LP Messed Up ‎– Everything You Believe In

MESSED UP are four grrrls from the city of Grodno near the Polish and Lithuanian borders. The quartet was founded in 2015 with the will to escape the lethargy of their post-Soviet homeland and to face the social expectations and constraints of their own environment with self-empowerment and creativity. In the small Belarusian subculture, which is often affected by repression and incomprehension, at least a temporary escape from everyday society is possible; touring through other cities and neighbouring countries expands one’s own horizon better than Instagram and Vk.com. The band is quickly at home in a D.I.Y. scene in which bands, promoters and clubs know each other well and often have to act on the edge of illegality. Contacts to like-minded musicians with emancipatory agendas such as MISTER X lead through WHAT WE FEEL to FEINE SAHNE FISCHFILET, who always work closely with the local bands of the anti-fascist scene at their former USSR concerts and support them vice versa in Germany. After MESSED UP have been perfecting their dry, to the point played punk rock for four years and released a digital EP, they have now delivered with “Everything You Believe In” an eleven song debut album with always melodic punk rock, singer NASTYA reminds with her strong organ often of the colleagues of DISTILLERS, HOLE or L7. The Russian lyrics of the band follow social and political hotspots like racism, homophobia or social ignorance – developed without slogans from a personal lyrical perspective. In the cover of IGGY POP’s famous song “You Wanna Be My Dog”, the lyrics are slightly altered, giving an old piece new relevance. “Everything You Believe In” is not only the album title, but also the motor for this young band to continue. They refuse to be a conformist part of the patriarchal and oppressive society of the former USSR. They scream out loudly what they reject and continue to sail against the strong wind of the reactionary zeitgeist.