Location: Nove Jarše / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Interview date: April 24, 2010
The return of Lene kosti has hugely enriched the Slovenian metal scene. And it looks like Lene kosti are only now truly in full bloom. After many years that, among other things, left the band with plenty of bitter memories, the skies have finally cleared for the legendary Ljubljana metallers. So on March 5, 2010, they finally squeezed out their official studio debut, titled “Do Or Die”. The title itself embodies the band’s defiance and is a manifesto of disobedience.
RockLine has been following the new march of the reactivated forefathers of the Slovenian metal Bible since the day they got back together in October 2008. We last sat down with the charismatic singer and first icon of Lene kosti, Milan “Dr. Evil” Krušič, in Nove Jarše a year ago. And it’s precisely the past year that has brought the band its richest harvest.
RockLine: And it’s finally here! The first proper, officially released studio album by Lene kosti, “Do Or Die”. After long, long years of waiting, it’s finally clambered out into the open.
Dr. Evil: When I think about how much “chaos” we had around it, ha, ha, ha… The recording days especially. On the very first day of recording, Miha (Miha Nedoh, editor’s note) called me totally panicking about how we’d get the drums to the studio. And the next day he was already sitting behind the kit recording drums in the studio. Miha surprised all of us, for once. He needed just two days to record the drums. Afterwards he did “nag” a bit that he wanted to fix a few things, but we didn’t let him. Next up were both guitarists, the bass player, and in the end the same fate befell me, to chirp out my parts. I did that in two days. At first I was skeptical about how I’d do in the studio, but there were no problems at all. We also got help in the studio from Domen Justin D.Y.Z. on guitar in the song The Sting, and from Inez Osina of the band Brezno on the vocal duet for the song Blind In Love. Both of them also contributed some backing vocals on the album.
RockLine: D.Y.Z.?
Dr. Evil: Yes. D.Y.Z. offered on his own to contribute backing vocals and to play the solos in the song The Sting. And it was a really good move to use his experience and know-how in the studio.
RockLine: D.Y.Z. is also the producer of “Do Or Die”.
Dr. Evil: Yes. D.Y.Z. was recommended to us by a lot of people. So we approached him. He did a superb job. Flawless.
RockLine: What’s it like working with D.Y.Z. in the studio?
Dr. Evil: Great. I’d worked with a few people in the studio before, but the vibe with D.Y.Z. was one of a kind. The atmosphere was relaxed and a lot of fun. D.Y.Z. knew how to listen to us and follow our ideas. On top of that, he’s someone who doesn’t push his own ideas. He just suggests and hints, but leaves the final decisions to the band. With a few ideas and suggestions he really helped us a lot. That’s why we’re looking forward to working with him again.
RockLine: The songs on Do Or Die got a big makeover. What was the basic motive for bringing some classics you were already playing back in the eighties into this brand-new form that defines “Do Or Die”?
Dr. Evil: Best if I start by asking you something back. Can you imagine where Lene kosti could have been if we’d been destined to record an album in 1985 under the conditions we had now? The songs you hear on “Do Or Die” are exactly what we always wanted on an album. That’s exactly how they sound. But we never got a real chance to record an album before. On top of that came extra squabbles in the band, lineup changes, etc… Still, the Kavaš brothers and I always had all these songs in our heads exactly the way you can hear them on “Do Or Die”. The sound, the atmosphere, the feel,…. Everything has finally found its place with “Do Or Die”.
RockLine: Given the band’s eternal problems with drummers, it’s fascinating how well Miha fit into the studio work.
Dr. Evil: For Miha it wasn’t any kind of problem. He plays in many bands and knows a huge amount of music. All kinds of music. Basically we didn’t tell him anything. We just shoved him into this kind of melting pot and said: “Do whatever you feel like!” He’s such a good musician that he picked up on our point perfectly, the energy of our music, so that by his own feel he captured in the studio, on the drums, exactly what Lene kosti need.
RockLine: When you compare the old recordings with the new ones, sometimes you can barely grasp that they’re the same songs.
