WEEK 234 – BaYat

My HeadBangers this week I am revisiting a band that was on the blog for Week 100 from Novi Sad, Serbia.  Yeah that was quite a while ago.  This week an interview was scheduled, but times and studio sessions are interrupting it for now.  As soon as it comes in I will do a Part II as I have in the past.  In the meantime let’s take a look at the band now.

“Wasted Land”

“So It Begins”

The band has had some major changes like a whole new band except for Milos (M8) the vocalist.  I have to say that I love their sound so much I went and bought the new EP “Purge”, and I have everyone listening to, so everybody check it out.  Let’s look at some bio on the band:

The Hard Rock Band’s Path of Transformation

Born in the cradle of Novi Sad, Serbia, BaYaT isa formidable five-piece hard rock band with a passion for powerful,  honest lyrics and electrifying live performances. Echoing the style of influential rock groups like Audioslave and  Godsmack, BaYaT has carved its unique space in the global rock music scene.

Their music is an unfiltered reflection of society’s complexities and personal experiences, mirrored through their evolving perspective on life and change. Each composition packs a powerful punch, setting listeners on a profound sonic journey.

Finding their strength in the true values of community, family, and love, their songs represent a refreshing perspective in a world full of materialism. Acknowledging the power of personal transformation, they aim to inspire others to make the world a better place. 

BaYaT first set the world ablaze with their debut album “So It Begins”, known for its raw power and compelling storytelling. The band has also released several singles over the past three years. They were also finalists in the 2020 Wigwam UK radio online awards for best global alternative rock band.

The next step in their journey came in 2023 when they signed with Rexius Records. As they continue to deliver powerful music, BaYaT is undeniably on a meteoric rise, solidifying their place as a global rock phenomenon.

Let’s meet the new band:

Milos Bajat ( M8 ), Vocals,  was born in 1987, Novi Sad, Serbia. His early influences were David Coverdale and Steven Tyler. However, as time went by some other artists made an impact on him as well. In particular, the late Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington. Rock and Roll has always been his genre as it is the one area of music that just makes sense to him. 

In 2010 he won “The Battle of the Bands” in Sarajevo with his former band “Supernova”, competing with 300 other bands from the Balkans. He also participated in music competition shows: “The Voice of Serbia” & “The X Factor Serbia” in 2011 and 2012. In 2015 he joined “Generacija 5”, an iconic Serbian band. Together they performed at “Zajecarska Gitarijada”, one of the longest lasting festivals in Serbia and in South Eastern Europe.

M8 says music is not just a vocation, but a way of life. Therefore, his primary focus is to record more songs with BaYaT, so that he can share them with people all around the world.

Born Nikola Odradović in 1995, in Novi Sad, Serbia. Johnny, Lead Guitar, started playing guitar when he was 11, just a few months after his older brother got an acoustic guitar. He grew up listening to classic rock bands such as Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath and started learning to play their songs.

Johnny attended a show where his guitar teacher was playing, after that  dreamed of having a rock band, writing songs and performing on the big stage. At the age of 14, he formed his first band. Influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Andy Timmons and Richie Kotzen, he developed advanced guitar playing skills.

He has since played with many local bands through the years and had hundreds of gigs. His passion for music, guitars and equipment has also led him to learn how to record and produce music.

Johnny says that playing music is his reason for being on this planet and that music always inspires him and shapes his life.

Born Zlatko Ljubović. Mr. Z’s, Rhythm Guitar,  musical journey started in his early childhood. When he was just eight years old, he found an old guitar in his father’s closet and taught himself to play. His first guitar heroes were David Gilmour, Adrian Smith and Dave Mustaine, who have helped him find his style throughout the years.  

Mr. Z has  played in several notable bands in the Balkans: a cover band called Mandrake from Kikinda; Aura+ from Novi Sad, in which he participated in the making of three albums, and which won a competition hosted by a famous Serbian band called Neverne Bebe for best original song; Nemir, which came first in the Gitarijada Vojvodine battle of the bands; as well as many other, less notable ones.

Some of his favorite artists are Pink Floyd, Megadeth, Nevermore, Black Label Society, Devin Townsend, Wovenhand, Mastodon, Gojira, and many more. In addition to rock and metal, he enjoys dark ambient and atmospheric. Besides music, he is an amateur astronomer, and spends his spare time gazing at the Moon and stars. He is also a huge fan of the Witcher books and games.

