Interview: Ivan (Nikad, Clean)

Today I have the absolute pleasure of introducing you to something truly special. "Nikad" is undoubtedly the most important screamo band that rose up from Croatia (and the Balkans in general!) during the early 2000s, largely flying under the radar of a lot of people in the West. The passion and energy that they brought in their songs has always inspired awe, thus I am thankful to Ivan for taking the time to reflect on those years and talk to me about what drove the band to such greatness. Enjoy!

1. Welcome Ivan, great to have you on the blog! Please introduce yourself and the rest of Nikad.

Hey Stefan, thanks for having me on your blog. My name is Ivan and I used to play guitar and sing for Nikad, together with Neven who played drums and Krešo who played bass and also sang.

2. How and when did you first became interested in hardcore/punk?

Unfortunately, nobody from my school, neighbourhood or my family wasn't into any kind of alternative music when I was growing up. Although, when I was still in elementary school, I was briefly introduced to some Yugoslavian new wave and punk bands (KUD Idijoti, Azra...) and some mainstream punk and alternative bands from abroad (Nirvana, Ramones, Sex Pistols...).  

But I definitely started to discover the world of punk rock when I went to high school. I remember I was seated next to a skater guy wearing Misfits t-shirt on a first day of high school. So through him and two other punk girls from my class I started to discover various bands. 

Also, during that time in the early 90's, mainstream music industry started to sign a lot of alternative/hardcore/metal bands which were definitely quite influential for me (Rage Against The Machine, Helmet, Sick Of It All...). RATM were definitely a band that introduced me to radical politics.

3. What was the state of the local underground scene back then?

Similar to the wave of major labels signing bands that I previously mentioned, the local record company Croatia Records started it's sub-label called T.R.I.P. records which released albums from local underground bands (Hladno Pivo, Majke, Overflow...). I believe that's how punk music started to be more visible to kids in Croatia.

And then when you dig deeper you found out there is a bunch of small underground bands that you never heard of. During the war years, there was not too many concerts, but after the war ended, somewhere in 95/96, people started to do more local punk gigs and even the bands from abroad started to visit Croatia. 

Since more things started to happen, more and more kids were into it and local punk bands started to pop up all around the country and scene kind of flourished. So the scene in the second half of the 90's was really vivid and diverse. A lot of bands, fanzines, shows...

4. A few years prior to Nikad, all members played in a band called Clean. What can you tell me about this project?

We basically wanted to make a first real straight edge band in Croatia. Prior to Clean there were a couple of bands with some (or even most) members who were SxE, and a couple of those bands even had some overtly SxE lyrics (Razlog Za, My Life My Dreams,...) but to my knowledge, Clean was the first all straight edge band in Croatia and we were all vegetarians at the time.

5. That band was vocal in support of a straight edge and vegetarian lifestyles. Do you still personally live by these ideologies?

Some members of Clean are still SxE and vegetarian. I've been SxE and vegetarian since 1996, went vegan in 2000 and I'm still going strong for 20+ years.

6. What sparked the decision to leave Clean and form Nikad? And what are the main differences between the two, for you personally?

I would probably say that musical differences were crucial. Three of us wanted to do something different so we formed Nikad. There are, of course stylistic differences and the fact that Nikad was not overtly SxE band, although, during the existence of Nikad, we were all vegan and SxE.

7. What were the biggest musical influences for Nikad at the time?

We were heavily influenced with all things HeartattaCk and Ebullition related. I think our biggest musical influences at the time were Portraits Of Past, Yaphet Kotto, Closure, Shotmaker, Union Of Uranus, Orchid, Swing Kids and the likes.

8. Your demo came out in early 2001. The demo was self-released under your own label "My Favourite Records", which also previously released a mini-album for Clean. The label is still active to this day, so please tell me something more about it, what motivated this idea and how it evolved over the years.

As most DIY labels start, we wanted to release music from our band and our friends bands. The first release was a mini CD from Clean, then we released the tape from our friends in band Essence and the last release of that period was a tour CD-R demo for Nikad. 

I recently resurrected the label name when my current band Ponor released its albums so I can have something that sounds more professional than "self-released" written on the back of the cover. :D

9. The cover art for the demo was done by Krešo's mom and it is a piece that truly goes nicely with the band. Did she make the art specifically for you guys? What does it represent in relation to Nikad?

Krešo's mum was teaching an art class in elementary school at that time and was drawing and painting in her free time. Krešo found that painting and thought it would fit nicely as our cover art. I don't think it represents much in relation to Nikad except that it looked nice at the time. It might mean more to Krešo but he never shared that with us. 

