Need some advice on raising kids who dream of playing in a metal band? Head to Medvode, where the parents of four now-grown young men and one young woman will blow all your doubts away in a heartbeat. Twenty years ago, those kids founded Metalsteel, back when the candles on their birthday cakes had barely crept past ten. The rest is history.
Usually Rok answers the media’s questions, but this time we gave the floor to the one the guys talked into joining after just two weeks of her close encounters with the drums. Since then they’ve racked up an enviable number of albums and shows at home and abroad, and above all gratefully collected experiences shaped by metal. This year they’re celebrating 20 years of the band, and they hope to do it properly: by getting back on stage, playing in front of their home crowd again, and presenting their new album, already their seventh in the studio.
To chase away at least some of the boredom and remember the good old parties, they’ve put together an evening called Metalsteel livestream show – tribute to legends. It goes down on Friday, May 14, 2021, starting at 8:00 PM, and besides the band, guests will include Aleks Škofljanec (Negligence, ex Metalsteel), Mario Murgič, Jan Leščanec (SkyEye), Aleksandra Josić (King Foo), Frenk Stritar (Hangar 55) and Igor Zonta (Cowboys from hell). Besides the livestream on the FB pages of Jedro Medvode club and Radio Bob, the show will also be live on the airwaves of Radio Bob – 100 % rock: FM 87.6 MHz (Ljubljana and surroundings), DAB+ 215.072 MHz, block 10D (all of Slovenia), the online stream, and mobile apps (TuneIN Radio and the like).
Read on for more from Daša Trampuš, who sometimes bangs on the table in Metalsteel, but mostly bangs on the drums.
RockLine: They say it’s best to start at the beginning, so… How do you remember joining the band? How did the guys welcome you?
Daša: It all happened really fast. I got a drum kit for my fourteenth birthday, and soon after, when I practically didn’t know how to play anything yet, Alex, Rock, Matej and Beni showed up at my place on March 17, 2002. We were already hanging out a lot by then, since everyone in Medvode who listened to metal had “sniffed each other out.” I’d been following Metalsteel faithfully before that and sometimes even dropped by their rehearsals. At one of them, in sixth grade, at thirteen, I sat behind the drums for the first time.
During that visit the guys totally shocked me by asking if I wanted to join the band. I’d only had drums for two weeks, which means I couldn’t play anything except the basic beat I’d learned at their rehearsals the year before. (laughs)
I was pretty shy, so I doubted their decision. They’d already been playing together for two years, and I was only just starting out. And even though I didn’t like putting myself out there in public, the urge to give it a try was simply too strong.
The band had quite a few gigs lined up that summer, and I played my first one with them in June. That meant I had to learn their set list, which back then was around 35 songs (originals and covers), in three months. They suggested that Beni’s dad Franci, who’s an excellent drummer himself, teach me and get me ready for the show, so we had rehearsals every Friday in our garage.
For his dad’s birthday we did a “pre-premiere” gig at the old moto club in Medvode, so I could see what it’s like to play in front of an audience and be on stage, and somehow get past that first wave of nerves. Later, of course, it got serious, and apparently I did pretty well. (laughs)
RockLine: You were all practically still kids back then. Did any adults help you break onto the scene, and how did your families see your musical path? Did your parents support you?
Daša: Of course, there’s no way it would have worked without our parents’ support! We talk about it a lot and we know how lucky we are, because they gave us the most beautiful childhood and teenage years, which we could never have experienced without their one hundred percent support. Even though they themselves faced all kinds of criticism over how they were raising us, they always stood by us! Above all, we learned a lot from each other, and every single trip to a gig was a story and an adventure in itself. (laughs)
RockLine: It’s not exactly common for bands to last this long, especially with practically the same lineup. You’ve been going strong for two whole decades. What’s the secret?
Daša: First and foremost, we were always good friends, brought together from the start by our love of metal. The secret is probably just that we’ve been together since we were little. We practically grew up together.
