Traveling Troubadour - The Petko Slavov Interview

Petko Slavov grew up in Bulgaria under the weight of communism and restricted access to western music. Living close to a local guitar factory inspired Petko as his brother to dream up a life of travel and music. Listen to Petko describe his work in Scandinavia and his ambition to one day make enough money to buy real instruments to support his original music in Bulgaria. 

“Airbag” band consists the duo of two brothers-Petko and Nikolay Slavov, who are native to Bulgaria and are based in Sofia. 
Petko Slavov (guitars,bass, vocals) and Nikolay Slavov (keyboards, vocals) are responsible for both lyrics and composition and whilst on tour use guest musicians on guitar, bass and drums.
Their first album “Overcooked Summer” includes ten tunes and it was released 2005.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08V5Q5YG9/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/airbagband/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/theairbagband
Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/airbag
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1JzLic9YmgXpePzLzkBDbi

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Transcript

Traveling Troubadour - Episode #2 - The Petko Slavov Interview

Jason Perno: [00:00:00] Welcome to the traveling Troubadour, the podcast that follows the lives of musicians. Who've successfully toured around the world, playing the music. Everyone knows and loves. I'm your host, Jason Pernoe and our next guest comes from Bulgaria. His name is Petko Slavov. I hope I pronounced that correctly.

Petko, welcome to the show. Why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up and how you first got into music. 

Petko Slavov: [00:00:33] Hello, Jason, thanks for inviting me. Well, you said it right? My name is Petko Slavov . You actually pronounce it quite well. Uh, I'm from Bulgaria. I grew up in a, in a small city called cousin.

Look, it's right in the middle of the country. And it's also called the Valley of the roses because we've had a lot of rules. Is that right there? And, um, well, I actually grew up next to the, the factory that makes guitars what 

Jason Perno: [00:01:04] guitars 

Petko Slavov: [00:01:05] that's called Cremona. I think they took it from the Italian, but, uh, well we grew up around there.

We were all like, uh, maybe. 200 meters from the factory. So me and my brother, we used to go up and down in the yard of that factory. And, uh, you know, looking at all these wounds, they made the guitars from that was really fascinating. And, uh, we just wanted to become musicians. We just, actually, we just wanted to get out of this city because it was too small for us.

So I guess the music was the only way to get out. And start traveling. 

Jason Perno: [00:01:45] You had big dreams at that age? Yes. Yes. 

Petko Slavov: [00:01:49] We just wanted to, uh, which is when I had to travel. I would just wanted to travel with music. We're making music. 

Jason Perno: [00:01:57] I find that's a very common theme amongst most of the troubadours is the sense of adventure and wanting to get out and see the world.

Exactly. 

Petko Slavov: [00:02:07] Exactly. 

Jason Perno: [00:02:08] So who were your influences back then? What kind of music? Were you listening to, was it local Bulgarian style rock or, yeah, well, 

Petko Slavov: [00:02:18] I grew up, I grew up in a Bulgaria was still under the communism. So I guess the West music was not so much into the radio back then. So we will listen to a lot of Bulgarian, rock bands and, um, well, the Beatles.

Was the, the, one of the West bands that way they would let into the radio. Ah, so, so Beatles and, uh, I guess, well, the first song I've ever sort of get or get into my, my head, it was a hotel, California. Yeah. Ah, the ego about it. Egos. That was the song. And also a band English, Benco, smoky. I don't, you know, you don't remember that.

Yeah. 

Jason Perno: [00:03:02] Uh, they'd sing, uh, living next door to Alice, right? 

Petko Slavov: [00:03:05] That's that's, that's the one. So I remember listening to this LP that my parents had with the hotel, California and I will, and I will dang if I could just make the solo, if I could play that solo. Um, that's that's my dream. That's what I want to do.

Jason Perno: [00:03:22] So how old were you back then? Well, 

Petko Slavov: [00:03:25] I think I was in a fourth, fifth grade. So that was say 11, 11. Yeah. Yeah. So my father had this old guitar, but he will not allow us to touch it. Of course, when he was out working me and my brother would sit and try to, to play it out difficult, a minor chord. But the was, was I get that a minor and he minor, we stopped playing our original.

That's what I remember. I just, um, start thinking about melodies and, uh, And stuff because I've realized I could never play that solo of hotel, California. It was too complicated for me. 

Jason Perno: [00:04:05] Well, did, have you ever learned it? Did you finally get it down? 

