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Point Blank
Biography
/ Biografija
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Point Blank
Biography / Biografija |
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Point Blank, probably, the first real blues band in former
Yugoslavia, enough honest and brave to dive deep into the blues idiom at the
time which was over piled with music so much different from blues, as well as
fighting against, for so, so long, firmly established opinion that Balkans couldn't
cope with such kind of feelings arose from dark depths of American black society's
spiritual tradition. English language finally cemented down the prejudice, casting
away an idea to playing blues music as already highly respected form of musical
expression. But..., as always happens, something was creeping out from the cellar!
The very beginning of the summer 1983 found Dragoljub Crnčević-Baki,
the prodigal son, and two, the off-road pals of his, one Timothy Davis an American,
the other Michael Sulc an Australian, coming to visit Baki's hometown Belgrade,
in which somewhere in shadows languished Dragan Marković, a. k. a. Mare di Luna,
waiting for an opportunity to knock!
That summer was good as any other, and almost out of nothing
came out the very first true YU blues outfit, Dr. Project - Point Blank. During
that summer, Dr. Project - Point Blank boasted quite a reputation as a blues
group through live appearances, which led to an idea of recording the very first
YU LP in English, entirely self composed, which would range from bottleneck
to all-electric city blues based on Chicago and Detroit downtown guitar styles.
Again, as usually happens, drummer Michael Sulc got homesick and left. Not long
after that another fine drummer, Miroljub Vilotijević, was augmented to the
group. The wheels started turning...!
Mr. Đorđe Debač, musical producer of PGP-RTB, was wise enough,
after listening to demo, for not longer than five minutes, to give the group
their first contract. The necessary time for recording in studio came along.
The very outfit, mentioned above, comprising of D. Crnčević-Baki
(vocal, guitars), D. Marković (guitars), Timothy Davis (vocals, bass) and M.
Vilotijević (drums, percussion), brought out their first born and gave him his
Christian name, "The Blues"!
After, by critics, well received first album and public acclaim,
Point Blank proved, for the first time in the history of YU rock, that English
language and musical expression in its blues form couldn't have been a barrier
for approaching wider audience.
That fact opened the door to formation of the steady blues
scene first in Belgrade, then in other cities like Novi Sad, Nis, Zagreb, etc.
Finally blues became incorporated into Yugoslav musical body for good. At the
time of the first LP Timothy Davis unfortunately left, and was briefly replaced
by the newcomer Saša Labudović. However, by second album group's direction was
begining to shift away from the blues as evidenced in numbers such as "Glass
Rider" and "Sisters of Mercy", as well as experimenting with
rhythm in Broken Toillette's Seat Blues, showing necessary complexity in arrangements
throughout the material. Well composed, arranged and imaginative, "Dr.
Project - Point Blank", the second album remains possibly the finest Point
Blank's album to date.
In late summer 1986, not long after very successful Mid-European
tour, due to internal stresses, D. Marković departed to form his own group,
Di Luna Blues Band, which is doing well since then. Replacement was found in
Aleksandar Kozakijević with whome band kept on constant gigging across former
Yugoslavia. By the end of 1991 along came well known crissis. Yugoslavia was
splitted and the band fell apart altogether. Point Blank went down into a period
of hibernation.
During 1995 and 1996, Point Blank came out as trio, D. Crnčević
(vocal, guitars) with R. Bulatović (bass) and M. Karlović (drums), cutting rather
disappointing, "Southern Comfort", their third album, falling apart
for the second time after a handful of gigs.
In attempt to put up Point Blank on its feet again, D. Crnčević
gathered completely new outfit consisting of one time member A. Kozakijević
(guitar), D. Grujić (keyboards), D. Petrović (bass), G. Ilić (drums), (who replaced
B. Baloš), with the addition of the third guitarist, B. Milošević.
This lineup recorded much improved "Sunny Sky", the
fourth album, by the end of summer 1997. In that formation Point Blank has been
touring Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Italy during 1997 and 1998. Not long after
Christmas 1998 all members left except keyboards player Darko Grujić and founder
member Dragoljub Crnčević. Two young musicians were brought in, Zoran Milenković
on bass and Jovan Pejčinović on drums, which rounded up new, rejuvenated quartet,
ready to bite down hard! After a couple of months of rehearsing during 2000
this new formation occupied studio, for a week’s time during December
the same year, and recorded excellent LP having John O'Leary, prominent British
harmonica hero, as a guest. Boys, wish you the best luck ever! (Oliver Trifković).