RockLine: You’ve been through a ton in all that time, both as a band and as individuals. How do you look back on the road you’ve traveled? How has the band evolved?
Daša: The band has evolved in step with our age. From the eleven years the guys had behind them when Metalsteel started to where we are today, you can hear it in the music and lyrics, which are like a “musical” diary of our journey and its different periods. Like I said, music has given us, and still gives us, the best feelings and experiences.
RockLine: Do you ever have a good honest laugh remembering some mishap, or cringe at a “we really didn’t need that” memory? Can you share one with us?
Daša: Ufff, memories and debates about them are on the program regularly, and of course new ones keep piling up! Twenty years is a lot of material, and in certain ways it’s become part of our everyday life, in how we talk and in our “inside jokes.” Everyone who has ever been part of the Metalsteel band, or still is, has had their own role and character, and it’s really hard to pick just one memory.
But let’s say… I’ll never forget sleeping in a monastery in the middle of Belgium, where a nun greeted ten of us metalheads at four in the morning and escorted us to the rooms where we slept, furnished in true monastery style, of course. The story behind it is much richer, but there’s sadly not enough space. (laughs)
There have to be some less pleasant memories too, but there aren’t many. And we don’t regret anything, since there’d be no point.
RockLine: Women have long since firmly established themselves in rock/metal in general, but here in Slovenia you’re still more or less a rarity. Especially female drummers. What put you on the drum throne?
Daša: I’d always been drawn to drums, and as a kid I often daydreamed about playing on stage with a band. What put me on the drum throne was that day in sixth grade at a Metalsteel rehearsal. Right after that I told my parents at home I wanted to play drums, and nervously asked whether they could possibly buy me a kit. I was shocked when they said yes. I had one in less than a year.
RockLine: Did you have a role model you looked up to?
Daša: No, I don’t have one biggest role model! There are tons of musicians I really respect, and I’m just not the kind of person who could pick only one.
RockLine: Don’t take this the wrong way, it’s not meant to sound sexist, but… As a woman, the only one in the band, and a drummer, have you ever been treated differently than your bandmates, in a positive or negative way? Or is metal basically equal between the sexes?
Daša: Never, really! Not just in metal, but in general! That’s exactly why I never paid it any attention.
RockLine: You also stand out for how active you are in the studio, with six studio albums and one live album behind you. How do they come about for you? Is it a spontaneous burst of creativity, or do you plan carefully and split up the roles, who does what and so on?
Daša: I’d definitely say it’s a spontaneous burst of creativity… At the start, with the first four albums, we were tied to a rough release date, so maybe we were more disciplined, and we had more time too. Later, when more obligations came along, we had to give in to the “it’ll be done when it’s done” approach (laughs). Most of the songs are written by Rock and Beni, then we all build the whole thing together, the arrangements, and finish everything off in the studio. The studio is always a great experience!
RockLine: You’ve shared the stage with bands like Saxon, Helloween, Steve Lukather, W.A.S.P., Iced Earth…, and you’ve also broken through on international stages. How did those shows differ from the ones at home? Did you get nervous, and how did you experience them?
Daša: Sharing the stage with such huge names in heavy metal is priceless, and those feelings are the best thing you can experience as a musician. That said, we actually played with most of those names in Slovenia (Helloween, WASP, Iced Earth, Saxon…).
I remember in 2003 when we played Rock otočec with Primal Fear and Apocalyptica… Usually I don’t sleep for days before a gig because I’m so hyped, but that day, in the morning and on the way to Rock Otočec, I was so wound up I was throwing up bile and didn’t know if I’d be able to get through the show, which was, of course, the most important gig of my life at the time. Luckily it all turned out fine later!
Funny thing is, I was always less nervous when we played abroad. Still, the home crowd was always the most important to us, and without them the band would struggle to exist!
