HEAVY METAL ENTERTAINMENT
C-SM PRESENTS „THE DOCUMENTS OF A TIME” Djordje Obradovic
GVIDO THE BEGINNING So... That crew... Buddies - friends I met, is... from the Zeppelin discoteque. That happened a long time ago,
somewhere at the end of '78. We met totally spontaneously, and... I simply followed the people I met at that moment at the disco,
to a liquer store. Let's say, Djordje Lukic - Gaga... then, uh... Drazha, Kuve...
It was that crew. ARHIVSKA ZABAVA
(tl. ARCHIVE FUN) Arhivska zabava was c
reated from the Arhiva, one punk/Oi band,
let's say it like that, around... 1980. The members were....
Jole on bass, Me on guitar, and there was... Yes, Toshke was on drums... There, that was that
- those three people... And Arhivska Zabava was created
several months after that. With the Arhiva we had 2 or 3 gigs, one of the more prolific
ones was in Dadov. And with Arhivska zabava
we later continued, well, let's say it was
in a way something like... Rudimentary Peni, Crass. Rather textually eng
aged, yes. 3 ROCK CURRENTS
ARCHIVE FUN, UKT & FAT BERTA Uh, we had one gig here,
close by, in the Pionir hall. Together with Bojeve Glave,
it was more like a private party, and like some matinee,
from 6 PM, up to 7, half past 7. WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
COME BACK! We were...
We represented the opposition. A counterpart to the bands
that the media pushed forward. Because we realized we're--
That we have the strength and possibility, as an opposition, to create, yes, create,
our vision, our way, let's
say, music and fight
and... uh, against the establishment and against the existing media,
so we could build an independent scene. And in that way... presented to the others,
in the city and outside of it, the crowd and the bands
that belonged to the opposition. PAKET ARANZMAN (Legendary YU new wave record from 1981)
YES OR NO?! No, it's not miserable, as much as it
was inspiring for some people, although, inspiration for majority
of us were the British punk bands, the contacts we made via lette
rs - there
were no cell phones at the time, there was...
simply post, telegram... The technology
wasn't like nowadays. And, also, the contacts were found on journeys, because at that time,
Yugoslavian Dinar was convertible and you could make a
3-day trip to London, for... I think, maybe around
150-200 dinars, I really don't know, and breakfast
would also be covered. Believe it or not... The Aftermath Records -
Independent label from Zagreb publishes the 1st official release of the band
on tape „
Sistemski haos” in 2017... We thank them for that! At the beginning of the '80ies, Gvido played in a
Belgrade punk band FRONT. They had a noticed gig at the SKC. THE FIRST FANZINE The first fanzine,
which I did in cooperation... since at the beginning
I didn't do it alone, was... PUNK, and I think it was No. 2, and in
coop with Rade Milinkovic from Ruma. Who, at the time, already
had a band called Autopsija, and who also did some other
side, alternative side, and... wider... let's say...
colored
... side... promoted the alternative movement, sort of an
alternative movement, not like punk, but... a combination od Dadaism and music. After the Punk fanzine,
in coop with Rade, I was the editor of the
24 Hours fanzine. That is... Oh, no. Before the 24 Hours was
the Odgovor, I did while in the army. And before that... So, the 1st fanzine,
my own fanzine, was called Bez naslova. There were 3 issues, In the first one was an interview
with the Termiti, from Rijeka. In '80, '81. At that time... L
et's say,
I thought about traveling... actually I already have, I think I already
traveled to Rijeka once before. Uh, and on that occasion I met people
from the Paraf - Kocijancic, aswell as the Termiti crew and
I had a deal to interview them. TERMITI (tl. THE TERMITES) And about the confiscation
of the fanzines, I just want to say one thing, I think many will be interested
- those who didn't know about it, and for those who know,
I'll say it again. The reason for confiscation...
of the material
s... independent releases,
papers, badges, t-shirts... ..Journals, money... From the place I lived in. Wasn't... like the pompous
headline from the Politika Express, that says... Punk is Nazi, or... any sort of
combination with the right-wing ideology. But the reason was... the only reason - and of which I found
about many years later, was, that the state prosecutor, since it was
the Socialist Federative Rep. of Yugoslavia, where the rules and laws were
totally different from today, ...Was that,
if the issuer of some material,
some printed material is unknown that person must be processed,
must be found, the reason why the indictment
was filed, by the state prosecutor, against the unknown person,
wasn't punk Nazism, no... neither it was the Swastika, nor Punk,
there was no connection, but the connection to printed material
in the form of a single badge. On which it was written Punk
and it had a print of Swastika. So, there was a search
for unknown person. And after...
that search - aft
er that, they began... the investigation,
that is, search for that person, and that's why the
following was that pompous, uh... the police report, and... confiscation, entering in apartments, etc.
