LJETNO KINO BRINGS THE ADRIATIC TO BELGRADE!

Ljetno Kino has a unique ability to take songs we all know and turn them into something completely their own. How do you choose a song – does it first have to trigger a memory, or do you simply feel, “We can turn this upside down”?

There are moments when time, place and a song come together, get under your skin, and become your music. Those famous moments most often happen in youth, which is why some people listen to the same music throughout their lives. Some songs that hit me at different stages of my life, and that can be turned upside down, are songs I play with Ljetno Kino.

Your music carries nostalgia, but it doesn’t sound nostalgic for the “good old days.” Is it possible to love the past without wanting to return to it?

The past seems to me like scattered sequences from a film I’m no longer sure whether I dreamed or actually lived. On the level of experience and the lessons from that film – whether we understand them or not – each of us is a walking version of our own past. It becomes awkward if you turn into, as Gile once described a colleague, your own cover version.

You’ve been part of Azra, Film, Vještice, Le Cinema, Ljetno Kino… When you look back at all those musical lives, which Max is the most fun to be today?

Today, I’m trying to make sure that today’s Max doesn’t become boring to himself and that his enthusiasm for being in a band doesn’t fade, because – being in a band is hard, but it’s even harder without one.

After all those bands, what is special about Ljetno Kino that you didn’t manage to find in your other projects?

Somehow, in a strange way, I’ve managed to play whatever I want with Ljetno Kino, however I want, and to a great extent, wherever I want.

What was crazier: being a young musician in the 1980s or being a musician today?

In the 1980s, we were obsessed with the idea of a better future and didn’t realize that the best was already behind us. Today, a young musician knows everything from the start. Having a good band still seems to me like the best lifeboat from an ugly reality — whether that reality is the one from the eighties, today’s, or especially the future’s.

Were bands once more like families, gangs and crews than they are today, or is that just our romanticized image of rock’n’roll?

Most bands that are built on friendship quickly fall apart, while the few that survive become a family. But not all families are as harmonious as they appear from the outside.

If you had to put together a band of musicians from the former Yugoslavia, from any era, who would you invite?

There are plenty of candidates for instrumentalists, but I wouldn’t have much trouble choosing a singer. Massimo Savić is the best singer I’ve ever shared a stage with. Because of his great voice, but even more because of the inspiring energy he sent to the musicians around him.

Is there a young artist from the regional scene who made you think, “Okay, music is in safe hands”?

There is a lot happening on that invisible scene. You often only discover them when you hear them live. The last concert that completely blew me away was KOIKOI at Močvara in Zagreb a few years ago. There are more good new bands in the world than good new songs — everyone agrees on that.

At 20, what did you think was most important in music that you now know isn’t important at all?

At 20, I was wondering whether it was better to have long or short hair in a band. Today, even bald people play.

Ljetno Kino and Vlado Divljan had a special connection. What is most precious to you from that period today?

Working with Vlado is my favorite and most relaxed part of my career. I put together a big band that looked forward to every meeting with Vlado, and that’s how happily we played, travelled and recorded together. When he was gone, sadness arrived, but within that sadness, he left us a memory of joy.

The sound of Ljetno Kino, which has become your signature, is bright and evokes a feeling of carefree summer. How did you decide that this particular sound would become the identity of your band?

Ljetno Kino started 17 years ago on the island of Brač as a trio for special occasions — playing gigs in bays and on islands where a rock band with standard equipment simply couldn’t get to. The minimal setup determined the sound, while the faster tempo came from the fact that the cassette player in my Fićo played slightly faster than normal, so during my formative years I listened to everything sped up. That concept could also be heard in the larger lineup with Vlado, who called it “acoustic punk.”

What is something Ljetno Kino could never be? Is there anything you would never compromise on?

We would never agree to play a song that we couldn’t, as you put it, turn upside down.

What can the audience expect from your upcoming performance at BitefArtCafe?

The new Ljetno Kino lineup features two excellent musicians from Argentina, Bernabe Romero on violin and Manu Romero on drums, along with Stane Kovačić on cello. Our guest will be Rok Juričić, an experienced singer and young actor, whom we will entrust with the role of the greatest gentleman of rock’n’roll for several songs that Ljetno Kino recorded with Vlado.

What does playing in a club setting mean to you compared to large venues and festivals?

If you happen to play clubs rather than arenas, there’s a better chance you’ll stay sane in this business.