Tank Records (7)

Poland Dezerter's short-lived private label, active from 1984 to 1986. From Wiki info: "In the fall of 1984, after a concert at Warsaw's Hybrydy, the band met a man named Maciej Chmiel, who became Dezerter's manager. Soon afterwards, band's members, for the money received as royalties from Tonpress for its EP, purchased a tape recorder at a Pewex store, opening its own illegal publishing company, Tank Records. First release was Dezerter's Jarocin 1984 show, issued as Jeszcze żywy człowiek (Still living man), which years later came out as a CD. In early 1985 Dezerter attempted to perform in Jugoslavia, but Communist government of Poland refused to grant passports to the members of the band. In December 1985, Canadian punk rock band D.O.A. performed at Warsaw's Riviera Remont. After the show, the Canadians met with Dezerter, and Joey Shithead offered to take band's recordings to North America, to try to publish them. The Underground Out of Poland, based on material handed over to Shithead, was released in 1987 by Maximumrocknroll. Originally, as Grabowski claims, the album was planned to be released by Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles, but it didn't happen due to Biafra's legal problems with the poster in the record sleeve of his Frankenchrist album. According to Grabowski, Dezerter sent its own cover design for the Underground Out of Poland album, but Maximumrockandroll chose their design. Furthermore, the Americans changed the name of the album, as Grabowski wanted to name it Greatest sHits. In the fall of 1985 Dezerter's bassist Dariusz "Stepa" Stepnowski was drafted into the People's Army of Poland, and the last show with band's original lineup took place at Warsaw's Róbrege Festival in late summer 1985. Soon afterwards, Stepnowski was replaced by Paweł Piotrowski. With Stepa's disappearance, the Tank Records was closed. Last tape published by the company was Izolacja (Isolation), Dezerter Live 1985 at the Hybrydy. It came out in early 1986, and at the same time, Dezerter's charismatic lead singer, Dariusz "Skandal" Hajn began to skip practices, due to his budding Polish heroin addiction."