Dezerter (deserter in Polish), founded as SS-20 in 1981 in Warsaw, Poland, is one of the most popular punk bands from Poland. They had to change their original name to Dezerter because of the reaction of the Communist authorities (SS-20 was a NATO reporting name of a Soviet ballistic missile, and this name was regarded too provocative by the government). Besides a band had very controversial lyrics and being constantly attacked by state censorship they made a choice to change a name without change anything else. To become less recognizable by regime they often changed name at posters, sometimes written as "De-zerter", sometimes as "The Zerter" - it was cheap and efficient trick to cheat an opponent.
Dezerter debuted during the Mokotów Music Autumn Festival, in November 1981. In 1982, together with other Polish punk rock bands (TZN Xenna and Deuter) it went on a tour across the country, also playing in the 1982 Jarocin Festival). In 1983 Dezerter recorded a four-song 7″ EP, Ku przyszłości (Into the future) also known as Spytaj milicjanta (Ask (a question to) a cop). The record was issued by the state label Tonpress and it was very warmly welcomed by fans, with 50,000 copies sold. With fast guitar riffs and intelligent lyrics written by Grabowski, Dezerter's concerts have drawn thousands of fans and its LPs were very popular, especially in the late '80s and early '90s.
The most famous Dezerter's live appearance took place during the 1984 Jarocin Festival in Jarocin, Poland and it was attended by some 20,000 people. The concert was recorded and later parts of it were released (together with four songs from mentioned EP at beginning) on the LP Underground Out of Poland. The LP was produced by Joey Shithead, vocalist of a Canadian band D.O.A.. Dezerter however is not widely known in other countries perhaps because the band refrains from singing in the English language. Nevertheless, the band played in several European countries, Japan and the U.S.A. (in New York City and Chicago, early November 2009, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall).
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