Marc Almond and Alphaville. In the following years, the group gave many concerts in Polish and German clubs and frequently appeared in the Polish TV and radio stations. The group signed a contract with EMI Poland in 2001, and recorded their best album so far, titled simply “Agressiva 69”. The videoclips (director : Marek Skrobecki) that accompany this album are a great artistic achievement. The video “Situations” was quite recently greatly appreciated: the group received 6 nominations on the Polish most influential video clips event, Yach Film Festival 2003, including Grand Prix.( Bursztynowy Yach - best video of Scandinavian and Baltic countries) and the second prize Yach in category animation. In 2004 they released box “Dirrrt” in their own label (2.47 records) containing: re-mastered three first studio albums and live album recorded in PR3 (Polish Public Radiostations studio) and more bonus remixes. The Box includes also 2 new songs: “Relax” - cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and “Kazdy Dzien Jest Taki Sam” (Every Day is the Same) specially written fo TVN (comercial TV’s program about Polish mafia) - Alphabet of Mafia. Another commercial video followed a single “ Relax” , animated and original. The band is currently in the studio where they are working on a 6th studio album. Special guests appearance on the album by: Martin Atkins (legendary drummer of PIL, Killing Joke, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface) and Wayne Hussey (The Mission). Album will be released in late Autumn 2005. Agressiva 69 is the only group in Poland playing that kind of music - however, the exact name is hard to be found. The twisted way would be to describe it as “psycho-pop” or “trans-hetero-electro”; sounds funny - but that what it is. Latest attempts of the band lead them to the “good side of the pop” - but the musicians never forget abut their true electronic roots.