U Škripcu

Infobox musical artist
Name = U Škripcu


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Background = group_or_band
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Origin = Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia
Genre = New Wave
New Romantic
Synthpop
Pop
Rock
Years_active = 1980 – 1991
Label = PGP RTS
Komuna
Associated_acts = Košava
Delča & Sklekovi
Familija
URL =
Past_members = Aleksandar Lukić
Aleksandar Tabaš
Aleksandar Vasiljević
Dario Kumerle
Davor Vidiš
Dejan Škopelja
Marko Milivojević
Milan Delčić
Miloš Obrenović
Ratko Ljubičić
Zdravko Jurković
Zoran Veljković
Zoran Vulović

U Škripcu was a music group from Belgrade, Serbia, notable as participant in the "Artistička radna akcija" project as well as for their later works.

History

The band was formed by three high school friends Zoran Vulović Vule (keyboards), Milan Delčić Delča (vocals, guitar for a short period of time) and Aleksandar Vasiljević Vasa (guitar). The three used to write amateur theatre plays and in 1979 decided to form a band. The band was initially called Prolog Za Veliki Haos and then Furije Furiozno Furaju. The three also worked as associate journalists in the "Mladi novi svet" show on Studio B radio station. In 1981 the show was renamed to "Ritam srca" and then became and independent radio station B 92.

In 1980 the band was finally renamed to U Škripcu featuring two more members, drummer Miloš Obrenović and bassist Aleksandar Lukić Luka. The first two of the band's recordings, songs "Južno voće" and "Pamflex dom" were released on the "Artistička radna akcija" compilation in 1981. The beginning of their career is also connected to the "Pamflex" concept. Pamflex was an imaginary company, invented by Delčić. The songs were actually commercials of imaginary products, as they considered commercials as the finest form of art. The part of the concept was also reading of ironic and comical speeches, usage of Pamflex flags and using theatre language style.

Durring 1981 the band had numerous live appearances in Belgrade and Zagreb and soon established a cult status. Their debut album "Godine ljubavi" (released by PGP RTB) did not feature Lukić on bass who was at the time serving the Yugoslav People's Army and was replaced by Idoli bassist Zdenko Kolar who recorded bass sections. During the tour Dejan Grujić from the band Braća played bass. The band established a team of co-workers who collaborated on their next releases, producer Saša Habić and album artwork designers Slobodan Šajin and Momčilo Rajin. The album's most notable tracks are "Ti imaš dosta godina", "Hamuamule", "Samuraji", "Kao u boji" and "Poleće" dealing with various theme orientations. After the album release, Saša Dragić became the band's manager.

In 1983 the band signed a contract with Jugoton and released the album "O je!". The album was well accepted by the audience and the critics and the "Rock" magazine voted the album the best release of 1983. Guest appearances featured Gordi bassist and arranger Slobodan Svrdlan, Đorđe Petrović on keyboards, Nenad Jelić on percussion and Jovan Milojković on saxophone. The tracks "Beograd spava", "Kockar" and "Siđi do reke" are the most notable tracks on the album.

The EP "Nove godine!" was intentionally released during the New Year holidays. The EP cover was designed by Mirko Ilić. In 1984, Lukić returned to the band and together they toured mainly in Croatia and in 1985 the band released "Budimo zajedno!" which was a combination of pop and electrinic music. It featured a new version of "Hamuamule", "Tama me prati", "Crni anđele", "Baj, baj". Due to the inability to reach the success of the previous records the band ceased to exist.

Delčić finished drama studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade and started writing theatre plays. Vasa and Luka worked as producers and with Obrenović and Aleksandar Ralev formed the band Košava. The band released only one album, "Crno vino", and disbanded. As writers on the album appeared Lukić, Vasiljević, Delčić and Vida Crnčević. Delčić and Crnčević also worked on the early Rambo Amadeus albums. Vulović, having returned from the Yugoslav People's Army decided to form his own band, Bang Bang, featuring himself on vocals. Since Delčić became a part of the project, the two decided to reform U Škripcu in 1986. They recorded new material with musicians from Zagreb, drummer Davor Vidiš (from Kristalno Plavo), bassist Dario Kumele and guitarist Zdravko Jurković. In the meantime Delčić went to serve the Yugoslav People's Army, so Vulović decided to change the lineup featuring musicians from Belgrade, vocalist Aleksandar Tabaš, bassist Dejan Škopelja Škopi, guitarist Zoran Veljković and drummer Marko Milivojević. The album "U škripcu" was produced by Rijan Nemurin, guest appearances featured Aleksandar Vasiljević and Vlada Negovanović. The album was not commercially successful and (the only track which became hit was "Vreme je za nas") the band disbanded.

Delčić, having returned from the army, started preparing his first solo album which ought to have been produced by Mato Došen. The album was never released and U Škripcu reunited once again featuring original members Lukić, Vulović, Delčić, Vasiljević and Disciplina Kičme drummer Ratko Ljubičić. The band released "Izgleda da mi smo sami" in 1990. It was produced by Lukić and Vasiljević and beside the title track, "Ako ti kažem" became popular songs to this day. On the retrospective evening of the Belgrade Spring festival, the band performed a cover version of "Stjuardesa" by Radoslav Grajić and the recording appeared on the "Beograde" compilation in 1991.

When the war started in Yugoslavia, the band became inactive and reformed only for major events like the Student's protests, Zaječar Guitar festival, etc and in the meantime prepared some new material, which was never released. Part of the material was used on the Familija debut album "Narodno pozorište", featuring Vasa and Luka and Vampiri members Dejan Pejović Peja (vocals), Dejan Petrović Dexi (vocals) and drummer Goran Redžepi Gedža. The material written by Delčić appeared on his first solo album "Delča & Sklekovi" released in 1994. Familija released one more album and disbanded and Delča released two more albums, he is still an active musician. In 2006 on the Delča & Sklekovi concert in Dom Omladine, Belgrade as guests appeared the original U Škripcu members.

Discography

Singles

* "Nove godine" / "Beograd spava" (Jugoton, 1983)

Studio albums

* "Godine ljubavi" (PGP RTB, 1982)
* "O je!" (Jugoton, 1983)
* "Budimo zajedno!" (Jugoton, 1984)
* "U škripcu" (Jugodisk, 1987)
* "Izgleda da mi smo sami" (PGP RTB, 1990)

EPs

* "Nove godine!" (Jugoton, 1983)

Various artists compilations

* "Artistička radna akcija" (Jugoton, 1981)
* "Beograde" (PGP RTS, 1991)

External links and references

* "EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006", Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/U+Škripcu U Škripcu at Discogs]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=u+skripcu&search_type=&aq=f U Škripcu at Youtube]
* [http://www.lastfm.jp/music/U+Skripcu U Škripcu at Last.fm]

See also

* New Wave in Yugoslavia
* Serbian rock