Up next in 10
On episode 38 of the Denim & Leather podcast, we’re joined by Jelena Milovanović — the powerhouse voice behind Venus 5, one of the most exciting all-female acts in modern metal. Jelena’s got pipes, presence, and stories to match.
In this episode, she discusses how it all began, what it’s like fronting Venus 5, and her collaboration with Srdjan Brankovic from Big Deal. If you’re into fierce vocals, killer riffs, and behind-the-scenes insights from the European metal scene, you’ll want to hit play on this one.
Follow Jelena Milovanovic @
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jelena.milovanovic.52335/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angie_jelena/
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0:00
Okay, so in the new episode of Zenim and
0:02
Leather podcast, we have Yelena
0:03
Milovanovich from the band Venus 5.
0:06
Hello Yelena. Thank you for for coming
0:08
to this uh podcast episode. Hi there.
0:12
Great to see you. Hi. Uh okay, so uh uh
0:16
I recently had also one of your
0:18
colleagues uh Carmen Clint uh on Carmen.
0:22
Yeah. Yeah. On this show. Uh tell me
0:25
more about you like uh when did you
0:27
start singing and with music in general?
0:30
Uh well I sang since forever. Uh my my
0:35
beginnings were gospel in the church. My
0:37
dad was a preacher. So uh it started
0:40
there and then I went to music school um
0:44
kanto piano and uh it just just never
0:47
stopped. Um been to a couple of
0:49
competitions as well, the voice of
0:51
Romania at some point,
0:54
but uh it was all commercial music and
0:56
not really my cup of tea. And um with
1:00
Venus 5, it was just meant to be I guess
1:03
cuz it happened really randomly. Um you
1:06
must know Serjan from the big deal
1:08
probably. Yes. Yeah. We've known each
1:10
other for maybe 15 20 years. Yeah. Same
1:13
here. Same here. Since forever. So he's
1:16
a labelmate uh with his band. And uh at
1:19
the time Sjin and I were doing these
1:23
uh covers that only occurred once in
1:25
like a couple of years literally
1:27
whenever we'd find some mutual time to
1:29
just do something just for for us for
1:31
us, you know. And it just so happened
1:34
that one of these times we uh I think
1:36
the new AC/DC album came out and
1:39
obviously since I am big AC/DC fan,
1:42
everybody knows that. Um he went like,
1:45
"Oh, you want to record some of the new
1:47
stuff?" And I was like, "Hell yeah." And
1:49
uh we did and uh I think the um the
1:53
label the label people just just ran
1:56
across it and they really dig it and
1:59
yeah, they contacted me and that's how
2:01
it all started. I mean, it was such a
2:04
when when they came when they came with
2:06
with a story of five girls in five
2:08
different countries making a band, I was
2:10
like, "Yeah,
2:12
sounds crazy enough. Let's do it." Well,
2:16
that's a that's a that's a really nice
2:18
story. I didn't know that it go it went
2:20
that way. Uh, so so you put some of the
2:24
credits to Sergeon because you you
2:27
together you did some covers, right?
2:29
Yeah. Yeah. surgeon was my devil's
2:31
lawyer. Okay. No, I mean, yeah,
2:35
obviously everything happens the way
2:36
it's supposed to happen eventually, you
2:38
know, and the way it's meant to be, I
2:40
guess. Yeah. Sergeon was also my guest
2:43
uh last year here on the on the podcast.
2:46
Uh but this year, I tend to maybe when
2:50
they when they have uh some very big
2:53
news, they had new album. Yeah. But some
2:56
other new stuff, I will call them again.
2:59
Uh probably uh Anna or Nea maybe in the
3:02
future because uh you know just to keep
3:05
it uh mix it up a bit. Mix it up a bit.
3:07
Mix it up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're
3:09
both so lovely. You'd be happy to have
3:10
them. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Um so you
3:15
did you have bands before? I mean uh
3:17
before surgeon covers and stuff. Do you
3:20
think? No. No. No. No. Not really. For
3:23
me uh music was always just a side
3:25
passion really. I never went fully into
3:27
it because I did other stuff to pay the
3:30
bills and I'm a I'm an entrepreneur. I
3:32
had my own business and I was very much
3:35
invested in that. So, uh and I don't
3:38
know, it was just probably not the time
3:40
yet. Um, you know, the funny thing is
3:43
just today when we scheduled this uh
3:45
this um podcast, we uh Aldo, our project
3:49
manager, he sent us a demo of one of the
3:52
biggest songs, if not the biggest on the
3:54
new album that we just recorded cuz we
3:56
just recorded it uh about a month ago in
3:59
Italy and I've literally been listening
4:02
to it on repeat. It is so good.
4:06
Hands down. It is. It's a marsh. That's
4:08
all I can say. Not sure if I supposed to
4:10
say that much either, but it's it is
4:12
going to be a march and it's really
4:14
super cool. I think I think you're going
4:16
to love it. Okay, but um I'm going to go
4:19
backwards a little bit. How did you
4:21
sign? How did you sign uh with the band
4:24
or probably the label called all of you,
4:26
right? The label. Yeah, we are a label
4:29
made band. So, they summoned all of us
4:32
um gather us together and that's when we
4:34
we sign signed a contract for the band.