One whole chase against young people who identified
themselves with punk-rock music. They didn't confiscate the whole print run,
but they took the originals which are the
component of the content, and with 2 sheets of paper, which I got on that
occasion after the hearing at the MOIA, at which the MOIA
and the police
inspector obliged with his signature that those materials would be
returned in due course. To this day, that material
was never returned. Why? I don't know... But... that written document exists,
and the material was never returned... NECROPHILIA We were lucky that via post we... made new acquaintances faster,
met people via, exactly via trips. Whether it was someone coming
from Skopje, like with the band Konzerve, which... They were at Kora's, sometime
in 1980 when there was a pl
an... There was a plan to do
an LP record for Beograd Disk. Did it ever come to that,
I don't know, but... Just like in this case, since we were exchanging
letters, traveled, we made contact with UBR, with Gigi, because Gigi mostly... Let's say, covered, or knew the
rest of the bands in Ljubljana and he cooperated with SKUC, with
Igor Vidmar and Radio Student. Later on, of course, we also
met Marina Grzinic and... the rest of the participants
who helped with all of that. And so... after we recor
ded
the compilation tape Buka i Urlik, we also tried to,
in our alternative way, via post, via direct contact, to cover what we recorded at Kora's
in a marketing kind of way. And so we had a deal
for a gig in Ljubljana. The guests of Necrophilia were,
I think Enola Gay i Civili. Which lasted rather short,
so to say, as bands. And Necrophilia had, with that recording, on that compilation, shot themselves
upwards, and somehow made... for wider audience... picture of what is
actually being done in
Belgrade. NECROPHILIA In the middle of the '80ies, Gvido had a short-lived HC Thrash band with
Gaga from Vrisak Generacije - DEATH OF POWER. They played at the HC party in Subotica
„Strah 85” and before Inferno '85 in Novi Sad... CONCERTS So, the biggest obstacle when we talk
about foreign bands coming at that period was... the problem of
how to pay the bands. Since there weren't
any banks like nowadays, there was a Social Accounting Service,
a politically-economical institution, formed by the g
overnment
at the time. Which had a mission to unify
all the working companies, and so, if the concert
were to be organized, it was necessary that
a registered, legal company do that, with... account - current account,
at the Social Accounting Service. Now, there's, of course,
a bit longer story there... the payout couldn't be
after the concert, and whenever we talked about
bringing some foreign band, there was a big question mark
- And how to pay the band? And, of course there were... stories...
