Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Urban Bolta
Location: Ljubljana / Menza pri koritu (Metelkova) / Slovenia
Interview date: 02.03.2012
Muškat Hamburg are Styrian punk’n’roll troublemakers who’ve been at it on the scene for a solid decade and a half. At the end of last year they dropped their second album, »Zbogom Madamfuker«, which cemented their spot as one of the most unique bands on the Slovenian alt scene. Ahead of the launch gig in Ljubljana (gig report here), we sat down with bassist Sissy and guitarist Gangsta to talk about the new album, how it came together, and plenty more.
Rockline: Hey! You’ve got a new album and a new look. There’s a similar step forward on the new record, »Zbogom Madamrfucker«. What’s your take now that it’s out in the world?
Sissy Pop(e): The album has matured in what we do. We didn’t have any big plan behind it. The first record, for example, came together over the first stretch we went through, so in a way it’s our archive of old stuff and a move toward the new, to clear space for fresh ideas. We played our debut live for a long time, and meanwhile we emptied our heads and new stuff started coming together completely spontaneously. We had no fixed idea of how it should sound, but we knew in our own heads which direction we wanted to go, and that’s where the step forward showed. The new record sounds maybe even a bit wilder than the last one, which surprised even us. There’s a similar shift in the sound itself. On the first record we were still figuring things out, or to put it plainly, we didn’t even have our own gear yet, we borrowed it from someone else for every recording, which naturally affected the sound. This time we were more focused on the goal, but like I said, the result surprised us in the end.
Gangsta Rocker: The final product was clearly shaped by everything that’s been going on around the band lately. Kuki left the band, for example.
Sissy Pop(e): We kicked Madamfucker in the ass too. (laughs)
Gangsta Rocker: Then there was Matej Gobec’s production work – he leaned hard on Motörhead-style production. We didn’t overcomplicate things with riffs…
Sissy Pop(e): …Funny you mention riffs. The first record was built more from riffs, and the songs grew out of those. The second one came together in exactly the opposite direction. There was a basic idea, and we built around it.
Gangsta Rocker: I’d say the message is more in the foreground this time than the music itself.
Rockline: You’ve probably matured enough by now that you walked into the studio knowing exactly what you wanted?
Sissy Pop(e): Of course, every rehearsal, every gig, every recording brings some new experience. Between the two records we also picked up experience from recording for other projects. We try to squeeze the most out of everything and learn something new along the way.
Rockline: It’s interesting that your music is a mash-up of genres from all different directions. I’m curious what it looked like at the start, how long it took you to click, whether your style just came naturally while you were jamming?
Sissy Pop(e): Yeah, you can really feel the influences coming from all over.
Gangsta Rocker: But we all have one thing in common – we all love the metal classics, like Iron Maiden or Motörhead.
Sissy Pop(e): For me those are rock’n’roll classics. In the early days of the band, before what we’d call our classic era kicked in, everybody really did bring their own character. We listened to similar stuff, but everyone was sitting on their own bank of the river. While jamming we found a common thread that connected us and that we liked more and more. Over time we arrived at the style that’s now on our albums. In this second period, from the first record onward, there were way fewer conflicts about finding our musical voice. Over the years of playing we found a path that makes all of us happy, one way or another.
Gangsta Rocker: Someone played a riff, everybody added their own bit, and at the end we swapped opinions on how we liked it – the process of writing new material was really spontaneous.
Sissy Pop(e): I grew up in Maribor in the alternative scene, where the old punk and metal guards breathed together. So I never really drew a big line between the two genres – in the end both came out of rock. Even today when I listen to the metal classics, Sabbath or Priest, I hear more rock than metal in the modern sense of the word.
Gangsta Rocker: If you don’t have their new records yet (laughs).
Sissy Pop(e): Don’t get me wrong, I still find the odd modern band that interests me. Anyway, we’ve always built on this blending. That’s how I see the band, at least. An alphabet grows inside you, a mix of music that you put out in your own way, with all kinds of motifs showing through.
Rockline: How did you end up working with producer Matej Gobec?
