Location: online
Interview date: April 11, 2009
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 music. The guys are currently getting ready to record half a dozen originals, which they hope will soon end up on an official release. RockLine also dug up a few gig dates in our chat, so you can check out Radiostorm’s punk rock waves firsthand.
RockLine: Radiostorm go back to 2007. What got the band started?
Radiostorm: The inspiration and the idea for this band came from our bass player Toni Mlakar. He wanted to do serious, professional work, so he went looking for new members to make music with. Thanks to a former singer, he met an outstanding, energetic and talented drummer, David Boršič. Together they founded Radiostorm. After a while they were joined by Primož Tanšek, who was our singer and guitarist at the time, and lead guitarist Andrej Petelin. What brought everybody together was the desire to create good original music. The drive of the individual members and the love of music are what gave birth to Radiostorm.
RockLine: Has the lineup ever been shaken up since you started? How did the personnel changes affect the band’s development?
Radiostorm: In 2008 Melvin Majcen joined us, an outstanding, talented, temperamental guy and a fanatic for pedantic music. Our bass player Toni Mlakar and Melvin Majcen met thanks to RAM, a tattoo artist from Celje. After the very first meeting they were on the same page with the same goals. Melvin is a talented, educated musician with a recognizable voice, a multi-instrumentalist with a really, really good feel for music. With him on board, Radiostorm got that famous cherry on top. He became our frontman, rhythm guitarist and a kind of wild-card vocalist. That lineup change paid off for us in every way. We hope it was the last one too!
RockLine: You swear by so-called new-generation punk rock! How would you define your genre in more detail?
Radiostorm: Our main label is rock, of course. Since the ’70s punk has spread and evolved, picking up new inspirations and styles along the way. Punk itself gave birth to punk rock, skate, melodic, hardcore and so on. Over time this genre kept developing, and we think we’ve landed in just another one of those transitional periods. All of these styles, and others, got mixed together in Radiostorm. Our music is dominated by quite a lot of punk rock, with melodic vocals, instrumental variety, and plenty of effort and love of music. We hope we’ve done, and will keep doing, a lot for new-generation punk rock.
RockLine: Where do the musical influences on your work come from? Who are your role models?
Radiostorm: There have been quite a lot of musical influences (parents, acquaintances, friends…). Since every member of Radiostorm loves some kind of music or other, each of us has contributed in our own way. Plenty of great bands like Bad Religion, Hladno Pivo, Millencolin, Metallica, Die Toten Hosen, Green Day,… have influenced us, so they’re kind of the role models for what we do.
RockLine: What sets Radiostorm apart from other similar bands in Slovenia?
Radiostorm: What sets Radiostorm apart from other bands in the genre is that we try to keep all our songs varied. We play songs in English and Slovenian, and we try to keep things at the highest level both instrumentally and vocally. We never forget who we are, where we are and what we are. We’re ordinary, average young musicians who just love music. It’s true that there are lots of good, quality bands in Slovenia, but we’re trying to be even better than all the rest. We hope that’s what sets us apart too.
RockLine: In your opinion, what makes a quality band?
Radiostorm: In our opinion, a quality band is one where every member gives it their absolute all for the band’s development. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! A band has to click, not take everything too seriously, and it’s also important for the members to share the same vision and wishes. Collecting experience, good and bad, is very important too.
RockLine: You recently put out a single called Growing Up, which will appear at the end of April on a compilation from the American Skratch magazine! How did you end up working with the Americans?
Radiostorm: The Americans found us on MySpace. After the very first listen they were completely blown away. We were really happy and surprised at the same time that they picked us for their compilation. The only shame in all this is that a local band has to make it big abroad first and only then gets attention at home.
RockLine: You’re currently preparing to record original material. Can you tell us more about that?
Radiostorm: We’re planning to record original material again in May. Unfortunately we don’t know yet how much we’ll record, because there are money problems too. Sadly we don’t have a label or sponsors yet who could make it possible to record more of our material. What we can say is that some of it will be in Slovenian and some in English. And there’ll be lots of dynamic, varied vocal and instrumental lines and chords.
RockLine: So can we expect a Radiostorm debut sometime this year?
Radiostorm: We think you’ll be hearing plenty about us, and as for the rest, time will tell. If we get enough media attention and gigs on big stages, that will absolutely have a positive effect on Radiostorm.
RockLine: On April 14 people might catch you “at the scene of the crime”, at KMŠ in Ljubljana. Do you have any other gigs planned down the road?
Radiostorm: We’ve got three gigs planned for April:
-April 14, Kmš Ljubljana
-April 24, Šentrock Šentjur
-April 30, Kresovanje Celje (Celjska koča)
Lately we’ve been getting quite a lot of invitations and we’re trying to accept as many as we can. We don’t have any official dates for May yet. So we ask everyone who’s interested to give our music a listen at www.myspace.com/radiostormband and get in touch, so maybe we can play in your town too.
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