The first album by Novi Sad duo The Good Guys will be official soundtrack for the Cinema City festival. For that reason we talked with members of the band, Andrija Kovac and Bojan Cizmic. Positive energy, great music and fantastic visual performance are main characteristics of this union. Find out how they were formed, how much energy they invest in their music and what they’ll do at Festival’s opening party, where they’ll perform next to famous Hollywood and music star Juliette Lewis. As a short intro to our conversation, how would you describe who “The Good Guys” are?
Company “Bridgeport Music” sued publishing house “No Limit Films” in 1998 for publishing the track “NWA – 100 Miles & Runnin” which used “Funkadelic – Get Off Yor Ass and Jam” sample. The jury reviewed this form of using other’s intellectual property as uncreative and uninventive.
When did you start functioning as a creative duo and who initiated this collaboration?
A few years back, but none of us really remembers exactly when and how. We always had similar taste in music and it was only natural to one day make a project like this. We wanted to make something no one has thought of before, at least not here – to combine music and video and make something which people at parties would find entertaining.
What moves you the most to create and how do you organize yourselves, i.e. how do you “divide” the chores?
At first Bojan was in charge of music section and me for visual and later it all got mixed up, and now we’re in each other’s way. What moves us? Women fans.
You have truly unique and original performances, both in audio and visual sense. Where do you find ideas and how do they come to being and how much time do you need to prepare a performance that complex?
We started working on our performance two or three years ago. We’re always trying to build on already existing and add new moments, in music as well as in video. Most of our inspiration we pull from aesthetics of 70’s and 80’ which were truly innovative periods in human creativity. Our sources are a fusion of funk, soul, early hip hop, trash videography, B films… Jugoton, VHS, graffiti, breakdance…
Your music is a fusion of several music genres but are you trying to let some sounds and styles take reign or does all of it come as a result of spontaneity, current mood…?
No, actually, we’re simply producing the kind of music we’d like to listen. Musical tendencies are shifting and new trends and styles are coming to light and we’re riding the same wave, always creating something new, something completely different from what was being done thus far. We started with a single drum, an old guitar, dirty and distorted sints, were in love for a little while with dubstep rhythms, spent some time working in French House Revival style, and right now we’re experimenting with minimal. Our sound is ever changing.
These days a lot is being said about your performance at Faithless concert in Belgrade Expo center. How was everything? What are your impressions?
It was cool. It was interesting performing in front of an audience who didn’t know us since that is a great opportunity for spreading TGG virus. :) Our biggest satisfaction came from people who approached us after the concert, delighted with what they’ve seen and heard, who didn’t previously know about us. Of course, high production gives a special charm when performing at events of that magnitude – a huge stage and sound surround have completely different kind of energy from that in a club, to which we’ve gotten used to.
Your first album will be published as an official soundtrack of this year’s Cinema City festival. How do you see your role as ‘musical trademark’ of the festival and how are preparations coming along?
The entire TGG performance is in a form of a film. This edition is a special challenge since we didn’t want to attach ourselves to any particular form. We like to experiment and our exposure is mainly connected with internet, so this is something completely new for us. Cinema City is a film and media festival and our project is multimedia in its entirety.
You had numerous visits in country and the region… Could you single out some of the performances that stayed with you and why?
We’re always trying to carefully select where we’ll perform and we want to offer the audience something they’ve never seen before. We love domestic audience but we also love performing for people who’ve never seen or heard of us. We had a lot of really great appearances, but some of our favorites are gigs in Skopje in front of 6.000 people before Gorillaz SS, at last year’s Cinema City festival and, of course, our first performance, two years ago at Exit Festival.
Give us a little hint as a warm up to approaching opening party and tell us what we can expect from you on that June 5th at Petrovaradin fortress?
Expect the unexpected hahaha. It’s gonna be a show, we’ll shake the fortress. Performing for Novi Sad audience is always something special. MC Shpira and Juliette Lewis will be singing “Idemo u disko”.