Petko Slavov: [00:04:08] I get it like three years ago because I had to that's great, but still 

Jason Perno: [00:04:14] difficult.

I never, I never learned it, but, uh, all right. So, so who are your main influences though? We're at the Western, the bands or mainly Bulgarian bands are a little bit of both. Look 

Petko Slavov: [00:04:26] a little bit of both. I would say, uh, we, we ha we had, and we still have this band called sort of the crickets. That will be the translation.

There were, they were really big back then. And, um, now still they still going. And, um, and of course, as I, as I've mentioned, all this compilation in a LPs, we had, because we were not, as I said, familiar with a Western music so much. As a comes to albums. If, if I know Beatles, that will be the compilation of some songs, but I will never know that the albums, you know, I will listen to rolling stones, but I only knew the NG song because it was in a certain compilation.

NGO. Yeah. So that's the other song that I've sort of, when I was growing up and stop laying the score it's the Angie was the song I was too out. Uh, 

Jason Perno: [00:05:21] it's so interesting hearing this perspective because obviously I grew up in the West and we didn't have any of these restrictions. Um, and, and this is so much stuff that you hear about in movies.

Um, it's not something that I, that I've ever actually. Come across in real life. And so I'm really fascinated by the fact that you grew up in this, this part of the world, that your music, that, you know, it was very much controlled and censored by a communist regime, 

Petko Slavov: [00:05:51] but then everything start changing in around 1989 in Bulgaria.

And I've already been 19, 19 years old. And I was, you know, Oh, two years later I was start travel. I was still traveled to Norway. 

Jason Perno: [00:06:08] How did you get into Norway? Well, 

Petko Slavov: [00:06:10] that's the thing. Um, the musicians in our city, we had a lot of, a lot of bands or the good thing about the communities I'm back down there was that in every restaurant, he would have a band, at least five, six spaces band.

And in our small city, we had like six, seven restaurants, so that we'll make 30 musicians playing every night. So we would go, we would go every night, a different restaurant just to listen to them start banking because there was no YouTube. There was, we didn't have any, uh, any, uh, like, uh, I will say a books 

Jason Perno: [00:06:46] to learn.

Yeah. There was a, there was no, no competition, no wanted live 

Petko Slavov: [00:06:50] music. Yeah. Yeah. But I will just go and sit and watch this musicians playing the covers. They would play. And, uh, so I said, we, we said to ourselves, yeah, once we get, you know, start playing and the big thing in Bulgaria was the only way to get out was to go and play in that, you know, Scandinavia.

That was another thing 

Jason Perno: [00:07:12] really. That was, that was a well-known 

Petko Slavov: [00:07:15] thing. It was the well-known even our famous bands. Like I've mentioned, they used to travel to Scandinavia because they would make money. They would make real money or he will say real money. And he can buy and you can buy a Rio instrument.

That was actually that the goal for us. 

Jason Perno: [00:07:32] Really? Yes. It's funny that you mentioned that because now when I think about it, when I played on the cruise ships, very often, they would have bands from Bulgaria playing as the house band. And I know that there's, there's a. A monetary reason for that because they, you know, they would pay the Swedish musicians or the, you know, the Norwegian musicians and so on, within a mound, they would, they would get paid their local currency, what they would expect to get paid, but to save money, they would outsource and hire bands from countries like Bulgaria.

That would be there. And, but for, for you guys, Was that good money as well. I mean, even knowing you were getting paid 

Petko Slavov: [00:08:21] yes, for us, it was like, I could not calculate right now, but it was maybe eight times more, maybe even, wow. Then you can make here. So here you see the difference. So those were the driving forces as to, to go and start travel and make money and get real instruments.

Come back and start recording your originals. That was there in a 

Jason Perno: [00:08:47] big way. That's the ultimate goal is yes. That's. That's. That's incredible. So you're, you are motivated primarily about going out, seeing the world and then making enough money to get a real instrument so that you can. Go back to your home country and then do original music.

Petko Slavov: [00:09:06] Yes. That's exactly what we wanted. 

Jason Perno: [00:09:10] So what I've heard from a couple of the musicians that I work with that back home in Bulgaria, you're actually a big deal. Um, is that true? Are you a well-known artist and well, 

Petko Slavov: [00:09:24] Darian? Well, I would love to say that, but I'm not the thing is that, um, I was planning. I was planning a poster spent on national TV, um, is a talking, uh, is a show that I'm on the nationality, but Apple was in a band, but, well, not really.

