среда, 30. октобар 2013.

AUX sessions - some comments 5 years later




For fans of Consecration:

It's been 5+ years since we released Aux and I just found these additional comments to the songs I wrote some time ago. Since our fourth album Univerzum zna should be out in a couple of days, I found these rants rather amusing to share. So, here you go...

(Since this blog won't allow me to post Youtube links for the songs for some reason, every song name is a link to the actual song on Youtube)




Aimless wasn't originally intended to be the album opener. The initial idea was to have the two of the oldest tracks, Absinthe and Emocean to open the album, then Rinasek, Passage and Cliffhangers following them. Aimless was intended to be some kind of the opener of the second chapter of Aux, like a B1 of a LP record or cassette. But, as soon as I realized that nine songs might be a bit too much for a debut album, I decided to cut down two of the songs and put Aimless as the album opener instead.

Musically wise, Aimless was pretty much Opeth influenced from the get-go. I remember the night I created the main riff, I was in the kitchen playing my classical guitar. I always liked the nines, the kind of chords one could hear in the main riff. That's a kind of chord you could hear in The Police's Message in a bottle. Or Katatonia's Rainroom, for that matter. As the main riff progressed, all the other riffs came naturally following it, right there on the spot... In the kitchen. I remember I wanted to end the song in D, because at that time I wanted Berček to be the next song on the album, and Berček was all the way in D. It's probably the fascination I always had with Tiamat's Wildhoney and the way all the songs on that album just blended one into another. Anyway, the track order changed on a friend's suggestion, and that was Nikola Vranjković of Block Out, that suggested I should put Aimless first. I still remember his joy upon hearing Aimless for the first time, he loved it. He loved the mid-part with the atmosphere and the acoustic guitar, and I think I liked that part best too. He was all like «This is your Isis part!» The synth part that I played during that mid-part resembled the Isis atmosphere mostly, I guess.

The lyric of the song was made out of this period of time I had the same dream over and over again. I think it was either that or that I just couldn't dream of anything at all. Dreams are important to me, and they sometimes seem aimless – while you are dreaming you never know what comes next – and I kind of wished to have some dream or goal or aim, or even a nightmare, that would freak me out and make me afraid to fall sleep again... Wes Craven style.



Rinasek is a Serbian drug for cold. It has a symbol of a small triangle on the package, which means it's a psychoactive one, and it was also the one you wouldn't need perscription for. Me and Nemanja, our ex-keyboard player, had a period when we experimented with alcohol and weed and after a while we got into this Rinasek thing, although I can't remember who brought it first. I wouldn't recommend to anyone mixing these kind of pills with alcohol cause it's giving really bad trips and unpleasant downers – it could be even lethal if you're not careful enough. This one time we drank like a bottle of red wine and about dozen of rinasek's each and we had this slumbery kind of state of mind for hours. Like falling asleep for a long time, not knowing if you are awake at all, though you are still conscious about everything around you. I remember we listened to Autechre's Incunabula on through the night, especially the song 444 on repeat.

The vocoder part in the song came naturally – Mogwai were using those on Hunted by a freak, Anathema on Closer. Both of those songs were pretty much new at the time – they were both released in late 2003 and we made Rinasek in early 2005. We also caught the band Trans Am playing some gig in Belgrade and they had lots of vocoders throughout their set as well. It was so hard to get a vocoder at the time. Nemanja had a Korg MS-2000 synth which had a vocoder built in it, so it was handy that we could use that one. Nowadays it is much easier with Electro Harmonix making Voice Box pedals and similar stuff which is available to get anywhere... During mid-2000's those kind of stuff was still really hard to get, unless the pedals were old and boutique.

The guitar melody was something I wanted to capture off Katatonia's Tonight's decision, a bleak clean hypnotic chord sliding down on the guitar fret and gliding up again, making a mesmerizing loop. I'm glad the fans loved Rinasek most out of all Aux songs, cause Rinasek was the easiest song we made so far. It was also the song that was made last, in early 2005, and the hint of things to come in the future. And the lyric? I just wrote it down from the paper sheet that came with the drug.