Blues gitarista i pevac Dragoljub Crnčević (rodjen 1956. u
Beogradu) obreo se 1977. godine u Parizu. Izdržavao se svirajuci na ulici
i metrou. Po povratku u Beograd osniva grupu Dragoljubov taxi sa kojom je objavio
LP "Dragoljubov taxi" (PGP RTB 1979.). Pocetkom osamdesetih opet putuje
po Evropi i svira blues po klubovima. U Milanu upoznaje Amerikanca Timoti Aleksandra
Dejvisa (Timothy Alexander Davis) i bubnjara, Australijanca ceškog porekla
Majkla Šulca (Michael Sulc) i svira sa njima. Pocetkom 1983. godine sva
trojica dolaze u Beograd i sa gitaristom Draganom Markovićem (ex Blues Kvintet)
osnivaju blues grupu Point Blank.
U pocetku nastupaju pretežno po klubovima, a prvi veci
uspeh postižu kada leta 1983. godine rasprodaju baštu SKC-a. Na debi
albumu "The Blues" 1984. godine predstavljaju se Crnčevićevim pesmama
na engleskom i u tom periodu grupa stiže reputaciju koncertne atrakcije.
Pocetkom 1984. godine Majkl prelazi u hard rock grupu Ognjeni vuk, ali ubrzo
on odlazi u Australiju, a Davis u Ameriku. Novi clanovi postaju basista Saša
Labudović i bubnjar Miroljub Vilotijević (ex Blues Kvintet). Na drugom albumu,
"Dr Project – Point Blank", gostuje trubac Stjepko Gut, a grupa
nudi teme koje su žanrovski šire. To im omogucuje veliku koncertnu
aktivnost, tako da tokom 1985. godine drže oko sto pedeset nastupa širom
Jugoslavije, sto je za to vreme, a za tako nekomercijalni bend, veliki uspeh.
Te godine uz Luizijana Reda (Louisiana Red) ucestvuju na Drugom medjunarodnom
blues festivalu u poljskom gradu Olišcinu, sviraju u varšavskim klubovima,
a pred 25,000 posetilaca nastupaju na rock festivalu u blizini Poznanja.
Po povratku iz Poljske, Dragan Marković napušta grupu
i osniva Di Luna Blues Band, a menja ga Aleksandar Kozakijević. Godine 1986.
grupa prestaje sa radom, Crnčević jedno vreme nastupa sam, a zatim odlazi u
Italiju. Po povratku 1987. godine koristeci nadimak Baki, objavljuje solo album
"Into The Heart" na kome snima obrade standarda kao što su "Everybody's
Talking" i "Cocaine" Fred Neila (Fred Neil), ali i svoje kompozicije
pod uticajem country zvuka i Džej Džej Kejla (J. J. Cale). Godine
1991. sa studijskim muzicarima snima album "Južnjacka uteha",
ali taj materijal ne izvodi uživo.
U prolece 1993. godine sa Draganom Markovićem na kratko pokrece
cover grupu Blue Taxi. Od 1994. godine predvodi novu postavu Point Blanka u
kojoj su Darko Grujić (klavijature), Darko Petrović (bas) i Branko Baloš
(bubnjevi) mada je i ta postava podložna cestim promenama. Za kompilacijsku
plocu "Belgrade The Blues Today" (PGP RTS 1994.) snimili su temu "Baby
Blues". Povratnicki CD "Sunny Sky", donosi nove Dragoljubove
pesme na tragu zvuka americke zapadne obale sedamdesetih godina.. (Podaci preuzeti
iz knjige "Ilustrovana YU ROCK enciklopedija 1969-1997", autora Petra
Janjatovića")
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Point Blank - Line-Up: |
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Vocals and Guitar: Dr.
Keyboards and Vocal: Darko Grujić
Bass: Zoran Milenković
Drums and Percussion: Jovan Pejčinović
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