Ventolin
Beograd, Serbia
Ventolin is rock / Indie / Americana band from
Belgrade, Serbia.
Ventolin was formed at the tail - end of 2000 by Vladimir Marinovic (guitar
and vocals), Nemanja Saric (bass guitar) and Uros Smiljanic (drums), in Beograd,
Serbia. Largest part of the following year was spent preparing the debut
album "Inhaler" that finally dropped at the end of 2001, released
on bands own imprint and produced by the renown Serbian producer Duda
Bezuha.
Part of the positive critical acclaim was to account for the fact that Ventolin
helped tip the scales in favour or rock 'n' roll in their hometown. This
was confirmed on the CD-launch gig in packed Youth Home Club (March 2002).
Over time, three tracks from this album have separated from the rest and
the videos for them were shot, of course in a tried and tested DIY way. Those
are: "Gloria", an inventive reading of Van Morrison's classic, "Major
Event" with a guest appearance of Biljana Todorovska of E-Play fame
and "Melasa".
What happened next? The band then recorded not one
but two albums in one year, the second album "Unrest" and the third
one, "Stills". Both were released on bands own label within the
same year, one at the beginnin, the other at the end, limited pressings. "Unrest" was
the sound of Ventolin going fat with harder guitars and longer songs, including
a hidden cover of Neil Young's classic "Love and only love" as
well as another hidden cover that can not be disclosed here. The album featured
the usual guest appereances of Biljana (E-Play) and Nenad (KKN), had a
cover featuring clay figures of the band made by the painter from Novi Sad,
Misa
Peric, and ended producing two videos: "Epilogue" and the unreleased "Rehearsal".
The first one was produced entirely by the band and featured animated clay
figures from the cover. The second one was computer-animated by the band's
friend Luka (Cinc).
The following album, "Stills" was a concept
record, detailing the events of one year in life of the narator, the year
being 1999, time of great trials and tribulations for the country the band
hails from. However, the album is still deeply personal and bounces between
external and internal trials and tribulation the narrator is faced with.
This album spawned one video, for the song "Captain Drinking" and
was very well received across the board. This was the first Ventolin album
to feature a keyboard player, Kole, on all songs.
The band played sporadically,
mostly in Belgrade (Europe Days with the band Splins, at Independent Scandinavian
Days Festival, as support to Speedbugy, Guilty Hearts etc.) and in Zrenjanin.
One of the videos from "Unrest", the animated clay figures rendition
of "Epilogue" ended up being the most popular video of the band
to date, being nominated for the "Best Video" category in the annual
awards ceremony of the Metropolis musical television. Also, the band was
featured on the TV Panonija show "Inkubator", playing live in the studio.
Recent activities include preparing and releasing a compilation album of
demo recordings
and album outtakes one the label run by Bane
Lokner, as well as recording
a couple of songs in the studio to be featured on the coming up DVD compilation.
One of these songs is a new version of the old Ventolin semi-hit "Sunce",
reshaped to be a proper summer-chart topper, the other a cover of "Sanjam
te" by Arsen Dedic. The musical expression of Ventolin, as seen by its
main author, Vlada, borrows heavily from the aesthetics of America's finest
rock
'n' roll songwriters, filtered through specifics of experiences that only
Belgrade at the end of 20th and the beginning of 21st century could provide.
However, final sound is shaped up in a large part by contributions from
the hard-rocking rhythm section. It is also worth noting that Vlada had several
gigs on local radio-stations where Ventolin songs had to dress up in their
best acoustic clothes.
In short: Ventolin has earned its very special place
on today's Serbian scene, not accepting any of the current trends: neither
shallow interpretations of foreign techno nor the ruling Belgrade pop-rock
aristocracy. Ventolin firmly believes that the only progress that is
really exciting, has to evolve electric guitar.
Ventolin feature: Vladimir Marinovic (guitars / vocals); Nemanja Saric (bass);
Uros Smiljanic (drums)
Inhaler (2002)
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Bootleg (2003)
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Unrest (2004) |
Stills (2004)
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