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Hrvoje Bubić: JASON KOROLENKO INTERVIEW
Hrvoje Bubić
Jason Korolenko je američki pisac i lgazbenik. Za Solin Live govori o sebi, svome radu, kao i o biografiji metal benda Sepultura
First, could you introduce yourself to our readers and say something about yourself?
I’m Jason Korolenko, a writer, musician, storyteller, and general misanthrope based out of the US, and not (as far as I know) in any way related to the little known but much revered Russian writer Vladimir Korolenko.
You are a writer and a musician, so I was wondering what motivated you to pursue writing and music?
Since I was a child, I knew I wanted to be either a rock star or a writer when I grew up. The juxtaposition of these two career paths is intriguing, looking back on it now. The rock star, always in the public eye, adored, playing concerts all over the world to thousands of people every night. No privacy. No solitude. And the writer, quiet and alone, experiencing only solitude, working diligently in the corner of a room for months on end, slaving over the right words, in search of the perfect sentence, only to disappear into the book itself and be forgotten once the story is over.
I guess I just like telling stories.
One of the books you’ve written is Relentless, a biography of the Brazilian metal band Sepultura. How did you come up with the idea for the book and what was it like actually working on the book?
Derrick Green, Sepultura’s vocalist, was looking for help rewriting his Wikipedia page because it was full of misinformation. I reached out but someone beat me to it. But it got me thinking about how, and why, no one had ever written a book about Sepultura as a whole. (Max Cavalera, Sepultura’s co-founder and former vocalist/guitarist, was working on his autobiography with Joel McIver at the time, but that had not yet been announced.)
I was finishing my Masters’ Degree in writing, so I reached out to some publishers and agents I knew, and they thought it was a good idea. I then pitched it to the band, who also thought it was a cool idea, as long as it told – as Andreas Kisser said – “the truth and nothing but the truth.” Even though I had Sepultura’s support through interviews and a whole slew of never-before-seen photos they provided, it was always clear that it was my project and not an “official” Sepultura product.
Writing the book was a lot of hard and sometimes frustrating work, of course, but more fun than anything. I tried to get as many people as possible involved who had connections to Sepultura, even speaking to Jason Newsted and Jello Biafra about writing introductions, but those fell through. A lot of people, I’m sure, are wondering if I talked to the Cavaleras since their voices are noticeably absent in the book. The answer to that is yes, absolutely. I reached out to Igor through a mutual friend, and Igor’s response was that he wanted nothing to do with Sepultura. I also reached out to Max through his wife and one-time Sepultura manager, Gloria, but Gloria refused to support it in any way saying, “It will never be the truth from all sides.”
I always wanted the book to be impartial, celebrating the band’s entire history, and not focused on the drama. But if anyone feels the the book is weighted against the Cavaleras, it’s only because they chose not to be involved.
Besides the above book, you wrote The Day I Left and Shroud 12. Please tell us more about that.
Shroud was a horror-themed magazine that featured one of my short stories, “Visitation Day.” That was my first professional sale as a writer, so I’m very grateful to them. The magazine was run by a legend in the small press horror genre, Timothy Deal, himself an incredible writer. Shroud has since ceased operations, sadly, but I believe old issues of the magazine are still available through Amazon. “The Day I Left” was my first published novel. I had written four novels prior that went unpublished (but may still see the light of day in the future, if we all live long enough to see it).
“The Day I Left” is a sort of dystopian ghost story that explores how the traumas of youth can have lasting impacts on us long after we’ve matured. There are some things we never grow out of, emotional damage that sticks to us like a scab on shredded skin. Sometimes we peel the scabs off and bleed all over again. Other times we ignore them until they turn into scars. And scars, as we know, may fade over time but they never completely disappear.
As I said before, in addition to writing, you do music; you play in the band A Sow Of Violence. Tell us more about it.
A Sow of Violence is a pet project of mine that has existed in some form for over 20 years. I’ve released an EP (“Chaos Breeds Beauty”) and a few singles, and I’m currently wrapping up the last few songs for my debut album, which is called “A Vow of Silence.” It is solely a studio project and I’ve no intention or desire to bring the songs to the stage.
