Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 03/16/2017
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: €10.00
The time has come to shoot a documentary about Slovenian metal and hard rock as the eighties knew it. Well, a slice of the seventies too. Denis Brnčič, the brave driving force behind the project, will see it through. No matter what. Come hell or high water. There’s no turning back.
These days it’s hard to scrape together any kind of charity »penny«, even when what you’re offering is your bare enthusiasm, which indirectly enriches the pulse of our cultural and artistic life, in this case our music scene, the stuff that’s »metal-savvy« and »jingle-jangled« with iron. All you can count on is your own faith, will and courage, and of course the ear of your fellow human (if you happen to land in financial trouble). Not to ramble on. In the budget, as much of it as was ever loosened up, a hole opened up for filming the documentary, so bands representing Slovenian metal and hard rock, organizers and promoters, and Orto bar in particular, joined forces and put together a benefit concert. Everyone who showed up at the »den of sin« that night chipped in ten euros, which go straight to the bank account, from where the money is drawn to successfully finish the shoot and bring the documentary »Železne stopinje« to life.
The two front-runners of the »Slovenian heavy-metal frontline, with scents not exactly delicate«, true »blood brothers« Črt and Matej, along with the usual faces who long ago made Orto bar their nightly home and got their own inventory numbers there, picked (above all in terms of genre) a lineup that was supremely fitting and colorful. The bands were split between the lower stage by the smoking room and the upper one, the regular club space of Orto bar. Eight downstairs, seven upstairs. Twenty-minute sets each. Alternating. So you could catch the performances of every single band.
And who were these brave troublemakers of nighttime peace and quiet who came to thunder and rattle Orto bar that evening? Inmate, Morana, Stereo Pollution, Paragrab, Big Bad Wolf, Edge Of Sins, Captain’s Morgan’s Revenge, Pyroxene, Deep Down Bellow, Partija, Sarcom, Metropolis, Tomcat, Hangar 55 and Necrotik.
You might have wished to see more people in the crowd, though some bands did get a bit more support (Pyroxene, Tomcat, Metropolis), and the point was first and foremost a party, good spirits, positive energy, with no focus on who botched what and when, or what the sound was like on this stage or that. Cheerfulness and good vibes. A switch-off with a healthy dose of distorted decibels from the Slovenian school of metal and rock, made concrete with a proper helping of alcohol fumes. Great night, great crew, the regular supporters of the Slovenian metal and rock scene. The voice of the people. All in one place. For once, we Slovenes even showed a little unity that night, and if it comes to it, we’ll back the next benefit concert for »Železne stopinje« too.
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