Interview date: June 21, 2005
This interview is a conversation with the members of Aperion, a band made up of Črt, Špela, Tina, Dani, Samo, Zala and Bojan (the last three weren’t at the interview, and Dani only jumped in toward the end, after his sudden arrival). The interview was put together by Aleš Podbrežnik.
Aleš: To kick things off, why don’t you introduce yourselves, or even better, tell us how the band came about and what the early days looked like?
Črt: Oh, that’s a long story…a fairy tale. Basically, we started out as a grunge band and everything grew out of that. First we were called Unknown, then Void, then Delirium (but a band with that name already existed), and then “Xanto Croid”. Needless to say, we swapped out a lot of members along the way. Then we got the idea of doing one song with a violin. So we invited a violin professor, Sonja Aletič, to play something with us, and she ended up writing the arrangements. Then we figured, why not do all the songs with violin? So that grunge sound got a bit of a violin flavor. After that the band changed again, and the classical players changed too. From there we ended up with violin and flute, still under the name Xanto Croid. Then it all fell apart, and out of the wreckage came a brand-new Aperion concept. With it came a new idea of the music. The grunge foundation was gone. We kept a few old songs, but moving forward we worked in a totally different, newer spectrum. That’s pretty much how we got to what we are now. The band has been around for about two and a half years. When the whole scene collapsed because of lineup problems, I won’t say which ones, we came out of it as a band with even wider musical horizons, aiming for a genre that isn’t defined yet. So, something new.
Aleš: So you’re looking for your own new niche?
Črt: Yeah, something like that.
Aleš: Yeah, that’s important. As things stand now, where do you actually draw your inspiration from? Who contributes the most ideas to the songwriting itself? Who’s the creative nucleus that writes the lyrics?
Špela: The one who’s been here from the very beginning, so Črt. The rest of us more or less try to help out. Črt does a great job on his own, and we just lend a hand. As far as the technical side goes, the rest of us have a bit more training than he does, so we can help him there. And we really have to give him credit, because he does a ton.
Črt: Yeah, I write the sheet music myself too.
Aleš: Aha, so you set up a kind of framework?
Črt: Yeah, basically I come up with a song and work out some lines. I write it and record everything on guitar, then play it all through and sit down to write out the notes. That takes me about five hours. When I’m done, I hand it over for everyone to listen to. If the others like it, we leave it as is, and if they don’t, they fix whatever I got wrong. So I think I make a decent effort. The last song, for example, was done by Špela. Whoever has a feel for lyrics is the one who writes them.
Aleš: What’s your poetry about? What are you preaching about?
Špela: Whoever writes the lyrics can say what they’re about, but otherwise it totally depends. Črt wrote and made the music, and then I added my own lyrics, so I put a piece of myself out there. That’s how that latest set of lyrics came to be.
Črt: It depends entirely on my imagination. I write the lyrics, come up with a title, and that’s that. Personally I like short titles. Our song titles are four letters long at most.
Aleš: Now it’d be best if we did a quick introduction of all the members. Even the ones who aren’t here. Could someone quickly say where you’re from and where each person’s love of music comes from? Where you find inspiration, what you listen to, and everything else music-related.
Tina: I’m Tina, officially Martina. I’m 19. I play flute. I’ve been drawing on my love of music since I was a little kid. I could blame the TV for getting me started on flute. My arrival in the band was totally by chance.
Aleš: Did you ever want to be in a band at all, without imagining you’d actually end up playing at such a high level?
Tina: My dream was to have a band with my sister and to play as much as possible.
Aleš: Well, there you go.
Tina: Yeah, that was my wish, and it came true.
Špela: I contribute the viola, and I mess around a bit with the mic too. As for the love of music, as a kid I loved belting out “Kuža pazi” so people would notice me. Then I started with violin first, and later viola. Then I went to the music academy too. And as for music, when I joined this band, I really have to thank Črt, because I’d wanted this too. We’d already tried to do something back in 6th grade of elementary school. That didn’t work out. Then one August evening we ran into each other right in this café. It’ll be the anniversary soon. It just so happened I was interested, and we all talked about the metal scene and stuff. And that’s how we found each other.
Aleš: And what are you listening to these days?
Špela: Right now everything from progressive to symphonic and a bit of hard stuff, from Nightwish to Dream Theater, who are a little bit progressive. And newer bands too, like Sinder, who I discovered at Ozzfest.
Aleš: And you? Which scene are you into?
Tina: What we play is perfectly fine by me. Otherwise Creed, Nightwish…Sometimes I wander into jazz waters too. And classical. Mostly music where you put yourself into it.
Črt: My brother got me into music, until I went my own way. The first songs I wrote were very personal confessions. The new lyrics are more philosophical now, not life-confession metaphors anymore. Nightwish, a huge influence. And Tool and everything from rock onward. Even pop, if it’s done right and has good production. I’ll go through the other members who aren’t here right now. Dani is the bass player and has been around almost since the start of the band. Like most of the members, he came along by accident. He listens to similar music to the rest of the band. More of that “easy” rock, which he really loves. That’s Dani.
Špela: Samo is the cellist. He came into the band through me. I was the last to join. He plays cello and listens to almost everything. He’s also a DJ, so his taste spans a whole rainbow of music. The two most musically educated are Dani and Samo. Zala is our voice in the band. She also tried her hand at piano, and she’s very musically educated too. She got accepted into music school for singing. So we have a classically trained singer.
