Column

Sunday Old School: Acid Drinkers

We've already seen twice this year, through our features on Behemoth and Vader, that Poland is a country which has contributed some great works to the art of heavy metal music. This week, we'll be taking a look at another band from the country that helped to pave the way for metal in Eastern Europe and stake a place in the thrash which had boomed in their neighbouring country, Germany. A group from Poznan known quite memorably as Acid Drinkers.

The band was formed in September 1986 by singing bassist Tomasz "Titus" Pukacki and guitarist, Robert "Litza" Friedrich, who were soon joined by drummer, Maciej "Slepy" Gluchowski and another guitar player named, Dariusz "Popcorn" Popowicz. They recorded their first songs together before Pukacki was forced to put his musical aspirations on hold for two years to do his part for the army. He returned two years later and eventually reformed Acid Drinkers with Friedrich and Maciek "Slimak" Starosta. They performed their first gig in August 1989 in western Poland's largest city, Wroclaw. The thrashers quickly made a name for themselves, earning a record deal with Under One Flag, an English record label which had previously released albums by such artists as Onslaught.

Almost as if to challenge their countrymen's loyalties in a time where the people were fighting back heavily against Communist militia, their first full length album was entitled, "Are You A Rebel?," which was actually released in Britain two years before a Polish release was available. It featured some of the group's oldest songs such as, "Del Rocca," a song about a friend Pukacki had made in the army and "I Mean Acid." Several of the album's tracks remain popular live staples to this day, including the tongue in cheek title, "I Fuck Violence" and "I Am the Mystic."

Less than a year later, Acid Drinkers released their sophomore full length, "Dirty Money, Dirty Tricks," which was notable for including a cover of the Deep Purple classic, "Smoke on the Water." The record wasn't as jagged and heavy as it's predecessor, but did feature more of the humour they had flashed on "Are You a Rebel?" in songs such as "Yahoo." Their humour was even more prominent on their next record, "Strip Tease," which this time featured two covers; namely of the Monty Python funeral anthem, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" and an acoustic cover of Metallica's, "Seek and Destroy," with a reported reggae cover of the Slayer track, "Black Magic" also reportedly planned, though this didn't make the final cut.

Keeping up with their pace of releasing an album a year, "Vile Vicious Vision" was unleashed in 1993 and continued their tradition of strange covers, this time in the guise of the Crystals' hit, "And Then He Kissed Me." Covers continued to play a large role for the band as in 1994, they released a covers album entitled, "Fishdick," which saw the band performing songs by the likes of Motorhead, Slade and Kiss, in addition to an original track named, "Fuckin' the Tiger."

That same year, a fifth album of original material, "Infernal Connection" was released and became arguably the group's most popular work to date, particularly in their home country. It was also their first effort for their new record label, Loud Out Records, who would only keep the band for this album before they made the switch to Polton Records for their next album, "The State of Mind Report," though Acid Drinkers would once again change companies soon afterwards by signing to Metal Mind Productions, the first album for whom, "High Proof Cosmic Milk" was released in 1998. This would be an important release for the band, as it was their last to feature Robert "Litza" Friedrich, who left at the end of the year and was replaced by the Guess Why guitarist, Przemyslaw "Perla" Wejmann.

Wejmann made his recording debut with the group the next year on the album, "Amazing Atomic Activity," before also going on to record "Broken Head" and "Acidofillia." He would vacate his position in early 2003, being replaced by Aleksander "Olass" Mendyk, who very quickly established himself as an important member of the group, writing a hefty chunk of the material for, "Verses of Steel," the band's best received album in years. Tragically however, his contribution was short lived as he passed away from circulatory failure at the age of 29 in 2008 and was replaced by Wojciech "Jankiel" Moryto.

Since the arrival of Moryto, Acid Drinkers have continued on their path of metal fueled mayhem, releasing another covers album, "Fishdick Zwei – The Dick Is Rising Again," in 2010 and another studio record, "La Part du Diable" two years later. They will soon be releasing another slab of original material entitled, "25 Cents For a Riff" in early October. It will surely be another great addition to their outstanding catalogue, one which has seen them praised and credited as an influence by countless other Polish artists and cemented their place in their country's proud contribution to metal.

Acid Drinkers - "Are You a Rebel?"

Acid Drinkers - "Menel Song/Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"

Acid Drinkers - "Pizza Driver"

Acid Drinkers - "Infernal Connection"

Acid Drinkers - "High Proof Cosmic Milk"

Acid Drinkers - "Acidofilia"

Acid Drinkers - "Swallow the Needle"

Acid Drinkers - "Love Shack"