Tank full of Oil

SexA (Sedatives ex Apoteka - which should translate as Sedatives from the Pharmacy)
was a seminal Croatian band (icons of 1980's Post-Punk underground scene in Yugoslavia) that played since early 80s until they broke up in the early 90s.

The started in 1980/81, which was a really good time for Yugoslavian new wave. But due to the unaccessibilty of their music they haven't released anything until 1986 when a live cassette from their gig in Koper (Slovenia) was released in edition of 200 copies.Soon after that the band went into hiatus.
They re-appeared in 1989 with slightly different line up and totally different sound. This time they were quite noisy, not too different from bands like Killdozer, Big Black, Rapemen, although I'd say they were closest to Stretch Heads. During this period they released one LP and a single, as well as some cassettes. When the war in former Yugoslavia started they moved to Amsterdam and soon after broke up, for good it seems... Unfortunatelly, it appears Steve Albini was really interested in working with them, but the band was no more.
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SexA, short for Sedativ ex Apoteka, was founded in 1981, with lead singer Nikica Valentić (Nik), guitarist Ivan Bilosnić (Bic), keyboardist Saša Last, bass player Nino Prišuta and drummer Ratko Danilović. They were the typical example of a band with strong awareness of social and class issues. While others posed in front the legendary Zagreb clubs Zvečka and Kavkaz, they worked, towing coal or doing similar jobs; indeed, belonging to the blue collar class defined them.

In their first phase, they chose a dark New Wave sound, also in reference to several Avantgarde currents. This can be heard on their first official record SexA uživo (SexA Live) from a concert they did in Koper (Cappodistria, a coastal town in today’s Slovenia) in 1986. The album had only 200 copies, the only proof of their musical acitivity in that period of time. Soon after, they split, to reunite only near the end of the decade with Nik, Bic, Last and the new drummer Igor France. Stylewise, they shifted to Noise rock, due to a concert Nik had witnessed in Ljubljana/Slovenia in summer of 1988, a concert by the American post-Hardcore/Noise rockers Rapeman, Steve Albini's second band project. So, Sexa followed in the footsteps of bands such as Albini's two first groups Big Black and Rapeman, Killdozer etc.

In 1990, SexA's second album "No Sleep Till Pussy/Fuck Piction" was released, and the band's reputation came to the attention of … Albini. The man who was later to become the producer-icon of 90s guitar-driven post-punk rock,.with Nirvana's "In utero" and many, many others) offered SexA his services. The band immigrated to the Netherlands, where they planned to quickly make the money for the trip to the US. They first lived in went to Rotterdam and later moved to Amsterdam, living through all the stages of western-europeann subcultural dream of autonomous existence: they squatted houses, became stars of the local alternative scene (even recording a demotape with Albini without having to travel) - and had to face heavy misunderstandings: When the band decided to pose nude for the new single bearing the title "Pussy In The Sky With Diamonds", replacing their private parts by female one via collage of explicit photos, local feminists mobilized the Amsterdam squatter community for a call to boycott the band. In addition to another crucial controversy - meanwhile, the Balkan war had broken out; nonetheless, the band members refused to be labeled as refugees (as they refused any kind of labelling) -, the Dutch underground turned their back on them. The 12th December of 1991 in Breda, after 40 concerts and one year of living in the country, SexA went on a stage for the very last time. They couldn't perform live no more, so they broke up. Ever since that time, all the now ex-SexA members are part of the usual Western world rat race, looking for work and figuring out other existential needs. They are musicians no more. Today, Nik is a chef in a hotel, for instance, and Bic a housepainter. They have all more or less settled down to regular family lives, they spend time together with friends, go to Croatia for holidays. Though they still consider themselves outsiders, they like it that way. They see themselves as people who had willingly paid the price for preserving their personal and artistic identities. No regrets. Here we are. Still. In (Western) Europe. For a reason. Nostalgia is for others, for some in Croatia, maybe. And while listening to the heavy grinding, hypnotising maelstrom sound of SexA, and while watching their highly original videos excerpts, full of focused inspiration with a drive for experimental form in whatsoever way, filming themselves through the catalogue of artistic interventions, the spectator of this film, too, can feel a pinch in the heart: What would the music have sounded like, what would the artwork have looked like that SexA decided not to make?

This is the second winner film from festival friends of DORF, Documentary On Rock Festival in Vincovci/Croatia. HOW WE ENTERED EUROPE - THE SexA CASE won the DORF Award 2013 just two months ago - and here the DORF 2013 jury explains its choice:
“Here we have a movie which tells a story about cult alternative noise rock band SexA from Zagreb. Fresh approach and concept, exciting way to explore emotional and intimate scars and memories of band members, brings this story into musical, but also ideological european context. Author combines archive footage with recent recordings, which added to extraordinary passionate confessions and testimonies of original band members brings strong tension and nervous energy, so specific to music and expression of this band. In other words, movie has a story, rhythm and mistery – qualities which won this years jury members unique decision.“
(http://filmfestivaldorf.com/en/2013/03/11/dorf-2013-awards/)

[Releted links]
SexA@facebook
SexA@myspace
SexA@last.FM

[Video]
SEXA-No Sleep Till Pussy
SEXA - Djevojcica
SEXA - Jeane Jone

[Discography]
SexA@discogs
SexA@bandcamp

Albums
1986 - Uživo iz Kopra 23. 1. 1986.
1989 - Veprovi u gradu
1990 - No Sleep 'Till Pussy / Fuck Piction
1990 - Sexa u Galeriji SC
1990 - Tidamja 85

Singles
1991 - Pussy in the Sky With Diamonds / Tidamja

Compilation
1992 - Lajanje na zvijezde
1998 - My Head Got Pregnant [1993-95]

source:
jugorockforever.blogspot.ba//
http://www.terapija.net/mjuzik.asp?ID=10310//
darkscene.blogspot.com//
www.svimarsnaples.com//
serbianforum.org//
yuforum.net//
www.cmar-net.org//
www.svimarsnaples.com//
www.guranjeslitice.org//
samoslusaj.blogspot.com//
rockin-noiz.blogspot.com//
www.pazovacafe.com//
www.electrical.com//
www.svimarsnaples.com//
www.jutarnji.hr//