He was 18 while I was 14. He knew everything about metal while I knew close to nothing. He had been writing his own private metal encyclopedia in several notebooks. One metal band at one page. I knew Metallica, Helloween and King Diamong while he knew hundreds of metal bands. He was kind enough to lent us his notebooks to make a copy of them for our own use and expansion. I discovered death metal because of him, met Curby afterwards, started Morbid Reality and The Suffering zines. When his new band Deflorace went to record their second demo Postmortal Abominations in August 1994, me and Curby came over to Barbarella studio in Ostrava to hang out with the band. We visited the Amorphis show where we got to meet Bilos of Malignant Tumour or Cyklo of Pathologist for the first time. Unbelievable times during this trip. When Curby organized the first OEF back in 1999, Petr “Bubla” and Deflorace were there to perform. When Deflorace played last year the OEF the Wednesday’s “Back to 1999 OEF”I was excited to invite them on the stage. I was happy to see them all again. A few months prior to that, in April 2018, I visited Bubla in his home town of Studenka to hang out, visit his work in the local fishery and go to the Exhumed, Rotten Sound and Implore show in Ostrava with him and his friends. It was like back in the old days but I didn’t know it was the last time. Bubla liked to have a few drinks with his friends. Perhaps more than his own health would prefer. But the harsh 20th century made quite a few marks on souls of many families. No one can judge who came out better or worse out of it. Bubla liked the true craft be it in metal or elsewhere. He was straightforward and fair. When I told him last year the non-public secret of the OEF 2019 headliner to become Cannibal Corpse, he was concerned if the festival can make it without compromising the budget for other bands. He would love me call him to hear how they performed. That won’t happen anymore but I believe he will hear them play from places that are far away for us to reach. Rest in peace our friend. Yours truly, Adolf
