WEBVTT 00:00:04.279 --> 00:00:06.179 Welcome back to the All Things Croatia podcast, 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.339 everybody. We've got a really cool guest today. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:10.699 I'm super excited to talk to him. We have Mario 00:00:10.699 --> 00:00:14.019 Klaric. He is a drummer, and he's been drumming 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:17.539 for a long time, and most recently just drummed 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:19.920 at the Thompson concert at the Hippodrome in 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.980 Zagreb, where over 500 ,000 people, half a million 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:25.079 people, were in attendance. It was the largest 00:00:25.079 --> 00:00:29.059 paid concert in history ever. So super excited 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:31.460 to hear about that. But before we do, Mario, 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:33.880 thank you for coming on the podcast. thank you 00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:36.859 very much man uh i've been a big fan of your 00:00:36.859 --> 00:00:39.539 of your podcast and uh thank you for having me 00:00:39.539 --> 00:00:43.179 and uh hello to all you all of your viewers oh 00:00:43.179 --> 00:00:45.659 man i appreciate that it means a lot yeah super 00:00:45.659 --> 00:00:48.179 excited to have you on really excited i want 00:00:48.179 --> 00:00:50.140 to talk about the concert and and hear everything 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:52.659 about the concert but first you know i kind of 00:00:52.659 --> 00:00:54.719 want to ask you know about you if you could just 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.539 tell us about yourself you know where you're 00:00:56.539 --> 00:00:58.740 you're from i i hear you're you know born and 00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:02.219 raised in karlovac right Yeah, I was born and 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:05.400 raised in Karolac, still living there. It's a 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:10.959 quiet mid -sized town in Croatia, central Croatia. 00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:16.959 I have like 25 minutes of driving to the capital 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:21.939 of Croatia, Zagreb, city of Zagreb. So I never 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:26.439 had an ambition to live in Zagreb. And Zagreb 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:33.359 is traffic heavy. And those are mainly the reasons 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:38.140 I'm not particularly fond of living in Zagreb. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:44.400 But yes, I come from a musical family. My father 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.069 is a musician. He's also a drummer. My grandfather, 00:01:48.310 --> 00:01:51.189 his father, he was also a musician. He played 00:01:51.189 --> 00:01:56.209 accordion. And I have a super talented brother 00:01:56.209 --> 00:01:59.329 who is, you know, a super talented drummer, but 00:01:59.329 --> 00:02:05.349 he doesn't play. From a very small age, he showed 00:02:05.349 --> 00:02:08.889 a lot of stage fright. So he said, I'm going 00:02:08.889 --> 00:02:12.360 to support you. You're the man, you know. but 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:15.860 uh his son my nephew uh he's a really talented 00:02:15.860 --> 00:02:19.139 drummer he's only four years old but uh and i'm 00:02:19.139 --> 00:02:21.979 rooting rooting for for his you know career someday 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:25.460 maybe yeah wow so the whole entire family is 00:02:25.460 --> 00:02:29.460 is musical yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah from my father's 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:31.860 side yeah yeah uh -huh so when you were a kid 00:02:31.860 --> 00:02:34.340 you know growing up you were were you playing 00:02:34.340 --> 00:02:38.490 you know guitar and drums and stuff or well Yeah, 00:02:38.569 --> 00:02:43.830 mostly drums, because my father, as I said, he 00:02:43.830 --> 00:02:48.530 was and still is a drummer. And our household 00:02:48.530 --> 00:02:51.289 was always filled with music. I remember the 00:02:51.289 --> 00:02:59.430 first band. first record I heard was from the 00:02:59.430 --> 00:03:06.449 Beatles. And the Beatles had a huge impact on 00:03:06.449 --> 00:03:12.189 my life and my future musical journey. So the 00:03:12.189 --> 00:03:15.090 drums were always set up in the living rooms 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:18.810 and sticks were always... I didn't sleep with 00:03:18.810 --> 00:03:24.590 teddy bears, I slept with drumsticks. I always 00:03:24.590 --> 00:03:29.710 said to people that that music and drums are 00:03:29.710 --> 00:03:33.409 my destiny, you know? That's awesome, sleeping 00:03:33.409 --> 00:03:38.509 with the drumsticks, I love that. There was a 00:03:38.509 --> 00:03:40.870 time when I was little, you know, I started playing 00:03:40.870 --> 00:03:45.330 drums when I was four years old And my father 00:03:45.330 --> 00:03:48.349 taught me the first lessons, you know, like first 00:03:48.349 --> 00:03:55.490 rudiments, first notes and all that stuff. And 00:03:55.490 --> 00:04:01.629 my mother recalled, you know, she told me... 00:04:01.849 --> 00:04:04.090 When you were five years old, you were drumming 00:04:04.090 --> 00:04:07.430 in your sleep. So I had to ban your father from, 00:04:07.469 --> 00:04:12.150 you know, teaching you furthermore because the 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:15.449 things are escalating and getting out of control. 00:04:15.710 --> 00:04:19.689 So, yeah, I had a short break, but I was, you 00:04:19.689 --> 00:04:23.269 know, revolted on my mother and I've continued 00:04:23.269 --> 00:04:27.089 with practices and all that stuff with drums. 