Biography

Siekiera formed in 1982 or 1983 in Pulawy, Poland, under the name of “Trafo”. The line-up then was Tomasz Adamski - guitar, Tomasz Budzynski - vocals, Jerzy Janaczek - bass, and Borys - drums. They started by playing cover songs of UK Subs and The Exploited. In the autumn of 1983 they changed they name to Siekiera (Polish for “Axe”). There is a legend that the name came from a guy who heard their music and compared it to the axe. The original line-up was Tomasz Adamski(a.k.a. Dzwon) - guitar, leader, the author of all lyrics and music, Tomasz Budzynski (a.k.a. Budzy) - vocals, Dariusz Malinowski (a.k.a. Malina) - bass, and Krzysztof Grela (a.k.a. Koben) - drums. For a while some guy called Piotr Szewczyk played guitar, but they fired him because of his blues influences.

In 1984 they played their first official show in a place called “Remont” in Warsaw. They also performed in Jarocin, at the youth music festival, and they were well-received by the audience. In October of 1984, after a huge show with TZN Xenna and Youth Brigade, Budzynski left the band (he wanted to have some influence on the band’s music and lyrics, but Adamski wasn’t happy about that). With that line-up they played only 6 shows. After that Budzynski formed a band called Armia (with Robert Brylewski). He converted to Catholicism and now he states he’s ashamed for his contribution to Siekiera, although Armia traditionally plays a cover of Ludzie wschodu at concerts.

Tomasz Adamski reformed Siekiera with two new members: Zbigniew Musinski - drums and Pawel Mlynarczyk - keyboards. Dariusz Malinowski took the vocal duties (besides playing bass). In February of 1985 they recorded eight new tracks, some of them were played on the radio. In May and June they recorded some songs for an EP and the Jak Punk to Punk compilation LP. In 1985 they played again at the Jarocin festival, but the orthodox punk public didn’t like their new wave image and music.

In 1986 Siekiera released their only LP, Nowa Aleksandria - an excellent album, influenced mainly by Killing Joke, one of the greatest Polish albums of all time. In 1987, a new guitarist, Wieslaw Borysewicz, was recruited, and Tomasz Adamski concentrated on singing. In 1987 they also played a mini-tour with VARIETE, a Polish new wave band. Finally, in 1988 they broke up. They were expected to reform in 1989 with an almost original line up (with Stpa as the drummer), but somehow it didn’t work out.

Tomasz Adamski is now a poet and became interested in experimental theatre. Tomasz Budzynski is still Armia’s vocalist, he’s also involved in a Catholic project called 2TM2,3. He recently started performing solo, and his music and lyrics have less in common with punk now. Dariusz Malinowski has got a new band called Tra-band. Zbigniew Musinski is now in Germany. Krzysztof Grela was eventually killed in a pub in Pulawy in January of 1992.

http://www.myspace.com/siekiera