In the beginning of 1989 in Belgrade, Serbia, I founded a popular rockabilly band called The Rock Therapy, along with Tomislav Bozovic (of the cool Shakes).
The band's existence lasted for five years and during that time it went on tour throughout the ex-Yugoslavia, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland (where the band disintegrated in 1994).
In 1996, I established a new band called Mr. Blue, and released an LP record "Sa druge strane ogledala". Right after shooting the video for "Lepe zene prolaze kroz grad", the band split up.
In November of 1998., at a party in Belgrade, under the influence of Milan and Sandra from The Devil Records, and after listening to some new records (RHH, Batmobile, Demented are Go, Mad Sin, Peacocks etc.), my musical orientation expanded from plain rockabilly to other styles of music such as ska, punk, surf, and psychobilly.
That same year, I met Aleksandar Simic Sima and Andreja Milosevic in Greenwood Studio, where we established a demo band called Cikine Bombone. Soon after, we had our first gig with URGH in SKC, Belgrade.
In January of 1999., with a slight help from the Radio-Television B92, we recorded our first LP, "Flaming Dynamite", which is where the band gets its new name, Grandpa Candys, inspired by a late '60s comic book character Grandpa Jim Candys.
That same year we shot our first video for the song "Vampirella", produced by Devil Records. The band also played several shows in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and RS.
Because of the NATO aggression in 1999, the band temporarily stopped playing. In 2001, we released "Flaming Dynamite" for ITMM Records, and that same year we appeared on the Raucous Records' compilation "Psychobilly Freakout" with the song "My Little Sister".
In 2002, the band released its second album called "Captain Crash" for Active Time Records and shot the video for "Psycho in New Orleans", and played at the Belgrade's Beer Fest.
During 2005, we recorded our third album called "666.000 miles in the wrong way", and shot the video for the song "Paralyzed".
I may also add that the band and I (Grandpa Candys) are mostly influenced by Misfits, 7 Seconds and the Stray Cats.
Sasha Jovanovic
Jovandeka