Born Laslo Kočiš  in 2002, Zrenjanin, Serbia. Blitz, Bass Guitar, started playing bass in 2018 when he got into his first high school band “Bullet Kiss”. Before that he went to music school, where he played the violin for 6 years.  

He was influenced by Steve Harris, Roger Glover, Victor Wooten and Justin Chancellor. Two years ago he joined  a band called “Affliction”. They released one song “Bring the fear” and one demo song “Attention”. He is also playing in a band called “Fatal error”, which is a cover band. He has  played at many moto gatherings, concerts, pubs and festivals.

Music makes him feel safe, a forest of emotions where he can be himself and not have to worry about a single thing. It’s his escape from this harsh reality. 

Born Dušan Marković in 1977, in Novi Sad, Serbia. Ghost, Drummer, as a young teenager was mostly disruptive due to his constant tapping on everything that he got his hands on. Since music was his first true love, drums were the only logical thing, and when he heard Billy Cobham, it was a done deal.

Ghosts’ early influences were NoMeansNo, Primus, Jamiroquai, Megadeth and Sepultura. Later, he developed a taste for more classic forms, such as ZZ Top, ACDC, old school delta blues and funk.

He spent most of the 90s playing with different local bands which dragged him through a few genres, mostly progressive rock and even laid back lounge jazz and evergreen gigs. In the late 2000s, Ghost participated in local trash metal for a few years.

Ghost’s philosophy is that sound and music are universal languages. It’s made to communicate emotions directly, without the interference of language or culture barriers. It’s the one thing that connects us all…  Especially at this moment in human history.

Well my HeadBangers I hope you really listen to their music, it will really make you think.  As I said as soon as I get the interview I will do a Part 11.  

That’s it for this week.  Join me Wednesday for Hump Day and next Saturday for the weekly band.  In the meantime, don’t stand to close to the fire if you can’t handle the burn…

HUMP DAY – WE’RE ALMOST THERE…

My HeadBangers here we are heading towards the middle of November and it is cold here.  I’ve picked 3 for you that I hope gets your gray matter running and the blood flowing…

INFECTED RAIN

“Never To Return”

I can’t say enough about this band from Moldova.  They have been on the blog and Lena’s voice is one of the best, and I mean that.  Check them out.

IKTOMORF

“I’m Your Last Hope”

This band is from Hungary, I’m deff going to be checking them out.

TEMPLE BALLS

“Trap”

To end Hump Day, one of my favs from Finland, some good old hard rock.

That’s it for this week my HeadBangers, join me Saturday for the weekly band and next Wednesday for another Hump Day.  In the meantime, stay safe and stay warm.

QUITE REVIVAL – UPDATE

I want to give a shout out to a new band, but not new players, QUITE REVIVAL, is a new side project from Drummer Pertti Tikkanen (Horse of Troja), Mattias Fröjd, and on Bass also from Horse of Troja is Johnnie Forselius.   They are a rock/metal band who’s into 70s 80s 90s hardrock with a modern touch.

Pertti – Drums

Mattias – Guitar and Vocals

Johnnie – Bass and Backup Vocals

Check them out on Youtube and  FB.   I can’t wait to hear what these guys come up with.

Just to update my HeadBangers, here’s a cover they just finished of  Metallica’s song “So What”

“So What”

Sounds really good to me guys. 

You just never know what you can create till you do it!  Can’t wait to hear more from you guys!

WEEK 233 – KALMO

My HeadBangers please welcome from Finland, my friend and one man band “Kalmo”.  For more info on Kalmo just do a search at the top, there is more info on his music.  I’m posting is new music and have an interview so let’s get to it…

“Dominus Meus”

No photo description available.

Now for the interview.  As always mine in blue and his in black.

I don’t think we have ever talked about how you got into music and especially the genre you picked a mixture of Doom/Black/Heavy Metal. What made you choose it and what drew you to that genre?

Yes, you are right.   It is right about the time.  In addition to the heavy metal there are also other music genres I like. However, metal is biggest together with blues. To give you some an idea of the genres outside heavy metal I can mention you a few: psychobilly, classical music, jazz, some brass music, humppa and here I mean Eläkeläiset only, etc.