Passage was one of the earliest Consecration songs. I wanted to get the atmosphere of old Tiamat I grew up on. I always liked how the ending of the song turned out – it's one of my favorite spots on the album, with those reversed delay effects, acoustic guitar, lead guitar melody and backing vocals blended altogether. The lyric itself was about reincarnation and the thoughts of afterlife, which was very Tiamat-ish too, I guess. The original lyric sheet was much longer but I had to cut it down, so that the song wouldn't turn out too long otherwise. I remember we recorded this track pretty fast in the studio, as it was one the few ones Lazar knew already – he joined the band playing bass only a week or two before the September of 2005, when Aux recordings took place.

I also added the (aux) thing to the song title, cause I felt Passage was the most representative song for Consecration at the time and the album too. It blended the Consecration's doomy beginnings with the other dynamic stuff going on in the song. I also liked the word aux cause a) it was unusual word for an album b) I was just getting interested in mixdowns and mixing consoles and aux was my favorite new thing, as all of my favorite effects, reverbs and delays, had to go through the aux patches.



This one was a more personal, written for a friend. Although Cliffhangers might sound like Anathema's or Katatonia's song, I have to admit I was much inspired by Slowdive and their Just for a day debut album. This song was recorded only by Yeqy and myself entirely, as the song had many chord changes to remember. Lazar didn't have time to learn them all and Nemanja just couldn't, so I played both bass and synth parts. Actually, I think Leš (the former bass player) had issues remembering the chords as well -  I have flashbacks of him having all the chords written on paper and reading them while playing during rehearsals. E-bow parts in the song were played in one take, on the spot, therefore some mistakes were left on purpose. I think the bass that I played on Cliffhangers was some kind of Squier bass I borrowed from my girlfriend's little brother. I think I chose Squier instead of Lazar's Washburn cause Squier had a bit more of that rounder tone the song needed.

The lyric was introspective as usual, a kind of confessional one, and I think the lyrics as we grow older / the cliff is getting higher / the forest growing colder / but our spirits brighter were few of the better ones I've written.



This one was the oldest song on the album, recorded back in April 2004. I remember the day before the studio sessions took place, it was Friday when we went to our friend's birthday at her place. All the three of us, Yeqy, Leš (the former bass player) and myself were there, bunch of other friends as well, and we got really smashed. Yeqy slept over at her place as we were supposed to meet at 9AM the next day for the studio, and I guess we were partying until 4 or 5 in the morning. It was only 3AM when I found a bottle of blueberry Finlandia in the freezer… Next thing I remember, it’s 9AM and we were supposed to meet at one of the bus stops and as Leš and as I were getting closer, we saw Yeqy sitting on his drumchair in the middle of the street, talking on a payphone pretty much loud with someone, while still high on whatever spirits he got last night, all smiling in joy. Excellent way to start a recording day we all thought. And actually, the recordings went pretty well. We recorded both Absinthe and Emocean (originally entitled Absinthe Thoughts and eMotion) in two days.

Absinthe was one of our rare tracks that were in dropped C. I suppose that was because of Katatonia's Viva emptiness, I was into it a lot at the time and it had the same tuning. The lyric itself was inspired by Sigur Rós and their own invented hopelandic language. During the rehearsal I sang gibberish, some words and vowels I liked and then I made actual words out of it later, the words I found appropriate to the song, while I was listening to the tape of recorded rehearsal. Funny way, eh? I think I found out later that Mike Patton used to do the same thing for some Mr. Bungle records.



