Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Sub-Sub, Ljubljana
Concert date: 13.05.2009
Attendance: 90
Ticket price: €8
For a small band that’s still unknown to the wider crowd, putting out a debut is a big deal. It’s that first step, or really already a big one, that separates the bands with a clear goal and drive from the ones for whom playing in a band is maybe just a way to blow off steam on Friday nights. I Scream and their followers have (finally) hit that big moment, after the album had been promised for a year or even two.
I Scream are a five-piece of guys who, as they put it, each add their own little piece to a shared mosaic that makes up their music, their own recognizable style. And yes, after just one record I can already say that you can hear a unique sound in their music. They started jamming in 2004 in Domžale, where all the members come from. Some had already played in other bands from Domžale and the surrounding area, and five years ago the five of them found each other and decided to start a new project, and so they began playing together as I Scream. They gigged a lot around their home turf, and with Domžale’s alternative scene being so small, they quickly became a known name there and won over a solid fan base. In 2007 they won Younggunz, the nationwide competition for young bands, which also got them a slot at Škisova tržnica, where they shared a bill with the likes of Šank Rockerji and Vladot Kreslin. After the Younggunz win, the release of 9 Months Too Late and its launch show was the second truly big event on their musical journey. But let’s start from the beginning.
On the way in, every attendee got a copy of the new CD plus a very special little gift… an honest-to-goodness ice cream (how does the English saying go again..?). Original, no doubt. How well ice cream goes with beer is a different story, but let’s save that for another occasion.. Shortly after ten, things got properly going. The night opened with the premiere of the video for the song Family, shot in the fall of 2007 at a rather interesting location, an abandoned maternity ward in Koper, which is a fitting setting given the song’s theme. Toward the end of the video, for the last, more aggressive part of the track, we in the audience got a real (and positive) shock when the curtain suddenly parted to reveal the five of them on stage, already sweaty and sawing away at their instruments. In short, the video was projected onto the curtain with live accompaniment behind it, which only showed itself right before the song ended. Another brilliant idea, perfectly executed! After the opener came the first greeting and a few words to the crowd, and then the songs followed in the same order as on the album. To the older 4-watt, Bulan, Family, Lullaby and X-Plain, which came out two years ago on a sort of semi-official demo, they added 8 newer tracks for the album 9 Months Too Late, while Family didn’t make the cut. Either way, those eight songs weren’t premieres, as they’d been in the set list for quite a while. With every song the club got hotter, I Scream kept building up the rhythm, the more brutal moments kicked off a mosh pit, and the bravest even tried out some stage diving. The start of Bulan was an interesting one, as it looked like they were about to surprise everyone with Nisem Več s Tabo (Big Foot Mama), but the opening BFM riff soon turned into the intro of their own song, and after a few moments of confusion they took us right back into the ambient of their own sound. After playing everything from the album they also did Darinka, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, and, once they came back on stage, the one cover of the night, the well-known Walk Like an Egyptian, which comes out super interesting in their genre. Too bad the whistling that’s so typical of that song was barely audible from Heyni’s mouth this time.
Since the five members come from different musical backgrounds, so does their music. They play a mash-up of several genres, so they’re hard to pigeonhole. A mix of nu-metal, funk and alternative metal, and probably a few other genres on top, is the perfect recipe for a wild live experience. Every member takes part in writing the songs, with guitarists Gapy and Qukot leading the charge, but everyone else chips in too, so the work in the band doesn’t rest on a single member, and they actually compete with each other. And that’s exactly what makes them strong! On stage, vocalist Heyni and guitarist Gapy handle the talking to the crowd, and Gapy can get the audience laughing too. Compared to the band’s early days, Heyni has improved massively as a vocalist, which he proved again with this performance. Gapy helps him out on the clean and scream vocals, so quite often, especially in parts where the tempo keeps shifting, Heyni and Gapy trade off quickly, stretching the dimensions of their music a little further in an already dynamic style. The rhythm section plays a very important role, naturally, with Šimen on drums and Luka on bass. In music that constantly changes speed and tempo and, on top of that, has plenty of offbeat, funky elements, their conducting is crucial. The hard guitar riffs are the work of Qukot’s and Gapy’s fingers, which keep trading places and stage a little mini-play of their own. Having two guitars in the band is behind some of the very aggressive moments, topped off by Heyni’s growl vocals, and in the next moment they can turn raw metal sounds into “chill-out” dance moments built on the interesting solutions of that same rhythm section. But what really sets I Scream apart is the construction of the songs, which aren’t all cut from the same cloth: one is built on a catchy melodic chorus, another puts the emphasis on a good riff, and a third bets on an interesting interweaving of two guitars.
The show was well executed in every respect. The video surprise at the start, the building rhythm, and a song that even a random passerby would know to close the gig were just a few of the reasons for that verdict. It’s just a shame the club wasn’t fuller, and the reason may lie in the date: Majske igre in Mestni Log and a Velikonoga Mama concert in Križanke were both on the schedule that same day. Far from empty, mind you, but a new album’s launch only happens once, and a bigger turnout would have meant better energy in front of the stage. Still, those who were there definitely didn’t go home disappointed. The I Scream guys are supposedly going to be active live over the summer too, so I warmly recommend catching one of their shows to everyone who found themselves at least somewhat in this report…
Photos: Mojca Perdih
Setlist
1. Family 2. X-Plain 3. Annoying 4. Ena 5. Lullaby 6. D.Lite 7. 4-watt 8. Pilot 9. Illusions 10. Bulan 11. IGod 12. Suicidal minds 13. Obsession 14. Darinka ———————– 15. Walk like an Egyptian
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