We were included in the box with a negative sign after dealing with topics such as the homeland, dual citizenship or grievances against Hungarians. Interview with Attila Nyerges, frontman of the Ismerős Arcok band.
We were given the nationalist stamp, so many gates were closed to us, but just as the clean spring water made its way, our music and thoughts also found understanding ears and sensitive hearts - Attila Nyerges recalled in the interview the beginnings, with whom he talked about the band celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary , we also talked about Hungarianness and the "crazy ideas" that are destroying Western Europe.
Familiar Faces is twenty-five years old this year. Where did they start from? What was the goal at the beginning, what kind of void did you see in the music market back then?
We were not so smart and aware at that time. I spent seven years in my previous rhythm-and-blues band, we performed in small pubs and blues clubs, and we were somewhat well-known. Some of my friends were in the same band, and the others were in another similar band at the time. The two "pre-bands" were just starting to give up and were about to break up, when we decided to stay together and continue, that's when we founded Ismerős Arcak. We all come from Budapest and the agglomeration. In the beginning, we played rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll songs, then the national mood and an invitation from Székelyföld changed our lyrics.
What did you experience in Transylvania?
We played next to Székelyudvarhely and were able to spend a few days there, it was quite a revelatory experience for all of us. Even the trip to Transylvania had a huge impact on us, we met Hungarian people seven to eight hundred kilometers from our hometown and got to know another Hungary. Eighties rock music was playing on the radio.
I couldn't go to a place where they didn't speak Hungarian, and we were surrounded by such love and kindness as soon as they found out that we came from the motherland, that I can't say. After we came home, our textual world changed, what we had to say, because our sense of justice dictated that this should be made known to everyone whom our voice reaches.
On the other hand, we could not leave without comment the oppression with which the Hungarians living beyond our borders were tormented, who had the role of second-class citizens only in their homeland.
We started writing songs that also deal with these topics, we became a thinking band that reflects on things in life.
They grew from a fun band to a thinking band, which also became a mission.
That's exactly what happened. We noticed that our audience is completely changing, those who went to the parties just to have a good time on Saturday nights have worn out, but people who were open and receptive to these ideas appeared at our concerts.
We reached a point where there was almost no soul at the concert, but after that our popularity continued to grow, thanks to Pannon Rádio, which was available in and around Budapest at the time, which played some of our songs and they started to notice us.
It was all so dreamlike, since we didn't even hope that we would ever be able to make a living from it, to be honest, we didn't plan for it, we didn't have any selfish goals with fame, stardom, etc. We simply wanted to convey our thoughts to as many places as possible, to as many people as possible, that was the goal.
That worked.
We didn't really notice the difficulty that the media doesn't pay much attention to us, or that we can't perform in certain places because of this, because we were very quickly put in a box with a negative sign after we dealt with topics such as the homeland, dual citizenship or Hungarianness grievances. We were quickly labeled as nationalists, so many gates were closed to us, but just as the clear spring water made its way, our music and our thoughts also found understanding ears and feeling hearts.
Obviously much slower than if we had received significant media support, but we managed to increase our audience more permanently, and I can confidently say that today there is no corner of the Carpathian Basin where they do not know who the Familiar Faces are.
Every genre has its segment that is meant to entertain, and those same genres also offer an opportunity to convey something to those who are receptive to it. My parents raised me to try to create value and to give something to those who honor me with their attention, so that it is not only for relaxation, but also gives something extra to the community to which I belong.
Their song "Nélküled" has become a staple among those with national sentiments.
Every musician dreams of writing at least one song that people will remember. When we wrote this a good ten years ago, we didn't think it would be this either. I remember when my friend Lecsó, our colleague on the keyboard, came up with the melody, I immediately felt that I would be able to write lyrics for it very easily, and I immediately had the theme. To be honest, I didn't think that this note would have such a great career.
How was this hit born, what was it originally about?
It would have been a thank you for our ten years of existence, to our friends and fans - if you can use that term - who stuck by us for ten years, took care of us, listened to us and carried us in the palm of their hands. I was trying to somehow put into words what would have happened to the band without them. The text itself was about this, but of course I used pictures that you might be used to from Faces.
This song is out of bounds.
Yes, it starts to live an independent life after a while, probably thanks to the fact that we went a lot to play outside the borders. This note was played everywhere, because the audience stuck to it from the first moment. During our twenty-five-year career, I tried to leave him out of the show once, but it turned out to be such a disaster that we have of course not attempted to do so since then. At the end of the concert, Nélküled has its fixed place where the Girl with Pearls was at the Omega or the Wanderer at the end of the Lord parties.
How did Nélküled become an anthem of national unity?
Thanks to the love of the Highlanders, there were also quite prosaic reasons why it gained such enormous fame, as DAC took both the band and the song under its wings. In addition, they provided a top performance in those days, ten years ago half of Europe watched them play in Dunaszerdahely, where Nélküled was often played before the matches. In fact, it was here that this note met the public for the first time, and then on the day of national unity, the Prime Minister also shared it, so it gained a huge audience. In addition, portals that are not necessarily our fans remembered and talked about him. From there, there was no going back. I can see where this has developed and I am very happy and proud of it.
