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February 11, 2000 Kanda, Kodza i Nebojsa, a rock band We Didn't Want to Play in Honour of Total Destruction of Our Country
January 24, 2000, around 7pm, Avala film, the recording studio. At the moment the third album of one of our most prominent alternative bands - Kanda, Kodza i Nebojsa is being recorded. Present: Goran Zivkovic - Zika and Aleksandra Stojanovic, the producers of the album, and three members of the band - Oliver Nektarijevic, Vladislav Rac - Raca and Vlada Rajovic, who's come from Radovici, Montenegro (where he's serving the army) to see how the things are going. After an excellent album "Igracka placka" (Cry Toy) the public is impatiently awaiting the new material. This is one of the reasons why we should see what's new (and what's old) when it comes to Kanda, Kodza i Nebojsa in pictures, words and music. FS: For the last couple of years you've released two albums, appeared on several compilations, played numerous concerts, while "Igracka placka" was voted the best album of the year 1998 by the critics. Are you satisfied with what you've achieved so far? Oliver: Well, we are. A few years ago no one could even thought that we might get serious. The first album "GuardaToma" was practically a joke and no one was serious about it. This album was compiled of live recordings from the gigs we'd played during a whole year before its release. The third album which is being prepared now looks good to all of us from the band. I could say that it's something we're all relatively satisfied. The people liked the album "Igracka placka" and I'm glad about it, but I'm not so sure that it's a quality material. There were a few good songs, but as a whole this album wasn't what we wanted. Almost all of the tracks from the third album will be in English which is something that the fans might object to. Raca: "Igracka placka" is an album with several serious flaws so that now we're trying to make an album which we could be entirely satisfied with. FS: Why is it in English?
FS: Are you planning to go abroad when it comes to music? Oliver: We've no concrete plans and for the time being I don't know how the things stand with this. I keep that option in mind for the future, but right now we aren't going to do it. When it comes to some occasional concert tours, we're planning to play concerts in Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia, and perhaps go to Budapest as well. Raca: Some of us will certainly leave this country, some of us would perhaps go abroad, but it's unlikely that it'll have anything to do with music. FS: Darkwood Dub, Sunshine and you have taken part in a concert tour "Silence Won't Do". If indeed silence won't do, why our bands keep silent?
Raca: I talked to a colleague from another band with a clearly defined (political) attitude, which entails probably some sort of engagement, and he told me he was so glad that they, as a band, didn't take sides in this political confrontation. We've played recently at a concert organised by "Otpor" (Resistance, an anti-regime student organisation). Both the objective and the action were OK, but it could've been better planned. Why other bands keep silent? Well, I don't know, perhaps they equally dislike both the regime and the opposition. Oliver: Besides, I can't recall a single band which didn't play during the war at Republic Square, except for Darkwood Dub, Neocekivana sila koja se iznenada pojavljuje i resava stvar and Kanda, Kodza i Nebojsa. Raca: I remember that the band - Block Out demanded that the posters of Slobodan Milosevic be removed from the scene. FS: Why haven't you played at the main city square at the time? Did they invite you to play there at all? Raca: We didn't want to play in honour of the total destruction of our country. During the first week (of bombardment and concerts at the Republic Square), a man, probably one of the organisers, phoned me, but I told him I wasn't at home. FS: During the war your song "Proci ce i njihovo" ("Their Time Shall Also Pass") was being exploited in the media to a large extent, but they changed its context entirely?
Raca: The song was mostly broadcast by the Studio B, and they were playing it even at times when they shouldn't have. If you don't have a song hinting at some sort of political commitment, then they wouldn't play it so often. But if you have one, then there's a danger of that song being used for anything, even when it shouldn't be so. Yet it wouldn't make any sense, in that case, to tell the people at radio stations not to play your song... Therefore, it's up to your personal choice, whether you want lyrics which imply certain commitment in political terms. FS: Musicians often say that music is everything for them. Do you live for your music, could you make a living on music, or perhaps both? Oliver: Basically, music is something we love the most. Until recently we couldn't have actually earned our living in this way, but lately the things've changed, yet I don't know for how long it would last. What's important is that we love the music we play as much as the music we listen to. If I wanted publicity and financial gains then I wouldn't be doing this third album in English, which is the option I liked best, and I'd have joined the folk bands. FS: What would be the concept behind the third album and to what extent would it differ from the previous two albums? Oliver: I wouldn't know what it would be like when it comes to concept behind it, but I think it'll be much better than the previous two albums. This is the first album which I'm relatively satisfied with, though some things bother me, especially my singing. I don't like the first album at all, it seems to me as if we've never recorded it even, and I like a few songs from the second one. Raca: The new album won't be based on some particular concept. We're trying hard to make it a step forward relative to the previous one. And that's all. Anyway, the third album will be released in March or April, and we'll have a lot of guests among which will be DJ Munja (DJ Lightning). FS: What does B292 mean to you as individuals and as a band?
Raca: B292 means as much to us as to many other Belgraders. When it comes to our mutual relationship concerning the release of this album, well, that's business. FS: Jovan Matic from Del Arno Bend said recently that you weren't good musicians because "you were playing between the exams at the university"? Oliver: Alright, he's the best. I mean this is what Rasta thinks about it. If others are playing between their exams at the faculty, it doesn't mean they play worse than themselves. If someone can both study and play well at the same time, I can't possibly see why should anyone object to this. As far as Del Arno Bend is concerned, I think they're well-practiced. FS: Which bands do you like best? Oliver: Recently I've been listening to all sorts of music, so that I couldn't name all of them, but I love the best Tricky, Massive Attack, then Aswad and other reggae bands, Red Hot Chilli Peppers. However, most recently I've been listening mostly to techno music. FS: Will "the things inevitably change" in the year 2000 or will something else happen? Oliver: Ah, if we only knew... I suppose not, not for a while yet. It seems to me as if it's more likely that a bomb would fall. If the bomb fell again, then the things might finally change. Raca: Who could possibly know something like that. Personally I don't expect anything good for anyone of us. Unfortunately. Bojan Bozic
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Oliver: My intention has been to put the stress on music, and not to spoil it with language. Besides, I sing better in English than in Serbian so that it would sound much better as a whole given the fact that English suits better this kind of music. Also the people abroad I've contacted have told me that if we want to accomplish anything there, the lyrics should be in English.
Oliver: Well, I don't know whether it actually matters if someone's keep quiet or not - it's much more important to do something. Every band is judged by its music, and there you could see whether they keep silent or not. So, if something positive is being done, then I think it's all right to be silent.
Oliver: Everyone knows what this song refers to, and it's nothing to do with whatever's taking place abroad - this song refers to these parts. The fact that they started broadcasting this song all of a sudden was actually getting on my nerves since they hadn't broadcast it before so often.
Oliver: From the very beginning I knew what would happen when the bombardment started and that clearly demonstrated what this radio station meant for them (the authorities), and what it meant for the people. The first thing they did wasn't to inform the citizens what was going on, but to close B92 (as it was called at the time). In my view, this radio station is one of the rare positive media outlets. And I can't possibly see who else could release our album - they're the only ones.
