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| Screenshot Taken from Hypnosaur live @ SoundArt Festival, 14.03.2025, Quantic, Bucharest |
After I published my editorial about the Polish stoner-rock band, Hypnosaur, and off the back of the release of their second album, Afterlife, I got the opportunity to sit down and chat with the full band: Bartosz Kulczycki (vocals, keyboards), Michał Siedlecki (guitar, backing vocals), Marcin “Farf” Jastrzębski (bass), and Marcin Szóstakowski (drums).
In this interview, we spoke about the production of the new album, their songwriting process, and the struggles of being an independent band in 2026. This is a great look into the band and their thoughts. Also, being able to talk to the full band was interesting. This interview serves as a complementary piece to my original blog about them.
Mick: Hi, thanks for joining me today. How are you guys doing?
Farf: Yeah, we're great, and all of us are here actually, which wasn't the plan in the first place. So, you've got the whole band, which is kind of rare for interviews.
Mick: Well, I'm very honoured that you can all make the time. So yeah, I'll just get going. The new album, Afterlife, came out in May, and I've really been enjoying it. How have you found the general overall audience reception to the album?
Bartosz: In general, we are very proud, and it's good to hear all those positive reviews. As always, you can tell from the number of streams we have that we are still fighting for recognition from the very bottom. But still, you know, the reception was great. We have similar feelings about the album. That is a big step up from the previous one, for Sure. Yeah, all is good except for the fact that, yes, we would like the positive reviews to also have an analogical audience at the gigs, which isn't happening yet.
Mick: I hope I can bust down some doors for you in the UK. I will try.
Farf: I have to say that for me that maybe the strangest, but the most satisfying thing was that this time on Facebook, when I saw some comments below some reviews, people were actually telling one another to listen to this album, that they like it and others should try listening to the songs and stuff like that. And it didn't happen before, actually. So that is quite cool that not only journalists and people from media in general are saying that it's nice, but people from all over social media are also telling each other that they should listen to it and that they like it. And they are putting in some charts, like Doom charts and stuff like that.
Mick: Fantastic. Can you tell me a bit about the production going into this album and how you found it different from going into the first album, Doomsday?
Farf: Yeah, well, the biggest difference is that we recorded in a different place this time, because usually Haldor (Grunberg), who is producing our albums from the very beginning, only mixed and mastered the previous album and then the EP. And now he also recorded everything himself in another studio, because the guy we've recorded with previously moved his studio to the Polish mountains, actually. And it's quite a journey to go there and stay there for like five days or a week. So we decided to go only to Haldor’s studio and stay in Warsaw. And we are really, I think, happy with the result and how he managed to record us. While he was recording, he already had in mind how he wanted it to sound while mixing and mastering. So I think it was a step forward. He's also a great guy, which turned out to be another positive outcome, because we didn't know him that much. But now we spent like a week with him, and he's also a cool guy. So everything was in place.
Bartosz: Yeah, I guess it's also easier for him to have his own way. So the tracks he recorded already fit into his preset kind of setting of all the instruments. So I guess it was easier for him this way as well.
Michał: I think it's also very recognisable that he has much more experience working with drums. So if you compare the sound of the drums on the first album and the second one, it's a great difference in the quality of the song.
Farf: Basically, he has told Marcin to borrow some other cymbals, because he would not play on his own set at the studio. This time he's got to borrow another set. Eventually he bought the new cymbals, which sound really great compared to the previous ones he's had.
Mick: Awesome. How do songs usually come together? Is it a jam session that kind of evolves into a song? Or is it more of a case of someone comes in the room with a riff idea and then you work off that? What's the general process?
Marcin: It's mixed.
Bartosz: Yeah, so it differs from one song to another. So some songs begin to develop by one guy bringing in a riff or a couple of riffs, for example. For example, Farf, our bass player, usually comes with some bass riffs, basically. And Michał develops some fitting guitar riffs on top of that bass riff. So this is one way we are doing things. And then everybody adds their parts. And if we have a cool riff, we try to jam to see, OK, if we played over and over for like 10 minutes, then we all have time to try to come up with something catchy. But also, for example, I have a little bit of a different way of working. So I usually tend to build, and I tend to tell my bandmates what to play in my songs.
Michał: He's a frontman, and also he's a really good composer. So usually he comes with an almost ready-to-go song, and then we try to work on it and improve it in some ways. But mostly it's his concept from start to begin, from end to beginning, or the other way. But Farf and I, we usually come up with some riff, with some cool idea, and then we build upon that.
