Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Urban Bolta
Location: Ljubljana
Interview date: November 28, 2013
A few days ago I made my way to the area near Ljubljana’s Brod, home turf of Tomcat, a Ljubljana / Upper Carniola / Posavje hard rock outfit having a successful year. They dropped their debut »Bits N’ Pieces« (review HERE) and beefed up the lineup with a new guitarist, Greg. As has become their habit, they’ll close out the year this coming weekend with a show at Trainstation Squat in Kranj. In a cozy rehearsal space, partly kitted out with money from album sales, the band talked to Rockline about their past, their plans for the future, and the state of Slovenian (hard) rock in general.
Hey Tomcat, let’s kick off with a totally classic warm-up question: how are you?
Šujo: Now that you’ve brought beer with you, really well! (laughs)
I caught you right after rehearsal. How’s that going — do you rehearse even when there are no gigs coming up?
Šujo: Yeah, otherwise we’d never rehearse at all. (laughs)
Denis: Yeah, we rehearse regularly, once a week. Of course there’s the odd week when we can’t get together, so sometimes we make up for it and meet twice.
Which means you regularly beat the distance too — Greg, you’re from Krško, right?
Greg: Yep, what else can I do?
Šujo: This year he’s the only one who has to commute. Last year Žiga was driving in from Lož, but now the rest of us are scattered around Ljubljana, so Greg’s the only one coming from farther out.
Coming up is your show at Trainstation Squat in Kranj on December 21. Are you planning anything special, can people who’ve seen you plenty of times look forward to something?
Šujo: Definitely! It’ll be a long set, we’ll play a few new originals, we’ve added some new covers too, and we’re cooking up a special surprise, but we’re not spilling it yet.
Žiga: It’ll be different from our shows so far — not just longer, it’ll be something special in general.
Šujo: We’ve actually been playing Kranj in this pre-Christmas slot for a while now, so it’s pretty much a tradition, and it’s always something special — so this time will be too.
Denis: If nothing else, there’s a new wah-wah guitar pedal, because Rok never had one. (laughs)
You released your debut »Bits N’ Pieces« in the spring and promoted it on stages, and now new challenges are ahead. I know you’ve already got plenty of new songs written and you’re working hard — what are your next goals, are you already eyeing a new album?
Denis: In the short term, we’re putting out a single and a video for the song Adrenalin, which we already played live at Orto bar.
Šujo: Adrenalin should come out in a good month or so. It’s been recorded for ages, but for now we’re guarding it carefully. The aim is to release it with the video sometime after New Year’s.
Let’s go back to your album »Bits N’ Pieces«. We know what the scene’s like and that it’s hard to make any big career leap, but still — are you happy with the response and everything the album brought you?
Denis: Yes and no. As for the music itself, we’re totally happy with what we put out there, but the response wasn’t as rosy as we’d expected.
Šujo: We expected a better response above all in the number of gigs. The record itself sold pretty well, and we used the money to set up our rehearsal space, but let’s be honest — there weren’t really any gigs, no decent offers that would at least cover travel costs, not many of those.
Žiga: We don’t have any more money than we did before. We’re still just what we’ve always been… (laughs)
Šujo: Apart from being able to strut around with bigger dicks because we put out a record, nothing has changed at all for us as a band.
Žiga: But experience counts too. We learned how things work, what recording an album means, and everything that comes with releasing one.
Šujo: We figured out that from now on we can walk into the studio a lot more confidently. Now that we’ve recorded a second time, everything went way faster and easier than the first time, when we recorded the album. And there’s one more thing related to the question that I’d like to stress. A huge number of bands here aren’t realistic in one direction or the other. On one side, some play for twenty euros or even less, so they pay their own travel costs, which steals gigs from those of us who value ourselves enough not to play for less than a minimum fee. Lots of promoters only care about getting through the night as cheaply as possible, no matter what’s on stage. On the other side there are bands that value themselves way too much in the other direction and act like stars, which is just as much of a problem. Believe me, our price is so minimal I’m embarrassed to say how much, and even that’s sometimes too much for some promoters. But that’s how it goes — with a fee you tell the promoter you’re serious, so they’ll make an effort too, promote the show properly and give it their all. Because if you drive from Ljubljana to, say, Nova Gorica to play for €30, the sound guy will be wasted or won’t show up at all, backstage there’ll be half a bottle of flat beer, some Eurospin stuff and a pizza left over from the band two weeks ago. Thanks a lot, that attitude makes no sense.
Your guitarist Rok is away studying, so you went looking for a new guitarist. Greg, you joined the band — how did you decide to take that step?
Greg: I’d been looking for a band for a while, simply because I like to jam. There’s no serious band in the same genre in Krško. Every now and then a new band kicks off, we get together for two or three rehearsals, and then all the initial drive vanishes. I kept looking for a serious band, and my better half dug up on Facebook that Tomcat were looking for a guitarist. I told myself, let’s give it a shot, I’ve got nothing to lose.