Probably the oldest Consecration song to date, if we’re not counting some demos that were made under The Lack of Motivation moniker. The doom metal influences, especially from the band Saturnus, were pretty much evident here. Leš was so happy for this song that he even contributed with his own growls during the last chorus. I liked the atmosphere the three of us created, especially during the verse – there was no synth played in this song, the guitars were made to sound like a synth and I toyed a lot with the RV3 delay/reverb pedal, the first pedal I ever got... And you thought metalheads got their distortion pedals first? A good friend of mine, Stevie, mentioned that the solo reminded him of In the Woods' Omnio and that was a nice compliment, as we all loved the warmness Omnio had plenty of.

If Consecration didn't have so many line-up changes during the very first days, and if we had the chance to develop and record more songs at certain period of time, I guess there would be more songs in the vein of Emocean and Passage (aux), even a whole album in that older doomish style. But we always wanted to progress, try different things and approaches and we just couldn't settle with one style for too long.



This one was an instrumental. It reminded a lot of people of Pink Floyd because of the vibe and people loved hearing it live. If you ask me though, the first and the main chord always reminded me of Def Leppard’s Hysteria ballad. Berček was also important for us in a way of starting improvising more and more, since we never quite played this song in the same way twice.

The name of the song we got not from the famous Serbian actor Aleksandar Berček but his son Nikola; he was playing with Yeqy in an alternative rock band called Trenje at the time and we shared the same rehearsal space for some time. I think I met him in a music store one day. I was buying me a wah pedal and he was getting a hollowbody guitar or something. That was the same day we created the song and we didn't have a name for it, so... It just occured to me, yeah, let's name the song after him. We always liked to toy with unusual song titles and Berček was no exception.



This one was another ballad in Anathema kind of way. Or Metallica, Fade to black or Welcome home style, with those suspended E minor chords, with F# and G tones clashing within. Shelter me could be the closest piece we ever got to the goth thing in Consecration, with pathos present in the lyrics too. Although we liked to hang out in the goth clubs and events a lot at that time, and even though our first gig we did on our own was in June 2002 in KST on a goth night, I wasn't so sure if I wanted those goth chicks and weird vampire wannabe freaks to be our main audience. Anyway, the chicks loved this song and every now and then somebody brings up the question if we would play Shelter me ever again on some shows. Well, you can't please everybody. But maybe we will play it again, who knows?

I played bass on this track as well, and I remember Yeqy was standing by as I played and he was telling me about the drum kick accents while I was playing. He would guide me what would come next. Not sure if I hit all the time signatures well... Good times. The lyric was personal too, as it was written for someone that meant pretty much to me at the time. I left the I fucking hate you part from the lyric sheet intentionally – it just felt too much and the line I'm so hollow inside felt more approproate reflecting the same sentence, as hate is a rather hollow feeling after all – love is the only thing that truly matters.



Along with Rinasek, one of the most recent songs concerning Aux sessions. This was much Neurosis influenced, as I just started to discover them during 2003 with Times of grace and A sun that never sets. We concentrated more on the dynamics here and the quiet/loud parts. This song also made us think about downtuning more – when we tuned guitars all the way down to B eventually, Mercury room was one of the songs that got a better impact. Plus the new tuning was more convenient for Lazar, as he was playing a 5-string bass and didn't have to change his tuning to D anymore during every rehearsal.

After the recordings in VETŠ, I got in touch with Marko Jovanović from the Underground studio, as I was looking for a person who would mix the record. Mercury Room was the first track I gave him for making a preliminary mixdown, to see if he would be up to it. Mercury room was our most extreme track so far and I knew if he could handle it, his job with other songs would only be easier from that point on. Oh the horror he felt with Mercury… Fortunately his moods got better upon hearing Rinasek and all the other friendlier tracks.

As for the live sets, it was really intense playing Mercury room every time, especially the ending riff. It was so physical, something we started to learn from Neurosis, Isis, Godflesh and such bands – the sheer force of a loud riff and the undeniable presence of it. The newfound love for the B tuning only led to some new stuff that would become Aligator and .avi in the near future.