I'm still making my own music and some of my own music it's on the radio on a national radio, but that will not make me unknown person or people know me. But I'm not like a pop star or something, but yeah, I've got some songs on the radio. 

Jason Perno: [00:10:02] Yeah. The national radio. 

Petko Slavov: [00:10:03] Yeah. Well the national radio. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Um, and um, well actually the big news for me, it was last year. I got my, my novel, uh, my book published there's actually. Yes. Yes. And that's, that's, I'm really, really sort of proud of. 

Jason Perno: [00:10:24] So what is that about? 

Petko Slavov: [00:10:26] Well, that's about, that's about, um, a Bulgarian girl living in Norway. She she's an immigrant and she lives with, uh, with a guy and she makes a, uh, attempt for suicide.

Two 

Jason Perno: [00:10:41] times. Oh, quite serious. Is it, is it based on any truth or is it fiction? 

Petko Slavov: [00:10:47] Yeah, it's th the girl that I sort of met before, uh, it was based on her, but of course the stories it's inspection is made up. 

Jason Perno: [00:10:57] Is it available on Amazon? 

Petko Slavov: [00:10:59] Not now. It's only been published here in, um, but I'm, I'm talking with someone to get old.

You. In audio books and also get in Amazon. But, and of course I need a translator for English or, or Norwegian, but I'm thinking about it. It's been four months now since it's been published for me, actually, this is something that I really 

Jason Perno: [00:11:23] like a lifetime accomplishment. 

Petko Slavov: [00:11:24] Yes, yes, yes. 

Jason Perno: [00:11:26] So you eventually ended up in Norway?

Yes. And were you working on a cruise ship there or you were working on. 

Petko Slavov: [00:11:35] In the beginning, we only would play on the land, uh, because back then that's like 28 years ago in every city in Norway. Uh, they would have a live band in a restaurant as well. So there was so many bands before and he would play every day, not like now on the weekends, but it will be, it will be a plan every day.

So six, 

Jason Perno: [00:12:00] seven days a week. 

Petko Slavov: [00:12:01] Yes, yes. Yeah. Well, we came with, uh, we came from Bulgaria to Norway with leather, you know, this vehicle, this Russian vehicle called a ladder that they will have that they would have more speech in London. So we were quite, uh, interesting. Uh, so we retrieve our total in 3000 kilometers with that.

And, um, As we saw in the beginning only we would play every month in one city. And then next month we would go to another one and a while the contracts would be for from six months to nine months. And you would play every day and you challenge cities every month. So that how it was back then not anymore.

And this was, 

Jason Perno: [00:12:53] this was through an agency or yes, 

Petko Slavov: [00:12:56] I'm still an agency go now. You 

Jason Perno: [00:12:58] and I agency, we actually met in Copenhagen in Denmark. 

Petko Slavov: [00:13:03] Remember? Yes.

Jason Perno: [00:13:09] So yeah, I do remember how you introduced yourself to me. Yeah. And then I'm not going to go into that. Nope.

But, uh, sorry. So yeah, no, no, that was funny. It just means that all my friends knew me and I knew it was safe to make jokes like that. But, um, how, how did you end up in Copenhagen? 

Petko Slavov: [00:13:33] Well, I was, um, um, about bent, just, um, well with these bandit, uh, at some point we were actually the best of friends. We were four guys, me and my brother and two other guys from the school schoolmates.

So we were quite close. And, um, so we were playing for 10 years like that in the end, they, all, three of them got married in Scandinavia. So it was only me coming back to Bulgaria and, uh, After one Oh one year I was sort of looking for job. 

Jason Perno: [00:14:06] Let me ask you a quick question before you go into, because you had mentioned they had all gotten married to Danish or Scandinavian women, how did that work out in you?

Well, are they still married? No. 

Petko Slavov: [00:14:22] No, no, no. The truth them they're divorced. I'm sorry to say. Yeah. 

Jason Perno: [00:14:27] That's, that's a such a common story. As a matter of fact, when I first came to Denmark, there was a joke that the musicians used to make that don't ever marry a Danish girl. Yeah. Because, uh, they all said that, um, they, they would, you know, be really into you in the beginning, but then one day they might just with the drop of a hat, just say, I'm no longer interested in.

Divorce is so, so much easier in Scandinavia. So it was, uh, 

Petko Slavov: [00:14:54] yeah. As well, at least you've been warned. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I don't think they were. But anyway, I actually, I will get to that. I'll get to up. And I only got married with a tannish yadda to was it with no region with that, but that guy, that they were together for 20 years and they all of a sudden, I was really surprised for me.