00:04:27.949 --> 00:04:30.170 And you mentioned the Beatles, so the Beatles 00:04:30.170 --> 00:04:32.310 were kind of your first influence. Who were some 00:04:32.310 --> 00:04:36.209 of those other early influences? Yeah, the Beatles 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:40.829 were extremely, you know, the first one I've 00:04:40.829 --> 00:04:43.189 ever heard, you know, from the foreign music. 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:50.970 When I was more older, I discovered Prljavo Kazalište. 00:04:51.870 --> 00:04:55.290 There were, you know, very big... artists and 00:04:55.290 --> 00:04:58.069 still are very big artists in Croatia. I also 00:04:58.069 --> 00:05:01.009 discovered Marko Thompson. He was like, you know, 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:05.569 he's our national treasure. And when I reached 00:05:05.569 --> 00:05:08.689 my teen years, I also discovered Led Zeppelin. 00:05:08.790 --> 00:05:12.370 And I also listened and I also play a lot of 00:05:12.370 --> 00:05:15.670 jazz music, like Weather Report, Miles Davis, 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:20.740 John Coltrane. and all that artists but yeah 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:24.699 the Beatles were the first one that had an impact 00:05:24.699 --> 00:05:28.259 on me and Ringo Starr, John Bonham from Led Zeppelin 00:05:28.259 --> 00:05:32.519 those are my number one you know influences. 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:36.740 well playing from what I'm not a drummer myself 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:38.639 I can drum a little bit I mean I play guitar 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.589 oh that's cool I'm a guitarist. That would be 00:05:42.589 --> 00:05:45.389 awesome. I would love that. Next time I'm in 00:05:45.389 --> 00:05:46.889 Croatia, we're going to have to set that up. 00:05:46.970 --> 00:05:48.649 Yeah, keep me up, please. It will be my honor. 00:05:49.089 --> 00:05:51.310 Absolutely. But I can play a little bit of drums. 00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:54.209 And from what I understand and just what I read 00:05:54.209 --> 00:05:57.509 and stuff, going from the Beatles playing the 00:05:57.509 --> 00:05:59.930 drums to Beatles songs versus Bonham playing 00:05:59.930 --> 00:06:03.129 Led Zeppelin skill -wise or sort of technical 00:06:03.129 --> 00:06:05.910 -wise, it's a big difference, right? It's a big 00:06:05.910 --> 00:06:12.970 difference. I love Ringo, he was like a sound 00:06:12.970 --> 00:06:15.430 drummer, you know what I mean? He was serving 00:06:15.430 --> 00:06:18.170 the purpose and arrangement of the song, and 00:06:18.170 --> 00:06:21.870 he did a lot of creative drumming. You can hear 00:06:21.870 --> 00:06:27.769 that on Come Together, for example. A typical 00:06:27.769 --> 00:06:30.069 drummer would do maybe two and four on snare 00:06:30.069 --> 00:06:35.509 drum, eight note on hi -hat, but he did something 00:06:35.509 --> 00:06:41.850 totally... how can I say that out of the box 00:06:41.850 --> 00:06:46.009 you know so that's really cool from him yeah 00:06:46.009 --> 00:06:48.410 so is that sort of where you got started with 00:06:48.410 --> 00:06:51.050 a lot of how did you start liking jazz because 00:06:51.050 --> 00:06:52.870 you named a lot of rock bands you know but also 00:06:52.870 --> 00:07:00.050 jazz it was a natural transition it was you know 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:05.779 A lot of my friends from high school and music 00:07:05.779 --> 00:07:07.879 school, I went to the music school in Karlovac. 00:07:08.699 --> 00:07:13.480 They were all into jazz and you know as a drummer 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:17.060 I started listening about the jazz drummers. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:21.800 and later you found out with whom those jazz 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:26.579 drummers played with. So it naturally came the 00:07:26.579 --> 00:07:31.019 first and my biggest inspiration is still today 00:07:31.019 --> 00:07:35.680 Miles Davis. He had terrific musicians from all 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:42.899 his periods in his career. Also John Coltrane, 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:48.480 as I mentioned earlier. Weather Report is incredible. 00:07:48.819 --> 00:07:52.480 There is one, when we're going to talk about 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.920 Thompson, our bass player, Ante Jurinovic from 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:58.600 Marko's band, he played with Weather Report's 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:02.360 keyboard player, pianist Joe Zavenu. And he said 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:06.560 about him, he was a guest in Croatia. He played 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:11.279 with the band from Klagenfurt, Ante. Ante started 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:14.680 in Klagenfurt in Austria. And he was, I don't 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:18.459 know, like 20, 21 years old. And Joe Zawinul 00:08:18.459 --> 00:08:23.819 said, this guy on bass player, you know, with 00:08:23.819 --> 00:08:27.800 all the bass players I had a chance playing with, 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:29.879 like Jaco Pastorius, you know, Victor Bailey. 00:08:30.979 --> 00:08:35.460 This guy's incredible. If I say if he's incredible, 00:08:35.620 --> 00:08:38.500 then he's incredible. So it's an honor to be 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:42.259 friends and play with Ante in Marko's band. It's 00:08:42.259 --> 00:08:44.820 incredible. So incredible. Well, yeah, must be 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:47.759 an incredible musician. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:50.000 a great guy, great friend, my older brother, 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:54.179 yeah. Yeah, wow. Well, you mentioned music school 00:08:54.179 --> 00:08:56.940 in Karlovac. What did you do after that? Were 00:08:56.940 --> 00:08:58.820 you still, you know, you were playing in bands? 