Dr. Evil: Yes. The arrangements are more thought-out and more dynamic. Some songs are deliberately shortened to hit even harder. They’re also played quite a bit faster than the original versions people knew in the eighties. For example, the song Sunrise demanded clean vocals from me, because we wanted to emphasize its more melodic side. As musicians, we’ve leveled up over the years and matured. There are new ideas, new insights. In the eighties we were into one particular style, today it’s something different again, but the definite turning point for the band came when we played before Grave Digger in Ljubljana on February 3, 2009.
RockLine: A turning point in what sense?
Dr. Evil: It became a lot clearer to us how we’d approach the studio while recording. It was a real heavy metal school for us, seeing how heavy metal sounds today. That doesn’t mean we wanted to sound like Grave Digger, but that kind of metal suits us best. It’s very close to us, the closest.
RockLine: There are also two eminent guests from Germany on “Do Or Die”. How did you get them to take part in the album?
Dr. Evil: I sounded Manni out (Manni Schmidt, guitar, ex-Grave Digger, ex-Rage, editor’s note) at the joint Lene kosti and Grave Digger gig in Ljubljana. First we invited him onstage to play Russian Girl with us. Then, after the show, when we were chatting backstage, I mentioned that we were going into the studio in the fall, and he offered on his own to do a solo in Russian Girl. Then I also thought of Mat Sinner. As you probably know yourself, this guy means a lot to me as a member of Primal Fear and Sinner. About 10 days after the Lene kosti show before Grave Digger in Ljubljana, I was dithering about writing him an email. Basically what pushed me to write the request to Mat Sinner was my wife Andreja, saying that the worst Mat could do is write back “no,” and I had nothing to lose anyway. Mat wrote back by email in a mere two minutes. The reply in the email read: “I will do this for you Milan. You are my brother.”
RockLine: The song Blind In Love also features the talented young singer and flutist Inez Osina from the Ljubljana band Brezno.
Dr. Evil: Yes. You introduced Inez to us, after you tracked her down through her entry in the Epic RockLine Contest. We were just looking for some kind of female vocal, the kind Therion use, for example. I just called Inez up and she was thrilled. On the album we have a lineup of musicians that I doubt we’ll ever manage to top. They say never say never, but still. I believe an album like “Do Or Die” really deserves such a great team! When Tom Naumann, the former Primal Fear guitarist, heard a few songs, he offered on his own to contribute a solo or two, but we’ll save him for another time.
RockLine: Lene kosti are the first metal generation in Slovenia and the link between the British bands that brought metal over and the second generation of metal bands in Slovenia. In that sense, do you think this is an album that’s lost in time?
Dr. Evil: I don’t even feel it that way. We’re simply unique. And I think the release of “Do Or Die” is an important gain for the Slovenian metal scene. After a 17-year break, we proved we can make an album. We needed willpower, desire, and to keep plowing forward like a bulldozer. You can achieve anything. With all that willpower, which from the reunion in October 2008 culminated in an album release in a relatively short time, we can be a fine example to others in Slovenia.
RockLine: In metal, where support in Slovenia is smaller anyway when it comes to financial injections, a strong belief in the goal matters all the more. Metal bands in Slovenia are honestly almost always left completely to their own devices when it comes to releasing albums.
Dr. Evil: Metal has always been working-class music. It’s usually not the music of engineers and “pussies.” When you win over a certain circle of these people, when you feel they respect you and appreciate who you are, when they recognize your sincerity, that’s what keeps people by your side. Even today you go to a Judas Priest concert, for example, and you meet fans down front who’ve followed the band the whole time and grown old with them. They never turned their backs on it and never will.
RockLine: What about ideas for the new Lene kosti album?
Dr. Evil: We’ve got plenty of ideas. They need to be finished and polished. We have to pour them into songs and then pick among them. The style on the new album stays the same. Lene kosti aren’t going to change. I can already announce that there’ll be two or three strong guests on the album. We’re planning another ballad. If it needs a female vocal, we’ll just call Inez, because with her we get a vocal combination that suits us really well. We’ll see about that. And the new album won’t have more than 12 tracks.
