Interviews

What does real homegrown Ribnica rock n' roll sound like? Only the rowdy rascals of Chicksy Dicks know. In a short but juicy chat, the guys showed that the whole point of rock is going all in or not at all. The half-assed approach most…

Chill Out are rock newcomers from Jesenice, and they're shaking up the currently sleepy rock and metal scene in this part of Gorenjska. Last year they put out their first EP, »If You Can« (2009).

Panikk are a young thrash metal band who recently put out their first demo, with four tracks. They play a pretty distinctive blend of Bay Area thrash mixed with German and British thrash metal influences

After a few months of creative downtime away from the stage, the heavy metal crew from Kamnik came back with a bang, playing their first gig since the break at the Epic Rockline Contest in Postojna.

Ahead of the launch of Bor Zuljan's new album, we sat down with the acclaimed guitarist, songwriter and producer to talk about new music, guitars and what's coming next.

Alen Brentini is a Croatian guitarist, singer, writer and composer from Rijeka. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Page, Jason Becker,Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and Robert Johnson are the names Brentini likes to cite as the core inspiration behind…

Superbrands are an indie rock band from Zagreb. With English lyrics and an easy, natural, melodic rock vocabulary, right from the start of their career they've been a more interesting listen for people who go to festivals like FreQuency or…

Bwase nwge are a band from Ilirska Bistrica. The quartet is made up of Gorazd Brne (guitar), Janez Rutar (bass), Marjan Mrčnik (drums), and Nevijo Kmetec (vocals). The lineup has been around for about two and a half years and loves to play…

Uroš Planinc Group, an interesting breath of fresh air and a real gain for the Slovenian scene, are a versatile instrumental outfit with a strong guitar backbone at the rock core, shaped above all by the creative spirit of bandleader Uroš…

Brezno are yet another oddity on the Slovenian music scene. They turn to the traditional messages of folk music and blend them with heavier approaches. For the creative inspiration behind those heavier bits, though, Brezno owe the most to…

Eternity are a six-piece from Nova Gorica boldly following the well-worn path of the pioneers of symphonic gothic power metal, à la Nightwish, Within Temptation, etc. The band recently released their first demo, or EP, "What Keeps Us…

It's great to see the Krško-Brežice basin waking up to metal too. How a sagaris strikes was painfully clear to the Hellenic warriors fighting the Persians, in some long-forgotten era. Now Sagaris are striking in Slovenia too.

If you've been following even a little of the daily news from the Slovenian rock scene, you probably know that this December, Mit and Rock Shock selflessly joined forces for the "Rock Stik" tour

After their great gig at Ort a good month ago, Rockline finally tracked down and caught (as far as we know) the only all-female heavy metal band in our neck of the woods, at KUD France Prešeren.

Henrik Klingenberg is the keyboardist of Sonata Arctica. He joined the band in 2003. The guy took 15 minutes out for RockLine to talk about where things stand in Sonata Arctica right now, the new, sixth studio album in a row »The D

Guitarist and vocalist Mick Rogers is an original member of the legendary Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and you simply can't picture the output of this truly powerful, huge and wildly popular seventies group on European soil without him.

Cosa Nostra are punk »delinquents«, a trio made up of Tadej Pomperger (vocals, guitar), Marko Cutorilo (vocals, bass) and Matjaž Obran (drums), who stick to their own groove and don't give a damn about any trend. They use sharp, accusing…

Quartet Taking Over Mars is the herald of a new ska punk wave, packed with melody, that swept over much of Europe a few years ago and is only now properly waking up in Slovenia. In their short five-year history, the band has racked up a…

Analena, the bold Zagreb avant alt rockers who are hard to pin down to any genre, are a definite shot of fresh air for the rock "underground", answering to no one but themselves. The band recently released their new album…

Vatrene ulice are a band with a colorful history. Formed back in 1990, they caught a whiff of the eighties, when Yu rock was raging, a breath of post-punk, and picked up the nineties grunge boom, but when you listen to them, they define a…

Croatia's Diskurz come across as a band that inherited the best of the older generation that defined the "Rijeka New Wave" movement in the late seventies. An apple that didn't fall far from the tree, in other words, and an apple that "won't…

Miha Narobe is the drummer of the up-and-coming new-wave groove rockers FlySpoon. On stage, these guys come across as a tightly focused crew of five musicians who knew from the get-go what they wanted and where they were headed. They build…

Singer Mojca Zalar, drummer Goran Ristič, guitarist Peter Pavičič and bassist Dane Lukan are the four-piece that make up Spleen. An active, dynamic rhythm section lays down a great foundation for Mojca's punchy female vocals, which don't…

Living Colour drummer William E. Calhoun took a few minutes to talk about one of the finest bands on the planet when it comes to musical unpredictability, spontaneity and total creative freedom. Sonic emulation is the key!