Bartosz: It really depends. For example, on this album, there were moments, because usually I come up with the vocal melodies, but on this album, there are some places where, for example, Michał came up with a vocal melody where I had no idea what I can put on top of this riff, but he came up with something that I followed. And on the other hand, for example, in the song “Look at the Balls”, I had some impact on the guitar solo, for example. On this album, we shared it a little bit more than before. We still did the work in unusual ways that we didn't do earlier, but it can really differ from one song to another.
Mick: I think my personal favourite song on the album is still “Reality-141”. That song just gets me every time. It's that feeling when I'm in the car and I'm driving about 50 miles an hour, then that song comes on. I'm like, “okay, I'm going a bit faster now”. What's your personal favourite song from the album?
Michał: Funny you ask that because we actually had a discussion exactly about this recently. Less than a week ago. So I love all of the songs on the album, but my personal favourite is also “Reality-141” and “Hardwired”. Both of those songs have riffs that I've come up with. It's not a surprise.
Marcin: I like “World of Insanity”, “Look at the Balls” and “Hardwired” as well. But it changes a lot. Last year when we recorded it, I had a totally different list of favourite positions.
Farf: For me, it changes as well. I have no idea what my number one is, totally. But at this point, I'd say that “Reality-141” is one of the top songs as well, because it really gets going well on the gigs and people tend to like it during the show, which is great to play. About that, I'd say “Danger” is one of my favourites because I came up with that! But I really like it because it's like an earworm kind of riff. Many people said that they were listening to it all over again. When they heard it for the first time, they were listening to it like 10 or 15 times because it's short and it has this earworm.
In this interview, we spoke about the production of the new album, their songwriting process, and the struggles of being an independent band in 2026. This is a great look into the band and their thoughts. Also, being able to talk to the full band was interesting. This interview serves as a complementary piece to my original blog about them.
Mick: Hi, thanks for joining me today. How are you guys doing?
Farf: Yeah, we're great, and all of us are here actually, which wasn't the plan in the first place. So, you've got the whole band, which is kind of rare for interviews.
Mick: Well, I'm very honoured that you can all make the time. So yeah, I'll just get going. The new album, Afterlife, came out in May, and I've really been enjoying it. How have you found the general overall audience reception to the album?
Bartosz: In general, we are very proud, and it's good to hear all those positive reviews. As always, you can tell from the number of streams we have that we are still fighting for recognition from the very bottom. But still, you know, the reception was great. We have similar feelings about the album. That is a big step up from the previous one, for Sure. Yeah, all is good except for the fact that, yes, we would like the positive reviews to also have an analogical audience at the gigs, which isn't happening yet.
Mick: I hope I can bust down some doors for you in the UK. I will try.
Farf: I have to say that for me that maybe the strangest, but the most satisfying thing was that this time on Facebook, when I saw some comments below some reviews, people were actually telling one another to listen to this album, that they like it and others should try listening to the songs and stuff like that. And it didn't happen before, actually. So that is quite cool that not only journalists and people from media in general are saying that it's nice, but people from all over social media are also telling each other that they should listen to it and that they like it. And they are putting in some charts, like Doom charts and stuff like that.
Mick: Fantastic. Can you tell me a bit about the production going into this album and how you found it different from going into the first album, Doomsday?
Farf: Yeah, well, the biggest difference is that we recorded in a different place this time, because usually Haldor (Grunberg), who is producing our albums from the very beginning, only mixed and mastered the previous album and then the EP. And now he also recorded everything himself in another studio, because the guy we've recorded with previously moved his studio to the Polish mountains, actually. And it's quite a journey to go there and stay there for like five days or a week. So we decided to go only to Haldor’s studio and stay in Warsaw. And we are really, I think, happy with the result and how he managed to record us. While he was recording, he already had in mind how he wanted it to sound while mixing and mastering. So I think it was a step forward. He's also a great guy, which turned out to be another positive outcome, because we didn't know him that much. But now we spent like a week with him, and he's also a cool guy. So everything was in place.
Bartosz: Yeah, I guess it's also easier for him to have his own way. So the tracks he recorded already fit into his preset kind of setting of all the instruments. So I guess it was easier for him this way as well.
Michał: I think it's also very recognisable that he has much more experience working with drums. So if you compare the sound of the drums on the first album and the second one, it's a great difference in the quality of the song.
Farf: Basically, he has told Marcin to borrow some other cymbals, because he would not play on his own set at the studio. This time he's got to borrow another set. Eventually he bought the new cymbals, which sound really great compared to the previous ones he's had.