00:08:59.019 --> 00:09:04.320 Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, I started to gig around town. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:10.220 I was like 16 till 18 years old. That was the 00:09:10.220 --> 00:09:13.750 period I saved some money. My father always came 00:09:13.750 --> 00:09:16.470 with me because I was a minor. He always came 00:09:16.470 --> 00:09:19.110 with me to the gigs so he can take care of me. 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:26.370 I always wanted to go to America, in New York 00:09:26.370 --> 00:09:28.750 City, to Drummer's Collective. That's a music 00:09:28.750 --> 00:09:34.450 school based in Manhattan. And there were a lot 00:09:34.450 --> 00:09:39.210 of great musical drumming cats were teachers 00:09:39.210 --> 00:09:42.370 there. And it was always my, you know, dream 00:09:42.370 --> 00:09:47.009 to go there. And I always knew, you know, America, 00:09:47.250 --> 00:09:50.830 you know, that's impossible for a guy from Karlovac. 00:09:52.070 --> 00:09:56.789 But I had to, you know, quit my dream about that. 00:09:56.929 --> 00:10:02.370 So my professor in Karlovac for drums and percussion. 00:10:03.400 --> 00:10:09.799 I wanted to start preparing for a music academy 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:16.059 in Graz. It's actually a conservatory. So we 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:20.059 started to prepare all those exercises, etidas 00:10:20.059 --> 00:10:26.279 and compositions and more rudiments and everything 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:32.240 to be prepared for the audition. in the summer 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:42.279 of 2009, there was a seminar from which the teachers 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:44.879 from the Drummers Collective were coming, you 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:50.039 know, teaching the students. And so you can apply 00:10:50.570 --> 00:10:54.470 and be there and study from them, you know, like 00:10:54.470 --> 00:10:58.929 10 days straight. You hang with them and, you 00:10:58.929 --> 00:11:03.330 know, just great learning and hanging out experience. 00:11:04.669 --> 00:11:08.570 And the gentleman who, I might say hi to him 00:11:08.570 --> 00:11:12.730 via this podcast, his name is Peter Curic. He 00:11:12.730 --> 00:11:16.029 was, you know, a guy who organized all this. 00:11:16.190 --> 00:11:19.600 It was called East meets West, you know. And 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:23.799 I saw that application, not application form, 00:11:23.899 --> 00:11:29.539 but it was, how can I say, a commercial, you 00:11:29.539 --> 00:11:33.190 know, a commercial. a paper where you know east 00:11:33.190 --> 00:11:37.110 meets west uh uh uh drummers teachers from drummers 00:11:37.110 --> 00:11:40.590 collective are coming uh here to teach and all 00:11:40.590 --> 00:11:44.090 that and uh and the bottom uh uh sentence had 00:11:44.090 --> 00:11:47.929 like uh apply for a scholarship uh competition 00:11:47.929 --> 00:11:51.929 for a scholarship at uh one month studying at 00:11:51.929 --> 00:11:54.690 the collective you know in the new york so that 00:11:54.690 --> 00:11:57.610 was one uh that one motivated me to go there 00:11:58.250 --> 00:12:04.950 And I was in that seminar and it came the day 00:12:04.950 --> 00:12:07.110 of competition and I won a scholarship there 00:12:07.110 --> 00:12:12.009 for one month. And my time, when I finished my 00:12:12.009 --> 00:12:17.500 high school in Karlovac. I applied for a full 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:19.879 -time scholarship there in America and I got 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:23.379 it. Two years I was there studying about music, 00:12:23.620 --> 00:12:27.659 about various styles of music, about music business, 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:31.279 about studio recording, all that. I came with 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:35.460 a lot of information and it was a very blessing 00:12:35.460 --> 00:12:38.830 experience in my life. Wow, that's awesome. Going 00:12:38.830 --> 00:12:41.549 from Karlovac to New York is a big change. How 00:12:41.549 --> 00:12:43.330 did you like it? It's a big change, yeah. It 00:12:43.330 --> 00:12:46.990 was incredible. As I said before, Karlovac is 00:12:46.990 --> 00:12:52.590 a really quaint town, a really quiet town. People 00:12:52.590 --> 00:12:57.230 are not rushing through the life, but New York, 00:12:57.309 --> 00:13:00.029 you've probably been there a hundred times. New 00:13:00.029 --> 00:13:02.330 York is an incredible town, a city that never 00:13:02.330 --> 00:13:06.889 sleeps, as they say. And I had a blast, you know, 00:13:06.970 --> 00:13:11.090 every day studying drums and music, hanging out 00:13:11.090 --> 00:13:16.029 with those teachers, going to the clubs, listening 00:13:16.029 --> 00:13:19.509 to that music. That's incredible experience for 00:13:19.509 --> 00:13:22.730 an 18 -year -old kid, you know. Yeah, yeah, that's 00:13:22.730 --> 00:13:24.730 awesome. Yeah, you talked about the Zagreb traffic 00:13:24.730 --> 00:13:26.470 you don't want to deal with. But then you're 00:13:26.470 --> 00:13:27.970 in New York, it's even worse. But New York City 00:13:27.970 --> 00:13:32.090 traffic is even worse. Yeah, that's awesome. 00:13:32.190 --> 00:13:33.710 Yeah, that's a great experience that you were 00:13:33.710 --> 00:13:36.070 able to do that two whole years in New York studying 00:13:36.070 --> 00:13:38.049 and everything. Incredible, incredible experience. 