Bohdan X

Bohdan Roman Kubiakowski, better known by his stage name, Bohdan X, is a British Australian former punk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was a member of JAB, which formed in Adelaide in 1976, and Bohdan and the Instigators, which featured in the Melbourne punk rock scene in the late 1970s. He was also a DJ on 3RRR community radio station from 1978 to 1995.

Early life and education Bohdan X was born as Bohdan Roman Kubiakowski in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, in a family with Polish origins. He attended St. Bede's Roman Catholic School (now St. Bede's Inter-Church School) in Birdsall Road, Cambridge from 1963 to 1969, obtaining 6 O-levels.

Seven years later, he relocated to Adelaide, South Australia.

Musician In January 1976 that year he formed JAB, on guitar and vocals; with Ash Wednesday on bass guitar, synthesiser and tapes; and Johnny Crash (Janis Friedenfelds) on drums and vocals. The band's name is an acronym – using the founders' first initials. JAB began as an experimental, electronic rock band, with synthesisers and guitars, but adopted a punk rock style from 1977. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described the single as "not punk, however, being almost acoustic in a Roy Harper vein". JAB broke up in August 1978 and Bohdan formed two short-lived groups, Hong Kong and then Bex. In 1979 he formed Bohdan and the Instigators with former members of The Chosen Few, they disbanded by late 1980.

As Bohdan X, his solo releases include a 12-inch extended play, Fear of Flying, on Rumour Records in December 1983. In 1988 he issued a mini-album, Kingsnake, on Rampant Records, which was produced by Ross Wilson and Tony Cohen. Session musicians include James Freud and Mark Ferrie (both ex-Models). Bohdan's performances included fire-eating, "at a Melbourne University gig I set the sprinklers off, twice! The fire brigade tried to charge me $150 per truck but I nipped out the window". The shift to broadcasting from being a musician was "better than being in a bloody band, married to blokes who moan all the time". He was suspended for six months after playing the Sex Pistols' B-side track, "Friggin' in the Rigging" (February 1978), which uses the expletive, fuck. In 1995, the manager, Steven Walker, tried to move Bohdan from his Friday night broadcasting slot – he denounced Walker on-air before turning the power off and vacating the studio, leaving the station off air for over half an hour. He worked in Victoria and also in Tennant Creek, NT in the mid-2000s.