Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Škofja Loka / Loški Pub / Slovenia
Concert date: December 14, 2013
Attendance: 120
Ticket price: €6.00 (presale) / €8.00 (day of show)
And so another one of this year’s rare shows has rolled around from a band that counts as one of the big convalescents of the last two years in Slovenia. The Drinkers. Right before the release of their new album »Recidiv«, the band decided to play one more gig before the new year, loosen up the limbs and feel firsthand what kind of shape their stage form is in right now. We’re talking about the re-affirmed classic lineup of The Drinkers! With returnees Sandi Kolenc Koli and Primož Trebec back in the lineup!
Loški pub sits near that infamous bend in Škofja Loka, right before which a banner hangs on the hedge along the slope leading up to it: »We want a bypass now!« That left turn in Škofja Loka is epic. The road at that bend is so narrow that the cargo beds of trucks, on their way through to the Poljanska Valley, regularly scrape and bang mercilessly against the second floor of an old house at the end of Škofja Loka’s old town core. And right across from these terrifying traffic spasms stands Loški pub. And inside it was already pretty merry between nine and ten in the evening. That’s when local band Arizona took the stage. We skipped them this time and instead hung around over a couple of pints with Miro Mutvar, Klemen Markl and Primož Trebec (all of The Drinkers) in a nearby bar where, believe it or not, they pour Union beer without a single solitary molecule of carbon dioxide. Yes, that’s the dream version of Union that won’t give you a headache in the morning, and not just in the morning, but never, ever.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. And the surprise this time? Men in blue paying a visit. What the hell? And inspectors, we mustn’t forget them, especially when it comes to cracking down on illegal builders (Damn. They’re nowhere to be found then!). Apparently they have too much time on their hands on Saturday nights. They’d have been better off staying home with their families instead of spreading unease at one of the few venues in Slovenia devoted to rock ‘n’ roll. Anyway, facts are facts. You can’t do without law and order. But the fact remains that we’d rather hang out with them some other time.
The clock had pushed well past eleven when the lads of The Drinkers finally climbed on stage and kicked off their famous rattling, which for years was impossible to get a taste of. Mat K. A tune tailor-made for the one and only Koli. Everything falls into place in an instant. Really? The one exception is the bone-deep freezing cold! It drove poor Primož from behind the keyboards to a butane gas burner, where the poor guy kept going between songs to warm his hands. It’s hard to find a “cooler” band in Slovenia than The Drinkers. You look at the stage and all the answers are right there in front of you. The serene, peaceful giant on bass guitar Mro Mutvar – confident and unbreakable, and on the far right stands guitarist Robi Likar, equally loaded with incredible experience and equally hard to knock off the rails. They radiate unbelievable ease and comfort, positive energy that spreads to the crowd! That night the sound system treated Robi well and the guitar thundered in proper bottled-up The Drinkers manner. At Podlipa in 2011, the guitar sound was more or less reminiscent of nothing but fruit flies belching. This time everything was in perfect order!
Koli, decked out in a red scarf, a chiseled »sharp dressed man«, has put the head of The Drinkers back where it used to be. Right where it belongs. Watching the band with him today, you can’t believe it when you call up that clunky version with two guitars and Maki on vocals. Koli’s charisma reaches far, far. The vocals remain piercing and punchy! Even better than ever before. Aging like wine. And the tongue remains sharp. Now that the man has been cleansed of the evil of alcohol fumes and shies away from booze like the devil from the cross, he spins his jokes between songs by making fun of himself at the expense of his alcohol abstinence. So it’s no wonder The Drinkers made a song called Recidiv and that the whole upcoming studio album is named that way too. Even though the barmaids eagerly kept the stage stocked with rounds of Laško, Union and even mulled wine, it wasn’t hard to spot half-liter glasses filled to the brim with water. But Koli remains a great hero. Once again he effortlessly got the crowd eating out of his hand whenever he felt like it. He remains an exceptional frontman. No doubles allowed!
The band once again presented completely new songs, just like in June at Cvetličarna. We got Huda Baba, Debeli Avioni and also the better-known new singles Trboule and Recidiv, which are already officially on record on the compilations »Val 012 imamo dobro glasbo« and »Zasavski krasen džumbus« (2013). And these new tracks sound incredibly promising. As compositions they confirm that the chemistry with Koli has been re-established, that it works at full power and that, as such, it’s unique. Irreplaceable. Otherwise, the party kept rolling through the classics Lepi in trezni, Lit’r vina, Rjava podmornica (read: »a capful of rum in a mug of beer«), Pijemo ga radi, Jawohl! A drinkers’ march through Škofja Loka! Then came the crowd-adopted favorites I Love Alkohol, Fa Fa Fa, Deset mejhnih jagrov and Ko to tam opeva! Winners of every concert setlist. With the indispensable theater, of course, brought by the chainsaw during Kralj hoste! The Zasavje one, naturally, and let’s hope that 3% of the biomass of the timber stock is still left in the forest, set aside for proper nesting spots for secondary cavity nesters, food for primary cavity nesters and the development of juvenile stages of all sorts of little creepy-crawlies! If the trumpets are rusting at Lačni Franz, then at The Drinkers the chainsaw gets cranked!
The diligently tipsy and soused crowd soaked up the energy of the show and raised some serious hell! And for the encore The Drinkers lined up the long-awaited “alko waltz” Žeja, then the even more eagerly awaited Mafalda, and wrapped up their alcoholic storm just like at Cvetličarna! With covers of Partibrejkers (Krena premi meni) and Billy Idol (Rebel Yell)!
The mission dubbed »Škofja Loka Beer Orgy« for all of us “weekend warriors” who dragged ourselves to Škofja Loka that night was a total success!. Directed by the one and only! Slovenian kings of alk ‘n’ roll. The Drinkers! A guarantee of a mocking party format! While we wait for the new studio record, we wish the guys a successful start to their eleventh year of activity! Next year will once again be a year of real concert mayhem for The Drinkers. And the December alcohol hurricane in Škofja Loka made for a pretty nice overture!
Setlist
1. Mat K.
2. Lepi in trezni
3. Trboule
4. Huda baba
5. I Love Alcohol
6. Lit’r vina
7. Debeli avioni
8. Recidiv
9. Rjava podmornica
10. Jawohl
11. Privat Bog
12.. Fa Fa Fa
13. Kralj hoste
14. Ko to tamo peva
15. Ko boš prišla na Bled
16. Slovenac
17. Pijemo ga radi
18. Deset mejhniih jagrov
—encore—
19. Žeja
20. Mafalda
21. Kreni prema meni
22. Rebel Yell
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