10. What was the initial response of the local scene to Nikad? Did you guys play a lot of shows locally? Any certain other bands you were close with?

I want to think people liked what we were doing, but I kind of believe Nikad was more appreciated locally after we disbanded. We played less than 10 shows in Croatia. 

At the time we were close with The Farewell Reason and Outre from Čakovec, Man In The Shadow from Slovenia, Analena, Usud, Chang Ffos, Amok and Senata Fox from Zagreb. Both Krešo and I also played in Senata Fox at the time. And of course, we were close with Costa's Cake House from Germany and Children Of Fall from Sweden, both which we later toured with.

11. Already 2002. was a big year for the band. You released the self-titled LP on "Fire Walk With Me", which is a label that later put out records for bands such as The Saddest Landscape, Dominic, Van Johnson, etc. Tell me something more about this, how did you get in touch with Thomas from the label?

2002 was a big and final year for the band. :) Neven spent a couple of months during 1999 in Vienna studying German and he went to some shows there and met some local punks that we later became friends with (and are still friends with some of them 20 years after). 

One of them was Thomas who ran Fire Walk With Me Records and also Yummy, a skate and record store. After hearing our demo and seeing us play in Vienna couple of times, we talked about doing a full length for his label which we did. 

Why he decided to invest time and money into some Yugo kids doing silly music is still beyond me, but we're all eternally thankful and grateful to him. I guess he was just a great guy overall and I'm sure Nikad probably wouldn't be the band it was without Thomas. Rest in peace dear friend.

12. The lyrics you wrote on almost all the releases are powerful in their simplicity, but together with the instruments they manage to tell quite a tale. What inspires you the most when writing and how do you personally craft this "less is more" style? Is it something that you consciously aim for or is it simply the way you write?

Since English is not our primary language, we were trying to be brief, make some points and be poetic at the same time. In addition to that, our songs were quite short so we couldn't fit more lyrics even if we wanted to.

13. There's a sample quote from the movie "City of Angels" in the song "This Letter Says". Is there any specific connection between the two?

That is a typical song about lost love and hearts being broken. I thing Krešo came up with that sample and it fit the mood and lyrics nicely.

14. You also recorded an amazing cover of "Hidden Wheel" by Rites of Spring. Any particular reason you chose this song? Were there any other runner-up covers that didn't make it to the LP?

Besides being influenced by the current bands at the time, we were all fans of the late 80's emo and Dischord stuff from that era. Even today, I would say that Fugazi is the best band ever, and huge infuluence to my music taste, politics and worldview. 

We were considering doing a cover from one of the bands from that era and eventually went with Rites Of Spring. I think it also has to do with knowing that Thomas, who was about to release the record, was also a big fan of the band. :)

15. The same year you joined forces with Children of Fall with who you released a split titled "Four Symptomatic Poems Of A World Gone Insane". Tell me something more about this collaboration.

Those two songs were from the same recording session as the album. We knew we would tour wit COF and decided to do a split 7" together. Due to some unforeseen circumstances it ended up being a split CD and not 7", which was kind of a bummer but it had to be done at the time.

16. There's an interesting piece of text on that split, in short, about bands coming from less privileged countries and whether or not they get equal treatment. What sparked this essay and who wrote it? And did you ever feel this on your skin, seeing as how you are coming from the Balkans that were engulfed in war just a few years prior?

I can't really remember who exactly wrote the text, but I'm sure it was one of the COF guys. We were not too concerned with that matter, but it is the fact that most modern music after WWII onward is Western-centric and mostly sang in English and for that matter band from different parts of the globe (South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa...) just didn't have the same treatment.

17. On a similar topic of the text on the split, there's this mood circling around Nikad that you guys would have been a much more popular band if you were from the "west". Realistically, you could easily stand shoulder to shoulder next to Orchid or Yaphet Kotto. What does it even mean to be a popular screamo band? And does it even matter to you? Are you happy with the noise your band managed to create?

I really don't know what would "popular screamo band" mean. We were never bothered with anything but playing the music we liked and hanging out with like minded people. The opportunity to travel around playing shows and having our music released in physical format was just a bonus. 

Of course, it is always flattering to find out that someone liked what we were doing, but it was never our intention to be popular or whatever. But I still do like the music we did and I'm quite proud what we achieved considering we had no clue what we were doing. :D

18. If I remember well, you played a show in Switzerland with Children of Fall, was this part of a larger tour? There are also two live recordings from France, which can be found on the "Spiruline: Quelques Traces​.​.​." compilation. How often did you manage to play shows outside of Croatia?