4:37
Yeah. Awesome. And um probably very
4:41
different female voices, but when go
4:44
together, it completes, right? Yeah.
4:47
Yeah. It's it's were crazy different
4:49
voices. Uh and um you know, the first
4:52
album was awesome. I'm a fan. Uh but it
4:55
was a little bit of an unknown for the
4:58
producers because they've only they've
5:00
never actually heard us in person before
5:02
and they didn't quite probably had the
5:04
opportunity to see how different our
5:05
voice is in. So, it was um how can I say
5:09
it? I think in the second album, our
5:11
individual voices are kind of going to
5:13
be more obvious and you're going to see
5:15
more the difference uh in in our voices
5:18
actually. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Probably. Uh
5:22
so, uh the first album I of course I'm a
5:24
fan too. I I've listened to it many
5:26
times. Uh do you do you when you
5:29
prepared this new album and I know that
5:31
you recorded I I followed you guys on uh
5:34
on socials all of you uh and uh I saw
5:38
when you were in Italy and recording.
5:40
Are you probably going to do some videos
5:42
now also? Yeah defo defo um we're
5:46
scheduled to do we've only done done
5:48
audio this time around and we're
5:49
scheduled to do um videos in August. Um,
5:54
and this is not 100% for sure, but it is
5:57
the plan. Uh, our first single on the
6:00
album should come out on Halloween
6:02
because it's a very Halloweeny song and
6:05
it's very interesting. So, for now,
6:07
that's the plan. Yeah. So, we got to
6:09
wait for the first single for uh how
6:13
many months? It's uh almost half a year
6:16
right from now. Yeah. That that's like
6:18
two days in the music world.
6:22
That's like
6:24
So, uh, okay. The first single and
6:27
probably with a video, right? Uh, yeah,
6:29
with the video with the with the How
6:31
many videos you going to do from the new
6:33
record? We are not sure as yet. Uh,
6:36
probably four or five for this album.
6:38
Mhm. Mhm. Okay. Uh, so uh you're you're
6:43
a complete band. You have a back uh uh
6:47
background band uh when you when you go
6:49
live, right?
6:50
Yeah, we got a very awesome background
6:52
band. Um, so yeah, when we tour it's a
6:57
lot of people. It's a lot of people. We
7:00
got all the instruments and five of us
7:02
which are vocalists and Oh, so you're
7:04
probably eight or nine. I mean, on the
7:06
stage.
7:08
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And plus the roadies
7:11
and stuff. It's a big team. Yeah. Uh,
7:14
it's a big ass team. Yeah.
7:17
So, uh, so are you are you planning I
7:20
mean, did did you did you go on tour
7:22
with the first record? I I don't
7:23
remember that. We we've done a little
7:25
bit of touring, awesome touring, I must
7:27
say. We've been on a couple of
7:29
festivals. Um, we we shared a stage with
7:32
some of the greatest musicians of all
7:33
time like um, Deep Purple, Kiss, um,
7:38
Europe, I don't know, Lordy, lots lots
7:41
of amazing artists. We had such amazing
7:43
experiences. We toured in Spain also and
7:46
um uh a proper tour is predicted and
7:50
planned after the the new second album
7:53
is released. Yeah. Yeah. Probably the
7:55
next tour will be a little bit bigger
7:57
than the first one. It's going to Yeah.
7:59
Yeah. A bigger one. Yeah. I mean, it was
8:00
a debut album, so it's all kind of in in
8:02
the in the making. And we made quite a
8:04
we made quite a um gap a a uh between
8:08
the albums. So, uh for the second one,
8:11
everything should be way bigger. How how
8:14
many years is the gap? I don't remember
8:16
that. Uh I'm not sure to be honest. Two
8:19
or three years something like that.
8:20
Yeah. Okay. When I talked to surgeon
8:23
about the big deal, it was the same like
8:25
three or four years maybe. So like I
8:28
said, that's the music industry.
8:31
Yeah. I have a I have also a band and
8:33
when we recorded uh the first record was
8:36
very early 2004, but when we recorded
8:39
the the second album like 10 years
8:41
after. Yeah. Yeah. So you you catch my
8:44
drip then. Yeah. But but but you know we
8:47
we released the the first one uh
8:48
independently and the second one was on
8:51
a on a bigger label you know. Did you
8:54
sign who did you sign? Yeah we signed we
8:56
signed we were signed on the same label
8:57
with Alia on minor records. Oh nice.
9:02
Yeah. Minor minor records are by the way
9:04
are Serbians Serbian brothers who work
9:06
in Switzerland. So they signed a lot of
9:09
a lot of bands from this from these
9:11
parts, you know. Oh, nice. Yeah, we were
9:14
we were label mates with with with
9:16
surgeon uh in with a surgeon. Yeah.