In terms of genre, I’d say the music is somewhere in the realm of blackened doom death metal, but it’s difficult for me to categorize. Intentionally so. My goal with this project is to simply make heavy music that sonically reflects the idea that there is beauty in darkness.
Besides music and writing, what else do you do?
My current obsession is filming and editing ridiculous videos for YouTube. It’s really just another form of storytelling that I enjoy.
For the end, what are your future projects? What would you recommend to our readers?
Apart from the full-length album mentioned above, I’m working on a new horror novel that should (hopefully) be published in 2025. Also considering starting a second musical project, something a bit more straightforward metal, groove oriented, think Pantera, COC, early Machine Head, early 90’s Sepultura-type vibes.
You can follow me on the socials, I’m pretty much everywhere as @asow.music (Instagram, TikTok) or @asowofviolence (YouTube, Facebook), though I’m not really a fan of social media in general so content is sporadic. Also check out A Sow of Violence on Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, blah blah blah. Everywhere streaming music is available.
Cheers!
HRVATSKI PRIJEVOD
1. Prvo, možete li se predstaviti našem čitateljima i reći nešto o sebi?
Ja sam Jason Korolenko, pisac, glazbenik, pripovjedač i općenito mizantrop koji živi u SAD-u, i to (koliko ja znam) ni na koji način povezan s malo poznatim, ali vrlo cijenjenim ruskim piscem Vladimirom Korolenkom.
2. Vi ste pisac i glazbenik, pa me zanimalo što vas je motiviralo da se bavite pisanjem i glazbom?
Odmalena sam znao da želim biti ili rock zvijezda ili pisac kad odrastem. Suprotstavljanje ova dva puta karijere je intrigantno, gledajući sada unatrag. Rock zvijezda, uvijek u javnosti, obožavana, svira koncerte diljem svijeta pred tisućama ljudi svake večeri. Nema privatnosti. Nema samoće. A pisac, tih i sam, doživljava samo samoću, marljivo radeći u kutu prostorije mjesecima, robovanje pravim riječima, u potrazi za savršenom rečenicom, samo da bi nestala u samoj knjizi i bila zaboravljena kada priča završi.
Pretpostavljam da samo volim pričati priče.
3. Jedna od knjiga koje ste napisali je Relentless, biografija brazilskog metal benda Sepultura. Kako ste došli na ideju za knjigu i kako je zapravo izgledalo raditi na knjizi?
Derrick Green, vokal Sepulture, tražio je pomoć da prepravi svoju stranicu na Wikipediji jer je bila puna dezinformacija. Išao sam pomoći, ali netko me preduhitrio. Ali to me navelo na razmišljanje o tome kako, i zašto, nitko nikada nije napisao knjigu o Sepulturi kao cjelini. (Max Cavalera, suosnivač Sepulture i bivši vokal/gitarist, radio je na svojoj autobiografiji s Joelom McIverom u to vrijeme, ali to još nije bilo objavljeno).
Završavao sam svoj magisterij iz pisanju, pa sam kontaktirao neke izdavače i agente koje sam poznavao i oni su mislili da je to dobra ideja. Zatim sam to predstavio bendu, koji su također mislili da je to super ideja, sve što je ispričano – rekao je Andreas Kisser (gitarist Sepulture, op.prev.) je rekao – “istina i ništa osim istine.” Iako sam imao potporu Sepulture kroz intervjue i čitav niz nikad prije viđenih fotografija koje su mi dali, uvijek je bilo jasno da je to moj projekt, a ne “službeni” Sepulturin proizvod.