They were really good Kapow anyway. 

Jason Perno: [00:15:21] You find that there's also cultural differences when you marry somebody. I ma I, myself am married to a Danish woman. So, uh, luckily it works out really well for us. Our personalities are quite compatible, but I I've seen in many instances, it doesn't always work out so great with the cultural differences, but, um, 

Petko Slavov: [00:15:41] So I talk about in a book actually.

Really? Yes. Yes. That's a lot, a lot about this stuff, but okay. 

Jason Perno: [00:15:48] Let's see. I, dear, I hear, uh, a murder going on in the background, so 

Petko Slavov: [00:15:53] that's, that's the ambulance 

Jason Perno: [00:15:55] that, the ambulance, the ambulance. All right. So that's how you ended up in Scandinavia. Where else have you played? Uh, if anywhere else in the world.

Petko Slavov: [00:16:05] But I've been, I've been to Poland. I've all like in Poland. In Poland. Yeah. Yeah. 

Jason Perno: [00:16:11] Now that's an interesting place. What, what do you think of Poland? 

Petko Slavov: [00:16:15] Berlin's great. I loved it. I was in Morso. I was in Warsaw and then, uh, in Poznan so that, so we would play in, uh, in the Sheraton Sheraton suit and a hotel there and it was, it was great.

Jason Perno: [00:16:31] Now was that something that you booked on your own or is this through an agent as 

Petko Slavov: [00:16:34] well? It was through a, uh, it was a through, um, to a woman. She was a director, Bulgarian, Sheraton, and bore, so, and sh and she saw us, he applying in, uh, one of the clubs and Sophia, and then they had this, they had this, um, pub with live music.

I don't know if they still do, but there was a every day it was playing every day. Wow that club. So it was, it was great. They would stay in the Sheraton. Perfect. 

Jason Perno: [00:17:08] That's always a good way to you find new work is by people who will come in and hear you play and say, Hey, I got a, I got a bar over here or a venue over there and can you come play over there?

And that's how it starts. Sometimes it's not always through an agent. Sometimes it's just through meeting people and 

Petko Slavov: [00:17:29] that will be actually. That would be actually the best way because people would see you. Yeah. You know, the way you perform any day like that, they will book you. And 

Jason Perno: [00:17:39] I have to say that, um, most of the time, especially when I played in countries like Switzerland and you're having a really great night and there's, the bar is completely packed and everybody is, you know, rooting for you.

And then somebody comes up and says, man, you're awesome. And yeah. I want you to play in my place. I've had people from Russia and different countries coming up to me, same, man. He got to come to France. You got to go. W one guy even said, you know, let, I want to fly you out to the Philippines, uh, in September.

And I got to say 90% of the time, 95% of the time, it never works out. It's just drunk people who are. 

Petko Slavov: [00:18:20] Uh, that will be my question, actually. How many or how much 

Jason Perno: [00:18:24] of this I'd say maybe like, you know, 5% of the time, it actually turns into a gig. Uh, but the other 95%, it's just drunk people talking 

Petko Slavov: [00:18:34] so many telephone numbers.

You have written down on a piece of paper. Yeah. Yeah. 

Jason Perno: [00:18:42] Got that. Yep. Alcohol. It's a funny thing. It, uh, people get really excited when they're drunk, but they sober up the next day. And you're lucky. Like that's why I actually started writing down on the paper. Uh, not only my name, but where I'm from and where you met me, because I knew like the next day they look at this piece of paper and they go, who the hell is this guy?

Petko Slavov: [00:19:09] So that's funny. You mentioned this. Yeah, I'm sure 

Jason Perno: [00:19:12] it's happened to you before. What do you most enjoy about the Troubadour lifestyle

being on the road and everything? Yeah, 

Petko Slavov: [00:19:24] I think he's just contagious. You know what, once you start traveling, there's something about it first, just the traveling part. And then I dunno, I it's of course, meeting people. Yeah. That's that's one thing is meeting different people, talking with them, exchanging ideas, thoughts.

Jason Perno: [00:19:45] Yeah. You, you get out of your bubble. 

Petko Slavov: [00:19:48] Yes, exactly. Exactly. So that's one thing 

Jason Perno: [00:19:52] and then you get to, yeah. Challenge your own thoughts, your own views of, of what you think life is about. And 

Petko Slavov: [00:19:58] yes. Yeah. Yes. You CA you, you become observer. You observe life from a different perspection. You see Bebo. And even when he play, that'd be the same when you play and you look at people and you think about them, it's their life might be.