9:18
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. It's a small
9:20
world. Yeah. It was it was it was a big
9:23
thing for us because we we we played I
9:26
don't I don't know if you remember 2015
9:28
in uh in Belgrade Arena, Judas Priest
9:31
and uh and Halloween were playing. Nah,
9:35
unfortunately I don't. Okay. We were we
9:37
were the openers there, you know. We we
9:40
Yeah, we opened that. Nice. I'm really
9:42
sorry I missed that. Yeah. So, uh yeah,
9:44
it was I know I know how it how it is in
9:47
the in the music business, but uh what
9:50
do you what do you plan now? I mean, of
9:53
course, the the album, but afterwards or
9:56
uh some future uh future short-term or
10:00
long-term plans maybe. Well, uh, for for
10:04
the band, uh, I'm not 100% sure. Uh, the
10:08
second album, it's going to be be a big
10:10
challenge and obviously we we need to
10:11
see how it goes. I think it's I think
10:13
it's going to be well accepted. It's,
10:15
uh, it's very colorful. There's a lot of
10:18
new stuff that that we introduced uh,
10:20
other than our uh, main glam metal
10:23
theme. There's rapping, there's a march,
10:25
there's so much stuff going on. Um, and
10:28
there's more more uh I don't know just
10:30
everything invested in it. So hopefully
10:32
if it goes if it goes well, we're just
10:34
going to keep going upwards from there.
10:37
And as for me personally, I uh I um am I
10:41
have a plan working on it currently to
10:43
do something on my own uh with something
10:46
that is a bit closer to my heart and
10:49
that's just dirty old rock and roll.
10:53
Put my own stamp on things. Yeah. So, so
10:56
you plan on like a maybe not solo
10:58
career, but you plan on doing a solo
11:00
record maybe. Yeah. Yeah, I'm planning
11:03
on doing a solo album. You have a you
11:05
have the the musicians as well, like a
11:07
band or No. Uh I'm gathering a team. I'm
11:11
gathering a team. That's the hard part.
11:13
That's the nice That That's nice because
11:15
uh you just uh you just told me an
11:17
exclusive news that I'm going to share
11:19
like
11:21
like a short He came out. He came out.
11:24
Yeah.
11:25
He just came out naturally. Yeah, that
11:27
is that is the plan. Yeah. Okay. Uh tell
11:30
me which are your favorite bands because
11:32
you you mentioned that Venus 5 falls
11:34
into the glam glam rock. Yeah. Uh glam
11:38
rock glam metal family which I love
11:42
which I love. It was it was a lovely
11:44
challenge for me. Uh but for me it's
11:47
just the old stuff. I don't know. AC/DC
11:49
Led Zeppelin and the crew. So you like
11:51
the you like the 70s hard rock the Yeah.
11:54
more. That's Yeah, that's my jam. Yeah.
11:57
Yeah. Maybe Black Sabbath maybe and
11:59
stuff like that from the ' 70s.
12:01
Definitely. Which which are your
12:02
favorite bands? Uh AC/DC number one. The
12:05
ones that you mentioned. Yeah. The ones
12:07
that I mentioned and Le Zeppelin and uh
12:11
I don't know just Guns and Roses which
12:13
are coming to Serbia this summer. Oh
12:16
yeah. I don't know if you I don't know
12:17
if if you're going maybe. I I saw them
12:20
two years ago in I was in Athens in
12:23
Greece to see them and Oh, nice. Yeah.
12:25
Yeah. They they play like three and a
12:27
half hours long show. It is incredible.
12:31
You will see in Belgrade when they play.
12:33
I cannot freak I cannot freaking wait.
12:35
They're coming to us. I might go to
12:36
because I'm going to be that uh in July.
12:39
I'm going to be uh business trip in uh
12:42
in Sophia in Bulgaria. So, I might see
12:45
them there because they they're going to
12:46
do a tour, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
12:49
Where where they playing from? No. Uh I
12:53
think it's the arena. I'm not 100% sure.
12:55
Don't hold me on it. But you you're
12:57
going to go. You're going to go, right?
12:59
Of course. I got this time around. I got
13:01
front row tickets. Not missing a damn
13:03
thing. Ah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
13:07
Okay. Okay. Elena, thank you for for the
13:11
this uh quick podcast episode and uh so
13:15
the news about the new record and about
13:17
your uh solo stuff. Uh so thank you.
13:21
Thank you very much for accepting my my
13:22
invitation. It was a pleasure. It was a
13:25
pleasure really. I don't do a lot of
13:26
these, so I hope I've done well. Yeah,
13:28
of course. Of course. It was great. I'm
13:30
uh I'm going to put all your all your
13:32
links down there and uh you know and
13:34
shorts and reals because uh every time
13:36
every time I do that uh you know it is
13:39
it is a great for for me and for the
13:42
artist but uh you know uh it's it's very
13:45
relaxed uh when we talk uh with the with
13:48
the guests because it's like a podcast
13:50
is like a not not a proper interview but
13:52
like a conversation you know. Yeah.
13:55
Yeah. That's the I I agree. I definitely
13:57
feel relaxed. I'm good. Yeah. That's the
13:59
That's the idea of it. So So thank you.
14:02
It's genuine. Yeah. Thank you very much.
14:05
Uh I I was happy to be here. Thank you.
14:07
Bye-bye. Bye. Night.
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