With its fresh-sounding mix of hard rock and traditional heavy metal, SkyEye’s ‘New Horizons’ has been one of the most pleasant surprises to come out of the European metal scene this year. The album sees the Slovenian quintet confidently recovering from the departure of a driving force within the band. Singer and main songwriter Jan Leščanec tells us how SkyEye got where they are.

Due to guitarist Grega Stalowsky leaving the band, the pressure was suddenly on Leščanec to come up with most of the material for ‘New Horizons’. However, this is not exactly how the singer experienced the situation. “We actually started writing the songs together with Grega”, he explains. “He wrote three songs on the album. It was not an overnight decision for him to step out of the band, so he was involved with the songwriting sessions. It was a process of two years, so I managed to slowly pull the strings a little more than I used to in the previous years. It was not very stressful.

To be completely honest, we didn’t even search for a new guitarist in the beginning. There is another Grega in SkyEye’s story: Grega Crnkovič, who has been our producer since the beginning. He was a sixth member of the band, and he is also an extremely good guitarist. He has more of a bluesy vibe, but he can play anything. We tried to give Grega Stalowsky the time to come back if he wanted to.

So we played some gigs for a year and a half with the other Grega, but once it was definitive that Grega Stalowsky was going to leave the band, it was quite easy for us to find a new guitarist. Since Grega Crnkovič is not a metalhead, it was not an option for him to join the band full-time. But we knew Urban Železnik, a very young Slovenian guitarist, is an old school heavy metal fan. He’s bringing young blood into the band, and he is very enthusiastic about everything.”

Free Rein

“After Grega Stalowsky left, it wasn’t like I had to start from zero, because I had a lot of ideas. I have a very little, modest home studio where I can write songs and record demos. I record the guitars, the bass guitar, and of course the vocals, and I try to program the drums. Usually, I work on a demo track for maybe half a year, then listen to it, and try to make it better. And then I present it to the band.

We are still a band, of course, so when the boys get those demos, everyone can add their own input and come up with their own lines. I try to make the demos as well as possible, just so the guys can hear the potential of the song. But then I give the boys free rein to do what they want. I just steer the rehearsal progress. If there are changes that are made to the song, I am all for it, as long as it is to the benefit of the songs.

Another reason why I put so much effort into my demos is because it is my passion. If I wouldn’t have the privilege to show those demos to the band, I would still do it. Just for my own enjoyment. I would be satisfied with that as well. I mean… If you are a real artist, you just try to make music to shape your own ideas. That’s why I put a lot of time and energy into recording ideas and demos.”

Sensing Something

With Leščanec writing the songs, SkyEye doesn’t have that typical metal issue of a singer struggling to find his space within dense compositions and arrangements. “When you write the songs with the vocal melodies in mind, I think you can create more space for the vocals to develop”, he says. “I think that’s a good thing. Then again, I was a guitar player before I started singing, so coming up with guitar riffs is not that difficult either.

Ten years ago, I had a hard rock band in which I was just playing guitar. But then the band fell apart. Some of the band members didn’t have the time for it anymore. You know, those very familiar band things, when not everyone is equally focused. After that happened, I was very depressed for about half a year.

I was at our rehearsal place a lot, and then I just started to sing. From out of nowhere. Just because I didn’t want to play guitar. I mean… I screamed at first. But I noticed that when my vocal cords got warmed up, I had a really powerful voice, and I could go really high. I did not have any technique at the time, and I was probably very off tonally, but I could sense something in my voice. That was in 2014. Very late.”

Making a Mess

Around that time, SkyEye was formed. “It was actually the same year that SkyEye was formed”, Leščanec emphasizes. “At that time, I was the singer who did not sing in a band before. Our bass player knew how to play the tamburitza, a traditional stringed instrument, but he did not play bass guitar, and the drummer did not play drums before. It was a mess at first. But yeah, some of us had the focus, and with the line-up changes, we kind of established a band in a period of two years.

We kind of improved the rehearsals to the point where we could say: this is a band, instead of five guys making a mess. Grega Stalowsky was like a professional musician to us. He was the main driving and writing force in the first years. We just kept coming up with ideas, and we constantly recorded our rehearsals.

That is probably the most important advice that I could give to young bands and young musicians: record yourself. Every rehearsal. Because otherwise I think that the progress is much slower. Especially if the band doesn’t consist of experienced or professional musicians. I think that recording all those rehearsals was the pivotal point that got the band to a higher level.”

Small, but Vibrant

Another reason why progress was slow for SkyEye might be the fact that their native of Slovenia isn’t exactly known for its sizeable metal scene. “Slovenia is a small country”, Leščanec nods. “Two million people. The band is situated in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, which has a population of 300 thousand people. So the scene is quite small. It is vibrant, and there are a lot of metal events, but it is very much an underground scene. Hardly over one hundred people attending the concerts.

At the moment, we are preparing a big gig in November in Ljubljana. Probably one of the biggest gigs organized by a band from the newer wave of Slovenian rock bands. Because we do have some old bands that were formed when Slovenia was still part of Yugoslavia. Those bands can set up a handful of reunion concerts, and they might be able to perform in front of a thousand people. But for new bands like SkyEye, a couple hundred already counts as a big event in Ljubljana.

We usually go abroad to visit concerts of the bigger names in metal. Germany has quite a strong heavy metal presence, and it’s not so far away. The drive from Ljubljana to Munich is just over four hours. I think the only way for a band from Slovenia to survive is to try and play as many shows abroad as possible. But it is difficult to get proper gigs, because there is so much competition.

And we are lucky: we are working with a German booking agency. We always hope to get more gigs, of course, but everything more than one gig abroad per year is a plus for us. There are many good bands, and the slots for unknown bands are either very rare, or they are terrible. That is another sad side of the music industry.”

Continuing to Grow

Despite all that, Leščanec seems quite positive about the future. “We have noticed more and more international interest in SkyEye”, he says. “Of course, a lot of credit goes to our German label, Reaper Entertainment. Our first album (‘Digital God’, 2018) was self-released, and our second (‘Soldiers of Light’, 2021) and third albums are published via Reaper Entertainment. They are a young and very enthusiastic record label, and I think they are going to grow. So I hope that SkyEye is going to grow with them.”

And within the band, the aforementioned enthusiasm of new guitarist Urban Železnik already seems infectious as well. “I think I’ve got a new writing partner”, Leščanec smiles. “And I’m really excited about the future.”