Lene kosti – Gearing Up to Fire a Deadly Shrapnel Blast of True Old-School Metal Penetration (2011)
Location: K 300 bar / Ljubljana (Dravlje) / Slovenia
Interview date: April 2, 2011
Lene kosti are the oldest heavy metal band in Slovenia. Since reuniting in 2008, the godfathers of Slovenian metal can boast their first official release, “Do Or Die” (2010), which we waited a full 33 years for, no joke. The great reviews “Do Or Die” has racked up abroad and at home gave the band, who set a shining example of what a professional attitude to your craft looks like with loads of seriously convincing shows in 2009 and 2010, wings to start cooking up new material. That material will find its way onto the studio follow-up to “Do Or Die”.
We talked about what’s new in the Lene kosti camp with vocalist and driving force Milan “Dr. Evil” Krušič, and the freshly baked member of Lene kosti, the excellent bassist from Postojna Aaron Cernatič, joined the chat too…
RockLine: After last summer’s concert fever, Lene kosti secretly started piecing together a whole batch of new material for a new studio album?
Milan: A lot has happened for Lene kosti since last summer. We’ve finally reached a stable lineup. That’s the state where everybody in the band breathes for the band. We said goodbye to bassist Grega Brenk. He was with us for two years, but somehow he never felt that real connection with the band, that real belonging, and the rest of us didn’t feel it from him either. A member of Lene kosti has to belong to the band, and also needs to have a finished look and character that’s tailor-made for the spirit and character of the band. We’re sorry we had to make that move, but it just didn’t work out any other way. We parted with Grega on completely friendly terms, and I hope the guy is doing what he truly loves today. But we’re immensely proud that a man has joined the band whose heart beats for heavy metal and who knows what heavy metal is. That’s our new member and bassist Aaron Cernatič, and we’re looking forward to new adventures with him.
RockLine: Aaron, how much truth is there in what Milan says? Just kidding… Tell me, how did you get in touch with Lene kosti, and how did your musical path lead you to joining the band?
Aaron: As for making contact, I can thank the existence of “FaceBook,” ha, ha, ha,… I got in touch with Milan with zero expectations and hinted to him, did he know of any band I could join that needed a bassist. We didn’t know each other and I had no idea what was going on in Lene kosti. He invited me to check out a Lene kosti show in Postojna on April 16, 2010, and later at the Peklenska noč festival in Dornberk on July 30, 2010. Then one day, out of nowhere, Milan called to tell me they were left without a bassist and invited me to come to an audition.
RockLine: Did they put you on the torture rack at the audition? Because I see you’re still breathing.
Aaron: Intense rehearsals followed. I had to learn the Lene kosti repertoire in a relatively short time. I’d played heavy metal in other bands before, but the style wasn’t the same. So I had to prepare extra well. The audition with the band came in early September last year.
RockLine: Which song blew them away the most?
Aaron: They asked me themselves what I wanted to play, which song. I blurted out: “Play With Fire”. I still remember Milan’s astonished look, his eyes bugging out and him going speechless. That track is just phenomenal to me. There were some nerves at the start, then things clicked. Now we gel perfectly.
RockLine: Even the debut show with Aaron, at Orto bar on December 3, 2010, was played on a much higher level compared to everything before it.
Milan: Of course. Aaron brought a new playing style to the band and that little bit of energy, I’d even say the missing piece of the mosaic, that much-needed real “drive” in the background that gives us the backing to tear the stage down. The W.U.K.O – Aaron rhythm section works better than any combination so far, and after the Orto bar show we were extremely happy with Aaron’s contribution. The next step up from that was Lene kosti’s closing gig on December 30, 2010 in Postojna, where we really showed what we’re capable of, and I know we’ll top that too and take our shows to an even higher level going forward.
RockLine: With you, Milan, a huge leap forward in your vocal delivery was already noticeable on stage in December 2010. You’ve always been considered an excellent singer, but apparently Aaron really did bring a much-needed refresh in terms of the band’s motivation too?