Croatian gothic doom metal outfit Ashes You Leave from Rijeka hit their 15th anniversary next year. The band has just dropped its new, fifth studio album "Songs Of The Lost" and is gearing up for a massive promo run.

Nicholas Chapel is the boss of Demians. I had the chance to talk to him on the day of the band's show, when they were on tour as guests of Porcupine Tree and stopped at the hall of Kino Šiška in Ljubljana on 03.11.2009. Nich

Tomi M. and Tomaž O.R. pull back the curtain for RockLine on the making of Siddharta's new album "Saga". A new adventure into the unknown, from which the band came back reborn, richer for the experience and thirsty for fresh creative…

November 2009 was a time when Ljubljana was buzzing with great music. The biggest moment was the Porcupine Tree show, where on November 3 they came, played and conquered. I wrote the interview with Gavin back then for Rock Hard, and now I'm…

Roine Stolt is the central figure in the story of Swedish progressive rock. The world-renowned guitarist, singer and composer rose to fame as the leader of the two most successful Swedish prog rock bands: his original band Kaipa in the…

We talk to Chaosstar's guitarist and vocalist about the band's debut, how the album came together, and the MetalKramp festival!

Kaiser Chiefs. One of Britain's most talked-about indie rock bands dropped their third album, Off With Their Heads, last October and has been touring it successfully all year. RockLine sat down with keyboardist Nick "Peanut" Baines.

Obscura are a German-Dutch technical death metal band who put out their debut Retribution in 2006. The album went unnoticed in the flood of other death metal releases, and over the next couple of years a good number of new members came and…

We ran through the history of the cult technical death metal band Atheist with guitarist/vocalist Kelly Shaefer and drummer Scott Flynn.

The crew of Slovenian melodic hard rockers Forgotten Eden, who put out their second studio album "Eden" last August, was almost fully assembled by the time I rolled into Krigl Pub in Rožna dolina (Ljubljana)...

Steve Hackett first became famous as the guitarist of Genesis, who he joined in 1970 and recorded six studio albums with. It was an honor to talk to him before his show with Djabe in Slovenj Gradec.

Tesla have turned up on European concert stages a little closer to Slovenia. An interview with the excellent drummer Troy Luccketta, ahead of the band's show in Munich, proved that Tesla are still full of drive to play and create in the new…

The Gaslight Anthem is one of those bands that has achieved more in a very short time than plenty of other groups manage in the same stretch. The four-piece released their debut "Sink Or Swim" in 2007, which got the guys crowned the heirs…

Boštjan Zavrl, one of the festival's organizers, chatted with RockLine about the story behind this year's Paranoid Open Air festival, which runs August 13–15 in Ljubečna near Celje.

Six months after the reunion of Lene kosti, we've got confirmation that the band has hit a new qualitative level in its evolution. They've beefed up their stage presence, shaken up the lineup, and the official release of their first CD is…

After a fantastic show at Bazen in Kranj, Helstar sat down with us to talk about their history, their comeback and how the gig felt.

Adam is a band made up entirely of seasoned musicians who started a new group to chase a few ideas they all share as individuals in how they hear music!

Broken Arrow is a band rediscovering eighties hard rock and spiking it with a hefty dose of "glam" and "hair" attitude. It's a story that older Slovenian bands like Šank Rock or Pop Design could be proud of.

On the Slovenian scene, Cyclone are part of a wave of up-and-coming new bands cultivating the sounds that were popular through the eighties and up to the turn of the nineties. We're talking hard rock, and I'd even dare to say glam rock,…

Grega Habič, a guitar wizard from Jesenice, has just released his third solo studio album, "Self Destruct Sequence". It's further proof that Grega is a one-of-a-kind artist and one of Slovenia's best-kept national secrets.

An interview with the guitarist and bassist of Slovenia's first (death)doom metal band, Cold Dew.

Modern guitar legend Steve Lukather, former member of the hugely successful Toto, stopped by Zagreb. He opened up to Rockline about where music stands in society, his work ethic, and a few choice words on instant music production!

