You don’t often meet people with the level of enthusiasm and drive as Steelheart Mili Matijevic, the man with the golden voice seems t have a million things on the go these days but it’s all driven by an incredible passion and love. Next up for Mili is a 30th Anniversary concert which will be streamed live from Florida in March but there’s so much more to come to mark this Covid-altered Anniversary. I always love my chats with Mili and so it’s always great to catch up even if it is very early here on Australia’s West Coast.
Mili: Hello
Mark: Hi Mili, how are you?
Mili: I’m well, let me see, I don’t see you?
Mark: Let me get the video, I’d been avoiding that as I have bed hair!
Mili: Ah there you are you good looking gentleman! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) It’s 4am here I have an excuse.
Mili: Why do early man, why didn’t you do it later?
Mark: I’ve got a 5am with someone else so it’s all good.
Mili: Oh OK! Then I don’t feel bad for you! (laughs) I thought you got up just for me!
Mark: Mate I would have done of course, you know that (laughs)
Mili: (laughs)
Mark: The last time we spoke was a while ago now when the last album came out.
Mili: Yeah that album, shit man that was a great album I really enjoyed doing it, it could have used a bit more promotion though.
Mark: Definitely, I loved it, I know I gave it a good review and still spin it regularly. We better get to it though as there’s so much to talk about. The main thing is of course the Concert – you’ve sort of been robbed of the anniversary of the first album by Covid?
Mili: Well not really, I mean it’s just the way things happen, we try to do so many things but sometimes they happen faster or sooner or later than you plan but I think this show is just about perfect timing – at the moment I am literally putting together a Box Set – the Steelheart 30th Anniversary Box Set which will include some songs re-recorded ‘She’s Gone’; ‘I’ll Never Let You Go’, an acoustic ‘Everybody Loves Eileen’, a fully re-recorded ‘Die Young’, an acoustic “Mama Don’t You Cry’ and we’ll maybe put in one of two brand new ones where we’re really rocking hard. The plan is to release it sometime between September and November. I’m building a collection or a ‘hub’ of all kinds of Steelheart stuff like old videos, backstage stuff, all that will be in there as will the concert so whoever gets the box will be able to own all this and so I’m working hard to get it all together you know what I mean? We’re doing it!
Mark: That’s great news I had no idea about the box set. The last I read there were two great projects done or on the way – the first the making of the last album and the bigger Project the story of your life which you had so much footage of – bring us up to date on those two projects?
Mili: We shot the making of that last album and we got to the stage where we edited and released those snippets – remember those and all of that footage is being edited and loaded to the ‘hub’ kind of thing that we’re building. And honestly there’s so many hours work still to do, I am in the studio every day the latest I get in is about 8.00am in the morning and I leave at about 9.00pm or 10.00pm. It’s all there I have all the footage and there’s another concert live in Korea that we shot the other year – 16 cameras! It was shot at the Busan Rock Festival where we headlined the show. There’s so much amazing footage that we just want to compile and put together.
Mark: Sound great but I know you have more!
Mili: Yes, the most important thing apart from this concert coming up is that I wrote a song for the world. And I’m going to really, really reach out to everybody to make sure the world hears it. It’s called ‘Trust in Love’ and we’re mixing it today. I don’t have an exact release date but we will debut it at the show – you know the Steelheart 30th Anniversary stream.
Mark: I can’t wait.
Mili: Just to give you a back story I originally wrote it for Korea and the peace for North and South Korea because I have such a beautiful connection with them. And then I sang it in Korean and English, then I thought maybe I’ll sing it in Croatian, as I’m Croatian I’ll give it to my country. Well then I sang it in Italian! Then in Spanish! And Portuguese! And Chinese! And Japanese. I ended up singing it in ten languages and it just became too powerful, you know. And then for the fans I put the chorus up there on the website and said hey! Whoever wants to sing on this chorus send in your vocal! Good, bad I don’t give a shit I just wanted the energy of everyone – so I put it all in there and 350 people are singing in the chorus. We did a full orchestra – a full string section – a 32 piece string section, and it is fucking epic! Sow we’re mixing today and I’m reaching out to three guitar players, one is James a famous Korean guitar player who played on the Korean version, but for the rest of the world I’m reaching out to three other players and I really hope that they see the beauty of this and perform on it. So I need them to come on board!
Mark: So many ideas, you’ve got so much going on and I love the idea for the song, that’s really cool. You seem completely invigorated and just brimming with enthusiasm, which is really refreshing in times like these! Where’s it all come from?