Jason Perno: [00:20:15] I'm always imagining them naked. So that's why I always have a smile on my face. 

Petko Slavov: [00:20:21] That's the one 

Jason Perno: [00:20:22] thing, but I mean, honestly though, um, yeah, I call it the being a world citizen, you re you become a citizen of the world. Uh, the more you travel and the more you get around, especially if you start mixing East and West, um, 

Petko Slavov: [00:20:41] yeah.

He should know much better than NATO because you came from that continent and for you, it must be the, I mean, the changes. 

Jason Perno: [00:20:49] Yeah. Especially when I was in China, that was that man. That was a mind blower. You know, I was also in Russia for eight days, but that was just for like a visit. And that also blew me away.

Um, was I stuck out like a sore thumb. People could see me coming from a mile away is like foreigner on my head. As a matter of fact, I was traveling with a friend and she was Russian and we go into this a museum and she bought the tickets for me because you could see written in Russian that there was one price.

And then in English, there was another price. It was completely different price. So they, they charge you differently according to if you're a foreign or not. And so, uh, we get in and we hand in our tickets and the woman just looks at me and she says, where's he from? And then my friend says, he's from here.

He's Russian. And then she says, no, he has to get, uh, another ticket. And then she just wrote foreigner in Russian right on the ticket had to go back out. And that's just the way it is. Uh, it was so obvious. I don't know. Maybe it was because I was walking around with a smile on my face all the time, because everyone in Russia seems so serious.

Petko Slavov: [00:22:02] You should not smile. No smile in Russia. 

Jason Perno: [00:22:05] Yes. Apparently they say that. Yeah. It's reserved only for your friends. Otherwise you're very serious all the time, always looking, you know? Yes. Uh, but, uh, what, what about, is there anything that you found being a Troubadour and traveling that you didn't like or any drawbacks?

Petko Slavov: [00:22:29] Hmm, yeah. Yeah. I guess loneliness. Loneliness loneliness is the part of that I did not alike. Of course. And, um, you got, you know, been melancholia nostalgia, you had all this and you have to just sort of fight with them or get used to it because, uh, because I, I see, I've seen people like tough man. And after the first month they will be broken because they are lonely because they're so dependable of home.

Weiss, you know, just a normal lace and he can see them just really smashed down because of that. And it's tough. I don't know if people realize that, but it's really tough being on the road. 

Jason Perno: [00:23:13] Um, I'm glad that you I'm glad that you said that. Uh, because, um, in my book, uh, I had mentioned a couple of things that are drawbacks and loneliness.

Loneliness is one of the things that I had mentioned and it, and it personally. Didn't affect me. I liked being on the road, but it's not, you're not the first musician to tell me that, uh, it's tough being alone for some musicians. It's really, really hard, uh, to do that. And it's not just being away from your, your family or your wife.

I mean, there are a lot of musicians that aren't married, but, uh, you go out on the rows and you're there for like, Two weeks, maybe four weeks on some of these gigs and then you're out going somewhere else. And even if you make friends you're these aren't permanent relationships, these are, these are temporary friendships that maybe you see them again, maybe a year later, if you're lucky.

Um, because if you're working on a cruise ship, it might be different crews, uh, staff, the next time. And then maybe you'll see somebody saw last time, maybe you won't. Um, but, but there's no stability. 

Petko Slavov: [00:24:30] That's exactly. And, and of course we, me and Nia, we've seen people destroying their selves because of that.

Yeah, absolutely. And, um, so it is tough. So I guess that's the toughest part. And so just by saying that also you have to go at night and entertain and look your best even. When in your mind, you're not. That's the other thing I spotted the joke. That's that's one thing when you mentioned, you asked me, why did I start by myself?

Just because I always loved acoustic music, acoustic, bland, acoustic guitar, and just stripping out the song. Yeah. And. Just sound like, well, you know, just the guitar and a voice. I always loved that. And what else was one of the reasons to start as a Troubadour? Yeah, 

Jason Perno: [00:25:26] I think it also has something to do with personality of, of the musician.

Um, you know, I grew up listening to all different kinds of music, but sometimes I really like to listen to guys like Neil young, for example, and that's the thing. You listened to, uh, these singer songwriters and these guys who, you know, Bob Dylan, Neil young, who will sit there just with their guitar, maybe harmonica.