Aleš: What about the drummer?
Everyone: The drummer rules! Bojči is our smiley!
Črt: He’s always relaxed. If anything goes wrong, he’s still smiling. He lives for drums. He’s using borrowed drums with us, but he’s got his own in Laško. He gives our music a lot of room to breathe. We used to be more linear, but now he’ll sometimes just throw in a swing beat right in the middle.
Aleš: What about plans for a demo or a studio album? Is that already in the works?
Everyone: It’s been dragging on for a while.
Črt: Mostly there’s no time. We’ve got four songs recorded for a studio demo, though still with the old drummer. If we get ourselves organized, we could be done in two, three weeks. Those recordings are still being reworked and aren’t ready to go out yet.
Aleš: And what about the scene and the music world in general, both globally and here at home? How does it feel to you right now? Let’s start with Slovenia.
Špela: In Slovenia there’s no music in music at all. It’s all about how the performers look, with massive use of playback. In short, it’s all fake. Nothing’s genuine anymore like it used to be.
Črt: If you look at production, though, it keeps getting better, like that “Blato” song by Alya.
Tina: Music gets made for the moment, to draw in as many people as possible. The really good musicians will find their own circle of listeners. The media matter a lot here.
Črt: One-day stars. They come and they go.
Špela: Popstars, for example.
Črt: Yeah.
Špela: And Slovenes are still pretty conservative about rock. They’re not as open as people elsewhere. Well, with young people it’s different, but older folks immediately think of junkies.
Aleš: And how do you see the rock scene here right now?
Everyone: It’s moving.
Špela: We’re a little nervous, because it really is something new. We’re trying, but it often feels like everything’s standing still. It always seems like everything’s stuck at the same point.
Aleš: Are you afraid of success and fame?
Črt: No. All of us want to break through abroad, out of Slovenia, onto a foreign market. A much bigger, more open market, that is. That’s my wish too.
Tina: I value foreign artists a lot more than local ones.
Aleš: How many times a week do you rehearse?
Črt: Once a week, because it’s hard to make it happen. But when we do, it’s four or five hours.
Aleš: Are you going to any gigs?
Špela: I’d go to Wacken Open Air.
Aleš: Do you have a vision of Aperion sounding like an orchestra?
Črt: If you took the classical part out of our music, it would sound different, stripped down. I’m more into the idea of having a choir along, because with a full orchestra, the three of us would get lost (Črt, Dani and Bojan). Working with an orchestra is kind of a trend in rock today. Examples are Nightwish, Sidharta, Metallica, Therion, Rhapsody…So I’d use a choir. Maybe a choir and a solo female singer. We’re kind of going against the trends.
Aleš: Would you add any other instruments?
Črt: A while back I met a harpist. A harp would be nice.
Aleš: Črt, how do you see yourself in the role of guitarist? You use more metal-style riffs. So what’s the band’s next direction going to be? More of a Nightwish path with a clear shape to it, or a more experimental, more complex direction?
Črt: We call our genre Celtic rock. As far as the guitar goes, I see myself more as the foundation.
Aleš: Is it hard to balance the sound on stage between flute, viola and guitar?
Špela: For us, the placement of the instruments matters. Especially with the strings. You have to know where to put everyone on stage.
Tina: With wind instruments there are several options for how to position them.
Črt: At gigs, if you slip up just a little, it doesn’t really show.
Aleš: And how are relations between the band members?
Črt: It’s always hard working with women in a band. I’ve always said that. Guys sort things out differently. So far we haven’t had any serious bad experiences.
Aleš: So it’s hard to be a leader and a gentleman at the same time?
Črt: Once we get together, we work.
Špela: We’re pretty democratic. Everyone gets a say.
Črt: We’ve really never had problems about volume. When it comes to songs, everything’s always open.
Aleš: What do you expect now that you’ve won Rock Otočec?
Črt: It’s important for future contacts and connections. It’s important for promoting the band, so people know about us. That was always my goal. And my goal is also to play my own solo show someday.
Špela: What matters is that we present our band as well as we can. We give it everything and keep pushing our music forward.
Črt: As far as my own mental state goes, I’ve achieved everything and I’m happy.
Aleš: So you in Aperion have found a foundation and faith in a shared goal?
Špela: I came in amid total chaos. What we’ve done in half a year makes me want to cry with joy. I’m so proud of all of us. Every rehearsal we pulled off successfully already felt like a victory.
Tina: Another goal is to widen our circle of fans.
Črt: To learn from our mistakes and pick up new experience. Something new always happens.
(bassist Dani showed up in the middle of this)
Dani: It’d be great if the band made it as far as possible and we managed to break through abroad.
Črt: The best thing is making music because you enjoy it. You succeed far more in tough conditions than in ideal ones. I’d take a little feeling for music over routine with lots of money any day.
Aleš: Let’s start wrapping up. Does anyone want to add anything?
Špela: To finish: thanks to everyone for the support, to all those who are serious about us. I’m really proud of us. A big thank-you goes to our friends for their support too.
Črt: A big thanks also to the stylist and the sound engineer.
Dani: To wrap up, you can write: life is hard for us artists.