Radiostorm are four untamed young guns from around Celje who swear by new-generation punk rock. Their story is really no different from those of other up-and-coming local bands, whose veins are full of enthusiasm and, of course, love of…

Pontus Norgren is a guitarist and member of the power metal outfit HammerFall. He only joined the band last year, but he's an extremely seasoned musician with plenty of miles on the clock in the music business, and in conversation he…

An interview with Bloodbound vocalist Urban Breed, just before the band's show at the Boogaloo club in Zagreb. The heavy metallers of Bloodbound found themselves in the support slot on a European tour by their much better-known countrymen…

Rok Golob is a name just about every music enthusiast in Slovenia has heard, and plenty of people beyond it too. He's an outstanding musician and multi-instrumentalist who has tried his hand at practically every genre — rock, jazz, pop,…

Canadians Exciter, great pioneers, loyal to and devoted to the craft of uncompromisingly aggressive thrash speed metal, also had a few words with RockLine before their set at this year's Play It Loud! 3 festival.

A short but punchy chat with Biff Byford, frontman and singer of the legendary "new wave of British heavy metal" veterans Saxon, right before the band's gig in Zagreb!

"I've never listened to bands, people, labels or anyone else when it comes to creativity."

Rock Shock are old acquaintances of Slovenian concert stages. The band, united by a love for the legacy of 80s-school music that crossed infectious melodies with hard-hitting rhythms, is currently in the final stage of polishing its debut.

Manni Schmidt is the guitarist of Grave Digger and the band's main "riff-maker". Before the band's show in Zagreb, part of the current "Ballads Of A Hangman" tour, he took a few minutes out for a great chat.

Everything evolves and adapts to its environment and the times. Evolution and progress haven't spared even the most traditional things and values. And so they collided with one of the most ossified genres in music: Heavy metal. Good…

Obidil, the symphonic progressive metallers from Upper Carniola, have finally unleashed their long-awaited new studio album "Stardust", followed by an enticing video for the title track. RockLine in an Obidil chat with Katarina and Matej

The guitarist of German heavy metal heavyweights Primal Fear and Sinner turned up at a gig by Motorhead tribute band Bomber, near Klagenfurt. It was the perfect chance to have a few words with him about what he's up to these days

Electrix is a young Slovenian electro pop/rock band that draws its influences mainly from the 1980s. Their first album is coming out soon.

Mit are a fresh band playing modern metal in a "groove" format, and they've just popped up on the Slovenian scene! They're from Dol pri Ljubljani. The band's creators, the ones who came up with the idea and write most of the music, are Uroš…

Dawn Patrol put out their long-awaited EP Before the Dawn this year. Even before it dropped, they had already conquered Slovenian stages and the Slovenian metal scene in just a few years of existence.

Rockline sat down with Nick Barrett, guitarist and vocalist of the cult neo-prog rock band Pendragon.

A chat with Paul Masvidal, founder, main songwriter, guitarist and vocalist of the legendary American progressive band Cynic.

On 06.11.2008 in Vienna, we got a rare chance to have a few words with Uriah Heep frontman Mick Box, who, even after almost 40 years of keeping at it in the music business, still radiates positive energy, sparkle and a big heart!

Mike Sary (French TV) sat down for a chat with RockLine.

Morso are a fairly young band from Rijeka, Croatia, that grew out of Tha B Inside. These are musicians with plenty of experience and know-how. Their blend of retro eighties sound with a contemporary indie vibe makes them atmospheric,…

Despite the solid rock mileage they've already racked up, Zagreb-based Vatra are still a young, modern rock outfit, and in mid-November this year they released their fifth studio album »Sputnik«. Band leader Ivan Dečak tells us the story…

A chat with the devilishly good California rock band Go Betty Go, ahead of their mini tour of Slovenia, part of their first-ever run through Europe. The girls may still be young, but they know exactly what they want!

Joe Berardi and Kira Vollman in conversation with RockLine

With their third studio album "Bad In Bed" (2007), MetalSteel have firmly cemented their place on the Slovenian heavy metal scene. Their gigs are packed, and the band is bursting with drive and creative itch

Before Al Di Meola's show in Ljubljana on 11/17/2008, we got the chance for a quick chat with the legendary guitar virtuoso...

Lene kosti. Does the name ring a bell? They were around when heavy metal was young. Bands used to run from their energetic shows, because Lene kosti would "strip every last one of them bare" and sweep them off the stage whenever they shared…

Leo Leoni is the guitarist of Gotthard. He's a founding member and, alongside singer Steve Lee, definitely forms the main driving force of this excellent Swiss hard rock machine, which today, after almost 20 years of existence, has earned…

Joe Berardi and Kira Vollman of Non Credo talk to RockLine

Mike Sary of French TV talks to RockLine.

