IDIOGEN - Drive You Mad (1987)

 

IDIOGEN started as an idea & pre-high-school-band at the beginning of the 80's in Koper (Slovenia), in the often peculiar mindframe of founder & leader Andrea Flego, who thought up a semi-psychedelic rock power trio, not shy of wailing wah-wah guitar solos, feedback laced sound & blues fuelled riffing, often spoken (instead of sung) vocals, combining the onset & rise of what was to become the indie & garage scene, the lyrical insight of living behind the iron curtain with your head out in the world, and the legacy of an unabashed love for Jimi Hendrix. From 1982 on the band actually came into existance, rehearsing like maniacs, going through the inevitable toothing phase & line-up problems, recording a now long lost casette-only quasi-album for DID Koper in 1984, playing concerts in what back then was Yugoslavia and in 1985 recording a proper 33rpm vinyl debut album, self-titled, released in 1986 for cult label Slovenija Records (Yugoslavia's first true indie label, masterminded by eccentric mogul & patron Boris Furlan "Primitivc"). After "Idiogen", in 1987 "Burning", a 4 song mini LP by popular demand in Italy, followed for Toast Records of Torino, and finally their (possibly) masterpiece, the ambitious "Drive You Mad" album, in 1988. All releases, now collector's items, were distributed not only all over former Yugoslavia but also in Italy, the UK and the US, collaborating with cult labels such as Rough Trade Records of London, or Supporti Fonografici of Milan. The band was extensively & mostly enthusiastically reviewed by national (Rock, Dzuboks, Mladina, Stop, Antena) and even international mags, raging from major publications to now classic, semi-obscure zines (Spin, Melody Maker, New Musical Express, Rock'n'Roll Confidential, Rockstar, Rockerilla, Mucchio Selvaggio, Buscadero, Urlo, Buzz, etc). They played all over Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, and then, divided by Yugoslav army incombences, excessive friendship & good times (!!!) and the inevitable "musical diversities", in the best rock&roll tradition broke up at the height of tfoheir powers at the dawn of 1990. (from wikipedia)