well, made-up, someone
said something, another added etc. And at the end, the biggest
culprits were the organizers, but, in fact, the organizers
weren't the biggest culprits, but The Payment law for the bands... UBR in Belgrade
Nobos 28, Belgrade, 06.10.1984 Very interesting gig, one of the first tries in a row to make some cooperation with
the cities outside of Belgrade. Bare in mind that - that was
still the time of Yugoslavia... Uh... We had 6 republics,
2 provinces, where all of us were
tog
ether and where a young person could travel in group of
5-6 people and make important financial... Important financial
benefits during travels And where we communicated
mostly, well, in person. I say, less by phone, so,
there were no cell phones, There was no Internet,
and we really... At the beginning, we made
not just good contacts, but... friendships... staying at each other's
places, even for several days. Got to know cities, got to know society,
got to know the customs, all in all one folk
craft,
Brotherhood and unity. I would be happy to see
Gregor Karpov... again, in any case. I hope he hasn't
gained much weight. Maybe he even lost weight. The last info I have on him was, that he is somewhere in the Caucasus area, somewhere
far over there, in some eastern state of USSR. Some of those states, uh... Whatever he's up to, I wish him
all the best, to, well, prosper in it. And about the cooking... Gigi, for a few years
now, I've been doing some cooking and, well, I have a plan to, to
even do it professionally, I even
have a few of my works on the Internet. And, I hope I might even
open my own catering facility. BGK in Belgrade... ...Very good. One of the best
remembered events... Uh... Simply because I went to the Netherlands
later, to Amsterdam, and... I went to the manager, Martin,
of the BGK and... I think that, as people, as a band... BGK are unambiguously
very interesting... Good... Kind, pleasant,
um... Pleasant persons. I offered them to stay
that one night at my plac
e, we, of course, prepared for them
a dinner and a breakfast and so on. They were, uh, really surprised with
the reception in Belgrade, and with... the audience in Belgrade,
with the sound, and... I think - if they were still active today,
that they would come again. The concert was at the Pinki hall. YOUTH BRIGADE in Belgrade, 12.10.1984
The Pinki Hall, Zemun The Youth Brigade concert
was arranged... Let's say in a same way
it happened with the BGK. At that time, mainly... the foreign bands cam
e
first to Ljubljana, and well, mostly in Nova Gorica
cause that was their shortest way between Italy and Slovenia,
that is, Socialist Yugoslavia. We tried, of course, via phone,
via letters - mostly via letters, to make some deal with Gigi and
with the Odpatki (Civilizacije) and with anyone from Ljubljana, if a foreign band
comes there, to try to bring them here, also. But, you see,
like I already said, the main... main problem... The main obstacle was the money,
a way how we would pay them. So
we had some
troubles with that... Of course, we never remained
in debt to any of the bands. So we... Brought the
Youth Brigade in a same way. They were on a European Tour, they came in the original Ford,
American vehicle, with an original American,
California plates... Three of them. Right before the sound check,
I think around half past 8 - 9 PM, they went straight from
the van into the rehearsal. PINKI/OCTOBER/YOUTH BRIGADE PIVARA (Skadarlija)
Belgrade, 02.10.1983 ...Very good. That, let's sa
y, is the first time
we did the organization ourselves Literally...
We were lucky, um... The brewery just started doing business.
The theatrical venue... on boards - wooden boards,
just started to do business, Borka Pavicevic
was the program editor, and we had somewhat unusualy arranged
that gig via the bass player, Pipica, not only for Nekrofilija, but also for the
Varsavski Geto, for Solunski Front... Those bands weren't known.
I mean, very little. Since that was a Rock Happening
of sorts, so
to say, we, more or less tried not to mention
we play punk, but more rock music, so that we would pass. So that we'd eventually reach...
or enter some... narrow round of music bands that
could perform there. So we arranged it with Borka and... that gig had good attendance,
it was well advertised... Do it yourself... With posters... I even have photos from that gig... TOZIBABE, CRIST
16.02.1986 Akademija, Belgrade ...Interesting. Like on earlier occasions, I offered the visiting band
to come to m
y place to to stay the night, because I think,
that had already... started to be a tradition from Kora,
at the beginning Kora had accepted all those intending
travelers at his place, he simply had room in his attic,
up there, in the house. We offered a hand... to unknown people...
friends we met in the meantime, and the same thing happened
with Tozibabe from Ljubljana. I think the sound was also good, And that... the gig was good... It was announced, advertised.
