Lech Janerka

Born in 1953 in Wroclaw, Poland, vocalist, bassist, composer, text author, and moreover, a photographer in a local geodesy office Lech Janerka begun his career with performances alongside his wife Bozena Janerka at student festivals at the end of the '70s. In 1979, along with Krzysztof Pociecha (guitar), Wieslaw Mrozik (guitar), and Kazimierz Sycz (drums) (replaced thereafter by Marek Puchala), he started an new wave/punk rock band Klaus Mitffoch. They released only one self-titled album in 1984, which was recognized one of the most important and prominent in history of Polish rock. The group disbanded the same year. Collaborating with his wife Bozena (cello), Wojtek Konikiewicz (piano), Janusz Rolt (drums), and guitarist Krzysztof Pociecha, Janerka released his solo album Historia Podwodna, on which he not only continued on the new wave road begun by Klaus Mitffoch, but also tried his hand at sonic experimentation. In 1987, Janerka, without Rolt, who died of a drug overdose, recorded the album Piosenki, which sat unreleased until 1989 because of problems with censorship. 1991 found him releasing an electronic, almost industrial-sounding album with Ur. In 1993, he released a recording of acoustic music called Bez Pradu, which was released alongside a compilation of his work, Co Lepsze Kawalki. In 1994, with Wojciech Seweryn on guitar and Artur Dominik on drums, Janerka released a fourth official long-player, Bruhaha, and in 1997, Dobranoc appeared. In 2002, a new wave-styled album, Fiu Fiu, was released, created with help of musicians from Aural Planet and Wroclaw performer Andrzej Dudek-Dürer, came out. Janerka also recorded a song ("Nadzieja o Wroclawiu") to benefit Wroclaw's EXPO 2010 fair. He shifted his backing band's lineup around in 2005, adding drummer Michal Mioduszewski, and replacing Seweryn, who had died in 2004, with guitarist Damian Pielka, and went on to record Plagiaty, which combined a unique mix of music composed during his days as a student with more recently written lyrics. ~ Aleksander Stepien, Rovi