Punk rock and new wave band, active from 1983 to 1988.
Siekiera was founded in 1983 in Puławy by guitarist and songwriter Tomasz Adamski and singer Tomasz Budzyński. The band's first line-up also included drummer Krzysztof Grela, bassist Dariusz Malinowski and guitarist Piotr Szewczyk. Siekiera debuted in the spring of 1984 at the "Rock Front" festival in Warsaw's Remont Club, and in August the band won one of the top prizes at the prestigious Jarocin festival following a concert that was enthusiastically received. Two of the tracks recorded at the event appeared the following year on a compilation entitled Fala.
At the end of 1984, after a successful tour, Budzyński left Siekiera and went on to found the band Armia. Grela, who died tragically in 1992, left as well. Adamski became lead singer, with Zbigniew Musiński as the new drummer and Paweł Młynarczyk on keyboard.
The band's first studio recordings were made in February 1985 in Lublin, and clearly marked a change in style from raw punk rock to more electronically-based new wave. The next recording session produced the popular single Misiowie puszyści, as well as two tracks that would appear on the influential compilation Jak punk to punk. Siekiera's debut album, Nowa Aleksandria, was released in the autumn of 1986, and in 1987 Wiesław Borsewicz was introduced as the new guitarist. After a series of concerts, Adamski decided to disband the group in the spring of 1988.
Two compilations were released in January 2008 - Na wszystkich frontach świata and the vinyl-only 1984 - combining demos, rehearsals and live recordings from Siekiera's earliest period.
Discography:
- Nowa Aleksandria, Tonpress 1986, reissued by Sonic in 1992, Koch in 1999, MTJ in 2003 and Tonpress in 2004,
- Na wszystkich frontach świata, W Moich Oczach 2008,
- 1984, W Moich Oczach 2008.
Author: Maciej Sienkiewicz, November 2010.