Sound Mind - Talks About Music and Life Mihael Hrustelj

On this episode, my guest is Jure Pukl, a world-class saxophone player, improviser, and a truly brilliant musician. I am really fond of him and I really enjoy his sense of humour.
We also share a couple of similarities: we both come from our hometown, Velenje, and we both moved back to Slovenia after years of living abroad.

This episode is about jazz, improvisation, and he will share his hilarious story about his musical upbringing; you have to hear it to believe it. All the way to enjoying life as it is and embracing what it gives you.
He also used an NFT as artwork on one of his recent albums called Melt.

We will also discuss the experience and the importance when people/teachers doubt in you. It is not nice, of course, BUT! I realised I would not change a ‘not nice experience’ for anything, because it gave me a chance to grow stronger from it, and to realise what I really want and make that even more meaningful.

I think one of the problems today is that society is trying to protect and prevent people from ‘not nice’ experiences (parents trying to remove everything unpleasant in their life, or society with its close to paranoid political correctness). I believe we have to be challenged in order to train our mental resilience. I see it like training a sport, body, or craft as artists for that matter. (Of course, as long as it is not life-threatening.)
How can we ever get stronger or wiser if not through a set of challenges in life?

On this episode, my guest is another dear friend of mine, Efthymios Stavropoulos, a musician, composer, photographer, videographer, and boxing enthusiast who recently also became a dad. He was a huge inspiration to me that sports became such an important element of my life.

During our conversation, we will discuss the importance of doing sports and the impact it has on our lives with more focus on boxing since it is a sport we both really enjoy. He will share his way of scheduling, which is interesting since it involves scheduling your free time first. We will discuss setting your priorities and time prediction. He will share his insights on being a father and we will even briefly discuss AI and its impact on art.

On this episode, my guest is Johannes Fend, a bass player, composer, and a little bit of an innovator, as well as a really good friend of mine.

I find him to be a huge inspiration when it comes to listening, problem-solving, and routine. It has happened on several occasions that we started a specific routine together, checked on each other, and reported about it, which made it easier to stick with it.

During our conversation, we will discuss the importance of rest, a stoic mindset, the benefits of cold exposure, 3D printing, and he will also share interesting findings from a book he recently read called ‘The War of Art’. As a cherry on top, we will also share our short but funny project that we did during the COVID lock-down, which is called cricket farming.

On this episode, my guest is Josep Garcés, a person who connects with music in a very peculiar way. He didn’t start off as a musician, but rather as an engineer, who later left his job where he worked for huge companies in the Netherlands to pursue his dream which was playing music. This journey also led him to create his own software called Live Loop, and recently he has been developing another project called Music Moon, which is linked to the crypto world and involves creating NFT’s through music production.During our conversation, we will explore various interesting topics, including healing frequencies, fasting, and the controversial practice of urine therapy and its benefits.Don’t miss it!

On this episode, my guest is Miroslav Tadić, a Serbian guitarist, composer and a professor at CalArts university in Los Angeles. He has been named by the editors of Guitar Player Magazine as one of the 30 most radical and individual guitarists in the world.

He is for me a huge inspiration when it comes to guitar playing, guitar sound, incorporating tradition into your pieces and flow of energy during a performance. I discovered his music many years ago by listening to a famous guitar duo which he had with Vlatko Stefanovski. Having the possibility to talk to Miroslav and ask him all these questions was a huge privilege and it felt like I can finally ask him all these questions that piled up through the years of listening to his music.

Alongside his guitar playing insights, pre-concert and warm-up routines he will also share his journey of being a luthier, how his musical journey started and some valuable comments on perfectionism, happiness and enjoying the moment regardless of how it feels like.
Don’t miss it!

On this episode, my guest is Andrej Ofak, a Slovenian guitarist, guitar teacher, and a very good friend of mine. He is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to guitar sound, nutrition, taking care of the soil, and growing your own plants, especially trees. He has been busy for the last two years with growing his own tree garden, which will be counting up to one hundred and twenty newly planted trees this year!
He is to me a huge help and inspiration for my own guitar sound and that I sound the way I sound on the stage.He will share his story of how a fruitarian diet saved his life, along with insights on how music and spirituality go hand in hand, his take on teaching, and hacks and tips to improve your micronutrient levels ranging from the use of UVB lights, growing your own micro-greens, and which seeds have the highest levels of Omega-3. As per usual, there will be, as always, a good portion of personal insights and interesting stories. Don’t miss it!