C.A.F.B.

C.A.F.B.

C.A.F.B. in 1997
Background information
Origin Budapest, Hungary
Years active 1990–present
Associated acts Sledgeback, Soffi, Ritualis remtettek, Fixa Idea,
Website Official Website
Members Lajos Suto
Laca Urban
Zoltan Horniak
Aron Kovats
Tibor Szitas

C.A.F.B. is a Hungarian alternative rock band from Budapest originally formed in 1990 with Gabor Szakacsi and Mihaly Szita. The group has been through several line-up changes since its start but officially never broke up and released seven full-length albums in its more than 20-year career. The last remaining original member, Gabor Szakacsi, left the group in 1999. Today C.A.F.B. is led by Suto, who was the bass player from 1996 to 1999 when he changed to guitar and tried to re-establish the sound.

Early years (1990–1994)

C.A.F.B. formed in 1990 and started playing live shows in early 1991. Immanuel Olah joined the band late 1991, replacing the first drummer. He wrote and sang about forty percent of the songs performed by the band from 1991 to 1994. With the help of Benedek Fliegauf C.A.F.B. has been booked in the legendary alternative rock club "Black Hole" the first time ever in the summer of 1991 which helped the group move forward and get noticed in the Budapest punk scene. From 1991 C.A.F.B. regularly performed at the famous club with some of the most important Hungarian hardcore and punk rock bands of the era, like A.M.D., Leukemia and Tankcsapda. They recorded their first album Utcastilus ("Street style") in 1992 but it did not release until 1998, (when the "Hungarian Metal Hammer" magazine owned label, "Hammer music" issued the material for the first time ever) in limited edition. Later in 1993 the Hungarian underground label Trottel records signed the group and released the full length album, Ne bizz senkiben ("Don't trust anybody") which featured the song "B.R.F.K." (Budapest Police dept.). The song almost instantly became a crowd favorite because of its anti-establishment lyrics. Szita and Olah left the band in 1994 when Szakacsi was serving his one-year army service.

The transition (1995-1996)

The first temporary lineup of C.A.F.B. formed in early 1995 after Szakacsi returned from his military service. The group consisted of friends, mostly from the group that started the successful Hungarian “jungle beat” outfit Brains from this lineup, (Balazs Babinecz, Gergely Jeli, Abel Tokes) following the departure of Szakacsi.[2] Brains moved to different direction, and Szakacsi brought together another short lived project for a 1996 summer tour with members of the punk band, Leguan. The final and most recognized lineup of C.A.F.B. got its shape following the 1996 summer tour.

In the mainstream (1997–1999)

C.A.F.B. recorded the album Zanza at Reaktor studios Budapest with Gabor Nemeth (Bikini) producer. Released by Premier Art records in September 1997, the album featured the song "Engedj be". Produced by Andras Szitanyi and Gabor Varga (Sexepil), the video that has been filmed for this song was a major success and charted in almost every Hungarian music channels in 1997 and 1998. The video mainly hit the rock music charts of Z+ TV and ATV that time. A year later C.A.F.B. recorded its next album Minden-hato ("All-mighty") but Premier Art refused to release it. This work later came out by Edge records which is part of "Metal Hammer Hungary".

Zoltan Horniak left C.A.F.B. after the band finished touring the Zanza album in 1998. He tried to commit suicide later that year and spent a short time in a psychiatric facility.[3] He returned to the group in 2009.

The late C.A.F.B. (2000-2009)

Gabor Szakacsi with Therapy? in Seattle (2001).L-R-Graham Hopkins; Andy Cairns; Gabor Szakacsi; Michael McKeegan.-Front:Martin McCarrick

Szakacsi left for Seattle in 1999 but occasionally traveled to Budapest to record the albums 'Subkontakt" (2001) and "Naiv" (2004). He did not play any live shows with the group.

Laca Urban wrote the song "No vagy csak no" ("You are only a woman") in 1991 with the band "Ritualis remtettek".The song was an underground success when released in the early 1990s.This song has been recorded and released by C.A.F.B. on their 1997 album "Zanza" and became known as a C.A.F.B. song. After finishing the 2004 album Urban joined to the pop punk outfit Soffi. which is fronted by his wife. Lajos Suto took over the frontman position in 1999 when Szakacsi left for the USA. He wrote and sang about 40 percent of C.A.F.B. songs written after 1996, including "Budapest", released on their 1997 "Zanza" album. Suto switched from bass to guitar after Szakacsi left the band in 1999. As of now he is the longest standing member of the group alongside Laca Urban. He also works as a music producer. He produced the last three C.A.F.B. albums.

Zsolt Lukacs was the bass player for C.A.F.B. from 1999 to 2004. He joined the band after Suto swithched to guitar. Appeared on the album "Subkontakt".

Gyorgy Bosko worked with C.A.F.B. from 2004 to 2008 as a bass player.

No originals (2009-

2005-2009: No original album "Szennyhullam" ("Wastewave") is the title of C.A.F.B.'s 2009 album. All the songs released on this work are covers of 1980s and 1990s Hungarian alternative bands. Aron Kovats was the member of the well known Budapest pop punk band M.A.K. He joined C.A.F.B. as a guitar player in 2005. Tibor Szitas is the present bass player of the band and appears as a vocalist in the cover song "Warhead" on the latest album "Szennyhullam". He joined C.A.F.B. in 2009.

In 2009, the founder Gabor Szakacsi has performed a live event with C.A.F.B.. This was the only C.A.F.B. show with him since 1999.

Szakacsi with C.A.F.B. in 2009

Full length albums

Tapes

Compilations

Videography

Side projects

Name

C.A.F.B. is Abbreviation for "Cops Are F*ing Bastards" (As the The 4-Skins song "A.C.A.B.) which has been used by the band until 1997 when they signed to Premier art records.Then they started calling it simply "4 musical chords" because of pressure from the label's management.

Unfortunate events and beyond

Church burning

Immanuel Olah former drummer (vocalist, songwriter) of C.A.F.B. (1991–1994) was sentenced to ten months prison in 2007 after vandalizing and later burning down a church in southeast Hungary. He was a “cantor” at the time, according to major Hungarian news agencies like "Magyar Nemzet Online"[4] and “Index.hu”.[5]

Fatality

After a long battle with heroin addiction Mihaly Szita the founding member and former bass player of the group (1990–1994) died in 2001.

Attempted suicide

Not long after departing C.A.F.B. in 1998 Zoltan Horniak keyboard player attempted suicide according to a (February 2000) C.A.F.B. interview released in the Hungarian edition of the famous rock music magazine "Metal Hammer".[6] Horniak has been treated in a psychiatric facility. He has returned to C.A.F.B. in 2008.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Original copy of the interview from 1998.
  2. ↑ Est magazine about Brains and C.A.F.B.
  3. ↑ Metal Hammer magazine
  4. ↑ A Balaton dobosa gyújtotta fel a templomot
  5. ↑ Index - Belföld - Elítélték a Balaton egykori dobosát
  6. ↑ http://cafb.hu/cikkek/2000_02_MetalH.gif