Hands up who can name a rock band from Croatia?  Well in a perfect world, that will all soon change with Angels, one of the most exciting bands to come onto the melodic rock scene in recent years, well at least since H.E.A.T!  The all girl band play a unique blend of popular rock in the vein of bands such as Bon Jovi and mostly comparable to the band Vixen. With their album “Rock The World” due out in Croatian later this year, an English version will follow in early 2010, an album that features songs written by Jakob Samuel from The Poodles and also feature the talents of Lord Tim from Australian metal band LORD.

Even more remarkable is the fact that 3 members of the band are only 20 and bass player Tea is 19.  Having been together now for seven years, they just missed out on going to Eurovision as a full band when they were only 17 years old. The band were finalists and clearly the viewers favourites but it was the year that Croatia's biggest pop-star of 15 years (Severina) made an entry so the girls just missed out.  A public outrcry followed proving just how popular the band had become amongst music circles in Croatia!

A few weeks away from heading to Australia to play a bunch of shows, we caught up with bass player Tea who gave us all we need to know about the band and the upcoming tour!  Be sure to check the bands Myspace and Website for all tour date information.

How and when did the band come together and what is the inspiration behind the name? 

Well, the band got together 7 years ago, we were all going to music school except Irena, who we met singing in the choir together. In music school we played classical music, that music is great but we all were kind of into rock music, especially Bon Jovi, cause we are all big fans.  In our town only boys were playing in bands so we decided that we are going to form an all girl band and this is how things started.

 

For those people who haven’t yet checked out your songs on Myspace, can you describe the type of music that the Angels play?

If you haven’t checked our songs yet: What are you waiting for? Heh!

Our type of music is melodic rock, It’s not very heavy so something like Bon Jovi, The Poodles... People that are into melodic rock, arena rock, AOR, hard rock and even melodic heavy metal will enjoy what we do.

 

Who are some of your favourite bands that may of influenced the Angels sound?

I have to say again Bon Jovi, than the Poodles who have been a great help to us especially Jakob Samuel who gave us some songs, Whitesnake, Guns ‘n’ Roses, AC/DC, Manowar, Kiss, Bryan Adams, Vixen, Doro Pesch, U2 and other bands  from this genre of music.

 

You are coming to play a bunch of shows in Australia next month.  Can you tell us how this tour came about, as it sure is a long way from home for you girls!

Ooo, it all came so soon J, we still can’t believe that this is happening...person guilty for all this is Steve Ravić, we met Steve like a year ago, we recorded a song ‘Slave of Love’ for his movie.  We were thrilled with collaboration, so we signed a contract, so Steve is now our manager and first thing about his plan was to finish our album and then tour in Australia, so we get down to business and here we are, In a few weeks we’ll be in Australia, at first we were a little bit scared, Matilda was, she is a little bit scared of planes (we will give her some pills!), but we are big girls, we are looking forward to this, it’s a once in a life opportunity.

 

What are you looking forward to most about your visit to Australia?

We are all different and we like different things but one thing it’s for sure we are looking forward to playing in Australia, yes, we like see, beaches, we hope to try some Australian food, see the kangaroos, koalas, swim with the dolphins and some of us with sharks, but playing in Australia is much more important then those other things, we will rock your world, hey!

 

What kind of a rock scene does Croatia have for the kind of rock music that you play?

Well each kind of music has its own fans, so does rock, but unfortunately folk music it’s a little bit popular.  That does not worry us because there are lot of excellent bands in Croatia and more and more people are supporting that.  There are a lot of live concerts, lot of festivals and a lot of opportunities for bands but the missing part is that all this needs much more media support so that people could know that something is happening.

 

Where do you see the band fitting into both the worldwide and Croatian scene?

We definitely see a place reserved for usJ, but it would be stupid to say we want to be like Bon Jovi, of course we would like that, but our biggest dream is to play music that we love and then people will recognize our passion our place is waiting for us, it’s just a matter of time, with help from our fans it’s all possible.

 

What has the interest been thus far in the Angels both in Croatia and also internationally via your Website and Myspace etc?

We are very happy with the comments we got, there’s really been a lot of them and we have a lot of positive mainstream attention from Croatia. It’s really great to know, that besides your closest friends and family you got support all over Croatia and the world, especially in Australia, there’s a big thanks to Steve who’s our big promoter there.  We got a lot of concerts because of Myspace and our Website, people can hear us and that’s the most important thing...

 

You recently finished recording your album “Rock The World”, in both Croatian and English versions.  Can you tell us all about the album?   Will it be ready for purchase during your Australian tour?

 Yes, our first born, we are very proud of this album, we put a lot of effort into this and I think that everyone can see.  There are a lot of people who helped us with it, helped us made our songs the way they are.  There are 10 songs who are mix of songs we wrote, songs that other people wrote, like Lord Tim (LORD/Dungeon), Mario Šimunović.  I won’t tell you anything else, because this way you’ll have to listen to it for your self!  We want things to be perfect, so for the English version, you will have to wait until after Australia tour... But there will be a special tour version in Croatian with a few bonus songs that will be on the English version early next year.

 

If you had the choice of touring the world with 2 bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

I’m a little bit annoying heh, definitely Bon Jovi, ‘cause Bon Jovi is our role model, we love their songs, and second one is tough, I think answers would be different, some of us would say U2, some of us Guns ‘n’ Roses, some of us Queen, The Poodles, it’s very tough to say.

 

In recent years awesome melodic rock bands like H.E.A.T, The Poodles and Wig Wam have competed to represent their countries in the Eurovision Song Contest.  Are there any plans for you to do the same in 2010?

Maybe, we are considering the idea.

 

What do you think the Angels bring to the rock scene that is currently missing?

Something new, like we sometimes say, the x factor...we have great songs, we are all girls in the band, with soul and lot of love for music. I believe there hasn’t band like this for years, you have to love it.

 

Also, on top of performing our concert, we will have our own after party on stage where we will pay a lot of different cover songs. Of course, material by AC/DC and Bon Jovi, but also Bryan Adams and Survivor and some other very interesting material all rock up. So you get double the show!

 

After you get home from the Australian tour, what are the plans for the rest of 2010?

First to see our family!  About music plans, definitely to play as many concerts as possible (to tour Croatia and Europe and Magic Circle Festival with Manowar is confirmed). To write songs for our second album which is going to be recorded by the end of the year. To tour the world, including Australia again ;-)

 

Thank you and see you on tour!