Dezerter (band)

Dezerter
Dezerter at the Off Festival, 2007
Background information
Also known as	SS-20
Origin	Warsaw, Poland
Genres	Hardcore punk, anarcho punk
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Metal Mind Productions, Tonpress, Maximum Rock'n'roll, QQRYQ Productions, Polton/Warner Music Poland, Izabelin Studio, Silverton, , Tank Records
Associated acts	Atomico Patibulo Deuter Hey PRL
Website	www.dezerter.most.org.pl
Members	Robert Matera (1981 - ) Krzysztof Grabowski (1981 - ) Jacek Chrzanowski (2000 - )
Past members	Dariusz Stepnowski (1981 - 1985) Dariusz Hajn (1981 - 1986) Rafał Kwaśniewski (1987) Paweł Piotrowski (1985 - 1993) Tomasz Lewandowski (1994 - 1999)

Dezerter, founded as SS-20 in May 1981 in Warsaw, is one of the most popular punk bands from Poland. The band was founded by three students of Warsaw's vocational high school (technikum) - Robert "Robal" Matera (guitar), Krzysztof Grabowski (drums), and Dariusz "Stepa" Stepnowski (bass). All three were born in 1963, and went to the same class. From the beginning Grabowski wrote lyrics, and Matera music. The three classmates originally planned to name their band Sektor A, but after some time changed their minds and named it SS-20. Soon afterwards, they were joined by another student of the same school, Dariusz "Skandal" Hajn (voc., born 1965), who, as Grabowski later stated, "looked like a real punkrocker". The band started regular rehearsals in the summer of 1981. With fast guitar riffs and intelligent lyrics written by Grabowski, Dezerter's concerts drew thousands of fans and its LPs were very popular, especially in the late '80s and early '90s.

The most famous Dezerter's live appearance took place during the 1984 Jarocin Festival in Jarocin, Poland and it was attended by some 20,000 people. The concert was recorded and later parts of it were released (together with four songs from the 7″ EP recorded in 1983) on the LP Underground Out of Poland. The LP was produced by Joey Shithead, vocalist of a Canadian band D.O.A.. Dezerter however is not widely known in other countries, perhaps because the band refrains from singing in the English language. Nevertheless, it played in several European countries, as well as Japan and the U.S. (in New York City and Chicago, early November 2009, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall). In 2010, Grabowski's memoirs "Dezerter, poroniona generacja?" ("Dezerter, aborted generation?") were published in Warsaw.

SS-20 debuted during the Mokotów Autumn Music Festival, in November 1981. In the spring of 1982 the band played at the Rail Worker House of Culture in Warsaw's district of Praga, but the show was ended halfway when management of the house disconnected electricity. Soon afterwards, SS-20 went for its first concert outside of Warsaw. It took place in Toruń, at the Od Nowa Club. In early summer 1982, SS-20 recorded a tape and sent it to the management of the Jarocin Festival. To the surprise of band's members, it was qualified to perform. The August 1982 Jarocin show was filmed by Polish TV (see YouTube video of Dezerter at Jarocin 1982: ), and by film director Paweł Karpiński. SS-20 became famous, and the band appeared in such films, as "Być człowiekiem", "Film o pankach", and "To tylko rock" (see YouTube video of Dezerter from the 1983 "Film o pankach" ).