There is no scene without your local scene. This zine has always supported the local scene, so it was about time to talk to CROWD CONTROL, great thrash metal band from Varazdin, Croatia.

Welcome to my webzine. For a start, typical fanzine question, how would you describe Crowd Control, how did you form the band, what is the driving force behind your music?

The idea of the band started in 2014. when I asked Borna if he wanted to play drums in a thrash band. In the beginning it was just the two of us jamming and writing songs for a long time until we found other members. We had a couple of people who were in the band for a short time, with some we played shows and with some we didn’t (in the original lineup there were 4 people in the band). In 2016. (around this time) we contacted Dominik Crnko if he wanted to join the band and since then he sings and plays bass in the band.

Did you guys record and release a demo, or e.p. How is the situation with the material? Do you have your own songs? Where can we hear/see/buy your music?

We have one of our songs on our Youtube channel but we are currently in the process of recording our first studio album. So far we have recorded 5 songs for the album but we constantly write new material and usually play one new song every show. The album recording doesn’t go very fast but we hope to finish it in the spring of 2018. Since we plan to record at least 5 more songs. But when we finish it, you’ll be able to download it for free, until then you can hear and download our only released song called War’s Blind Eyes.

Did you play many gigs? To rephrase the question, are you satisfied with the number of gigs played until now?

We all had a number of previous bands and have experience but we don’t play a lot of shows, well at least not as much as we wanted to haha. You know it is very rare hearing someone call you to play thrash metal in his pub/club. Usually we end up playing shows if some band who has a gig calls us but if it weren’t so i doubt we would have played any of the places we have played until now. But we are very happy with the shows so far because the crowd is always great and seems to like it.

What are your lyrics about? Are they all in English or do you also have lyrics in Croatian language?

All of our lyrics are in English and most of them are more psychologically orientated rather than typical thrash topics like gore, drinking etc.

 

 

How is the scene in your hometown/area? I think Varazdin now has some great bands, maybe not the quantity, but the quality is here. The only thing missing is some club, like similar to Prostor in Cakovec. Would you agree?

Varazdin has a fair number of underground bands, you can find punk, metal and even grind core bands. I think the scene is really rich with artists/bands, but i definitely agree that Varazdin lacks places where you could see these types of bands more often. Sadly most of those bands you wont be able to see in clubs and pubs, so I hope Varazdin will get a place like Prostor in Cakovec.

What do you do besides the band?

Me and Borna are students and Dominik is working. Borna is the only one at the moment that has more bands beside Crowd Control.

Are you violent? Do you think that the violence is embedded so deep in the human nature and our internal selves that we will never know real peace as humanity?

I don’t consider myself a violent person but i think that it is up to you on controlling your behavior when you have violent tendencies. Everybody gets aggressive at times but I don’t believe that violent behavior will ever solve any problem.

How did you get in the whole underground scene? Can you still remember your first gig, not as a musician but as a fan in the crowd?

The first time I came in touch with the underground scene was in 2014 shortly before I asked Borna to form a band. There was a place called Green Bay which is now currently known as Sloboda. Every weekend there were concerts and there I met Borna. At that time I was really getting into thrash metal but i don’t recall if this was the very first show I ever saw, but if not, it was definitely among first of them. Anyway, that night was a thrash metal themed event and I remember being blown away by the band Sedativ from Cakovec. They were amazing and since then I’m a big fan of their work, you should check them out if you haven’t already!

Do you have some musical influences? Are you scared that someone will mark you as a copy of some band? Is there plenty clones of more famous bands in todays scene?

Yes, of course we all have our musical influences. I think that metal music in general is “overpopulated” with bands and subgenres. Today it is impossible to sound original as Black Sabbath did when there was no metal music at all. I’m sure if not every, then most of my/our riffs has at least been played by 1 band already, or has a very similar riff. I’ve heard people saying that we sound like this and that band, but I never heard about them until that moment haha. I think that if you are making music that you can understand that making music comes from stealing someone else’s stuff and making it your own, well playing it your way. But when i do compose stuff for the band, inspiration comes very rarely from thrash metal bands. I often get inspired by non metal or metal music that isn’t exactly thrash and then I transform the idea into something that would fit the style we play. So if you hear some of our riffs and you think we copied from some thrash band you can be sure you’re wrong haha.

That is it for the first time. Do you have something to add in the end that I didnt ask you? Maybe plans for near future?

Our only goal at the moment is to finish the album in a proper way rather than release a few mediocre songs in order to have an album in a very short time. We hope to have gigs more often and at some point to come to Cakovec to be part of the scene there. We thank you for getting in touch with us and having us interviewed!