Emir Hot

Emir Hot (b. February 23, 1978 in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is a Bosnian rock guitarist. His first influences were Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton, records from the collection of his two older brothers.

History

Emir showed his first interest in guitar at the age of five. At a very young age, he tried to get familiar with the instrument, learning basic chords and rhythms. His keen interest in music led him to enroll in the Tuzla music school at the age of 10; he was immediately admitted to the third year classes. When Emir was 12, he started listening to various heavy/rock bands and solo guitarists, instrumentalists and virtuosos. In 1989 he joined Hatred, a trash metal band from Tuzla.

When the war in Bosnia & Herzegovina started, Emir was undeterred from his interest in music. On the contrary, he joined another trash metal band, Retard, and played the first war concert in the legendary rock club Stelekt in Tuzla. After a couple of personnel changes the band took the name Neon Knights, taken from the first track of the Black Sabbath album "Heaven and Hell". They soon started to write their own material. Their first concerts were well accepted and the originality of the band was soon recognized.

Neon Knights

In 1997 Neon Knights were offered a record deal in Italy. The band accepted the idea wholeheartedly and soon they were on the road in Italy, where they played a small tour of 10 concerts in 10 different cities. In 1998, the album "Deserted Land" was recorded and released. Numerous concerts all over Europe followed; the band had the opportunity to meet some of the world's leading names in heavy rock music, including Iron Maiden and Dream Theater. The album received positive reviews in metal/rock magazines. However, after a couple of tours, things took a turn for the worse and Emir Hot decided to leave the band.

outhern Storm

At the beginning of 1999, Emir joined a new band called Southern Storm. The band recorded new songs in the studio, found a manager and staged numerous concerts. Their first major success was first place in the Heineken Music Festival in Zenica, Bosnia in August 2001, where they beat 42 other bands from all over Bosnia & Herzegovina. A year later, in 2002, their first album entitled "1999" was released. The band also performed in Croatia and Slovenia, participated in many TV shows and gave numerous magazine interviews.

A number of issues made Emir stop believing that the band could become a major success, including post-war political instability in Bosnia, an inability to travel and tour outside the country, and violation of the copyright laws. Emir stopped taking risks on an investment he believed would probably never pay off. Instead he focused on leaving the country in a safe way bu enrolling in a school abroad.

chool years

In January 2003 Emir auditioned for, and was accepted to, the Berklee College of Music in Boston. As Berklee is an expensive college, Emir struggled to find the financial resources to attend. In the meantime, he made arrangements for different types of music festivals, gave several guitar workshops, played countless club gigs, helped many bands as a studio musician, led his own private school of guitar and wrote soundtrack music for the first BiH post-war TV drama, "Forgotten Saying".

In 2004 he recorded his first instrumental album, "Quarterworlds of Fantasia", in Split, Croatia with Dean Clea Brkic, singer of Croatian rock heroes Osmi Putnik. This album has not yet been released. He also received an offer to perform as a solo guitarist with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, but he had to decline as he left for the UK and enrolled in The London Guitar Institute. In May 2005, he won the Guitar Hero UK 2005 competition, receiving equipment worth over £2000.

"Sevdah Metal"

In June 2007, Emir graduated from The Guitar Institute and started recording "Sevdah Metal" – his first serious project as a solo artist. The material was written during his university time in London. John West features on vocals and Mike Terrana on drums.

Discography

*Emir Hot - "Sevdah Metal" (2008)
*Southern Storm - "1999" (2002)
*Neon Knights – "Deserted Land" (1998)

External links

* [http://www.emirhot.com Official Emir Hot website]