EZ Basic is a guitar-pop, indie-rock project based in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

formed in 2004. It started out as an experimental bedroom project in the early 00s and is noted for being one of the most eclectic bands of the Budapest indie music scene.

History

Formation

EZ Basic were formed by

Árpád Szarvas Árpád Szarvas is a musician, best known as the lead singer, songwriter, lyricist, guitarist of EZ Basic. Early life and personal life Szarvas is from Szabadka and lived in Szeged, Hungary, however, he moved to the capital city, Budapest after ...

and Dénes Pesztalics. Their primary aim was to mix electronic and instrumental music but it was

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

and American girlie pop melodies from the 1960s that left their marks on EZ Basic's sound. On one hand, the name EZ Basic refers to early 1980s computers/electronics, on the other hand, to DIY punk ethics: “easy basic” as “learn three chords and form a band”. Their early home demos recorded between 1999-2003 reflected an experimental approach to music making, bringing Primal Scream, Suicide, Broadcast, Sonic Youth, The Jesus & Mary Chain, New Order, early shoegaze bands and electronic beats from the mid-1990s to mind. In the same year they began a series of gigs in Budapest, but the 2-piece had soon found themselves playing packed gigs outside Budapest as well. It was not until 2005 when András Tóth (former drummer of the Hungarian indie band Supersonic) joined EZ Basic on drums that their sound has moved into a more pop-orientated sound: previously backed by a drum machine and weird noises, the trio had become a powerful live band sometimes riding the waves of wall of sound and delivering delicate but cynical pop melodies. In the same year EZ Basic was on the bill at

Sziget Festival The Sziget Festival ( hu, Sziget Fesztivál, ; "Sziget" for "Island") is one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August in northern Budapest, Hungary, on Óbudai-sziget ("Old Buda Island"), a leafy 108-hect ...

(one of Europe’s biggest festivals), at

Alan McGee Alan John McGee (born 29 September 1960) is a Scottish businessman and music industry executive. He has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for ''The Guardian''. He co-founded the independent Creation Records label, r ...

's Death Disco and also played in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Hocus Focus

EZ Basic's debut album entitled '' Hocus Focus'' was recorded in only six days between 23–25 July and 3–5 September in 2007 in

. They released it in November 2007 as un unsigned band. The album contains the song Nice1 which could be found in their debut EP ''EZ To Say''. EZ Basic shot their first music video for the song Nice1. This song brought success for the band and could lay the foundations for being one of the leading members of the Hungarian indie music scene.

Hello Heavy

During the summer of 2009, EZ Basic started working with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

producer

George Shilling George Edward Shilling (born 1966 in Redbridge, London) is an English musician, record producer, composer and audio engineer. He is the son of Eric Shilling, formerly of the English National Opera and actress Erica Johns. He studied cello at the ...

who previously worked with bands such as Primal Scream, Blur,

Bernard Butler Bernard Joseph Butler (born 1 May 1970) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the first guitarist with Suede, until his departure in 1994. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of hi ...

(ex-

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...

), Soup Dragons,

Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...

, My Bloody Valentine, and The Fall. In April 2010 the Hungarian Twelvetones Records released EZ Basic's second full-length studio album, ''Hello Heavy''. After the album's release the band supported

Placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general, placebos can af ...

in Budapest Sports Arena, and later represented

at the

Eurosonic Festival Eurosonic Noorderslag is an annual four-day music showcase festival and conference held in January in Groningen, Netherlands. The first three days of the festival (Eurosonic) feature artists from all over Europe, the last day of the festival (N ...

in Groningen,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 2011.

Memories of Spring

EZ Basic released a new EP entitled '' Memories of Spring'' in April 2012. EZ Basic shot the video for the song ''Sometimes I Can't'' to promote their new EP. The video was directed by Dezső Gyarmati while the cinematographer was Ákos Nyoszoli.

Dead End Darling

In 2014 EZ Basic started recording their 3rd album called '' Dead End Darling'', which was released on November 10, 2015. The album features previously released singles ''Unnatural'' and ''Whatcha Gonna Do With Your Life?'', and contains 12 songs in total.

Sissyfuzz

The band released their 4th album '' Sissyfuzz'' on November 21, 2017. The neopsychedelic rock influenced album contains nine songs.

Band members

;Current line-up *

– lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming (2004–) ;Former members *András Tóth - drums (2005-2013) *Áron Nagybaczoni - synths, piano, vocals (2009-2017) *Dénes Pesztalics – bass guitar (2004–2017)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:920 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2019 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:2004 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals/Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Keyboards value:orange legend:Keyboards id:Drums value:purple legend:Drums id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_Albums LineData = at:01/01/2007 color:black layer:back at:01/01/2010 color:black layer:back at:01/01/2012 color:black layer:back at:10/11/2015 color:black layer:back at:21/11/2017 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Szarvas text:"Árpád Szarvas" bar:Pesztalics text:"Dénes Pesztalics" bar:Tóth text:"András Tóth" bar:Nagybaczoni text:"Áron Nagybaczoni" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Szarvas from:start till:end color:Vocals bar:Pesztalics from:start till:end color:Bass bar:Nagybaczoni from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2016 color:Keyboards bar:Tóth from:start till:01/09/2013 color:Drums

Discography

;Albums * ''EZ To Say'' EP (2007) * ''Hocus Focus'' (2007) * ''

Hello Heavy ''Hello Heavy'' is the second full-length studio album recorded by EZ Basic. The album was released in April 2010 by the Hungarian Twelvetones Records. Background and recording In the summer of 2009, EZ Basic hired English producer George Shi ...

'' (2010) * ''Memories of Spring'' EP (2012) * ''Dead End Darling'' (2015) * ''Sissyfuzz'' (2017) ;Singles * ''New Lines'' (2013) * ''Unnatural'' (2014) * ''Whatcha Gonna Do With Your Life?'' (2015) * ''Bruise Boy'' (2016) * ''Right Time'' (2017) * ''Stay In'' (2021)

Music videos

References

External links

EZ Basic
at

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