Name: David Maxim Micic
Age: Just turned 21!
Hometown: I was born in Dubrovnik, Croatia on May 5th, 1990, but I live in Belgrade, Serbia, and don’t really remember Dubrovnik because I was really young when we moved to Belgrade. But I am planning on going to visit the town where I was born – I’ve heard lots of good stories about that place.
How did you started playing guitar and what was the first song you learned?
I started taking private lessons when I was 15 years old with Petar Jelic who showed me pentatonic scales and other basic stuff, so he really opened me up to a whole horizon of possibilities. He introduced me to Joe Satriani’s music, and my life was changed from that moment, and that was it – I knew I’d become a guitar player.
I learned a few basic chords from my dad a few years before that, so I could play a ton of songs with those few chords until I decided to get into guitar much more seriously!
I also had 6 years of classical piano training before I started playing guitar, so moving to guitar was much easier than it could have been.
The first guitar lick I learned was from the song ‘Calling Elvis’ by Dire Straits – the moment around 2:09 if you look it up on YouTube.
Love it! The first song I learned was ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ by The Animals. Even today, I still love hearing that song. So yeah! Animals (As Leaders)!!
Describe your style.
My musical background is mostly in rock/metal/fusion, and my main guitar influences at this point are Oz Noy, John Petrucci, Greg Howe, Erkan Oğur, Allan Holdsworth etc… Since I discovered Devin Townsend via Steve Vai’s Myspace Page, I started listening to some Strapping Young Lad, and then to some Meshuggah, Fredrick Thordendal, Tesseract, Bulb etc… So I was totally sucked into the Djent sound/groove at the beginning of 2009. Also, I’m a huge fan of electronic music and guys like Hybrid, BT, Tiesto, Infected Mushroom and others.
So you can expect some unexpected stuff from me, I think – from Pop/Electro/Ambient/Atmospheric music, some Eastern European Folk and Ethno moments, Fusion and Jazz-Rock, to some heavy and Djenty riffs with some easy polyrhythmic stuff, all combined in a really intelligent way. So there’s something for everyone I think!
What gear are you using?
I have a 6-string custom-made Ibanez from the S series, which is in a different tuning (Ab-Eb-Ab-Eb-Ab-Bb) and great for creating some crazy jumps and tapping licks, and of course for some heavy riffs. I also have a 6-string Music Man JP with the Mystic Dream finish. It’s a beautiful guitar – not the most original choice, but I really like the sound and feel of it! That one is in standard tuning, and I use it mostly for soloing. I have a Takamine acoustic guitar – one of their first guitars from back in 1962. It’s an amazing guitar for studio recordings, and the guitar on which I learned my first chords.
There’s not much to my guitar rig. I use a Boss GT8, MXR EQ, and a Marshall MG50DFX. For recording, I output a direct signal from the FX Send of the Marshall to the audio interface or the mixing board.
Tell us about your latest project.
My latest project is an instrumental EP named Bilo (which is an old Serbo-Croatian word for a heartbeat or a pulse) with 4 songs (around 30 minutes of music) and some really cool guests:
- Jakub Zytecki – an amazing young guitar player from Poland
- Sasa Lokner – a great keyboard player from Belgrade, Serbia
- Vasil Hadzimanov – another amazing keyboard player from Belgrade
It also features two magnificent female vocalists:
Aleksandra Djelmas and Aleksandra Radosavljevic
I’ll also have narrators (Vladimir Lalic and Aleksandra Radosavljevic) who will lead you through some meaningful thoughts about life in each song on the EP.
What are your plans for the future?
Soon after I release this EP, I’ll start working on another EP for my band Destiny Potato, that will be out in a few months. Destiny Potato is math/pop/core (how I like to call it) with two female vocalists and It’s pretty different from anything you’ve had a chance to hear, I think. I have some huge expectations with this one! There’s also one big thing I’m working on these days. I’m planning on making a live DVD with my band, orchestra and choir, and it should by out by the end of 2011 or at the beginning of 2012.
Soon after that I’m planning on moving back to Boston where I did two semesters at Berklee College of Music, and continue with working on my career there. I can’t wait to hear or read your reactions to the EP! Cheers!!
