Elvis Jackson - Interview

Slovenia is without doubt one of the most beautiful countries in Europe, only the size of Wales, with a big heart. Oddly, and amazingly, they hold their own in all manner of sports be it football, basketball or kayaking, competing on an equal footing with much much larger nations. If I asked you to name five Slovenian bands however, you'd struggle, and that's grossly unfair because they do have quite a lively music scene. The main rock band of note from Slovenia was Siddharta (think Rammstein), and I say was because you can now add to that the fantastic talent of Elvis Jackson (and I'm not just saying this because my wife is Slovenian!). Having released 4 albums to date they're doing very well, and the reception they're getting from audiences across Europe so far has been extremely positive. Naturally, we have to find out more!

Dober dan, in kako ste? (Dober dan is "good day", and "kako ste?" is the formal way of asking "how are you?", and thus concludes our basic Slovene lesson of the day!). Could you tell us a little about the band name, about how you came up with it, and what alternatives you had perhaps thought of beforehand?

It happened in a practice place, where we spent most of the time, creating our first songs. After playing a few shows without a band name, it was about time that this band should get a title. We actually didn't spend too much time searching for the right name, it happened really spontaneously. Someone just said Elvis Jackson and here we are.

It's been a little hard for rock bands such as Siddharta to get more mainstream recognition outside of Slovenia, whereas you don't appear to be having the same problems, would you agree with that and if so, why do you think that's the case?

It's not easy for any rock band to get recognition, especially when you're come from Slovenia. We started with playing shows all over Europe without making a distinction between a Slovenian audience and others. We just wanted to play as many shows as possible and playing also outside of Slovenia was the only way to do it. Probably, nobody would pick us up if we would be just sitting at home and waiting.

You've said it's easy to form a band, but harder to make a living / success out of it, and that's fair to say for most countries not just Slovenia, but is it a little tougher in Slovenia with a limited amount of venues and smaller audiences, or do venues such as Orto Bar, Tivoli Park, Prešeren Square etc present a new array of possiblities along with audiences who are perhaps more motivated to search out new music?

Well, hard to say for all bands, but most bands just wait, hoping that manager or venue will pick them up. You have to be active all the time and search for opportunities. Tivoli Park and/or Prešernov square aren't venues as such, there are just occasionally outdoor gigs there, and besides "Orto Bar" there are many clubs/venues in Metelkova (part of Ljubljana, old squat scene, now all legalised) and many youth clubs in Slovenia. Maybe it's not enough, but still, it's something worth trying and working on. The best venues nowadays in Ljubljana are Cvetličarna and especially a more urban place called Kino Šiška, along with an open air amphitheatre called Križanke (actually the best place to play all around). Both Kino Šiška and Cvetličarna have about 1000 capacity, while Križanke has a 3000 capacity, and Elvis Jackson managed to have full houses in all of them, in three years, which means that it's possible to make something of yourself, also in Slovenia. Of course the best is to be active on more fields and still it is very hard to survive/earn enough just out of music. I guess it is more or less the same elsewhere.

Following on from the previous question, is there a good deal of support for new bands in Slovenia in terms of practice rooms, music grants, radio stations (such as Radio Antena more willing to play rock) etc?

I think there's quite enough support for new upcoming bands with such a variety of media available where they can introduce themselves. But then it depends on them, how far they want to go, and how much they are ready to sacrifice. It's not easy and the rock and roll business is definitely not an exception.

"Against The Gravity" has had some fantastic reviews (and rightfully so), can you tell us a bit more about what inspired the album, and what if any, are your personal favourite tracks on there?

Against The Gravity is our fourth album. So I must say that through these years we somehow managed to form our own music style. The album is definitely stronger and more mature than the previous three. We wanted to make the sound harder and that's the reason why mostly punk rock and hard core songs were chosen. Favourite song is the hidden track where Berto (guitar/ back vocal) shows his vocal potential. hehehe

What was it like working with Bill Gould (Faith No More)? Did he encourage you to try out new ideas, or push you in any ways that were maybe out of your comfort zone?

We had three sessions with Bill before going into the studio. He thought the songs were alright and sounded tight enough. He selected the songs that would be on the album, was mostly focused on the quality of sound. It was a great experience to work with him and it helped us a lot to make the album sound the way we wanted at the end.

Loved the video for "Not here to pray", it looks superb and like it was great fun! When and where was that shot, and who came up with the concept?

It was definitely a very dusty experience as you can see! The producer Jure Matjazic came up with the idea of waking the band out of a long sleep. The video was made in just one day in an old abandoned factory. Next day, the bass player had to go to hospital to clean the cement out of his eyes! Otherwise we are very satisfied with the final result.

After the tour which includes you visiting UK shores, what are the plans for "Elvis Jackson"?

When this tour is finished, we're planning to make another European tour in November and December. In the same time we're also going to be focused on finishing our new material. With a little bit of luck our new album is coming soon.

Najlepša hvala (thank you very much)

Here is the video we were talking about by the way!

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To find out more about Elvis Jackson you can visit their website here: http://www.elvisjackson.com/