Listen Up

I first encountered Going to Bullfights on ACID!!! at an unattended house show in Massachusetts during their first American tour in 2005. Not much is known about the European punk rock quintet. I was lucky enough to talk with lead singer Adrian after the show. He told me that the band hailed from Sweden. I found this odd because all of the band members spoke with heavy German accents.

The mystery that clouds the band is what made Going to Bullfights on ACID!!! so appealing to me in the first place. I got my hands on one of their tracks via a mixtape trade at a punk rock flea market in Hartford. I was smitten when the first chorus kicked in: “Fashion punx – fashion punx – fashion punx – Fuck off!” They operated with a sense of conviction and urgency that tends to escape most modern hardcore. My life was never the same after Going to Bullfights of ACID!!! How could it be?

I did all in my power to track down every bit of recorded output from the band. I managed to find a couple more songs from various demo tapes and 7” records they had self-released in Europe. Their live show was nothing short of a spectacle. They were already rockstars, even if nobody else recognized it.

The critics loved them, authority figures hated them and the kids loved to hate them. All of the complexities of life—the jubilant moments, the angry ones, depression, joy, hatred—Going to Bullfights on ACID!!! had a song for the occasion. There were there at my darkest hour and they were there at my highest plateau. And, most importantly, they were there when I just plain needed to fuck shit up.

It’s hard to find much information about the band online. Adrian claimed that none of the band members used computers or cellphones; something to do with electric waves distorting the human consciousness. But this could have just been another one of their fabulous facades.

I haven’t discovered any new material from the band in over 3 years. Perhaps they’ve broken up. Perhaps they never existed to begin with. Either way, Going to Bullfights on ACID!!! have saved my life. And if you’re ever lucky enough to come upon an unattended house show with a bunch of weird Swedish dudes lurking in the back, you better listen up because they just might change your life too.

Peace.