Through Fleka. But, what were the
impressions,
I don't know. BG BANDS
GO INTERNATIONAL Of course, World Class Punk,
for Michael Bord, from New York. I think that was our
first breakthrough. Let's go back a bit,
to the year of '79-'80, and say... That that punk didn't start it's breakthrough to the world,
I'm talking about West Europe, Americas... Only through Nekrofilija or
HC-Punk from Ljubljana - no. Let's go back to Belgrade,
we live in Belgrade, after all, we are from Belgrade, Belgraders,
and let's say that the Belgrade Pu
nk's first breakthrough was in
London-British fanzine The Aftermath. The Aftermath released 2 or 3 issues, and in their 1st issue was
a report from Belgrade. And in that report I... wrote, and mentioned the bands at the time... as well as sent several photos
of Urbana Gerila of which only one... was published, I don't know what happened
to the rest of them. I feel so bad... THE MANAGER OF QUOD MASSACRE I think we understood each other
very well at the beginning. As people, and musicians, and as
persons, like, between ourselves. My wish was to help out Quod Massacre
with a cassette tape. To... As a publisher... Under the label company No profit tapes,
have their solo project released. That which they recorded
at (Borut) Chinch's in Ljubljana. And, of course,
like the other bands, a lot of others which found
their way to the same label, that was sort of a springboard,
via which later on, they negotiated other
cassette releases. It was also, I think from New York,
that the Qoud Massacre w
as published. Qoud Massacre found it's way to the
compilation record by Art Core Records. Along with the Patareni,
if I'm not mistaken. That, too, was one... Good hit, one good try to
present the Quod Massacre. Of course, later, much later, they released
a record for Ne! Records from Sweden. Cooperation with the Qoud
Massacre went pretty good in one ascending line, although,
it seems I didn't have time to dedicate myself more to it
since I was more busy, with the fanzines and radio
station on th
e other side. PUBLISHING:
CASSETTE TAPES So, cassettes, as such, never went
together with the 24 Hours fanzine. The only cassette tape which was
released together with 24 Hours was, was - was it... issue No. 7...
It was a double issue 7-8. In cooperation with the fanzine
from Karlovac, Corpus delicti, Vedran and I negotiated... Something together... We didn't have
enough material for one issue. Neither him nor me, but we did it half
each - He did half, and I did half. And, like, let's put a cass
ette
in the mix, and so we... decided to do a compilation... I think it was No Beer on Sunday Nights. That, or - Sorry, no, Only Cockroaches
Survive the Chernobyl. That cassette went with it, and all the other fanzines went
separately, without the sound carriers. Only as a printed material. Pretty simple... Of course, while following the
technologies of those times and... following the possibilities to be able to buy
some higher quality equipment to record with. One of the reasons that the buyer
s of said cassettes made their own
copies for each other, neighbors, and such... So, because of said reasons
they didn't order them, those who could - should order,
they didn't order but made copies. Print runs were... maybe around
100-150 pieces, not more. DISTRIBUTION ...For a long time,
until Markovic appeared, I thought about a way how to
legalize all that somehow... to start making a living
out of that business, to make that one turning point in my life,
where I would have a private busines
s. Where I would legalize it all and
all of that would go as it should. Not in a way to have the public prosecutor
ask me why I released... or printed something. So, when Ante Markovic
appeared at the scene and with the following... let's say, pioneer laws of private businesses... The occurrence of possibility
to open private companies, I opened, or, well, yes, I opened the
Intermusic company which dealt exactly with the sound carriers
- printing of audio... sound carriers
- records, cassette ta
pes. And that way I started doing legal work,
legal business with music. My wish was to unify what I had
until then with No Profit Tapes to make it more in sync, to remix stuff, to
transfer things to tapes, and release on records... ...In whatever kind of way. There were various discographic
labels I've distributed. So... from Germany,
for example, was... What's the name... Nuclear Blast Records.
But one of the first ones was X-Mist from... I think, Munster, Germany... And one from Monchengladba
ch, nowadays more
famous by the football club, then from Cologne... From Italy, also, we
mentioned the tour of Sars? From Bologna...
There were also Oi! bands. From the UK,
later on it was Captain Oi!... From the USA later
appeared Mordam Records... There was... Dead Kennedys...
Aternative Tentacles also... We combined. We combined, this and that...
If anyone... I took over some copies
of records from BGK, or they sold some at the gig... or, like
we said, through Gigi, from Ljubljana. Negazione.
