1984 - album lost to time
To get into the project Surowa Kara Za Grzechy we first need to look into another polish band - Afro Kolektyw. From Hip-Hop and Jazz, to funk, alt rock or even pop rock. After their debut album, Michał "Afrojax" Hoffman (the leader of the group) was looking for inspiration.
Surowa Kara Za Grzechy is, in his own words, a tribute to his childhood memories of music, being heavily focused around an 80s feel and synth pop. 1984 is an album fueled by nostalgia of his younger years.
In the year 2000, Skarlett (the manager of Afro Kolektyw) and he tried recording at home, just to try. The song "Wszyscy (w dupie mam lĂłd)" was probably the first they made, and is included on the actual album - but let's not get ahead of ourselves. They later entered a contest, using the song in question.
Summer 2002 - the pair started recording more professionally at Jimmy Dean's home studio. By march 2003 they had seven tracks already - every single one is included on the album's demo. Though, at the time, only a couple CD's were burned.
At the simillar time, a guitarist and a bassist joined the group, both were professionals, as Hoffman recalls, though the names of the two were lost to time, including to Afrojax, who doesn't remember who they were. Besides that, they were ready to play live.
"The drums were supposed to be played from a PC, but it broke during soundcheck, so I took it apart and fixed it at the last minute before the gig. We had a bassist and a guitarist, both professionals, but unfortunately I can't remember their names for the life of me, which is a shame because they were both good. Ula scrounged up a tambourine, and I played keyboards and guitar." - Michał Hoffman. As later stated in the interview, they actually took the gig very seriously, having regular rehearsals. Simply put, they were expecting at least several dozen people.
In truth, starting with maybe a dozen people, at the end of the concert only a couple of friends actually stayed - and that marked the end of the band for many years.
Hoffman didn't exactly expect anyone to remember about this experiment - at the time, most laughed to his face at the thought of releasing it as a full album. Could say they were ahead of their time, playing 80s inspired music in the 2000s, but Afrojax states, that it may have been a good idea, not to release it.
Krzysztof Kwiatowski of Trzy SzĂłstki, a Polish indie music portal, is the one credited for the revival of Surowa Kara Za Grzechy. We're not told the exact date in any interview, though i'm sure i could someday find more information about it - i do have a clue though.
Back to Afro Kolektyw, and their album Piosenki po polsku. The CD has a secret track, hidden at the end of the last song. If you stay long enough, you can hear a Surowa Kara Za Grzechy-esque song playing. Pretty sure you could call it a teaser for the re-edition of the album that finally came out 6 years later.
In 2018, both the album and the band were allowed to rest, with the full release. Right now, there would be no problem of finding it on spotify or youtube.
Aditionally, three songs featured on the re-edition were recorded in 2007 by Hoffman alone. His friend, after hearing the original 8 songs, persuaded Afrojax to try again. Ula wasn't in the country at time though, and so the tracks Bollywood, Godzina szczerości and Wszystko w porządku were recorded by himself.
