Andriy Zholob, vocalist/guitarist, Beton: When MTV arrived in Ukraine, I heard Nirvana, the Offspring, Bad Brains, Social Distortion and thrash metal, and realised that all this started from punk rock. Our drummer and I were in a ska-punk band first, but when our vocalist became pregnant we started Beton in 2017 and played lots of festivals. Everything changed with the invasion.
In 2022, I started military service as a surgeon on the frontline. We were attacked many times and on at least four occasions I was lucky not to die. I had guitars with me on the frontline and every evening we’d play just to relax.
At one point, my commander gave me eight days off to record a battle song for our brigade and Beton did a cover of the Clash’s London Calling – Kyiv Calling – to raise money for the Ukrainian resistance. I wanted to use punk rock to stand against evil. I finished my service two years ago, quit medicine and now work with veterans, many of whom come to our gigs.
There are guys and girls with prosthetics, slam dancing, singing along and everything. It’s a real moment of punk rock unity. We play two or three shows every month, but I like to spend time in the mountains.
Although I play punk rock, sometimes I need silence. Nao, vocalist, Taqbir: In the Muslim community of Morocco, where I come from, the punk look is not accepted. For a long time, I had to perform anonymously, with my face covered, in case people recognised me and wanted to hurt me.
Being a punk is not for the faint-hearted. Even in Spain, where I live now, I felt isolated as an immigrant and as a woman who did crazy things to my hair. People would tell me: “You love Satan.” I heard Crass when I was 13.
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