Hi Curby it`s nice to have you here again. So how it’s going? OEF will start in almost a month, are you excited?

Busy times, busy times, mate!!! It`s exactly 3 weeks to OEF kick off, mate, so all preparations are in full swing…we have just confirmed the replacement for SUFFOCATION (Swedish death metal heroes VOMITORY) and some other bands that canceled in the last few weeks, so we definitely have a full line-up!!! We have just revealed the running order day by day and announced bands for Afterparty too!!

Are you still in the middle of the organization, or everything is done? What was the most difficult part to make this year?

Oh no way, mate…with the festival, it`s never done as it`s still changing…we are working on logistics, OEF fanzine, hotels and some other important things! The most difficult part of doing festival today is to keep the budget in some kind of healthy numbers…it’s really incredible how this has changed since 2019…covid and then the war changed things for the worse so much…everything is more expensive, something about 100% in a few years! Also, the inflation in the Czech Republic didn’t help at all…and another important thing, Czech koruna is going up and euro down…all those things are against us…but I don’t want to cry here but those are the facts…this and the next year (I am pretty sure now I will do 25th OEF next year, then who knows…) will be really important for us…for me, personally, is hard to sell tickets for the prices we do this year, but we have no choice. It’s 82 bands altogether, an awesome festival area, brilliant sound, solid stage, very helpful OEF crew and all this simply costs something…

I saw that you renovated the whole battlefield, that is awesome! Does the local government help you with this?

Yes! After so many years, the town of Trutnov renovated at least seatings and the pathway from the gate up to the auditorium!!! It looks like there will be some more renovations. They want to build toilets there, new roads etc. so very positive news!!! Actually, a new mayor of Trutnov wanted to meet us immediately after he had taken office and he really cares about those things!!!

How many bands will we see this summer and what are your top 10 for this year? And does it hard to work with big names like Carcass, for example?

As every year, more than 69 haha! But this year it’s 82 bands playing on 1 stage as usually!!! Top 10 is very hard to choose as I really invite every band for myself so I like all the bands!!! But anyway, I want to see CARCASS for sure!!! I have been trying to book them for over 10 years and now it’s definitely the case!!! You know, they are the heroes of my childhood, easy to understand what it means for me!!! Also, I can’t wait for Old School Metal Forever!!! night on Wednesday as all those bands have a huge energy!!! And of course, we have to say a proper good-bye to metal queen, Sabina Classen! She is a big inspiration for me, still strong, awesome live shows but this should be their very last Czech show, so a very special moment for us!!! On Thursday, we have BRUJERIA, VADER, VOMITORY, TOTAL CHAOS, On Friday FUCK ON THE BEACH, PYREXIA, BULLDOZER, On Saturday ROTTEN SOUND, MASSACRE for first time at OEF!, DEFLESHED, BLOCKHEADS, HIATUS (!!! awesome crust as fuck!!!) …and many bands that I wasn’t able to see yet, but they have some killer records like ENDLESS SWARM, PURE, SHITBRAINS, NEKROMATHEON, INCULTER, SYSTEMIK VIOLENCE, UNIDAD TRAUMA, TERMINATOR X, TRAVOLTA,  and others will surely kick ass as GUTSLIT, SICK SINUS SYNDROME, HYPERDONTIA, Mexico`s DISGORGE ( I haven’t seen them since Mexican OEF in 2013), SPEED!! NOISE!! HELL!!, M:40, RAW POWER etc., so you see plenty of bands ha!

We don’t play games with big and small bands. The communication with CARCASS is the same or even easier and I am in contact directly with Jeff Walker! It’s a fine communication between friends and they don't have any excessive conditions!!!

I remember the 20th-anniversary fest, there were more than 5 000 people… that was insane! But how about this year, how many people do you expect?

Yeah mate, it was much more than that! I have no idea, but in my opinion we could be close to 5000 maniacs altogether and I really hope that we enjoy our OEF week as much as we all can!!! So, my advice is, if you want to support OEF, do it and donєt wait much longer…

Btw for that amount of work and control, you need a lot of people. Could you tell us about OEF crew? How many heads usually help you? Does it hard to get to the family?)

