While many countries around the world treat garbage as a valuable resource, in Montenegro it is still just that - waste. The lack of a recycling system and environmental awareness leads to the fact that valuable materials are not reused, but end up in landfills or, even worse, on the streets and next to containers. A special problem is the careless disposal of garbage, which is not only an ecological but also a cultural challenge - almost every settlement has at least one neighbor who leaves bags of garbage in front of their door, creating not only an ugly picture, but also a potential sanitary problem.
This is exactly what the new - comeback single by the band Highway, which ended a four-year recording hiatus, is about. As rockers, they used their musical expression to remind us that this genre has always been a voice of rebellion, criticism and a warning to society. Since its beginnings, through the sound of guitars and rebellious lyrics, this rock and roll has pointed to injustices, absurd systems and bad social habits. However, this song by Highway is fiercer than those found on their first album because they accompanied the critical text with a more aggressive melody and arrangement for which the band members were responsible. What is absurd is that the song was created in Montenegro, which has been declared an "ecological state" by the constitution since 1991, but since after more than thirty years this is more a matter of paper than practice, it is not surprising that the lyrics for which the members of Highway were responsible include: Petar Tošić i Marko Perić Among other things, it also contains “garbage disposal instructions”.
Highway bassist Marko Perić claims in an interview with Vijesti that it is "time to get serious", and hopes that there will be no need for similar singles, but that "Komšija", thanks to the photographs they received from Ecopatriotizm, which were taken at locations in Montenegro, and which were found at the end of the video, will raise awareness that waste disposal is finally understood as a shared responsibility, and not as "the neighbor's problem".
Marko, you've been out of the music scene for four years, and now you're coming back with what I would call a socially engaged single, "Komšija." Is this the return of Highway or is it a "trip" for the sake of your neighbor?
Yes, we can finally say with pleasure that we are back. Four years is a big break today, it used to be normal for albums to be released after three or four years. We needed the break to put the pieces together after finally completing the team. In the meantime, we have had a lot of gigs, working on new songs, and now it is time to realize everything we have been diligently preparing. “Komšija” has been our favorite for going out since the moment it was created, considering that each of us had different favorites with which song to return with. However, when “Komšija” was finished in the studio, we had no dilemma. Social engagement is the second name of art. If art does not have that component, then we are talking about entertainment. That is all the more reason for “Komšija” to get that “returnee” attention.
Everyone who lives in apartment buildings somewhere sympathizes with this song because they have at least one neighbor who leaves trash in front of their apartment door. We often think that we can influence others by setting a positive example, but other times have come. Is a public name-calling or a “punch in the pocket” a better way to teach a neighbor some sense?
I will take this opportunity to thank you. Vidak Ratković who presented the role of the neighbor in the video in the best possible way, and his transformation at the very end of the video, where he becomes an exemplary neighbor. We think that both ways are necessary, and on the pocket of course. Why? I think that we all know today, without exception, that garbage is a resource, that in countries there is organization at the level of the entire country about sorting, recycling, and we still burn that garbage somewhere. We think that the time has come to know that what you throw away is valuable and that it is not for throwing away, maybe this will encourage people to become aware. We may dedicate a special song about garbage in nature in the future, in this video we showed our negligence towards nature at the very end, and we thank Ecopatriotizm for the pictures provided, which were unfortunately all recorded in locations in Montenegro. I would like to thank Vladimir Tony Pendo, who was in charge of directing, editing and post-production of the video, To Danilo Pendo who was the director of photography, To Ilija Kaluđerović on lighting. That's our winning combination and that team will also be working on our next video, the preparations for which are well underway. Many thanks to the City Theater for providing the costumes for the video, to the NGO "PAM" and the Capital City for their engagement and support in the creation as much as possible.
Although Highway has been known for its harder sound, this track is an exception. Considering that the entire band was in charge of the music and arrangement, and that this track is more aggressive than any you've done so far, does this behavior of your "neighbors" sometimes arouse aggression in you?
Neighbor is a preview of what's to come. We won't be harsh to be tougher, we want to be more serious, as we ourselves are older, more experienced. The music must definitely accompany that. The difference between Highway from the first album and now is in the approach and the way of working. Now the band predominantly creates music on its own, on almost every song we all came up with the sound together, as bands do. This time, most of the lyrics were written by Petar, I came to help a little, but in general we want to be 100 percent our own product. We don't want others to write songs for us, at least not for a while, we want to say what we think and do our best to play it. We are a classic trio, a minimalist approach, and that's not easy at all, so much so that we want to really summarize ourselves and say the essence in a few sentences, and everyone has the right to understand the song in their own way. I would like to mention Ivan Ivanović where our ideas originate and we are immensely grateful to him for putting up with us. Later, these ideas go to Zagreb to Tihomir Preradović where we go a few times a year to work on songs together, and we're really proud of the fact that in this track and the other songs that follow, there's not a single note played on them that wasn't by us.
There is even an “instruction for throwing away trash” in the song. Do you think it was necessary?
Very necessary and just like this, very short and clear. That part of the song revealed our true intention why we recorded this. Trash in front of the door is just an unconsciousness of everything we said above, and we want to recycle trash, make fuel from it, thereby protecting the environment from trash in nature, from its burning, etc. We are not experts in this field, but we notice that despite the multitude of organizations and their efforts to put ecology on the list of our priorities, it is going slowly. That is why doing this job is a very good thing, if you use it for the common good. We feel very good about it.
In many countries, as you mentioned, garbage is sorted. There has been a lot of talk about this in our country, but it has not caught on. Given the (un)culture of garbage disposal, where the problem is not only in the entrance, but also left next to it instead of in the container, will this ever catch on in our country?
We all have the opportunity to see this when we go on vacation somewhere. We don't even have to go very far, the country that borders us has an entire system developed and adapted. A specific time for throwing out garbage, each part of the city has its own schedule, lots of advertisements like "if you put this plastic bottle in its place, you will get a free shave..." in one city in France, city buses run on fuel made from recycled garbage! We think it's really time to get serious.
As I mentioned before, you've been away from the music scene for a long time. This single marked your return. You released an album, then corona followed and somehow everything stopped. How will the return itself affect Highway, you mentioned that you're working on new songs, but do you already have a plan for how you're going to move forward?
Seven songs are in the studio, we're playing a few more new ones at rehearsals and we haven't gone to Ivan's to make demos yet. We're an r'n'r band, not only in sound, but in the way we work. We play our songs at gigs even before they've even become demos. Once we made a song for which we didn't have lyrics, and Petar said "let's play it at the next gig, I'll do a freestyle". Songs are always alive, even when they're recorded, they only represent that moment of inspiration, they're not holy scripture for "rockers". On the contrary, they change over time, improve, parts are added. Maybe "Komšija" will be different in a year, maybe the instructions for throwing away the garbage will be twice as long if things don't change for the better.
Bonus video:
