GIG REVIEW: LAMENT NAD SOMBOROM (27.4.24)

A little while ago, i was invited to perform at Sombor and this was my opportunity to participate in such a small Vojvodinian town, as well as visiting it for the first time. It is located an hour away from Novi Sad and just close in-between the borders: Croatia from the West and Hungary from up North.

On that gig, it has been revealed to me that i would be performing along with Sombor's newcoming local act Getintherobot, Idiedthisfebruary and Quasarborn from Novi Sad. Before the announcement, the local folx wanted to invite me as a surprise guest, because one of the member celebrated their birthday that day. However, the organiser blew that surprise for all of us, thus having my name on the poster for all to see. Although the outcome was so lame, i was, nevertheless, very happy to be performing along with my good friends at one gig. I've always wanted to perform along with them as much as they want to perform along with me, and this was a dream come true.

Anyway, as i came to Sombor by bus, Klemo, the guitarist of getintherobot and his girlfriend came to pick me up and showed me around the town. It was all clean and the scenery was all green, which was however ridden by right wing corruption. They'd tell me all the stories of how the entire town being full of drug addicts and how the pair have faced oppression from the police, simply for looking differently. Not only that, i was also told that the Russian people who took refuge in Serbia, aren't even allowed to do anything they'd want, e.g. touring with the band, otherwise, they'd be deported back to Russia (unless they have a dual citizenship), which is, in my opinion the most depressing thing i've ever heard.

As we made it to the Dve Krigle Debele venue, we've waited for the boss to open up at 6PM. The February's and Quasarborn (both from Novi Sad) came to and we all took time to practice once more, as well as doing a sound check and getting warmed up while people are coming around. Since some of our sets are pretty short, the entire event begins at 10PM.

After the thorough discussion between the organisers and the bands, they decided that i, as Eva Ras, would start the event. I didn't know what would come to this, but i didn't mind about it. Duka of the February's insisted he'd be in charge of taking pics of my set with my camera, and did so with amazing results. Strahinja, the bday boy and the bassist of the Robots had this to say about my set:

"The opener for the gig ''Lament Over Sombor'' was Eva Ras.
A one-man ''jack-of-all-trades-of-balkan-emo'' screamo project by Filip.

He enters the stage with his exorcism-like performance which indulged the crowd 

with huge amount of shock and took everyone by surprise (since that kind of shows 

are not usual in this place).

As the body rises so does the ambient of the nightmarish/gloomy background music 

which introduces us into the starting track for the night. With raging screams 

and thundering instrumentals we enter the emo night through Filip's 

genius design.

Through his setlist we stumbled upon various kinds of screamo songs including 

a cover of Placebo's Nancy Boy, which brakes every form of toxic-masculinity 

and brings out the light out of him and shines upon all of us present in the 

venue. Short but remarkable is how would i put it for his show, since really 

it was a show, not a gig.

Listening his performance for the first time live was one of the best gifts 

i could imagine for a birthday party, since i grew my music-listening 

experience based on his lists.

Unforgettable and impressed, i cannot wait for the next show and hopefully, 

will be able to attend one!

Thanks for great time, Eva Ras!"

Special thanks to Stefan for the pics!

Up next is Sombor's newcoming Getintherobot (whose track i've reviewed on), followed suit. After their debut single 'Arsonist', they told me that the stuff afterwards will be more emoviolence focused. So when they took their turn, they weren't wrong. It was definitely the most exciting thing i've ever witnessed. The band also took their time to celebrate their member's birthday, which was very sweet.

Strahinja, celebrating his bday.

Up next is Novi Sad's Prog Thrash Metal band Quasarborn. Now, Prog isn't my thing, per se, neither do i hate it. BUT to my surprise, i realized that Dimitrije of Nabod is playing for the band. You could tell that he's been pretty busy lately. Anyway, Quasarborn kicked off and got everyone headbanging for good 30-or-so minutes. And as i got out for the fresh air, someone else told me that one of the members crowdsurfed, to my surprise. So, they pretty much ate up most of the venue lol.

And finally, Novi Sad's Idiedthisfebruary were the last to take the stage. Every time they hit off, they come off more brutal than ever before. The crowd got more rabid, everyone moshed, thrashed and grabbed the mic to sing along, more crowdsurfings emerged. It was a fucking beautifully intense shitshow <3

The gig in Sombor for me and everyone else on board is definitely something unforgettable this year. I've met so many new people there and visited the town for the very first time, it's been quite an adventure. Looking forward to performing there in August again. MAKE VOJVODINA EMO AGAIN!

GIG REVIEW: REFLECTION + SPASIBO @ KC ZIVA

Ah, Živa. It's been a damn while since i visited, let alone performed there since that place was just newly opened. It's one of the DIY venues ran by folks who run places such as MKC Kombinat, Matrijarsija and Fijuk Sajam etc. It takes place in the bunker in the middle of Novi Beograd. When i came to, the lack of oxygen was extremely present. You could tell how long has it been laying here, that place hasn't been touched for decades. Nowadays, the air quality has sort of gotten better the second time i visited the venue.

Currently Belgrade-based Russian shoegaze/emo Spasibo started off the event with their statements in English and in Russian regarding the situation their country has been placed in, as well as the Moscow massacre not long ago, stressing that "it has been a catastrophe for all of us" and that "violence is never a solution for the future". The band also states that their lyricism deals with accountability and being compassionate with one another before kicking off their set.

Throughout their activity, Spasibo played various amounts of genres, ranging from Neo-Psychedelia, Hard Rock, Krautrock to Math Rock, Post-Hardcore and Emo. It took them a long time to explore for their own sound.

On this stage, Spasibo tends to lean a bit into the emocore/post-hardcore vibes from the 80's and 90's, with the frontman clean singing and borderline shouting, somewhere along the lines of Rites of Spring, At The Drive-In and Jimmy Eat World. Nearly the entire setlist probably consists of songs from their latest album Terpeniye, save for the shoegazy closure.

Tons of people who are packing the venues are from Russia and Serbia, which goes to show how established Spasibo is during their decade-long career, well before the war, as you can see in the pictures displayed here.

The crowd had carried along their set lasting a half an hour, warming up to the next thing that will eventually shake 'em up. Reflection from Gornji Mladenovac follows up with their usual introduction in Serbian before stomping at the crowd with bass pedals. They're active since 2017 and dropped their debut album Different Paths in 2019, borrowing lots of Melodic Hardcore groups such as Have Heart. They've given out all of their energy to lift up the crowd and even teased their new song.

This is definitely my first time seeing them live. I've been trying to catch up to them and ended up being held back by other day-to-day duties in my life and i finally took an opportunity to see them this time and i was completely intrigued by their raw energy. I figured this would be the next band to review for this blog.

I absolutely do not regret coming here, as it is vital that every active DIY venues of Serbia invites as many emo/screamo acts as possible. I even heard from my friends there that an emo/screamo show will take place in there this June, so i am completely fucking stoked. This is what keeps this otherwise dying scene alive.

Please do not forget to check these aforementioned bands out. They totally deserve your support.

Spasibo

Reflection