Kraljevski Apartman
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Kraljevski Apartman (Serbian Cyrillic: Краљевски Апартман; trans. Royal Apartment) are a Serbian heavy metal band.
Apartman 69
The band's history begins in 1979 when guitarist Zoran Zdravković after playing in bands Exodus, Zvučni Zid, Bicikl and Tvrdo Srce I Velike Uši formed hard rock band Apartman 69 (trans. Apartment 69). The band recorded only one album Seti se moje pesme ("Remember My Song") in 1983. The lineup which recorded the album consisted of Dragan Blažić (vocals), Zoran Zdravković (guitar), Dejan Mihajlović (keyboards, backing vocals), Milan Mastelica (bass, backing vocals) and Jovan Simonović (drums). One of the band's lineups also included Zvonimir Đukić, today's frontman of the famous rock band Van Gogh on rhythm guitar and Vlada Dokić, drummer of the hard rock band Rok Mašina. After the release of the album, and due to the great popularity of New Wave bands, Apartman 69 ceased to exist.
Kraljevski Apartman
After 13 years Zdravković, with the support of Riblja Čorba's frontman Bora Đorđević, decided to form a new band and with Zoran "Lotke" Lalović (vocals) formed Kraljevski Apartman in 1995. The first lineup of the band soon after had split because the members did not take the band seriously and the new lineup consisted of Lalović (vocals), Zdravković (guitar) with Zoran Rončević (drums), Nebojša Čanković (guitar) and Vladimir Rajčić (bass). Riblja Čorba drummer Vicko Milatović was to be the bass guitarist of the band, but eventually refused. This lineup recorded the first band's album Long Live Rock 'n' Roll for Rock Express Records. The title track of the album is a cover version of a Rainbow hit with the same title. The album included eight songs and the most notable were "Mračan grad", "Ne verujem u lažne anđele", "Misterija" and "Oprosti mi". Promotional video was recorded for the song "Misterija". Zdravković provided most of the lyrics and music. The band performed as a support act on Riblja Čorba tour, and presented the album to the audience all over Serbia.
In 1999 Rončević left the band and the lineup included a new drummer Srđan Duždević and rhythm guitar Miroslav Šen. This lineup recorded the second album called "Izgubljen u vremenu" ("Lost in Time"). This album, like the previous one, was released by Rock Express Records in 2000. The sound was heavier and album's main hits were "Izgubljen u vremenu", "Slomljeno srce", "Nikad se ne predajem", "Ne traži đavola" and "Posle oluje (javi se...)". The album also included the cover of Uriah Heep's classic "Lady in Black", Kraljevski Apartman version titled "Slike". The CD edition of the album included four songs from Long Live Rock 'n' Roll as bonus tracks. All lyrics were written by Zdravković except for "Jesen" provided by Lalović and "Znak Zveri" by Vicko Milatović. A promotional video was recorded for the song "Posle oluje".
In 2002, after appearing on Hard 'n' Heavy Festival as a headliner, numerous appearances on festivals and on their own, the band entered the studio "Paradoks" to record demos for the following album. For the recording of the third album, the band changed the lineup because Šen, Duždević and Čačija left the band. The new lineup included drummer Zoran Rončević who recorded the first album with the band, bass guitarist Marko Nikolić (who had previously played with Vatreni Poljubac) and Dejan Đorđević on keyboards. Final versions of tracks were recorded at "Fokus" studio with the producer Aleksandar Toković. For Rocker (released in 2002 by Rock Express Records), the band added a keyboard player and switched to only one guitar making the band's sound more melodic. The album featured hits "Ranjena zver" and "Rocker" (a promotional video is recorded for the former), ballads "Za ljubav ne treba da moliš" and "Dama iz kraljevskog apartmana", which became audience songs in concert, and song "U lavirintu sedam greha" from the Labyrinth movie soundtrack (bonus on CD edition). The album also features the song "Niemandsland" with lyrics in German language and sang by Zdravković. All lyrics were provided by Zdravković. After the success of Rocker, the band became well known in Russia, Denmark, Netherlands and the albums was distributed in about twenty countries from Japan, Russia to Mexico.
For the first time since in the band's history, the same lineup recorded two albums. Ruka pravde ("Hand of Justice"), the fourth studio album was released in 2004. This time for PGP-RTS (the same record company who turned them down seven years ago). The album is considered by both fans and critics to be one of the band's finest works. Songs "Ruka pravde", "Dao sam sve od sebe", "Izaberi jedan put" and ballads "Sve u svoje vreme" and "Sve su noći iste" became main hits. The video for "Ruka pravde" was broadcasted on national television and Balkanmedia television which covers the area of all former Yugoslav republics. The themes found in songs are like on the previous albums, simple hard rock / heavy metal songs, love songs and mystical melodies provided by Đorđević's keyboards. The band presented the album while touring with Belgrade's Radio 202 live show Hit 202. The band performed as a support act on Deep Purple's concert in Belgrade.
In 2005 the band entered it's first decade of existence and on the 10th birthay a recording of a live DVD and album were scheduled. The DVD was recorded live in Belgrade's SKC and released under the title 10 Godina sa vama - Live SKC ("10 Years with You - Live SKC"). The DVD also includes interviews with the band members and others connected to the band and videos for "Ruka pravde", "Ranjena zver" and "Misterija". The soundtrack of the DVD featuring selected tracks form the concert was released as Best Of Live (1995-2005). After the release of the album, the band played various dates including opening for Whitesnake on Belgrade's Tašmajdan. This was the last concert with the keyboard player Dejan Đorđević. Following Đorđević's departure, Zoran Rončević also left the band. He was replaced by Zoran Radovanović who played with the band Generacija 5. After performing as a four-part band, Miloš Nikolić, Marko Nikolić's brother, stepped in on rhythm guitar. This lineup started writing new material and recorded demos for several tracks. One of them, "Čuvar tajni", appeared as a radio promo single. On August 17th, 2007 the band played at Belgrade's Beerfest which was officially the last show with vocalist Zoran Lalović before September 2008. His replacement was a former Which 1 frontman Ivan "Đera" Đerković.
First and the only album with Đerković on vocals, Čuvar tajni ("The Keeper of Secrets") was released through PGP RTS Records. The band recorded nine new songs and made a new version of the track "Jesen", which originally appeared on the band's second album. A poromotional video was recorded for the track "Čarobni štap".
Lalović formed his own band and after months of performing as The Untitled Band, the band got the name Lotke & Lavirint (trans. Lotke & The Labyrinth) performing songs by Kraljevski Apartman. For a short time period a drummer of Lotke & Lavirint was Rončević, former Kraljevski Apartman drummer.
After several promotional concerts for the new album in September 2008 Marko Nikolić left the band, and in the same month Lalović returned to the band replacing Đerković.
Discography
as Apartman 69
- Seti se moje pesme ("Remember My Song") (Diskos, 1983)
as Kraljevski Apartman
Studio albums
- Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (Rock Express Records, 1997)
- Izgubljen u vremenu ("Lost In Time") (Rock Express Records, 2000)
- Rocker (Rock Express Records, 2002)
- Ruka pravde ("Hand Of Justice") (PGP RTS, 2004)
- Čuvar tajni ("The Keeper of Secrets") (PGP RTS, 2008)
Live albums
- Best Of Live (1996 - 2005) (PGP RTS, 2005)
Video albums
- 10 godina sa vama - Live SKC (Rock Express Records, 2005)
External links
Band website
Band myspace
Kraljevski Apartman at angelfire.com
Kraljevski Apartman at last.fm
Kraljevski Apartman at Encyclopaedia Metallum
Kraljevski Apartman at Yu4You.com