Street Sixteen: They formed a band at the ages of 9, 11, and 12, and have since performed twice on the island.
The oldest member of the band, which was formed last year, has just started eighth grade, but they’re full of plans: They all want to make a living playing music, and they won’t stop until they go abroad.
You can hear about high school bands relatively often, at this age everyone is probably toying with the idea of what it would be like to stand on stage with a guitar around your neck or behind a drum kit. On the other hand, it is very rare for all the band members to be in elementary school when they start making music together.
Such is the case with Street Sixteen: they first met a year and a half ago, but had chemistry from the very first moment. Since then, they’ve been giving concerts of their greatest idols’ songs, and soon they’ll also have their own songs.
We spoke with the members – Simon Šutur, Sanad Toth and Matthias Toth – about how much their parents’ fame has helped them move forward (Simon’s father is Zoltan Šutur, Matti’s mother is Antonia Eros), and whether they have more of a desire to prove it. themselves because of this, and how they experience it, that the vast majority of their age group listen to music very different from the one they play.
How did you two meet and start making music together?
Matthew: It all started when I started learning guitar with Polius Tipi about a year and a half ago (Supername guitarist – Editor), who also teaches Csani, and thanks to Zoli, also knew about Simi that he wanted a band with people of similar age. Once I had to take one of my guitars to Tibi for tuning, and when I went to pick it up, there was a garden party at Csani’s, which Simi had “coincidentally” invited to attend. Csani’s house has a small rehearsal room with drums, microphones and everything else, which we grabbed right away, and practically the band was formed in 10 minutes. Since then, we have been in perfect harmony, become very good friends and talk to each other every day.
How weird is it that kids of the same age form a band? Do you know other examples either in Hungary or abroad?
your car: One of my guitar teachers plays in the AWS band, and they’ve been playing music together since they were in high school, but we also started with them earlier: I’m 13 now, Simi is 11, and Matty is 14. I’ve never heard of anything like this before. In addition, we played music even before we met: Thanks to Zulie Simi, Matty started playing the drums at the age of two, and music has accompanied me all my life.
Matthew: There are usually other groups with members of a similar age at the Youth Festival, but I think they’re all high school students, so they’re about 2-3 years older than us.
How much do you think your parents’ fame helps you move forward?
your car: It so happened that we were blamed for our success because of the insurance and that we were invited to perform at various venues because “your mom and dad arranged it.”
There is some truth in their helping us, but I think if we are not good we will not get far.
Simon: Of course, parents still have a say in the band at such a young age, but most of the time we try to get by without them. We want to solve the same things and move forward even if they are not with us.
Matthew: We have a lot to thank them for, for example, it is very helpful that Zoli has been playing music for over 40 years, he has taught us a lot of things, and he is also present in most of our concerts.
Do you often ask your opinion?
your car: We usually ask her for music advice, but Antonia helps us with many other things. For example, how to conduct an interview, because he is more experienced in this field.
Matthew: We learned from him to be thinkers, and to always think before we say something, so we don’t regret it later. For example, it has occurred to me several times that, looking back, I would have phrased myself quite differently.
Do you have a greater desire to prove yourself, to show that you are good enough on your own?
Simon: Yes!
Matthew: We try to work as much as possible until we are up to the task and become more mature.
The goal is to mess up as little as possible, especially when we’re performing. In such cases, we try to focus and show our more experienced side, especially to technicians and other performers.
your car: We are more serious now than we were when we started. Suffice it to look at the fact that Simi was barely 9 years old at the time, so at this age you couldn’t expect that level of seriousness from anyone.
What are the highlights of your most memorable concerts so far?
your car: In any case, Seagate was among the best, we had no complaints about the technical conditions, and we played perfectly acceptable. And this year’s SZIN is unforgettable because it was our first big party. It is true that there were quite a few in attendance, but the venue itself made up for it. I would also like to mention our first concert, which was at the Youth Festival last May. We played a total of four songs, and I was really nervous, but then it got really good.
Simon: In the end, they even asked for signatures, if we include everything, we handed out about 20 signatures.
Matthew: The Harley Davidson Festival was also special for me, because the day before the concert I was lying at home with a fever of 38-40 degrees. I really didn’t want to give up, so I took a strong pain reliever, which thankfully got better.
On the day of the party, I called Zoli and said over the phone, “Listen, the thing is…” — all in such a frustrated tone that you’d think I’d call it off. She then continued, “…head to the Harley-Davidson Festival!”
Simon: We were also nervous because we were three hours away so if you cancel after we’ve already left, it won’t be very good.
How was your repertoire put together?
your car: You should know about us that completely different styles are close to us, for example Simi is a big fan of The Beatles, Matyi’s favorite is Slipknot, I love Muse. We were all recommended songs, first one by one, then again in the same way. We now have about 10 songs in our collection, and we found a video of the pedal demo about 2 minutes long online, and we all really liked it, so we decided to play his themes as well.
Simon: This is one of our most versatile numbers, and we love it.
Do you plan to write your own tracks?
your car: Yes sure, we only have a problem with words. I have a lot of ideas on musical subjects, and always put them on a tape recorder when something comes to my mind, and I’ve recently reached the 100th mark.
You can also create two of these albums, all you have to do is group them together into songs. I think we’ve just reached the age where we’re mature enough to do that.
Matthew: I started writing a script in English, we just need to finish it and record a demo for it.
What do your friends and bandmates think? Do they go to your parties?
Simon: We already had some acquaintances, and I shared them with my classmates, but today’s kids listen to completely different kinds of music. It seems they said it was very good, but it wasn’t even close to them.
How do you live this?
Simon: It’s not a real problem for me, and I don’t feel weird about it. I’m not the only one who’s different, everyone in the class is different in some way. I think this is normal.
your car: I also think that the music we play is very different from what our contemporaries listen to today. But I see that many of my colleagues and friends are happy with my success.
Do you usually get gas after shows?
Matthew: Not always, but there were times when we got that. For the time being, we will divide this amount between the three of us, and our parents will use it to pay our assistants, for example the sound engineer or the technician, but if we have more money, we will spend it on some technical equipment or something similar that is good for us. For example, on the cheese chips… (they laugh)
your car: This is a funny story, it came when we performed at the Metro Club in front of Nayers at the end of last year, and Simi was tired as if he had been running all day. Even then, we were interviewed, at first he immediately threw himself on the sofa and spread out in full. They asked him what he would be most happy about, and he looked up and said, “A good slice of cheese!” Since then this has become a hotel between us.
Do you want to make a long-term living from music?
your car: I’m sure of that, but certainly not in Hungary.
My plan is to go abroad to continue my studies in a major university, and I also want to maximize my music. I think this is the path for all of us, and it is not certain that we will achieve it together, but even that is not excluded.
I am also interested in acting and dubbing, and I would also like to work as a sound engineer later.
Matthew: I also think I would like to make a living just playing music, but at home it is very difficult, especially with this style. I would definitely have to choose a career that I could be related to of course, for example I would also like to become an audio engineer or producer. And with the group, I really hope that our overseas career will continue, we have already received inquiries from other countries. We hope that when we get a bit older and have professional management behind us, more and more opportunities like this will come.