Mick: Awesome. How do songs usually come together? Is it a jam session that kind of evolves into a song? Or is it more of a case of someone comes in the room with a riff idea and then you work off that? What's the general process?
Marcin: It's mixed.
Bartosz: Yeah, so it differs from one song to another. So some songs begin to develop by one guy bringing in a riff or a couple of riffs, for example. For example, Farf, our bass player, usually comes with some bass riffs, basically. And Michał develops some fitting guitar riffs on top of that bass riff. So this is one way we are doing things. And then everybody adds their parts. And if we have a cool riff, we try to jam to see, OK, if we played over and over for like 10 minutes, then we all have time to try to come up with something catchy. But also, for example, I have a little bit of a different way of working. So I usually tend to build, and I tend to tell my bandmates what to play in my songs.
Michał: He's a frontman, and also he's a really good composer. So usually he comes with an almost ready-to-go song, and then we try to work on it and improve it in some ways. But mostly it's his concept from start to begin, from end to beginning, or the other way. But Farf and I, we usually come up with some riff, with some cool idea, and then we build upon that.
Bartosz: It really depends. For example, on this album, there were moments, because usually I come up with the vocal melodies, but on this album, there are some places where, for example, Michał came up with a vocal melody where I had no idea what I can put on top of this riff, but he came up with something that I followed. And on the other hand, for example, in the song “Look at the Balls”, I had some impact on the guitar solo, for example. On this album, we shared it a little bit more than before. We still did the work in unusual ways that we didn't do earlier, but it can really differ from one song to another.
Mick: I think my personal favourite song on the album is still “Reality-141”. That song just gets me every time. It's that feeling when I'm in the car and I'm driving about 50 miles an hour, then that song comes on. I'm like, “okay, I'm going a bit faster now”. What's your personal favourite song from the album?
Michał: Funny you ask that because we actually had a discussion exactly about this recently. Less than a week ago. So I love all of the songs on the album, but my personal favourite is also “Reality-141” and “Hardwired”. Both of those songs have riffs that I've come up with. It's not a surprise.
Marcin: I like “World of Insanity”, “Look at the Balls” and “Hardwired” as well. But it changes a lot. Last year when we recorded it, I had a totally different list of favourite positions.
Farf: For me, it changes as well. I have no idea what my number one is, totally. But at this point, I'd say that “Reality-141” is one of the top songs as well, because it really gets going well on the gigs and people tend to like it during the show, which is great to play. About that, I'd say “Danger” is one of my favourites because I came up with that! But I really like it because it's like an earworm kind of riff. Many people said that they were listening to it all over again. When they heard it for the first time, they were listening to it like 10 or 15 times because it's short and it has this earworm.
Michał: Farf is all about efficiency! Most impact in the shortest amount of time!
Marcin: That's why you like that! It's also like how you created the bass for “Alone”.
Farf: Yeah, I like “Alone” as well, but I like “Afterlife”. I think out of the other songs, I'd say “Danger”, “Alone” and “Reality-141” are my top three.
Bartosz: And I would pick the first two. So “Afterlife” and “Lieflower”.
Farf: Because you wrote them!
Bartosz: Yeah! So these two. Although maybe recently, if I had to listen to the album once again today, maybe I wouldn't be that much into “Lieflower” maybe. Maybe just because I heard it so many times over and over. So maybe this time I would pick a different one. But in general, like, summing up, because we recorded the songs almost a year ago.
Farf: Exactly a year ago.
Bartosz: Then the final mix was probably a couple of months later.
Michał: I'm not sure. Yeah, like two months later or something like that.
Marcin: Yeah. But some things were missing! Because somebody forgot to learn how to play it on the guitar!
Bartosz: Yeah, but on average, I would say that the “Afterlife” and “Lieflower” are the ones that are great from beginning to end. So these are the ones I would show to somebody first, if somebody wanted to listen to the album. And they are very good openers for the album, in my opinion, as well.
Mick: You mentioned playing these songs live. I can't imagine how they would change from the studio version to performing them live. How do you feel it evolves? How do you feel? I guess the question really is, do you feel the need to change them from how you record in the studio to when you perform them live, to give it a bit more intensity or to get the gig going a bit more?
Marcin: Yeah, I think on this CD, on this record, it's a bit different from what we're used to. Because in those days, these songs evolved after being recorded, and they're still a little bit evolving, and they're better and better. As we play some gigs, like recently I watched our live show from Bucharest, and the songs from the first album were fire. On this album, we worked a lot harder, and we made them good for the recording. And we still play them basically the same way. And there is not much room to make something better out of them.
