Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Real Things, The
Label: Subkulturni azil
Release: 2013
Duration: 37;46
Rating: 4.5/5
The Real Things are exactly what the name says! No less, no more. A fistful of authentic rock n’ roll dynamite straight to the forehead, no apologies. The band came together eight years ago, but went through a rocky stretch, even though their stage presence kept pointing to their musical potential. The lineup has rotated through a crew of excellent musicians, like guitarist Matej Makovec (Elektrika), bassist Andrej Hočevar (Non Stop Band) and drummer Matic Štumberger, and in the years before the album the band made a name for itself with countless club gigs, as well as by playing the Klubski maraton at Radio Študent. On top of that, the guys already have a Balkan tour under their belts, and their original songs have found a home on compilation CDs like Rokerji pojejo pesnike and Sky Sunlight Saxon.
Whether it’s fate or not, and whether it was a good thing or a bad one, the band itself is best placed to judge, but after a snake-long eight years the quartet has delivered an excellent studio debut. A long wait for an album, but a longer time to ripen. In this case that’s surely only a good thing. With the expressive power of their debut, The Real Things prove they’re a quartet whose members are full of experience. And they make it clear right away that their musical vision is crystal clear!
There’s no heavy philosophy with The Real Things. What you see is what you get. Rock n’ roll with a muffled yet fully tangible sound, dosed with a hard measure of garage toughness and a mild dose of dissonant attitude, especially in the lived-in and hugely likable vocals of Janez Juh (his English flows great!) and the »busted-basement« yet massively catchy drone of the guitar. The Real Things aren’t discovering a musical revolution. But the stories they tackle, they stand behind wholeheartedly and with devotion! And that counts! Basically, just that. And yet heartfelt is harder and harder to pull off these days. Wisecracks are raining down – no wonder we live like the last rabid dogs of »Western civilization«, snapping at each other with rotting, decaying teeth. But The Real Things rise above all that with the greatest of ease! Banal, but full-blooded! Just as the rock n’ roll paradigm demands
We Slovenes have always been good at amateurishly crossing rock n’ roll with punk. If we loosen up the solid binding of this album’s statement a bit, a fairly credible comparison can be found in the work of bands like the again-active Hic Et Nunc, though with the punk dialed down to a bare minimum. It makes more sense to link it to the energy of the likes of Dicky B. Hardy, while the occasional »hit-maker psychedelia« conditionally evokes distant parallels with The Frictions and Chris Eckman. After all, The Real Things are connected to Hic Et Nunc one way or another, through drummer Luka Krže.
But with all that said, The Real Things stand alone. Credible in everything! With a tough-as-nails rock n’ roll grip that effectively pokes the erogenous zones, calls for total debauchery, flips the middle finger, yet in the end knows how to repent for its sins. With the authenticity that »Speak the Same Language?« achieves, it’s hard to get close to them. And in the Slovenian amusement park of rock music, even harder!
Opener Raindrops colorfully combines the basic rock n’ roll paradigm with a sensible pinch of blues rhetoric and a direct stance of guitar phrases that won’t stand for pretense, but bites, pissed off, stripped bare from under the brow and straight up. The vibe of Iggy’s The Stooges, even guru Keith Richards in the guitar’s sweet sound, isn’t all that far off anymore. The rock n’ roll is dosed with a more or less noticeable shot of punk amateurism (Dog in the Cathouse), and the band doesn’t skimp on country mischief either, which it implements splendidly into the rock n’ roll framework of the songs (Mind in the Gutter). As long as the band keeps dishing out chunky riffs like the one driving the more bluesy Bad to the Bone, there’s no need to worry about the group’s sharp songwriting stance!
If the Styrians have their hard-rock veterans Muškat Hamburg, and the folks from Dolenjska have Staro šulo, we Ljubljana folks have now got The Real Things. The album »Speak The Same Language« is living proof that the story of rock n’ roll, in all its elemental glory, can be vividly diverse and fiery on modest Slovenian soil, true to its honest creed. Of course, that demands one basic prerequisite. Honesty in the heart. »Speak the same Language«?« is an excellent achievement for Slovenian rock, which with its bold energy and fully tangible substance of playing (poetry included) can stand shoulder to shoulder at any moment with any band of similar musical craft from the countries that gave birth to rock music.
Lineup
Janez Juh – guitar, vocals
Peter Voljč – guitar, backing vocals
Gregor Dovjak – bass, backing vocals
Luka Krže – drums, backing vocals
Production
The Real Things
Track List
1. Raindrops
2. Dog in the Cathouse
3. Eye on the Sun
4. Same Language
5. Low Down Blues
6. Mind in the Gutter
7. Sunny Day
8. Honest Man
9. Bad to the Bone
10. Follow Me
11. Čas ko posedaš