00:13:38.669 --> 00:13:40.350 Well, how did you, let's get into, you know, 00:13:40.350 --> 00:13:42.129 talking about Thompson and the concert. How did 00:13:42.129 --> 00:13:44.690 you even get in contact with him? How did he 00:13:44.690 --> 00:13:46.730 reach out to you? How did that even start? It 00:13:46.730 --> 00:13:51.320 was... Actually, Branimir Mihajevic, who is his 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:56.820 producer, he called me and it was last year around 00:13:56.820 --> 00:14:03.179 Christmas time. And he said, we're going to record 00:14:03.179 --> 00:14:06.860 some Marko Perković -Thompson songs. Are you 00:14:06.860 --> 00:14:10.460 in for that? I said, of course. He's a big artist 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:14.710 here in our whole region. And I was really stoked, 00:14:14.769 --> 00:14:17.409 you know, when he suggested if we want to do 00:14:17.409 --> 00:14:24.070 that. And when time arrived, we recorded at his 00:14:24.070 --> 00:14:28.210 studio. And that was the first time I met Marko 00:14:28.210 --> 00:14:33.269 after Christmas last year. We started, you know, 00:14:33.350 --> 00:14:38.940 the plan was to record three songs. and the rest 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:42.179 of the guys from Split. He was simultaneously 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:48.019 recording his new material in Split. So it was 00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:52.240 divided. Some tracks and songs were gonna be 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.720 done in Zagreb and some are gonna be done in 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:58.919 Split. So he wanted to do these three songs with 00:14:58.919 --> 00:15:03.100 Branimir. He also played the keyboards. He was 00:15:03.100 --> 00:15:07.259 a bald guy with glasses. If you're going to look 00:15:07.259 --> 00:15:10.159 to the stage, he was on the right side, the right 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:16.320 side keyboardist. And so I met Marco. Marco didn't 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:23.220 know about me. He was the man who suggested me 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:26.940 to Marco. And we met and it was, you know, Marco 00:15:26.940 --> 00:15:31.909 has... a magnificent aura uh around him he's 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:35.110 such a great guy you know such a humble person 00:15:35.110 --> 00:15:38.809 uh you you know how they say that the the the 00:15:38.809 --> 00:15:41.549 biggest artists in world are humble and you know 00:15:41.549 --> 00:15:45.029 easy to talk people he's he's all that you know 00:15:45.029 --> 00:15:51.440 uh there wasn't uh even a slice of negativity 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:54.820 from his side. I never, you know, he's so calm 00:15:54.820 --> 00:16:00.399 and, as I said, humble and very musical and a 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:05.779 genius in songwriting and in producing and making 00:16:05.779 --> 00:16:09.500 music. That really, you know, had a big impact 00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:12.340 on me from him as a person and as a professional. 00:16:12.860 --> 00:16:17.500 So he plays a big part in... I like the musicality 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:22.110 of it all. Oh yeah, he actually... he has an 00:16:22.110 --> 00:16:26.850 iPhone, you know, and on his iPhone he has an 00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:31.649 app called GarageBand. You're familiar with it, 00:16:31.730 --> 00:16:35.590 I'm sure. He arranged the whole songs, you know, 00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:38.769 the drums, guitars, string section. He's, you 00:16:38.769 --> 00:16:43.529 know, we did, you know, he transferred that project 00:16:43.529 --> 00:16:46.309 to the Logic project in Bronimer's computer. 00:16:46.850 --> 00:16:50.549 And we actually, you know, I transcribed all 00:16:50.549 --> 00:16:55.470 the parts he wrote and actually it was all his 00:16:55.470 --> 00:16:59.470 idea. The whole thing you hear and you listen 00:16:59.470 --> 00:17:04.230 from his music. Wow. So which three songs were 00:17:04.230 --> 00:17:09.069 you recording? The first three songs were Oluja. 00:17:09.559 --> 00:17:11.460 That was the first song. The second was Kraj 00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:14.099 Tomislav, King Thomas. And the third one was 00:17:14.099 --> 00:17:25.119 Neproština pismo, unread message. And the next 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:31.099 day we had a reserved... How can I say? The next 00:17:31.099 --> 00:17:34.220 day was also a recording day, just in case we 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:38.000 don't record everything the day before. And we 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:40.480 recorded everything the day before, all three 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:44.460 songs. And he said, I have two more songs. Would 00:17:44.460 --> 00:17:47.220 you be interested in recording? I said, of course. 00:17:47.819 --> 00:17:56.000 And in that session, we did Zagora and Blyburg. 00:18:01.609 --> 00:18:06.309 After that day ended, we were relaxing in the 00:18:06.309 --> 00:18:10.009 lobby of Branimir's studio and Marko said, you 00:18:10.009 --> 00:18:13.609 know what, we are doing the whole record, the 00:18:13.609 --> 00:18:15.930 whole album here and you're playing drums on 00:18:15.930 --> 00:18:19.829 it. So I recorded every song except Život Life, 00:18:20.049 --> 00:18:24.210 which is the last track on the album. That's 00:18:24.210 --> 00:18:28.900 only with acoustic guitars. and uh if you don't 00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:31.799 know what happened uh song uh that was recorded 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.180 by nano boric and that was recorded way before 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:38.720 we even met so that's you know uh 10 songs on 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:41.900 the album i recorded wow that's crazy and starting 00:18:41.900 --> 00:18:43.619 from thinking you're only going to record you 00:18:43.619 --> 00:18:46.519 know these three yeah the three song it's a pleasant 00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:50.500 surprise and you know a really great honor wow 00:18:50.500 --> 00:18:54.119 well so then you know, the concert at the Hippodrome, 00:18:54.279 --> 00:18:56.759 half a million people, largest ticketed concert 