What comes to doom/black metal I know exactly when it hit the heart and hard. When I was about 13 or 14 years old – not gonna mention how many decades ago, but anyway, already in heavy metal I saw Celtic Frost’s The Circle of the Tyrants music video on MTV, I think it was the headbangers ball  show. That was the exact moment when I knew this was something for me. I was mesmerized by the sound, visual presentation, style – basically everything in it. After getting to know better the band I started to hunt down Hellhammer’s Apocalyptic Raids EP. I just needed to get it. It was a must! It took some time to find it and weirdly enough I found a copy from a record shop that was focusing on selling rock’n’roll and rockabilly records.

We will get to the topic of the blues band a bit later, so let’s fast forward to the time after I left the band. When we lived in Tampere I was on the board of a blues association. One of our main objectives was to organize blues clubs once or twice a month. We had national and international artists playing in the club and I can say it is one of the best blues clubs in Finland. At some point, I and my spouse moved to Helsinki and I needed to leave the association. I knew I need to have music in my life in one form or another, so I needed to have some kind of plan to execute. After some thinking, I was so tempted to start putting more effort into making music and start practicing playing guitar. The key question was what music style: blues, metal, or even punk for which I did some experiments to see how that would work out, or then all of them. Quickly I realized it must be one,  there is no time or attention span for all of them. Blues  has had  over two decades of my unconditional love. Now it was time to share that with blackened doom metal. That was the starting point. Late 2016 I took my first guitar lesson and started to work on my own songs.

Well I have to say you did pick the right genre.  You are perfect as Kalmo.  The words to your songs, the corpse paint, sometimes you scare me lol.

What actually drew you to music?  Did you play it when you were younger, like a teenager age I mean?

That would be excellent to know what was the magic formula that drew me to music. The first C- cassette I bought, I think I was 11 years old during the time, was Stray Cat’s Gonna Ball.  I spent my savings I had collected over a long time on that. Heh, my father didn’t like that at all and insisted I return the cassette to the shop. I refused to do that. That was my rebelling moment and I did fight for my right to the music \m/ 😀

As a teenager, I was not one of those who would have had the attention span to learn to play instruments. I did try classical guitar a bit, but there was not that inner motivation that would have pushed me to continue. It was the late 80s when I joined a hard rock/heavy metal band as a bassist.  With that band, we did a couple of gigs and recorded a three-song demo. I wrote the lyrics for our own songs. It lasted a couple of years. After that, it took about five years to be in a band next time.

At some point in this timeline, I did try a little bit of blues harmonica and upright bass for just own fun with no specific goals or anything in mind.

I remember you were a bass player in a blues band.

Yes, that is right. 17 years in total. That was an amazing team I say. We did play for about 15 years with the same team of people. In our list, we had covers of blues classics and our own songs. I did play bass and wrote the lyrics for our own songs. It was more of a hobby band that met and practiced once a week for about 3 hours. Despite this fact, we played some gigs and recorded two demo/self-produced releases of our own songs. After we moved to Tampere, travelling from Tampere to Helsinki for practicing was a bit too much for me, so that was the reason for me to leave the band. I know the guys still play together.

What made you want to do a one-man band? There are more and more one-man bands coming out now. Is it that you have control over what you play, and how the process is all done?  That’s how I am about the blog. It’s just me so I don’t have to argue with anyone about what I put on or don’t? I think we are both OCD lmao.

I also think that there are one-man bands more and more. Probably one of the reasons for this is that the means of doing music and sharing your own songs are easily available nowadays, which I think in general is good even though there are opinions that this kind of one-man-bands should go to the dark smelly hole as deep as possible and leave the arena for the pros.

For me, the original target was to just play and write songs for my own fun and learn playing and composing as doing it. The key asset I was holding on to by having it as a one-man band was time.  Meaning: I didn’t want to make it schedule-driven, as you need to schedule things more when you have more people involved.  I wanted to be able to work on songs and play whenever I had the feeling to do that instead. 

The other aspect was that I was not sure yet about what Kalmo would be, other than my playground for doing things.  There was no clear vision, only an idea.

Of course, when you do everything by yourself there is lots of freedom doing things and less negotiation. However, in the one-man band, there is no one to share the joy and burden of hard work, no building ideas together, and fewer people to bring their share to the common vision.

