Music Thursday - Fjodor

It is Thursday again so the time has come to reveal my absolute number one of Croatian rock bands to notice and adore and it is Fjodor.

As some of you maybe remember I watched these guys play before Zechs Marquise and I was flebbergasted with their mad skillz and gregarious delivery. At that time new album was in the works and there was to be a gig celebrating its release next Saturday so I contacted guys to ask them a few questions and they agreed to speak to me. Aljoša kindly took the center stage in representing the band.

DF: According to various sources available online Fjodor as a band exists from 2005. or 2006. and lineup was changed quite a few times - solve a mystery for us; how did it go down?

Aljoša: Band was formed in 2006. and there were a few changes to the lineup and our SoundCloud page gives a thorough explanation so you can check it up there.

DF: So, as Fjodor you have released three (going on four) albums: I (2008.), Riding through Black Hole (2011.), St.Anthony's Fire (2012.) how come none of them are available for online purchase? How do you distribute your materials?

Aljoša: Well,.. with first two albums (I and Riding Through The Black Hole) being 100% DIY we did not have much of a distribution, except concerts and a few web-shop enthusiasts. At this moment albums can be bought only by directly contacting the band and they are available in two versions - CD or USB stick (4gb). Of course, that only goes for first two albums; St. Anthony's Fire is currently in mastering and it will in April or May be released to CD and vinyl.When that comes all three will hopefully be available online by worldwide distributors and also at our enthusiast friends I already mentioned.

DF: And your fourth release?

Aljoša: About fourth album... I would not like to go into details, it still being "in the shop". There is still some recording to be done, and then mixing, mastering, ... so you can really expect it around 2014. if we don't win the lottery in the meantime. [laughs] Of course we're not buying lottery tickets.

DF: You played abroad a lot - how do you pick where to play? Audience?

Aljoša: Fjodor has been touring regularly since 2008. both through Balkan area and later Scandinavia.We're not solely oriented to a particular audience group but on past few tours it turned out that stoner/psy audience could be closest to our repertoire, I guess.

DF: If online materials, reviews and gig-reports are to be believed you look firmly oriented to stoner-psychedelic audience, but I'm actually convinced that your sound and energy has to be served to a broader listener base. How do you see that?

Aljoša: I believe you are right and I do think Fjodor sound has a broader reach. I am sure other subcultures also contain more than a few of our fans.

DF: What are your plans for 2013?

Aljoša: Some of our plans are Baltik and Scandinavian tour again, but this time with Temple of the Smoke. Other,... it still remains to be seen [laughs]. We're working on new stuff, it will definitely be recorded this year and we will play some 2-3 concerts in Zagreb and about 50 across Europe I hope.


DF: So, thank you guys for your time and I will definitely keep my eyes open for any announcement for your gigs as I hope to see and hear much, much more of you! In the meantime for all you present and future worshipers of this cool band here is their Facebook page and their Youtube channel so you could check it out, notice and adore!

And here's some sugar for the end:

Music Thursday - Rens Argoa

Another fine specimen of Croatian rock bands to notice and adore is Rens Argoa.

I first heard Rens Argoa play when they were opening for Maybeshewill at Attack!. That concert was sold out months in advance and I waited for it so eagerly that I assumed there was nothing that could even remotely capture my attention but this guys managed to do just that.

Later on, I found out that they made this  fun video:

...and months later, after listening through their excellent album The Black Hole In The Room (free download from Bandcamp) for a billion times I contacted them to see if they would be willing to chat a bit with me so I could praise them online.

And they were.

 DF: Rens Argoa sounds totally interesting and exotic, like Latin name of some big predator, but what is that? How did you come up with that?

Miran: [Laughs] It sounds like a different thing to everyone. We even got some comments that it sounds like fertilizer brand, but, like most of our song names, it doesn't have any meaning whatsoever! At least not that we know of. We toiled thinking up a name for the band and in the end it just got out like that. You know, you go to sleep and your subconscious rummages through your verbal centers and in the moment of maximum confusion spits out silly whatnots.

DF: So, you are from Koprivnica. Where did you meet, start a band?

Miran: We are from Koprivnica, but we met on college, we studied together. It was spontaneous; Marko and I were talking about music to run away from gloomy boredom and misery of printing presses and I told him about a demo album I made at home. At that time I really did not plan to play that with anyone else but I sent him the demos and next day he called me, something like:"OK, let's play this! Dejan will be our bass, when is the rehearsal?" So, in actuality Marko is the one who started up the band.

DF: I liked the description of your band from bandcamp/last.fm pages: "made with pure slave labour love in the basement factories of Croatia. Its flavor can be described as a fine blend of caramel, cinnamon and ginger. If you try hard enough, you might just hear some noise when you consume it -that's Dejan Halusek on bass, Marko Kuhar on drums and Miran Katar on guitar". It is kind of cross-over of caramel recipe and intro of Smurfs - who thought of that? And under what conditions?

Miran: If by "conditions" you mean drugs - we swear we have never tried them! [Laughs] Well, we needed a description and as we thought nobody cares about typical biography of a band they never heard about we decided to go with humorous approach. Also, beside music, my biggest passion is babbling, especially in foreign languages, so this description seemed most logical.

DF: You released self-produced first album "The Black Hole in the Room" last year in May, made excellent and fun video for title song, played with Maybeshewill, filled the year 2012 with gigs to the very end - what are your plans for 2013?

Miran: That's right, we went with DIY on the album and I admit we had a great time doing that! Plans include playing as much as possible until the summer, in Croatia and neighbouring countries, at the moment we're arranging for gigs in Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia and on Croatian shore, not an easy task for a bend without a booking agency so we're deep into that now.

DF: So, now you're working under Rocklive.hr patronage? Can we expect you as a part of Rocklive Festival?

Miran: That's right! Rocklive is our daddy, but we're not sure about the festival. It depends what our and their plans will be until then, but it is possible!


          
So, it remains to hope we'll see and hear more of Rens Argoa in 2013. and until then listen to the album, notice and adore!