Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana (Vič) / Slovenia
Date of the gig: 29.04.2009
Attendance: 2
Ticket price: 0,00€
Sometimes you get completely set on going to a gig more than 100 km from home, you pour all your energy into it, and then the show gets canceled. Hmm… the day can get seriously dull and the weight of frustration unbearable, unless the phone rings and on the other end is an invitation from Lene kosti singer Milan Krušič to join one of the band’s regular rehearsals.
Lene kosti, who are living through a new spring this year, are a band that has been through a fair share of ups and downs over the course of their career. In the eighties and early nineties they were known for their energetic, exciting performances, thanks above all to the wild imagination of charismatic singer Milan Krušič and the shocking energy the five-piece unleashed. But the days of innocence and carefree fun are gone, followed by long years of silence, and then last fall Lene kosti finally fired up again.
The guys have found a new motive, new inspiration, new drive. The band’s return to concert stages and the work on new material prove it. The period from this February to April was what the band needed to regroup and close ranks, which should let them head toward their goals without a care. Not long ago they took on a new bassist, Gregor Brenko, son of their former member and ex-bassist Dare Brenko, who proved to be the ideal solution with his reliability and work ethic. And because, during Lene kosti’s long years away from the metal and rock scene, new musical winds have blown across planet Earth, in terms of playing with raw power and the technical side of playing itself, the band wanted to close the gap as quickly as possible. So they set themselves the goal of giving their songs, which are marked by those well-known, distinctive riffs, a lot more crushing force. After a few auditions they “grabbed” Forgotten Eden drummer Miha Nedoh, who agreed to step in and help out, while the creative core of Lene kosti is still made up of the band’s mandatory members: the brothers Marc and Giovanni Kavaš on guitars, and Milan Krušič.
The visit to one of those impressive high-ceilinged cellars serving as a hideout, on a gray, rain-soaked April day in an already grayed Ljubljana, kicked off with a short huddle among the band members about which songs to tackle first. Priority went to Do Or Die, Stones Of Death, Iron Dragon, Russian Girl and I Got The. Over three hours of rehearsal (with two 20-minute breaks in between), the band played each song four or five times.
The interesting thing is that the band members can’t hide their huge enthusiasm for the attitude, approach, know-how and sheer energy brought in by the always cheerful, always smiling Miha Nedoh. Picture the brothers Kavaš’ simple, penetrating riffing in those songs from the Lene kosti arsenal, and suddenly it gets a whole new coat of full-on double bass drum hits and energetic, hair-splittingly precise projectiles of drum fills swinging through the transitions.
The first impression, which the rest of the crew confirmed, was that the remaining four could finally relax completely and focus 100% on their own work. Before, there was always a cramp in the air and uncertainty about what was going on behind their backs. This time they leaned on a rock-solid rhythmic backbone without any reservations! You could feel Marc casually rolling out his solos, Giovanni clamping his lip tight and holding the songs down on the riff, Gregor eagerly pulling on his bass, and Milan turning up his vocals as the rehearsal went on, letting loose some powerful, full-bodied, ear-splitting screams in the second half especially, which poured oil on the fire. The guys were practically grinning and you could feel a huge amount of positive energy, sharp ideas on how to improve this or that bit, and a clear consolidation of the team around their approach to the individual gigs announced for this May.
Lene kosti kept raising the bar with every run-through. If the problem used to be playing too slowly, now the near-problem is having to tug Miha’s sleeve now and then so he doesn’t run off too deep into a supersonic delirium of drumming. Like I said. The songs have been upgraded by a few solid notches of crushing, eruptive energy, and in that sense Lene kosti are getting the truly aggressive, attacking character of a seasoned heavy metal band, one that can sweep anybody off the stage with that kind of approach. “Wanna go again?” asks Milan. “Let’s go…”, Marc shrugs. And the band plays Stones Of Death and Do Or Die for the third time in a row. Every time with more punch and more of that chemistry that binds the five-piece together. Interestingly, yesterday was the first time they played I Got The together with Miha. They only got to it in the second half of the rehearsal. Miha slotted right into it “on the first go.” All it took was a bit of calibrating with the drummer over three important (transitional) breaks inside the song, right before Krušič’s verse: “I got the…” and it was sorted in a moment. At times the whole thing felt like Miha had been a permanent member of the band for ages.
Former bassist Dare Brenko also dropped by during the session. He still vividly remembers the band playing certain songs back in the eighties, and, “under the tutelage of his own eagle eye,” he couldn’t stop praising the rehearsal. He paid them a compliment for being incredibly tight. In just two months the songs have truly grown “sky-high”!
Lene kosti are ready! Ready to take what’s theirs. They’re one of the rare, if not the only, “still living” representatives of the generation that emerged in Slovenia after the N.O.W.B.H.M. “boom” and started playing heavy metal in the mid-eighties. Lene kosti are an important link between a bunch of excellent bands of the new Slovenian metal wave (read: “post late-nineties”), and sadly, Slovenia today does a poor job of expressing the elementary, original Slovenian answer to the popularity of the “New Wave Of British Heavy Metal” movement, because Lene kosti’s contemporaries, bands like Turbo, Krom and the (real) Pomaranča, have been buried for many years now.
So Lene kosti are firmly focused on sharing their newfound strength and creativity, and on showing off their new look at the first three concerts in May: 09.05.2009 in Ivančna Gorica, 16.05.2009 in Scheifling, Austria and 18.05.2009 at Orto Bar in Ljubljana at RockLine II. fest. Even though it was late, I was in absolutely no rush to leave the rehearsal. I literally soaked up the energy the five-piece were giving off while playing, like I was lazily stretching out under the summer sun!
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
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