Vladimir Skočajić Skoča could be said to be the unobtrusive good spirit of good Belgrade. He treats those who follow him on social media every Sunday morning with his Gistro FM show, once broadcast on the long-defunct Radio B92. For many, it is a signpost to good music that cannot be heard everywhere. Although his knowledge of music can be said to be encyclopedic, he does not consider himself a music critic. Until now, he presented himself as a music lover and writer without a book. At the beginning of the interview for the "Vremena" portal, we first ask him how he will present himself from now on, and not without reason. His first book, a collection of poems entitled "Sometimes you wake up in Belgrade", was published by Booka.
"As a music lover and a poet", he answers.
TIME: For those who know you and follow you on social media, it was not a question of if you would, but when you would publish a book. And it seems that everyone expected it to be a book of prose first, not poetry. How did it come about?
VLADIMIR SKOCAJIC: Just because people expected one, that's why I gave the other. I don't know who said that. I'm going to sound pretentious, so I'm going to say it through banter. Don't give people what they want, but what they need. I've been writing songs all my life. Longer than prose. Ever since elementary school and I've had a hell of a lot of them. With the fact that I never had the need to publish them anywhere. But last summer I had a bit of a build up and thought about doing as many jobs as I could enjoy. And then I said let's publish a collection of poetry, I can do that very quickly. And then I put together that collection of songs that I had. I still wrote some. And as for prose, my plan is to publish a collection of stories in a year, and then a novel in two years from now. This book is like an aperitif.
What are the songs about?
The songs are more or less about everything I'm constantly thinking about. About love, life, music, politics, people. When I sit somewhere and watch people, it can inspire me. Those relationships between people, when someone is wonderful or disgusting to you. There are a lot of sad, melancholic songs, because somehow the world is like that. And for me, songs are therapy. When I want to break someone's head, I write a song instead. And then I don't want to break my head anymore. And then it's easier for me.
Who influenced you more as a poet, poets who made music along with their verses or, to put it conditionally, classical poets?
Nothing classic. I know those general places from the classics. Muzuka first of all. Mark Eizel, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young. All the ones I've mentioned haven't influenced me that much in terms of looking up to, say, Nick Cave. It is more of an unconscious influence. I literally write songs as I see fit. I write them for my imaginary self. For me to read them and say this is really good.
And could some of your songs be put to music? Did you have a melody somewhere in your head when you wrote them?
I didn't think about music that way. These songs are more like stories. When you say poetry to me, I'm old school in my head, I still think of Desanka Maksimović. And this has nothing to do with that. And not only this, but modern poetry in general, such as Marko Tomaš, Milena Marković. These are the people I value and love. It's some new poetry that we didn't learn at school.
You once wrote that it's a dead race whether it's harder to find happiness or good new music in this prickly world. Why?
I think it's harder to find happiness. There's good new music out there, but you have to dig through anything and everything, like everything. And happiness is harder to find because the world is messed up. Honestly, I feel like we're living in '39 right now. and '40. years of the last century and that big breaks will follow. What exactly, I have no idea, but I feel something like that in the air. And that corona that was and this war in Ukraine... The world is a sad place for me and that's why I say happiness is hard to find. You have to create a microworld and that is the key to everything. There is also luck. And globally, a lot of unhappiness.
You share the Gistro FM show with everyone on Sunday mornings. In the book you also include the song Nedelja. Did you choose that day on purpose?
It is a combination of circumstances. When the show started on Radio B92, it was first broadcast on weekdays, then they switched me to Sunday and that's how it stayed. Sunday as a day is fascinating to me. That day for me is different from all the others in the week. I'm in the mood if aliens came and landed on Sunday and their fellow aliens came to the same place on Wednesday, they would have a different feeling. Sunday is a special day for me in many ways and I really love it. The peace, the silence, the fact that a person can do absolutely nothing and not have a guilty conscience about it. When you walk around Belgrade on a Sunday during the summer, Belgrade only looks like that on that day. There is something that takes me back to when I was a kid. For example, the so-called Bermuda Triangle between Politika, Radio Belgrade and those cafes, that canopy. It probably doesn't mean much to others, but for me, Sunday is kind of peaceful, easy, like a flowing stream or a bonanza on the sea.