And there's something about the mood that they set that makes it much more introspective and personal and emotional, um, is a very different vibe doing that. You know, band it's all 

Petko Slavov: [00:26:07] energy. Yes. You just mentioned a new young and I'm getting goosebumps. One of the reasons, uh, and that's one thing that I've actually learned, start traveling to Copenhagen and meeting all these musicians.

That's one thing that actually really changed my perspective of music how's that because I, I, you know, meeting this. There's troubadours and seeing them playing. I, you know, that's, that's still me Dylan's mean today. Neil young, Bob Dylan, a lot after that Copenhagen period of mine. Wow. I remember going to back done.

There was so many Jews, not that anymore, but uh, I remember going to old English and listening to some of the, the musicians and, uh, you know, I was, as there was a change for me. That that, that, that Ian Copenhagen really changed me as a musician. 

Jason Perno: [00:27:05] Can you, can you remember what year that was? Or 

Petko Slavov: [00:27:08] I remember that was 2006, 2006, I guess, 2006.

Yes. First. And I've got, I've got this hit from rich that he actually, so, um, yeah, and the flat Ridge that's really rich Vargas and back done in a, in a flat that was like 10 musicians. It was crazy 11. It was crazy in the living room that all of them and a part of everything else that we were doing that we're not going to mention in the podcast we used to jam as well.

Jason Perno: [00:27:44] Yeah. I think that was some of the best nights is. Coming home after playing music and then going in the flat and playing music 

Petko Slavov: [00:27:52] and flame because yes. And then you just have to, Oh, no, I have to. But that was that vibe going on in a flat. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess that's the vibe that everybody's missing.

Really? 

Jason Perno: [00:28:02] Yeah. Yeah. It was definitely, there was the camaraderie of having all your friends and I could say that. It didn't matter where we were living. It was the fact that we were all together because let's be honest, that flat was a hell hole. You know, it was, it was bad. It was really, really bad. 

Petko Slavov: [00:28:20] Oh, I have teachers.

I don't have pictures. You know what 

Jason Perno: [00:28:24] bad you remember Socrates? Uh, yes, yes. Yeah, the Greek guy, obviously. Um, so he, he, he went into, uh, the flat on the last day and he made a video recording and it's on YouTube. You can actually, you can, you can see it. So do you have any favorite gigs? Out of all the gigs that you've played any favorite places or types of gigs that you've played?

Petko Slavov: [00:28:55] Yes. Yes I do. Um, we're in Copenhagen would be of course, always old English because that was the first that I came to. Yeah. And, um, I was having my, I brought my friend on, uh, on my second gig. His name was, uh, Adonis from Bulgaria. And so we had. Like three, four months playing together. And we were really start to feel like a band because we have prac we would practice a lot and our 

Jason Perno: [00:29:23] yeah, six 

Petko Slavov: [00:29:24] days a week, so six days a week.

So in the end we will like to, you know, to get a, an old English and the other one was Fisken. Mm. Now FISCAM will be my favorite place to, you know, I have to say it was good. 

Jason Perno: [00:29:38] Welding Lewis was also my first. Oh Copenhagen experience as well. And, uh, it was probably one of the craziest gigs, especially on the weekends.

It was weekends was crushing. Yeah. Um, and Fisken was also, uh, a little pub that just got rocking on the weekends and not necessarily just the weekends, even on the weekdays, uh, people just be there. Yeah. We'll be dancing and you'd be having to protect your teeth from getting knocked out every five seconds by people dancing by your microphone.

Petko Slavov: [00:30:15] Every time I got a Copenhagen, I always go to Fisk and Chester just because I had this great, great memories from that place. 

Jason Perno: [00:30:23] Yeah. The new hound in general is a very special place. Did you ever do one of those boat tours around the Harbor? 

Petko Slavov: [00:30:32] Yes. Yes, I 

Jason Perno: [00:30:33] did. Those are great. I, I would do one once a year if I can, just because I love it so much.

Do you have any tips for other musicians who want to go out and travel and play music for a living, something you learned on the road? 

Petko Slavov: [00:30:51] I would say be patient. In a patient first. Yeah. Patient just because some, some, some guys, especially young guys want everything to happen so fast and be patient and be nice to each other.

Be nice to each other, every musician or you meet, just be nice to him say hello because, uh, you know, you've seen people that are not. And especially when you, especially when we talk about that, when you're away from home, you gotta be nice to each other. Yeah. Cause that helps a 

Jason Perno: [00:31:24] lot. Well, living in that flat week, we saw so many different characters coming in, coming in and out of that place.

