Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Big Foot Mama
Label: Dallas Records
Release: 2011
Duration: approx. 120 minutes (film) / 45 min. (concert insert)
Rating: 4/5
Twenty years of defiance in the name of the religion of rock and roll is no walk in the park, especially if you only first climb onto a stage in 1990. Big Foot Mama are one of those Slovenian bands who, with their arrival on the scene, armed with defiant persistence, guts and a lucky break or two, didn’t exactly introduce or define (we won’t say that), but we can say re-defined, on the Slovenian pop scene, the notion of a middle-of-the-road rock band that cares about neither the northern nor the southern wind, but slices gusts right down the center line and gathers under its wing both those “on the left” and those “on the right”. They burst out at a time when rock music in Slovenia was in a bad way, languishing, shoved completely to the margins of a media space that had been gobbled up by bands dealing in (long since oversaturated) folk-music elements and deaf-mute synth stomp. In that period Big Foot Mama stubbornly built their status and pulled off something that looks deceptively simple, yet only a few ever manage. They became acceptable to those who enjoy music casually, like an optional extra teaspoon of sugar in a cup of coffee, as well as to those who consume music by the ladleful and can’t let a single fresh rock tidbit slip past them.
With their confidence, their commanding performances and their albums, Big Foot Mama shut the mouths long ago of everyone who loves to nitpick and tries to chip away at even the most granite-solid success story with remarks that are usually marginal, but of course deliberately blown up and presented on the scale of a biblical flood. Ah, that petty Slovenian envy.
To mark the 10 years that have rolled by since the triumphant takeover of Križanke in 1999, the guys threw a celebratory night with another concert at Križanke on 14.05.2009, and with that gesture put the dot on the “i” of closing the developmental circle of the first “twenty-something” stretch. From birth, thorny beginnings, the rise, the crash-landing back on solid ground and the sobering realization of the full magic of rock n` roll, to which you have to stay true, otherwise you aren’t true to yourself. That’s more or less how the documentary film unfolds too: it opens with flashes from that very show and closes by bringing the viewer back onto the stage of Križanke.
The “rockumentary” takes us through the band’s historic moments, from the pivotal ones, like the early partnership with one of the pioneering figures who founded punk music in Slovenia, Pero Lovšin, and his Sokoli and Vitezi okrogle mize, to Grega Skočir stepping in as vocalist, which consolidated the lineup, poured even more charisma into it, gave it a clear focus of rock determination and an exceptional posture of self-confidence, and so readied it to conquer the top, to meeting the other good guardian angels, like the brilliant producer Žare Pak and the clairvoyant manager Zdravko Toplek, who sensed enormous potential in Big Foot Mama and predicted things to the band members that the members of Biog Foot Mama themselves didn’t want to believe, yet they happened (a jam-packed Križanke in 1999, and a year later a full Hala Tivoli for the band’s 10th anniversary). Here is the backstory of the reasons behind the split with Miha Guštin, then the deceptiveness of success, whose self-satisfied ride on the back of a giant wave almost brought the band to self-destruction, all the way to a fresh landing on the sacred ground of rock n` roll, which re-affirmed the name Big Foot Mama and enthroned it again as one of the biggest mainstream rock acts in Slovenia.
The documentary brings together career highlights from TV appearances through the nineties and the first decade of the new millennium, where what’s especially fascinating is the guys’ incredible confidence, which no journalistic question, however inappropriate, could knock off the rails. With that kind of confidence there’s no other way than to grow into one of the biggest rock bands in Slovenia. The documentary is free of self-promotion by the band members, of “ego-tripping”. “Stripped, naked and barefoot”, in its pulse of authenticity it takes us straight to the very core, the very heart of the band’s essence, so that the viewer can easily merge with the energy of Big Foot Mama’s character, effortlessly unplug and set off on a journey through the development of the artistry of the rock culture that Big Foot Mama nurtured over those 20 years. “Tist` dan v tednu” is a manifesto that doesn’t force-feed the viewer the stereotype of a falsely manufactured myth of godlike untouchability, which is where many documentaries about rock bands go up in flames. The open ending of the documentary hints that a younger brother will follow it in a number of years, at a similar career milestone.
The documentary, which runs a full two hours, is spiced up with extras like behind-the-scenes snippets and snippets of the concert at Križanke on 14.05.2009, rounded out by a selection of eleven songs (they played 27 in total in the set). On that note, given the high sound quality, the hypnotic chemistry between audience and band on display, and especially its historic value, the question arises of why the Dallas label didn’t decide to release this concert recording in full. Especially as a separate release, alongside the DVD “Tist` dan v tednu”. As a double CD.
Although never as eclectic as Slovenian rockers like (conditional rivals) Siddharta, with their honestly primal rock n` roll attitude, which is just “combed” and tidy enough not to reek too much of hardened alternative types and still not stink enough for those who only care about the status of basking among the stars in the eternal glow of the spotlights, Big Foot Mama have gathered under their wing the majority who are after the simple, succinct and direct message of the genuine energy of rock n` roll. The thing you come for on a Friday night! That’s the “Tist` dan v tednu” we’re all waiting for, so we can escape into its fairy-tale world. And with their defiance Big Foot Mama created their own parallel fairy-tale world of rock n` roll, which they breathe and live to the fullest. The door into it opens for all of us always “Tist` dan v tednu”.
Lineup
Grega Skočir – vocals
Zoran Čalič – guitar
Daniel Gregorič – guitar
Alen Steržaj – bass guitar
Jože Habula – drums
MUSICAL GUESTS:
Neža Buh “Neisha”
Perpetuum Jazzile
Martin Janežič “Buco”
plus:
Miha Guštin “Gušti”
Žare Pak
Pero Lovšin
Production
BFM d.o.o. & Benjamin Produkcija 2010
Track list
– rock documentary film
– bonus concert footage: Križanke 14.05.2009
1. Oklep
2. Brez meja
3. Ona je samo za mene
4. Men se trga
5. Neki sladkega
6. Skrit v sencah
7. Nova pravila
8. Nov dan
9. Črn tulipan
10. Led s severa
11. Važn` da zadane
backstage: Križanke 14.05.2009
music video: Pot iz trnja
interview with the filmmakers
trailer
