"Speechless Message"The drummers of The Stroj started with their work in the beginning of 1997. Three years later they published – through their own publishing house Strojmusic – their first album Ventilator, and a little while ago the second, named Gremo!. In between they performed in Slovenia and abroad, collaborated with many different Slovenian groups, made a few videos and commercials and appeared in a documentary. The group is well known for its unusual musical platforms, for example a converted cardanic bus, now called Strojebus, which was donated to them by LPP company. Shortly after the publication of their album we spoke with their leader, Primož Oberžan. We often say, it's hard to talk about music. We have to feel it, and so on. Your music also has no words, to judge them through literal criticism. But still, you'll be talking about music. Do you intend to lean on Jacques Attali and his famous work Noise in your philosophy degree? "If we originate from noise, it is a symbol for all that we can’t put into music or speech. The thing we think is pointless, and it gets on our nerves. The thing that gets on our nerves is that we don't hear what we want to hear. On the other side, it seems logical to develope an aesthetics, which enables you to fight the noise, instead of covering your ears and running away from it. You have to understand it an articulate it. You can use it as a matter, as base for your creations. And thus define your aesthetics, your direction. You can play with noise. As we do with waste material, and transform it into music instruments." You use instruments that are not instruments ... "... Instruments. " That is instruments, objects from ambience. On the other hand, you also use sounds of ambience. "You can get the whole picture, while listening to our album. All that is obvious and pointed out. It is much harder to achieve such effect on live events, because of the ritual nature of our performance. All sounds are produced live, physically on stage. And then Aldo Ivančič manipulates them through effects and the loudspeakers system. We want to point out manual work that is in perception and performance together. When you do it in the studio, all this physical effect is lost. Records are listened to passively, that's why we upgrade the recorded with some real parts, taken from ambience. Our music has no words, but it has its meaning, we present that meaning through concrete sound events, which indeed happened, and we succeeded to record them. These sound samples are put into the context of the composition. Recently we started to use the sound of a train. We used a lot of sounds that occurred while practicing, traveling, and preparations for projects. There are many recorded events, where subjects weren't aware of the fact, that, there is such an activity in progress. That's why I think they're reflecting some kind of intenseness, passion, because they are not directed, simulated. " You mentioned a third dimension of your work, that is ritual, ceremony. You call yourself tribe The Stroj. We're talking about show ... "Yes. Or, historically, some kind of form, that gathers dance and music with some stronger patterns of belief. We'd like to stay close to this. Maybe just because of the distance of the establishment of the popular music. The whole modern attitude towards music is based on signing a contract. All the groups are waiting in line to get picked by publishing company. You’re not even qualified as music group until that moment. We started just the other way. The drummers are mostly without any musical experience. And the way we walked by for last seven years gave us confidence. We're able to express ourselves, without any special talent. And we need no music industry. We owe nothing, nobody owes us. That is important, that is freedom. But, it does take some sacrifice. " Talking about the music industry. Both albums are published by your band, and both distributed by Dallas. I recall two European groups that moved on the edge of industry. One of them was also known for radical criticism of capitalism. I'm thinking of the British Test Department, who supported the major strike of the mine workers in the 80's. The other are Einsturzende Neubauten from Germany. It seems, that there are many more similarities between The Stroj and those two groups, than to Les tambours du Bronx, which were primarily held for your example. "There are journalists to do comparisons. Within our doing, we discover the history of the mentioned groups. We know them more or less. But we do believe in the same kind of aesthetics, the same kind of perception. So these comparisons are not necessarily a bad thing. It is finally a great feeling to know, that two generations in different parts of the world articulate their feelings, without knowing for each other. That gives you a feeling of being part of a bigger community. " You said before, that your music is without lyrics. This time you have both, lyrics and words. The lyrics are the same, as in the original performed by Edwin Starr, but the song has many remakes, Bruce Springsteen, for example. Is the oncoming war in Iraq between the reasons, this song was recorded? "Sadly, it's an eternal subject for song writers. This is the only song that has lyrics, which means it carries a more determined message, than other songs do. It depends less on the listener's interpretation. I felt the need to confront the war. We also wished to put