Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Scratch / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Gig date: 20.10.2011
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €0.00 (no cover!)
How fast the year flies by! Unbelievable. It feels like only yesterday we were raising our glasses high as Ljubljana’s first real rockers’ joint, Scratch Rock Bar, came into the world on 15.10.2010, and now it’s already a year old! And what a year it’s been! Scratch Rock Bar found its identity, started breathing with full lungs, and won over loyal regulars and loyal supporters. It grew from a small, innocent, dreamy little kid into a real everyday hub for music info and know-how, where sparkling creative ideas get cooked up at a table over a pint or two. Including ideas on how to bring healthy music to the masses, who are, sadly, way too often bombarded by media corporations with “trash” that those very same media call “music”. No need to waste words on how comfy this place is. It’s finally the spot in Ljubljana that actually earns the word “rock” in its name, where you know that when you step over the threshold you won’t be condemned to eternal pain that forces you to jam your fingers in your ears for good. As long as you order your favorite kind of beer, of course. After everything Scratch Rock Bar has given us in its first year, we can safely say that lovers of real original music, healthy music, have finally found a proper refuge in the Slovenian capital too.
The celebration kicked off at seven in the evening, when the Hirter set aside for tasting vanished in no time. For free! Rok and I “sneak” onto the scene a little past nine, just as the totally new rockers called After Burn are treating a packed-out Scratch. The eye lands mostly on the guitar duo of Jan Prosen and Jure Jurca, Scratch’s main host. We’re clearly witnessing the birth of a new super rock band, one that draws inspiration from the seventies too, which the repertoire confirmed: the guys superbly nailed classics by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, and also flirted with the work of later, commercially successful acts that followed in the seventies’ footsteps, like Bon Jovi and The Darkness. Hats off to the guys for the Led Zeppelin classic! And not just any one, but the more demanding, famous “Houses Of The Holy” gem The Ocean, which they played at a truly top-notch level, driving home the great feeling that After Burn are a new force on the Slovenian rock scene, one that will undoubtedly brighten up and enrich the overall picture of the Slovenian rock music mosaic.
Rollin’ Bastards brought the legacy of Motorhead’s dirty rock n’ roll bastards into the room! A lot had been said about the guys, plenty of words that made you want to give your ears a good scrub! And sure enough. The vocals come astonishingly close to Lemmy’s. If that’s your fate, then you can confidently play whatever your heart desires from the Motorhead treasure trove. You just have to watch out not to mix up the songs. Beer flowed in raging torrents, threatening to turn Scratch into a flood-lake, but that’s simply a must in an ambience like this. Either way, the wheezy, razor-sharp imitation of Lemmy’s guttural grind adds plenty to an atmosphere loaded with surplus alcohol fumes. Rollin’ Bastards earned the “tribute to” label! Worth checking out without hesitation, not only for everyone who hasn’t tasted them on stage yet, but for his most luminous eminence himself, the “Iron Chancellor” Lemmy Kilmister!
The night, which by then had tipped deep into the small hours, was spiced up further by DJ Buco and his rich musical arsenal. In his year of “working” at Scratch, he’s become a proper piece of the bar’s furniture. And so Scratch Rock Bar, with the wind full in its sails, blew out its very first birthday candle! “Happy birthday, dear Scratch, see you on the first Monday of the new week!”
photos: Martin Prezelj
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