by Dragiša Radulovic
A brand new band but with experienced musicians, brings something completely new from Zagreb. They have energy, they play well and they make great fun. KEVLAR BIKINI is band that certainly deserves full attention. Do not miss a chance to hear them live.
Kevlar Bikini members: Auker – vocal, Arlavi – bass, Berta – guitar, Kicho-drums.
Can you present Kevlar Bikini in a few words? How did you form a band consisting of musicians with an enviable experience?
Matija Auker: Sure I can. Kevlar Bikini is 4 headed supped up machine that was assembled in Zagreb, Croatia, in March 2010. As of how we became to be, it’s regular story about guys looking for a singer for a band, but, what came before, doesn’t matter, at least not for this story. What came after is what counts.
The band’s name is interesting and unusual. Why did you choose this name, and whose idea was it?
Matija Auker: Yeah, its kind of arrogant and cool at the same time. We took a long time debating on the name of the band, and many suggestions have simply been either too dull, too long, too forgettable, or already taken. So, after taking the lyrics of the songs into the picture, the stuff we like: movies, girls, guns, fast cars, drinking, and partying and playing music – Kevlar Bikini was the most reasonable way to explain that. People seem to like it, and we plan to play it out as best as we can.
You have recently published the first official single and video for it, so please tell us what kind of reactions you encountered … Are you working on new songs, is there any news about that?
Yes that is correct. We did a demo called “Damn rocknrollaz, they shook my booty…again!”, and we decided to re-mix a song called Supped Up Machine, and make a video for it, as a sort of an opening single for the upcoming album. The reactions are great actually, and thanks to all of those people who helped us to make the song and the video, it got quite popular and opened a lot of doors for us. It was a good decision to do it. As of new songs they are constantly brewing, watch out for our next gig, you’ll hear one definetly.
Your music can not be clearly classified in any genre. How do you define music you create?
Matija Auker: We get that question a lot, its really hard to say, we will let people decide in time, the genre for now is: “Get your ass to our concert, and tell us yourself!”
There is something more by energetic performances and good music features Kevlar Bikini. Reveal to us what it is ….
Matija Auker: Well usually say it’s a secret, but let’s just say that it involves a green light-saber, and a specific clear drink that will always be on stage for anyone who feels like tasting it. If you “youtube” us you will find what i mean. and if you come to our show, and dare to drink it with us, you will definetly appreciate our music more and the next day your life less. (laugh)
The texts are in English. Do you plan a breakthrough to music market outside of your region?
Matija Auker: Yes, they are in English, cause we grew up on music from the English speaking area, so it came naturally, its tough in our language to even try to talk about those subjects that we have in our songs, or try to translate the meaning back from English to Croatian. But definitively, it opens a lot of doors in other parts of the world, cause English is the all-spoken language. And yes, the plan is to “conquer the world”, but that is possible only with good management and booking agents, which I hope we will find soon.
Although band exist for relatively short time, lot of the musical public is familiar with your work in ex-Yugoslavia region from which you originate. What are your plans for the near and distant future?
Matija Auker: Thanks to our good friend and promotor Dragiša from Time Machine Music promo agency, we got of lot of media coverage these last few months and more and more people are starting to follow our work on a daily basis. Which is always really encouraging to know. The plans are big, and the reality is slow, so first we will record an album. We have finished the pre-production phase, and now are in the studio recording. We will have Thomas Skogsberg from from Sunlight studios in Sweden mixing our album (Entombed, Amorphis, Backyard Babies) and then after that to do a bigger promotional tour for the release of the album and record a new Video as well. The album will feature 9 songs 3 from the old demo, and 6 new ones. Also, a major goal it to play as much as possible, and try to get as much gigs at bigger venues in 2012, so we can present our work to more and more people, and give them the opportunity to discover us as an alternative to the music that they listen to.
Interview by Dragiša Radulovic
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