srijeda, 6. ožujka 2013.

The Gardnerz - Paradise garden of doom metal


The Gardnerz - Exiting reality teaser



Welcome and thank you for being our guest.

Thank you for your time, I'm happy I can answer your questions.

To introduce you to our public, who is Vedran Benčić?

I'm drummer from Osijek, to be more specific, from Višnjevac, place settled near Osijek. Only a small soul disposed to a sudden weight gain, premature losing of my hair and bad jokes.

When did you discover your love towards metal?

To be honest, I don't know, but I was raised in music family. My father is musician and I mostly listened to bands like Dire Straits, ZZ Top, Parni Valjak, Bijelo Dugme and omnipresent Balašević, most of the stuff which my parents listened. Also I have 5-years older sister which was always resistive, then I came to punk and grunge after her, so I listened Nirvana, that was pathway until I discovered Metallica, which shortly after became center of my world. Later I've done some researches of other drummers, so in 1999. I discovered band  Dream Theater, then later other progressive bands which were available as swedish Pain Of Salvation etc. Of course, among everything, there were black, death and all other possible genres of metal thanks to Andrej Bartulović who opened door for me to the bands like Cradle Of Filth, Man's Child, Dimmu Borgir and drummers as Nick Barker. I'd probably never access to that because I was 14-15 years old, and then nothing was developed as today.

Which were your first musical steps, local band or?

According to stories od my parents , I started to play drums when I was 4 years old. Then I played for four more years songs like ''Ja se konja bojim'', ''Kad se prijatelji rastaju'' and similar. I remember I played with one bat, and in the other hand, I had hammer stick. Then there came Azra, Crvena Jabuka etc. I made a little progress as drummer, so my first live appearence was as a fifth grade pupil, I played on mini prom of the eighth grade pupils, so then few bands were formed, as Full Contact, and mine first concert in Osijek was in Black and White with band, then well-known to Osijek public, Tarzan u Dunsflaši, where drummer Cvita had played, and I was afraid of that guy as of devil, he seemed super energetic and mean. I was only a kid who was standing at the bar next to my mother and drank Fanta. After that, by Siniša Šerga in '98 I accessed to the band Uziel and until '03 we played together across whole Croatia, and I even published demo called Too-Much-Crazy-Mind-Demo and one video for song Bitterman. Soon after that, I became member  of a band called New Millenium, which later changed name into Savage Harmony. With them, I published demo called Lost in Time. We played mostly in Slavonija and Baranja, as I can remember. Then I formed, together with Savage Harmony's keyboardist, band called Handful of Nothing, in which Zoran Mišić was a singer. We separated our paths after one year, and band changed name into Insomnis. Later I was called back into the band, and played as Zoran's drummer on a concerts also for a year.

What is playing in your player when you have spare time, which bands?

Currently I'm listening to Katatonia - Dead End Kings, Siddhartu all the time, old Pain Of Salvation… Recently I found out  the world of Devin Townsend, which has also its place in player, and it's unknown to me how I didn't discovered that earlier. Also, there is Porcupine Tree and king of the drums Gavin Harrison. At this point, I prefer easier music, because of recording and mixing The Gardnerz songs, so I need little rest for my body and soul.

It's interesting that you are a drummer in a Swedish band, how did it happen for you to colaborate with a band from such country far away?

Well, since I had experience, bad experience, when it comes to Osijek, i had to resort to something like that, my sister lives in Sweden so I went to visit her. When i was there, I had an idea to see what's on „the market“. I found a band The Gardnerz, applied for an ad with my bad english skills. I was invited for an audition for which I was 3 hours late because everything is upside-down when it comes to trains in Sweden, or maybe here, depends on how are you looking at things. I went 170 km in different direction, which tells alot about my orientation skills. But, I made it to my goal, realising that a goal itself is a postulate for failure, and that a goal should be determined when you come to your destination. My audition went well and now I'm a member of The Gardnerz.