.. Any bands that played
at that time, that came, they normally already have had, as the
saying goes, today's merchandise. That's one longer story,
rather... unpleasant. And it's unpleasant
simply because I've, on trust alone, received records
from X-Mist through which I payed for printing of my
second record - Step By Step. On my way back from Germany, he gave me around
50-60 various records. With no thought about what will happen
on Slovenian border, in Nova Gorica, having in mind I'm travelin
g
with black market resellers that carried everything from washing machines
to bicycles, and color TVs, from Munich, I never even figured I'd
run into a hard stone... at the border crossing
in Nova Gorica. On that occasion... were found,
by the Slovenian customs... ...representative, meaning, customs officer
- records, and were taken away. Of those 50-60 records,
I was given back like 10 different ones. Because then... at that time, it was
considered under the customs law ...that an individual c
an bring - can import,
10 different records into the country. Everything more than that, was
considered black market stuff and... covered the area of
confiscation of said items. An for that reason those records ended up
so, like I said, infamously at the customs... I went back later, tried to buy them out,
but the price was extremely high. Impossible, like nowadays
if you'd ask for 30-40-50 Euros for a single record
from someone who barely has 5 Euros. CRIST Crist was an interesting project. I t
hink that... the most important,
the most prolific of all... when I look from
today's point of view... That Zoran had followed... What I tried to
follow later on, also, music trends. Just like punk music was adjusting, changing... because -
partly technology, technology itself, technique,
equipment it was played on, and partly because... of demand
to create something new. So that that music would leave
the frameworks - the existing form, from UK Subs', Pistols'...
X-Ray Spexs... Ruts', form. But
... Crist started as, well...
some American... ...no... American... aversion to Suicidal
Tendencies or something similar, A combination... Of some American sound. And later on it went
to some alternative beat. Then from alternative
- to some crossover. And so, I support that..
We had... good... good... good gig--
good continuity, good... good ideas,
thanks to Zoran, who expanded, so to say, that knowledge
of his, and advanced as a guitarist, and mostly all three of
us followed... those flows, an
d we did not dwell on same postulates
which were there earlier - from the start. So... one of
- except this single that was released through
Bad Compilation Tapes, actually with help from
Bad Compilation Chris from California, which was advertised on Studio B, Studio B
radio, later also on TV and Politika radio. and also B92. After that, of course, came that
dark mode, with Drazha on drums. And after that was
that crossover period that was rather interesting
and surprisingly good. Where we recor
ded
one video for TV Zagreb, where we... like you said... started our
road trip through Europe in VW Golf 2. A rented one, with Nish plates. And even though we were in the last lane, the
slowest one, on German roads... British roads... We played where we played
- we played in Hamburg, in Cologne... And one more city...
With German band Agikareben, And in UK we played,
as you already know, with Carcass. We should've played up in the north,
in 2-3 more cities, near Newcastle...
which I insisted up
on, but, The other... other... other members - driver, too,
wasn't in favor for us to continue the drive - unfortunately,
and I don't know why. And, I succumbed to majority, and
accepted to return to Yugoslavia - shame... The main reason, money shortage - actually,
not money shortage, we had money... but, the majority's decision
- driver, too, not to continue to Newcastle, and Darlington,
or Sunderland, we should've played in, and I was in favor to play there.
You know how it is in the UK... If
you come with a band, whichever band,
whatever it is, the British are like that, you can't play 3-4 gigs for a lot less money
compared to the number of tickets sold. And it is possible that after
the gig, you get less money. But, at some 5th, 6th,
or 8th, or 9th gig, from tickets alone, you'll get back
what you lost on previous gigs. That's... That's how it works
in the UK, believe it or not. Never give up. 10 gigs - 15, at the 15th you'll get
what you haven't... on previous 14. Because of that
I was in favor to
continue and play those 3 more gigs which were already agreed upon, I think... one should've been
- OK, we had one in Liverpool, but we should've
continue to the north... Guys weren't in favor to continue,
and again - a shame. Considering that before that, there was a studio-recorded
demo in Novi Banovci, at Dejan Ignjatovic's,
from the Kvazimodo fanzine... Exactly, the drummer
from Defektno Efektni. The style - music style changed
- from that American one, that New York one, o
r, that Suicidal-skate one, etc.
to that alternative Amebix one. So at the time
they sounded like that. Dark. Because of such a strong
rhythmical basis - setup, with Drazha at the drums, who, at that time
I think already played with Laibach, from Ljubljana, or was in talks... But, he also had... I think he was...
He WAS the drummer in Urbana Gerila. So, because of... good, solid, rhythmical setup,
Crist sounded rather powerful at that ime. We had one very interesting correspondence
and a direct
phone call conversation, thanks to Dragan Ambrozic. Who, as you already know,
started as a journalist for Student papers. in Balkanska street. And at that time, Dragan Ambrozic
really helped us a lot... And I thank him on this occasion.
