The Slovenian band Joker Out will be the 24th performer in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool tonight. Kris Gustin is one of the group’s guitarists and he hopes for support from Assen and the surrounding area, the city where his mother comes from.
It is not too bad with the nerves of the Slovenians in the run-up to the denouement of the Eurovision Song Contest. For Thursday’s semi-final, however, they screamed through their bodies. “The goal was to get into the final,” says Gustin in fluent Dutch, in which an English term pops up every now and then. “Now let’s let what happens happen. We’re going to enjoy the moment and we’ll see what happens to us in the final.”
Gustin is half Dutch, his mother was born and raised in Assen. “In her teens she met my father on a vacation in Croatia. Then they didn’t see each other for ten years. My father, a singer-songwriter, wrote her a song called ‘Black tulip’, because my mother has black hair and comes from the Netherlands.”
Miha Gustin, Kris’ father, invited the Assense to come and play in Slovenia in the video clip. “She did and she stayed. That was 24 years ago, and I’m 23 years old, so everything has moved quickly since then.”
Music is in Kris Gustin’s genes. At the end of last year it was announced that he can represent his father’s country at the Eurovision Song Contest with Joker Out. They do that with the song Carpe Diem. With the song, the band has had a big tour. “We have been on ‘Eurovision journey’ for half a year. We went to all the pre-parties in Madrid, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, London and Warsaw,” says Gustin.
“We actually did everything, except performing at Eurovision itself. I’m glad that finally happened, and glad that everything went so perfectly. Now we’re really going to enjoy the final.”
The fact that things went so well in the semi-final on Thursday may have been due to the nerves, according to the Dutch Slovenian. “We are people who can work very well under pressure. Maybe that’s why we reached a ‘perfect level’ and that we performed so well.” The performance has set the bar high, the final must be at least as good as the semi-final. “We shouldn’t get too relaxed.”
At the betting offices, Joker Out is not counted among the favorites tonight. But after two missed finals in a row, Slovenia can at least take part again on Saturday evening. Unlike the Netherlands. Gustin: “I’m the only Dutchman on stage, so vote for Slovenia. Number 24.”