U Škripcu (Serbian Cyrillic: У Шкрипцу; trans. In A Pinch) was a Serbian rock music group from Belgrade, notable as participant in the Artistička radna akcija project as well as for their later works.
History
[edit] Formation and breakup (1980 - 1984)

The band was formed by three high school friends Zoran "Vule" Vulović (keyboards), Milan "Delča" Delčić (vocals, guitar for a short period of time) and Aleksandar "Vasa" Vasiljević (guitar). The three used to write amateur theatre plays and in 1979 decided to form a band. The group was initially called Prolog za veliki haos and then Furije furiozno furaju. The three also worked as associate journalists for the Mladi novi svet show airing on Studio B radio station.

In 1980 the band was renamed U Škripcu, adding two more members - drummer Miloš Obrenović and bassist Aleksandar "Luka" Lukić. The band's first recordings, tracks "Južno voće" and "Pamflex dom" were released on the Artistička radna akcija compilation in 1981. The beginning of their career is also connected to the "Pamflex" concept. Pamflex was an imaginary company, invented by Delčić. The songs were actually commercials for imaginary products, as the band members considered advertising to be the finest form of art. Part of the concept was also reading of ironic and comical speeches, usage of Pamflex flags and using theater language style.

During 1981, the band had numerous live appearances in Belgrade and Zagreb, and soon established a bit of a following. Their debut album Godine ljubavi (released by PGP RTB) did not feature Lukić on bass, who was at the time serving the mandatory Yugoslav People's Army stint, and was replaced by Idoli bassist Zdenko Kolar, who recorded bass sections. During the tour, Dejan Grujić from the band Braća played bass. The band established a team of co-workers who collaborated on their next releases, producer Saša Habić and album artwork designers Slobodan Šajin and Momčilo Rajin. The album's most notable tracks were "Ti imaš dosta godina", "Hamuamule", "Samuraji", "Kao u boji" and "Poleće" dealing with various theme orientations. After the album release, Saša Dragić became the band's manager.

In 1983 the band signed a contract with Jugoton and released the album O je! and the EP Nove godine!. The album was well accepted by the audience and the critics and the Rock magazine voted the album the best release of 1983. Guest appearances featured Gordi bassist and arranger Slobodan Svrdlan, Đorđe Petrović on keyboards, Nenad Jelić on percussion and Jovan Milojković on saxophone. The tracks "Beograd spava", "Kockar" and "Siđi do reke" were the most notable tracks on the album. The Nove godine! (trans. "New Years!") EP was intentionally released during the New Year holidays and featured five songs including the title track, also released on single, and the hit "Koliko imaš godina"[1].

In 1984, Lukić returned to the band and together they toured mainly in Croatia and in 1985 the band released Budimo zajedno! which was a combination of pop and electronic music. It featured a new version of "Hamuamule", "Tama me prati", "Crni anđele", "Baj, baj". Due to the inability to achieve the success of the previous records the band ceased to exist.
[edit] Reformations and reunions (1986 - 2006)

Delčić finished drama studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade and started writing theatre plays. Vasić and Lukić worked as producers and with Obrenović and Aleksandar Ralev formed the band Košava. Vulović, having returned from the Yugoslav People's Army decided to form his own band, Bang Bang, featuring himself on vocals. Since Delčić became a part of the project, the two decided to reform U Škripcu in 1986. They recorded new material with musicians from Zagreb, drummer Davor Vidiš (from Kristalno Plavo), bassist Dario Kumele and guitarist Zdravko Jurković. In the meantime Delčić went to serve the Yugoslav People's Army, so Vulović decided to change the lineup featuring musicians from Belgrade, vocalist Aleksandar Tabaš, bassist Dejan "Škopi" Škopelja, guitarist Zoran Veljković and drummer Marko Milivojević. The album U škripcu was produced by Rijan Nemurin, guest appearances featured Aleksandar Vasiljević and Vlada Negovanović. The album was not commercially successful, the only track becoming a minor hit was "Vreme je za nas", and the band disbanded.

Delčić, having returned from the army, started preparing his first solo album. The album was never released and U Škripcu reunited once again featuring original members Lukić, Vulović, Delčić, Vasiljević and Disciplina Kičme drummer Ratko Ljubičić. The band released Izgleda da mi smo sami in 1990. It was produced by Lukić and Vasiljević and, beside the title track, "Ako ti kažem" became popular songs. On the retrospective evening of the Belgrade Spring festival, the band performed a cover version of "Stjuardesa" by Radoslav Grajić and the recording appeared on the Beograde compilation in 1991.

When the Yugoslav wars started, the band became inactive and reformed only for major events like the Student's protests, Gitarijada festival, etc. and in the meantime prepared some new material, which was never released. Part of the material was used on the Familija debut album Narodno pozorište, featuring Vasić and Lukić and Vampiri members Dejan "Peja" Pejović, Dejan "Dexi" Petrović and Goran "Gedža" Redžepi. The material written by Delčić appeared on his first solo album Delča & Sklekovi.

In 2000, the band's song "Ako ti kažem (Je, je, je)" appeared on the Taped Pictures various artists compilation Automania 2 - Pop Hidraulic[2], and in 2006 on the Delča & Sklekovi concert at Belgrade's Dom Omladine, the original U Škripcu members appeared as guests. In December 2008, a live album was released, entitled Ljubilarnih 20 i nešto godina - Live, recorded at the band's 2006 performance in Dom Omladine, released as Delča, a i U Škripcu[3]. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.