WHERE 65 & 41 MEET

This was played right on the spot in the studio during the recording sessions in VETŠ. I always loved acoustic guitar – I played classical guitar for seven or eight years straight before I started learning to play electric guitar and got my own in August of 2000. Where 65 & 41 meet was fully improvised and that's why there are a few slips here and there.

The song title came out of a meeting place with the girfriend I was dating at the time – there was only one station downtown where those two buses met and I liked the reference. There were also two guitars playing in the song, as a sort of dialogue between them, as they were sometimes playing the same thing and sometimes playing different notes. I decided to put it as a hidden track on the album, to give the Aux a bit of a hopeful, shiny ending note, after the rather apocalyptic Mercury room. The word 'ajde (come on) I said at the beginning of the song was funny because I said it during the recording of the first track and the quiet chuckle that can be heard right after that, it was coming from the second track recorded afterwards while I was dubbing the second guitar and waited for the playback to start. So the chuckle was my reaction on my own voice telling me come on. It's a stupid little thing but I loved it...

You can listen to or buy Aux in its entirety here - http://consecration.bandcamp.com/album/aux

Thank you for reading & listening

Danilo

среда, 11. септембар 2013.

Najlepši dan u mom životu ili dan kada sam dobio svoju prvu električnu gitaru


(Epiphone Slash Snakepit Les Paul Signature)



Bio je četvrtak, 24. avgust 2000. Dan koji nikada neću zaboraviti.

Imao sam 17 godina i bio sam na letnjem raspustu pred polazak u treći gimnazije. Išao sam u gimnaziju "Sveti Sava", najviše zbog toga što mi je bila na dva minuta od kuće i tako sam mogao da se budim pola sata pred školu. Nikad nisam bio jutarnja osoba i tih pola sata razlike u spavanju su mi uvek pravili bitnu razliku. Još jedan razlog zbog koga sam se odlučio za tu školu je to što mi je stariji burazer išao u tu istu školu nekoliko godina pre mene, pa sam unapred stekao kakav takav uvid u stanje sa profesorima, kakav je ko i koga treba izbegavati (išao sam na društveni smer fala Bogu, pa sam izbegao ozloglašenog Voju Vinjaka iz matiša).

Tokom letnjih raspusta tih devedesetih sam uglavnom išao sa matorcima u Grčku. Pre toga se familijarno išlo u Hrvatsku, u Poreč ili Rovinj, ali je početkom devedestih zbog rata to bilo nemoguće. Tih ranih letovanja se sećam nešto malo jer sam bio baš mali, ali sećam se Zelene i Plave Lagune u Poreču i uglavnom odatle nosim neka lepa sećanja. Grčka, s druge strane, ima najlepše more, to odgovorno tvrdim. Imali smo neke prijatelje dole u Solunu, gde se povremeno odlazilo u šoping. U Solunu sam uglavnom kupovao diskove svojiih omiljenih bendova, a na more se išlo uglavnom u jedno mesto tridesetak kilometara udaljeno od Soluna, koje se zove Agia Triada. Kako sam tada već bio u poodmaklim tinejdžerskim godinama, već sam bio malo namrgođen zbog ideje da idem sa svojim matorcima na more (umesto sa svojim društvom na primer), ali ovog puta (i bio je to poslednji put da idem sa njima, obećao sam sebi) imao sam dobar razlog - postojale su velike šanse da dole kupim svoju prvu električnu gitaru.

Sećam se da je u Solunu ta muzička prodavnica u kojoj smo bili bila ogromna. Nisam do tada video ništa takvo. Kao dete koje ulazi u prodavnicu slatkiša, nisam znao na koju će pogled pre stranu da poleti. Radnja je imala nekoliko spratova i sećam se da su gitare bile na prvom.