Mili: From my heart. Really honestly it really is, the more I think of it the more I realise this is just what I do, it’s honest, it’s from the heart and I really, really feel people, I love them, I don’t like all of them (laughs)
Mark: (laughs)
Mili: But I just feel that I’m trying to show the world just how I see things – with love and a little easier, and that we should just try to enjoy this thing called life because it’s ticking, it’s ticking right now, you and I talking, having a nice conversation it’s part of life and too many times we’re missing it. The Covid situation has been challenging to everyone including myself. I’ve been alone through this since last year, my girl came out here a couple of times, but she’s been stuck in New York with her mom, taking care of her, which I understand. So I’ve been by myself and trust me when I tell you, it gets to you after a while. You know what I mean. But it’s really given me another view of beauty you know – this is it, this is it man! When we’re done we can think of the beautiful lights and the tunnels and going to wherever you believe and that’s great, but our consciousness is now! So let’s enjoy now!
Mark: Exactly, this is our chance to make something and to connect to others. One of the byproducts of Covid is that people are coming up with so many beautiful ideas, there’s so much energy and it makes you wonder if that extra spark would have happened if life had gone on as normal. So it is a moment to pause and think about things.
Mili: Yeah.
Mark: Every year I like to pause and think about the great albums of thirty years ago and Steelheart’s debut that came out in May 1990 was one of the great albums of the year. Can you just share with us a few memories of the recording process for that album?
Mili: Yeah, I mean it’s funny I talked to Mark Opitz not long ago, he was the producer and he’s a wonderful. Wonderful guy and a really talented producer, I really respect him. It was funny we had a laugh because we did all the demos. We recorded them in Norwalk Connecticut and we put them all on a tape and we would go and do pre-production. And we’d go to the studio two weeks earlier which would have cost thousands of dollars with what the band and the food and the hotels, all of it added up to thousands a day. And of course back in those days we had hundreds of thousands of dollars in budgets, so we were shoveling money out like it was free instead of being smart and keeping it! (laughs) But anyway we would go into pre-production, and I’ll never forget it, Mark has the stop watch and he’s really intent and listening and he’s directing all these things “Let’s try this, let’s move this, let’s cut this out and do this” So we’d do all of that and it would be OK, we’d record it. Literally we did this for about three or four days and everything that we’d tried to cut or change we were like “Nah” because it was right, so we left it alone. We just needed to record it. And it was awesome because nothing changed from those demos except the rerecording of course. And that felt good because we knew we’d delivered something that was good and just needed to be recorded properly.
Mark: And that’s rare than you’d imagine from what I’ve gleaned over the years.
Mili: I know. So what else can I tell you? Jesus, getting hammered at The Rainbow you know what I mean and Jimmy (James Ward, bassist and Co-writer of much of the album with Mili) throwing out literally the whole apartment into the pool! Why? I have no idea?
Mark: How much of a shock was it moving from a place like Connecticut to L.A. it must have been a huge change?
Mili: Oh for me it was really intense, but a quick backstory and I don’t think I’ve told you this before, but when we did the demo – we made a four song demo and I remember having dinner with my parents and my old man would say “So what are you doing with your life” you know he had this big accent. And I said “You know what, I’m going Friday to Los Angeles to become a star.” That’s exactly what I said to him. He goes “Do it!”
Mark: (laughs)
Mili: “Do it!” So Friday I flew out to L.A. and on Saturday someone gave me this ‘in’ to meet this manager. I met the manager and he said “No, I don’t need another singer. You look great, you sound great, I’m sure you’re wonderful but I don’t want to hear it.” So I said “Come on man just give me a chance?” So he said OK, send it (the demo) to me right to my office, so Monday morning I sent it FedEx that day so when he got to his office it would be on his desk. And when he heard it literally on my message machine I could hear ‘Angel Eyes’ in the second chorus – he’s in the second chorus he’s already calling me! And the message just said “Ya Fuck, you’re right it is that great. Call Me.” So when I came back to LA I met him Wednesday in his office, now this is a true story, met him Wednesday, he said “OK we’re gonna work together I don’t have time to do all contracts and whatever, I gotta talk to labels, I’ll call you on Friday”. So he calls me on Friday at 5PM and he goes “You ready? You’re gonna be on Universal Records. Have a good day”.
Mark: (laughing) Great story.
Mili: “Boom” and that was it, just like that. But there’s so many beautiful stories, I gotta think of all this stuff and do some little videos for the concert.
Mark: Speaking of the concert I noticed that the date had been pushed back? And the venue changed?