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:00.720 in history. That was your first performance with 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:03.980 the band. Yeah, and the whole new band and with 00:19:03.980 --> 00:19:07.480 him. And okay, we were prepared, you know, we 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:10.519 had like 30 rehearsals, you know, and it was 00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:16.339 really detailed rehearsals. You know, we all 00:19:16.339 --> 00:19:22.259 had input. Mark always said to us, you were the 00:19:22.259 --> 00:19:26.200 guys I selected. I have full confidence and trust 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:30.299 in you and your musicality. You know, there are 00:19:30.299 --> 00:19:33.519 always minor things. artists want you know to 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:36.819 adjust but those were very very minor things 00:19:36.819 --> 00:19:40.440 you know uh everything was you know uh based 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:44.200 on our musicality and experiences and uh understanding 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:48.160 the the matter of marco you know you know what 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:53.460 what i think i mean you know so uh i played with 00:19:53.460 --> 00:19:55.920 a lot of artists and uh in front of a lot of 00:19:56.190 --> 00:20:03.349 people. Never in front of 500 ,000 people, but 00:20:03.349 --> 00:20:09.089 Marco made sure we all felt safe, relaxed and 00:20:09.089 --> 00:20:14.650 happy. He's that kind of person and that kind 00:20:14.650 --> 00:20:19.269 of musician. You said you guys rehearsed about 00:20:19.269 --> 00:20:22.859 30 times. Were you going over the entire... We 00:20:22.859 --> 00:20:29.619 were doing like a month, we were just doing first 00:20:29.619 --> 00:20:33.319 10 songs and the first week. The second week 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:39.759 was the second part of 10 songs, from 11th till 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:44.789 20th. And the third week was, you know, the last 00:20:44.789 --> 00:20:49.730 10 songs from the whole set of 30 songs. Then 00:20:49.730 --> 00:20:54.430 we switched to, we went to Hippodrome's Hangar 00:20:54.430 --> 00:21:01.109 where the Arabian Dubai company, they stored 00:21:01.109 --> 00:21:05.130 their, you know, PA systems and light and all 00:21:05.130 --> 00:21:13.890 that stuff. technicians set up a big LED screen 00:21:13.890 --> 00:21:18.910 and a smaller PA system with in -ear monitors 00:21:18.910 --> 00:21:23.450 for all of us and we were rehearsing the concerts 00:21:23.450 --> 00:21:27.509 from start to the beginning. That was more intense 00:21:27.509 --> 00:21:33.869 because we did it without breaks, because we 00:21:33.869 --> 00:21:37.490 didn't have any breaks on concerts. so we had 00:21:37.490 --> 00:21:40.250 to strategize we had to make a strategy for each 00:21:40.250 --> 00:21:44.250 one of other uh in band where we where we can 00:21:44.250 --> 00:21:46.690 drink water you know where we can you know relax 00:21:46.690 --> 00:21:51.230 for a bit uh but um i was so you know uh hyped 00:21:51.230 --> 00:21:54.109 during that rehearsals i wanted to do the concert 00:21:54.109 --> 00:21:57.789 three times in a row you know that's that's really 00:21:57.789 --> 00:22:00.769 incredible yeah yeah well what it was 30 songs 00:22:00.769 --> 00:22:05.660 right that you guys Yeah, 30 songs, plus intro 00:22:05.660 --> 00:22:08.859 and outro, which we didn't play, it was going 00:22:08.859 --> 00:22:15.390 through the PA and the LED screens. And so not 00:22:15.390 --> 00:22:17.069 only, I mean, of course, you know, you recorded 00:22:17.069 --> 00:22:18.970 the 10 songs on the album, but you had to go 00:22:18.970 --> 00:22:21.549 back and learn all the other songs. Oh, yeah. 00:22:21.670 --> 00:22:23.609 What's that process like for you? Oh, that process 00:22:23.609 --> 00:22:27.369 was, I was, Marco asked me to officially come 00:22:27.369 --> 00:22:32.710 into the band around 1st of April. So when he 00:22:32.710 --> 00:22:35.089 asked me, you know, 1st of April, that's April 00:22:35.089 --> 00:22:38.230 Fool's Day. I thought when he asked me, he was 00:22:38.230 --> 00:22:40.230 kidding, you know, fooling around with me. But 00:22:40.230 --> 00:22:44.470 it was true. He wanted me. the band and it wasn't 00:22:44.470 --> 00:22:48.109 a joke. So around that time he officially asked 00:22:48.109 --> 00:22:52.950 me to come into the band and from that time he 00:22:52.950 --> 00:22:55.990 already knew the setlist. It had a minor, you 00:22:55.990 --> 00:23:01.450 know, switcheroos and that stuff. I had a long 00:23:01.450 --> 00:23:04.190 time, I had two months to prepare the whole... 00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:10.990 show. I'm a good sight reader, I read music really 00:23:10.990 --> 00:23:17.309 well, so I did a method. First I transcribed 00:23:17.309 --> 00:23:23.900 the whole song, I did a song per day. That was 00:23:23.900 --> 00:23:30.660 the whole process. And while I transcribed the 00:23:30.660 --> 00:23:35.559 songs, I have a good ear memory. I can remember 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:40.539 the melodies and parts. So it was like I wrote 00:23:40.539 --> 00:23:45.440 all down and I was playing through the song with 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:51.980 my hit music. And after that, I kind of Bit by 00:23:51.980 --> 00:23:55.200 bit, I've moved out the sheet music and I played, 00:23:55.259 --> 00:23:58.900 you know, songs by heart. And that was the process 00:23:58.900 --> 00:24:05.720 for all songs. Some easier songs, I've done like 00:24:05.720 --> 00:24:09.599 two in a day, you know, that were like Mo Ivane 00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:16.420 and I don't know which one. Short ones, basically, 00:24:16.519 --> 00:24:20.380 yeah. What was the most difficult song to learn? 