Exactly, it’s about 120 people right now I guess…and everyone is really crucial and important to do a perfect festival!!! And it`s the busiest time of the year for our family. Basically, everyone is somehow involved, someone more (like Aneta, Monika) and someone a little bit less…but even our teenagers help us a lot now printing OEF merch, doing promo videos etc.

Pretty personal but, my friend you`re doing this festival for more than two decades. But are you ready for two decades more? Will you pass this festival to your children when the time has come?

To be brutally honest…I am not…I was always 100% sure I will continue till I can breathe but those last years…hm…as I said before it’s really uneasy to run an underground DIY festival for almost 25 years…everyone should try to do at least one small show to understand what it all means…I have worked really hard during last 25 years (OEF organization is an all year long work, besides I run two eshops and also now Extreme print merch company) and I want to travel more and so on. So, let’s see what will happen…I believe Aneta could run the festival now and she is into punk/gore grind and some metal as well, but Nathan for example is way too much into hip-hop, he even does hip-hop shows and has a Hip-hop merch eshop! What a blasphemy, mate, right? Ha! He was at his first OEF when he was just 3 weeks old and now this?!? 😉

I have no idea how many bands already played at OEF, but I bet you still have a few dream bands of yours, that you want to invite to this party. So, who are they?

I know the EXACT number! It’s an interesting number actuallz! So far 1081 different bands have played Obscene Extreme festivals!!! Many of them several times of course!!! It’s an insane number, isn't it? Yes, I still have my dreams … I would wish to see AUTOPSY at OEF of course…I have asked them many times…and keep asking for more than a decade and nothing…they always play somewhere else…I have seen them several times in Europe and also in America. So, this wish is not just for me but for our loyal fans who never had the chance to see them in the Czech Republic!!! Of course, there are some other bands that don’t play for quite a long time…you must know who they are…

Any tips for those who`re going to visit Trutnov (and OEF of course) for the first time?

Enjoy the city, it’s small but nice (Go to the main square for sure!) and it’s a gate to the beautiful Czech mountains, Krkonose!!! We have tips on our webpage, so choose what suits you best and go around a bit before or after the fest!!! Don’t be afraid, the Czech Republic is a beautiful place to be!!! As for the festival area do visit Vegan Zone where you can enjoy Mexican food or sushi!!!

Some years ago you started to do s special day before the main party. It is dedicated to different genres, sludge, heavy metal, punk, and so on. How did you come up with such an idea? And do you already know what you want to see at next year’s special?

Well, I have many good ideas that I am able to realize like Obscene Extreme World Tour haha! And this is one of them, I really think it’s a great idea to add bands that would never play OEF…we had different genre nights and all of them were great, PUNK AS FUCK fest, ITALIAN HARDCORE NIGHT, FESTIVAL OF WEIRDS RIFFS last year was also awesome with GODFLESH, CONAN and many more interesting bands that most probably would never play OEF!

You also started your own printed business. Tell us please more about Extreme Print, please.

Well, during OEF we have worked with a lot of people who printed our merch and during covid we had so much free time that we came up with the idea to buy our own printing machine and so we did…now we can produce Obscene Extreme merchandise really carefully, have print on demand Obscene Extreme store and much more! It's really a great DTG machine and we love to work with it! You print the first sample, and you can easily change colors etc., and do another print with new artwork…it's a perfect tool for perfect merch! And of course, we can print for everyone, for every band (we will soon reveal cooperation and a special EU store for a big American death metal band), for every individual, sport club etc. So, if you want a quick merch even in smaller numbers, contact us!!! check this out for more info HERE, and a video where we explain a lot – HERE!

Thank you so much for this small talk! Don’t you dare to stop amazing work, my friend! Hope to see you soon!

Thank you! I wish you and your country better times soon! We are on your side! Keep grinding and see you later for sure!!! We miss you at OEF a lot mate!

Contacts: Official site / Facebook / Instagram / Tickets