Propaganda

Michl (guitar) and Boy-R (drums + voice) founded IO as a punk/ hardcore band in late 1987. Our sound was mainly influenced by the English grindcore-scene of that time, quite fast stuff. Marce (bass) joined us in 1990, we did our first gigs and released the demo tapes Halo (1991) and Visionary Love (1992; with Kölle on the vocals), followed by Feb. 30 (1995) in the basic three-piece line-up. Our first CD output, the Home Video Target Range which was borne in that stupid millenium year, shows a mixture of all varieties of hardcore past and present framed in deconstructive brown (or any other ugly colour, if you wish).

July 2003 saw the release of a split piece with the screamos of John Deere, the World's lightest-weight heavy-duty cleaner. We recorded seven of our latest songs plus a slightly updated version of one song that already appeared on the Feb. 30 demo and a cover version of ENT's evergreen Bullshit Propaganda. Uneasy listening, uneasy artwork.

Back to the past. I guess it's stupid for bands to make a secret of their influences. Those who know us compare us with other bands, anyway, and those who haven't heard of us can take the following list of my personal background (I won't speak for my fellows) as an approach to understand our music:

• Ripcord, Napalm Death, Electro Hippies, Active Minds (for the speed);
• Neurosis, Brutal Truth, Assück, DVC, Breach, Accüsed, Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Cro-Mags, Dystopia, Impetigo, Melvins, Unsane, Himsa, Converge, Lack (the heavyness);
• Puke, A Minor Forest, 7 Seconds, Capitol Punishment, Flag of Democracy (melody);
• Hammerhead, Wipers, Frodus, Kepone, Nomeansno, Eisenvater (concerning rhythm);
• Swans, Lvmen (for the atmosphere).

We are still a band of (and for) friends. We have seen so many bands sell out themselves to the music business, but who cares. All our releases are sold at prime cost or can be stolen somewhere else on these pages.

(Boy-R)