The Desperate Mind is a punk rock band from the Czech Republic. They were formed in 2011 by singer and rhythm guitarist Martin J. Polák, lead guitarist Tomáš Ondra, bassist Dominik Zavadil, and drummer Dominik Kubík. In 2014, Winc Janeček replaced Dominik Kubík, and in 2015 David Havelka replaced Dominik Zavadil. In 2018, Filip Buršík replaced Tomáš Ondra, forging the current lineup. Without being signed to any label, the band gained a significant following with their 2015 debut album, Amassed Sickness, and the following grew bigger with their 2016 release, an EP called False Flag. As of 2020, the band is on tour supporting their newest album, All Walls Will Fall.
History
Early years (2011–13) In 2011, two high school friends, Martin J. Polák and Tomáš Ondra, then aged 15 and 16, started the band under the name Green Talent, inspired by their two favorite bands, Green Day and Billy Talent. They began playing covers of various punk songs. At this time, they were joined by drummer Dominik Kubík, and as they began writing their own material, they changed their name to These Days, and shortly after to Dangers! With this lineup, they started playing small shows around their town, and in February 2013, they recorded a very short demo consisting of two songs, "Described in the Shadows" and "Drop Dead". This demo was never released and the songs were later re-recorded for their debut album.
The Desperate Mind and Symptoms of the Ignition EP (2014–15) In late 2013 and early 2014, the band, still under the name Dangers!, began writing songs for their debut EP. In June 2014, they performed a set of five new songs at the charity festival You Dream, We Run, in their hometown of Blansko. Later that month, they were joined by Dominik Zavadil, who filled in the empty bass guitar spot, and the band changed their name for the final time to The Desperate Mind. In July 2014, they began planning a tour with Reservoar Dogz, a hard rock band from Brno. The tour, named To Hell and Back Tour 2014–2015, was set to launch in September 2014, starting in Brno and continuing in other major cities of the Czech Republic, until March 2015. The start of the tour was delayed by a month due to the departure of Kubík, who left because the tour time conflicted with his personal life. He was replaced by Winc Janeček in September 2014, and the tour kicked off on 4 October 2014. On 31 October 2014, The Desperate Mind entered the studio to record their debut EP, titled Symptoms of the Ignition, which came out on 2 November 2014 and consisted of three songs. The band spent the rest of the year on tour.
Brief hiatus and Amassed Sickness (2015) After the end of the To Hell and Back Tour, in March 2015, The Desperate Mind went on a six-month hiatus to finish their graduation year in high school. In July, Polák announced via Facebook that the hiatus was over, and that the band would play a show in Prague on 5 August. After the show, the band have announced that they were entering the studio again, this time to record their debut full-length album, Amassed Sickness. The record, consisting of eleven songs (including re-recorded versions of the debut EP songs), came out on 15 September 2015 and was one of the best-rated debut albums of the year, with Punknews.org giving it a rating of 7/10 and Sputnikmusic giving it 4.5/5. In November 2015, the band parted ways with Dominik Zavadil, citing musical differences, and replaced him with David Havelka. They then played a few shows in support of their debut album from fall 2015 to mid-2016, with their first shows outside Czechia in 2016 in Austria and Germany.