TZN XENNA

DISCOGRAPHY Releases DZIECI Z BRUDNEJ ULICY 7" (Tonpress, 1985) CIEMNY POKOJ tape (Migrena, 1995 - has material from '81-'87) Reissues 22 POLISH PUNK CLASSICS CD (Sonic, 1992) CIEMNY POKOJ CD (Pop Noise) Compilations JAK PUNK TO PUNK LP (Tonpress, 1986) "Gazety mowia", "Co za swiat" INFO -

Band History compiled by Pawel Scream
TZN Xenna was formed in July 1981 by Zygzak - vocals, Markus – guitar, Czomba - bass and Gogo – drums, in the town of Raszyn near Warsaw. Czomba was replaced by Sydney and the band played its first show on September 11 (now, that's an omen!) 1981. Soon after they played at the 2nd New Wave Festival in Torun, thus gaining recognition beyond the Warsaw area. TZN Xenna became known as the orthodox punk band: they earned the reputation of being followed by a big crew of punks – loud and obnoxious. The band members often had to confront their own friends who wanted to steal from the younger punks or just beat the shit out of them. The band, although still maintaining the integrity of that crew, didn't tolerate such jock behaviour - Zygzak even became called "Dad" by some guys laughing at his protective attitude.

In 1982 Polish TV made a short documentary on the band called "A Way Of Life". Unfortunately I don't know if any copies exist, although it should still be in the TV archives. But I seriously doubt any chances to get it (as long as somebody doesn't want to pay really big bucks for it), but who knows? Hopefully I am wrong... Anyway, that appearance was pretty strange as other than that, the band more or less avoided the mass media. They even never played at the famous Jarocin Festival as they considered it to be too commercial, well attended by cops, etc. Also in 1982 TZN Xenna together with Dezerter and Deuter played a 3-show tour called Rock-Galicja in east-southern Poland (Galicja is the name of that part of the country). There exists a recording of the show in Rzeszow (poor quality, but what can you expect from the live recording of three punk bands in communist Poland 22 years ago?) from that tour. The same year Markus was taken to serve in the army, so Falconetti replaced him. About a year later Zygzak was kicked out of the band and Falconetti became not only a guitar player but also a singer. This line up didn't seem to work so the band decided to temporarily stop playing. Gogo started to play in Tilt (later moved to Armia, Moskwa, and then back to Tilt) and Sydney stopped playing music althogether.

In September 1984, Zygzak, Falconetti (this time as a bass player), and Markus (who just finished his army service) resurrected TZN Xenna with Dynia on drums. The first show of the just-reformed band happened to be with Siekiera and Youth Brigade (probably the first US punk band to play in Poland). In 1995 Xenna played at the Robrege Fest in Warsaw and finally entered the studio to record four songs. Two of them ended up on the Dzieci z Brudnej Ulicy 7" and the other two on the Jak Punk To Punk compilation LP (all four were also reissued on the 22 Polish Punk Hits CD). In 1986 Mionek joined as the second guitarist, but a year later TZN Xenna ceased to exist. As Zygzak said in an interview conducted in 1995, they were at the point of having two options – to record and release albums on the state-owned label or to call it quits. They decided to live up to their orthodox reputation and to remain a legend....

Zygzak formed a new band called De Klaszcz and later Lumpersi (with some other Xenna members), but none of them was as good. He also started to draw shirts designs and screenprint them under the name of Zygzak From Poland, and a couple of years ago he was still was in touch with the DIY punk scene (something uncommon among his generation punks), occasionally coming to shows, etc. I don't know what he's up to now, but I guess it didn't change much. Sydney died on August 28, 1996 at the age of 32 (I don't know any details). In 1995 the Ciemny Pokoj tape was put out. It compiles various songs recorded live from the 1981-87 period. A few years later Pop Noise records reissued it on CD with a few bonus songs.

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