I send my regards. And with Dragan's help, we came into direct contact
with So Much Hate, since we planned to play in Oslo, together
with them as a guest band - as Crist. But, somehow we never reached
said Oslo, because... I don't know, I think we didn't have eno
ugh money
for the gas needed to reach Norway, We decided on the UK, so we stayed in the
area of Germany and the UK - unfortunately. We've... started a decade of contacts, communication
with the Maximum Rocknroll, where Maximum Rocknroll, as a magazine,
as well as the authors themselves, Michael Bord from New York,
Tim Yohannan from California, Schwartz, too,
I think is from California... A pleiad of those authors which, mostly stayed, some left MRR with
their columns which were lengthy, at the m
agazine's beginnings. So, we made one
decade of contacts and communication through which we gave info to the world
- which is the most important thing, about what is happening in our area. What we're actually doing. And via Maximum Rocknroll, a lot of people found out, I think,
in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, anywhere, wherever it was possible
to distribute Maximum Rocknroll. And so in that way we opened one new page of international
representation of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 2016, the Afterma
th Records released
Crist cassette tape named: CRISTOGRAPHY 86-88 METALHEADS!? Not all people had the same attitude.
Individuals - yes. I always wondered
- And what is next? I wanted to know...
what will be the next step? Where will... that music...
how will it develop... how will it be... transfered, supplemented, changed, technologically, musically,
scenic - in whichever way. Those were the reasons... Well, somewhat also
because the cross changed... I mean, Crist changed it's musical
style to
that crossover metal, I started hanging out with people
from the metal scene after all, no better
reasons to hangout with different musical view
of the audience simply because we see that
audience on all alternative gigs. And that's the reason, main reason
- if not for anything else, then that is the reason why it is
more or less necessary to connect with them, and I
was looking exactly at that, to see a meaning - not A meaning,
THE meaning, Simply so that we would participate
in the same progra
mmes together. At the same gig, fanzine, radio
performance, TV performance. After all, Polozovic
was a publisher just like me. Intermusic, independent publishing. Polzović,
Explosive Records, also independent publishing. Voja Zhugic, Start Today
Records, same story. Would we travel to Bulgaria, Romania,
or would we print in Zhupski Aleksandrovac, it's the same story,
we just needed sound carriers. That, amongst the rest,
was the reason for friendship. BRAINSTORM In order for a band to
sound seri
ously like a band, not to be too discreet,
not too private, not to get stuck in basements,
to play for 4-5 neighbors, they need to invest the maximum
of their efforts... their time... ...Knowledge, experience... Technique... Ideas. So above else the idea. Brainstorm sounded good
from the start because... we subordinated ourselves,
our time... and ambitions to
the band - to the music. No matter if someone was still
in school, or college, or working, etc. From the beginning
we had luck with Bozhic
. Zheljko Bozhic is... one of my best
friends and an excellent producer. At that time he took over the
Zodiac studio from Sasha Sopchek. And at some point was created - after
Rambo Amadeus that recorded at that time, that first demo
recording at Zheljko's... with 4-5 tracks, in grind-metal. At that time, grind was sort of a new style...
a new musical stylistic phenomenon. There was Heresy,
then Napalm Death etc. And so we somehow found ourselves
there, too, and started playing. Thanks to previou
s contacts,
correspondence... journeys, personal acquaintances - years and years
went into that, you can't do that in 5 minutes... The political lyrics
period of Brainstorm... Our try to explain... One "thought fraud" when it comes to
deciding the price of products - of any kind, from any point of view...
that 9.9 equals 10. But OK, it can be translated in a different
context considering the content of the lyrics. With that, so to say, we acquired some
credit during those previous years, with, N
ekrofilija,
Arhivska Zabava, Crist... And such... And so we've, well,
somehow followed up with that, I was in charge of
marketing, and such... rather detailed management,
content-rich management for a band. I arranged gigs, and all of
that started from that demo... During '91-'92 on B92 radio, Gvido
was the editor of cult show Thrasher. Later on we recorded a demo at
Sveta Shtrbac's. Classic Sound studio. After that a lot of bands
went to record at Sveta's, Ex-Cess, PMS... A lot of them...
