LAIBACH _ 21.04.2007 _ Festintenda/Mortegliano/Udine

The group LAIBACH was established in the year 1980 in Trbovlje, an industrial-coal mining town in the centre of Slovenia (YU).



Upon its founding in 1980 Laibach prepared in Trbovlje its first multimedia project "Red Districts (Rdeci revirji)", designed to challenge the striking contradictions of the political structure of the town at that time. The project was banned before it opened, which prevented the first public appearance of the group, though not the angry media response which followed. Laibach appeared again in 1982, with their first concert appearance in Ljubljana. This was followed by the first concerts around Yugoslavia (Zagreb, Belgrade), and a headlining appearance at the New Rock festival in the centre of Ljubljana. On June 23rd 1983, the group made its first television appearance, an interview on the political/news programme "TV Tednik". The interview provoked numerous reactions, and was followed by an administrative/political ban on public appearances and the use of the name Laibach. November and December 1983 saw the first European tour by the group, the "Occupied Europe Tour" (with the British group Last Few Days). The 17-date tour covered 16 cities in 8 countries in Eastern and Western Europe. The group made a successful anonymous appearance at the Malci Belic Hall, Ljubljana in December 1984. April 1985 saw the release of the first album by Laibach, on the Slovenian Ropot label. Because of the ban, the record came out without the group's name, and instead the cover featured a symbol, the group's trademark. The 1985 album "Rekapitulacija 1980-1984", for the Hamburg independent label Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien, was also the first of the group's records to gain an international release. Following "Nova akropola", Laibach's 1986 album for British independent Cherry Red, the group were signed by the London-based Mute Records. "Opus Dei", released in spring 1987, was the first album for the new label. February 1987 saw the first concert in Slovenia since 1984, and the first official concert since the 1983 ban. The release of "Sympathy For The Devil" in 1989 was followed by a European/American tour. On the 26th December, 1990 the group appeared at the thermoelectric power station in Trbovlje, their first appearance in their hometown since the (aborted) project in 1980. The concert marked the tenth anniversary of Laibach and the founding of the NSK State. In October 1995, as part of the "Occupied Europe NATO Tour 1994-95" the group appeared at DC3 Dakota in Ljubljana. The tour ended with two concerts in besieged Sarajevo, on the 20th and 21st of November, under the banner "NSK State Sarajevo".