Gangsta Rocker: Matej had worked with Goran Korežija from Multiball. Goran recommended us to him and gave him our first CD, Matej was thrilled, suggested we work together, and that’s how it got rolling.
Sissy Pop(e): His idea..
Gangsta Rocker: Now Sissy’s going to tell it at length. (laughs)
Sissy Pop(e): His idea was to work with a band that sounds a bit different from what he’s used to. That info kind of reached us, we were already working on the record, we agreed on a few rehearsals together and said, why not work with him if he wants to work with us. We gave it a shot, and we were really happy with the results.
Rockline: The new record has quite a few interesting guests, from Boštjan (Res Nullius),….
Sissy Pop(e): Yeah, we’ve got quite a few guests. Like Viktorija Peršič, a friend of Matej Gobec’s, who helped us out on one track with falsettos we couldn’t pull off ourselves. It all happened through invitations, that’s how we wanted to spice up the record.
Gangsta Rocker: Everyone brings something of their own to the music. Senegačnik, for instance, we know is one of the better rock guitarists, at least in my book. He answered our invitation, but he had to record his solo twice. (laughs). The first time Gobec deleted it, but he was willing to come back a second time.
Sissy Pop(e): What was interesting about the collaborations is that we didn’t rehearse together and then go record. We gave the guests a completely free hand and they recorded in whatever way pleased them first and foremost. We didn’t hover over them and conduct them, so it was fun to hear what came back.
Rockline: Lately you’ve had a few lineup changes. I remember you were looking for a guitarist for a while…
Sissy Pop(e): We were looking for a guitarist and we found him. Here he is! (turns to Gangsta Rocker)
Gangsta Rocker: I found you guys. I was the first to call. (laughs)
Rockline: You swapped the vocalist too?
Sissy Pop(e): Actually, we just shook off an appendage of the band, his alter ego.
Gangsta Rocker: This record is strong enough that we don’t need to hide behind masks anymore.
Sissy Pop(e): At some point the vocalist morphed into a schizophrenic personality, and now it felt like the right moment for that personality to depart.
Rockline: So Madamfucker always performed in a mask?
Sissy Pop(e): Not in the early days, but in the newer Muškat Hamburg era, yes. That’s how it went, and of course we’ll miss him. So the frontman stays the same, but he’s got a different alter ego.
Rockline: You were probably looking for a cover motif that fit this decision too. On it you’re stoning Madamfucker in some kind of jungle?
Gangsta Rocker: Yeah, the cover shows some slightly harsher takes on our decision. (laughs)
Sissy Pop(e): It probably bugged him, because every time he came off stage and took off the mask, nobody recognized him. Couldn’t pick up chicks.. you know, those are big problems. (laughs)
Gangsta Rocker: And there were some »Turkish raids« too – at the launch in Maribor a woman dressed up as Madamfucker, and it made for a really comical situation.
Rockline: So you could say you already have your own fan base?
Gangsta Rocker: Yeah, for Maribor and its wider surroundings, all the way out to Rogaška Slatina, I’d say a cult built up around us over all the years of playing. Well, maybe cult is too strong a word – but people know who Muškat Hamburg are.
Sissy Pop(e): Before we recorded the first record we played a ridiculous number of gigs for a band with no record out. There was quite a bit written about our debut in the media, so people were waiting for it impatiently. Probably because we played every hole-in-the-wall in Slovenia and diligently spread our name and our music among the people.
Rockline: You had a long stretch before the first album, but you got so seasoned in that time that when it came out, an explosion followed.
Sissy Pop(e): Yes, exactly. A base of people had already formed by then. We played in lots of clubs, and when we came back to a club a second time, we saw people already knew us, we felt the support.
Gangsta Rocker: It’s a really nice feeling when you play a gig and the crowd sings your own songs. Most recently I played in a cover band, and there you know people will join in, but it’s a completely different story with bands that bet on original music. When I played in Nifomanke, and Noxire, people just watched you, but with Muškat it’s totally different. It’s a wonderful feeling.
