George Vjestica – guitarist of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – has recently released a song with his project named “Bandante”.
The track titled “So This Is Now” also has a music video which you can watch below:
We wanted to know a bit more about Bandante and the single so we got in touch with George himself and here is what he had to say;
‘SO THIS IS NOW’ HOW DID THIS TRACK COME ABOUT? WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT IT?
I’d had the music floating around in my head for a long time, I’d been playing around on an acoustic guitar and there was something there that just stuck! Usually, you have an idea and five minutes later it’s gone but for some reason this one refused to disappear. It’s an instrumental piece, it’s like a five minute soundtrack. The only lyric I had was ‘Protest”, no other words were necessary.
YOU’VE ALSO DROPPED A MUSIC VIDEO FOR THE SONG WHERE YOU COLLABORATED WITH TIMOTHY SHEPARD. IT HAS QUITE AN INTERESTING CONCEPT. COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE MEANING OF THE VIDEO FOR US?
Tim calls it “A dystopian-like view of the world”. It’s a profound and timely piece of work that really captures for me in many ways the world we are currently living in. It’s all there in the video, it speaks for itself. We need to take care of our planet and the people who live on it.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO WORK ALONGSIDE TIM? HOW DID THIS COLLABORATION COME ABOUT?
I’ve known Tim for few years. He’s a great collage artist. He did the artwork for Paul Weller’s 22 Dreams’ and Kevin Ayers’ final album ‘The Unfairground’. We have similar tastes in music and art and he’s very knowledgeable about both, he’s very creative. He made the video for Bandante’s debut single ‘Bang Bang’ and I really love the one he did for ‘My Friend’, he really captured the essence of the song.
FOR THE TRACK, YOU ALSO WORKED WITH IAN MATTHEWS (KASABIAN), NIKOLAJ TORP (THE SPECIALS), and TIN HUTTON (DUB PISTOLS, PRODIGY). WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH ALL THESE INCREDIBLE MUSICIANS? COULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT THE WRITING PROCESS WAS LIKE?
I wrote the song myself, all the music the arrangement was there when I made the demo. I took that into the studio and used it as a reference for Ian, Nikolaj and Tim and then they added their own individual musical personalities to the song. They’re all very intuitive musicians and played what was necessary, no fucking around, they’re all on it!
I wanted the recording to capture a ‘live’ feel, I wanted a performance, that kind of energy and excitement and you can really feel that in the track. Great musicians know how to serve and elevate a song. I have to mention Stan White’s contribution to the track, he plays bass on “So This Is Now’, he’s awesome. I worked with Stan on John Squire’s ‘Marshalls House’ album. I really loved where John was coming from on that record. All the songs were inspired and based on paintings by Edward Hopper. They’re really great songs, and he’s an insane guitarist, he’s something else.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE SOUND BEFORE SOMEBODY GIVES IT A FIRST LISTEN?
Intense and majestic!
YOU’RE ALSO THE GUITARIST IN THE BAD SEEDS. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO START A NEW PROJECT? HOW DID BANDANTE COME ABOUT?
I need an outlet, a vehicle, to express my songwriting. When the Bad Seeds are not recording or touring I still need to make and play music, it’s what I do. I’m just very restless and I don’t take any of this for granted. It’s a gift to be able to play and share music.
WHAT HAS THE LOCKDOWN BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO KEEP MOTIVATED DURING THIS TIME?
Lockdown has been pretty much the same for me as for everybody else. The Bad Seeds were due to start rehearsing for the European Tour days before it happened so that naturally was very disappointing. Hopefully it will happen next year, one needs to be positive. I have a small studio set up so I’m in there most days writing or recording some music.
FINALLY, CAN YOU TELL US ANY FUTURE PLANS? WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
I’ve been working on a few songs, I hope to get one out before the end of the year. I’ve also been working on a BBC drama based on Nancy Mitford’s ‘The Pursuit of Love’ that’s due out Spring 2021. I’ve put an awesome band together that will be in one of the scenes but I can’t say too much about it right now…you’ll just have to wait and see!
Massive thanks to George for having a chat with us! We can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us. For more information about Bandante, be sure to to check out their website.
What did you think of “So This Is Now”? Let us know over on our Twitter! – @AboutThe_Noise