Location: Zagradec / Park “Loka” / Slovenia
Date: Saturday, 07.09.2013
This time it went off in Lower Carniola! Between Žužemberk and the Krka! Near Zagradec. A stone’s throw from one of the most beautiful rivers in Slovenia. I’m talking about the Krka, especially its lowland stretch, the only one that’s still unspoiled and (for now) free of that rotten delusion of capitalism called the hydroelectric plant. We’re in the woods! Far, far away… We came for rock!!!
So? I almost got lost. Nobody could tell me the exact location. Worse, even the event announcements were pretty stingy on that front. Luckily, the barmaid at the Toplar pizzeria in the middle of Zagradec fired back an answer right away: “Drive a kilometer further and you’ll see a handful of parked cars by the road!” Perfect. By the time I happily rolled out of the car at the spot, Freewaay Machine were just hitting the first note of their set! Ragged, furiously loud and, above all, dead authentic, Freeway Machine are turning into a proper rock ‘n’ roll battalion. A five-piece from Ivančna Gorica, sorry, from Stična! They surely know the famous joint called “Mlin pri Marjanu”, because the bands playing there have already almost burned down the farm by the Stiški potok on more than one occasion! Well, at least filled it with smoke. Joking aside. A great solution for an overture and warm-up in the middle of the woods. The lineup of Jure Hauptman (vocals), Gašper Tomaševič (guitar), Matej Pižm (guitar), Anže Hauptman (bass) and Matija Lampret (drums) keeps getting noticeably better. New original tracks keep popping up, the chemistry on stage gets stronger and the charisma of the whole crew gets more real. More and more gigs help with that, of course. The guys are ripening. The crew delivers a hugely likable, energetic rock pose that fully convinces. They stand shoulder to shoulder with similar Slovenian “bad ass” bands that are kind of knocking on the door of a rock revival, like Lower Carniola’s Stara Šula and Deck Janiels from Kamnik, to name a couple. Both of them totally surprised everyone with excellent debuts and proved that real rock ‘n’ roll in Slovenia is far from dead. The originals Sunday Night, Bad Times, Belzebub, My All Mine, Blue Town, Sunshine and Born To Rock ‘N’ Roll show off a retro sound and, at the same time, the clear-sighted expressive character of a talented band that promises a lot. Let’s hope for a studio debut as soon as possible. The band also spiced up the set with a cover of The Beatles’ Helter Skelter, where Jure’s throaty, greasy vocals cracked ever so slightly in the higher parts of the chorus. A minor blemish. This is a band born for the stage, for partying, for debauchery. On stage they simply can’t disappoint. The smell of alcohol fumes was real. All you had to do was close your eyes.
Next up on stage were Seisenberg Blues Band from Žužemberk. An adopted name from Valvasor’s days, you’ll say. The guys put together a sort of medley of homegrown eighties standards. Well-known acts of the Slovenian middle wave. You’d love to hear more original music, but… It’s a Saturday night. As probably the only “uptight guy” in the crowd, I was also the only one straining my ears “uptight”, while everyone else was enjoying themselves without a care! Who cared, really? It was time to switch off, and for Slovenia to pound the Georgians in basketball in the last 40 seconds! You could tell, though, that Seisenberg Bues Band hadn’t played together much in their career up to that day. I’m not talking about the individuals: the guitar carried a really lovely reverb, and the guys are experienced and very good musicians. There’s no doubt about that. They probably played in other local bands before forming Seisenberg Blues Band. Let’s hope they get more out of the new lineup in the future. Above all, original material!
El Kachon were by all means the musical highlight of the night. Perfectly suited, in fact, to the ambience of a little forest dotted with tribally smoldering logs, slowly licked and nibbled at by the flames. Their debut “In The Bush” is certainly one of the standout album releases on Slovenian soil this year. The band played it in full in a marathon show of two sets with fifteen songs each. That’s thirty tracks in total! This time El Kachon really served you a full portion, fresh off the stove! The septet once again showed excellent tightness and perfect stage communication in the vocal harmonies and in sharing the lead vocals. You could call it a subtly refined arrangement when it comes to making the most of the voices, since as many as four people in the band can take the lead.
