DREAMWALK

Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Year active: 1999 - 2015, 2020

Members: Jeremi Slak (vocals), Tamir Gostiša (guitar), Jaro Jelovac (guitar), Tomaž Vidmar (bass), Jaka Skočir (drums)

Related bands: SULO, Weed, Skyline Arcade, Hit By Plane, The Toronto Drug Bust

FFO: Finch, Underoath (early), The Used, Story of the Year, Funeral for a Friend, Enter Shikari, Leaf-Fat

Though stylistically leaning toward melodic post-hardcore, Dreamwalk emerged from the same Slovenian hardcore infrastructure that fed the wider Yugoviolence circuit.

Formed in Ljubljana 1999, Dreamwalk emerged from the fusion of members of the hardcore band SULO and the high-school project Weed. The band’s earliest phase revolved around Multimedia Records, Lonelyboy, and the release Far Away from LA, a melodic hardcore/skate punk album that gained notable exposure among Slovenian youth through repeated airplay on Videospotnice.

A decisive turning point came with the arrival of guitarist Tamir Gostiša, whose technical ability and strong musical personality reshaped the band’s direction. Together with Jeremi, he co-wrote Three Days Later - the band’s defining post-hardcore release and only record with notable international reach. Tracks such as “What If,” “Underneath,” and “Roses” gave Dreamwalk modest reach beyond Slovenia, including live performances in Varaždin and Pula and shared stages with Dead By Mistake, Things Fall Apart (later Kinoklub), and Leaf-Fat.

Internal conflicts led to a breakup and Jeremi’s departure. Subsequent projects followed: Jeremi formed Skyline Arcade (which released a full-length), while other members briefly continued under Hit By Plane. Tamir later joined the indie rock outfit The Toronto Drug Bust.

Years later, a reunion brought Dreamwalk back together. Through Brain Fuse Records, Three Days Later was reissued digitally, and the band released Next Big Thing, a pop rock track which received the MTV Play Award during the MTV Adria era. This period marked their strongest domestic concert run before family, career commitments and personal issues gradually dissolved the project once again - this time amicably.

In its final phase, Jeremi recorded additional material with a new lineup, including singles “Paper Hearts,” “Who I Am,” and “Battlefields & Butterflies,” though the band did not return to regular live activity.

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Iako su stilski naginjali ka melodičnom post-hardcoreu, Dreamwalk je potekao iz iste slovenačke hardcore infrastrukture koja je hranila širi Yugoviolence krug.

Formirani 1999. godine, Dreamwalk su nastali spajanjem članova hardcore benda SULO i srednjoškolskog projekta Weed. Najranija faza benda bila je vezana za Multimedia Records, Lonelyboy i izdanje Far Away from LA, melodični hardcore/skate punk album koji je stekao zapaženu vidljivost među slovenačkom omladinom zahvaljujući čestom emitovanju u emisiji Videospotnice.

Prelomni trenutak dolazi dolaskom gitariste Tamira Gostiše, čija su tehnička sposobnost i izražena muzička ličnost promenile pravac benda. Zajedno sa Jeremijem, koautor je izdanja Three Days Later - ključnog post-hardcore materijala benda i jedinog koji je ostvario značajniji međunarodni domet. Pesme poput „What If“, „Underneath“ i „Roses“ omogućile su Dreamwalku skroman iskorak van Slovenije, uključujući nastupe u Varaždinu i Puli, kao i deljenje bine sa bendovima Dead By Mistake, Things Fall Apart (kasnije Kinoklub) i Leaf-Fat.

Unutrašnji konflikti doveli su do raspada i Jeremijevog odlaska. Uslijedili su novi projekti: Jeremi je osnovao Skyline Arcade (koji je objavio album), dok su ostali članovi nakratko nastavili pod imenom Hit By Plane. Tamir se kasnije pridružio indie rock bendu The Toronto Drug Bust.

Godinama kasnije dolazi do ponovnog okupljanja. Preko Brain Fuse Records, Three Days Later je reizdat u digitalnom formatu, a bend objavljuje Next Big Thing, koji osvaja MTV Play nagradu tokom ere MTV Adria. Taj period obeležio je njihovu najintenzivniju domaću koncertnu fazu, pre nego što su porodične obaveze, karijere i lični razlozi postepeno doveli do novog, ovog puta sporazumnog razlaza.

U završnoj fazi, Jeremi je sa novom postavom snimio dodatni materijal, uključujući singlove „Paper Hearts“, „Who I Am“ i „Battlefields & Butterflies“, ali bend se nije vratio redovnim nastupima uživo.

TECHNICOLOR LIES

Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Year active: 2011 - 2018

Members: Srđan Janjić (vocals), Vladimir Pantić (guitar), Filip Gašić (guitar), Borko Vesković (bass), Stefan Dunjić (drums), Nikola Dimić (bass), Jovan Pavlović (drums), Mihajlo Đorović (guitar)

Related bands: Incomplete, Muerto Rico, Summer Deaths, Zicer Inc.