And you knew the guys that were not going to last that long. They just didn't have the person. Yeah. 

Petko Slavov: [00:31:36] Yes, exactly. He would, he would just say in a. When you see it in you as in your, you would not lie, 

Jason Perno: [00:31:43] the guy would come in and you would say, Oh, this guy's an a-hole. And he would immediately alienated himself from everyone else.

And, uh, 

Petko Slavov: [00:31:50] yes. So. So, yeah, be nice. Be patient of course, everything else. Of course you have to, you have to know how to play guitar. But, uh, as, as I remember, as I remember me, you remember Mick? Yeah, of course. I remember. Yeah. And then he would say you just be beyond time for the gig beyond the stage. And the singing is just an extra, if you can sing, that's an extra, just beyond the stage, the whole 

Jason Perno: [00:32:19] time.

It's about entertaining. You gotta be able to play the right music, the right repertoire and know how to speak to an audience and 

Petko Slavov: [00:32:28] all. Yes, definitely. Definitely. 

Jason Perno: [00:32:30] Yeah. But I I'm thinking about how you were saying you have to be nice, um, to people and I like to believe in karma. I like to believe that you can S.

You know, what you put out in the world comes back to you. And I know that I've seen it happen to me a few times, playing the gigs that if I met a musician and we hit it off really well. Um, one in particular, I remember, uh, I went out of my way to get her a gig in Switzerland and, uh, I introduced her to this gig.

And years later, she paid me back by giving me a gig in Norway. 

Petko Slavov: [00:33:11] Great. That's great. 

Jason Perno: [00:33:13] Similar thing with, uh, a guy who, uh, was from Australia and we became really good friends and he decided to become an agent one day and he invited me off to a Brisbane and Oh, Sydney. And I was two months in Australia because of scrap connection.

I met there. He also introduced me to Greece as well. So I mean, this is where you really make these life-changing connections. And if. You, you know, you run around acting like a, a butthole while you're in the, you know, hanging around. They're not going to be inviting you to these, these fun things. 

Petko Slavov: [00:33:51] Exactly.

Yeah. So that that's one thing and that's that's cool. Who was that called? Was that the Australian gay? You got me curious now, actually, Bob, is that Bob? No 

Jason Perno: [00:34:03] he's from Tasmania. Believe it or not. Um, but, uh, no, I'm, I'm talking about Michael Thomas and he's actually going to be in an another episode. I'm going to interview him.

Petko Slavov: [00:34:14] I'm going to wait for all these episodes. Yeah. It's a really nice idea. Really nice idea, Jason. 

Jason Perno: [00:34:19] Thanks. You know what, uh, you know, I'm on locked down and I needed something to do because 

Petko Slavov: [00:34:25] that's a good way to do it. Yeah. To 

Jason Perno: [00:34:27] be, I don't know if I've told you this, but I'm working in a. Completely different field these days, you know?

Um, I have a day job, a boring day job working at night. No, I know. I 

Petko Slavov: [00:34:38] remember. Yeah, I met, so I met you last year, so that's 

Jason Perno: [00:34:41] right. That's right. We'll talk about it then. Yeah. Um, although it's good money, you know, I'm missing out on all the things that I. I really love about 

Petko Slavov: [00:34:51] being creative. I saw, I saw you in a old Irish last year as well.

Are you on fire, man? Thanks for soul one night. I think it was the other guitar rich, right? Yeah. Yes, yes. And you will fire man ever. They get it really good. Yeah. It was great. It was Greg. I remember that. 

Jason Perno: [00:35:10] Well, um, what about gear? I mean, this is a completely different subject, but of course, is there any piece of gear that you'd like to bring with you on the road that you said, you know, this is really useful for me, that you would recommend other musicians to bring.

What, what do you use? Obviously you have your guitar and your microphone. 

Petko Slavov: [00:35:32] Anything else? Well, not nowadays. I, I use a lot Loup Loup stations, lift stations. I use a lot and we've learned it back when we started in the, in Copenhagen. Yeah. Dan was not so popular, popular, but yeah, I remember we were sitting, we were sitting in a, in a flatten just trying to get there.

The right feed and everything. But the Looper nowadays, for me, it's really, really important 

Jason Perno: [00:35:59] really say I couldn't personally make it work. And as a matter of fact, in the last interview I had, we were talking about that. And for some people it works and others, it doesn't. 

Petko Slavov: [00:36:09] Yeah. Just as long as you not overdo it.