El Kachon are a septet, and it’s hard to say that anyone in the band stands out. As individuals they’re incredibly talented, and in the band each one holds their own ideal position, where they can stretch out comfortably and relaxed with full effect. That’s a big success for a band in Slovenia. It’s well known that we Slovenes don’t exactly have much team spirit. Want proof, plain as day? Look at the political “bigwigs” who sold the country off to foreigners, look at our sports results, where in ball sports we’re always left out “in the cold” by a hair. We live in leaden times! And then there’s El Kachon, who knock down those gloomy thoughts from before! They’re a crew that acts as one and breathes as one! El Kachon work like a family where everything clicks. On top of the excellent vocal chemistry, where the sweet-sounding voice stands out, Tina’s, that is, heavily weighed down by the rough “macho Rambos” with their slightly “knotty” vocals, Tomi on one side and Dejan on the other, El Kachon also build heavily on an exceptional rhythmic kinetics, where (besides the lively drums and bass) the percussion of Primož Malenšek “PimpSa” has a special place. An absolute fantastic move that El Kachon pulled off by bringing in a percussionist. Then there’s (mostly) rhythm guitarist Andrej Barbič “Krt”, who is the exact opposite of Tomi on stage. Krt likes to let loose, you can tell he’s a member of the rockers Stara Šula, and just looking at him lines up his idols, from Lemmy and Angus Young to Phil Lynott. It’s also impossible to skip the important blanket of warmth from the keyboards, artfully handled by Mladen. Everything fits!
Besides the outstanding vocal definition of both the lead vocals and the harmonies, there’s one more important element that gives El Kachon special value and a special place, not just in Slovenia but in the wider region. Since the core of rock comes from electric guitar playing, that’s the element that defines the musical expression of any rock band. Its reach. It separates the great from the average! I’m talking about the contribution of Tomi Perinčič. With his work, this musician definitely delivers something extraordinary when compared with the rest of the average output of rock guitarists in Slovenia. This man definitely slept with the blues and his guitar back in the day. He’s incredibly assured in everything he takes on, but most of all it’s his confident ride through the solos, played with a slide, that convinces. You feel the passion, the charge, the fervent focus. You feel that real love in what he does. We can instantly extend that to every member of the band, and that’s why El Kachon are so convincing.
So it’s no surprise that El Kachon can carefree dive into playing more demanding R&B standards like Mustang Sally, or the special creation of two great friends, the rock titans Eric Clapton and George Harrison, the song Badge (Cream). Fans of the eternally hot Susan Tedeschi got their share too (Hurt so Bad, Little By Little), there was The Hunter, which Free used to love playing back in the day, then Neil Young’s Cinnamon Girl, and so on…
Alongside the new album, El Kachon also presented a whole bunch of new songs! So many, in fact, that it’s clear El Kachon already have a second studio album in their pocket. They just have to record and release it. Sounds doable. Still, during the show the band politely pointed the crowd toward the merch table and their friend Tjaša, where people could donate 10,00€ to help the band out, either for a gorgeous T-shirt or for the excellent studio debut. They really don’t ask for much for all this, and in return they offer a ton. The new songs keep the fieriness of the excellent arrangements found on the band’s debut, so there’s no worry whatsoever that El Kachon might happen to flunk the next exam of releasing a new album.
The night was long and there was no end in sight. There could have been a few more people, but it’s true that the venue had only just opened and a bit more needs to be done on advertising and promoting it. It has a special atmosphere. Surrounded by forest. So the acoustics are natural. And therefore excellent. Not to mention the idyllic nature. Simple as that. We’ll gladly come back here! An excellent evening with the excellent El Kachon, then! The kind where you happily say: “More!”
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
