interview: Sage

For fans of traditional singing and very memorable songs, the way that Sage works with traditional, power, symphonic and epic heavy metal should be of interest. They hail from Croatia, in Central-Southeastern Europe. In 2018 they have an impressive debut album of eleven songs and some 55 minutes of music, called Anno Domini 1573, which is an important year in the history of the region, as explained in this interview with the band’s talented singer Davor Bušljeta.The band is Marko Karačić on bass, Branimir Habek and Enio Vučeta on guitars, Andrej Božić on keyboards, Davor Bušljeta on vocals, and Goran Mikulek on drums.

How are you?! Where in Croatia are you and how is life in general in your city?

We are doing quite alright with our day to day life. We are located in the capital city Zagreb. While living here is tolerable, for we have such great politicians that are trying their best, if you know what we mean.

And how is life for your music? Do you have a good metal scene for bands like Sage?

Yeah, we have lots of great metal bands and the metal scene itself is not too shabby, yet it has seen better days. The problem lies in the mainstream media for most of the music is mainstream and for the rest of us that do not play popular music it's pretty hard to get some airtime.

Croatia did very well during the football world cup in 2018 in Russia. Did you watch it?

Of course, if Croatians do anything properly it’s watching the game with a couple of friends and beers by the small screen.

How many recordings has Sage made? How long has the band been active? Were you all in previous bands in Croatia?

We have been active since October 2013 and since then we have released eleven songs and music videos for our debut album. Enio was famous as the frontman and guitarist of Legija (1985-2004), while Marko is currently playing with Prljavo Kazalište that has great popularity in Croatia for the last 30 years and was also playing with Shark Island and many other musicians, while the rest of the band members had several bands in the past and played locally.

What type of jobs do you all have?

We split the day to day band jobs and there is no manager, and we all do different jobs like fireworks, director in a bank, salesman, IT specialist.

The title Anno Domini 1573 seems like an epic title for the album. Where did you record the album? Was it recorded in studios in Croatia?

It was recorded in the studio of Janko Mlinarić Truli with the help of our producer Fedor Boić and sound engineer Franjo Valentić, while it was mixed at Morrisound studio in Florida by the famous drummer Casey Grillo.

The album sounds good and it has catchy songs. Is the album a concept album about the year 1573?

It is about an event that happened, to be precise the Peasants Revolt against the noble man that were oppressing the common man as we are experiencing something similar in the present; therefore, we decided to make the album with that type of a storyline.

Were your people fighting for independence or freedom in 1573?

The peasants had their final fight with the noble man at Stubica a place near Zagreb the city we live in. Back then the feudal lords had a system with high taxes and they were a greedy bunch that never knew to stop milking the cow, for they would take as much as possible from the peasant which then had to make it through the harsh winter.

Do you have any songs in Croatian?

We have made songs only in English so we could present our Croatian history to a wider audience, and our lyrics do describe the situation back in the day.

Did your parents grow up during the 1990s wars in your region? Did any of you grow up during that time?

We all have experienced the war during the 1990s, some more, some less. The war itself took five long years and even most of our family members experienced war at first hand, unfortunately.

Is life more peaceful in Croatia nowadays?

There is peace as in there is nobody shooting, yet there is no peace in the economic and political sense.

Do you think that the future will be peaceful in your region?

We sincerely hope that there will be no war here again, as we also hope for the rest of the world that are experiencing what we have will come to an end as soon as possible.

Where can people can hear the album? Do you have merchandise?

Currently you can listen to our songs on our YouTube channel, or our website, or you can buy a digital version as it was released during September by Rockshots Records. We currently have cd and a cd dvd deluxe version also guitar picks and T-shirts, and we hope that people will visit our gigs as we tour.

Do you have invitations to play in Europe so far? Do you plans to play shows? What news do you have about shows and tours?

We have recently played in Trieste, Italy, and we are currently dealing with booking agencies for the summer tour in Europe, all will be officially released on our Facebook page in due time.

What is your favorite food that is not from Croatia? Is German, Italian or Greek food popular in Croatia?

Croatian cuisine is specific for it is a mix of Italian, Turkish, French, Greek and lots of other cultures, yet we do have vege, Mexican, Chinese restaurants; people prefer Croatian cuisine.

Have you visited the United States? What did you think?

Some of us have visited the U.S.; good food, good women, what’s not to like?!! Some of us have relatives in the States.

It is cool how the last song “Heaven Open Your Gates” begins. Is that a Croatian Catholic song? It is a very nice end to the album.

The beginning of “Heaven Open Your Gates” is a sample made by Fedor Boić, yet the end is sung by the band and several girls from a quire called Medley Teatar, it is an old song usually sung at funerals and we have recorded it in loving memory to a dear friend of ours as also it is a song for the fallen hero of the Peasants Revolt, Matija Gubec

Good job on the album. Last words?

Thank you for the opportunity for presenting our work to the people in the U.S., we hope we will see you one day live at a gig.

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