Uvek sam voleo Gibson gitare. Les Paul je imao nekako najbolji zvuk i najbolje je izgledala. Samo, sa njima je postojao jedan mali problem - te gitare su bile užasno skupe. No, ja sam znao da su postojale i Epiphone gitare, koje su bila jeftinija varijanta Gibson gitara... Nešto kao Gibson za siromašne. Kako sam znao da moji neće moći da mi priušte pravog Gibsona, u radnji sam tražio da probam Epifona.

Probao sam bio nekog Epifona, sećam se da su ih imali par komada i sve su bile u nekim čudnim bojama. Probao sam bio narandžastu, pa onda zatim i zelenu, ali nešto mi se nije dopadalo kod njih. Nešto mi nije bilo to to, a nije bila samo boja u pitanju. Nekako su mi u rukama delovale suviše mrtvo. Pitao sam ih da li imaju možda još nekog Epifona, a onda su mi pokazali nju.


Epiphone Slash Snakepit Les Paul Signature.

Zastao sam na trenutak i sećam se da sam se nasmešio kad sam je ugledao. Prva stvar koju sam pomislio bila je Hmmm, izgleda pomalo kičasto sa tom zmijom, ali hajde baš da je probam kako zvuči. Voleo sam Sleša i on mi je možda prvi gitarista u životu koga sam zavoleo. U mojoj kući su se voleli Gunsi i puno se slušao Appetite For Destruction kada se pojavio, ubrzo zatim i G N' R Lies. Keva je obožavala Patience i Sweet Child O' Mine i sećam se kada su izašli Use Your Illusion albumi, keva je insistirala da ih ona kupi, preko svoje prijateljice koja je radila kao stjuardesa i donela kasete iz Amerike čim su albumi izašli. U to vreme je bio izašao i Terminator 2: The Judgment Day za koju su Gunsi snimili You Could Be Mine i to je za mene bilo sjajno. T2 je možda moj omiljeni film svih vremena (prvi film koji sam gledao u bioskopu), a i ta pesma nije mogla da bude bolja za Gunse u to vreme.

Kada su mi dali gitaru u ruke, malo sam je svirnuo i pre nego što su je uključili u pojačalo i osetio sam da je pod rukom mnogo bolja od one dve koje sam probao malopre. Bio sam verovatno premlad da bih shvatio šta znači kvalitetnija izrada, ali sve u vezi sa tom gitarom je bilo mnogo bliže onome što sam imao u glavi kada sam zamišljao kako treba da zvuči gitara koja mi se dopada i koju sam želeo. Slešova gitara je bila mnogo svirljivija, imala je bolji zvuk, više je pevala, a prsti su mi naprosto leteli na sve strane. Svaki rif koji mi je pao na pamet svirao sam sa lakoćom i zvučao je do jaja, čak i na tom nekom malom pojačalcetu u koje su me uključili.

Sećam se da sam tražio i da mi donesu neki procesor. Pitali su me kakav procesor tačno želim, jer su ih u radnji imali razne, od onih koji koštaju od nekoliko stotina, do par hiljada maraka (tada su nemačke marke još uvek bile u opticaju, a u Grčkoj drahme). Tip je doneo neki mali Korg procesor, AX1G, i pokazivao mi neke presete. Sećam se da sam svašta svirao, u zavisnosti od toga da li je on uključivao čisti zvuk, ili menjao distorzije. U to vreme nisam imao nikakvo iskustvo sa gitarama, ali znam da nisam hteo gitaru da kupujem u Srbiji. Nije bilo načina da se kupi dobar instrument  kod nas i znam da sam izričito hteo da kupim gitaru novu novcijatu. Imao sam osećaj da je ovaj Sleš sjajan za cenu za koju se nudi (mislim da je bio negde oko 1500 nemačkih maraka). Nije bilo šanse da dobijem Gibsona, ali mislio sam da mogu da iskukam jedan Epifon.

