Doomed Confessionary: Andrej, Gašper & Gaja (Dunraven)
Photo Matic Kutin
Dunraven is an alternative/grunge/stoner rock trio based out of the southeastern part of Slovenia.
Dunraven was formed in Bistrica ob Sotli, Slovenia, and released a demo EP titled »Thrown In At The Deep End« in 2020. It has since then become a three-piece collective, continuing to work within the tightly-knit local alternative scene in Bistrica ob Sotli. In January 2024 they released their self-titled debut album, with two singles coming out two months prior: »Rock Bottom« and »Fires«. Both singles are accompanied with an official music video.
Dunraven are Gaja Pekošak (drums, vocals), Andrej Černelč (guitar, vocals) and Gašper Tominšek (bass, vocals).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Gaja: We have Gašper who doesn’t like tomatoes and cucumbers, Andrej, who has a transplanted kidney, and Gaja, who was born two and a half months early and bumped her head really hard when she was four. I guess Gašper was closest to winning the evolution lottery.
Gašper: But Gašper is a ginger.
Gaja: It’s a band of delinquents. Of people who were bullied in school.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Gaja: Balancing band activities with all the other stuff we’re doing? Also, finishing our first record and getting our first gigs. Just normal processes of being in a band.
Andrej: Also, making absolutely no-budget DIY music videos.
Gašper: Also, singing while playing an instrument. I hate singing. Well, I don’t really, but you know.
Gaja: But girls love it.
Gašper: I hate girls. (Gašper is not gay and has a girlfriend)
What can you be most proud of so far?
Gašper: First album.
Gaja: And music videos.
What was your biggest regret?
Gaja: I’ve got no regrets.
Also Gaja: That we waited a whole year before finally mixing and publishing our album in one month.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Andrej: As they say, everywhere is home, but still, home is the best. So we’d say that our album release party in Klub Metulj was the absolute best night we played.
Gaja: But there’s also Christmas of 2023 when we played in Gustaf in Maribor. The guys called “Defenders of Metal” organized it, and we also became good friends.
Gašper: Channel Zero was great, too.
Photo Matic Kutin
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Gašper: That people cook goulash for bands in every underground club we play in?
Andrej to Gašper: Didn’t it surprise you that you can play in a band without buying one single piece of equipment?
Gaja to Andrej: Didn’t you play like this for ten years before buying any equipment?
Andrej: Yeah…
Gašper: Karma.
Gaja: That chickens are more popular than music. (We have a funny video of our domesticated chicken drinking beer that exceeded 150k views). And also in general, that if you wanna succeed on the internet these days, you basically have to do stupid shit most of the time to get noticed. Entertain. And then 10% of that is actually making music and showing it for what it really is.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Gašper: Siddharta (everyone laughs).
Gaja: I ended up listening to nu-metal recently, which I thought would never happen.
Andrej: You’re both listening to crap.
Gaja: Alice In Chains has been with me throughout my adolescent and adult life, and it’s still going strong.
Gašper: Right. I listen to techno! (Gašper is also a DJ.) Jon Summit, Dom Dolla, Reinier Zonneveld…
Andrej: These days I’m listening to Chelsea Wolfe, Julian Lage…
Gašper: Queen Adreena. And System Of A Down, of course.
Gaja: Yeah, and Carnaval and Demolition Group…
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Gašper (imitating a motivational speaker): DON’T QUIT. DON’T EVER STOP.
Andrej: I did an interview with an old blues guitarist once in Italy. I asked him: “Man, how can you play this well?” And he said: “You know, it’s easy man. When you see a guitar, just grab it.” I was mind-blown.
Gaja: The best advice I got was probably the one I specifically didn’t listen to, and I did the exact opposite.
Gašper: Best advice I ever got was to never stop.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Andrej: Porn! (Andrej is an anti-porn activist)
Gašper: Sometimes, I like to cover myself in dirt and pretend I’m a carrot. I watch cooking shows. I like to bark at cyclists.
Andrej: My guilty pleasure is that I let our cat sleep on the bed.
Gaja: I smack people on the ass.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Bistrica ob Sotli / Posavje region?
Gašper: This is a moment of our senior member…
Andrej: If you say so, carrot. Uhm… The Bistrica ob Sotli scene started after the first concert in Klub Metulj in, what, 1997? After that, many bands emerged and broke up. I should know, I played in half of them. Right now, the most serious bands are the incredible Baltazar and, well, us. There are other bands and duos and solo projects, and some of the Bistrica musicians became well-recognized in the Ljubljana free improvisation scene. And we still have concerts in Klub Metulj. Pretty remarkable, all this, if we take into consideration that Bistrica is just a village of like 1,400 people.
About Posavje… We have some compadres there. I especially like Suzi Soprano. And I love the AKD Pizdun venue in a village called Kostanjek.
Photo by Vita Kožuh
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Gaja: Right now, we have three upcoming summer gigs. On the 17th of August, we play at the Nindri Indri festival in Murska Sobota; on the 6th of September, we play in Gustaf together with Individua from Zagreb…
Andrej: …it’s organized by our friends Defenders of Metal…
Gaja: …and on November the 2nd, we play at Kolomonov Žegen festival in our Klub Metulj, Bistrica ob Sotli.
Andrej: Jegulja will also play there.
Gašper: This will be our EP release party.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Gaja: Our new EP release. We’ll be playing our own renditions of Slovenian folk songs. Also, hopefully a Euro tour. And new merch.
Gašper: An amp.
Andrej: Global domination.
Gašper: Drugs, sex, hookers.
Andrej: Slovenian invasion.
Gaja: To die at 27 after invading Slovenia.
How can people best support your band?
Gaja: Just wire us 10,000€.
Andrej: Buy our music on Bandcamp. Soon you’ll be able to buy CDs there as well. If there’s a record label that actually wants to help us make vinyls, that would be really great.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Andrej: My message for our listeners is that, despite how everything looks, things are getting better. So don’t give up.
Gašper: Don’t limit yourself to just one kind of music. This also applies to fellow young musicians. Be open.
Gaja: I think that things are not necessarily getting better. I say stay critical, fuck shit up, beat up fascists. Don’t just ignore everything because it’s hard. Don’t just consume mindlessly.
Gašper: Don’t feel sorry for yourself, find a problem and solve it.
Gaja: And just… do something in life that won’t make you miserable, even if everyone says otherwise. Not that I’m particularly successful myself, but you get me.
Andrej: I just met an old friend that told me she’s been working in kindergarten for 20 years and that it’s horrible, that she can’t wait for retirement. What are you talking about? You have 20 more years to go… Do something. Stop waiting. Stop waiting for retirement.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well