And we have yet to see what the next decades will bring.
Well, to add to that, it is unlikely that I know more than that I play and sing whenever I have the chance. I am very pleased that Ádám Tősér, who previously directed Blokád, is making a film about the DAC. It is a huge honor for me that now, when DAC is playing again with the old enemy, Slovan, I can go out to Dunaszerdahely again, and I will sing this song in the stadium, and it will all be on the movie screen.
After twenty-five meaningful years, what do they expect from the next decades?
I don't think our future holds such big surprises, although we'll see, we'll face it, thank God our health is pretty much okay, these twenty-five years haven't crushed us so much, and we haven't lost much of our enthusiasm either. A lot of things have been solved from dreams and tasks that we thought were important, but that does not mean that we can sit back and say that everything is fine, we achieved what we wanted, thank you very much, we are now enjoying the fruits of it. The world is what it is, it always gives people new and new tasks and of course there are daily topics, there is something to talk about. If it's within our power, we can still play in ten to fifteen years and I hope that we will be making songs and records in the coming decades as well.
He already expressed his concern about Western Europe years ago. What do you think about the European Union now?
I wrote the song "Europe 2017" seven years ago, unfortunately, almost everything that I said out of fear came out, I'm thinking here of Germany and the conditions prevailing in Europe.
We would finally be able to cross borders and go anywhere within Europe, whereas before, for example, when I was a child, this was not possible, people were happy if they were able to cross the border at all, let alone travel. Now, however, those who want to be safe will think twice about where they travel, because conditions prevail in certain countries in Europe that you do not wish for your family, and you do not want to expose your own skin to the dangers lurking there.
I thank the Good Lord that I live in this country and that my country has a leadership that thinks about the world roughly the way I do, and that makes me feel good.
Is there still a way back for Western Europe? Can we preserve our traditions and identity here in Central Europe?
I think that countries that experienced communist dictatorship cannot be fooled as long as the generations that lived through it or heard from their parents and grandparents about what the world could turn into are alive. Those who do not realize that history repeats itself, can easily walk into the same traps that we have walked into either due to our own stupidity or cruel circumstances. I'm not a fortune teller, I don't know what will happen. The leadership of certain countries is secretive and tries to deceive its own people. Sooner or later, people will overturn the table, and God forbid that they forcefully put an end to what should be put an end to, because those who are pushed into a corner are not usually selective in their means.
They are spreading ever harsher standards, as if they want to deprive humanity of its value system...
Yes, but I think that the news distorts these issues, as if crazy ideas are generally accepted in Western countries, while there is no mention of this, as evidenced by the European farmers' demonstrations, while before the demonstrations we cannot hear a single voice about the problems of the producers outside in news reports. Then all of a sudden the people were satisfied and told the march to stop! I think most of humanity is still pro-normality. The question is, of course, how brainwashed they are, or how deceived they are in their own country.
If you could imagine blowing out the candles on the band's cake right now, what would you wish for?
I wish the band that we can stay together as long as possible and stay healthy, because unfortunately I have experienced this in my own life, that a person's life can change from one moment to the next in terms of health. And to those people to whom my words reach, I tell them to love the band and pay attention to us, because we still try to say smart things.
And what does it tell young people that it is possible to build from the ground up and become successful without serious headwinds?
A person should have goals, but the goal should not be to achieve superficial success. Do not under any circumstances think that this is some kind of opportunity for an easier life. Find the activity in your life that brings you joy! Don't go to a workplace where you can make a lot of money, but you hate going there.
I've thought countless times about what I would do if I didn't have the opportunity to go on stage from tomorrow, and finding a job where I could earn a lot of money was on the last list. For sure, I would be looking for something that gives me joy in everyday life, so that I can get up and do my work with joy.
If you had to condense the facial poetics of Familiar Faces into a few numbers, what songs would you recommend to our readers?
We have at least ten records with important songs. But it should be the song "I'm Looking at the Mountains", because I really like it and I definitely think it's worth listening to. Mostly, I tried to put the concept of home into words, preferably in such a way that I didn't do it with trite and boring thoughts. The song "The Thing" is also very popular with our audience. When my children were very small, and I was taking them to the forest playground half an hour's walk from the terminal of the eleven-eleven bus, I wrote this text on a small wooden table, trying to formulate who should do what in life. And I tried to narrow it down to all kinds of occupations and ages. Europe 2017 may shake people up a bit, but I also recommend the video clip about my hometown called Budapest to their attention.
How do you celebrate this important anniversary?
With lots of music! Our jubilee rock concert will be held at Barba Negra on September 21st, we are really preparing for it, and at the end of the year we will also present a special publication. We had a fantastic evening with the Zalaegerszeg symphony orchestra, we would like to include the audio of this in some form in this publication with photos and interesting facts that roughly cover the last twenty-five years.
Featured image: Photo: András Grépály/hirado.hu
