Babe (band)

Babe (Serbian Cyrillic: Бабе; translation: Babushkas) is a Serbian rock supergroup from Belgrade.

History

Formation and commercial success (1992-1995)

The founding members of Babe: Žika Milenković (left) and Goran Čavajda (right)

The band was formed in 1992 as a side project of Bajaga i Instruktori member Žika Milenković (vocals, guitar), Električni Orgazam member Goran Čavajda (vocals, drums) and Riblja Čorba member Zoran Ilić (guitar). All three being rock veterans, they decided to steadily work within the group during the times when their own bands were taking a work break. Bass guitarist and the initiator of the band formation was Bojan Vasić, who previously played with Ilić in Bezobrazno Zeleno. Milenković's humorous lyrics, stylistically similar to the lyrical style of his former band Mačori (The Cats), and stage performance, based on the experience gained in the long-term activities within the Teatar Levo amateur theatre, soon became the band trademark.

During the recording sessions for the band debut album, Vasić left the band, moving to South Africa and eventually only recording a part of the bass sections for the song "Mirko i Marina" ("Mirko and Marina"), being replaced by a former U Škripcu member Dejan Škopelja. Slike iz života jednog idota (Images From an Idiot's Life), released in 1993 and produced by former Električni Orgazam member Ljubomir Jovanović "Jovec", brought Milenković's humorous songs about drunks, drug dealers and erotomaniacs. The album featured guest appearances by Margita Stefanović, Marija Mihajlović, Vidoja Božinović, Branislav Petrović "Banana", Miša Savić, Nenad Stamatović and Del Arno Band members. After the album release, Babe went on a promotional tour, performing as an opening act for Riblja Čorba.

In January 1994, the band performed at the unplugged festival held at the Belgrade Sava Centar, and the recording of the song "Adio stres" ("Adio Stress"), featuring guest appearances by Ekatarina Velika keyboard player Margita Stefanović and Del Arno Band percussionist Vladimir Lešić, was released on the various artists live compilation Bez struje (Unplugged), released by MTS Records.^[1] On February 17 of the same year, the band performed at the Belgrade Youth Center and the recording of the cover version of the Azra song "Lijepe žene prolaze kroz grad" ("Pretty Women are Passing Through the Town"), made at the performance, appeared on the various artists live compilation album Groovanje live vol. 1 (Rumbling Live Vol. 1), released by L.V.O Records on compact cassette only in 1995.^[2] The song recording along with other tracks was reissued on CD by Multimedia Records in 2009.^[3]

On April 30, 1994, the band performed at the Rock and roll zauvek (Rock and Roll Forever) rock spectacle, held at the Belgrade Fair – Hall 1 in order to celebrate thirty years of rock music in Yugoslavia. In December of the same year, not long before New Year's Day, the band released a compact cassette EP 4 Babe pesme (4 Grandmas' Songs), featuring the songs "Novogodišnja pesma" ("New Year's Day Song"), "Loša navika" ("Bad Habit"), "Reći ćemo hvala kad bude karnevala" ("We Will Thank Only If There Will Be a Carnival") and "Dizel" ("Diesel"), the latter being a cover version of Tommy Roe's song "Dizzy". The former two songs were also included on the ITV Melomarket various artists compilation album New Rock Power '93-'94.^[4]

At the time, Milenković starred the Elvira je cool (Elvira is Cool) theatre play, also starring Lora Orlović and Neda Arnerić, performed at the Radović theatre in Belgrade and written by the rock journalist Aleksandar Žikić. Also, the band had appeared in the Srđan Dragojević movie Dva sata kvalitetnog TV progarama (Two Hours of Quality TV Program), performing the song "Dizel".^[5] The following year appeared the soundtrack album for the Marija Soldatović play Zigi, Zvezdana Prašina (Ziggy Stardust), staged at the Bitef theatre, consisting of cover versions of the David Bowie greatest hits, with Milenković and Čavajda working on the song lyrics translations and the latter providing lead vocals for the cover versions of "Five Years" and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide".^[6]

Decline, Čavajda's death and breakup (1995-1999)

During the late 1995, the band released the second studio album, Lažne slike o ljubavi (False Images of Love), but the album did not reach the success of the debut, although the songs "Ko me ter'o" ("Who's Made Me") and "Mesnica" ("Butcher") became minor hits, having a decent media coverage. The rest of the album remained unnoticed, including the cover version of "Strangers in the Night", with lyrics in Serbian language entitled "Stranac usranac" ("Stranger in the Shit"). At the time, Čavajda left the band, being replaced by Vlada Cvetković, later starring the film Geto (Ghetto), directed by Ivan Markov and Mladen Matičević, before moving to Tasmania where he died of AIDS at the age of 35 on February 16, 1997.

During early 1998, the band released a compilation album P.S Babe, composed of the material previously released on the debut album and the 4 Babe pesme EP as well as new material, consisting of the songs "Hoću da budem predsednik Srbije" ("I Want To Be The President of Serbia"), "Zadnja noć" ("The Last Night") and "Mladi ludi svet" ("Young Silly World"). At the time, the band started preparing the material for the third studio album, with Milenković seeking inspiration in the works of Momčilo Bajagić, Aleksandar Žikić, Danko Đurić, Magični Ćira book Vulvaši (Vulvas) and street graffiti for song lyrics. Slike sna i jave (Samo za ludake i buntovnike) (Images of Dream and Reality (For Lunatics and Rebels Only)) featuring new members, Vladan Nedeljkov (guitar) and Blagoje Nedeljković (drums), was released in 1999. The material, consisting of sixteen songs, featured the songs "Mexico", written in 1982 during Milenković's work with the band Mačori and "U sukobu 2 pola" ("In the Two Gender Clash"), a cover of Hazel O'Connor's song "Touch Too Much".

After the album release, Milenković's main band Bajaga i Instruktori started the recordings sessions for the album Zmaj od Noćaja (The Dragon of Noćaj), released in 2000, due to Babe band ceased to exist, even though it had never been officially announced. During 2000, the song "Hoću da budem P.S." ("I want to be P.S.") appeared on the Gotov je! (He is Done!) various artists compilation, which featured protest songs,^[7] and the song "Rolna (Parodija života")" ("Roll (Life Parody)") appeared on the Automania 2 - Pop hidraulic various artists compilation.^[8]

Reunion (2013-present)

In 2013, Babe reunited in the lineup featuring, beside Milenković, Ilić and Škopelja, the drummer Goran Ljuboja "Trut" (of E-Play and formerly of Rambo Amadeus backing band). The reunited Babe had their first performance at the Long Night festival, held in Belgrade's Youth Center on March 30,^[9] followed by performances at Arsenal Fest^[10] and Belgrade Beer Fest.^[11]

In July 2014, the band released their comeback single, "Daj mu ga, Lola" ("Come On, Lola"), originally written in 2001. Milenković announced that all the songs for the band's comeback album are recorded, and that they would be released as singles one by one.^[12]

Discography

Studio albums

• Slike iz života jednog idiota (1993)
• Lažne slike o ljubavi (1995)
• Slike sna i jave (Samo za ludake i buntovnike) (1999)

Extended plays

• 4 Babe pesme (1994)

Compilation albums

• P.S Babe (1998)

Other appearances

• "Adio stres" (Bez struje; 1994)
• "Lepe žene" (Groovanje live vol. 1; 1995)
• "Hoću da budem P.C." (Gotov je!; 2000)

References

• EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4

External links

• Babe at Facebook
• Babe at YouTube
• Babe at Discogs
• Babe at Rateyourmusic
• Babe at Last.fm
• Babe at B92.fm