The Plastic revolution

>> Fighting the commies with Zappa, Beefheart and Reed

by CHRIS YURKIW

It's not the famous Prague Spring of 1968 that Vratislav Brabenec is talking about, although it was just after the proverbial "rolling in" of the Soviet tanks in August of that year, which put an end to the reform-minded government of then-Czechoslovak Communist Party leader Alexander Dubcek, that his rock group the Plastic People of the Universe was formed.

No, the bespectacled and long-bearded Brabenec is talking about the fall of 1989, or the Fall of 1989, better known as the Velvet Revolution which ostensibly brought an end to Communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia.

"The whole Communist system was disorganized," says the man who brought a touch of free-jazz sax to the Plastic People in 1973, three years after the band had its professional status revoked by The Party. "So I don't think it was destroyed by some kind of real revolution--it was more like it collapsed." Or melted away.

Still, history has it that it was actually the Plastic People of the Universe--six psychedelic phreaks who were more concerned with jamming on the vibe of Western dissidents like Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and Lou Reed than political activism--who indirectly ended up bringing down the big bad Bear. The story goes that the arrest of the Plastic People in 1976, among other resistors in intellectual and artistic circles, galvanized the Czechoslovak underground into writing up the also-famous Charter 77, a document demanding an end to human-rights violations in the country.

Brabenec concedes that that's the new party line, but he's quick to point out that he only spent 8 months in prison due to pressure from friend, playwright, and eventually triumphant Czech president Vaclav Havel.

"Our music and lyrics weren't focused on politics," says Brabenec. "It was just free artistic expression, and that wasn't good for the Communist Party. Our shows attracted a lot of people who were 'different,' and in a totalitarian system, if you're different you're the enemy. It's very easy."

The Plastic People continued after '77, recording three albums in Havel's barn, but the government interrogations continued. Brabenec had lost the right to work as a garden architect, and was essentially forced to leave Czechoslovakia in 1983. He came to Canada, splitting 14 years between Toronto and Vancouver Island.

In 1997, Havel formally requested that the Plastic People reunite in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Charter 77, and this time the group was happy, if just a little hesitant, to follow a government order. Brabenec returned to live in the Czech Republic, mainly for the group, which had disbanded in 1987. A domestic tour culminated in the band's first show in America (New York) last summer, which in turn inspired the Plastic People's current North American dates. So what's it like to be back in the (former) CSSR?

"It's interesting," says Brabenec, "because if you compare these last 10 years to the era between 1948 and 1958 [the first 10 years of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia], I think that the transition away from democracy was easier, in a way, than the transition toward democracy. It's probably easier for people to adapt to something worse than to something better. I guess it's some kind of rule."

At Foufounes Électriques this Wednesday, February 24, 9pm, $10