I thi
nk... URGH... etc. After that... I think there
was another demo - yes... We recorded material
for the Battle of Disarm, split LP. Which went great.
The demand for it was high. Even though the print run
was only 500 pieces. And finally this Miloshevic is Dead,
which was... on its own... A good HC album, so to say. Especially the 3rd track, Just Another Justice.
Ideal number, I mean, exceptional. In the separation of members,
mostly dominated musical orientation, One was for one type of music,
ano
ther was for something else... Or we simply reached some saturation,
some break was in order, maybe, maybe some form of vacation,
something like that. So that all could, as they say,
cool down - chill, and then to continue with the same
or... higher tempo. A better one... But... There, we've split up
after that starting period. We've started some new direction,
with Lima on the guitar... Boris from today's SMF,
at the drums. With Josip on bass... Rehearsals at Studio 5, at Sonja's. That, well...
And so later on everything went,
so to say, in a chain reaction. Printing posters in Smederevska Palanka,
arranging gigs in Novi Sad, in Belgrade, in Ilirska Bistrica...
- Ilirska Bistrica was exceptional... The Nightmare Continues was also
printed in Germany, if I'm not mistaken... We did the cover art here. Since at that time
there was no Intermusic yet, since Intermusic
wasn't yet founded, I used my private connections again
to order the record, to import etc. I think that, too,
was one of o
ur, one new springboard
in that whole... let's say phase... of musicianship... As a band, and... as a publisher
and promoter, and a manager. Cooperation with Battle of Disarm.
Interesting stuff. The vocalist Ryuji contacted us, with the
idea to make a project together. Ryuji was just starting with
his band, Battle of Disarm, and he had a distributor company,
in Japan. To me, Japan was an unexplored territory.
I was interested in Japan. Simply, I had some
info from earlier... that it's good to di
stribu--
that it's... That you can make a good product
placement in Singapore, and Hong Kong. But, there was no, let's say, punk scene there,
I couldn't get any contacts. But, with Ryuji
I had communication... And after several letters, faxes, deals, we agreed to
do one project together. To translate our
lyrics to Japanese, so that the audience would know
what we sing about, what are our lyrics... For them to translate to us - yes, in English,
their lyrics were already in English. And in such wa
y to create
an international cooperation. Very good-- That is one of the best
sold records in Intermusic, from No Time To Be Wasted Records, because from the start, I had arrangements
to sell around 200-250 records. And if your print run is 500 pieces
and you'd already sell half of it... you aren't thinking
will you have any sales or not. You think about additional printing. Very good... And to add... Someone will ask, Where's the
financial profitability in that? Why are you guys doing that?
Are
you doing it... just like... You get pocket money
from your parents and spend it or... Where do you get
the money for all that? Well, I'll tell you... How much effort we've put in
through all those years. That's around 7-8 years, 9 or 10, all together,
from Arhivska Zabava 'till then. The amount of time
invested in correspondence, in phone calls,
in face-to-face meetings, all of that was well worth it
through all those years. At the end, at that time,
we've reached the point to have Brainstorm
perform for around
220-250 Deutsche Marks - of that time, now, whether it's in Euros or... From ticket sales we had...
some fixed amount we agreed upon, and we really got all that money. That way, when we talk about covering
the expanses for Sonja, for Studio 5, for recordings at Zheljko's, for Banovci,
for... At Sava's, rehearsals... ...Posters in Smederevska Palanka. We covered it all with that.
Everyone got their cuts, we had agreements. We kept statistics in a
notebook who receives what and
how much, how much we invested... You know, we kept
those things in a primitive, simple way but in an administratively
reasonable enough way. In order for a band to do business
sort of like a small business group. It doesn't matter if we
played grind, HC or punk. WHAT HAPPENED AFTER? A very good question...
Emotional question... ...Emotional reason... The basis... Namely... That year... While Brainstorm was still
trying to find a new drummer, I had a break-up
with my girlfriend, My flat was brok
en into... And one complete
- my absence from... let's say society... Saturation... But, after that I started searching
for myself, since I was lost. And after some time... After I moved to Montenegro,
in search for myself... I started going to church.