RockLine: In 2009 you joined forces with the legendary American singer James Rivera (Helstar, Malice, Seven Witches). How did you “find” each other, what kind of collaboration is it, and is it still going?
Daša: Working with James is a really special chapter in the Metalsteel story, and I feel like he’s the one who broadened our musical horizons even more!
In 2009, when Helstar played at our Kranj pool, James was looking for a lineup for his project Sabbath Judas Sabbath, which he wanted to take around Europe. A friend of ours suggested he get in touch with us, and he did. When Rok told us James wanted to start a European project with us, I nearly had a stroke. I’d spent my entire high school listening to Helstar, and I couldn’t believe that someone from Texas would come up with the idea of working with a band from Slovenia.
James and I became really good friends right away, and the tours with him were always real adventures! Our collaboration has never actually ended, and we hope we’ll get to share a stage again someday!
RockLine: The material for the new album has been recorded. When did the recording take place, where, and who all took part?
Daša: We recorded in the summer of 2020 at RSL studio with Bojan Pahljina, who was a huge help and is also the album’s co-producer. Beni took care of the mix and mastering, and he outdid himself again.
The album cover was created by Mark Jordan, who we’ve been working with since the album This is your revelation. The booklet design is by Mihaela Žitko (who is also the drummer in the band Mist), and the photos are by Max Petač (Max Visuals). We’ve been working great with all of them for a few years now, of course!
RockLine: Does the album bring anything new compared to the earlier ones? What’s the concept, and which themes inspired you?
Daša: This will be our seventh studio album, and I think with it we may have gone back a bit to that more authentic heavy metal. The concept, or common thread between the music and lyrics, is life themes we all run into and probably all ask ourselves about at some point. Another special thing is probably that this time on certain songs we experimented a bit more with other instruments too.
RockLine: In one interview Rok proudly said you contributed lyrics to two songs, since he’s been writing everything himself for the last 15 years. How come you started writing, and what are the songs about? Will you keep writing in the future?
Daša: It’s true, Rok has always been the lyricist in Metalsteel. The rest of us just never showed any interest, so it all fell on him. (laughs) I’ve been scribbling stuff since I was little, but it never seemed good enough for the public, and I never managed to finish a full set of lyrics.
The two lyrics I wrote came about totally spontaneously. I didn’t consciously sit down to write. The words for the first one kept popping into my head, especially after the death of our friend, to whom we also dedicated the song Fallen Brother, which Rok wrote entirely, and one morning I finally put it all on paper.
Of course I’ll keep writing in the future if inspiration floats to the surface. With me, it doesn’t work when forced.
RockLine: You recently unveiled the third single from the upcoming album. How’s the response?
Daša: Rok wrote the song Death = life, and it almost didn’t make the album, because while he was working on it we completely forgot about it. (laughs) The decision to release it as the third single was made with the help of musician friends we brought into the process and asked for input. We got great responses both from Slovenia and from abroad, where most of our supporters are in South America.
RockLine: When will the new release officially be out, and can you already plan its promotion?
Daša: If it weren’t for this whole corona situation, the album would probably be out already, but as it is, we can only wait and hope things calm down as quickly as possible so we can at least partly get back to living again and, of course, promote the album. For now we’re adapting to the circumstances, and we hope to release the album in September.
RockLine: We don’t know yet whether this year will bring live shows back, but still… Will you mark the band’s 20th anniversary?
Daša: If circumstances allow, we’ll of course do everything we can to pull off the 20th anniversary live! I think we all want that badly already!
RockLine: Let’s end on a lighter note… Do the guys listen to you at all? Do you ever have to bang on the table? Is that maybe also the secret to the band’s longevity?
Daša: Hehe, the “table banging” goes around in turns with us, sometimes me, sometimes the others!
Author: Nataša Fajon
Promo photos: Max Petač (Max Visuals)
Concert gallery: Aleš Podbrežnik (Helstar & Metalsteel concert, February 21, 2017, Orto bar Ljubljana – concert review!)
