| Block Out | |
|---|---|
Block Out performing live on Nisomnia festival in 2007 |
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Ad Hoc, Blok Aut |
| Origin | Belgrade, Serbia |
| Genres | Alternative rock, grunge, doom metal, hard rock, punk rock, neo-psychedelia, art rock |
| Years active | 1991 – present |
| Labels | Take It Or Leave It, ITMM, Metropolis Records, Multimedia Records, Long Play |
| Associated acts | Ništa Ali Logopedi, Ruž, Satan Panonski, Indijanci |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Milutin Jovančić Nikola Vranjković Aleksandar Balać Dejan Hasečić Miljko Radonjić |
|
| Past members | |
| Dragan Majstorović Danilo Pavićević Vladan Lazarević Dejan Dimitrijević Dragoljub Marković |
|
Block Out is a grunge/alternative rock band from Belgrade, Serbia. Their musical style is a combination of artistic alternative rock, punk rock, doom metal and psychedelic rock. The band was one of the few representatives of grunge music in Serbia.
Contents |
The band Ad Hoc was formed at the end of 1990 by the Milutin Jovančić "Mita" (vocals), Dragan Majstorović "Trle" (bass guitar), Danilo Pavićević (guitar), Vladan Lazarević (guitar), and Dejan Dimitrijević (drums). Due to the existence of another band under the same name, they decided to change their name. The band chose the name from at the time very popular computer game, Block Out. The slang meaning of the phrase refers to the moment before losing consciousness, which the band members found amusing.[1] During 1991 Lazarević left Block Out and moved to live in Netherlands and Nikola Vranjković joined the band as a new guitarist, soon becoming the central creative core of the band. Before his return to Belgrade he lived for four years in Russia and worked with many groups, including the band Besiders, which consisted of experienced Russian musicians.[1] On his return to Yugoslavia, Vranjković did a tour with the band Ruž, and, along with Voja Vijatov performed with Satan Panonski.
At the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars, the band moved to London. They performed at the clubs Sick of Rock and Robby's, at Finsbury Park and at the University Centre, where they performed songs with lyrics in English. Also, they achieved the opportunity to release a single, but it never happened due to the fact the band were forced to return to Yugoslavia.
On their return to Belgrade, in 1992, Block Out released their first recordings on the tape-only release Live KST, Akademija (released in 1993), which consisted of live material performed in the Belgrade rock clubs KST and Akademija in 1991 and 1992. The band, beside Jovančić, Vranjković and Majstorović, now featured the drummer Miljko Radonjić. In 1993 Block Out released their debut album Crno, belo i srebrno (Black, White and Silver). The first half of the album consisted of Block Out's earliest hard rock-oriented tracks, and the second part of darker songs written by Vranjković. In the songs like the ironically titled "Rođendanska pesma" ("Birthday Song"), Vranjković's poetic lyrics deal with depression, hopelessness and misery caused by the crisis, war and total degradation of society in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia. At that time, inspired by various diverse bands such as Soundgarden, Pink Floyd, Slayer, Discharge and some older Serbian bands as Ekatarina Velika and Luna, the early hard rock concept of Block Out started to move towards a darker, heavier atmosphere and sound under Vranjković's songwriting. The band started to go further in this direction on the following releases. The album was promoted on their first independent concert, held at Belgrade's SKC, featuring guest appearances by Aleksandar Balać on guitar and Leontina and Madame Piano on backing vocals. The album was pronounced the best rock record of the year 1996 according to the Belgrade town assembly.[1]
In early 1996, revolted by the current situation in Serbia, the band recorded the track "Leto na Adi" ("Summer on Ada), which, due to the lack of space on the album, was not released on their second album, but appeared as a bonus track for the 2001 reissue of Crno, belo i srebrno. During 1996 the band's second album Godina sirotinjske zabave (The Year of Poverty Amusement) was released and featured the material written during the six years of the band existence. As the members of the band said, the main themes on this album were closely related to the end of socialism. On the album, as new members, appeared Aleksandar Balać on bass and a former Ništa Ali Logopedi member Dragoljub Marković became the new keyboardist. The album was produced by Aleksandar Radosavljević and as guests appeared Danilo Pavićević (guitar), Miša Savić (keyboard), and Nebojša Zulfikaprašić (guitar).
In 1998, Radosavljević produced their third album San koji srećan sanjaš sam (A Dream You Are Dreaming Alone Happy), Block Out established a unique version of artistic rock. On this album the band captured a quite depressing picture of the reality of life in Serbia. This album was proclaimed as the best Serbian rock album of 1998 by some of the critics, but also as one of the all-time best albums in Serbian rock. Meanwhile, video clips for Block Out's songs, created by singer Jovančić, started to became one more symbol of Block Out's originality.[1] As guests on the album appeared Nebojša Zulfikaprašić (guitar), Orthodox Celts member Dejan Lalić (mandolin), Eyesburn frontman Nemamja Kojić (trombone), Srđan Sretenović (violincello), and others.
The band performance at the Belgrade's SKC on September 11, 1999, was recorded and released in 2001 on the double CD/triple MC release Između dva zla (Between Two Evils). The following year, Vranjković released his poetry book Zaovdeilizaponeti (Forhereorfortake). The book included his poems as well as all his lyrics written for Block Out. In addition to the book came his solo CD, characterized by calmer, minimalistic and acoustic music, but still in the vein of Block Out's unique melancholic atmosphere.[1]
In 2002, the band appeared on the Milan Mladenović tribute album Kao da je bilo nekad... Posvećeno Milanu Mladenoviću (Like It Happened Someday... Dedicated to Milan Mladenović), with the cover of the Ekatarina Velika track "Soba" ("Room").[2] During the late 2002, the band performed at several dates during which they performed a few songs which were to be released on their new album. On February, 2003 the band entered the studio under the working title Nema više lakih protivnika (No More Easy Opponents').[1] In the meantime, Marković left the band and was replaced by Dejan Hasečić, former Speed Limit and Slaves member. On April 2004, the band released their fourth album entitled Ako imaš s kim i gde (If You Have With Whom And Where). The album was produced by Vranjković, and featured twelve new songs. As guests on the album appeared Ana Đokić (synthesizer), Nemanja Popović (backing vocals), Darko Marković (guitar) and Dušan Živanović (percussion).
On December 2005, the band performed at the Dom Omladine in Belgrade, and the performance was recorded for the DVD, released in 2007. Block Out DVD beside the performance, featured music videos recorded during the band's career.[3] The following year, the band appeared on the Pankrti tribute album, Pankrti 06, with the cover version of the song "Volkovi" ("People").[4]
In 2007, the band performed as an opening act for Kaiser Chiefs.[3] At the same time, the band started writing new material, and some of the new songs, "Fotelja" ("Armchair"), "Nikad (Dve hiljade i kusur godina)" ("Never (Two Thousand And Something Years)") and "Sve što mogu reći" ("All I Can Say"), were performed live during 2008 and 2009.
In 2011, the band released the CD single "Beograd spava", a cover of the U Škripcu song, featuring both the edited and album version of the song and a promotional video for the track.[5]
|
||||||||||||||||||||