Pisanje knjige je bio puno naporan i ponekad frustrirajući posao, naravno, ali više od toga zabavan više od svega. Pokušao sam uključiti što više ljudi koji su imali veze sa Sepulturom, čak sam razgovarao s Jasonom Newstedom (bivši basist Metallice, op. prev.) i Jellom Biafrom (bivši vokal punk benda Dead Kennedys, op. prev.) o pisanju uvoda, ali oni su propali. Mnogi se ljudi, siguran sam, pitaju jesam li razgovarao s Cavalerima (braća Cavalera, bivši članovi i osnivači Sepulture, op.prev.) jer su njihovi glasovi primjetno odsutni u knjizi. Odgovor na to je da, apsolutno. Došao sam do Iggora (Iggpr Cavalera, bivši bubnjar, op.prev.) preko zajedničkog prijatelja, a Iggor je odgovorio da ne želi imati ništa sa Sepulturom. Također sam došao do Maxa preko njegove supruge i nekadašnje menadžerice Sepulture, Glorie, ali Gloria je to odbila podržati na bilo koji način govoreći: “Nikad neće biti istina sa svih strana.”
4. Osim gore navedene knjige, napisali ste The Day I Left i Shroud 12. Recite nam više o tome.
Shroud je bio časopis s horor tematikom koji sadržavao je jednu od mojih kratkih priča, “Visitation Day ” (Dan posjeta, op.prev.). To je bila moja prva profesionalna prodaja kao pisca, pa sam im jako zahvalan. Časopis je vodio legenda u žanru horora malog tiska, Timothy Deal, i sam nevjerojatan pisac. Shroud je u međuvremenu prestao s radom, nažalost, ali vjerujem da su stari brojevi časopisa još uvijek dostupni putem Amazona. “The Day I Left” bio je moj prvi objavljeni roman. Prije toga sam napisao četiri romana koji nisu objavljeni (ali možda će ipak ugledati buduće svjetlo dana, ako svi poživimo dovoljno dugo da je vidimo).
“The Day I Left” svojevrsna je distopijska priča o duhovima koja istražuje kako traume iz mladosti može imati trajne posljedice na nas dugo nakon što sazrijemo. Postoje neke stvari iz kojih nikad ne prerastemo, emocionalna oštećenja koja se zalijepe za nas poput krasta na isjeckanoj koži. Ponekad ogulimo kraste i ponovno prokrvarimo. Drugi put ignoriramo ih dok se ne pretvore u ožiljke. A ožiljci, kao što znamo, mogu s vremenom izblijediti, ali oni nikad potpuno nestati.
5. Kao što sam već rekao, osim što pišete, bavite se glazbom; svirate u bendu A Sow Of Violence. Recite nam više o tome.
A Sow Of Violence moj je ljubimac projekt koji u nekom obliku postoji više od 20 godina. Izdao sam EP (“Chaos Breeds Beauty”) i nekoliko singlova, a trenutno završavam posljednjih nekoliko pjesama za svoj debi album, koji se zove “A Vow of Silence”. To je isključivo studijski projekt i nemam namjeru niti želju iznositi pjesme na pozornicu.
Što se žanra tiče, rekao bih da glazba je negdje u domeni blackened doom death metala, ali teško mi je to kategorizirati. Namjerno tako. Moj cilj s ovim projektom je jednostavno stvarati tešku glazbu koja zvučno odražava ideju da postoji ljepota u tami.
6. Osim glazbe i pisanja, čime se još bavite?
Moja trenutna opsesija je snimanje i montaža smiješnih videa za YouTube. To je zapravo samo još jedan oblik pripovijedanja u kojem uživam.
7. Za kraj, koji su Vaši budući projekti? Što biste preporučili našim čitatelji?
Osim gore spomenutog cjelovečernjeg albuma, radim na novom horor romanu koji bi (nadam se) trebao biti objavljen 2025. Također razmišljam o pokretanju drugog glazbenog projekta, nešto malo jednostavnije metalno, orijentirano na groove, mislim Pantera, COC, rani Machine Head, vibracije poput Sepulture ranih 90-ih.
Možete me pratiti na društvenim mrežama, posvuda sam kao @asow.music (Instagram, TikTok) ili @asowofviolence (YouTube, Facebook), iako nisam baš obožavatelj društvenih medija općenito pa je sadržaj sporadičan. Također pogledajte A Sow of Violence na Spotifyju, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, bla bla bla. Svugdje je dostupan streaming glazbe.
Živjeli!
