Location: M hotel / Ljubljana
Interview date: 02.07.2012
RL: It’s been seven years since your last album. Why so long?
Bajaga: In that time I had room to polish the songs. The album itself we recorded with Inštruktori over two years. A long stretch, but we also played a ton of gigs in between. We could’ve recorded it sooner, but we wanted to take our time and do it right.
RL: The album is supposedly recorded the old-school, analog way. True?
Bajaga: Absolutely! Everything’s recorded analog, with the one difference that we didn’t record to tape. The drums are authentic, all the guitars were recorded through old tube amps. A real string section, backing vocals, the whole deal. As our producer would put it, recorded the raw, old-school way.
RL: No synths either?
Bajaga: Almost. Here and there we used one for a “pad”, but otherwise all the keyboards are vintage: piano, Hammond, and I even played harmonica for the first time.
RL: What kind of songs are on the new album?
Bajaga: The album is called “Daljina, dim i prašina” (“Distance, Smoke and Dust”). That’s the song that was written last, yet the album opens with it. That’s because it sets the direction for the whole record. It starts something like: “I thought I was going somewhere, but I’m just going in circles”. Two years ago I turned 50, and that’s when a man usually stages a little dress rehearsal for himself, looking at what he’s done and what he’s made so far. That comes through really nicely in that song. I like how relaxed it is, though it’s not a typical album opener. It’s just acoustic guitar and a string quartet. The album has eight new songs, with two more added as bonuses. “Još jednom” runs over eight minutes, so I also made a shorter radio version that’s “only” five and a half.
RL: That’s a pretty long song by your standards?
Bajaga: It is. Once you hear it, you’ll understand that cutting it down would be a big mistake. I’ve never had a song longer than five minutes in my career, but this one is really something special and earns its length.
RL: So the first track is just guitar and a string quartet? Kind of like Yesterday by the Beatles?
Bajaga: Exactly.
RL: Why the title “Daljina, dim i prašina”?
Bajaga: Like I said, when I look back at my past, I see distance, smoke and dust, so that’s why I went with that title. It’s about my past.
RL: A good horse kicks up dust?
Bajaga: Exactly (laughs).
RL: Can we say a word or two about Riblja Čorba? Did Bora make a fuss about songwriting credits?
Bajaga: When I joined Čorba I was barely 17. I was still in high school. Everything I know about the music business I learned in six years of playing in Čorba. I contributed one song to the first album, and three to the second, on lyrics that Bora wrote. Later I also brought in complete songs, lyrics and all. And that’s when I realized that, when it comes to lyrics, Bora and I are completely different. You could tell right away who wrote a song.
RL: Like Lennon and McCartney back in their day?
Bajaga: Exactly! Back then (1983/1984) Čorba was one of the three biggest bands in Yugoslavia. It took a lot of guts to leave a band at such a peak of popularity. I wanted to do my own music, so I took a risk. The rest is history. I think it worked out pretty well.
RL: How are your relations with Bora and Miša Aleksić today?
Bajaga: The first few years were like it usually is with an ex-girlfriend. After a few years, though, everything was just fine. It often happens that we even play the same festivals. Now we’re old pals.
RL: Do you ever play any song you wrote for Čorba at your own shows?
Bajaga:Yes. I play Kad hodaš, and sometimes Ja sam se ložio na tebe too.
RL: Have you ever thought about Muzičari koji piju? I think it’s a really fun tune that would suit you perfectly even today.
Bajaga: I’ve thought about that too, but for now I’m sticking with those two.
RL: Do you have a bigger tour of the former Yugoslavia planned?
Bajaga: Of course. The new album definitely deserves a tour on a bigger scale. On July 7 we’re playing as part of the international film festival in Sarajevo. A wonderful opportunity to promote the new album. We’re planning a vacation until August 10, then come rehearsals for the autumn/winter tour, which will also take us to Slovenia.
RL: Is there a particular place in Slovenia you’d like to play?
Bajaga: I feel best at Križanke. But you have to keep in mind it’ll already be cold by then, so we’ll probably have to play indoors. (That evening, at the album presentation in Orto Bar, he mentioned the possibility of the concert taking place in Hala Tivoli)
RL: Considering that no artist from the former Yugoslavia has recorded a live album in Ljubljana yet, have you ever thought about doing just that?
Bajaga: Good idea, maybe!
RL: I already threw this challenge at Hus and Aki from Parni Valjak in December. Is there a chance you’d record a live DVD in Ljubljana?
Bajaga: Sure, I’d love to, actually. Best somewhere in the middle of a tour, when the band is usually in top form.
RL: I remember the wonderful song Godine prolaze. I even saw the video on MTV in 1989/1990. Do you know anything about that? As far as I know, it was even the first video by a Yugoslav artist ever played on the music channel.
Bajaga: No idea. We actually shot two videos for that song. One was filmed in Montenegro, so maybe somebody just “slipped” it to MTV. Anyway, we work together very well with today’s MTV Adria.
RL: Lately, memoirs are all the rage among rockers. Keith Richards put one out (Life), and so did Bruce Springsteen (Two Hearts). Have you ever thought about tackling an autobiography?
Bajaga: A friend wrote a sort of biography ten years ago. I don’t know, maybe I’ll write a book when I reach Keith Richards’ age.
RL: What kind of music do you listen to these days? I know you liked listening to Dire Straits in the eighties.
Bajaga: I love Dire Straits, and I enjoy listening to Prince too. Among the newer acts I’m into The Killers, Snow Patrol, Green Day; I listen to jazz, classical, blues, Hendrix, and really all kinds of music.
RL: All of that probably shapes your own musical expression too?
Bajaga: You can hear it, too.
RL: If you look back at your discography from 1984 to 1990, how do you feel about that period today?
Bajaga: Those were really fruitful years, in which we put out 4 excellent albums. Each of them has great tracks and a few slightly weaker ones, but each reflects the time it was made in. We’re very proud of them.
RL: How do you feel about illegal music downloading?
Bajaga: Whether it’s illegal or not, it’ll have to be sorted out somehow. When I entered the music world, vinyl dominated the market, later CDs. Back then we’d dub vinyl onto cassettes too. The latest CD album is probably one of the last to still come out in physical form. Personally, I’ve always liked vinyl best. The sleeve was big, you could read the lyrics with no trouble, the photos were clear. We released the new CD together with a special book. It has a few photos, but most importantly, it has most of the lyrics from my whole discography, along with the texts for the new album.
RL: Bajaga, thanks for your kindness and this in-depth interview.
Thanks also to Tina and the whole team at the DALLAS label, who made this interview possible.