Then you got together, a rehearsal or two, and you felt the chemistry was right?
Greg: Kind of, yeah. I don’t know what the others felt. (laughs)
Denis: Greg’s arrival was interesting. At first we were all a bit stiff, but over time we clicked. First we had to get used to each other. In the beginning, when we were still rehearsing with two guitars, everything was really loud, and we had to get used to one person playing more, another less, and so on. The sound got full, so we had to start stripping things back, which we weren’t used to before Greg came.
What are the plans for when Rok comes back from his studies — will you keep going as a five-piece?
Šujo: That’s the plan, except that instead of two guitars we’ll also start using other instruments.
So your journey goes on, new people have come in, and the band is evolving. Do you feel you’re evolving creatively too, discovering territory you hadn’t touched on the debut?
Denis: Definitely. One very obvious difference is the language: our whole first record was in English, but the single will be in Slovenian.
Šujo: I think even on Bits N’ Pieces, with the gap between the older and newer songs, you can hear we’re heading in a similar direction. Genre-wise we jumped around a lot, from hard rock to heavy metal and back, but now we’re getting closer and closer to classic hard rock, so I think our next record will be a lot more cohesive. A proper rock record, which doesn’t mean it’ll be any less heavy than the debut.
How do new songs come together?
Denis: The songwriting process is totally spontaneous. Usually a riff shows up and the whole song grows out of it. Sometimes a solo section comes first, or even a vocal line that you start singing — for the first record, for instance, one song came together in half an hour at a single rehearsal. It just happened.
Žiga: Another important factor is that we’re open genre-wise. We all play in other bands too, so everybody adds their own pebble to the shared mosaic. I play with Alex Volasko, for example, and jam with the band 501 just for the soul of it, while Denis plays Yugo classics with another band. When I joined Tomcat, most of the first record was already written, mostly by Šujo and Rok, but now we make new material more and more as a group, everyone tries to add some idea of their own to the whole.
Šujo: Greg has now put his first songwriting touches into the songs too, so no doubt about it, we’re growing and moving forward.
One more slightly silly question… tell me, as band members, do you notice a difference in how girls approach you?
Denis: Should we put in that we’re all taken anyway? (laughs)
Šujo: Most of us are in monogamous relationships… (laughs) I think there actually is a difference.. if you’re in a band, even an ugly guy can land a hot woman, I’m living proof. (laughs)
Žiga: Although, however you spin it, there are more guys than girls among our listeners, so nobody should get any illusions.. (laughs)
You formed as a band in 2009. Looking back on these four years, can you pick out a few highlights, besides releasing the debut of course, which is a career milestone for any young band?
Šujo: Yeah, we’ve officially existed since 2009, but Tomcat as you know us has really only been going since 2011. The first lineup has nothing to do with today’s band — I’m the only one left from back then. That formation was set up differently anyway, then it all sank, and in the summer of 2011 things started getting back on their feet more seriously. Quite a few people supported us and helped us, so before the end of the year we already had a premiere show at Orto bar with several guests, and back then Anžek (now Retro Kult) was still singing with us.
Žiga: Are you maybe talking about 2010? Because I joined the band in 2012…
Šujo: Yeah, you’re right, we’re talking about 2010. That’s when the first songs started coming together too.
Denis: As for the highlights part of the question, I think there’ve been quite a few. One was playing Metalcamp, where we had a blast. We also opened for Lizzy Borden and L.A. Guns. Especially from the latter show at Sputnik in Vič, what stuck in our memory was the catering, which was truly top-notch.
Šujo: Well, that’s the real state of Slovenian rock — if you get fed as a performer, you’re already thrilled. (laughs)
Denis: And the gig in Buje, that was unforgettable too. An »all you can drink« scene, believe me, we had a blast.
Šujo: We also can’t forget Vodice. So there’ve been quite a few good gigs and the album release, but if I had to pick just one thing, it’d be that show with L.A. Guns.
Denis: No, you know what the highlight was? When two babes stole Rok’s shirt, obviously hoping for more intimate contact with him. We expect them to return the shirt, so if you two happen to be reading this, you know what to do. Give the shirt back! (laughs)
To finish, one more classic question: your last words for our readers, or your listeners — that final message?
Šujo: Come to our jam on December 21 in Kranj. We’ll be playing with Contra Verse, a great hard rock band from Graz, Austria, who already played the Lipstikk N’Leathür festival in Medvode. The entry fee will be so steep that hardly anyone will be able to afford it…(laughs) So come on down!
Šujo: And we’d also like to take this chance to thank our label On Parole, who put out our record and took good care of us back then. Bands that are worth anything, go to Čop, and he’ll tell you if you’re worth anything. (laughs) Seriously though, thanks On Parole!
Interview and photos 1 – 4: Urban Bolta
Photo 5: Aleš Podbrežnik
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