This year’s MTV Music Awards will be taking place in Berlin on November 5th. Before then, though, Hungary’s busying itself with selecting its own, home-grown offering: the Best Hungarian Act at of 2009. On October 9th, all five acts, covering indie to electro, (Žagar, The Kolin, The Moog, Esclin Syndo and The Idoru) will go head-to-head, performing at the MTV Regional Awards Party on the A38 Ship, where the regional winner will be announced. To help you decide, check out the links to the competing bands and voting details below (you might need a Hungarian friend to help you!). Before then, though, here’s what The Kolin’s frontman, Márkó Linczényi, had to say about the band, the awards, women and getting naked.
How did The Kolin come about?
I always wanted a band with good musicians, but I came to realize that there’s always a contradiction between good musicians and nice people – it’s hard to find people who fit into both categories. OK, perhaps someone can be a good musician, but I kept finding that these people didn’t have a good sense of humor, or didn’t know what cool music was. Before The Kolin, I’d tried playing with jazz musicians and those involved with opera, but nobody got what I wanted. Then I met Ivan, our drummer, who’s totally crazy. He can’t handle things like buying 10 dg of cheese in a store; he’s like a twelve-year-old kid in wonderland. He’s very funny. Meeting him changed my mind and made me realize that the more fun musicians are to be with, the more fun and better the music is – whether good musicians are involved or not. Our guitarist, Gergő, for example, is the worst guitarist in the world – and he knows it, as well. I studied the piano for 17 years (mainly jazz) as well as jazz singing. So, for me, it’s no problem to play this very simple, pop music. It doesn’t require any specific skill; instead, the personalities are more important that the talent. You can improve how someone plays an instrument, but you can’t change a personality.
And when did things really start to happen with the band?
We performed at the Sziget Festival in 2007, and straight afterwards we were offered a contract with Universal, Hungary. One year later, we released our first album, Yell into the Kazoo, which led to famous US celebrity gossip blogger, Perez Hilton, writing about us; after that, things started to take off. Universal, London called the next day.
And is there a UK release planned?
Well, hopefully, yes. Universal have two similar acts with releases this year – Scissor Sisters and Mika – so they don’t want to release us just yet. So far, we’ve only been released in Hungary; but our second album, which will be released in spring 2010, is planned for distribution in almost ten countries.
How are you feeling about the MTV EMAs at the moment?
It’s a big event. It’s the first time MTV have organized a regional party, and I trust in it. I think we have a real chance of winning the competition – we’re the youngest and the coolest. Some acts are too old, or re-doing stuff that’s been done before.
And which act do you think offers the most competition?
I like The Moog. If I were a twelve-year-old girl, just staring to learn English and get into music, I’d make music like them… No, I think all of the acts are real competition, for different reasons.
How do you feel your life’s changed now, since the band took off?
I feel, now, like I’m a musician. Before the band, I was trying to make art and films, but now I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.
You’ve been compared to various other acts, but which musicians would you say you’re most inspired by?
The Bee Gees. I admire them the most. They knew what real disco was, and they were very brave doing what they were when they did, and really funny. Nowadays, obviously things like indie and nu-rave make an impression upon us, but we don’t just copy. We re-think the kind of music we’re inspired by, and try to develop it a bit. Many bands inspire us – especially Muse; I love their monumentality and classical musicality.
And how would you describe The Kolin’s sound?
We always say trash-trance, but actually it doesn’t fit. I think it’s a kind of musical, but not one performed by ugly, stinky guys.
And what drives you to make music?
I make the music I do for fun, to get people laughing. The music I make with The Kolin is intentionally exaggerated. My aim is to become a well-known superstar all over the world; I also want loads of money, and to sleep with as many girls as possible… but perhaps that could go at the top of the list. I also want to teach people how to receive art – how to ‘get’ music – I don’t want people to listen to lame music like the Jonas Brothers. It’s an important aim of mine: I want to make Hungarian music better. I also love what I do. My job is playing with funny stuff like red, blinking lights and synthesizers; it’s like a playground, entering my studio, and I love it.
And performance-wise, what’s been your favorite gig so far?
The Fishing on Orfű festival this summer. Right after the show, we got naked. It was very funny, because the day after that it was all over the news: naked rock stars and the police. Sziget was great this year, too. We played really late one night, at around 2:30 a.m., so we were worried about a small crowd. It was completely full, though. I feel like we’ve given shows like a real band this year; maybe next year we’ll feel like a real European band.
And the most rock and roll moment to date?
When Ivan, the drummer, got a slap from a girl on the A38. His glasses fell into the Danube. A week later he got another slap, from another girl…
Do you expect a big party at the MTV Regional Final on the A38?
We don’t like to party when we do shows. We want to entertain the crowd – our task’s to give them a good party, not us. So there won’t be any drink or drugs before the show. I do expect a huge party afterwards, though.
MTV European Music Awards, Regional Final Party further details
Nominated acts
The Kolin: http://www.thekolin.com/
Žagar: http://www.zagarmusic.com/
The Moog: http://www.myspace.com/moogband
Esclin Syndo: http://www.myspace.com/esclinsyndo
The Idoru: http://www.myspace.com/theidoruband
Vote here: http://ema.mtv.co.hu/szavazas