Sa nama u radnji je bio i naš prijatelj, polu-Srbin, polu-Makedonac, koji se zvao Christos i koga smo od milja zvali Rista. On je super pričao srpski i grčki, jer je bio oženjen Grkinjom. Rista je tog dana bio moj heroj, jer je moj ćale oklevao sa gitarom videvši koliko je skupa, a Rista, videvši koliko sam navalio i koliko sam se zaljubio u tu gitaru, nagovorio je mog ćaleta da mi gitaru i kupi. Obradio je ćaleta da uzmemo i onaj mali Korg procesor, koji smo dobili sve zajedno sa popustom za nekih 1300 maraka, ako me sećanje dobro služi. Risti sam zahvalan do dana današnjeg.

To je sigurno bio najbolji dan u mom životu, ikada. Kada smo se vratili u Agia Triadu u hotel, svirao sam je po ceo dan. Svirao sam na njoj svega čega sam mogao da se setim u tom trenutku. Bio sam potpuno očaran i zaljubljen.







Kada sam sledeće godine počeo da sviram sa Amaranth i Consecration, igrao sam se dosta sa zvukovima iz tog Korgića. Imao je neke dobre opcije i naučio sam uz njega po kom se redu pravilno slažu efekti. Wah efekat nije bio nešto, ali su distorzije bile okej, i dilej (koji će uskoro postati moj omiljeni efekat) je imao jednu kul opciju koja se zvala hold i koja je mogla da snimi parče nečega što sviraš i onda možeš da sviraš nešto potpuno novo preko toga, kao neki mali loop.

Kada sam počeo da sviram drugu gitaru u Consecrationu, preštimovao sam gitaru u D štim. Bendovi kao što su Paradise Lost i Sentenced, koje smo tada kao bend dosta slušali, bili su u tom istom štimu, pa nam je bilo tako lakše da skinemo njihove pesme. D štim je takođe zvučao malo basovitije i dublje od običnog E štima, i takođe mi je bilo mnogo lakše da pevam u spuštenom štimu.

Kada sam snimao Amaranth pre toga, sećam se da sam želeo da snimam u dva štima, u C# i običnom E i da ih kombinujem, ali mi debljina žica to nije dozvoljavala. Ja sam na gitari tada imao devetke. Onda mi je Nikola Vranjković, tadašnji uzor i snimatelj/producent, rekao da je bolje da se stave deblje žice za spuštene štimove. Poslušao sam ga i odlučio da stavim jedanaestice i sećam se da sam celu noć proveo kod ortaka Milana Babića, sa njegovim starijim burazerom Mišom ustvari, koji je dobro svirao iako nije imao nijedan bend. Milan je bio ortak bubnjar koji je bio uzor našem bubnjaru Jekiju i dosta mu je pomagao, što oko opreme, što oko tehnike. Milanov buraz Miša je znao dosta o gitarama i hteo je da mi pomogne da to sve namestimo. Zbog debljih žica smo morali da podižemo akciju na gitari, okrećemo šipku u vratu, pa onda da ponovo toniramo gitaru, da podižemo magnete da budu na istoj razdaljini od žica kao što su bili kad su bile devetke pre toga... To je mukotrpan posao i sve zajedno je bila jedna od onih nezaboravnih noći koje nikako da se završe. Ali, vredelo je i krajnji rezultat je bio sjajan. To je bio prvi put da sam nešto prčkao po svojoj gitari i osećaj je bio sjajan. Malo se uplašiš, jer petljaš sa nečim što toliko voliš i od čega zavisiš i gledaš da nešto ne zasereš, ali posle svega toga se osećaš nekako kao da je gitara još više tvoja. Zbližio sam na neku foru sa njom još više. Sećam se da mi je negde oko 3 ujutru od umora ispao šrafciger iz ruke, pao pravo na gitaru i ogulio lak... Miša je ugledao moju užasnutu facu, nasmejao se i izgovorio Matori, dešava se... Šta da ti kažem, navikavaj se! Pre električne gitare sam osam (da, osam) godina svirao Yamaha CG180SA klasičnu gitaru sa najlonskim žicama i tako sam se i navikao na deblje žice i veću tenziju i akciju, tako da sam, stavljajući jedanaestice na Sleša, imao nekako stabilniji ton i u isto vreme sam se osećao fleksibilnije dok sam svirao.

