STREET BEAT PROFILE

 by Ernie Thomas

Though quirky and relatively unknown, Closed World, is a bright spot on the region’s musical horizon.       

This budding young band’s original songs are a blend of progressive rock, blues and jazz.  They are unlike most of the area’s music groups, save Groovatron, who oddly enough are alumni of Munster High School, the same as Closed World’s members.     

The roots of Closed World go back to the member’s Middle School years in the mid-1990s.  That is when keyboardist/vocalist Nick Colakovic became buddies with brothers Nikola and Nemanja Djorovic, who now play guitar and drums in the band, respectively.       

“We are all Serbian, so we’d see each other at various Serbian functions at  church and we’d see each other at school,” he said.  “I’d been playing piano since I was about 7 and they had just started playing their instruments a little while before we met.”    

Once the three friends began writing their own songs, they sought out a record studio that would work with their meager budget. They found a friend and mentor in local producer Neil Holmquist of St. John’s Dungeon Studios.   

Holmquist heard“something special” in these kids, followed his gut instinct and rolled tape, not unlike Sam Phillips did back in Memphis a lifetime ago with Elvis Presley.    

Since then, the band has added two more Munster-residing members –– vocalist Lizzy Ellison and bassist John Glukirt.    

“Lizzy is a remarkable singer and has a real strong jazz, soul and R&B kind of sound,” said Colakovic.  She was a fellow classmate, while John graduated two years ahead of the rest of them.    

Ellison, who had been singing as a “guest” on the band’s very early demo tapes,  recently became a full-time member, sharing lead and backing vocals with Colakovic. Glukirt became an official member last September.     

In the year that has passed since starting those first recordings, the band has completed an impressive 8-song CD, that features international rock violinist David Ragsdale (of the multi-platinum selling act, Kansas) on two tracks.     

“Neil knows Kansas really well and sent our stuff on D.A.T. (digital audio tape) to . I guess he what he heard, because he agreed to guest on the CD.   He recorded his parts at his home studio and sent them back to Neil, who mixed everything together.”    Ragsdale is appears on the tracks, “Dwelling Space” and “Beginnings End.”       

Though the group have played some college shows in Wabash, where Colakovic has been attending college this year, Closed World only recently became old enough to start playing out in bars and clubs. 

 “It’s been really hard to find places to play until now, but we’re starting to book more shows.  I’m going to school at Purdue Calumet next year, so once I come home this summer, we’re really going to start pushing the name out there,” he said.        

“We really try to push our own songs. We have ten originals that we play out,” said  Colakovic.   “For a show where we play the whole night ourselves and have a lot of time to fill, we add in some covers as well.”     

Among the artists Closed World covers are Phish and Dave Matthews.  “We actually cover like six or seven Phish songs, because we really like those guys a lot,” he said, adding that they favor “jam band” artists because they themselves like to improvise and cut loose when playing.        

“We don’t go overboard jamming and get so into ourselves that we lose or bore people watching us, but we do have some fun with some of the songs,” he continued.  Another favorite to play live for keyboard player Colakovic, is Steppenwolf’s late ‘60s drug anthem, “Magic Carpet Ride.”    

Closed World may be heard on a proposed nationally-released Kansas tribute album that is in the works.  Their connection to such a project is obviously Ragsdale and Holmquist. Colakovic is uncertain on what might develop, though he has heard rumors that if the tribute CD comes to pass, they may be sharing album space alongside such big name artists as King’s X and Creed.      

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