Kollar/Cox/Raineri tour day 4.
In the morning we started from the Ibis hotel in Bratislava to Prague. The journey went quite well.
After three hours we parked in front of Divadlo X and unloaded the car. The car was still being unloaded and loaded by me and Paolo. We got ready for the sound check. Tomas Mutina was also performing at the festival. He brought me a Steinberger guitar from Presov, which Rick had bought for me.
It's a guitar without a head and a big body. Rick insisted that he had to buy me such a guitar. It's very easy to travel with. Most of the time they don't notice it at check-in(s). It's the size of a viola with the case. I was really looking forward to it. I like "weird" guitars. They make me play in a different way. When I play a Fender Stratocaster, for example, I subconsciously play like David Gilmour or Eric Clapton. My Rudo Sivcak Stalker guitar has no subconscious pull at all to play in the way of another guitarist. That's why it has a weird shape and color. The Steinberger has a similar shape to Allan Holdsword's guitar, but it's very difficult to play like him. His legato way of playing and harmonies require special talent and practice.
My brain doesn't have the capacity to think in such complex harmonies. I'm more of an intuitive writer and guitarist. Playing from sheet music has always caused me anxiety. Focusing on someone else's exact melody and harmony written by someone else was not something my brain could handle. It was always much easier for me to learn a song by ear and memorize it. To play with the dynamics of the notes... To improvise a guitar solo or make footholds in it. For example, my solo concerts have a pre-prepared structure, but the lengths of specific movements are created on the spot. Also the joins of the songs and often the songs themselves are created on stage. The older I get, the more intuitive I become. Also, when I prepare my entire solo concert, I always change it live. I can feel from the atmosphere that a particular part can be longer or shorter or dynamically louder or quieter... I prefer simpler harmonies. I often use simple inversions of major or minor chords. I "concede" thirds... I feel that when the harmony is simpler, the other sonic nuances I put into the piece stand out. It's similar with cooking. A simple base and letting the flavors of the different ingredients stand out. I don't have to put them all in one song, after all I'm going to play some more... I like longer surfaces and of course erratic structure, but on the other hand sometimes erratic... at least for a while... The erratic structure in this case is like a short red thread woven through the musical material for the listener...
I call it "film form". Music in a film can be a few seconds or 9 minutes long, it can afford different experimental positions and it works with silence. As Rick says, "It must be sexy."
The form of a classic rock song, a pop song, or a jazz song just doesn't fit me anymore. I feel very disheartened... I mean... If it's a good song then why not 🙂 If there's room for creativity then why not...
That's basically how these concerts with Rick, Paolo and Erik are going. I have a palette of "colours" prepared and I choose the ones that I think are right at the moment.
But I'll come back to the concert. At soundcheck, we discovered that my pickup was humming when the lights came on in the theater. There was nothing that could be done about it. It happens from time to time. The space just isn't "electrically" ready for that kind of concert.
After the sound check we went to lunch. My brother Miro, Ľubo Krajňák and our manager Anita Pócsová were also in Prague. In the afternoon, Rick and Arno went to the hotel. Paolo and I went for a walk around Prague and came back to Divadlo X. I tried my new guitar, but found that I didn't know this tuning technique at all. It would be a risk to take it on stage at a festival. Tomas Mutina's solo set was just running, which Paolo and I checked out. Tomáš had brought the guitar by train from Prešov. It was still packed. The courier had delivered it two days before during the tour.
Arno and Rick arrived in the dressing room.
Arno told me I needed an agent. I need someone to get me gigs. Someone with contacts and a network. He mentioned two names to whom he would send an email with information about me. I was pleased to hear that. I know I can't do everything myself. It takes a lot of energy and most importantly often wasted. Every profession should have a pro. Can't compose music and be an agent at the same time. Be your own manager and economist at the same time.
In these post-covid times, I'm a bit skeptical about finding an agent. I feel like people have really somehow become weaned on the culture... They go to events that are more or less social events... But I'll definitely give it a chance. I'm very grateful to Arno...
In the evening we performed as a headliner at the Space X festival. We had basically prepared the whole program that we have been working on since our concerts in Trnava, Martin and Bratislava. I think we played the best in Bratislava. The sound was very inspiring. In my opinion, the Prague concert was not a success. We knew what we were going to do, but somehow it didn't work. I would compare it to starting a car. It starts, it starts, but it doesn't start. I had that feeling the whole concert. I felt like all my decisions were wrong. We were cutting songs and I felt that somehow it wasn't working. At the bow, Rick told me to listen to the recording. Whether we were really playing as badly as he thought we were... He said it was probably the atmosphere in the room... Who knows. I still take it that's just our feeling. We're maybe tired of the material we've been playing for the last 4 days... The audience might be perceiving it in a completely different way. It's hard to say, but the most important thing for me is how I feel... Maybe I shouldn't have watched the gigs before us... My ears get tired and my creativity gets tired... Who knows...
After the concert we packed up our stuff and went for a beer with Paolo and Anita. Rick and Arno went to bed.
It was our last concert. Too bad it wasn't the best... But I guess that's the way it should be... Eternal dissatisfaction makes us work on ourselves and not stand still...
Tomorrow we travel with Rick to Presov, where he will stay for three days.