Meet Munja (lovro Kriznar) | Guitarist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Munja (lovro Kriznar) and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Munja, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Well I think everyone should take risks. Look at me for example. I left my small home town of Kranj, Slovenia, I took a risk, moved out to Los Angeles and it worked out great so far. I made a bunch of amazing friends, I’m doing good in school, hell even the Dean of Musicians Institute put me on his “honor list” or what they call it for my good grades I got last quarter. I’ve made countless life long memories here and experienced things I never thought I’d get to do. So I think everyone should take a risk from time to time because you never know what might happen and what kind of life changing experiences are waiting out there for you! I’m all for it! Because life gets real boring real fast of you’re just sitting at home on your couch doing nothing or just thinking about should I take the risk or not. Take it, do it man! You’ll learn something from it no matter what!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Well I can’t really say that I’ve done a lot professionally. I mean of course I’ve been a part of bands and projects and such. Last year I joined this local Slovenian band called Škis and I played a few gigs with them over the summer before I eventually moved out here to LA. It was a fun time for sure playing with the guys and driving around Slovenia playing shows for new people, meeting new people making new friends. Oh and we released a music video for an original song, so being on the set of that music video was super fun like always! And just before I moved here I was invited to be a guitarist in this other project (not related to the Škis band) and I of course said yes so we went to the studio and recorded the audio and after that we of course shot the music video too. And this song/video should come out in about a week or so. If you want to see it or have updates on it, you better follow me on Instagram because that’s where all the updates on this will be!
But yeah I’ve really learned that in bands and projects you’re always depending on everyone else. If someone’s late or not showing up, the practice is canceled. If the video editor gets sick, the release date has to be postponed. So you really have to have people with the same goal and mindset next to you, otherwise you just might be losing your time.
I haven’t really had any gigging experiences here in LA yet, apart from playing at MI, but I really want it, I want to play here, I want to play the Whisky and the Viper Room, the Troubadour and you better believe I’m ready for it! So if there’s anyone out there looking for a guitarist, hit me up!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Wow I mean there’s so much to do here compared to what you can do at home! It’s uncomparable. Well the first thing is going to In-N-Out to show them the best fast food joint there is. Everybody’s gotta try In-N-Out man. I’d take them down to Santa Monica and Venice Beach it’s always awesome there. We’d go up to the Hollywood sign and then walk to the Griffith Observatory because it’s such a nice walk! Walk around the Hollywood Boulevard so they see the Chinese Theatre and all those tourist attractions. 100% take them to the Whisky to see a show, grab a few drinks there. Grab a few drinks at Jameson’s Pub, get some food there because their food is very good. We’d go to some bars and pubs around the Hollywood area. For shopping I’d send them down to Melrose Avenue, that’s always a blast or maybe the Grove. Disneyland or Six Flags is amazing if you’re into rollercoasters. And then for the weekend, drive to Vegas and yeah… you know exactly how Vegas is…

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Wow I mean there’s so many people behind this… first of all of course my amazing parents that have been supporting me with every decision I made since day 1. They of course also made it possible for me to move out here, to LA and I’ll never forget that! Then of course my sister, my brother and my uncles who also support me big time in what I do. I have to thank my guitar mentors from back home, Sergej and Anže because they never quit on me and they were always happy to help me with everything. They helped me be a guitarist I am today! And I have to give shoutout to my two biggest idols of all time: the legendary Edward Van Halen and one of our Balkan’s own Sead “Zele” Lipovača. What a guitar players!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kriznarlovro/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/lovro.kriznar/