Michał: Yeah, we are a four-piece band with one guitar and keys, because Bartosz plays keys live on the keytar. And when we record, we try to record the songs in such a way that they would not sound much different when we play them live. So I try not to overdo it with additional guitars and feel that I know they wouldn't be possible when played live. But usually it's not possible to do it this way, because you want the song to be fuller. So when we play live, I try to compromise. So I play a few riffs in different ways and a few other riffs in different ways. And I try to choose a way of playing to make it the most impactful when it's just played live. But I try to keep to the original.
Bartosz: I would also say that I, on the other hand, like to fill the studio recording with some more vocal harmonies than I can sing live, because only Michał is the single backing vocalist in our band. So sometimes some of the vocal harmonies just cannot be played, reproduced, or performed live. And we don't use backing tracks at all. So we are avoiding that. But in general, aside from things like that, so really those things that you hear subconsciously, so those things that don't stand out, we'd rather play everything live more or less the same as in the studio version.
Mick: Fair enough. I guess because I've spoken to many different bands from different European countries at the moment, and you're the first ones I've spoken to from Poland, so what is the general health of the underground rock scene in Poland currently?
Farf: Yeah, well, actually, it's better again, I'd say. It was really cool 20 years ago, up to 15 years ago, let's say. We had a lot of bands from different genres, so from stoner to psychedelic, to rockabilly to, Scandinavian type of rock and roll, like The Hellacopters and Turbonegro stuff and stuff like that. It was really, really thriving. Then something collapsed. I think that most of the people got out and stopped playing in bands and started families, went to work, whatever happened, and then basically it collapsed for some time, and we had like 10 dark years, let's say. Then since pre-COVID, I would say, like for the last seven years, it's been coming back. Some of the people came back to playing; some of the people are newer and younger than we are. And actually, there are a lot of good bands now. Some of them are playing music that I don't listen to personally.
So we have a lot of young bands playing thrash metal or black metal and stuff like that. I'll be honest, I'm not into that scene at all, but I see that there are a lot of those guys looking like, you know, like if they came up with a time capsule from Anthrax in the 80s or something like that. I really dig it because they have this, you know? They didn't grow up in a scene when there were only shitty bands coming to Poland, but now they can go to an Anthrax gig or Metallica gig or whatever, glam band gig and then see those guys live and recreate it. I like that really much.
There's also a kind of stoner scene, but it's not the stoner scene that I used to like, like 20 years ago, because we had bands more similar to Kyuss and Fu Manchu. Now there are a lot of like stoner doom bands in Poland, which are totally boring to me, to be honest. They play the same riff all over again for 10 minutes, then they have like 10 songs on each album, five albums each, and all of the songs are the same. They are still getting more and more attention internationally, which is strange for me. I like those guys, but I don't dig their music at all. We also have bands that are known internationally, like Dopelord, Beelzebong, and Weedpecker. Those are like bigger underground names because they're playing festivals all over Europe. I would say that they are getting bigger and bigger with each release.
Then you have some strange bands like ours, because we don't qualify for any of the genres. Which is our biggest strength on one hand, but the worst thing happens when we are trying to play some gigs. Punks don't want to play with us, because we are not punk enough. Metalheads don't want to play with us because we are not metal enough, et cetera, et cetera. So basically, we have to find either the people we like but whose music is completely different from ours, or we are trying to find some kind of in-between teams that we can fight and play with bands that have some more glam accents, but they're at least in a way similar to us.
So that's the only way we are trying to look for gigs, and that's how it is. But in general, I'd say that the Polish scene is getting better and better again, and it's nice to see. And we have nothing to be ashamed of in terms of bands like ours and bigger ones as well.
Farf: Yeah, I like “Alone” as well, but I like “Afterlife”. I think out of the other songs, I'd say “Danger”, “Alone” and “Reality-141” are my top three.
Bartosz: And I would pick the first two. So “Afterlife” and “Lieflower”.
Farf: Because you wrote them!
Bartosz: Yeah! So these two. Although maybe recently, if I had to listen to the album once again today, maybe I wouldn't be that much into “Lieflower” maybe. Maybe just because I heard it so many times over and over. So maybe this time I would pick a different one. But in general, like, summing up, because we recorded the songs almost a year ago.
Farf: Exactly a year ago.
Bartosz: Then the final mix was probably a couple of months later.