00:24:20.910 --> 00:24:26.670 Oh, most difficult song for me to learn? It actually 00:24:26.670 --> 00:24:29.869 isn't difficult as much as it has nine minutes 00:24:29.869 --> 00:24:35.130 of music. It's Bosta. It was on track list, if 00:24:35.130 --> 00:24:37.789 you remember, it was after Kletva Kraja Zvonimira. 00:24:37.789 --> 00:24:42.289 It was fifth, if I'm not wrong. The challenge 00:24:42.289 --> 00:24:47.990 was only because... it's a long song it's like 00:24:47.990 --> 00:24:51.750 nine minutes long and it's kind of a prog rock 00:24:51.750 --> 00:24:54.789 you know symphonic prog rock song which even 00:24:54.789 --> 00:24:57.849 has a time signatures in one part it has like 00:24:57.849 --> 00:25:01.170 two bars of nine eight and seven eight and i'm 00:25:01.170 --> 00:25:03.609 a i'm a fond of that i'm really big fan fan of 00:25:03.609 --> 00:25:08.630 uh uh time music uh that one but uh but uh two 00:25:08.630 --> 00:25:11.390 songs are really are very challenging for me 00:25:11.390 --> 00:25:15.170 to play And that are, on the concert, and that 00:25:15.170 --> 00:25:18.690 are Kletva, Klaja, Zvonimira and Čavoglave. Those 00:25:18.690 --> 00:25:22.490 were, and I'm gonna say something for your podcast 00:25:22.490 --> 00:25:25.089 exclusively. When we were playing Čavoglave, 00:25:25.210 --> 00:25:31.450 I had a big cramp on my, in my leg on, how's 00:25:31.450 --> 00:25:35.170 that, remind me please, Stanko, the muscle one, 00:25:35.309 --> 00:25:39.250 the muscle on your leg. Your calf muscle? Calf 00:25:39.250 --> 00:25:43.299 muscle, yeah, yeah. It got cramped. and so we 00:25:43.299 --> 00:25:46.079 had a like a minute before that song in the next 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:51.500 song and Bonnie the second keyboard player when 00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:54.579 the fireworks exploded you know all that debris 00:25:54.579 --> 00:26:00.299 went down and it was all on his keyboard. He 00:26:00.299 --> 00:26:04.980 needed to clean it up and I had to get rid of 00:26:04.980 --> 00:26:11.220 my cramp in the leg. That moment I will share 00:26:11.220 --> 00:26:16.940 only for you and your viewers. But then everything 00:26:16.940 --> 00:26:21.079 in the end worked out. It went well and worked 00:26:21.079 --> 00:26:24.460 out fine. It was a blessing doing that concert 00:26:24.460 --> 00:26:26.579 and I want to thank Marko and Branimir Mihailovic 00:26:26.579 --> 00:26:33.259 for calling me and having a faith in me to perform 00:26:33.259 --> 00:26:37.099 on that concert. Were you nervous at all? I mean, 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:39.599 even before leading up? No, no, no. I was very 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:42.460 excited. I was, you know, I was like a boxer 00:26:42.460 --> 00:26:46.440 going into the match. I was on, let's go, let's 00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:49.460 go, you know. I can't wait. I want to feel that, 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:53.819 you know. And before that, I played in front 00:26:53.819 --> 00:26:58.380 of 140 ,000 people in South America with one 00:26:58.380 --> 00:27:02.789 big Mexican artist. And that was, you know, from 00:27:02.789 --> 00:27:05.109 that moment after that concert, I've told myself 00:27:05.109 --> 00:27:08.269 I'm not going to play anything bigger than that. 00:27:10.430 --> 00:27:14.910 Here came Marko and he broke all the records. 00:27:15.589 --> 00:27:20.849 So, you know, the feeling is, people are asking 00:27:20.849 --> 00:27:23.130 me, what's the feeling? And the feeling is, actually, 00:27:23.230 --> 00:27:27.130 you cannot describe that feeling because that 00:27:27.130 --> 00:27:34.329 energy, the togetherness of people, you know, 00:27:34.390 --> 00:27:38.599 they all came. uh to celebrate our country and 00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:43.259 love uh love between each other and uh you know 00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:46.019 faith in god uh that's our creation you know 00:27:46.019 --> 00:27:49.799 identity uh they all came in peace and love uh 00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:54.640 so uh they they motivated us even more to perform 00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:59.539 you know uh big honor big honor yeah that's awesome 00:27:59.539 --> 00:28:01.380 not even you know the fact that you're playing 00:28:01.380 --> 00:28:03.779 in front of 500 000 people you know say just 00:28:03.779 --> 00:28:06.950 had a normal Yeah, it was like a normal bigger 00:28:06.950 --> 00:28:12.849 concert, but we had a prayer before the show 00:28:12.849 --> 00:28:19.670 and we all believe in God, all of us in the band 00:28:19.670 --> 00:28:24.049 and the production team and organizers, so that 00:28:24.049 --> 00:28:30.849 was one more thing that made us more secure during 00:28:30.849 --> 00:28:34.549 the performance and more uh confident you know 00:28:34.549 --> 00:28:38.569 that was a really important part of the performance 00:28:38.569 --> 00:28:41.849 yeah i know people in the media they were talking 00:28:41.849 --> 00:28:44.410 about you know maybe something could happen and 00:28:44.410 --> 00:28:47.009 yeah yeah yeah and there was no incidents you 00:28:47.009 --> 00:28:49.930 know there was no way and that's uh that the 00:28:49.930 --> 00:28:53.910 the media uh who were spreading that negative 00:28:53.910 --> 00:28:57.230 uh connotations were actually uh people who are 00:28:57.230 --> 00:29:03.029 against marco and his uh ideology and uh you 00:29:03.029 --> 00:29:09.890 know, how can I say that? Not everyone is super 00:29:09.890 --> 00:29:12.410 proud of Marco and his accomplishments, you know, 00:29:12.470 --> 00:29:16.150 because there are a lot of different views on 00:29:16.150 --> 00:29:22.289 religion and politics and general stuff, you 00:29:22.289 --> 00:29:27.630 know, but Marco is here to spread love and love 00:29:27.630 --> 00:29:31.880 for your country. Be proud of your of who you 00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:35.559 are and respect others and love others all religions 00:29:35.559 --> 00:29:39.500 all countries Marcos all that, you know, he I've 00:29:39.500 --> 00:29:42.839 never as I said before I never heard anything 00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:47.490 bad about anyone from him, you know Absolutely, 00:29:47.670 --> 00:29:50.109 yeah. Well, yeah, we were talking before the 00:29:50.109 --> 00:29:52.109 podcast, before we started recording, you know, 00:29:52.170 --> 00:29:55.289 you asked me if I was there, and it was crazy. 