Explain to people who are The Gardnerz.

The Gardnerz is a swedish doom/death metal band wich was formed in 2008. Band was founded by Wilhelm Lindh (guitar), members of the band are Francisco Martin (bass) and Niclas Ankarbranth (vocal). Band published their first album The System of Nature in 2011. for Abyss Records. I wasn’t playing on that album, my involvement in The Gardnerz starts on It All Fades EP which was released in 2012. also by Abyss Records and it contains 6 songs, one of which is a cover for Transilvanian Hunger by Darkthrone.
                                                                                                                    
The Gardnerz was named after an Epicurus saying: “The necessities of life are a garden, good friends and  good food”. The Gardnerz represent life, and everybody is supposed to take care of their garden, their friends and not to stick their noses in other people’s business or gardens.I'm just a drummer there, I just hang around with the rest of the band, I'm not predisposed for phylosophical enterpretations of the world.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           You play doom/death metal. How is that accepted in Europe, more specifically Scandinavian countries, because we know that it is not so popular here?

When it comes to that I'm not sure how is it accepted there, all I know that they are much more advanced when it comes to that. We, in fact, are behind the entire world. You won't be crucified because of the music you listen to. People here still live in the 18th century, they still consider religion relevant, so the type of music which is a contradiction to religion itself can not be popular here. Then again, that type of music does not have many followers or audience. It has a small but strong audience, people who support, understand or think the same way. As long as Ekrem Jevrić and Martina Romić have the attention of the media, people in celibacy give lectures about sexual education, we are going to be a country in which a „cow drags the tram“. It means we are behind in every aspect, music is one of those aspects.

How does your colaboration with the band even work, do you travel there or...?

I was travelling for a while, i spent 3 months in Croatia, 3 months in Sweden. It turned out to be a big expence for me, so i decided to be in Croatia, until we get a gig or something else for the band. Or until I get a visa so I can run and never look back.

What's the metal music scene in Sweden and neighboring countries? Most people who listen metal music see scandinavian countries as a ''Metal heaven''. Is that true?

I do believe so, because many people listen to bands like In Flames, Soilwork, Meshuggah, Scar Symmetry, Pain of Salvation, Hammerfall. I think that they have biggest export of quality music, and that only USA is stronger than them in music industry, but not by quality but by quantity which doesn't mean they don't have great bands. I've listed only Swedish bands so far, but then again, there are many other scandinavian bands like Dimmu Borgir, Children of Bodom, Nightwish, etc...



When you compare the ''metal world'' in Europe and Sweden and local, what can you tell from perspective of a man who's seen both?

Well, to be honest, I think that it's easier to succeed there as a musician, which doesn’t mean it’s easy. It’s easier to be a musician, because you have some support there, starting from the fact that it’s easier to afford a drum set of a one monthly minimal paycheck. But here you must think about a loan and stuff. Probably most Swedish people would dissagree with me, but I just see it that way.

I was in a Malmo festival, where all around the town were strategically positioned stages. It had everything, and itlasted for eight days. Bands from all metal genres played for free so I had a chance to see Andi Almqvist-a, Clutch, Mike Patton and Mondo Cane, Opeth and Kaizers Orchestra, which was one of the best concerts I've seen so far. There were also many other underground bands.

As I said, it's easier to do something if Tonči Huljić doesn't control the musical monopoly. We have more and more powerfull metal scene, but there are no really good ways or sollutions for the state we are living in now. We have a sea of quality bands (Thrown To The Dogs, Defiant, Warhead) which are choked by the fact that they are here in Croatia. These bands do gigs regullary, and definitely don't have what they deserve. Nobody wants to give them a real chance. In all of this years of playing with bands I've managed to get a full pack of beers and ten coupons for hamburgers. So you see how they respect us as artists in Croatia.