Sissy Pop(e): A big turning point was when we recorded two tracks for Maraton Radia Študent, and then we played some tiny place in Postojna and it was wild that the crowd already knew those two songs. We’ve come a long way over all these years of playing. We count the recent history of Muškat Hamburg from around 2003/04 onward, when the lineup solidified and we sketched out the common thread that worked for all of us.
Rockline: The last four songs on the album are in English. That English is really something special, I’ve never heard anything like it. How did those songs come about, through experimenting?
Gangsta Rocker: The pearl of Radgona, the former Madamfucker, spent two months on vacation in Palestine and his accent shifted a little. (laughs)
Rockline: The first time I saw you live was in December 2010, when you played MIKK in Murska Sobota together with No Rules from Bosnia. The turnout was dismal, not even ten tickets sold, and you still gave it everything. That show blew me away.
Sissy Pop(e): I try, and I’m sure all the other guys in the band do too, to always give it my all. If nothing else, I try to have a good time. Of course it’s much easier to play when you get a reaction from the crowd, but once the machine gets going, it’s hard to stop.
Gangsta Rocker: We all play out of joy, because we love this music immensely. We give it everything even in rehearsals. And when you’re on stage and there are only two people down there, you just play for those two, and that’s a pleasure too. If the hall’s totally empty, well, then you play for the sound guy. (laughs)
Rockline: I’ll really never forget that show, how you spewed energy despite the empty club…
Sissy Pop(e): The funny thing is that at our previous show in Murska Sobota the club was almost full. That time, I don’t know what happened, we fell into a black hole, it was snowing like doomsday, the temperatures were extreme, and it all showed in the turnout.
Gangsta Rocker: But never mind, even if you’re playing to a half-empty hall, I’ll always argue that you give it everything, because that’s how you stand behind the music you’ve created.
Rockline: You play a totally unique style, and it’s interesting that you come from parts that have produced quite a few bands with their own recognizable stamp, like Psycho-Path, and Dežurni krivci, and you guys are like that too…
Gangsta Rocker: Yeah, true, the music scene in our parts is really interesting. Lollobrigida even won an MTV award last year – they’re Croatians, but they’re driven by two guys from Prekmurje. Even an MTV nomination is a huge deal, and if you make it as an artist in Croatia, you’ve really won. The music union in Croatia is very strong, it can even stand up to the English one, because they rarely let anyone in. But those two, the drummer and guitarist from Psyco-Path, pulled it off.
Sissy Pop(e): From the very start we tried to look beyond our own backyard – at home they knew us anyway. Collaborating with other bands, working on different projects, making contacts, linking up with Ljubljana and the Slovenian Littoral, and over time a network of underground rock bands got woven together, which is a nice success in itself. We busted the myth that there’s a border between the Ljubljana and Styrian ends, that our bands don’t go down there and Ljubljana’s don’t come up. That never seemed true to me – because music is a universal language spoken by all people. That’s important.
Rockline: Now that your new album is out, is there extensive promotion ahead?
Sissy Pop(e): Yeah, the two central launch gigs are the Maribor one, played last week, and today’s in Ljubljana. Otherwise, sure, we’re working on promotion through every pore we can find. We mustn’t forget the gig at Kangler’s, where we’ll try to cheer him up now that the Universiade has fallen through (laughs). We’ll also play Rogaška Slatina, Slovenj Gradec, and then we’ll move on to stages south of the Kolpa.
Gangsta Rocker: At the end of May we’re planning a shorter tour south of the Kolpa, with gigs in Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad and Banja Luka on the table. We’ll also play Ormož in front of Anti Nowhere League – in short, a lot of new stuff is being announced and opening up.
Rockline: Given your name, have you ever thought about selling wine at your gigs?
Gangsta Rocker: No, but some guys who make wine under the same name wanted to buy the domain, and we screwed them over. (laughs)
Rockline: Thanks a lot for the in-depth interview, and best of luck at tonight’s gig as well as on the road ahead!
Interview by: Aleš Podbrežnik & Urban Bolta
Photos: Urban Bolta (1 – 3), Aleš Podbrežnik (4 -5), the last photo is from the Muškat Hamburg show in Ljubljana on 2.3.2012.
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