Marko Ristić is Editor-in-Chief of Hardwired magazine, band manager of Serbian act Ritam Nereda and one of the most active concert photographers in Serbia.
Marko Ristić i RITAM NEREDA
The most underrated and overrated band?
Marko: There are too many underestimated bends. If I started naming them, I’m afraid the list would be too long. 80% of bands from Serbian music scene belong to that group. Other 20% is just garbage. The situation is not different in other countries, but this is a complex subject I could write a whole essay about.
Which band would you like to see reunited again?
Marko: Siledžije from Ljubuški, Bosnia. Fantastic band that broke up after the album release and I never got a chance to see them live. The big bands are supposed to stay where they are, cause not a lot of them sound great after the reunion.
The band you would like to see perform live, but haven’t had a chance before?
Marko: Mastodon, Clutch, Foo Fighters. Very favourite bands who actually played near Serbia, but the universe played a little bit with me so I didn’t see them live yet.
Marko Ristić i Edo Maajka | photo Petar Marković
Your guilty pleasure? Band or an album you are embarrassed to admit you like?
Marko: Actually, I don’t have any. But if this is the part where I have to embarrass myself, I have to admit that I know all the MTV hits that are popular and are played on the radio. Because of some circumstances, I’m forced to listen to some local radio every day so I learned all songs that came from the kitchen of Jason Derulo, Shawn Mendes, Carlie Puth and the rest of them. Even though I always try to hear new music, because I think that all music critics should do that. So I do not see it as a guilty pleasure, I see it more as punishment. I didn’t need that much listening.
The first album you ever bought?
Marko: Sunshine – “Neću da se predam”. I ran into a market place to buy it from a local music smuggler. And “… and Justice For All” from Metallica came a short after that. Both those albums are very important to me and bring me back to the time when I was a child and when I experimented most with music. That was the time I got infected, literally, and today I have a very very big collection of vinyl, discs and cassettes.
Ideal album to relax with on a Sunday afternoon?
Marko: I have to name more than one. Any album of Thievery Corporation. They are suitable for all occasions, and especially for the ones when you want to relax and just do not think about anything. Lebowski – “Cinematic” is a fantastic album from this Polish progressive rock band. It’s conceptually designed like it’s a soundtrack for a movie and that is just how it sound. It’s great to listen to when you are travelling. Lenny Kravitz – “5”. I could listen to it all day long, every day.
Marko Ristić na bini sa Goblinima | photo Marko Popović
The greatest album of all time?
Marko: This is a totally personal opinion, and without any hesitation, I can say that that is Faith No more – “King for a Day … Fool for a Lifetime”. That album helped me in some tough life situations so I could not imagine anything better at this moment.
The most annoying musician?
Marko: Whatever I write here, I’ll make a mistake by forgetting someone, so I will feel bad after. In Serbia, that’s gotta be Neša Galija, Toni Montano and Bora Čorba, and when we talk about world music stars it’s got to be Gene Simmons from Kiss.
A kid asks you what metal or rock is, you recommend them to listen to?
Marko: I would describe Metal music with Metallica’s “Black Album”. Considering that I really imagined that a kid of 11-12 years asked me that question. When I speak about rock music, I had doubts, but it’s definitely gotta be Led Zeppelin – “IV”. And I would play him those albums on a vinyl, to go crazy immediately.