And from that day... I started studying... Finding God and
Jesus in other people, my relatives. As well as in myself... And from that day on, after several
years I discovered - in 2007-8. Christian movement, a rock-pop one. Totally accidentally vi
a private
radio-- TV station from California. Which you can't get here in Belgrade,
unless you have a satellite pointed... at the right angle. And so I've transfered, so to say,
to that new movement, which I think is a logical follow up
to all of my... previous movements. Unfortunately, that movement
doesn't exist here... It barely exists because it's... Not so archaic, not so historically
minded and conservative, but modern. With, distortions,
keyboards, drums... One simple... ensemble, pop-roc
k
ensemble, with good lyrics. And high quality production. And with messages, naturally. WHAT ABOUT TODAY...? Even though I've changed my
music orientation, in 2007-2008, towards this new-- this new type of Christ-- I mean,
new music genre, Christian rock-pop, some also call it gospel rock, but I
came to know it as Christian rock-pop. I still keep my independence... I still support smaller bands. Belgrade bands... I come to the concerts
when I'm invited. Last time I went to the Exploited (2023.0
5.09),
before that I went to GBH (2022.10.21)... I went to those domestic bands... What was the name...
Nothing Sacred... That. I went to a metal music festival
in Dom omladine (Youth Centre), there were a few
- several young bands... Simply because
I support the local scene, I like to support the local scene... That's regarding the bands - regardless
of the different musical opinions. And in publishing, on the subject of record I spoke to
Dragan Radovanovic, Radan, from Shabac. Who also has som
e plan to,
sell something, to release it on record. And whether him and I will eventually
make some financial... deal or not is left to be seen
- which bands and how'd we do it. The ideas exist, and the publishers
are based in Czech... Contact with them
should be made, why not... Even if it's just 150-- 200 pieces... After all, I suggested that to Vox Populi
when we cooperated with Ivica Penchic. But he had some fear... Not to make some profit, so that the said publisher doesn't make
a profit ou
t of it, and they get nothing... It would certainly not
come to that - surely. Because, I already told you,
with previous releases I basically didn't even
cover what I invested. So... I am in a way, up for those
kinds of new challenges. All in due time... The last band...
that especially surprised me, and really, as they say, touched my heart,
is the band Katastrof from Sweden. Formed by the ex members of Mob 47...
plus 2 more members, with their single. Superb single! Great!
Four tracks. That's
the last thing I...
Exceptional, exceptional. And if I were to go back, well of course,
I don't know... The early Discharge... Conflict, maybe... Then, the Varukers, probably... I also love old punk bands, really.
I enjoy todays Damned. Newer release from the Damned,
listen to the album by the Damned... The Ruts, also, of course,
like, from those times. But I say, Damned... Um... And when it comes to the old bands... Angelic (Upstarts), too, also... THE FINAL THOUGHT I think that the most impor
tant year,
and period was the combination of Zheljko Bozhic... Akademija... Small scene in SKC when it
slowly started to subside... Let's say, the apearance of skate-core... A tipping point happened at that
time, from that old-fashioned, old-school, already a bit used up old punk
- UK Subs, Sex Pistols, Clash, into something new.
The Americanization of it. And... with the occurrence of Body & Soul
fanzine, by Vanja Stamatovic. With Vanja's appearance,
the appearance of Svarog, and Bole... The Ov
erdose, after all... Which shook
and spread that palette of alternative understanding or creativity or
thinking a bit, and the connection of arts with music. We had, don't forget... There were cases
where we combined exhibitions with music. We had Punk Rebellion, as you know,
once-twice in Vuka Karadzica street... We might even continue with that... And that cooperation, you know, that
cohesion between painters, and writers-- Like we have nowadays with Vasa Radovanovic
from Oprem Dobro fanzine.
That complete connection with the publishers,
writers, painters and others, contributes to improvement - development, and prosperity of
Belgrade's alternative scene. But on the postulates which
we explained at the beginning, and those postulates
aren't to be tied to the media to the public media, but in fact... one private... one... so to say,
different way - approach, from the one we're accustomed to. THE END Serbian transcript and
English translation: Pegla
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