It turned out we played more shows abroad than in Croatia. The main reason is that we went on two European tours, one was a 12 day tour with Costa's Cake House and another one being a mammoth, 41 day, destined to doom, tour with Childeren Of Fall.

19. If Nikad could do a split with any band that was active at the same time, which one would you choose and why?

We had a plan to do a split 7" with Costa's Cake House contributing one original track each and one cover track of each others band, but that never saw the light of the day. CCH eventualy did a Nikad cover that is included on vinyl version of their 555 album.

I also wish that split with COF was released on vinyl as it was intended.

And if I could choose any active band at that time, I think a split with Yaphet Kotto would be nice. :D

20. Looking back at your time with the band, would you do anything differently?

Not really, I'm satisfied how the things worked out. A lot of nice memories and a lot of life lessons.

21. What was your most memorable Nikad moment?

Uh, that's a hard one... Being able to meet wonderful people all around Europe, seeing places I would probably never visit otherwise, holding the LP in our hands for the first time...

22. When did your last show take place? And what prompted the band to end afterwards?

Our last show was on June 6th, 2002 at Wommyn Not Chicks Fest in Vienna. That room in EKH was filled with friendly faces and was quite an emotional experience. We decided a couple of months earlier that we'll play the last couple of shows and end the story with Nikad, mostly due to personal reasons.

23. Probably the most important question in this interview, how does it actually feel to be ran over by a Volvo?

It feels exactly how that song sounds like. :) We decided to keep that rumbling, driving song as an instrumental and partly name it after the Volvo GL240 that Neven's father let us borrow when we needed a ride.

24. What have you been doing nowadays, 20 years after Nikad? Do you have any future band plans?

I've never stopped playing in band all these years. After Nikad disbanded, we continued with Senata Fox all the way until 2014. In 2003 I joined Amok and after Amok broke up, we formed Ponor which is still going on. 

Neven went to play drums in Radio Free Isaac, and when they disbanded he played piano in Don't Mess With Texas and later again drums in Storms. He had a brief stint as a drummer for a local mainstream emo punk band Kinoklub.

After Krešo left Senata Fox in 2003, he quit playing music. Although I think he recently started to jam again with people from The Farewell Reason. Hopefully they'll write some new music together.

25. What are your current favorite bands? What about all-time favorites?

My musical taste is quite eclectic and I listen to everything from easy listening electronica to most primitive death metal and grind. My favorite bands at the moment are Wrong, Tame Impala, Maniac, Gouge Away, Sect, Mannequin Pussy, Caribou, Burial, Gulch, the list goes on...

My all time favorites are Fugazi, Helmet, Coalesce, Shotmaker, Union Of Uranus, The Promise Ring, Rage Against The Machine, KUD Idijoti, Earth Crisis, Snapcase, Integrity, Minor Threat, Los Crudos, Strain...

26. Time for you to ask a question!

I'm just here for an interview, no questions asked. :D

27. All things come to an end... Do you have any final message to the readers?

Thank you Stefan for showing interest in Nikad and doing this interview. Dear readers - be kind, stay punk and go vegan. ;)

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Disclaimer: This interview was done way back in April 2021, but has stayed in my drafts due to reasons unknown. It coincided with the interview I did with Johan (Mihai Edrisch/Celeste), a rather big milestone for the blog, and I rode that high into oblivion basically. Thanks again to Ivan for the patience. 

Gig review: Nadja, Elin Piel

For the hundredth time, I've entered a bit of a lull period with posting things. Life has been extremely difficult in the past few months and what little energy was left to spare was used on other things. Which is somewhat sad, since I've attended a few great concerts (Wolves In The Throne Room and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, to name a few) and simply didn't have the willpower to write about. C'est la vie! 

Tour poster taken from Nadja facebook page, found here

The concert took place yesterday evening, namely 23rd of May 2023, at a venue called Oceanen in Gothenburg, Sweden. Never been to this locale before, but I must say that the choice was superb for this kind of event. Getting to the back side of the building through a cafe garden leads you to tiny half glass, half wooden entry hall which takes you to the room with a bar and a small stage at the far end. Usually I find drone and noise concerts to be a bit extra demanding on the venue and its acoustics, since if the location is not up to the task it could be quite detrimental to the experience, even more so than compared to the regular strings/drums/vocals acts. Oceanen managed to pull its weight and proved to be an excellent host for the occasion, with truly great containment of sound and a miniscule addition of its own tones which actually contributed to the whole experience. 