Sleša sam svirao godinama i nikada me nije izneverio, ni na jednoj probi ili svirci. Počeo sam da gradim i dobijam neki svoj zvuk na toj gitari. Bio je avgust ili septembar 2005. kada je Lazar došao u bend da svira bas gitaru sa svojim petožičanim basom i, da ne bismo komplikovali mnogo sa štimovima svaku probu, odlučio sam da spustim štim još više na gitari, na B i drop A. Tada je gitara tek počela da jebe kevu kako zvuči. Tada sam otkrio Dean Markley Blue Steel žice i stavio sam bio dvanaestice na gitaru. Ovog puta akcija nije morala da se menja - nove žice jesu bile malo deblje od prethodnih jedanaestica, ali se štim spustio niže i malo se akcija olabavila, tako da je to kompenzovalo jedno drugo. Takođe su jedanaestice počele da me umaraju, jer su u D štimu počele da mi budu pretvrde. Kako sam počinjao da učim, mislio sam da je, kao na akustari, sva dinamika u desnoj ruci i da će gitara zvučati jače i bolje ako budem udarao desnom rukom kao lud. Ustvari (posle mnogo pokidanih žica), kasnije sam provalio da snaga električne gitare dolazi iz pojačala, i načinom na koji leva i desna ruka kontrolišu tu snagu. Sa B štimom su i stare pesme počele da zvuče mnogo bolje, a sama gitara monstruozno dobro. (Inače, u srpskom je to H štim, a nikad mi nije bilo jasno zbog čega jedino mi Srbi za B štim kažemo da je H... Mi ustvari sniženo H zovemo B, a možda bi zbrku napravilo to što bi se onda sniženo B kod nas zvalo Bes.)

Postoji i jedna smešna priča vezana za žice, zato ih toliko pominjem. Kada sam prvi put stavio dvanaestice na gitaru, snimali smo bili Aux album. Tada je bilo veoma teško naći te žice bilo gde u Beogradu, jer su svi gitaristi uglavom svirali devetke, možda poneko desetke. To je bilo baš frustrirajuće, da ne možeš u svom gradu ni žice drugačije da kupiš. Sećam se da je jedan ortak, Damjan koji je svirao tada sa Jekijem u Trenju, bio išao u Ameriku na nekoliko dana, i zamolio sam ga bio da mi dovuče par tih Dean Markley kompleta odande. I dofurao ih je, jedina fora je bila - a tad ja to još uvek nisam znao - što mi je on bio doneo dvanaestice, ali za akustaru a ne za električnu gitaru. Na paketu to nigde nije bilo naznačeno, pisalo je samo Dean Markley Alchemy i debljina 12-54 i to je to. Stavio sam žice i gitara je dobila odjednom neki suludi sound. Sećam se, kada sam doneo gitaru sa tim novim žicama na prvu probu, Jeki je bio ustao sa svog bubnjarskog mesta sav oduševljen i viknuo, Brate, gitara ti zvuči kao klavir! Mislim da sam zadržao te žice i za snimanje Auxa, tako da su sve gitare na prvom Consecration albumu snimljene na žicama za akustaru na električnoj gitari. Zbog toga su žice verovatno rezonirale kao lude i ceo zvuk je dobio taj neki super gotivan punchy zvuk.


