Hello! Please introduce GLISTA to our readers.
Hi! We're 5 friends from Ljubljana and we like to hang out in a nuclear shelter with moldy spiders and blast grindcore.
Can you tell us more about Never Apologise for Defending Yourself From Being Violated?
This is our second full-length album, and I must say, it's long overdue. We started writing it immediately after we recorded the first one and it was planned to be released sometime in 2020/2021. We all know what happened next, so we simply had to postpone it. Then there were a couple of line-up changes, which brought fresh creativity, so we ended up with a different album than we set out with.
We've pretty much kept the "orderly-chaotic" style of songwriting, but the theme is, in general, a bit darker this time around. If the first album was focusing more on the social sphere, this one is a bit more psychological, yet keeping a cheery vibe at times.
When did you start writing music and who were your early passions and influences?
We founded the band in 2015, but all of us had been in bands before that. Thrash metal, black metal, crust punk, ... quite different bands, really. Our early influences vary, but I guess if we had a dusty chest of bands at the back of the closet, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Vio-Lence, The Exploited, Dead Kennedys and Ramones would definitely be in there. And there's also a Slovenian author called Adi Smolar, whose lyrics were a big influence on many of us.
What are your main impulses for writing metal music?
They differ from song to song. I'd say it's mostly someone introducing a new riff or two they've come up with, and that would immediately spark ideas, which we then try out at a couple of practices. We like our songs to be dynamic, so this way we only have to figure out how to connect the ideas into a whole that makes sense. Some songs, on the other hand, are written as a whole by one of us, drawing inspiration from personal lifes or simply own musical intuition, which makes the songs a bit more coherent, and I think you can hear that (Twoface and Zadajam si rane are such examples).
What do you personally consider to be the most significant moments and pieces in your musical work?
It's hard to say, because every song reflects a different aspect of our artistic expression. Nevertheless, one of them would be Iza žice, the first song we've ever written, and it pretty much set our style. A big moment in our artistic development was when the lineup stabilised and we started writing music for two guitars and bass separately. The beginning of that would be Suha Salama Penetration Front. Zadajam si rane (from the new album) is the most emotional of our songs, that's an important moment, for me at least. I guess Disko Djevojka is also important as it's our most recognised piece at the local scene (and the most brainless one too).
How would you describe and rate the music scene of the city you are currently living in?
In Ljubljana we had little or no grindcore scene up until a couple of years ago. Most of the gigs we did then were either at the metal or punk scenes, both of which are very significant here and also overlap quite a lot nowadays. But there is a newly born grindcore and power violence scene, still small, but has already produced so many bands. Reminds me of Leeds or Lyon, where there's as many bands as there are people in the scene.
When it comes to being a musician, what are your criteria for quality? What are your main challenges and ambitions as a musician?
My rule of the thumb goes something like this: when you listen to a couple of songs of an author, and can't really pinpoint the exact influences, that is the first indication the music is written well. When the influences are obvious, it may be a great show, but the songs won't stick with you. I also many authors are afraid of including different styles and genres in their work. That changed lately in the indie rock scene, but is still very present in metal and punk. Grindcore is a great playground for doing that.
It's funny, by the way, how punk and metal scenes are actually the more conservative ones, compared to more mainstream scenes. But hey, that's why they still exist.
What do you usually start with when working on a new song or lyrics?
As mentioned before, it's usually a riff or two, which then develops into a theme. Sometimes we'd even combine riffs originally written for different songs in that manner. When we're happy with the instrumental part, we start adding the vocals and only after that I'll write in the lyrics.
Please tell us a bit about the selection process for deciding what to write about. What sources do you draw from for research purposes, and how much time do you generally spend on research and gathering material?
My philosophy is, if you the vocals are not understandable, the lyrics must read nicely. I decide upon the lyrical theme after the music is done and see what the song makes me feel like. I also choose the language in this manner (we have songs in Slovenian, Croatian, English and one in German). Sometimes I choose the opposite, though, so you have, for example, dark lyrics and cheery music. The inspiration comes from real life situations, events, people I know etc. Whenever something bothers me, like a social injustice or a particular action, I make a mental note, sometimes even a few lyrical lines, and use it when a song feels right. So basically, I research and develop lyrics sort of continuously.
As more and more people produce and release music, there has been an exponential growth in promotion agencies. What's your perspective on the promotional system? To what extent do you feel it possibly undermines musical freedom?
Well, the musicians in the mainstream scene are much more prone to being exploited by the industry. I don't see much musical freedom there, although they do get more say as they grow bigger. The promotion is kind of killing the music in the mainstream, pushing the same songs over and over again, milking them dry. On the other hand, they're actively searching for talent and helping it develop. The main problem I think is that people generally don't explore music, they just consume whatever they're served. Music is just another product in a corporation driven society. It's better in the alternative scene, though, music means something to people here. You can still see some of the same consumerism, but there are many more people discovering new bands on their own. Being the first to introduce an obscure band to the others is actually very rewarding.
The metal/grind scene has changed considerably over the past century. What, in your opinion, could or should be new forms and formats for music? Should we preserve the old-school spirit or move forward together with musical "evolution" (or "degradation")?
As mentioned before, this scene is quite conservative, so there's no fear of loosing the physical forms of media. Vinyls are the main collectibles, tapes are regaining popularity and even CDs remained in demand. And it's these that define how music is formated. Albums only appeared with the first records, before LPs, when they literally stuck a bunch of singles into an album. Mainstream musicians are focusing more into single releases again, which makes sense, sice this is the way music is consumed nowadays. Even in the grind and power violence scene, people add particular songs into their playlist. Haha, can you imagine how long it takes to make an hour long playlist with 15 second songs? There's a lot of advantages with the modern forms of media, though. Are the streaming services and Discogs or Bandcamp really that different from the tape trading scene? I mean, there is one huge difference - they're corporate. Maybe Napster, torrents and Soulseek are (were) more similar, but still, for the purpose of sharing music across vast distances they're, to be honest, even better.
Music-sharing sites, blogs, and a flood of releases in general are said to be killing music. What's your view on this topic?
Hehe, just this: you're not a real grind band if you don't have a split with Agathocles (we therefore aren't real yet).
Please recommend two bands to our readers that you feel deserve their attention.
To cover the vastness of the grind/metal theme, I recommend a powerviolence and a stoner metal band, respectively: CarlXJohnson and Britof.
What are your plans for the near future? Thank you and see you next time!
I think we'll try to do a split with Agathocles ;)