Bones in Butter
... is Milutin Krašević, last man standing among a group of fellow musicians who shared a common vision to blend beautiful melodies and harmonies with the darkness and thoughtfulness of the Post-Punk era into a unique style.
Krašević was born in Lucerne, Switzerland, to Yugoslav immigrants. His parents introduced him to music by forcing him to take piano lessons at the age of 7.
The Punk movement caught his attention, especially the Stranglers, Wire, Magazine, the Velvet Underground, and he began to develop a rather peculiar taste in music. During this period, he also picked up the old guitar his father gave him and taught himself the first chords so he could play along to records he was listening to at that time. Krašević collaborated with fellow musicians, pursued various music projects and finally, after moving with wife and son to Belgrade, Serbia, decided to fully indulge his passion for music.
The result of this first adventure under the moniker Bones in Butter was the “Love or Fear” EP containing seven genre-crossing songs and recorded with session musicians from Serbia, Italy and Brazil.
But as there was plenty of gas left in the tank, lots of new material began to emerge waiting to materialize. And so, before long, Krašević had written a dozen new songs and was again looking out for the right people who would not only help him record these songs but who would also add their own ideas to the overall sound.
And as fate would have it, Krašević soon stumbled upon a circle of highly talented artists from the Belgrade indie scene: Luna Škopelja, vocals; Todor Živković, guitar; Dejan Škopelja, bass; Fedja Franklin, drums; and Srdjan Popov, mix and master – to form the final lineup and to find and shape the unique sound and vibe that define the music of Bones in Butter.
So Alone
"Ich bin so etwas wie ein „politisches Tier“ und „So Alone“ ist das Ergebnis meiner Überlegungen über Tyrannei und Tyrannen, über Unterdrückung und Unterdrücker, oder genauer: es ist mein Wunschdenken an die Zeit, nachdem dieser Tyrann alle Macht verloren hat", sagt der Künstler über den Song.
Tja, schwere Geschütze sprich Lyrics werden hier aufgeboten und musikalisch verarbeitet. Musikalisch dem Indie-Rock im Allgemeinen zugeordnet, mit einer leichten Brise in Richtung Post-Punk und einem Hauch Psychedelic, plus hin und wieder auftauchenden avantgardistischen Anleihen im Bereich der Soundfindung, lassen den Track über die gesamte Länge immer interessant erscheinen, und fesseln den Zuhörer. Die Umsetzung der Lyrics in das musikalische "in Szene setzen" finde ich äußerst gelungen, da die Instrumentierung immer wieder Stimmungen hervorruft und die Lyrics unterstützen bzw. reflektieren, gleichsam die Musik als Vermittler in der Profession der Lyrics.
Q&A
Bones in Butter is/are?
Bones in Butter are a, mostly, Serbian act. It is a collective of musicians with me, Milutin, as songwriter, keyboard player, sound designer and the only permanent member, and a group of talented, experienced and well-known musicians from the Belgrade and international music scenes: Luna Skopelja, vocals; Todor Zivkovic, guitars, Srdjan Popov, bas and sound engineer, Dima Faustov, clarinet, and Marcelo Effori, drums.
... and is there a story behind the artist/band name?
Not really :-) I mean, there is no deeper meaning behind the band name. I had already written the material for the first EP and wasn’t really sure what name to attach to the project. Then, one day, I was watching the crime show “Bones” on TV when suddenly the scales fell from my eyes. I had it all figured out. It had to be “Bones in Butter”! And that’s it. That’s how the name was born. True story :-)
Who inspired you to make music?
I guess that was my parents. They were not artists, musicians, both had totally different professional backgrounds, but both loved music, played an instrument, loved to sing, and they took care that there was music around us at home all the time.
What or who inspired you to "So alone"?
I am sort of a “political animal“ and “So Alone” is the result of my musings about tyranny and tyrants, about oppression and oppressors, or more precise: it is my wishful thinking about the period after this tyrant has lost all power and is slowly fading into oblivion and doomed to spend the rest of his life in loneliness. As the song is about an utterly negative character it is sung as an ironic and mischievous nursery rhyme.
"So alone" sounds really "out of the box", do you have a fav genre?
I must confess that I do not have a favorite genre. Even though I grew up with punk, post-punk and new wave music, I learned at an early stage to appreciate lots of other different genres – pop, folk, metal, classical etc. – and realized eventually that it is not the genre that is relevant and that defines whether I like or dislike a song. It is something else that moves me and makes me embrace a tune. So I have stopped worrying about genres and I totally ignore this concept in my songwriting process. And that is why I have a very hard time answering any question regarding genres and prefer to leave it to the audience to name the genre.
When do you decide that a song is ready for the release?
Oh, I’m rather undisciplined in that regard. Basically, a song is never really ready for release because there is ALWAYS something that can either be added, removed or improved. I am never totally satisfied with a result. But knowing that the creative process is in fact a never-ending process, I was forced to set myself a goal and that is – one month. This means that I have exactly 30 days from the moment I start recording an idea to the mastered version that is submitted for release.
What is your creative process like?
First, there is a melody or riff floating around in my head. Or maybe some chords and progressions I recorded earlier and didin’t know what to do with at that moment. Next, I come up with an idea, i.e. the story I want to tell or a topic I want to sing about. Then, having in mind stage one of this process, I compose the music around it, with all its elements: intro, verse, chorus etc. Then, I write the lyrics in accordance with the song structure. Finally, I pass this raw version to my band mates who are invited to add live instruments and vocals and ideas at will, Once the material is ready, I work out the musical and lyrical details.
What is the most useful talent you have?
Well, it’s definitely not my playing skills because I am not really good at any instrument. It is probably the ability to come up with interesting chord progressions and to put them together in a, well, interesting fashion.
What do you prefer, a live gig or the work in the studio?
I prefer working in the studio because that’s the place where creativity can unfold.
If you could change anything in the past, what would it be?
Hm, although I’ve made some wrong decisions in my life, I’ve managed to lead a happy and fullfilled life so far, so I don’t think changing anything in the past would be a good idea. But since you asked me so politely, I’d probably not quit the piano lessons my parents urged me to take when I was a kid. I’d probably be a much more proficient musician now :-)
How do you feel the Internet (especially Social Media platforms) has impacted the music business?
This is a huge and relevant topic and one could write a book about it. It is also difficult to answer this question because we are talking here about an ongoing process. But right now, I am not sure the Internet with all its implications is impacting the music business in a good way. I am rather pessimistic because I see that Social Media Platforms have changed the ways people look at art and consume art. The artist is therefore forced to adapt to these new cirumstances.
In this particular case this means that the musician has to shift the focus of his work from the creative process to more business and marketing-related tasks. There’s no way that the quality of the music can possibly benefit from these global trends. But as I said, this is an ongoing process, it’s called evolution and we will witness many more changes and developments and trends. The human need for artistic expression, however, will never change.
What’s next for you?
That’s an easy question :-) I have two songs I wrote last week and as soon as I finish this Q & A, I need to write the lyrics...