UnSun are a fresh musical phenomenon from Poland. The two main players are Mauser, former guitarist of Polish death metallers Vader, and singer Aya. So it's beauty and the beast, but the two of them have struck up an extraordinary creative…

With the release of their new, third album, Chronicles of Men, Prospect guitarist and band leader Roman Fileš sat down with us. RockLine: You recently released a new, third album after about five years, titled

Once the buzz after the Ten Years After show had settled, Leo Lyons, the band's bassist, agreed to a short chat with RockLine. Ten Years After, legendary heroes of the late-sixties British "white blues" boom, had just

After the organizer kindly let me into the grounds of the 14th annual Twin Horn Beach Party festival in Pula, it wasn't even five minutes before I was sitting at a table backstage with the legendary Axxis vocalist, founding member and…

After my interview with the German power metallers Axxis (you can read it HERE) at this year's 14th Twin Horn Beach Party bikers festival in Pula, it was time to say a few wor

Brutart is a band from Jesenice and Ljubljana that dropped their debut, Mimic, last year. With its one-of-a-kind blend of death and doom metal, it's one of the most original metal acts on our turf. Brutart were also one of the bands playing…

Thraw are up-and-coming thrash metallers from Carinthia who go for a technically complex sound. They also love digging for riff ideas in the roots of good old-school Bay Area thrash metal. Those riffs never stop impressing with their…

Across the three days of Metal Mania Open Air 2008, out of 35 bands in total, Stormwarrior were the only true defenders of the power metal colors. Anyone who's heard them will describe the band's sound as something that can sound very

The mastermind behind "The Rolling Stones Project", saxophonist, keyboardist, composer, in short - an outstanding musician, Tim Ries, showed up last Sunday together with Bernard Fowler, The Rolling Stones' backing vocalist,

John Payne is best known as the longtime singer and bassist of Asia. When Geoff Downes reunited the eighties lineup, Payne carried on with his own version of Asia while also starting up GPS. So what's the other Asia like (or

Premiata Forneria Marconi are big in every sense of the word. They were big when they played warm, romantic symphonic music in the early seventies, and they stayed just as big when they switched to jazz r

Almost Rage is a hard-hitting Thrash metal trio from the coast. After a few years of playing as The Fifth Season, they decided to change their name and add some freshness and speed to their music. Despite the name change, they remain true…

Milko Lazar may be a little less well known in Slovenia, but among avant-garde fans he's earned a reputation as an outstanding saxophonist and woodwind player with Quatebriga, a band many consider the only unofficial Slovenian rock in…

It was a real honor to sit down with bassist and co-founder of German power metal heavyweights Primal Fear, Mat Sinner, when Primal Fear stopped off on their "New Religion Summer tour 2008" for a gig in the little town of

The interview with Sinner came about completely spontaneously, at Morarock festival. It was the third day of the festival. The main headliners of the show were Primal Fear. RockLine did an interview with Primal Fear bassist Mat Sinner, as…

If you won't come to The Drinkers, The Drinkers will just come to you. Ever since RockLine's birth in March 2006, there's been a rock-solid alliance between this band of cheeky, booze-soaked rock n' roll degenerates and our full-gallop…

An interview with Opeth isn't exactly an everyday thing, is it? Right now Opeth are one of the most fascinating metal bands in Scandinavia, thanks to the constant progress and growth of their artistry, whose musical boundaries the guys from…

On Monday, June 2, the KMŠ club in Ljubljana hosted the press conference ahead of this year's twelfth consecutive Rock Otočec, which runs from June 27 to 29 at the well-known spot around Otočec Castle.

RockLine: How happy are you with how the tour with Asia is going? Carl Palmer: We kicked off on April 1 in England, where we played thirteen shows, followed by the US and Japanese tours. We started the European leg in Bilbao, Spain

Ljubljana's cult punks Niet are back on the scene after more than sixteen years. They celebrated their return on March 31 this year with a sold-out show at Orto bar. And Orto bar was once again the venue on Monday, May 19, for another

I spent my third day in Italy checking out the legendary American hard rockers Y&T. Around 7:30 PM I politely asked the concert organizer from the agency Bologna Rock City Emiliana if he could ask the band's management for an i

Before one of just three spring shows California Guitar Trio were playing in Europe, ahead of a bigger North American tour, I got the chance to interview the acoustic three-guitar outfit California Guit

An interview with the splendid symphonic prog rockers Royal Hunt was still pure fantasy for RockLine and me a month ago. But then the guys stopped in Bologna, a mere 380km from Slovenia, where they had a confirmed gig. At eight

Interviewing Jaded Heart can seem pretty far-fetched, since the guys mostly play places that are a long way from Slovenia. Sure, you can always get around it by sending questions over email, but it's just not the same. When the guys

We sat down with Janez Zmazek at Klubar in Kranj, where one of Slovenia's best guitarists fired up the machinery of the famous Don Mentony Band in grand style last Saturday, after six years away. Janez says the fut