When I started this one-man show I would have never believed that in about 6 years time there would be three releases and almost a dozen music videos produced. Over those years the vision for Kalmo has crystalized and I have learned a lot – and there is still so much to learn. With all this, I have found myself thinking about what would it mean to have more Cadavers in Kalmo to share the darkness. That is something I am still pondering and slowly thinking that it could be something worth
trying.

Now that is an interesting idea.  I can’t wait to see what becomes of that.  

Then there is the corpse paint. Lol. How long does it take to put that on?  You really do a great job with it.

For that, all the credits go to my spouse Mari. She is the one who makes the corpse paint whenever we have had promo pic or video shoot session or other reason to wear it. I am not sure how long it takes to paint it, but it is somewhere around one hour.

I didn’t know Mari made the corpse paint.  She’s really good at it, I’ve seen some on other bands and it looks lumpy and cracks.  Maybe she should think of opening a side business.

Hmmm, now I need to try to remember when the first Kalmo corpse paint was painted…It must be still when we lived in Tampere as I can remember us visiting the theatre supplies store so well before Demoni was released. I think I didn’t think of corpse paint at all when setting up the Kalmo project. It came along when we shot the first promo pictures. It has also evolved over time. First, it was more skull kind of round and not that visible. Now it has evolved into more sinister, thicker, and visible.  That represents better the music, I think.

I agree 100% with that, there has to be corpse paint definitely.

Do you ever plan on playing a live gig?

As a one-man band at this point no plans to play live. However, as I mentioned about contemplating inviting more Cadavers to Kalmo. If that realizes on that level that there is a full house of Cadavers, of course, it would be more than awesome to get to play a gig in a corner of some dark cellar.

Tell us about your plan for Kalmo’s  future.

At this point, the focus is on finalizing the tasks related to the Dominus Meus release. There are still some actions in the project plan like releasing the lyric video for the song Dominus Meus. Once I consider the EP release project completed, it is time to change very project execution-focused mindset to creative gear and write new songs. There is also a handful of draft songs on the demo  stage that need to be finalized. The mind has wandered already towards Kalmo’s 4th release.

Those thoughts are more questions at this point to figure out possibilities. Questions like: should it be a full-length album, what should I invest in terms of skills and external help to get Kalmo’s sound and style to the next level, what about if I find Cadavers that share the same ambition and vision that I have? What would that mean for the next release?

Learning more and developing songwriting skills is never a never-ending task like learning more about playing guitar and vocals. My idea is very much learning by doing. The focus has been a lot on  using my own songs as fertile ground and a motivator to learn. Perhaps now the time is right to take a few songs from the bands I like and work on covers out of them and learn as working.

Then in the longer term making Kalmo as a true band is still a vague idea I need to see how to approach it to give it an opportunity to realize.  

There you have it my HeadBangers.  Check Kalmo out on Facebook, his website is listed there and contact information.  Trust me this man has worked hard to reach the level he is at now, I know you will love his music as much as I do…

HUMP DAY – WE’RE ALMOST THERE…

Well my HeadBangers here we are into the 2nd week of November.  Christmas right around the corner and snow, seems like we didn’t even get a Fall season this year.   However, the music is still always here, with that being said let’s get to the 3 songs I’ve picked out to help you get through the rest of the week (hopefully they will lol).

NYRST

“Völd”

How about some Black Metal from Iceland, love this video.  Love Iceland….

KALT VINDUR

“Agonizing Luminosity”

More Black Metal from Poland.  I really like the sound of this band.  I understand the covering of the face but…

BLOODRED HOURGLASS

“Of Course I Still Love You”

I cannot say enough about this band.  I saw them live in Helsinki and  with Jarkko Koukonen as their frontman, they can do no wrong.  Jarkko’s vocals are some of the best, and I’ve heard a lot.   Melodic Death/Thrash, you can’t go wrong with BRHG!

That’s your 3 for this week.  Join me this week for the weekly band which will be a inside look at the man himself  “Kalmo”, he’s been on the blog before, but this time we look more into his other side.  Doom Metal from Finland, can’t go wrong with that my HeadBangers.  

See you then in the meantime stay warm and keep HeadBanging…

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