Location: Rock Cafe / Postojna / Slovenia
Interview date: 03/18/2010
On the eighth night of the Epic RockLine contest, Broken Arrow successfully flew the flag for Slovenian glam rock. The torchbearers of 80s heavy rock hardware gave us a quick chat about their views on the local music scene and their plans for the future, which they say still looks rosy.
RockLine: Why did you play the Epic RockLine contest?
Bor: We took the opportunity.We played totally relaxed about making it to the next round. Honestly, what really brought us here was the urge to play live and pick up some experience. We’re thrilled with Postojna, the club is really great.
RockLine: So where does this passion for glam rock come from?
Bor: Since I was a kid! This music has “had us hooked” since elementary school, basically. From the very first moment I got “Best of Europe” in fourth grade!
Matjaž: Glam rock is a kind of fun, a way to unwind and just have a blast.
RockLine: Do you two think there’s enough ear for glam rock in Slovenia, or glam metal, if you prefer?
Bor: I dunno. I feel like it’s slowly coming back. If you look back at the days of Šank Rock and Pop Design, the whole glam rock situation was obviously rosier. Luckily, glam gets enough support from young bands today too, which is important, and of course Šank Rock are still around. I think there’s still enough appetite for this kind of music here. But we have to keep in mind that Slovenia is small and the market is already oversaturated with all sorts of music products, so expecting some broader glam revival would be utopian.
RockLine: Will the local glam scene be able to count on a Broken Arrow debut in the near future?
Matjaž: We’ve already recorded a few tracks, and we’ll probably throw ourselves into recording the album this summer.
Bor: Money’s the problem. There’s always only enough left for three, four songs. Now we finally have some “dough” saved up, so it’ll be easier to see this thing through to the end.
Matjaž: We struggle like everyone else. The Slovenian scene is what it is. We see what’s popular today, so it’s hard to predict anything for younger bands. Take Shutdown or Hotty MkkNotty, for example, bands that don’t get any further than, say, Metelkova. It’s all underground, as Šujo would say…
RockLine: Šujo everywhere you look… (laughs)
Bor: He’s the Slovenian glam icon!
RockLine: Broken Arrow, you’re well covered on the vocal front. You’ve got three backing vocalists, no less. That can be quite a hefty arranging job when you’re writing music.
Bor: We insist on presenting the band with multiple voices. When the option came up, we just said, why not. Matjaž is a music academic and writes pretty much all the arrangements himself, so we have no problems with it.
Matjaž: The songs sound much fuller in the background. Before the girls came along, we built the backing vocals ourselves. Besides the backing, a female voice also works well in the higher registers, in parts that don’t exactly suit a male voice. Tonight we debuted in this lineup, with three backing vocalists. On the third try! At the first gig the power went out, the second time the gig fell through, so today was a kind of baptism by fire.
RockLine: So can we expect Broken Arrow on stage in the lineup we saw tonight from now on?
Matjaž: For now, yes. The only problem with the girls is that they have to stay healthy the whole time…
RockLine: As in, not pregnant… (laughs)
Matja: (laughs) …let’s say so! We’ll definitely hit the studio with them this summer.
interview by: Daniel Pavlica & Rok Klemše
photos: Mojca Perdih
text edited by: Daniel Pavlica
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