some critical social thought in our work. Besides, making this song has its specific story; it includes live recordings from New York on the 11th of September, made by journalist Tomaz Simon. The moment I listened to the noise and chaos on this tape, I realized that war is much closer than we thought. " The second song on the album, in which lyrics are important, is the title song Gremo!. Some kind of manifesto? "It is some kind of pall mall of different recordings. Listening to a pile of recordings, I thought about our work, what it is all about. I started to watch our communication. I realized that we developed our own language, our own phrases, that only a member of the tribe would understand. So this is a composition, which isn’t a song, or recital, but a puzzle of statements, that picture our feelings to all that is happening. Since our music is pretty abstract, I found it pleasant for the song to be placed on the album, just because it's something that is said in a new way, but in a much more direct and yet complex way, still to leave the space for personal interpretation." You mentioned the sound of a real train. It's incorporated in a song called Transsibiria 720. "That's how a train on the station in Siska sounds. We added some plastic pipes, driller, angle grinders and a plastic water container. It's necessary to have a mental link between the sound of the train and the song title. Titling of our compositions is especially challenging. Where to grab them, somehow to define them. The sound of this song seems so cold to me, just like riding a train through a cold winter night and pop your head out of the window, to hear the wind whistle around your ears." Two songs are titled in German: Kettenraucher in Federmeister. "Rattles are used in Kettenraucher. Another instrument we designed. When played by six people, they sound like large tuberculosis lungs, or like heavy metal death rattle. On the other hand springs are used to get the sounds for Federmeister." Heat is heat, fever ... "We composed this song to warm us up. We used to have a very poor structure of concerts, with brutal beginnings, and consequently sore arms. Now we enjoy our ten minutes of warming-up." The Art Of Rolling that could be your motto. "The song was named after siren. The only instrument that is propelled with circular movement. To get the right frequency, you have to do it just the right way, with the right movement. There are many other ways of rolling, and each is demanding and challenging in their own way. "
"It was a while ago, when I was wondering, how to use these effects from kung fu movies. And the body sounds: inhaling, exhaling, and screaming that fighters produce. Anyone could recognize them, because those movies are a well known part of popular culture. The idea was dumped because I saw a video, which already consumed those elements. The song Kung Fu, had been work-titled "At blue Soča river" (yet another story ...), the time for renaming came when we added the vocal part. We had to do something with it. That's how we realized the idea I was talking about before." The composition 60s/min is recalling the intro of the song Time, by Pink Floyd. "I was warned about, and I listened to that song. I completely forgot about it, even though I've heard it before. The point of departure was ticking, time passing. Music is always floating in time, contrary as paintings, for example. Sometimes, I feel like freezing the time, when I finish the recording of the song. But the time is always passing, even while listening to the 'frozen' music." Ampus Blues is a resuming form of blues... "This song is in triple time rhythm. The only composition on the album, that is made exclusively from external sound, that is, without our playing. We know, that blues comes from times of black slavery. It was a radical form of rebellion, and a musical form that is closely related to work. We used another kind of 'slaves': machines from production facilities." ‘Japanese is working for us', Gastrbajtrs would say ... "Yes, we're talking about blues of the 21st century, that sounds more alienated than original." Recently, using drum'n'bass technique is very popular. I can clearly see The Stroj using that base. On the other hand ethno music is also important. Your producer, Aldo Ivancic, has another group – Bast – that is applying those elements. After all, the final song on the album, BASTROJ remix of 60s/min, is a result of collaboration between the groups The Stroj and Bast. "That was Aldo's wish and idea. He wanted to compose wider aspects of his work. Bast and The Stroj are an important part of his work and life for years now. It was kind of challenging too, to hear a response from musicians that we respect deeply. We were simply flattered. It certainly is a way that The Stroj should enter. And about drum'n'bass, I don't know, it seems that everything is already invented. There is a lot of undiscovered praxis in the world. We try to be inquisitive in all directions." Have you shot any video for any of the songs from the album? "No. We are our own financer, mostly from performance fees. We spent a lot to do the Railway museum concert in December 2002, when we presented our new album. We do not plan to invest in video, just for now. Our main intent isn't to sell the records, but to find a good idea, grab it and realize it, of course on a guerilla budget." Milko Poštrak |
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