Elvis Jackson
“Any jazzers in the audience?”—a question we enthusiastically answered every single time during the golden years of these Ajdovščina legends, eagerly waiting for our moment to crowd surf on an inflatable mattress. Around the time of their fourth album Against the Gravity (2009), produced by Billy Gould, there was hardly a month when we wouldn’t attend one of their concerts—either at Mostovna or at one of the then-popular village festivals.
But it all began back in our primary school years, when we completely wore out their debut album Move Your Feet It’s One O’Clock (1999). Already in the opening track Doubts, they set the sonic direction they would never truly abandon—a blend of energetic melodic punk rock and playful ska, spiced up with bursts of hardcore-metal intensity. The formula became even more pronounced on their second album Go Home and Practice (2000), whose flirtatious blonde on the cover stirred our (pre)teen imaginations. The video for Hawaiian Club was, for a while, the most anticipated moment of the TV show Videospotnice, and we discussed it endlessly in school. We were amazed by the scene of Buddha running down Gradnik Brigade Street in Nova Gorica—right where we usually park our cars! Equally unforgettable was the cult video for Market Sweets, starring a local Elvis impersonator.
With their third album Summer Edition (2003), leaning more towards ska and reggae and released across Europe and even Japan (with standout tracks Weakies and You and I), the band began seriously looking abroad, performing numerous concerts outside Slovenia. Their international breakthrough, however, came with Against the Gravity—remember hits like Wake Me Up, Street 45, and Not Here To Pray—released by the German label Anstreet Rec, which brought them tours across Eastern and Western Europe and the UK.
Elvis Jackson shared the stage with numerous icons of alternative music—from their idols Faith No More to bands such as Sepultura, Anthrax, The Offspring, Asian Dub Foundation, NOFX, Propagandhi, and many others—at major European festivals like Exit, Sziget, Rototom Sunsplash, Devilside, and Serengeti. In the last decade, alongside names like Siddharta and Big Foot Mama, they have firmly established themselves as part of the “classic generation” of Slovenian rock. Their latest album Radio Unfriendly (2014), featuring the single Any Place To Go, was followed by an acoustic appearance on the show Izštekani in 2018 and the release of The Reason Is Music in 2019, featuring Slovenian diva Helena Blagne.
Since their founding in 1997, they have built a reputation as a band that gives everything on stage, pushing energy levels into the red every time. After 25 years and five albums, it’s clear that the wild youngsters have grown into family men, and their music has become somewhat more restrained and accessible. But one thing remains unchanged—Elvis Jackson are still one of the most important bands from the Primorska region of all time.
Avtor: Jaša Bužinel