Mili: Right. Sadly due to Covid here in LA, which I think is the worst in the world for some reason. I mean all I do is go from my house to my studio and my studio to my house. So I don’t really go anywhere except for grocery shopping. So there’s no beds left in the ICU and it doesn’t seem like it’s getting any better, so the venues are canceling and stopping shows and I can’t afford that, I don’t want to do that you know. It’s cost a ton of money to put this together OK, my money, flights and lights and sound and venue, and you put all that together you can only imagine what it would cost. And I can’t afford to do that and then have the City go “That’s it, cancelled” it’s been too uncertain, so we moved it to Florida which is a really cool venue ‘Pop on a Beach Amphitheatre’ – it’s a big venues and it will be a big production, you know, not as big as Kiss of course (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) and a touch less pyro.
Mili: (laughs) Yeah. But it will be a real Rock show, you know what I mean? And we’ll debut the song ‘Trust in Love’ you know. Bring people together.
Mark: It sounds fantastic, I’m really looking forward to it. Especially with all the extras, I know a lot of people have done the concerts from isolation but as Spinal Tap might say “This is one bigger”.
Mili: (laughs) Well if anyone knows me, I do everything at 150% I don’t give a shit, I’ll go broke before I do something shit! You know what I mean, I just can’t do it, it’s not in my soul. I’m really excited about tis and how it’s coming together – there’s a lot of people involved in coming together to do this – I’m reaching out to a lot of people. I want to reach out and try and connect bigger entities to come together with the concert and the song. The song is just as important as the concert you know, because it needs to be heard. I’ll send you a sample after we’ve done the mix this weekend.
Mark: I can’t wait, it sounds great. I think the most interesting thing about your music to me is that as important as that first record was to me growing up I think I love the last album just as much and that’s the incredible thing about music it always surprises you.
Mili: Wow, thank you.
Mark: And when you talk about that bigger connection and the new song I think that’s just what we all need at this point in time.
Mili: Yeah, we need it. I agree
Mark: And I can’t wait to see the documentary too.
Mili: Yes the documentary is all there, we have it, we’ve got a lot of footage. The last thing to shoot is that I want to do a commentary like this, up close with a scotch and a cigar (laughs) I know you know what I mean!
Mark: (laughs)
Mili: I want to really tell them some deep dirt, and we’ve filmed so many things in England, Croatia, Korea, United States, and Japan for this documentary. And the other thing is I do want and hope for is that people will connect to the new song ‘Trust in Love’ because that will play a big part in the documentary. So I’m on it! Trust me when I say “I’m on it”.
Mark: Oh I believe you when you say that!
Mili: (laughs)
Mark: You almost made it to Australia once for The Doors shows that didn’t eventuate about ten years ago and you do get to South East Asia quite often. Are there any places around the world that you’d still like to play?
Mili: No, Australia I am so disappointed I’ve not been there. I cannot believe I’ve not been there but I do feel it’s gonna happen, it has to happen. But you know what wherever I’m invited is where I want to go, there is no bucket list, the world is my bucket list! If you invite me and you genuinely want me there you bet your ass I will be there.
Mark: I shall be getting together with a few people to ask you in that case!
Mili: (laughs)
Mark: One thing I have to ask about the show in Florida is if there will be a small audience?
Mili: No. It’s still not possible, and also I really want to make sure I give out the right message. For a long time people have talked about Covid dismissively “Oh it’s just the ‘flu” and yes, maybe it can be to some people but I do have several people close to me who have had it and have had really, really difficult moments. My friend Vinnie the bass player who played on the last record he had it and he said that he closed his eyes on Thursday and really did not feel like he would be waking up on Friday. I’ve had people who have passed away. The girl who runs my T-shirts – she kissed her boyfriend and her boyfriend two days later he’s got Covid, four days later he’s in hospital, a day later he’s in a coma and two weeks later he was dead. So to some people who may not be as affected it may be like a ‘flu’ but to others it’s very detrimental. So we need to pay attention and be respectful to everyone else. So me doing a show and having, you know, 3500 people in seats would be absolutely rude I think, you know what I’m saying?
Mark: Indeed I do, it’s about respect for others.
Mili: It’s been a pleasure speaking to you brother I hope this world comes together soon and we can travel again but I think before that happens we as people need to come together in a new consciousness. That’s my opinion.
Mark: Let’s hope so, and that we take this opportunity to reflect because the most horrible thing would be once we get over this thing together we forget all about what made us strong and start thinking only of ourselves again.
Mili: I don’t think it will, I think now it’s really starting to sink in.
Mark: Let’s hope so. And I shall see you onstage in March.
Mili: You got it buddy. Take care Mark.
Mark: You too mate, look after yourself and thank you do much for your time.
Get your Concert tickets here:
https://dreamstage.live/event/steelheart
in better days when tours were many and festivals were huge
