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:: this page will no longer be updated. RIP January 2001 ::

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~ animation based on art by Martin Velisek ~

Ears now available online, in stores, and special order
download the title track here. like the tour, it's HUGE--8:30 at 2.9M--but worth the wait.

If you would like to interview UJD or need more information about UJD, Ears, or UJD's winter tour, contact Carl Hanni at Mod Media, 520-432-7433, modmedia@theriver.com. For color or black and white photographs of UJD, or copies of Ears, please contact Patrick O'Donnell at Skoda Records, 202-547-8006, skodarec@bellatlantic.net.
--> Lyrics and links
--> A brief history of Ears
--> Discography
--> UJD appears on new CD to benefit East Timor
--> Pictures from UJD's 1,oooth Concert, Oct 14 2000, Moravia
--> Concert Photos, the Crocodile, Seattle, Nov 2, 1999
--> A picture from the Knitting Factory, December 7, 1997
From its inception in 1985, the incomparable avant-garde Czech rock band Uz Jsme Doma has lived the punk rock ethos of doing things on its own terms as much as possible. On Wednesday, October 25, UJD stood on the cusp of its own new millenium when it played its 1000th concert -- an accomplishment more remarkable for the fact that, when the band started, its shows were more or less illegal and had to be organized and carried out with subterfuge. In support of its most recent album, Ears, Uz Jsme Doma will get in the van again for its 10th tour of North America beginning on November 14 and continuing through December 16. From five concerts in its first year to the more than 100 it has played in recent years, UJD has become one of the best live acts on the planet, with explosive, engaging concerts featuring frenetic tempos and time changes, soaring operatic vocals and gutteral chanting, rock anthems and folk dances, seeming anarchy that is orchestrated down to the last skronk. Celebrating the absurd, the sad, the beautiful and the unbearable, often all in one song, Uz Jsme Doma taps into life's underground reserves and lets it shoot skywards.

UJD's first studio album since 1995, Ears was recorded and mixed in July and August 1999 at Prague's Sono Studios, with Bay Area sound guru Dan Rathbun (formerly of Oakland's sonic Grand Guignol players, Idiot Flesh) at the controls. Ears finally distills the band's energy in the studio, producing a concoction as potent as a bottle of homemade slivovitz. The songs on Ears focus on what goes on (and doesn't go on) between those two underused organs. Songwriters Jindra Dolansky and Mirek Wanek have produced their most energetic and involved compositions yet for this new release, while Mirek's lyrics, sung in Czech, delve deeper into the fears, deceptions, misunderstandings , and general blind fumbling that cause folk to fall into and out of relationships. Guitarist Radek Podvesky, bassist Jan Cejka, and drummer Petr Bohm contribute powerhouse backing to the album on their first studio recordings as band members.

Since forming in the small Czechoslovakian border town of Teplice in 1985, Uz Jsme Doma has weathered the tyranny of Communism, numerous line-up changes, and relentless touring, including performances in war-torn Bosnia. The band's music, through a juxtaposition of the beautiful and ugly, familiar and strange, aims to provoke the listener to feel something genuine and new; in the famous words of one of the band's inspirations, Franz Kafka, to be "an axe for the frozen sea inside us."

If you would like to interview UJD or need more information about UJD, Ears, or UJD's winter tour, contact Carl Hanni at Mod Media, 520-432-7433, modmedia@theriver.com. For color or black and white photographs of UJD, or copies of Ears, please contact Patrick O'Donnell at Skoda Records, 202-547-8006, skodarec@bellatlantic.net.

visit the new wWw.UZ JSME DOMA.cOm


"Ears" now available online, in stores, and special order
Usi/Ears by Uz Jsme Doma ~ Art by Martin Velisek
UJD's last tour was something of a tease--they were playing powerful new tracks from an album--"Usi," or "Ears"--which hadn't been released yet. But now the wait is over. UJD's first studio album in four years shows the band to be growing in force and precision as they knock out another rousing set of high-octane ditties that never fail to get me up and dancing. It's Fugazi meets Men At Work--angular hard-edged rock straight from the heart tempered by blazing sax riffs that blends punk, ska, and jazz influences to create a sound and energy that's utterly unique, addictive, and defies description. As the title track insists--"Usi! Usi! Usi--poslouchat!" Or, in English--"Ears! Ears! Ears--listen!" And listen up you must. English lyrics included. Get "Ears" at http://clamazon.com/ or order direct from

Skoda Records
P.O. Box 77611
Washington, DC 20013-7611
Ph/fax: 202-547-8006
email: skodarec@bellatlantic.net


!!!   You will need Quicktime player to view this large (2.9M) file   !!! An UZ JSME DOMA rarity! The opening sequence from the Czech television Martin Velisek documentary for which UJD provided the soundtrack. The complete soundtrack is available as part of the Uz Jsme Doma pop-up book.

You will need the Quicktime plug-in to view this LARGE (2.9M) file.


