Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 04.04.2018
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: €6.00
Stray Train, a fresh, high-flying Slovenian hard rock attraction for the new era, is a band we sorely miss in stylistic terms across the Slovenian region. Not that we’re short on bands drawing inspiration from the likes of AC/DC, Alice Cooper, ZZ Top… But when you run into Stray Train, a bit of darkness, picked up from grunge influences, tends to seep into all those classically written hard rock riffs, while the band’s very character is also defined by a constant flirtation with the blues. And it all culminates in Stray Train’s recognizable »personal, confessional« character of songwriting. We said before that Slovenia has no shortage of bands leaning on the global hard rock doctrine, but few are actually convincing at it. Well, Stray Train belong to that minority of exceptionally high-quality rock’n’roll revivalism, forged on home soil.
The experienced, talented and technically superbly equipped quintet has put out two full-length records in a relatively short time, and in that time has also played an impressive string of live shows. Especially the joint European tour of Stray Train with Kadavar and Blues Pills still rings loudly in memory, where Stray Train, in an extremely packed and condensed tour schedule, »crammed« in a full forty consecutive concerts. In not much more than that many days.
The album »Blues From Hell – The Legend of the Courageous Five«, released last year and following just a year after their wonderfully bold, »extremely« titled debut »Just ‘cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town«, keeps up the quality and shows the band’s songwriting maturing. Stray Train are still promoting the new album with great dedication and pride. One such opportunity came up as part of this year’s edition of Ortofest. The band played the upper stage, meaning the classic Orto bar venue, which holds a good two hundred people when »sold out«. This time it didn’t fill up quite that much, but the crowd still topped a hundred heads. A nice turnout, then. Just full enough to enjoy the show to the fullest.
The band (as the saying goes, “with already quiet anticipation”) delivered a tightly rehearsed, well-tuned set that already radiated a nice dose of routine. It comes from the firmly grown chemistry between the band members, which means that on stage Stray Train are always warmed up to just the right working temperature, ready to deliver a spellbinding, energetically explosive, »high-octane« blast of a show.
The interplay and perception between the two guitars is solid and cocky. There are noticeable differences in soloing style between Boban’s classic, rocker-seduced approach and Jure’s intricately crafted »perversions« of high technical polish. The guitar tandem’s constant onslaught was complemented throughout by Luka’s piercing, melodic and distinctive vocals, which didn’t let up in authority, dominance or power for a single moment of the show. With the compact, contrast-forged rhythmic texture of the agile »master of time« Luka Čaež behind the drums and the nimble hunter of low tones, bassist Niko, Stray Train simply can’t disappoint and always deliver an intense show that hooks you good, and you get the feeling it’s over in a flash.
This time it was a special experience to enjoy the band in a club space, where you can pick up much more intensely on that constant onstage communication between the members. These are all those “little things” that usually slip past the average eye. Small gestures and impulses the guys use to constantly interact so that the repertoire runs just the way it should.
Stray Train once again threw one hell of a party at Orto bar: a vivid patchwork of classic, boozy rock’n’roll riffs, drenched in the fashionable contours of a modern sound and a subtly brilliant (rustic) flirtation with the rhetoric of the blues. The band proved they’re in top form and that the five-piece brotherhood is holding firmly together. And in such a positive environment, great new ideas for writing new original material are quick to be born. Let’s hope Stray Train hold on to this highly creative spirit and charge, and carry that »momentum« over to a string of upcoming concerts and, of course, to the next album.
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