In the collection you also have the song "Sometimes you wake up in Banja Luka". Why did Banjaluka get its own song?
Belgrade is mostly mentioned in the songs. Due to circumstances, I have been to Banja Luka three times and had three princely evenings by myself. So three in Banja Luka and zero anywhere else in the world. And Banjaluka feels a little more special than all other cities. And one morning when I woke up in Banja Luka, I wrote that song. There is also a song about Zagreb, more precisely about Opatovina Park. One song is about Vis, although it is not a song about Vis, but Vis as escapism.
How did GistroFM come about and where do you search for music and how many new songs or albums do you listen to daily or weekly? Often those who listen to you say that you have become their guide to new music.
I have folders on my computer named after the months, and I put everything I download into those folders. When I see that two or three new albums have appeared in the place where I download music, and I won't tell you where, then I literally download everything that seems interesting to me. And then I listen to those albums and every song I like, I put it in the Gistro folder. It became like a physiological need for me to put good music in that Gistro folder. And in the period after Radio B92 was cancelled, I didn't have a show for three months, and then I had the urge to insert music into the Gistro folder. And eventually it ends up on the show.
What is it that you play on Gitro FM today, and in some Gistro FM in 30 years it could be in the section of evergreen records?
At the end of the year, I always make a list of the most favorite albums that I listened to that year, and practically the top ten from that list are something that could enter that competition in 30 years. These are some albums that reflect the spirit of the time or my character. To me, evergreen is something old, and I still love it. For example, Lemonheads. I listened to them in the 90s and they are evergreen for me today. Today I love War on Drugs, they will be evergreen for me. National, and it will be evergreen. It's good music that will stand the test of time.
What is the relationship between domestic music and Gistro FM? How long does she have and when you give her space?
In general, I don't have that relationship with domestic foreign music. What I like, I let it go. Sometimes people send me music they make and I admit I rarely like any of it. Not because they do it badly, but I have my own taste. You have people who like to push local music, to raise the local scene, and that's OK. But I personally don't have that. To me, a good album is a good album. Whether he's from Požarevac or New York, I'll let him go if it's OK with me. It happened that bands from abroad sent me their music. I don't know how they find me and how they don't get bored listening to Serbian between songs, but they send it to me. Many times I didn't like it.
What is it about the music from this area that you put in the rank of world music classics?
I want to make a list of the top 20 country albums of all time and that's what I started doing. Around the top five will be Charlo Acrobat, Darkwood Dub – Forever. Idols, I can't skip them, Eva Braun - Pop Music, Masts. Mitara Subotić Suba. It's amazing to me how talented that man was and how great he was at what he did. And how many people here still have no idea who Suba is. Of the younger bands that are current, I have to admit that I'm a bit old. It's hard for me to identify myself. Butch Cassidy has a song called No Love in the Disco. I feel like a grandfather there. What kind of disco club and love there? It's great music, but I can't identify with it.
Are you still surprised by the number of people who listen to each show?
Any number over 200 surprises me. It's amazing. On average, between 1.500 and 2.000 people listen to the show. When there was a corona, it was over 3.000. I couldn't believe it because I'm releasing more or less what I've loved all my life. And what I have loved all my life, no one has done much before. And now it is being listened to and people are listening, loving it. It's great and I'm happy. I don't play anything that's modern. I believe it has become a ritual for people on Sundays. They prepare lunch and listen to Scotch. Whatever Skoca plays, they enjoy. That's their whole atmosphere and that's great for me.
You are starting again with Gistro evenings, playing music in clubs. It's not just Belgrade anymore. However, the interesting episode is that someone invited you to play muzuka at the celebration.