Milan: I’m a very emotional person. If I feel and see that positive energy on stage, then I’ve got no worries and all that’s left is simply enjoying being up there and playing the show. That’s when I’m at my best. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the band’s earlier shows, but there was always some intrigue, a bit of fear, unease, because whenever we were on stage I always felt things could be a lot better and that we could play a lot better. I’m also a very impulsive person who can get thrown off the rails by seemingly petty things. If a member shows up to a gig without the right image, the right look that suits the appearance of heavy metal, that alone makes me really nervous and I can’t fully relax on stage. Until now I was dealing with stuff on stage during shows that should have been a given, but wasn’t. So it stood out on stage in a way that doesn’t fit what Lene kosti are. Now I don’t have to burden myself with that. Especially when there was an agreement about the stage look, and then it got broken. And that broken agreement led to shifts in the band and the eventual replacement of a member. With Aaron I don’t have to worry. He breathes with the band, I don’t have to fret about how he’ll step on stage, whether he’ll have the proper stage gear, a proper, crafted stage look.
RockLine: The album “Do Or Die” was received brilliantly, especially in German-speaking countries. You got some really outstanding reviews in Germany and Austria, even in Poland. How do you comment on that, Milan?
Milan: The reason is the big market Germany has, and we sold a ton of records there. Interest in “Do Or Die” hasn’t died down in Germany even today. That’s an incredible compliment for us. Germans have a huge amount of music to choose from. If a German decides to buy our album, it means it’s a quality product, it’s real proof that “Do Or Die” carries serious weight. The positive reviews we got in various media, from people with a certain reputation and standing in German music journalism, give our product special value. If your album gets 18 points out of 20 in a review, and the new Twisted Sister release gets the same score at the same time, you know your work has some real standing too. And when the German magazine Rock Hard, in its August issue, names our album demo of the month for August (it was put in the “demo of the month” category because it was self-released), that’s undeniable proof that our album “Do Or Die” is a very high-quality product. Unlike some of the comments here in Slovenia, and how certain guys write their gig reports and take the piss out of us and make a fool of me. But above all what really pisses me off,.. Yeah. You can write FUCKING PISSES ME OFF, that they keep tripping over this. It doesn’t hurt me, but the tripping over it fucking pisses me off, this thing about the band’s self-promotion and the use of the label “godfathers of heavy metal in Slovenia”. Let them go look up the years we started and they’ll see we were first. I don’t know who has a problem with our way of self-promoting. Mirko Tuš and SPAR promote themselves as “the biggest retailer in Slovenia” too, and nobody bitches about that. And we are the first heavy metal band in Slovenia, and I will always stand by that.
RockLine: Material for the follow-up to “Do Or Die” is in the works. What musical direction will it take?
Milan: Yes. The material is already taking shape. The direction will be an even more aggressive form of heavy metal. We finally have a drummer in the lineup who masters the double bass drum technique brilliantly, and a bassist who can chase down and hold all the more extreme kinds of rhythms. Right now we’re at a stage where, for the sake of Lene kosti thriving, we’re all “top people” in the band. It’s the ideal combination of people in a lineup that we could get together in Slovenia. That’s why I know we’ve got huge capacity at this moment. Take the new song The Cage, which we wrote for my son Lemmy, it’s about “fighters” in the “ultimate fight”! It’s actually a speed metal track. But of course our heavy metal framework of melodies and classic phrases is preserved! We’re sticking to that, period. Another new song is Penetrator, which is more Motorhead-flavored. Right now we’re working on a ballad. A month ago I lost my mother, hence the mood in the band that’s dictating the creation of a song like that. In the lyrics I’ll remember my mother. The rest of the songs will be written in the old-school heavy metal spirit, but cranked all the way up, in the style of Teutonic heavy metal. That’s what we know how to handle, that’s what we’re best at, and we’ll stick to it in the future.
RockLine: Aaron? Was the switch from the style cultivated by Lady’s First and Mit to what Lene kosti play a tough one for you, or did you adapt easily to the demands of the new situation?
