Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Rock Cafe, Postojna
Interview date: March 18, 2010
Shutdown is a young heavy metal band from the Goriška region that, despite the members’ age, already has a pile of gigs all over Slovenia and a first demo under its belt. Shutdown work hard to keep old-school heavy metal alive and kicking on home turf, and with their energetic, confident live shows they keep winning over more fans and filling up the space in front of the stage.
RockLine: The classic opening question – what made you sign up for the Epic RockLine Contest in the first place?
Egzi: I saw on Paranoid that bands with a good demo could enter this contest…
Murva: … and we’ve got a good demo
(laughter)
Egzi: Anyway, I spotted it and thought, why not, an album would definitely come in handy.
RockLine: So recording an album as the prize was the main reason you entered?
Egzi: Yeah, of course, if it works out, why not. Free album recording would be great, even though these days it’s not that huge of an expense anymore.
RockLine: You recently put out your first demo – where did you record it and how did the recording go?
Egzi: We recorded it at P.L.C. studio in the Brda region, which belongs to the punks Pigs Parlament. Keller recorded there too, for example.
Murva: Keller only recorded drums there. We wrapped up the demo and everything that goes with it in 14 days.
Egzi: We still think the final product sounds great, especially since everything was recorded in one week, and then we spent another week mixing and tweaking it a bit.
Pejc: It could’ve been even better, though.
Egzi: Near the end of the mixing, the producer’s recording software totally crashed and basically burned the whole recording in its current state.
Murva: So what you hear on the demo stayed exactly as it was recorded up to the moment the software betrayed us. It’s really a bare recording with no mastering and no extra polish.
RockLine: You guys are actually pretty tightly connected with Keller, and not just through the studio – their bass player replaced your former bassist Dafo.
Egzi: Well yeah, we didn’t really get replaced, he just left on his own. Some time ago we were playing in Medvode, and I asked Dafo where his bass was, and he says it’s with Keller. What Keller? And he goes, yeah, nothing, I’m playing with them.
Murva: Well, you can’t hold a person back, it doesn’t get you anywhere. Then we found Edi
RockLine: Edi Van Halen? (laughs)
Shutdown: Edi Van Žorž (laughs)
Egzi: I played with him in Leather at the start, and Keller’s guitarist today is also an ex-Leather member, and ex-Leather and ex-Shutdown bassist Dafo is with Keller now too, so we kind of shuffled around among ourselves.
RockLine: Tonight you played two pretty bold covers, of Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne, especially considering how recognizable and unique Halford’s and Ozzy’s voices are.
Egzi: Yeah, maybe, but that’s just the music we all love. It happened pretty naturally. In the beginning Shutdown were a trio looking for a vocalist, and I joined them sometime in 2007. I used to play this sped-up kind of thrash in Leather, and when I came to them they were playing pure rock ‘n’ roll, so we had to somehow merge the styles, and that’s how today’s Shutdown sound came about.
RockLine: Your performance and stage outfits are pretty retro, too. Do you feel there’s enough room in Slovenia for this kind of old-school heavy metal?
Dominjo: We’re one of the few. I don’t think there are any bands playing metal à la Judas Priest.
RockLine: There’s Metalsteel and Use Less, then there’s Lene kosti, and that’s pretty much it. And Pomaranča sadly isn’t what it used to be.
Egzi: Yeah, add Requiem and that’s about it.
Murva: Requiem are almost a third thing altogether. Pomaranča is heavy metal too, but you can’t say we sound like them.
RockLine: There’s a lot of other styles hiding in your heavy metal too, from the sped-up, almost thrashy moments like the intro to Virginia to nearly hard rock parts.
Egzi: Yeah, I brought that song over from Leather, where we played angrier stuff. In Shutdown we made it more “easy-going,” so you can tell my part, the more aggressive one, is left over from the Leather days, and the rest was written by Dominjo. The guy has Van Halen down cold (laughs).
RockLine: And on stage you’ve got almost a choreographed routine.
Egzi: Yeah, everyone’s got their own energy and charisma, and it shows on stage. I jump around like a maniac and they shake their hips glam-style, so we complement each other.
RockLine: Shaking like Tipton and Downing from Judas Priest! (laughs)
Shutdown: Yeah yeah, exactly like that! (laughs)
RockLine: All you’re missing is a Harley.
Dominjo: That’ll come once we get a bigger stage (laughs).
RockLine: But there’s room for an old-school Tomos or Poni
Shutdown: Yeah! (laughs)
RockLine: Edi, as the new bassist, you’ve obviously settled into the crew quickly?
Edi: Today was my first gig with Shutdown and my first gig ever on bass.
RockLine: How did you end up switching to bass, and what’s the deal with Fosgen?
Edi: With Fosgen it’s like this – our singer is leaving us and it’s not the way it used to be. As for the bass, I bought a bass guitar just for the fun of it, and the Shutdown gang asked me over New Year’s if I’d play bass, and I decided to go for it. Everything with Fosgen is kind of weird right now, but we’re still together and I hope something will happen in the future. We’ll probably need a singer.
RockLine: How’s the new material coming along?
Egzi: We’re working on new songs non-stop. Today we played a new song, and three or four more are already written, and we’ve also learned some new covers so we’re not always playing the same ones.
RockLine: The new song you played is built in a much more thought-out way – the intro already sounds more epic, and the tempo and atmosphere keep building throughout.
Egzi: If you compare it, that song is similar to Virginia. It has a lot more calmer parts, and the three new songs we’ll be playing soon are faster again.
Pejc: We’re still heavy metal!
RockLine: What are your plans for the future? Will you record another demo, or are you going straight for a proper studio album?
Egzi: Probably an album, the demo is already out.
Murva: Definitely an album! Plus tons of gigs, and getting used to each other as soon as possible.
Photo: Mojca Perdih
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