Describing the attempts to get gigs in the then Soviet Union, Holzfeuer told a London reporter one year later, "It was no bucket of fish. The Russian authority I think were felt threatened by us because we were strong and made loud guitars. I most think the problem was we were screaming about proud pre-imperial times to a bunch of peoples who hated their own country. I think the police were afraid ArnoCorps would plant idea in Russian people minds, that they might question not scared, speak out, say, 'Hey, you, I don't like that no more.'"

The weather was freezing and the meals were few, but the band forged ahead, surviving only on compressed carbohydrates and unquestionable belief in their mission. Russian youth could only find an ArnoCorps show being played in someone's barn or a condemned factory. Often times, the shows were cut short by police raids or local mobs who felt threatened by ArnoCorps's music. And still, the kids came. In Moscow, in April of 1994, police confiscated hundreds of ArnoCorps paraphernalia from Moscow youth, everything from homemade t-shirts to bootleg tape recordings. By May, the members of ArnoCorps were picked up en route to Bosnia by officials, their equipment and personal items confiscated, and escorted by train out of the Soviet Union. If asked if it was worth the risk of danger, Holzfeuer told a liberal Austrian newspaper, "Yes, we felt the red heat, but we still fulfilled our mission. That's all that matters. If we become casualties in the line of Arno, so be it. To hell with them."

Next: Return to Graz