The Zagreb band "Hladno pivo" will release this Monday the music video for the song "Mojoj majici" from their latest album "Dani zavrenih vrata". That was the occasion for a conversation with the always cheerful Mile Kekina, the frontman of the group that has been surprising fans and non-fans with its sound and strong lyrics for 27 years. At the beginning, he talks about the new music video and the song that is an ode to it - good t-shirts.
"The title of the song may be associated with mothers, but it has nothing to do with them. In fact, it is a track about a T-shirt, as a very important item of clothing for rockers who want to convey a message to the audience from the stage, which may not be carried by their song. The lyrics are maybe a bit self-deprecating. By the way, it's a track we've been playing for a year and a half and people had a fantastic response to it when we first played it. We didn't think we'd do a video for it, but it turned out to be a concert favorite, so that we gave the fans the opportunity to participate in its screening. They are part of the video with their favorite t-shirts. It was recorded at a concert in Šalata and I think it's a real little masterpiece," announces Kekin.
The end of the song "My Shirt" says that you feel best in a white shirt, without the message. Do you sometimes run out of text, without a message?
Yes, very often, whenever people expect me to say something important. Those high expectations usually leave me speechless. And the message of the song is that "the only T-shirt in which I can breathe freely is the one in which nothing is written". That's why the end is like that, lighter and more relaxing, because a person is perhaps the most relaxed when there is no comment.
You released the album "Days of Closed Doors" in April. How the audience reacted to the new tracks.
It is an album that was created in these areas and that deals with the mentality in these areas. It's very long, there are even 15 songs and people respond very well to them. I'm saying this from my experience as a concert band, because we see ourselves as a concert band. We don't live from selling CDs, or from copyrights, but only from performances, traveling and the stage. It was important for us that the audience accepted the songs at the performances, which happened.
A closed door is associated with alienation, isn't it?
Well yes. This is the spirit of these times, and it is an interesting phenomenon that there are more and more social networks and less and less society. That is the real paradox of our time. We have become terribly lonely and alienated, as far as close relationships with other people are concerned, while we are all very active and accepted on social networks. Well, that's one way people can take this title. Some asked us if maybe we were thinking about what is happening in Europe now, about the closure of countries, if maybe we predicted everything... But, when we were making the album, there was no way in sight that all this would happen. I don't know, I like to leave the headlines to people to interpret.
You often sing about Croatia and its social problems. Do you still find this space so inspiring?
I have to admit I'm running away from it a bit now. In recent years, I have received the stamp of an engaged person, people are used to me reacting to everything vividly, they constantly ask me to participate in various petitions and actions. However, I must be careful not to forget that I am, above all, a rock musician, not a professional activist. And yes, our climate, both Croatia and Montenegro are inspiring for a person to write about social phenomena and problems. Wish I had less inspiration one day, for that matter, but I think that's a distant and uncertain future.
You have been on stage for 27 years. What you know now that you didn't know then. What would you do differently with this brain?
Well, I probably wouldn't have signed some contracts, maybe I would have cut some people out of my life earlier, I wouldn't have suffered so long, maybe I would have worked a little harder on my musical education... But, when I look back, I think that we are with this made a lot with modest talents, so I can be satisfied, because I didn't have to change band members much, which is always the most painful thing for a musician. I am glad that we remained the same team, with the same interests as before and a great team. Well, I'm glad about that.
How is it that you are always in the mood to talk to journalists, that you don't have an iota of grumpiness?
It's always a winning combination of alcohol and drugs. You know, when a man mixes it, he can laugh all day long (laughs). Well, I guess I'm like that by nature, I'm a person who is not prone to discouragement. It also tightens me up a bit before going to bed, but I'm quite good during the day. At night, I get that hellebore-chapra, so I'm sad, but during the day I'm always in a good mood.
I thought conducting was waving in the air
At the moment, we are broadcasting "Scoundrels and Princesses", in which you had an effective role. Are you still acting?
Well, I did some acting from time to time, I had some small roles in some movies. Now I am currently participating in the music TV show Maestro, where I conduct, now I threw myself into it. I thought that conducting was waving in the air, looking at everything, except for the notes, but now I see that it's not quite like that, and that I don't do it very well. That's why now I'm learning every day about classical music, about metrics, beats and rules of that genre.
Bonus video:
