For more than three decades that they have been on the music scene, the Children of Bad Musicians have not had many opportunities to play in Montenegro. However, in an interview with "Vijesti", one of the founders and bassist of the band Zoran Živković Zika hopes that this will change, because before autumn they will have the opportunity to play in Herceg Novi.
"We are coming to Herceg Novi. On September 2 at the Strip Festival. "We really rarely come to Montenegro, even though we are brothers," says Žika at the beginning of the conversation.
In these three and a half decades, they managed to gain an army of fans thanks to the authentic sound that they have been faithful to since the beginning of their career. They have only four discography albums behind them. Although they were formed in 1988, the general public only heard about them two years later when they won the Youth Festival in Subotica.
From then until today, their performances are decorated with incredible energy not only on stage, but also in the audience, and we saw this recently at their performance at OK Fest. After the concert, when asked "if this is how the children of bad musicians sound, then what do the children of good musicians sound like", Živković answered:
“(Laughs) We'll never know. That name has gone, I think it's even a little more famous than us (laughs). There are always some questions about him, and this was good," he said.
The children of bad musicians started at the end of the 80s, and released their first album in the 90s.
"The first time we played at the Academy, which no longer operates as a club, was in '89. year, I know because I saved the flyer made by the then editor and a great artist from 92. - Fleka”, recalled Žika.
At that time, dance music was in full swing, and as the Children of Bad Musicians struggled with current trends, Žika says:
"At one time there was a total gap. Nothing happened on the big stage, especially sometime in '92. year, which gave us open arms to operate wherever we can. We played in very small places around Belgrade - Inđija, Pazovo, wherever we could we played, and in most of those places they were the first organized concerts in general because no one had come before us. We enjoyed the whole process and that's what helped us survive that awful time. At that moment, a bunch of friends from childhood and school also left us - mostly they went abroad, and some went to war," Žika recalled.
Even though they have been on the scene for over 30 years, Deca lijh mušicas can't boast of a rich discography, they only have four albums behind them, but that's why a large number of musicians have passed through the band. And that, the "Vijesti" interlocutor admits, influenced the band to be less discographically active.
"This is a band that consists of a minimum of six people. All kinds of things happened there, there were difficult times, there were bad fates of some members of the band, some went abroad. Well, as in life, things happen, and they don't ask anything. The band suffered because of all that, but I think we've always successfully updated ourselves and kept a fair standard and approach to it all. We are, in fact, a voluntary society, we are not professional musicians, so we do not feel any burden that we have to do something. We work in accordance with what we like and how much it all works for us", admits Žika.
However, frequent changes of members, as well as current trends, did not affect the sound of the band, which even today cultivates a harder sound through its original compositions.
"In the beginning, it was not our intention to adapt to someone. In the very beginning, we intended to do what we like. I think it is impossible to survive all these years and act like that. That would be really scary. I think there would be a lot more bad fates of the band members than there have been so far (laughs),” he said.
For all these years, they have a large number of hits, of which no concert can go without the tracks "Good Day", "Vlade Divac", "Spring Day", "Disco Club". These tracks can often be heard on radio stations, although the younger generation may not know that they are songs from the group "Deca badi muzija" (Children of Bad Musicians).
"I will be glad when the audience reacts like that. The fact that they know the songs at some point is much more important than knowing who sings them. He will certainly find out that information one day. It is important that the songs are listened to", notes Žika.
His band recently performed at OK Fest, and they got space for the day on a small stage in the camp. Although they performed the concert bathed in sun and sweat until the end, the fact that they were not on the main stage did not affect them much.
"The first 20 minutes were phenomenal. We still had a bit of shade, and then in the central part and towards the end of the concert we were fighting for our lives", laughingly recounting his impressions of that performance, Žik, who sat down next to Sutjeska to cool off right after the concert.
"Well, everyone screamed. I even worried a little. Although rock and roll is considered a direction where you perform under extreme conditions, it doesn't have to be that way. Although there are moments like that", adds Žika, and claims that there is no difference between a small and a big stage, and that it is much nicer for his band to play on a small stage.
"People are closer, you can talk to them, make a joke. You have automatic reactions. I mean, big stages are good, but here it feels like you're in a club. It is more intimate and forgiving. Even at the Beer Fest in Belgrade, I find the small stage much nicer to play on. At Exit, we didn't play on the big stage, but the fusion stage is the best stage for me", concludes Žika.
It's easier to make music for the theater
In the biography of DLM, it is written that they made music for the theater, and some of the members even played in plays, and Žika also referred to that:
"It wasn't really acting, we were more posing, standing. One of these more talented people would only get two sentences in the play", Žika is honest, and reveals what it's like to work on applied music and how difficult it is to adapt to the story:
"The moment they called us, I think they knew who they were dealing with. They probably liked our sound. It's actually much easier to make music for plays than to make your own songs. Because the songs we record represent us, and here you have set topics and it's much easier, you know what is required of you. Although some may not believe it, it is much simpler than when we make music that we need to remain so that we can play it for another 20, 30 years", adds Živković.
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