Elin Piel was the first to take the stage, standing in front of a small table filled to the brim with synthesizer electronics. I was instantly hooked to the sound as the venue was slowly flooded by gentle tones quickly transforming into a harsh, pulsating wall of noise. The said harshness and crackling was brought to extremes, swallowing the crowd, but periodically broken by calming blips in a sea of noise. Just when you think that the sound is on its way to become even more aggressive and nigh unbearable, it slowly swings into a kind of relaxing and almost meditative binaural blip therapy. In my mind, the entire session was a sort of a clash between this truly heavy, industrial-like monstrosity being wrapped in an innocent, nature-infused gentleness. A big part of the whole experience was witnessing how Elin shapes the soundscape, a constant moving of hands which were manipulating buttons, knobs, plugging and unplugging and rearranging the cables, swinging between the two opposites of sound. 

This part of the evening was a complete surprise to me and truly wonderful at that. I'm excited that Elin actually lives in Gothenburg, so hopefully some time in the near future I'll be able to attend another show. Definite recommendation to anyone reading this to check out Elin's work, which can be done on bandcamp here. 

Nadja

Ah, Nadja. It actually took me several deep breaths and a few minutes of contemplation to actually come up with words that will open this following paragraph. Nadja is simply one of those projects which radiate a specific kind of energy and demand a certain type of respect from the listener. Personally, I am amazed and in utter awe of long running projects which never seem to slow down their pace and in fact become more and more brilliant over time. I get similar emotions about "Envy", who bring a tear to my eye when I consider their endurance and influence on the screamo genre as a whole, about which I wrote here. Or, in a different genre, when I think of "Thou", a band with so much passion infused with inexplicable quantities of hard work and dedication to their craft for almost 20 years straight. 

Simply put, Nadja is exactly like that in their field of music. They've been creating their soundscapes ever since 2003. and have never stopped to amaze with their process of two decades of metamorphosis. Pushing the boundaries with every release, year after year of experimentation and developing their craft, they've become more marvelous with each of their steps. Even if you are not familiar with the entirety of their career, simply knowing a small amount of their repertoire and history is bound to produce a certain kind of awe in you, if anything by the sheer volume of work put into their music. 

And frankly, that being said, reviewing their live performance is rather pointless and almost dull, in comparison to the actual experience one gets on their shows. There's just this special something that Aidan and Leah do with their sound that is so powerful and beautiful, but so maddeningly indescribable and fleeting. The second they went on stage, that aforementioned power was undeniably present and the sound which they unleashed instantly had that special Nadja ingredient. The sheer amount of deafening and nigh violent audio was overwhelming, but at the same time soothing and self-reflective, both quirks so unmistakably Nadja. 

I saw them perform once before and back then I remember the drum machine was not used extensively. Now however, it seemed like an integral part in the soundscape which they were weaving and it somehow gave them a little bit of steady ground, making them a step closer to resembling a metal band, and I use this term extremely lightly. Trust me when I say that there is absolutely nothing standard or conventional about Nadja's music, instead I am merely referring to the overall structure that the use of drums adds to their song structure. Their entire performance was fused into one huge maelstrom of sound with the drums as the only solid, unmoving part. Above that loomed Leah's bass which was this omnipresent force that absolutely dictated the mood and setting of a particular section. The way she manages to mutate the ambiance and somehow grasp the entirety of the band in order to control the boundaries of what is happening is astounding. And then, amidst all that chaos comes Aidan's guitar which fights all this turmoil and sends out shockwaves of strings played in a variety of ways, tempos, and rhythms. The vastness of sound constantly remained on the highest of levels, while the groove of its message fluctuated, forming islands of well structured segments in a sea of turmoil. As you are listening it feels like you can get lost or it can easily slip into being "too much", but a solid anchor of the whole performance is the accompanying video collage running over the band.

As briefly mentioned, I previously saw Nadja live way back in 2011 in Serbia, alongside Ghone*, and reading that gig review (which you can check out here) I can't help but notice how perfectly that blog entry and this new one align. The craftsmanship of Nadja absolutely evolved over time, undeniably so, but the brilliance and awe which they leave you with is all too intangible for a review and must be experienced first hand in order to understand what these words of mine are trying to describe. Even if this type of music is not your cup of tea, you need to give it a chance because it is bound to leave you speechless. Until next time... take care everyone. 

*remember Ghone? In 2019 I showcased his entire discography, which was also followed up by an interview.