STORY...

Band formed in Tuzla (BiH) in summer of 1999 when old line up split up. Remaining members Mirza (Smajlovic) on guitar and Piper (Eldar Ibrahimovic) on drums asked Dejo (Slavuljica) to join on vocals. This was the fourth line up of Symbolic. Band began with composing and concerts when they were joined by another Mirza (Osmanovic) on bass guitar just few weeks after. Band played a mixture of older classic rock music and a neo-classical progressive music. In just few months time band had five songs and a demo recording. All songs were written by all band members together. Demo was recorded in home studio in Pipers' flat, where most of the rehearsing also took place.


Symbolic live at club Palma 2000

The band was forced to make a break after that demo material as Piper had to go and pursue his studies in the UK. Since then band continued to work on a summer to summer basis when Piper used to come back for summer holidays. In September of 2000 band had its' first live appearance which took place in Palma discotheque. Headlining bend, which is coming also from Tuzla, was Deja-Vu.

Each year band turned up with few new songs and did a gig. In July of 2001 band was joined by Jelenko (Bosnjakovic) on the bass guitar as Mirza showed more interest for other kinds of music. Soon after, band played on a “Tuzla Wave festival”. The festival lasted for three days and most of the Tuzla music scene showed up. In 2002 band played on a bikers meeting organized by local bikers club Ace of Spades. Band played on the first out of three nights of meeting as a headlining band.

In August of 2002 band began recording in improved home studio and result was a 10 song CD. CD was finished in December of 2002. Mastering was carried out with little help of Jusuf Sehovic, apart from that CD was composed, arranged, recorded designed by Symbolic members on their own. 

In 2003 band line up changed once again. Dejo was unable to continue working with band as he had to pursue his studies in Sarajevo. Quick solution for singer was Zlatko Josic who replaced Dejo and band was able to do two gigs after few weeks only
(with Hard Time/ZG and Bavaria Fest 2003). Soon after for some personal reasons, Jelenko also left the band. This was not an easy replacement since there are not much good bass players in this area who love progressive music. Three months later, (cca. Nov. 2003) band was joined by Ado Osmanovic which was followed by number of gigs. The band did gigs in B&H including Sarajevo, Domaljevac, Gracanica, Odzak, and some in Croatia as well (Osijek and Kumrovec). This line up completed a demo material in November of 2004 simply called “DEMO 2004”, which consists of four songs.


Symbolic live at Club Plus 2004

At the end of 2004 Zlaja also left the bend as the demand for rehearsing and practicing increased. Band was joined by Gogo as a lead singer and Amna as a background singer in late 2004. From then onwards band worked on new songs. When total of 10 new songs was reached band decided to start with the recording of teir second full lenght studio meterial. Bend decided to purchase sutidio equipment from the money earned by playing gigs and to record studio material on their own. Recording benad during summer 2005 and is expected to end by begining of 2006. Band also played on numerous festivals through 2005, such as Soda open Air, Bosnian Metal Fest, Radio Mir Demo fest, and so on. During the recording session band split parts with background singer Amna.

In year 2007 band anticipated release of their Dreamend album which was recorded, mixed and produced by band members their selves. Album was supposed to be released through Walk Records label from Bosnia. After more than half a year from scheduled release date it turned out that label was unable to carry agreed deal.

The band went back to studio in order to improve quality of their recording and produce a professional material. After the material is completed band will search for a record label.

While we all wait for our new album to be released, there is the song available in music section for all of you progressive/neoclassical maniacs featuring Symbolic guitarist Mirza Smajlovic!!! This is the cover song named Hungarian Dance No. 5 composed by Johannes Brahms! Many thanks for you patience and enjoy the songs!

Watch out for some new mp3 clips and stay Symbolic!!!

Current line up:

GOGO – Vocals

MIRZA – Guitars

ADO – Bass

PIPER – Drums

Complete list of gigs to date 

- Home of Youth, Tuzla – September 2000

- Wave Festival, Tuzla – September 2001

- 5. International Bikers Meeting MC «Ace of Spades», Šicki Brod – July 2002

- Café Underground, Tuzla – Jun 2003

- TTC Telex, Tuzla – July 2003

- Youth Centre, Simin Han – August 2003

- Boulevard, Lukavac – September 2003

- Club Plus, Tuzla – 6. February 2004

- Marquee, Sarajevo – 25. Jun 2004

- TTC Telex, Tuzla – 13. July 2004

- II Guitar Fest, Domaljevac – 23. July 2004

- 9. International Bikers Meeting MC «Night Riders», Odzak – 7. August 2004

- 7. International Bikers Meeting MC «Scorpions», Gracanica – 14. August 2004

- Kumrovec Music Fest 2 - 17. September 2004

- Rock Club, Osijek - 18. September 2004

- Tuzla Live Fest '04 - 25. September 2004
- Harley Davidson, three gigs Tuzla - October & November 2004
- International Volunteers Day «Sunshine», Vukovar – 11. December 2004
- AG Club, Sarajevo – 15. January 2005
- USV Club, Visoko – 25. February 2005
- Sloga, Sarajevo – 26. February 2005
- Home of Youth, Tuzla - 15. April 2005
- BKC, Tuzla "Moja BiH Fest" - 16. April 2005
- BOSNIAN METAL FEST, Visoko - 07. May 2005
- Rock Club, Osijek - 13. May 2005
- Soda Open Air, Lukavac - 29. July 2005
- Club Palma, Tuzla - 6. October 2005

Updated: 23. August 2006