RockLine: A Lene kosti show at the Banja Luka Rock Open Air festival is coming up.
Dr. Evil: Yes. We’re all really looking forward to it.
RockLine: Already a month earlier, in the third ten days of May to be exact, you’re invited to a press conference tied to the festival. But there’s another job waiting for you there?
Dr. Evil: Yes. I’m heading to the festival press conference to give a few interviews for TV and some radio stations. The organizers are currently supporting and promoting us really nicely. I’ve also been named to a special committee that’ll help pick the demo bands who’ll also play at the festival. Dado Topić from Time will be on that same committee. Judging by all the reactions Lene kosti are getting from over there, I feel the audience in Banja Luka is already waiting for us impatiently. So far the organizer has shown an extremely nice level of respect with a few gestures, like giving us an ideal slot at the festival, between 9 and 10 PM. We’re playing on the same day as MM Classic Whitesnake, with Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden in the lineup, so we’re expecting another great show, with a great atmosphere and a good turnout. With a generous helping of good metal and rock n’ roll!
RockLine: After the release you reaped really good turnouts at the release party at Orto Bar and a month later at the show in Postojna. How do you feel about the demand for Lene kosti today?
Dr. Evil: Honestly, I was skeptical at first. Already in Lene kosti’s “previous life” there was a lot of throwing logs in our path, from bands that are “like, big” in Slovenia today, so they managed to stop us back then. Right after the reunion we were the target of some underhanded stuff, which we later got rid of happily and successfully. Well, since sometime last year, since the Lene kosti show at Orto Bar organized by RockLine, that was in May, things have been going up. A turning point for us was the show in Kranj in October 2009. It was Metalfest, and Lene kosti could finally present themselves to the right target audience. From then on, the fan base started growing. I can’t skip the really lovely event in Ravne na Koroškem this January either. That show confirmed the upward momentum for Lene kosti. But the total shock for me was the release party at Orto Bar this March. At first it didn’t look like it. A bit past eight in the evening there were only a few people outside. I barely looked away to change backstage when I saw a river of people pouring into Orto Bar. It was packed solid. It was the kind of event any musician wishes for. The crowd’s response, the atmosphere, the energy, it all added up to a one-of-a-kind event. I can say I’m very proud to have had the chance to be part of a concert like that.
RockLine: You even had visitors from Austria at the release party?
Dr. Evil: Yes. Our loyal supporters from Graz. They’re both journalists too. So they’ve carried the word about Lene kosti across the border as well. They first saw us in Austria last year, but without my extra stage getup with Dr. Evil and the rest of the characters.
RockLine: Who is Dr. Evil?
Dr. Evil: That’s my alter ego. That’s a man who doesn’t go to work, who doesn’t let all kinds of idiots mistreat him, a man who couldn’t care less about other opinions, a man who might greet you with an axe or a saw, and last but not least, a man who doesn’t know about painkillers.
RockLine: You’ve leveled up your horror show tied to Lene kosti’s spectacular performances even more over the past year. We got a few new characters.
Dr. Evil: Yes. There’ll be more and more of these characters. For example, the “evil clown” is resting for now, but besides the doctor there’s also the Uninvited Guest, who’s kind of a no-brainer character that belongs to the song Uninvited Guest itself. The most fitting one for that song seemed to me to be a sort of uncle with a scythe. The Butcher made his debut in Postojna. He enjoys himself most in the song Nightmare.
RockLine: In Postojna a miniature Dr. Evil marched onstage with you too.
Dr. Evil: Yes. He came only for the Postojna gig. I spent a full two weeks convincing him to step onstage. He’s the mini doctor. That means the smaller operations, minor surgical procedures, fall under his wing. He’s a specialist in minor operations on the eyes, nose, teeth, little fingers.
RockLine: This summer you’ll finally meet ReQueim in Dornberk in the Vipava Valley.
