Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

[Bryan Swirsky <bryan.swirsky AT gmail.com>]

Zuby Nehty

Prague, 1981: Czechoslovakia is still in the dark period after the
Soviet Invasion dubbed euphemistically by the Communists as
normalizace  ("normalization"), when freedom of expression is
curtailed and obedience to the state is demanded in exchange for
being left alone by the authorities.  Just five years before, members
of the bands the Plastic People of the Universe and DG307 had been
arrested, tried, and imprisoned by the authorities for playing
"antisocial" music.  No one had any notion that, by the end of the
decade, the Communist regime would crumble.  So when Pavla Jonsonnová
(née Fediuková) and Hana Řepová (née Kubičková) meet in high school
and decide to form a punk band, it is more than a typical act of
adolescence.

            From the start they were different, simply by being women
in a music world dominated by men.  With Pavla on guitar, Hana on
drums, and joined by Marka Miková (née Horáková) on bass guitar and
keyboards, they called themselves Plyn (the Gas), and had their first
gig in 1982.  Their first songs were simple, about two minutes long,
partly under the influence of punk rock, partly because that's all
they could play.  They even had a slogan – "Turn on the Gas, and the
Gas will turn you on!"

            By 1983, all three were married, and the group had already
been banned by the Communists.  To confuse the authorities, they
changed their name to Dybbuk (originally unaware of the meaning of the
evil spirit of Jewish legend), and, joined by Kateřina Jirčiková (née
Nejepsová) on saxophone, and, in 1985, by Eva Trnková on guitar,
redoubled their efforts.  Pavla, Hana, Marka and Kateřina all wrote
songs and sang.  Their songs were direct, playful, sad and exuberent,
about small details of life and filled with the energy of youth.  They
wrote about the mood of Prague, women in the city, even Kurt Vonnegut.
 They continued to play when they could, but there was the constant
threat of gigs being shut down by the police or of being arrested.
Towards the end of the 1980s, however, there was the beginning of a
cultural thaw, and the girls were able to pool their money to record
five songs for an EP which was released by the state-owned label
Panton in 1987 (and for which, of course, they were never paid.)  This
came too late for the band, which fell apart in 1988, a year before
the Velvet Revolution.

            By 1989, Marka and Pavla had formed a new group, Zuby
Nehty (Tooth and Nail), with other musicians, featuring more complex
compositions reflecting their increased skill as players.  After the
Revolution, their friend Mirek Wanek (of the band Už Jsme Doma),
persuaded the members of Dybbuk to get back together to record a full
album of their songs for posterity (released in 1991 as Ale čert to
vem/The Devil Take It).  The experience was so good that Pavla, Hana,
Marka and Kateřina decided to keep playing together, but, to reflect
the difference in the music and their attitudes, now under the name
Zuby Nehty.  By now, most had children and full time occupations:
Marka writing and performing plays for puppet theater and winning
awards for her children´s books, Pavla teaching at Charles University
and eventually designing courses of alternative Czech culture, Hana
becoming a social worker, and Kateřina joining Theatre Dlouha and
working as a proofreader.  Zuby Nehty went on to release four albums
in the 1990s (Utikej/Run Away, Král vysílá své vojsko/Red Rover,
Dítkám/Childish, and Loď odplouvá/The Boat is Sailing) and toured
extensively in Germany and Central Europe, but called it a day in 1999
as families and careers took precedence.

            Eleven years later, with most of their children grown, the
four friends have reunited, are writing new songs, and are performing
once again, including their first concerts in the United States.


Zuby Nehty concerts in the U.S. (all with Už Jsme Doma)

- Friday, October 1, 2010            The Rock Shop, 249 Fourth Ave.,
Brooklyn, NY
- Saturday, October 2, 2010            Czech Street Festival, 83rd
Street bet. Madison & Park Ave., New York, NY
- Tuesday, October 5, 2010            M Room, 15 W. Girard Ave, Philadelphia, 
PA
- Wednesday, October 6, 2010            Black Cat, 1811 14th St.,
N.W., Washington, DC