Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Baćki Petrovac (Novi Sad) / Oktan / Serbia
Concert date: 31.05.2014
Attendance: 30
Ticket price: 100DIN (approx. €0.90)
What does a person do when they get invited to spice up their weekend with a trip to Serbia and Novi Sad, and catch one of the most interesting bands in Serbia right now, Novi Sad’s Šinobusi? Whether they decide in a heartbeat or sit there weighing it up for ages, the answer is always a big, clear »Yes!« You just know you’re in for an unforgettable time. A weekend without squinting at a computer monitor while prepping new RockLine articles, no worries, brain switched »off« and surrounded by heaps of top-notch music. And for once, no driver’s wheel for me either, since this time it was taken over by the famous Mojo Hand guitarist Slaven Kalebič. He kept me well supplied the whole way with loads of great music devoted to the rituals of the blues. But above all that, of course, one thing matters most. Soaking up unforgettable, one-of-a-kind company, the kind that only the well-known Serbian generosity of spirit and big-heartedness can provide.
Meeting up and hanging out with Šinobusi, one of the most eye-catching retro-sounding bands the Balkans have produced in the past ten years, and with their fresh-off-the-press studio album Nebo od Skaja (2013)! The weekend package naturally included the band’s gig on Saturday, 31.05.2014, a stone’s throw from Novi Sad, in Bački Petrovac, 15 km away. It’s a small town of a good 6,000 people with an interesting history. In the first half of the 18th century Slovaks settled there, and to this day the town remains the cultural, economic, religious and political center of the Slovaks in this European region.
After a merry and rowdy night and an no less rowdy morning, followed by a Saturday continuation of the tour through Novi Sad’s infamous taverns, the day slid quickly into the late evening hours and it was time to head to Bački Petrovac and the club Oktan there. There was nobody at the venue. Not even any Slovak girls. Damn. Just the official club staff: from the bartenders to the ticket taker and the security guys.
The clock struck well past ten, the hands leaning toward eleven. Šinobusi climb onto the stage and kick off the show. Split into two parts, the first half served up older songs from the band, mixed with a few evergreens from well-known arena rock acts. Šinobusi are seasoned veterans who have seen plenty on stage over their career, so they didn’t lose any sleep over the fact that the club was basically empty and that they were really playing a gig for their chosen few and a handful of fiery devotees who’d come all the way from Slovenia for the weekend party! The band simply gave in to the magic it creates on stage and let it carry them from one point to the next, starting with the originals Moje ruke sad su ptice, then U pravcu Jablanova, Kada svrake bulju u mene, Bluz je đavo, Super bejbe, Mirna Bačka, Čamac na Tisi, Ravnodušna pesma, and the instrumental hurricane Prašina! In between those they slipped a few famous covers, like, soon after the start of the set list, If I Had Possesion Over Judgement Day by the legendary delta blues pioneer Robert Johnson, followed right away by the Big Sugar hit Diggin’ A Hole! Later we also got Taxman (The Beatles) and a stretched-out, almost prog-flavored version of Miss You (Th Rolling Stones). The band enjoyed itself to the fullest and played the material as if in front of a crowd of many thousands. Right in the extended jam on the Rolling Stones evergreen Miss You, disaster struck when singer and guitarist Milan Korač’s amp tipped over and damaged the input channel. The band stopped the show and frantically set about rescuing the amp. With the help of the all-round Nenad Patković, they got Milan’s amp patched up and the gig could go on.
The second part started with Nenad sitting down at the keyboards. What followed was the presentation of the new album »Nebo do skaja« with the punchy Iz drugog ugla, then the optimistic, easygoing Naš dan, one of the lead singles from the album Nebo od skaja, then Potera, the excellent instrumental Noonism, the only original in English, Greed, the soulful bluesy waltz Skačem visoko, for which the band recently released a single and video, the excellent Ko zna, the jokey rocker Bio sam tu, and in the closing stretch Vazduh, a track with a chunky retro rock riff.
The communication within the quintet is unbelievable. In terms of improvisation, in terms of tightness and togetherness in playing, in sensing each other, in creating a hypnotic chemistry that instantly grabs the listener’s full attention. From the supremely confident Milan on vocals and guitar, to the incredible musical genius, jack-of-all-trades and the band’s tech guy Nenad Patković, to the always fired-up organ man Gile. Then there’s the outstanding rhythm section pairing of Đorđe Bubnjević (drums) and Predrag Dmitrović (bass), who impress with brilliant ideas for filling the transitions and keeping up the exceptional dynamics this band builds on stage.
Lately, Šinobusi tend to have a special guest on stage, our own Mojo Hand bluesman Slaven Kalebič, whom the band called up once again to »kick things off« with an improvisation in a slow blues manner, which then flows spontaneously into Going Down (Dan Nix). A cheerful Slaven laid passionate blues licks over Milan’s red Stratocaster, and through his brilliant feel for the building blocks of sound it was easy to tell that this wasn’t Slaven’s first stage collaboration with Šinobusi. An outstanding show of a stiffly erect blues rock march that makes the hairs on your neck stand up in an instant. For the finale Milan returned to the mic and together they played another Šinobusi song, Bluz novog dana. In a great closer, Šinobusi also did Muddy Waters’ Got My Mojo Working and, for the big finish, with the club staff tugging the band off stage by the sleeves because time was up, at the insatiable requests of Kristjan Gerbec, the Deep Purple classic Child in Time. It was in this very song that Nenad once again demonstrated his exceptional musical virtues and talent. He played all the keyboards and sang all the vocals. The band has never once seriously rehearsed this song, yet it stunned with the sheer confidence of its take on this Purple classic. Nenad nailed it with his vocals, hitting perfectly even the highest vocal lines of this unforgettable Deep Purple evergreen. All of this (and more) proves once again that you don’t mess around with Šinobusi on stage.
Yet another gorgeous musical evening with Šinobusi, served up this time more »exotically« than we’re used to. The stunning qualities this band possesses are hard to squeeze into a few sentences of a report. The band also fully won over the crowds at their April shows, when they were on a few-day tour of Slovenia. This June they have a confirmed slot at the Lent festival in Maribor, on 26.06.2014. If you don’t believe the lines of this piece, the first rule applies: you absolutely have to be at this year’s Lent.
Besides the outstanding music and the gig, I’d like to thank the band for its hospitality and for spoiling us with the weekend package, which we could enjoy completely carefree and unburdened. In the spirit of full-blooded surrender to musical magic. Let’s hope get-togethers like this happen again. As for the musical experience called Šinobusi, I can say just one thing. The band has developed such strongly defined original creativity, along with such brilliance on stage, that it could open for the biggest blues icons on this planet without any trouble, including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, as well as bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd or The Alman Brothers Band.
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