Listening to the debut album from Suzi soprano, it’s easy to imagine that there’s a revolution underway in Slovenia. Not a violent revolution, but a peaceful revolution, where new ideas are ushered in with guitars, passion and imagination.
I spoke via email with guitarist and lyricist Enej Mavsar about the band’s origins and concepts, and about the interesting choice to use the Slovenian language for the band’s lyrics. He explains:
“The Slovenian language seemed more appealing, interesting, more direct and more fair, to me. On the other hand it is still our mother language. No commercial impediment, but it would be great to reach as many people possible.”
[pullquote]“The Slovenian language seemed more appealing, interesting, more direct and more fair, to me. On other hand it is still our mother language. No commercial impediment, but it would be great to reach as many people possible.” Enej Mavsar of Suzi Soprano[/pullquote]
Mavsar, who is also the vocalist from the electro-punk band Karmakoma, makes an unique contribution to the band’s catchy, aggressive sound, by running his Fender Squier Strat through both a guitar amp and a bass amp. The resulting tones are complex and add much to the bright post punk sound of Suzi Soprano, and their just-released seven track album, Prividi. “I run everything thru a guitar amp and a bass amp, adding some tricks that I will keep a secret now,” he writes. “But I have still much work to do to reach the sound I have in my head for this project. Maybe with the next record in the near future.” Mavsar also contributes backing vocals.
And while vocalist Matic Koritnik sings in his native Slovenian, the tune’s messages are somewhat universal– and besides, music is the universal language, after all. And true to the punk spirit, the lyrics are all about having fun, while providing constructive criticisms of society as well.
“The lyrics are mainly reflections and jokes on topics like alcohol, society, special events, control, religion, hallucinations (this is also the title),” Mavsar explains. “I love sarcasm and cynicism and there is a lot of this inside, a lot of repeated text inspired by the great Disciplin A Kitchme (a Serbian band).”
Drummer Uroš Kovač completes the trio; his controlled beats provide the rhythmic backbone of a band that has been well received around town. Mavsar explains: “We are definitely a live band and we do it just to play shows. We never play on stage, we always perform direct, in front of people, no big PA systems, not much mixing and stuff. just pure raw fun. We have been very well received on almost all occasions, especially in smaller venues where our energy comes out to the fullest.”
Like many punk classics, the album was recorded quickly. “We recorded everything basically in 2 days, one more day for vocals,” writes Mavsar. “Everything live in a small concert hall in our hometown with a friend and great sound engineer Jure Vlahovič. We set everything and just hit it.”
Check out the video below to get a taste of this band’s unique sound.
This goes to show what a few friends can achieve by practicing their instruments and getting together to make some noise. “Me and the drummer have been playing together in a band called theLIFT years back,” Mavsar writes.”I wanted to do something heavy, loud and raw now, totally opposite from Karmakoma. Matic (also the singer of hardcore punk band Growing Rats) joined in and Suzi soprano was born.”
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