Doomed Confessionary: Aleksandar Rajić (Northern Revival)
Photos by Tanja Žarić
Northern Revival is a rock band from Novi Sad, Serbia. If their music has to be labeled with a certain genre, it might be most accurately called stoner heavy rock, although it is much more than that. You can hear many influences from classic rock’n’roll, sludge metal, blues, psychedelic rock, hard core to stoner in their music they have been grinding and polishing for 10 years to get to what defines the sound and band’s style today.
The band released their latest full-length album »Modification« on September 9th, 2022 via Geenger Records.
Northern Revival’s line-up consists of Slobodan Pejčić on vocals, Aleksandar Rajić on guitar and backing vocals, Marko Vasiljev on bass and Željko Krstanović on drums.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Hello Doomed Nation. We are Northern Revival from Novi Sad, Serbia. We play heavy music with a lot of riffs and grooves, some call it stoner metal, some call it heavy stoner rock, but it’s best for you to judge for yourself, we don’t really care.
What was the biggest challenge for the band last year?
The biggest challenge is to play this genre of music in Serbia, but we are used to it, so it will be booking a tour for 2024 and maybe we’ll see you in your city.
What can you be most proud of last year?
We are proud of all the concerts we played last year, that at every concert we saw that people understood our music and what we wanted to tell them. In addition, also to the video for the song »Broken«, which we released in October and a collaboration with 6th Street Brewery and the release of the Northern Revival golden ale series.
What was your biggest regret?
There are no regrets, only a road ahead of us to cross.
What was the best concert/tour last year and why?
Let’s say a concert in Budapest at the S8 Underground Club. There were many interesting situations before, during and after the concert.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
New album from Dozer, »Drifting In The Endless«. I am very glad that the boys are back after 10 years.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We will be on tour from April 19 to 28, the booking is still in progress, but for now the cities confirmed for next year for the tour and outside the tour are Zagreb, Velenje, Graz, Vienna, Timisoara, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Alparfest in Hungary, Malomfesztival etc.
What are your plans for this year as a band? What do you personally want the most?
For now, we are mostly focused on the tour and the new songs we started working on. As for me personally, I want to further improve my singing.
How can people best support your band?
What people can do that is free and means a lot to any band is to share the music and spread the story of the band. Also coming to concerts, buying merch, buying music through Bandchamp, because that way they financially help the band to make music for them.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Northern Revival is preparing a new album that will be even better than the previous one, until then see you at the concerts. Cheers!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well