00:29:55.430 --> 00:29:57.289 I imagine it's different, you know, you're there 00:29:57.289 --> 00:29:59.470 backstage and preparing, you know, I was there 00:29:59.470 --> 00:30:02.410 with everyone attending, and it was, we turned 00:30:02.410 --> 00:30:07.289 on, I came from Shara, the Atish Dostoevich, 00:30:07.390 --> 00:30:09.309 and so we walked all the way down there, and 00:30:09.309 --> 00:30:12.339 then you turn right. uh on that bridge i forget 00:30:12.339 --> 00:30:14.859 what that oh yeah yeah but just and you look 00:30:14.859 --> 00:30:16.799 around and this is you know six hours before 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:19.000 the concert is even starting and you look around 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:21.180 and all you can see are people you're just in 00:30:21.180 --> 00:30:23.400 this yeah just people all around you all walking 00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:25.960 yeah the ocean of people yeah yeah incredible 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:28.380 can i ask you what what was your uh favorite 00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:31.460 moment from the concert or favorite song or or 00:30:31.460 --> 00:30:35.200 basically favorite moment for yourself Favorite 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:38.500 moment is tough to say. The very beginning was 00:30:38.500 --> 00:30:41.720 really cool. It was Ustani Siene, right? Siene, 00:30:41.740 --> 00:30:44.039 yeah, yeah. That was incredible. That shocked 00:30:44.039 --> 00:30:47.660 even me. Branimir told us, guys, be prepared 00:30:47.660 --> 00:30:50.799 for the first song. We're going to activate the 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:55.240 whole set of flamethrowers and fireworks. Don't 00:30:55.240 --> 00:31:01.400 get put off from your job, doing your business. 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:08.319 But I've heard when the main screens went off, 00:31:08.339 --> 00:31:10.440 you know, with fireworks, I was like, what's 00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:12.930 happening, you know? and after i saw the second 00:31:12.930 --> 00:31:15.549 one when they all delayed towers were uh throwing 00:31:15.549 --> 00:31:18.950 fireworks i said wow you know keep yourself cool 00:31:18.950 --> 00:31:22.230 man yeah yeah because you want to enjoy it too 00:31:22.230 --> 00:31:25.970 but you also have to play yeah yeah yeah we from 00:31:25.970 --> 00:31:28.890 from stage musicians we even we didn't even see 00:31:28.890 --> 00:31:31.210 the drone show you know that was you know ah 00:31:31.210 --> 00:31:36.619 but uh but we saw at the videos people posted 00:31:36.619 --> 00:31:38.400 and it was incredible yeah that was you know 00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:40.240 yeah i was going to say that it was another one 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:42.500 of my favorites okay sorry sorry to interrupt 00:31:42.500 --> 00:31:44.299 you well no yeah i mean i'm glad you brought 00:31:44.299 --> 00:31:46.180 it up because the drones were really cool to 00:31:46.180 --> 00:31:48.460 see because it's fun for us you know we see you 00:31:48.460 --> 00:31:50.259 guys playing but then we see the drones above 00:31:50.259 --> 00:31:53.339 it and yeah yeah really cool images yeah yeah 00:31:53.339 --> 00:31:56.460 symbolic images yeah cool cool the also the one 00:31:56.460 --> 00:31:58.640 part i forget which song it was but when marco 00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:03.440 ran up like upstairs with the sword. Do you know 00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:06.019 about symbolic of that sword? You know, what's 00:32:06.019 --> 00:32:10.359 the story behind that? I don't think I do. That's 00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:16.079 from, you know, the medieval, you know, I don't 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:21.160 know if it is from the medieval times, but putting 00:32:21.160 --> 00:32:26.299 the sword on the ground means peace. He's reclaiming 00:32:26.299 --> 00:32:31.500 peace and the war is over. That's a symbol of 00:32:31.500 --> 00:32:33.779 peace. Wow, I didn't even know that. Because 00:32:33.779 --> 00:32:38.480 a lot of media are promoting that as they're 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:44.579 making fake assumptions about that. They mean 00:32:44.579 --> 00:32:49.730 that it is like... war proclamation, but now 00:32:49.730 --> 00:32:54.049 it's the opposite of that. He's proclaiming peace 00:32:54.049 --> 00:32:58.549 and everything is... the war the wars are you 00:32:58.549 --> 00:33:02.190 know uh ending and uh stopping and that's that's 00:33:02.190 --> 00:33:04.750 the whole point yeah but it was cool that uh 00:33:04.750 --> 00:33:08.430 the lightning uh struck uh on the position where 00:33:08.430 --> 00:33:11.730 he yeah that's incredible yeah yeah that was 00:33:11.730 --> 00:33:14.890 really cool yeah yeah that's that's always on 00:33:14.890 --> 00:33:19.049 the song the rival of that's the song name yeah 00:33:19.049 --> 00:33:21.670 yeah yeah that part was really cool trying to 00:33:21.670 --> 00:33:23.309 think i mean everything was cool i'm trying to 00:33:23.309 --> 00:33:25.349 think of the you know top couple moments that 00:33:25.349 --> 00:33:28.049 really I mean, Javel Glavé, of course, is cool. 00:33:28.130 --> 00:33:30.150 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's probably when I felt 00:33:30.150 --> 00:33:34.009 like I saw the most flares. Oh, flares from the 00:33:34.009 --> 00:33:36.289 hands of people. Yeah, that was incredible. It 00:33:36.289 --> 00:33:41.049 was a fog of red flare smoke. Yeah, that's cool. 00:33:41.130 --> 00:33:43.630 