Vladimir Lalić has been busy as of late! His band, Organized Chaos, released a new album, titled Divulgence, in December of 2017, to wide acclaim. Lalić and his group also performed at Progpower Europe last year. Aside from being an extremely talented singer and composer, Lalić is also a visual artist. His surrealist and occasionally jarring artwork, which often depicts the human body in grotesque mutations, has been featured in galleries and exhibitions in his home country of Serbia and throughout Europe. We caught up with Vladimir to ask him some questions about his art and music.
1.) Tell us about Organized Chaos. Where did the band come from? Where did the name come from?
Organized Chaos is a band from Belgrade, Serbia. And the name, I liked how the collision of those two words produce the absurd. In human nature, there is a strong will to find patterns. Both words are very relative in what means to be chaotic or organized. It is about the human will to control his known world where he can come close to some solutions, but be very far from them. In that sense, the “organized chaos” phenomenon deals directly with the tragedy of man.
2.) Is the music in Organized Chaos composed more collaboratively, or is it mostly your baby?
The compositions are mostly mine, as well as the lyrical concepts, but I always let other band members have the freedom to express as much as they can.
3.) I mentioned in our review of Divulgence (click here to read) that your voice has an incredible range, and is reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, Devin Townsend, and Daniel Gildenlow. Are you fans of any of these guys? Who do you feel like are your biggest vocal inspirations?
Thanks, I feel that as a huge compliment! Yes, I love those three guys, not only as vocalists but as a songwriters also. Like them, I was always mostly interested into writing my own music that I felt was challenging to sing. I also love and was inspired by Freddy Mercury, Jonathan Davis, George Benson, Dio, opera singers like Pavarotti, Domingo and Mario del Monaco but also jazz singers like Kurt Elling (amazing singer)!
4.) Divulgence features several spots for guest musicians, including Richard Henshall (Haken) and Nick Johnston, Branislava Podrumac, and so on. Why did you choose the musicians that you did?
I wanted to collaborate with Richard ever since I made an guest appearance with Haken in a a concert in Switzerland. Ross couldn’t make it so they were kind enough to ask me to sing that entire concert. I had a great time then and all of the guys are an amazing musicians and beautiful human beings.
So in the solo section in Broken Divine, I just knew that that would be a perfect spot for Rich.
And I have been following Nick for some time now, and for the song Ache, I felt that that song is very unconventional and I knew that Nick would give it a beautifully strange twist. And he did! And for Branislava, we are singing together in the opera theatre in Belgrade, so I’ve wanted to do a duet with her for a long time. And on “The Mask” it was a perfect match.
5.) Tell us about some of the central themes of Divulgence.
Love, sorrow, deceit, introspection, aggression… The strong human emotions. This album deals a lot with my personal life, and it is very autobiographical.
6.) ProgArchives has a list of several progressive bands from Serbia. Is there a scene/history there?
There is a small scene there. I was surprised to see the list, awesome job, I didn’t even knew there were so much bands doing prog. The community is small, I know few bands that are doing a great effort to get out there. But there are many stories about bands doing a great first album and then quitting because of many reasons, mostly financial. Which is a shame.
7.) You are also an awesome visual artist. I noticed that each song in my digital download has a corresponding picture. Do visuals play into your music writing at all? What is your visual approach?
For Divulgence‘s booklet I wanted to connect those three things: music, lyrics and drawings. As an visual artist, as well as a musician, I cannot disconnect one from another. But, I didn’t draw the drawings in the booklet as an illustration for particular songs. I choose the drawings that I did that best represented the problems that are dealt with in the song. So they are a representation of emotions that share the similar mindset.
8.) We saw a pretty great video of your ProgPower Europe performance. Are you planning on more live shows?
Yes, I know Chile will happen soon and for the rest we will see.
9.) Anything in the works with Organized Chaos? Side projects? Collaborations?
For now, we are preparing some singles that will be released later this year. I will make some guest appearances, but no collaborations for now.
10.) Who are your dream collaborators?
Ayreon, Devin Townsend, Korn, Snarky Puppy…
Bonus question:
If you had the choice of either going back in time to a date of your choosing (as long as it is at least one hundred years prior to the current date) OR going into the future exactly 300 years from the current date, which would you choose?
Future. Would love to hear new Tool album
Proglodytes 