As we know, Dora 2025 is just around the corner, so it is time to meet some participants who accepted our invitation for a quick Q&A session. The first artist on the list is the band EoT.
Hello EoT, thank you for accepting our invitation to talk to us and present yourselves to our readers on ESCUnited. Welcome! Could you tell us more about how the band was formed and who is currently in the band?
Thank you so much for this opportunity, we are so happy to talk to you. EoT members are: Maja Kolarić (vocal/bass), Boris Kolarić (vocal/guitar), Goran Glavač (vocal/drums). By a twist of fate, my brother Boris and Goggy formed a band before EoT, from which we took the initials and decided that that was gonna be the name of the band. At that point, I was still playing in my first punk band. We got together and realized that we shared the same mindset, love for music, and the resilience to push through to the end no matter what. We wanted to go beyond the local scene with our music. We met for coffee in 2015 and agreed to record our first album — that’s where our story began. We have three albums and one EP, the last album “Novo normalno” and EP “Listen up!” was recorded and produced in our own Hooligan Mauz Studio and we are very proud to have the luxury of being self-sufficient when it comes to making music. You can say we keep it in the family.
How would you describe your sound and music? Do you have any role models from famous bands across the world?
We call ourselves “punk rock heavy” not because of the genre, but because of our attitude. We don’t have limitations when it comes to making music and we create music of all genres, depending on what we feel in the moment. We like to say that we are influenced by a broad spectrum of music, from classical to the modern music of the 21st century. It is difficult to talk about role models because there are surely hundreds of bands and artists that influenced us, some of them are surely The Beatles and Queen, or to be exact, the earliest influences.
Besides that, you are known for releasing Christmas-themed songs. Can you tell us more about how it all started and what does it mean to you?
Absolutely, that is exactly the part of our story where we choose not to limit ourselves when it comes to creating music because it is too much fun and music is too beautiful to just limit yourself to one genre. We love Christmas, it has a special place in our hearts because it symbolizes the happiness in our amazing childhood memories and we want to share it with the audience. We have a Christmas playlist which is so much fun, you can just click play and enjoy the holiday spirit with our four Christmas songs.
You are closely connected to Baby Lasagna, right? You have collaborated on multiple projects together and some of your members were part of Manntra – a band that performed in Dora 2019, with Marko (Baby Lasagna) as one of the members. Did he give you any advice on how to approach Dora and potentially Eurovision?
We’ve known each other for a while, we used to play together when Marko had his first band, which was by the way, amazing, and their song is one of my favorite songs still. Then fate brought Marko, my brother, and me into Manntra, where we had our amazing memories together. When we found out that we got into Dora, he immediately congratulated us and was very happy, which was so sweet of him. Then we talked a little because I was worried about the technical parts of the things we needed to do, like the backtracks, but everything turned out fine and I didn’t want to bother him anymore because he is very busy with tours and everything that’s been going on, and fortunately, everything was pretty smooth, so, love that. He knows us, we used to be a part of the same “gang” for several years and we share the same mentality. He didn’t have to say anything because he knew that we would perform like there was no tomorrow. Just his kind words of support were enough to give us strength.
Dora is just around the corner. You must have seen and heard the feedback from Eurovision fans by now. How do you feel about the reception “Bye Bye Bye” has got in the few weeks since it was released?
It is amazing, people are so kind and supportive, and we are absolutely thrilled and grateful that they loved the song. We’ve been receiving so many messages and videos of support and people singing and dancing, it seems surreal. We appreciate the momentum while it lasts.
Every year, there are at least a few bands on the Eurovision stage. Can you tell us some that stand out as your favorites and what you like about them?
For starters, Maneskin was amazing, you can tell that they have a long history of performing and the attitude and the confidence just elevated the song, with Damiano’s vocals, it was a thrill watching their performance. The Rasmus were performing, I think, a year before Maneskin, they are one of my favorite bands from my childhood, you can only imagine what it was like watching them, their song Jezebel was amazing. Also, Blind Channel’s performance was amazing, we were instant fans.
Back to your Dora plans. Can you give us a hint of what we might expect to see on stage?
Of course, we got our dancers Lucija, Lara and Vito, who will give the performance out of this world. When we have rehearsals, we often lose ourselves watching them. Amazing and talented people. Also, we will have a few surprises and it will definitely be hot on the stage. Visually, the audience will travel with us, from the dystopian decadence of our soul rising into the sky like phoenixes and celebrating life and our free spirit in a cyberpunk-ish style. We can’t wait!
Woah, that sounds interesting. I’m sure our readers would like to know you a bit better. What would be one “crazy” thing you have done in the past and what is your collective goal for 2025 as a band?
We slept in an abandoned place for three days to record the second album because we needed the money to record it. That is how much we love doing this. Our collective goal would be to elevate our music with a breath of fresh air, create a new album, and have a lot of shows.
In the end, do you have any messages for all the fans and readers at ESCUnited?
Thank you for taking the time to read about us, and thank you for your beautiful support, it gives us strength that we will carry with us on stage and hopefully, give you an amazing performance. Sending love to the ESCUnited readers and hopefully, our new fans.
Thank you so much EoT and we wish you the best of luck in Dora 2025!
If #YOU want to support EoT’s pathway to Eurovision 2025 make sure you tune in to the Dora first semi-final show on February 27th and vote!