That was cool to see and to feel that. Yeah, 00:33:43.670 --> 00:33:45.710 nice, nice. It's crazy to show, you know, my 00:33:45.710 --> 00:33:47.289 American friends, because, you know, we don't 00:33:47.289 --> 00:33:49.089 have, people don't have, you know, flares over 00:33:49.089 --> 00:33:50.910 here in concerts and stuff. So they, you know, 00:33:50.930 --> 00:33:52.490 they see that and they're like, oh my God, you 00:33:52.490 --> 00:33:56.859 know, that's crazy. Nice one, nice one. Like 00:33:56.859 --> 00:33:58.799 that and for, you know, World Cup celebrations 00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:02.019 and stuff. I feel like it's a similar vibe, you 00:34:02.019 --> 00:34:06.000 know. We are very proud and we are all together 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:11.880 when anyone from Croatia is performing in the 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:15.760 world and the Croats are very proud of themselves, 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:21.880 you know, as folk people. And that's our identity, 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:25.480 you know. We are really proud. for accomplishing 00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:30.000 on the world stages and that's really nice. Yeah, 00:34:30.099 --> 00:34:32.280 definitely. Well, Mario, unfortunately, we only 00:34:32.280 --> 00:34:34.559 have a couple more minutes here and I have a 00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:36.820 few more. It went so fast. I know, it went by 00:34:36.820 --> 00:34:40.139 so fast. I wish we had more time. I want to ask 00:34:40.139 --> 00:34:42.780 two more quick questions. Oh, yeah. Okay. First 00:34:42.780 --> 00:34:46.440 one though, music related. What would be your 00:34:46.440 --> 00:34:49.300 walkout song, your entrance song if you had to 00:34:49.300 --> 00:34:52.590 have like a fight? Like say a boxing. Like a 00:34:52.590 --> 00:34:56.530 fight from a Marcos repertoire or anything, anything. 00:34:57.489 --> 00:35:01.190 Oh, that's tough. I've never really, really thought 00:35:01.190 --> 00:35:12.559 about it. Entrance song. Let's make it a funny 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:15.639 one. I will go with the Blackbird from The Beatles. 00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:21.480 All acoustic guitars. That would be cool. That 00:35:21.480 --> 00:35:24.539 would be maybe a diversion for an enemy, you 00:35:24.539 --> 00:35:28.059 know, opponent. to you know yeah to throw them 00:35:28.059 --> 00:35:30.739 off a little bit oh yeah throw him off you know 00:35:30.739 --> 00:35:32.480 yeah that's funny i thought you were gonna say 00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:36.099 metallica or something oh yeah yeah yeah he would 00:35:36.099 --> 00:35:37.880 that would probably be confusing for the opponent 00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:41.039 for sure oh yeah yeah i always i just thought 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:43.480 it's a fun question for me to ask musicians because 00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:45.300 i always think about that and i box a little 00:35:45.300 --> 00:35:47.400 bit too so i always wonder like oh if i had a 00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:52.159 fight you know well well nice But as far as Thompson 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:55.940 goes, I used to think that Kletva Kralje Zvonimira 00:35:55.940 --> 00:36:00.059 would be a cool one. That's a really great song 00:36:00.059 --> 00:36:04.519 for entrance. Yeah, that's cool. But I know Hrgovic, 00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:06.619 you know, famous Croatian boxer. He does Geni 00:36:06.619 --> 00:36:08.139 Kameni. That's really cool, too. Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:13.920 On one match, I've seen Marko singing with him. 00:36:13.940 --> 00:36:15.300 Yeah, inside the ring. I don't know if you've 00:36:15.300 --> 00:36:18.320 seen that video. That was also super cool, yeah. 00:36:18.739 --> 00:36:23.519 Yeah, super cool. So, Mario, you've got the scene 00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:25.960 concert coming up. That's August. Yeah, yeah. 00:36:26.340 --> 00:36:29.400 It's the 4th of August, yeah. 4th of August, 00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:31.099 okay, coming up. Yeah, the day before Oluja. 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:33.530 Yeah, yeah. oh okay that makes sense i didn't 00:36:33.530 --> 00:36:36.869 realize that um and you know leading up to that 00:36:36.869 --> 00:36:39.269 and just here at the end of the podcast we only 00:36:39.269 --> 00:36:41.389 have about a minute left but i want to thank 00:36:41.389 --> 00:36:43.250 you for coming on but this is something that 00:36:43.250 --> 00:36:45.929 i ask all the guests when they come on but what 00:36:45.929 --> 00:36:49.289 to you makes croatia special or being croatian 00:36:49.289 --> 00:36:54.969 uh what makes being it is special to be a musician 00:36:54.969 --> 00:37:01.289 in croatia and to be a musician a musician with 00:37:01.289 --> 00:37:04.849 identification of being Croat, if you know what 00:37:04.849 --> 00:37:08.769 I mean. As I said before, we are very proud of 00:37:08.769 --> 00:37:16.409 doing anything Croatian -wise and based on everything 00:37:16.409 --> 00:37:23.489 other than music, so being a musician and having 00:37:23.489 --> 00:37:28.559 that proud characteristics, a proud character 00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:35.199 in myself. It is a big thing to be inspired by 00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:39.500 music and to perform and to perform on a very 00:37:39.500 --> 00:37:47.159 big level. So that identification helps me being 00:37:47.159 --> 00:37:51.179 an even better musician, if you know what I mean. 00:37:53.089 --> 00:37:55.110 That's my answer, you know. Yeah, absolutely. 00:37:55.389 --> 00:37:57.929 100 % agree. Well, Mario, thank you so much for 00:37:57.929 --> 00:37:59.289 taking the time. Thank you very much.