A man from Novi Sad called me and said he had an interesting proposal. He says: "It's glory for me, I listen to you and cook and then I thought I'd invite you to come and play music at my glory". Now I'm like what glory, and he "No, no. I am serious”. I told him the number for which I play music outside of Belgrade when they invite me to a club, he said valid. I also sat in the car, went to the man to celebrate. And the real glory, the buffet, the guests. The man is a successful businessman and he really likes my show. And it was more like he invited me to hang out. I played music, we talked and it was OK. There was a wedding, too.
Did they ask you for musical wishes?
Where they have desires, I am not there. People can ask me to play something, but I only agree if it's something I normally play. For that wedding, the condition was that a drunk old woman should not ask for Ceca at midnight. And it was cool, there were no such situations. People who call me for these things are in my style and we understand each other quickly. I fulfill wishes, but the rule is if that song is in my computer, it can be, and there is a big playlist in my computer. If it's not there, then nothing.
You refused to be an influencer. You once wrote on Facebook that they no longer contact you to advertise something. On the other hand, people can support you on Patreon. Where do you see the difference between the two approaches and still make some money from what you do?
I find the word influencer repulsive. I don't see myself that way. And what I refused was a situation where someone, for example, published a book and then wrote to me "Skocho, come write something about my book". I write about things that I normally like. If someone would pay me to advertise sneakers, to take pictures in them, and I like those sneakers, that's fine. But if I were to advertise sneakers that I wouldn't wear, there is no such money. And I see Patreon as something that makes up for all the injustice I've experienced in this world. I have done so many things for nothing or for little money or people have fired me for little money. When you say that you write or play music, people are in a mood that anyone can do it. And then I started it so that I could be supported by people who think that way of understatement is awesome. Who wants, as much as he can, and it took off. I have to admit that it is the best thing that has happened in my life in recent years. That's how I pay the bills now. I publish some stories there first, some songs are only there, the show comes out there before I play it publicly to everyone. People pay me for who I am.
In preparation for this conversation, I asked people what you would ask Scotch, so one of the questions was why did you come back from America? I would also ask you why you are staying here now?
America is an unprecedented experience, Austin where I lived is wonderful. I got my green card at the age of 40 and I went there at the moment when I was already starting to do something of my own here. And then I decided to try there. I knew that I couldn't immediately start doing what I love, so I worked in a restaurant. And when the corona came, I realized that everything slowed down so much and that it would take me at least another five, six years to work some jobs that I don't like until I found my own. And here, no matter how bad it is, here I have the opportunity to be what I want. I go to bed when I want, get up when I want, I don't have a boss. I only do what I love. I literally made my own world. I have to admit that the political situation and Vučić and his team hurt less now than before America. Before, I was much more annoyed, angry. Now I'm in the mood that some things are inevitable. I have my own world and I will live in it. It is more important to me that I do what I love and that life is according to my rules, than to say that I live in a country where there is not so much corruption. I tried it, I saw it. It was nice. I watched 120 concerts and now let's go home.
When you left to live in the USA, you took two albums with you. Which one and why you? And when you came back from America, did you have the same ritual?
I didn't bring the record as a record, but I stuck on Robert Ellis there. He is a singer-songwriter from Texas who had the brilliant album Texas Piano Man. I knew about him before, but I completely missed it. And what I took away is a slightly higher rank. Neil Young - Harvest Moon and Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One. Those are my two favorite songs of all time and I probably won't be able to hear better for the rest of my life.
The book is entitled "Sometimes you wake up in Belgrade". How does Belgrade look to you these days when you wake up in it?
Sad, as it probably is for everyone. It is interesting that the book came out to me at this time and with this title. Belgrade, which Belgrade, has survived all kinds of things, will survive these as well, that is not the question. But right now I think it's sad and it's going to be sad for a while and I'm afraid it's going to be even sadder. And then it will be cool. And whoever survives until that cool, will talk. But even the cool that will come will be short-lived. I think that the period between 2000 and 2003 is the best that Serbia can do. And that the point of life in Serbia is to drag out such three years as much as possible. Tito, Sloba, Vučić will always be here. And between those characters you should try and enjoy. And stretch it out. I might be wrong, but that's how it seems to me.
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