Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Kranj / Transtation Squat / Slovenia
Concert date: October 27, 2014
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: €10.00
The classic rock grazing ground by Kranj’s railway station has sprung back to life! Naughty Swedes Sister Sin rolled in, with Slovenian heavy rock assault troops Tomcat standing beside them this time as support. The old familiar faces who never miss a drink on the outskirts of Kranj, on the right bank of the Sava, dutifully filled the room once again as our own Tomcat jumped onto the stage at 8:25 PM.
In a good half hour on stage, they delivered one of the most convincing sets I’ve caught from them. The guys were seriously tight, and it showed that guitarists Rok and Greg read each other perfectly, have found each other, and have real sparks flying between them. Back and forth between the two guitarists darted the band’s great organizer and visionary, the tireless bassist Šujo, who nudged both guitarists a few times to squeeze every last drop of dynamics and kinetic energy out of themselves on stage. Vocalist Denis sang great. He let loose a whole bagful of vocal eruptions, and he went especially wild toward the end of the set in the new, excellent Adrenalin and in Tomcat, off the debut Dirty Old Mind, which means the man masterfully built up his performance to a peak right at the close of the band’s show. Tomcat also lucked out with great sound. Congrats to the sound guy, who let the opening act pull off its set at a high level. And of course we can’t skip the solid, reliable role of the committed drummer Žiga. The band tuned up from D to E, and maybe that’s exactly what gave Denis even more freedom and all that loose vocal voltage, which the kid managed to unleash in a hugely convincing and confident show. Greg and Rok are growing into a truly phenomenal guitar duo, and their soloing and playing gain more charm. From gig to gig. With the new songs Shizo and Adrenalin, the band announced that it’s entering a new creative phase of its evolutionary growth. They’re busily working on a new record, and judging by what I saw and heard that night at Transtation Squat, we’ve got plenty to look forward to from Tomcat. Bravo, guys.
The night’s headliners Sister Sin are a quartet of seasoned musicians who know no hiding places. The modest but big-hearted and tough Gothenburgers were celebrating the release of their new studio album »Black Lotus« on the very day of the show at Transtation Squat. An angry but statuesque young woman with a sharp, piercing voice, a chemically contagious hellion with no brakes, the phenomenal vocalist Liv Jagrell took the conductor’s baton into her own hands the second she hit the stage. Her stage performance, full-blooded and lived-in, shaking out passion and emotion, never hinted for a second that she was running out of steam during the show, or that her vocals were showing any kind of wear. With what sounded like a circular saw lodged in her throat, constantly running around and spitting, she confirmed that she is the first and foremost attraction of every Sister Sin show. The Swedish perfectionists served up outstanding sound, outstanding tightness, outstanding chemistry. In the style of true workhorses, true professionals, even though they travel around Europe in a modest van with a trailer and are often stuck covering costs out of their own pockets. Their heartfelt stubbornness and great faith in the music they’re devoted to keeps the band in remarkable drive.
The great commander Liv, surrounded by the committed playing of the incredibly nimble Finnish guitarist Jimmy Hiltula, the tall bassist Strandh, and the cunning cannon of a drummer Dave Sundberg, couldn’t afford a slip-up in her performance that night. Everything worked perfectly. The band built an exceptional connection with the Kranj crowd, who were fully in it and had their heads flashing. The band took in songs from all their studio albums except the debut. They threw themselves with particular zeal into the newest tracks from “Black Lotus”, like Chaos Royale – where the extremely naughty Liv pulled on an officer’s cap – and a little later Sail North. The band has always loved slipping covers of other artists into the early albums. So they pleasantly surprised everyone with a take on the U.D.O. classic 24/7, which originally appeared on the band’s third studio album »True Sound of the Underground«. It fired up great, mixed in with the rest of the band’s own material. These heavy metallers, with a mocking, dirty punk glam, rock’n’roll sneer, in which you can even hear hints of Mötley Crüe, Motörhead and/or even W.A.S.P., delivered a phenomenal live experience, and it was unbelievable to realize that this first-class storm of invigorating, noisy proportions was already over. Before half past ten at night. Sweet sinful things pass too quickly. Always.
Let’s hope Transtation Squat brings more bands of this caliber into its halls in the future, because we’re desperately short on this kind of genre visit. They usually happen just across the border. On the Trieste side, where Lizzy Borden and H.E.A.T. will soon be playing. Back in early October, the naughty Swedish rockers Crucified Barbara did play Ljubljana, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Given the well-worn routine of the same endlessly rotating batch of bands at the clubs on Ljubljana’s Metelkova, Transtation Squat could hit the nail on the head with a sly pick from the directory of hot bands, “warming up” the classic legacy of the heavy metal bible, hard rock, punk glam rock, maybe even punk sleaze rock, and grow into a hub of special club charisma and homegrown musical-cultural pulse. On a nationwide level.
Setlist
SITER SIN:
1. End of the Line
2. One Out of 10
3. Chaos Royale
4. Fight Song
5. Outrage
6. 24/7
7. Sail North
8. On Parole
9. Heading for Hell
10. Hearts of Cold
11. The Chosen Few
12. Sound of the Underground
13. Better than Them
—encore—
14. Beat ’em Down
TOMCAT:
1. Intro
2. Girl in Leather
3. Goodbye
4. Shizo
5. Hangover
6. TNT
7. Adrenalin
8. Dirty Old Mind
Photo Gallery
