Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Postojna (`Pastwjna`) / Kanelca bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 07.07.2012
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: 0,00 €
Not exactly Shot Down in Flames, as our good old pre-bubblegum glam heroes The Sweet would put it, but »just« Shutdown! Old acquaintances, right? They’re one of the most active bands of the new heavy rock wave, which has been gradually taking over Slovenia too for a few years now, largely thanks to them. Shutdown are an interesting band. Looks-wise, they blend the content of acts like Guns N’ Roses and »eighties era« Ozzy Osbourne. And their music doesn’t hide that from time to time either, of course. The influence of cheeky rock outfits like the old troublemakers Guns’ N Roses and classic, old-school-trained heavy metal bands is all over Shutdown’s music.
Epic Center is Shutdown’s classic Postojna »hideout«. Let’s mention that out of 27 competing bands, Shutdown took first place at the Epic RockLine contest and earned themselves free recording of a studio debut! That was back in 2009. But since things always go wrong and downhill just when they look their best, at least in Slovenia, that’s the usual practice, everyone knows the win ended in a total abortion, and the guys had to swallow their spit, grit their teeth and accept that in the shoes of today’s metal enthusiast or rocker, you can only trust yourself to make your goals happen, and nobody else. Primarily just yourself.
So a bit more water had to flow under the bridge before it all ripened and Shutdown finally, happily gave birth to their studio debut this year, which they named » Heavy As Metal & Hot As Hell«. Even though the album has been officially out for a while, the guys threw a party to mark the release in the first days of this July. Kanelca bar is located right next to the venue Amabasada Jugoslavija, formerly Rock Bar Postojna, where Shutdown beat out 27 bands at the final concert in May 2010, and the place where they warmed up the crowd back in February at a similar party for the band Requiem,who released their new solo studio album this February.
Shutdown are a lineup of infectious, likable characters who get under your skin fast once you make contact with them. Primorska positivity. Let’s just say Nova Gorica-style. They’re hard workers and play a lot. So they already have a loyal base of fans and supporters behind them, who back them at gigs all the time. Deservedly. This year, for instance, Shutdown are playing two impressive festival events in Slovenia. At the biggest Slovenian metal festival, Metal Camp 2012, and even earlier at the annual traditional gathering of Slovenia’s metal brotherhood, more precisely at the far more intimate setting of the Metal Mania Open Air festival, located in the middle of Komen in the Karst. Once again, more than deserved.
The improvised stage, set up right in line with the audience and lit by a couple of dim spotlight »bulbs«, welcomed the first opening band at 21.00. A band called Gringo. They entertained the crowd mainly with decent covers of evergreen classic rock acts from Led Zeppelin to Free, etc… or so others say. Sadly I can’t report more about them, since the RockLine crew arrived on the scene right in the middle of the soundcheck of the Ljubljana new-wave heavy rockers Tomcat. They are also anything but sitting idle, and in their short time together they’ve played quite a few important gigs. Worth counting among them is opening for the legendary shock metallers Lizzy Borden in Ljubljana last November, or for L.A. Guns at the club Sputnik this March, also in Ljubljana. Tomcat is a band that keeps improving. Recently the lineup »outgrew« itself from a quintet to a quartet. They figured Rok’s guitar is plenty for them. New drummer Žiga Ravšelj, who joined in January 2012, jumped in behind the kit, while it’s no longer news that in the second half of last year Rok stepped away from vocal duties so he could focus more on playing guitar, and young Denis took over as singer. Tomcat keep that character of total ferocity. You can’t deny it when you watch them. Denis has upgraded his vocal range especially in the high and highest registers, where he fired off some extremely convincing »screams«, which means the kid keeps developing and perfecting his vocal charisma. This time it was a less successful show for Tomcat, since the band hit a few snags, but it still didn’t leave the crowd indifferent. Far from it. Simply put, if you play with full balls, that’s enough to give the feeling that you’re totally honest in what you do, and that counts. Enough people crammed in between the mixing desk and the edge of the »stage« to gratefully help thicken up the sound, which was thus perfectly satisfactory during Tomcat’s set. Let me also mention that the characters in the band are visibly growing. Šujo and Rok deepen the band’s stage charisma with their confident looks and self-assurance, and the band is slowly and unstoppably soaking it up, which means Tomcat really have lovely potential for the future. Šujo has a proper »nasty look«, while Rok is blessed with lush hair that right from the start gives the band a touch of mild glam finesse in appearance. Tomcat are also recording their debut, and the set list of this evening in Postojna was of course given over to their original material, with no shortage of the ballad Goodbye and the naughty heavy rock »tale« Metal Mania Hangover.
So, an evening of a Shutdown marathon: the presentation of the album »Heavy as metal, hot as hell« with guest former members, with the show even partly given over to stage reincarnations of various Shutdown career lineups, as former crew members Edi Žorž and Matevž Murovec »Murva« took the stage. Much like with Tomcat, the same goes for Shutdown: the gig didn’t turn out all that great. Egzi had quite a few problems with his vocals, just like Denis (Tomcat) before him. You could hear it especially in the transitions, where you have to pull power from the mid-range up into the high and highest registers and build it there into a melodic crescendo for the chorus. Maybe the unfavorable humidity of an otherwise chilly Postojna July night was to blame, who the devil knows. In the second half of the show, Katarina also jumped on stage, the very same Katarina, Egzi called her »Katrin«, who for instance hopped onto the stage of last year’s Metal Mania Open Air festival to help Tomcat out on vocals. In the second half Shutdown also introduced a new rhythm guitarist, so during the set they grew back into a quintet. Apparently the new member is a barely-dry-behind-the-ears 16, which noticeably lowers the average age of the Shutdown crew. Domen Gorjup remains an excellent guitarist. The »Randy Rhoads obsession« isn’t letting up! He’s developed a style of guitar playing that stuns. Brilliant execution, which goes first and foremost for Domen’s excellent soloing. And of course the ever-reliable Pejo was there at his drumming fortress, impressing especially with old-school spandex taken from the legacy of the good old N.W.O.B.H.M. wave, and Egzi is, well, Egzi. A frontman who knows how to keep the crowd by his side, so they’re eating out of his hand the whole time. He’s got no shortage of charisma, nor of ideas for cracking funny comments between songs. The best proof that the event and the celebration of Shutdown’s debut came off in full glory is the fervor of the crowd, which completely filled the space between the mixing desk and the edge of the stage, its constant participation from the first to the last second of the show, and a few overheated heads who, in their enthusiasm, literally tried to climb onto the stage during the gig.
So Shutdown are the heavy rock revivalists who caught this wave right as it hit European soil. Their studio debut is basically paving the »track« for a Slovenian answer to the phenomenon. Heartfelt congrats to the band for all their guts, stamina and defiance. Up next are their colleagues and partners in crime through thick and thin, Tomcat.
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