Me Veseli

Five nations/One band
Seven people communicating in only 1 language: Music.
‘Five nations, one band’? What's that about?
These guys are from five different countries and they play music together. They form what might be Europe’s most cosmopolitan group. Each time they want to meet, the members have to travel all across Europe.
LJUBLJANA 2002: BIRTH OF AN INTERNATIONAL JAM
Cris (vocals), Aram (guitar) and Alec (bass) all spent one year in the capital of Slovenia, as international students. They started jamming at parties and writing tunes in Aram’s living room. The first melodies emerged, the fun factor was present. However, the rhythm was still missing.
On an open stage night in Metelkova, Ljubljana’s artistic neighborhood, Matic (drums) joined the adventure. He grabbed his sticks and guided Alec and Aram into a funky improvisation. During that night the band not only obtained a drummer, but a name as well: Me Veseli, ‘pleased to meet you!’
BASSANO DEL GRAPPA 2003: FIRST RECORDINGS
After a few gigs in Ljubljana, the band was faced with the hard facts of life. Cris, Aram and Alec had to return to their respective countries, leaving Matic behind. But the seed was planted.
One month later, the members were back together. They recorded their first demo and played some concerts in Aram’s playground: Bassano del Grappa, northern Italy.
ITALY/BORDEAUX 2004: NEW MEMBERS
The band kicked off 2004 by performing in Italy once again and ended the year by touring Bordeaux, Alec’s hometown.
2 new musical activists joined the Me Veseli movement: Michele (keys), an Italian sound manipulator, and Bas (saxophone), a dutchman temporarily lost in France.
MOZIRJE 2005: NEW RECORDINGS
In march 2005, Me Veseli gathered in a fairy, tiny, hilly Slovene village: Mozirje. The hospitable parents of Matic welcomed the band for great times: concerts, songwriting, and recording.
The sound evolved, the music did too. More jazz and funk grooves were introduced. This resulted in their second demo, aptly entitled ‘The Strudl Drama’.
SLOVENIA 2006: EUROPEAN SHOWCASE
The band returned to Slovenia for some more musical meveselica in april 2006. Aram, at this time, had joined the ostriches in South Africa. So they welcomed a new member: Wim, Bas' brother, on guitar.
On Maribor’s central square, they played in front of an enthusiastic crowd from all over Europe. The audience had arrived there by train from Berlin, as part of the ‘Europazug’ festival.
NETHERLANDS 2006/2007: AANGENAAM TOUR
During the Aangenaam Tour, Me Veseli played four concerts, wrote three nice new songs, painted, went to the beach, lighted off fireworks, enjoyed some of the Amsterdam flavours, and generally enjoyed themselves. See the blogs for more info.
VENICE 2007: CIAO SPRIZZ
In the summer of 2007 Me Veseli visited Michele in Venice to have some Sprizz together. They played a concert in Villa Revedin and recorded 7 songs in the Hotfarm studio. Martino took the guitar. In Venice, he still had a beard!
LEIPZIG 2008: KASCHMIR KATZE
Leipzig has quite some musical history. It's also the city in which Christian bikes to his research work every day. And in july 2008 he finally invited Me Veseli to his neat appartment. They spent quite some hours in an old industry building, renovated into a practising room, and had mutliple liters of beer in local bar nAto. They played 3 concerts (all sold out! 2x Leipzig, 1x Jena) in front of an enthusiatic German audience. Martino was there... without beard. Christian and Bas compensated for this miss!
200X: ME VESELI FUTURE
Re-inventing themselves day by day, these guys are currently thinking of new ways to bring Europe their musical offerings. Further gigs in Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid and Montenegro are on their list as well. Expect something new: Me Veseli is no conventional music band. By mixing languages, music styles and emotions, they are guaranteed to enlighten your night out!