Jason Perno: [00:36:14] Yeah. And I think you also, you have to have good timing with your feet. To make it work. 

Petko Slavov: [00:36:22] It made me crazy to leave me in the first four months. I was, I was just wanting to charge chart, Anna. Yeah. You, 

Jason Perno: [00:36:29] you can't just time. You can't just go and buy a loop station and then bring it to your gig then, you know, same night.

It doesn't work. Like you actually have to sit home and practice with it. 

Petko Slavov: [00:36:41] That's a good advice. Don't buy a Lupron goat. Go straight to the gig. Just don't do it. Yeah, you'll be fired. 

Jason Perno: [00:36:50] Yeah. That's that's another thing. It's some of those gigs are a little bit more free where you can experiment and play around on quiet nights, but then there's other places that you play in.

If you're not banging out all those hits consistently. And let's be honest, you know, you're playing for the bar staff a lot of times and if the bar staff isn't happy, that's 

Petko Slavov: [00:37:15] the thing. That's actually a very, very good advice. You have to not be overly careful with the audience, but with the bar staff.

Yeah. He always have to hear it in mind. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I always go with this mindset. 

Jason Perno: [00:37:32] Yeah. And I wouldn't even argue that they're a little bit more important than the audience because there could be, could be the, the, the bosses, they get the feedback from the bar staff. And there have been nights when I've played.

And I thought I was doing great and people were tipping me and the audience was, uh, very appreciative, but there was somebody in the bar that. Maybe they were having a bad night. They did decided to write something that they didn't like. And then suddenly my agent is calling me back and going, you know, what, what happened over here?

And, uh, I don't know. I thought I was doing great. So you, you definitely have to keep them happy for sure. In this line of work. 

Petko Slavov: [00:38:16] But, um, yeah, that, that's, that's the other, um, part of being a, a Troubadour, because you have to, every night you'd have to make it work. You have to be a hundred percent, almost every night.

Yeah. That's the thing you can not, 

Jason Perno: [00:38:33] and yeah, because you're a human being and especially as you get older and it gets harder and harder for you to recover after each gig, especially if you, you like to drink and so on, um, you can be tough. So he was six nights a week.

Um, one last thing. Without going too crazy. Do you have any funny stories that you can share about being on the road? Anything that you think people will find them using? 

Petko Slavov: [00:39:11] Well, I would say it is. And I'm going to mention her a colleague of ours who just passed away last month under the roads. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Very sad. You know, he was a very funny guy. I just want to say funny things about him. He was a great guy and he always make fun, you know? So I remember he was playing. What was that place next to Fisken on there? I just don't remember. I knew 

Jason Perno: [00:39:34] having Joyce. There's Mick Joyce there's Baraq there's Fisken there's no hound.

Seven Morocco. Yeah, that 

Petko Slavov: [00:39:41] was Barak. Yeah. And I was, I was in a city. I was playing pro maybe Fisk in the first night, Andrew Rhodes goes into Barak orders, a beer, it takes to be here to the microphone drinks set and says, uh, the beer here sucks to the audience. He got fired. On the next day on the same night, but that's Andrew Roseman, you know, God bless him.

I love, 

Jason Perno: [00:40:06] he was the, one of the only people I knew that could punctuate a sentence with a fart and he'd have like perfect timing with it too. I think he did it deliberately. 

Petko Slavov: [00:40:16] And I just, you know, you know, no, that was really, really funny. Are the beer here really bad? And then.

Jason Perno: [00:40:29] Uh, you know, I was just talking to Michael Thomas, the, the, uh, Troubadour from Australia. Um, and he says, you know, Andrew roads, that would have been a podcast interview right there. Oh 

Petko Slavov: [00:40:44] yeah. He was so funny. He was so intelligent guy is also, he was one of the ways and yeah, yeah, absolutely actively though, you know?

Of the place, but he was a very, very, very helpful and also very good musician. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Like this English sense of humor. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's great self self by itself. Irony. He had this self irony that English Matt will have. So I don't remember him like this. 

Jason Perno: [00:41:12] Well, that about wraps it up for today's podcast.

I want to thank once again, our guest Petco Slavo for coming on to share his story with us. Thank you. If you like what you heard and you want to learn more, please go to Amazon and pick up a copy of Troubadour, a musician's guide to touring Europe as a cover artist. We're going to take you out with Petco's latest, single in my head by his band airbag.

Thanks again and see you next time. 

Petko Slavov: [00:41:36] It was a pleasure. . . . . . . .