Aaron: Looking back, Lady’s First were a lot closer to me stylistically than Mit. I enjoyed myself with Lady’s First. That was the cherry on top. Besides original music, we also played plenty of covers of the biggest heavy metal acts. But things drifted into rough waters, we started to part ways over different views and I myself didn’t see the point in sticking around anymore. I realized I was wasting my time. As for Mit, their approach to music suits me a lot less than Lady’s First did. Mit bring some modern approaches into their music, but that wasn’t what I personally wanted to play either. I always wanted to play heavy metal. The real heavy metal. Old school. It’s true, though, that a big change followed when I was forced to switch styles. Lene kosti songs are wound up to the max and there’s no saving your energy here. Lene kosti songs demand a lot of precision. I can say that W.UK.O. and I clicked perfectly. After just the first two or three rehearsals you could feel we were breathing together. That’s the main thing for any rhythm section. All that was left was a matter of drilling, polishing, practice. W.U.K.O. and I achieved a hugely important tightness that gives Lene kosti’s music the weight and solidity it needs.
RockLine: The announced show in Ljubljana on May 30, 2011 in front of “New Wave Of British Heavy Metal” veterans Saxon is a kind of turning point for the band. It recalls Lene kosti’s show opening for Grave Digger in Ljubljana on February 3, 2009, which kicked off the phase of recording and releasing the album “Do Or Die” and promoting it. With the Saxon show, a cycle will close and with this Ljubljana show the band will actually step into an era closely tied to the follow-up to “Do Or Die”. How do you two see it?
Milan: We expect a lot from this show. It’s important for us. We’ll also present new songs in the set. It’s also a show where visitors from other countries get the chance to see Lene kosti, which is an incredible prospect for us. I can already confirm that a numerically strong crew of metal fans from Croatia has confirmed they’re coming to this concert specifically because of Lene kosti. When you get confirmation that people are coming to your show from Zadar, 500 km away, people who had no intention of coming to the concert at all until Lene kosti were confirmed for it, that in itself puts you under an obligation to give everything you’ve got at this show. Even though our time slot is strictly limited to just five or six songs, our main goal is to give it our all and give heavy metal fans the best we can. At our gigs we’ve always given not 100% but 110%. And this time won’t be any different when we play in front of Saxon. I hope the right people notice us there, people who might help us on our way to breaking through abroad. It’s about time some Slovenian band did something concrete outside Slovenia.
Aaron: When Milan called me and told me we’re playing before Saxon, at first I couldn’t believe it. Eighteen years ago I was down in front of the stage when Saxon played here in Slovenia, in Kobjeglava. And now I’ll be standing on stage with them. That’s not just a confirmation for Lene kosti, but also for me personally, that I’m on the right path. My perseverance and faith in the cause paid off, no matter what others told me, and there was a lot of envy in that too. That’s why I’m happy I landed in Lene kosti. The music Lene kosti play is demanding and you have to master it. It takes discipline and you always have to be clear on the essence of Lene kosti.
RockLine: Milan, you mentioned breaking through abroad. In Germany you’re getting help from the head of Rock Hard Slovenia, Pascal Rogl. Reportedly he’s setting up a new booking agency there. How do things stand for Lene kosti on that front?
Milan: Pascal contacted me saying he needs an old-school heavy metal band from Slovenia for serious work. Of course we grabbed the offer and sent him promo material. Pascal is building contacts that will try to open doors for us to break through abroad. We expect to head out on a few shows abroad already this fall, before we start recording the new album. I hope we also manage to play a couple of open-air festivals this summer. But our main goal is recording the new album this fall, which will be titled “Penetrator”. Right now I’m dealing with the logistics of putting the album package together, collecting photos we’ll use for the booklet. So, onward we push!
RockLine: And in Slovenia, instead of supporting efforts like this, Slovenes would rather throw sticks in your way, and I’m thinking mainly of local promoters, labels, media, and of course the metal crowd. Has anything changed on that front, or is the situation the same?
