Artist: Drinkers, The
Label: Multi Records
Release: 2007
Rating: 3.5/5
Hallelujah. It’s been a long “Prohibicija” (2003) for our famous first-rate rock n’ roll alkies. So here we have the first “comeback” album from the rock-solid punk rock n’ rollers The Drinkers, with new reinforcements. First up is Matjaž Živkovič! Known to everyone back home as Maki. Second is an extra guitarist (yes, The Drinkers are a quintet again) Simon Kavšek, with the affectionate nickname Koza (“Goat”). With Koza and Maki on board, The Drinkers have once again shored up the creative core of the band, the guys who bring the ideas for the songs. Even the “Hajdi” cover is dedicated to the new recruits. An idyllic alpine pasture with a milk-faced little girl on the front, sporting Maki’s scowling “babyface”, surrounded by a herd of goats with the faces of the rest of the lineup. And of course there’s a barrel of wine with a label about the theory of the beervolution of man, too!
Two guitars, then. A turn toward the harsher sound of the awakened drinkers? Absolutely! “Hajdi” is a typical The Drinkers album. If you’re a fan of their alco rock, you’ll be on the same wavelength with “Hajdi” right away. It’s loaded with the band’s core legacy: be direct and keep it simple. That’s always been what makes The Drinkers convincing. At first listen it’s utterly goofing around, with a all the more serious and down-to-earth final effect that the guys leave the listener with.
The album is full of fresh ideas that call for a new, general alco-revolution. It opens with the catchily wound-up Hura, which, in terms of its basic guitar phrase (so I don’t always have to use the foreign word “riff”), comes close to thrash metal elements, and the biggest culprit here is the “beat” dictated by the rhythm section, which this time around is metal. The pre-chorus riff is built in such a way that you could easily spin a continuation off it toward the chorus of “Ride The Sky” by Helloween, and there are even parallels to the German thrash tradition of the likes of Sodom, Destruciton, while the riff could catch the ear of fans of American old school speed metal too, led by the likes of Liege Lord, Agent Steel and so on… And The Drinkers wouldn’t be The Drinkers if, after that riff, they didn’t steer the chorus into a proper “hura, hura, hura” drinking waltz. No more worries from here on. Nope. The Drinkers haven’t turned into metalheads.
The lyrics practically compete with each other in how funny they are, yet in that funniness they hold an incredible amount of truth, which is also the basic purpose of The Drinkers’ musical expression. They’re rock n’ roll rebels, plain and simple. And with still very fresh, sparkling brains, brains with a short activation time. The album naturally packs a full dose of noisy rock n’ roll, with the loudly proclaimed punk trimmings we expect from the band. One of the best proofs of The Drinkers’ sharp wit is the song Nočem na Evrosong, with which The Drinkers even provocatively entered the national Eurovision selection. “Nočem na Evrosong, ker sem brez idej” (“I don’t wanna go to Eurovision, ’cause I’m out of ideas”) is a line that says absolutely everything! Nicely woven into the end of the chorus is a transitional Balkan brass flourish, which the guys recode into the usable language of the guitar to spice the song up even further. With such a dead-simple trick the guys prove that glorifying minimalism in music comes completely naturally to them. And if you can pull that off, then punk rebellion can truly be the most authentic experience. Klub Anal, with its Maiden-style harmonized thirds on a wild rock n’ roll ride, is another such “mischievous” trick, while on the flip side Maki, with his powerful, raspy vocals, sends the listener into fits of laughter when they realize the story revolves around gathering gays in your favorite hole, or imagine a totally innocent, suspecting-nothing person, say a man who was drunk at first and, after sobering up, isn’t quite sure anymore what went on behind his back in the night (Did someone “get” him from behind?).
The rest of the material is driven along at a similar frequency, whether it’s the title track, another gem of a goof in the song Vreme, a second in Stari mož and a third in Bife. Since Tine rine, the guys want to blend rock n’ roll with reggae, and once again it works brilliantly. And yet at track number 8 the album suddenly turns dark, as The Drinkers sketch the story of a girl who works in Livarna and, to survive, offers men extra services. Let’s also stop at the last track on the album, more precisely a dedication to the reactivated band Niet, a group with The Drinkers guitarist Robert Likar, to which The Drinkers have added a bit more guitar noise on the solid rock n’ roll chassis of the compact Mutvar/Milavec rhythm section.
Since we waited quite a bit longer for the band’s new album, the guys also had more time to come up with ideas. Bringing Maki into the lineup is a great decision. The man isn’t just charismatic, he also has a perfect voice color for The Drinkers, one that takes raw, boozy corners at speed, or yells in a devalued, rebellious way. Strong and authoritative. And deliberately shouting out the verses is a must for The Drinkers anyway! Integrating one more guitarist brings, as already mentioned, even more noise to “Hajdi” and widens the band’s range of possible development in the future. More heads generally means more ideas for the group, too. Personally, I strongly support bands turning toward “rougher waters”. After all, there’s never enough noise in rock n’ roll. “Hajdi” is yet another genuine rock n’ roll album, the kind only the bravest bands produce. The Drinkers come across on it as experienced, mature and unburdened. They’re hugely entertaining again here, and you can feel the drive has returned to the band. Expect more downpours in the gullet! .I suspect we won’t be waiting long for its successor. You can read more about The Drinkers’ new album “Hajdi” (2007) in the RockLine interview with vocalist Matjaž Živkovič Maki.
Lineup
Matjaž Živkovič Maki – vocals
Robert Likar – guitar, backing vocals
Simon Kavšek Koza – guitar, backing vocals
Miro Mutvar – bass guitar
Roman Milavec Macho – drums
Production
The Drinkers
Tracklist
01.Hura
02.Stari mož
03.Tine rine
04.Nočem na Evrosong
05.Klub Anal
06.Hajdi
07.Vreme
08.Livarna
09.Bife
10. Lep dan za smrt
Album length: 35.37
