Za fúzy ma poťahaj

Za fúzy ma poťahaj (Tug my beard)

Slovak blues band "ZVA 12-28 Band” ranks among the top of the genre not only in Slovakia but also in the Czech Republic and they prove it by their new album entitled "Za fúzy ma poťahaj" (Tug my beard). Thanks to unique singing and guitar playing by Noro Červeňák, the leader, supported by outstanding instrumental trio of musicians, Zvolen team has attracted a number of blues fans since 1990. Besides expanding audience, “[zi:vi:ei]” have gradually been awarded in Slovakia (the best bluesman of the year 2002, the best blues band of the year 2000), they spread to club stages in the Czech Republic and release a new CD. Two years have passed since the last recording entitled „Hrubá múka“ (Coarsely ground flour) which was released by Indies Records and the band recorded it in the same make-up. “In contrast with the "Flour”, we wanted to get further on even as far as sound is concerned and thus we took on bass and dobro (resophonic guitar),” says Boris Čiampor, harmonica player, the organizational spirit of “[zi:vi:ei]”. “The "Flour" will probably have the spirit of coarse first work forever, the “Beard” is more compact, its sound is better, richer in guests and, as concerns our humble origins, it is an absolutely colossal production – guests, videos, radio edits, well, real show business ;-). After all, it has cost three times as much. Noro brought indisputably high-quality material, each song has received what it needs and it needs to find its audience as well – I believe even among those which do not know us yet." What will attract the attention - besides sounds and singing – is Noro Červeňák's brilliant lyrics, its wittiness and almost absurdity here and there which is based, however, on everyday life. Another change, already notified, concerns guests in the studio. “[zi:vi:ei]” have established partnership with Buty band.

The album was recorded in V studio in Zlín under the supervision of Petr Vavřík. „We have met Buty thanks to Coarsely ground flour; Petr Vavřík also sat behind the audio mixer and he showed the CD to the band and they apparently liked it. So we have invited them for vocals and I guess they contributed to the recording by extra and often very interesting dimension. “This partnership also lead to Noro Červeňák's cooperation in the movie soundtrack for "Tajnosti" (The secrets) directed by Alice Nellis. “As far as I know, this was Radek Pastrňák's initiative – he played [zi:vi:ei] to Honza Svěrák and they invited Noro to record tango for the Secrets. We have met Alice in Zlín studio during recording and I have a feeling that we “clicked” immediately. She was more than satisfied with Noro's singing performance and so the cooperation was carried on with the video clip for "Jedno ráno" (One morning) by Buty and especially with the recording of our video clip in Prague.” This was eventually recorded in Prague for the piece „Štátny sviatok“ (National holiday). Video clips have also been included in the CD as a bonus.