When you come to a meeting for some gig (I will not name the club) and they tell you that you should pay for the ZAMP, security guards, posters, arrange everything with police and then get almost nothing from it. It really has no sense at all, and this happened to me. You want to have a gig for free so people can see and hear you, and then it turns out that you have to cash out a lot of money and organise everything for that club. People need to understand that playing an instrument is a many year process. It is same for writing lyrics, making musical arrangements and many more things. We invest a lot of our time and effort, and it isn’t right to play for a ration of ćevaps, because people will come to the gig, listen the band and fill up the cashiers with money. It's just not right.

Your band published an album, and EP, and this summer you will be releasing a 7'' vinyl. Can you give us a short review on first two and maybe some announcements for 7’’ vinyl?

The System Of Nature is our first record, and cover for it was desinged by Daniel Develish Johnsson. There are ten songs on the album and two covers from Vulcano and Winter. Lyrics are anti religious and anti theistic and are connected in a way which we consume our lives and buy the things that aren't so neccesary. Lyrics were written by Wilhelm and Niclas, and Wilhelm was the author of all musical arrangements.

''It All Fades'' is an EP which talks about how the planet we live in today will eventually purge the very existence of us. And of course, on EP there are strong anti religious attitudes. Cover for  EP was designed by Daniel Develish Johnson.

As for 7'' vinyl, it will be named Exiting Reality, on it will be two songs named Exiting Reality 1 and Exiting Reality 2. Lyrics were written by Niclas, and they talk about how our own actions have influence in our surroundings. Second part is about how to be released from all that. It's most important to see what will people say about this after they listen to it, and how will they understand the lyrics.

Cover designer for it was All Things Rotten (Maggot Meister) and I think that he did a fantastic job. He is also the author for Erasing Bad Specimen T-shirts which will be available soon.

The number of your concerts and gigs, is it big ? And are any of these scheduled, and what are your other plans besides 7“ record?

At themoment, no. It's hard to organize all that because I'm in Croatia and the rest of the b Band is all around Sweden. Two days ago I've found out that we were in arrangements for some concerts in South America in September, but we don't know anything yet, we are still negotiating. I'm working at some of my own things apart from „The Gardnerz“ and it is also in the negotiation phase so I can't say anything is certain yet.



You have a few endorsements, can you tell us something about it?

Yes, I have an endorsement from „Serial Drummer“ company which produces drummer suits and the company is very active in the drummer world (some of the artists are: Mario Duplantier – Gojira, George Kollias – Nile and many others) , and I also use „Artbeat“ drum sticks with my own signature and I would want to thank Janos Toth for fulfilling a drummers dream world wide . I don't have some technic and I often brake my sticks, but not these. When  I will be able to record an EP with one pair of drum sticks, that will be a miracle. And recently I've made a deal with „Vruk“ drum pedals (Chris Adler – Lamb Of God) and I also wanna thank mister Vruk and everyone for their support.

Can you live of metal music today? Is it still „hot“ or does the metal influence in the world starting to drop, apart from here. And the only metal bands that can survive are old and famous ones?

I have no idea what are the chances for that. I'm sure that I will never be a millionaire and I'm not obsessed with it, I'm just trying to secure my incomes for a normal and a stable life by doing the thing I love the most, drumming. Quiting is not an option, I'll do my best just like the others for a happier life. It's not all in the money, greater satisfaction is to play and to be active and creative. It is something that fullfills you and keeps you satisfied.  Playing music (drumming) doesn't have to be competition, we're all good at something, and the money is just a factor that unfortunately we all have to worry about, but it doesn't bring the joy as playing (drumming).



In the end, we bring it once more, what are „The Gardnerz“  announcing for this year?

We announce one fine single called „Exiting Reality“ which will be launched  in the summer by „ Abyss Records“. We believe that this is our best yet to come. Until the second album which will be better and we'll be more satisfied.

Thank you for this interview, the Mixeta team is wishing you good luck in your career, and a bunch of gigs and hard rocking.

Thank you for this interview and for your support. It's not over unit the fat drummer plays!

The Gardnerz links

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