(na svirci sa Block Out u Velikoj Sali SKC 19.10.2007. kada su Consecration zatvorili koncert svirajući posle Blokeja. fotografija: Aleksandar Zec)

Novi B štim je dodao još baseva gitari i provalio sam da je Sleš najbolje zvučao kada se svič stavi na oba magneta zajedno (rhythm & treble). Puno basa i sustaina koliko 'oćeš. Tada sam prvi put počeo da tražim pojačalo koje bi mi najviše odgovaralo, neko koje bi imalo odličnu distorziju, ali isto tako i lep, čist clean zvuk.

Sve pesme na Aux i .avi albumima sam smislio i napravio na Sleš gitari. Otkako smo se spustili u B štim, Aligator i .avi su nam došli jako brzo na probama, maltene sami od sebe. Na Aux albumu je sve snimljeno na Slešu, a do snimanja .avija ja sam već bio nabavio i svoj prvi Gibson Les Paul. Na tom snimanju sam koristio ponegde i Sleša, mislim da je to bio baš Idiot Glee - hteo sam da pesma i dalje ima taj sludgy zvuk što je više moguće.


(SKC Livingroom, 15.12.2007. fotografija: Aleksandar Zec)

Svaka muzička prodavnica u koju sam bio odneo Sleša iz ovog ili onog razloga, sećam se da je svaki prodavac bio u fazonu da je gitara odlična i sjajan komad. Jedan tip, koji je radio u Mega Music prodavnici, je bio toliko oduševljen gitarom, da me je čak cimao da mu je prodam. Da sve bude još zabavnije, čak i isti oni likovi iz radnje u Solunu gde je gitara bila kupljena, kada su moji matorci išli ponovo dole par godina kasnije samoinicijativno, ja se sećam da sam ih pitao ako mogu da svrate tamo da mi provere koliko bi koštalo jedno Peavey 5150 pojačalo (to je bilo dok još uvek nisam znao za Laney GH100L), a oni kad su videli moje matorce, setili su se cele priče oko gitare i pitali moju kevu da li bi im ja tu gitaru prodao nazad. Naravno da sam odbio. Prodavanje Sleša jednostavno ne dolazi u obzir. To je moja prva gitara, uvek će biti, i jednostavno me mnogo toga lepog veže za nju. U krajnjoj liniji, osamdeset posto svega što danas znam dugujem toj gitari.

Danas uvek nosim Sleša sa sobom na svirke kao rezervnu gitaru. Ako mi na Gibsonu pukne žica, lakše mi je da uzmem rezervnu gitaru, nego da menjam žicu nasred koncerta dok publika čeka. A bolje rezervne gitare od Sleša nema, jer me nijednom nije izdala.



(SKC Livingroom, 15.12.2007. iza mene sa kapom stoji Lazar u svojoj uobičajenoj pozi. fotografija: Aleksandar Zec)


(17.07.2007. SKC Livingroom, fotografija: Relja Ilić)


(maj ili jun 2008, izložba fotografija na kojoj se našla i jedna koju je fotkao Aleksandar Zec. ovu fotku napravio Aca Todor Todorović)

Svega ovoga naravno ne bi bilo da nije bilo samog Sleša glavom (cilindrom) i bradom. Pre neki dan sam pročitao njegovu autobiografiju i i dalje sam pod ogromnim utiskom. Sleš je verovatno posle svih ovih godina moj omiljeni gitarista, prvi koga sam zapamtio kada sam počeo da slušam metal i rok... Njegov stil i fazon, boju zvuka bih prepoznao da me probudiš u pola noći. Drago mi je što je Sleša za sviranje uvek navodio isti osećaj kao i mene i što, jednostavno i iskreno, od sviranja bolji osećaj ne postoji.

Hvala Slešu što je lik kakav jeste, i mojim roditeljima na nesebičnoj podršci kada je trebalo - bez njih sigurno ne bih dogurao (kreativno a i drugačije) do danas ovde gde sam sad.



(Sleš sa svojim modelom gitare, a levo je njegov nerazdvojni drug i basista Duff McKagan)