 H   I   S   T   O   R   Y  
(what a blow, what a blow)

Ten Years After the Velvet Revolution,
Uz Jsme Doma
releases their 5th studio album--EARS

On November 17, 1989, a student protest in Prague set in play a series of events

which would lead to the collapse of the Communist government within a month

and return democracy to the Czech people after 41 years of Soviet rule.

By December 3, inimitable Czech avant-rockers Uz Jsme Doma, a group

which had not long before been considered "antisocial" by the state,

was playing in front of 15,000 in Prague at a concert in celebration

of the changes. Soon afterwards, UJD frontman Mirek Wanek found

himself drafted as a leader of an interim government in the band's

hometown of Teplice, cleaning out corrupt officials, before returning

to his duties in UJD.

"These guys are touring MONSTERS."
                              
--Nils, of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum,
                                                                                                something of a monster himself.

Since 1996, UJD has toured extensively in Europe and North America,

honing the performances which have earned them the reputation of one

of the best live rock acts on the planet. The nine tracks on Ears

were recorded and mixed in July and August at Prague's Sono Studios,

with Bay Area sound guru Dan Rathbun (formerly of Oakland's sonic

grand guignol players, Idiot Flesh) at the controls. Set for release

in North America on November 9, Ears finally distills the band's

energy in the studio, producing a concoction as potent as a bottle of

homemade slivovitz.

The songs on Ears focus on what goes on (and doesn't go on)

between those two underused organs. Songwriters Jindra Dolansky and

Mirek Wanek have produced their most energetic and involved

compositions yet for this new release, while Mirek's lyrics, sung in

Czech, delve deeper into the fears, deceptions, misunderstandings ,

and general blind fumbling that cause folk to fall into and out of

personal relationships. Guitarist Radek Podvesky, bassist Jan

Cejka, and drummer Petr Bohm contribute powerhouse backing to the

album on their first studio recordings as band members.

Since forming in the small Czechoslovakian border town of

Teplice in 1985, Uz Jsme Doma has weathered the tyranny of Communism,

numerous line-up changes, and relentless touring, including

performances in war-torn Bosnia. Featuring Mirek Wanek on lead

vocals, guitar and keyboards, and Jindra Dolansky on tenor sax, the

band's music, through a juxtaposition of the beautiful and ugly,

familiar and strange, aims to provoke the listener to feel something

genuine and new; in the famous words of one of the band's

inspirations, Franz Kafka, to be "an axe for the frozen sea inside

us."

visit the new wWw.UZ JSME DOMA.cOm


  D   I   S   C   O   G   R   A   P   H   Y

Uprostred Slov/In the Middle of Words
(1990, Czechoslovakia; 1998 North America)

Nemilovany Svet/Unloved World
(1992, Czechoslovakia; 1997, North America)

Hollywood
(1993, Czech Republic; 1996, North America)

Pohadky ze Zapotrebi/Fairytales from Needland
(1995, Czech Republic; 1997, North America)

Jaro, Peklo, Podzim, Zima/Spring, Hell, Fall, Winter
~soundtrack to Czech television film about the work of Martin Velísek~
(1996, Czech Republic)

Czeching In
(compilation --1996, North America)

Usi/Ears
(1999, North America/Europe).

All of UJD's CDs are available for $12 postpaid from Skoda, except

for In the Middle of Words, which is now $15 (it's a two-disk set).

Hollywood is currently being reprinted. Wait 4-6 weeks for delivery.

For booking and other information:
Patrick O'Donnell
Skoda Records
P.O. Box 77611
Washington, DC 20013-7611
Ph/fax: 202-547-8006
email: skodarec@bellatlantic.net

UJD appears on new CD to benefit East Timor

Idols of the Markeplace has just released an East Timor Benefit Album to benefit Community Aid Abroad. CAA is an Australian group that's been providing food and medical attention for the East Timorese refugees--who have been displaced by the country's independence movement. This movement followed around 25 years of rule by neighboring Indonesia which claimed 250,000 lives (roughly one-third of the population). For more information on the East Timorese conflict, please visit amnesty.org, etan.org, or motherjones.com

The tracklist for the album includes:

Ramona and Beezus--Anything, Anything
Optiganally Yours--midori2tree
dead letter auction--housebroken (wells st.)
Smoking Popes--Do Something
Jailbait--I Want Your Sex
Hillbilly Hellcats--Hillbilly Love
Blue Moon Boys--Let Me In
Self--Glued to the Girl
Mudkids--High Noon
Idiot Flesh--Blue Head
Cataract Falls--Violation
Catharsis and the Humdrum--Hidden Track #9
Over the Rhine--Poughkeepsie
Uz jsme doma--Jassica (live)

The album is available on CDbaby.com (the title is "East Timor")
or may be ordered for $10pp from:
Idols of the Marketplace
P.O. Box 50138
Ft. Wayne, IN 47303
USA

.

if you have UJD news for posting here or would like to
join the announcement list endorsed by UJD themselves, send mail to
rob@zverina.com

visit the new wWw.UZ JSME DOMA.cOm