Dr. Evil: Yes. Finally. We’re really looking forward to this show too. It’ll be a stage share in the sense of strengthening friendly ties, not rivalry. ReQueim have 4 or 5 albums out, they’re a band worth respecting. Playing with them is logical for us. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
RockLine: I noticed that Lene kosti are followed at gigs by older fans, the kind who are your age or only slightly younger, say a few years. At Pomaranča shows or ReQuiem shows I didn’t see so many die-hard rockers in their fifth decade of life.
Dr. Evil: Well, that’s living proof that even in the eighties Lene kosti had a loyal fan base. And they’re coming back with us. Here’s another interesting detail: last time in Postojna, one of our fans came to a show for the first time in 20 years and brought us a framed promo poster for one of our concerts. He handed us the original poster, printed in the eighties, as a gift. That’s proof that such a person had listened to us back then, followed your work, and still respects and accepts you as a musician. These older fans, who’ve grown old with us over all these years, still feel metal in their hearts, they feel rock n’ roll. We feel deep respect for them. Some do step away once they start families, but the real fans stay and come to support you even when the band needs it most.
RockLine: Recently drummer Rok Večerin – W.U.K.O. joined Lene kosti.
Dr. Evil: W.U.K.O. is a story in himself, ha, ha, ha… The biggest panic hit the band when we were looking for a drummer. As you probably know yourself, Lene kosti have always had big, big, big problems with drummers. I’ll just generalize: problems with the rhythm section. Early last year we first got Grega Brenk. He’s a guy who belongs with Lene kosti. By musical taste, by character. Then we took Miha Nedoh. Marc asked him to come help us out. Miha answered the invitation. The idea at first was that Miha would help us, and then he just stayed with us. But not permanently. We were hoping for that. But it turned out, no matter that Miha is a fantastic person and drummer, that we wouldn’t manage to keep him. Miha is in a big band like ReQueim. On top of that he plays in a few other bands. We felt we couldn’t keep dragging him along by force anymore. So we talked it over among ourselves and agreed we needed another drummer. Later, when I was looking for a drummer, wherever I showed up and asked if anyone knew a drummer, they all mentioned W.U.K.O. I’d never seen him before, let alone known him. I didn’t even know whether he’d ever played in a band, or which one. But when a musician of D.Y.Z.’s caliber suggests W.U.K.O. to you and says: “Take W.U.K.O., he fits you guys!” In that case there really was no doubt. Especially given how much effort D.Y.Z. put into the sound on “Do Or Die”. So I trusted him on his word. W.U.K.O. was also recommended to us by Ivan Cepanec, editor-in-chief of Master Magazin, who knows what’s currently going on in the Slovenian metal scene. That was an additional reference for W.U.K.O. So I called him and he came to the first rehearsal. What was interesting is that we’d tried out quite a few drummers before W.U.K.O. They all wanted to try themselves out on the easier Lene kosti songs. When W.U.K.O. came into our rehearsal space, he suggested on his own that we play Nightmare together, which is our hardest song. When he “nailed” it, it was clear to all of us that W.U.K.O. is the right one for Lene kosti. We’re very happy he’s with us. We trust him completely and we know W.U.K.O. will do everything so that Lene kosti sound the way they sound. We only need two more rehearsals to get fully in sync, and then it’s just “smashing it up.” As far as W.U.K.O. goes, it was also important to us that the band finally got a guy who’s ready to do anything for the band.
RockLine: The song Blind In Love is becoming a real hit on the Croatian station Radio 057, based in Zadar.
Dr. Evil: Blind in Love is obviously the track on the album that can contribute a lot to our breakthrough abroad. Supporters of the band from Zadar took the record to that station. And the song Blind In Love was first drawn as song of the day. That means a track like that gets spun once every hour. So in a single day this song was played a full 24 times. Blind in Love later also won the vote for song of the week, which means it’s played six or seven times a day. Every day for a week. It also has a very good shot at being drawn as song of the month. And besides Croatia, we’re getting really good reactions from Germany too.
RockLine: And plans for the future?
Dr. Evil: In the fall we’ll try to win as many gigs as we can, and then in March 2011 we lock ourselves in the studio and start recording a new record.
photos: Andreja Krušič
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