Milan: Nothing’s changed there. Petty envy remains the Slovenian national sport. That’s why we’re keeping our distance from other Slovenian metal bands, because there’s no proper platform of trust. The stick-throwing continues, but like I always say, only what you deliver on stage counts and decides who’s the best. In the past two years we’ve also seen how we invited many bands to play with us at our shows, which they made good use of, but so far not a single one has returned the favor. Those Slovenian bands, whom we showed support, goodwill and respect by inviting them to our gigs, are of course playing all the time, but they forgot about us. That’s why the goal from now on is to collaborate this way only with foreign bands. I’m teamed up with Austrian bands. We’ve already arranged a few shows together with a band from Austria, and we’ll get them gigs in Slovenia too. And the first offer of this kind of reciprocal cooperation came from Austria first. Already now I’m getting messages from Slovenian bands who are interested in playing the release party for the album “Penetrator”, and they’ve already played our shows, but so far those bands haven’t returned the favor. On top of that, what also bothers me is the mindset that’s still generally present and obviously deeply rooted among Slovenian metalheads, along the lines of can I get our record “Do Or Die” for free. People obviously don’t get that we sell “Do Or Die” so we can record a new one. I’m convinced that even if we set the price of one copy of “Do Or Die” at 2.00€, there’d still be some people demanding the album for free. That’s why we’re distancing ourselves from this philosophy of the “small and narrow-minded”. Not because we don’t like the Slovenian crowd, but in this case we have to react that way, because we have to strictly protect the integrity of Lene kosti, which will guarantee the band’s survival and prosperity in the future. So the band’s first priority right now, which is completely logical, is the foreign market. There at least you get the feeling your work is appreciated. An example? The rating from Moremetal.de music journalist Holger Mordhorst, who in his review gave “Do Or Die” the same number of points as the new Scorpions album. And believe me, we got an excellent rating. Holger isn’t hung up on whether he knows us or not. He just listened and rated the music. Here, on the other hand, good ratings for metal albums get handed out based on mutual so-called buddying up, and only then, way down the line, comes judging the album’s musical quality. That’s why I personally take reviews from abroad as far more relevant than ratings from Slovenian journalists.
RockLine: For the new album, is the music being written by the creative core of the triangle of the Kavaš brothers and you, or is the whole band involved in writing?
Milan: I wrote the lyrics and music for The Cage and Penetrator entirely myself. The rest of the material will be created and shaped at rehearsals, and the whole band will be involved in that process. The third song, the ballad, was shaped musically by the Kavaš brothers, and the band as a whole is developing it further.
RokLine: D.Y.Z. did a magnificent job producing the album “Do Or Die”. You mentioned a shift toward a more aggressive sound earlier. Are you looking at another producer, or will you keep working with D.Y.Z.?
Milan: We’ll keep working with D.Y.Z. I can also already announce that the guitar solo for the song Penetrator will be contributed by German guitarist Manni Schmidt (Capital Joke, ex-Grave Digger, ex-Rage). We won’t be inviting any other guests to the album, because we’re strong enough to play everything ourselves. We were the target of remarks about why so many guests on the album “Do Or Die”, as if we can’t play ourselves. That’s not true. It’s simply confirmation that your music is fundamentally good enough to be appreciated and to spark interest among renowned foreign musicians, who are honored to contribute their part to an album like that. It’s clear that Mat Sinner, who contributed the bass line for our song Sunrise, wouldn’t play on just any cheap, hastily cooked-up little metal tune.
RockLine: So when can we expect the new Lene kosti studio album, titled “Penetrator”, to see the light of day?
Milan: Presumably in February 2012. That will be followed by a release party, with the Austrian band Badhoven as the support act, I can already confirm that.
RockLine: Badhoven are a band with lots of experience and plenty of miles on the clock.
Milan: Yes. Also in terms of professionalism and the high level at which they approach things.
RockLine: One last question. Milan, did you ever dare imagine that barely three years after the reunion you’d be laying the groundwork for recording a second studio album?
Milan: No. Never. If somebody had predicted that scenario when I came back to the stage with Lene kosti in October 2008, I’d have declared them a complete lunatic on the spot without a second thought. If you live for something and believe in it with your heart, the results follow. We’re moving on. Constantly developing, we want to play even better, perform even better, write even better music. Our souls are in this and nothing will stop us.
RockLine: Anything you’d like to add to wrap up?
Milan: Greetings to all RockLine readers! “Keep on rockin’!!!”
interview conducted and edited by: Aleš Podbrežnik
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