UZ JSME DOMA
TOUR DATES FALL 1999 :: UPDATED 991208
~ animation based on art by Martin Velisek ~ The Uz Jsme Doma North American "Ears/Usi" tour is over but the band is still rocking its way across Europe. I'm working with their management to get specific venue info. Send me an email and I'll add you to my infrequent UJD update mailing list.

Czech Republic Concerts:
Dec 18 - Delta (Christmas Concert), Prague
Dec 21 - Hvezdarna, Brno

--> lyrics and links
--> Concert Photos, the Crocodile, Nov 2, 1999
--> A brief history of Ears
--> Discography
--> A picture from the Knitting Factory, December 7, 1997
--> The Skoda Records website

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

Ten Years After the Velvet Revolution,
Uz Jsme Doma Is on Tour in North America
New CD Out Soon

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.

Ten years later, UJD is previewing its first studio album in

four years, and fifth overall, Usi/Ears, with its current tour.

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.

piling in to their "little home on wheels" for the Seattle to Portland runIn conjunction with the release of the new album, UJD

embarked on a whirlwind four and a half week tour of North America

beginning on October 21 in New York City. The band's seventh tour

in the Western hemisphere since March 1996 takes them out to

Vancouver and down to Texas before winding up on the East Coast on

November 20. Be sure not to miss

the live show that's had critics reaching for their thesauruses for

adequate words to describe it.

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."


  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

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