Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Interview date: 15.11.2012
The Slovenian death metal band Perforated formed in 2009! After a two-year stretch of calibrating, consolidating their musical direction and taking their first artistic steps as songwriters, the band settled into its current lineup: Primož Zupančič (guitar), Martin Pečar (guitar), Blaž Maligoj (bass), Andrej Kovič (vocals) and Matej Novak (drums). To date the band has recorded two demos, and they already have a few successful shows under their belt, both at home and abroad.
For RockLine, I sat down with guitarist Matej Novak and drummer Matej Zupančič!
RockLine: Hey! Whenever I hear the name Perforated these days, the first thing that pops into my head is one of the two tracks on your brand-new demo, with the telling title Porn Itch. How did you come up with the idea for that title, the theme, and above all that intro?
Matej: It all really comes from the intro. It started with the main riff, then Zavar added the intro on wah, more or less as a joke. We decided to keep it as a provocation. The intro reminded us of the music from seventies adult films, so until the song had lyrics, we gave it the working title Porny. Zavar wanted to keep the porn theme for the lyrics, and with a bit of wordplay it even ended up in the title. The moaning at the start only occurred to me in the studio while we were recording guitars. I sorted out the clip, and the others found it way too „hardcore“ at first, but they got used to it quickly, and now we can’t imagine the song without it.
Primož: There’s really no rocket science here, it’s porn. The track is porn. And the theme of the song is about seducing a woman and having sex. Maybe at first we didn’t want to make things so obvious, but the message became clear, and I’ve never experienced this kind of synergy between music and lyrics on any of our other songs. With this track we really wanted to break the stereotype of death metal being all serious and full of blood, death, slaughter and grotesque scenes.
RockLine: Okay, let’s start at the beginning. How did the idea for the band come about, and when did you form?
Matej: I think a band is a kind of logical continuation and upgrade of yourself as a musician, for anyone who decides to put a bit more energy into music and their instrument, so there was no grand idea of founding a band. We’d all played in other bands before and, by a stroke of luck, found each other at the start of 2009. We consider that year the start of our creative output. A few members have been swapped out since then, but the core stays the same.
RockLine: Which bands were your role models for the kind of music you play today?
Matej: We don’t have one specific role model, and we try to draw inspiration from every genre imaginable. We don’t stress about genre, which shows in our music and also in the criticism we sometimes get. Each of us comes from a different genre and leaves a mark on the music. I do have a few idols who shaped the way I play, but I don’t have a central role model in Perforated. I draw inspiration from everything, from reggae, blues, funk and world music to metal, and I try to distill what sounds good to me. In this band I try to find my own style and give myself over to the music while creating.Z: For me as a guitarist, all kinds of genres have been an influence. I look for inspiration for our music in blues and rock’n’roll. I feel like metal musicians shouldn’t limit themselves to classic metal riffing, which strives for maximum complexity on guitar with as many notes as possible, while forgetting about rhythm, feel and the other members of the band.
RockLine: Now give your new demo a little plug. Who worked on it, and where can people buy it?
Matej: We recorded the demo a bit short-handed. We were missing one guitarist, so Zavar recorded both guitar parts. Blaž¸ really stood out on bass, and we shoved him into the studio just two months after he joined the band. Andrej did the vocals, and yours truly did the drums. We recorded in Domžale with Saša Gostinčar, and ate at the kebab place across the street. You can buy the demo at our shows, and if you can’t make it, or you’ve got too bad a „porn itch“, you can email us and we’ll work something out.
RockLine: How’s the gigging going? Where do you feel the crowds received you best? Where have you played your best show so far? Maybe an anecdote from before, during or after a gig?
Matej: It all kind of revolves around Orto bar. We played our best show there last year. The sound was great, the atmosphere was at its peak, the wooden floor was bending under the weight of the crowd, basically, we were having a blast. As an anecdote, I can tell you that two playful girls were spinning around below the stage, and then one of them flashed her boobs. The funny thing is that only I saw it all, even though I’m the farthest from the audience. I was pleasantly surprised (of course), because I thought that only happens to world-famous rock stars. Among our better gigs we also count the show at Trnfest, where the sound was excellent, and so was the turnout.Z: An interesting mishap happened in 2010 in neighboring Italy. We had big expectations about playing abroad and presenting our music to a wider audience, and in the end it turned out we just had a public rehearsal in front of the guys from Sweet Sorrow, who we played with, and two lovebirds who never even came out of the darkest corner of the club.
RockLine: Any comments on the Slovenian metal scene? On how gigs are organized, Slovenian venues, and so on..
Primož: I get the feeling that in Slovenia we have lots of bands that are very genre-focused. Meaning that after the first bar you already know it’s heavy, thrash, death, melodic, … In fact it sometimes gets a bit caricatured, which doesn’t mean some of them aren’t good. People often ask us what we even play. We’re Perforated, that’s it. If the music »grabs« you, it doesn’t matter which genre we fall into. Lately it’s hard to land a gig in Slovenia. There’s very little enthusiasm from the promoters, so if you want to play, you have to be a bit of a pest. Not to mention the miserable fees that don’t even cover travel costs. My opinion is that there are plenty of good venues for gigs, but the fact is there are too few gigs.
RockLine: What are the plans for the future? An album, maybe a festival slot?
Primož: This year we’ll apply to all the metal festivals in Slovenia, we’re looking for gigs and bands to share the stage with, and otherwise we’re gathering material for a full-length record.
Matej: I feel like we’ve stepped into a new era of our music, since it’s somehow different from our beginnings. The songs we’re writing now are tailor-made for me, and I hope we manage to create enough quality music for a whole album as soon as possible.
RockLine: Thanks a lot for the answers, and I wish you lots of success going forward!
Matej: Thanks for having us!