FFO: Taking Back Sunday, Cursive, Joyce Manor, Dreamwalk, Fall Out Boy

Technicolor Lies was an alt-rock / post-hardcore / emo-pop band from Belgrade, Serbia, formed in 2011. During their active years, they released two EPs and several standalone tracks. They shared stages with Serbian acts such as Sv. Pseta, Reflection, Young Husbands, and Incomplete, and toured the Balkans, most notably Romania and Bulgaria. After releasing a handful of singles, the band quietly disbanded. Guitarist Mihajlo Đorović later formed the project Summer Deaths and became involved with the rap collective Zicer Inc.

Their debut EP, Eclectic Youth, leans toward a more radio-friendly alternative rock and emo-pop framework, built on familiar pop-rock structures with occasional bursts of screamed vocals reminiscent of bands like Refused. Lyrically, it revolves around emotional displacement, fading youth, and post-utopian disillusionment, often framed through grand imagery - collapsed cities, dead suns, false gods - to express deeply personal feelings of isolation and exhaustion. While accessible on the surface, the EP carries a persistent sense of emptiness and unrealized promise beneath its melodic exterior.

With Wasted/Years/Broken/Words, the band noticeably hardens both its sound and tone. Screamed vocals move to the forefront, the songwriting becomes more confrontational, and the emotional focus shifts from abstract loss to accumulated damage - burnt relationships, hypocrisy, exhaustion, and self-blame. The production is more rigid and at times monotonous, which arguably mirrors the record’s themes of stagnation and burnout. While less immediate than its predecessor, the EP feels more inward-looking and abrasive, documenting the aftermath of disillusion rather than its onset.

The standalone singles (Air Max, Dementia & Daddy) released afterward sit somewhere between these two approaches, often sounding more balanced and focused, as if attempting to reconcile melody with the harsher emotional register the band had grown into.

In contrast to their relatively modest discography, Technicolor Lies were most memorable as a live band - energetic, emotionally charged, and the kind of act people would return to see multiple times. Their songs may have evolved unevenly, but their live presence consistently carried a sense of urgency that made their shows feel immediate and worth revisiting.

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Technicolor Lies je bio alt-rock / post-hardcore / emo-pop bend iz Beograda, osnovan 2011. godine. Tokom aktivnih godina objavili su dva EP-ja i nekoliko samostalnih singlova. Delili su bine sa domaćim bendovima poput Sv. Pseta, Reflection, Young Husbands i Incomplete, kao i na balkanskim turnejama, naročito u Rumuniji i Bugarskoj. Nakon objavljivanja nekoliko singlova, bend se tiho razišao. Gitarista Mihajlo Đorović kasnije je osnovao projekat Summer Deaths i uključio se u rap kolektiv Zicer Inc.

Njihov debitantski EP Eclectic Youth naginje pristupačnijem, radiofoničnom okviru alternativnog roka i emo-popa, oslanjajući se na poznate pop-rok strukture uz povremene izlive vrištavih vokala, koji podsećaju na bendove poput Refused. Tematski, tekstovi se bave emocionalnim izmeštanjem, nestajanjem mladosti i postutopijskim razočaranjem, često oblikovanim kroz grandiozne slike - srušeni gradovi, mrtva sunca, lažni bogovi - kako bi izrazili duboko lične osećaje izolacije i iscrpljenosti. Iako na površini pitom, EP ispod melodične spoljašnjosti nosi uporan osećaj praznine i neispunjenog potencijala.

Sa izdanjem Wasted/Years/Broken/Words bend primetno zaoštrava i zvuk i ton. Vrištavi vokali izlaze u prvi plan, pisanje postaje konfrontacionije, a emocionalni fokus se pomera sa apstraktnog gubitka na nagomilanu štetu - sagorele odnose, licemerje, umor i samookrivljavanje. Produkcija je rigidnija i povremeno monotona, što se može tumačiti kao odraz tema stagnacije i sagorevanja koje EP obrađuje. Iako manje neposredno od prethodnika, ovo izdanje deluje introspektivnije i abrazivnije, beležeći posledice razočaranja, a ne njegov početak.

Samostalni singlovi (Air Max, Dementia & Daddy) objavljeni nakon toga nalaze se negde između ova dva pristupa, često zvučeći izbalansiranije i fokusiranije, kao pokušaj pomirenja melodije sa grubljim emotivnim registrom u koji je bend vremenom ušao.

Uprkos relativno skromnoj diskografiji, Technicolor Lies su ostali najupamćeniji kao live bend - energični, emotivno nabijeni i onaj tip izvođača kome se publika rado vraćala. Iako se njihove pesme nisu uvek ravnomerno razvijale, nastupi uživo su dosledno nosili osećaj hitnosti koji je koncerte činio neposrednim i vrednim ponovnog gledanja.