Michał: I'm not sure. Yeah, like two months later or something like that.
Marcin: Yeah. But some things were missing! Because somebody forgot to learn how to play it on the guitar!
Bartosz: Yeah, but on average, I would say that the “Afterlife” and “Lieflower” are the ones that are great from beginning to end. So these are the ones I would show to somebody first, if somebody wanted to listen to the album. And they are very good openers for the album, in my opinion, as well.
Mick: You mentioned playing these songs live. I can't imagine how they would change from the studio version to performing them live. How do you feel it evolves? How do you feel? I guess the question really is, do you feel the need to change them from how you record in the studio to when you perform them live, to give it a bit more intensity or to get the gig going a bit more?
Marcin: Yeah, I think on this CD, on this record, it's a bit different from what we're used to. Because in those days, these songs evolved after being recorded, and they're still a little bit evolving, and they're better and better. As we play some gigs, like recently I watched our live show from Bucharest, and the songs from the first album were fire. On this album, we worked a lot harder, and we made them good for the recording. And we still play them basically the same way. And there is not much room to make something better out of them.
Michał: Yeah, we are a four-piece band with one guitar and keys, because Bartosz plays keys live on the keytar. And when we record, we try to record the songs in such a way that they would not sound much different when we play them live. So I try not to overdo it with additional guitars and feel that I know they wouldn't be possible when played live. But usually it's not possible to do it this way, because you want the song to be fuller. So when we play live, I try to compromise. So I play a few riffs in different ways and a few other riffs in different ways. And I try to choose a way of playing to make it the most impactful when it's just played live. But I try to keep to the original.
Bartosz: I would also say that I, on the other hand, like to fill the studio recording with some more vocal harmonies than I can sing live, because only Michał is the single backing vocalist in our band. So sometimes some of the vocal harmonies just cannot be played, reproduced, or performed live. And we don't use backing tracks at all. So we are avoiding that. But in general, aside from things like that, so really those things that you hear subconsciously, so those things that don't stand out, we'd rather play everything live more or less the same as in the studio version.
Mick: Fair enough. I guess because I've spoken to many different bands from different European countries at the moment, and you're the first ones I've spoken to from Poland, so what is the general health of the underground rock scene in Poland currently?
Farf: Yeah, well, actually, it's better again, I'd say. It was really cool 20 years ago, up to 15 years ago, let's say. We had a lot of bands from different genres, so from stoner to psychedelic, to rockabilly to, Scandinavian type of rock and roll, like The Hellacopters and Turbonegro stuff and stuff like that. It was really, really thriving. Then something collapsed. I think that most of the people got out and stopped playing in bands and started families, went to work, whatever happened, and then basically it collapsed for some time, and we had like 10 dark years, let's say. Then since pre-COVID, I would say, like for the last seven years, it's been coming back. Some of the people came back to playing; some of the people are newer and younger than we are. And actually, there are a lot of good bands now. Some of them are playing music that I don't listen to personally.
So we have a lot of young bands playing thrash metal or black metal and stuff like that. I'll be honest, I'm not into that scene at all, but I see that there are a lot of those guys looking like, you know, like if they came up with a time capsule from Anthrax in the 80s or something like that. I really dig it because they have this, you know? They didn't grow up in a scene when there were only shitty bands coming to Poland, but now they can go to an Anthrax gig or Metallica gig or whatever, glam band gig and then see those guys live and recreate it. I like that really much.
There's also a kind of stoner scene, but it's not the stoner scene that I used to like, like 20 years ago, because we had bands more similar to Kyuss and Fu Manchu. Now there are a lot of like stoner doom bands in Poland, which are totally boring to me, to be honest. They play the same riff all over again for 10 minutes, then they have like 10 songs on each album, five albums each, and all of the songs are the same. They are still getting more and more attention internationally, which is strange for me. I like those guys, but I don't dig their music at all. We also have bands that are known internationally, like Dopelord, Beelzebong, and Weedpecker. Those are like bigger underground names because they're playing festivals all over Europe. I would say that they are getting bigger and bigger with each release.
Then you have some strange bands like ours, because we don't qualify for any of the genres. Which is our biggest strength on one hand, but the worst thing happens when we are trying to play some gigs. Punks don't want to play with us, because we are not punk enough. Metalheads don't want to play with us because we are not metal enough, et cetera, et cetera. So basically, we have to find either the people we like but whose music is completely different from ours, or we are trying to find some kind of in-between teams that we can fight and play with bands that have some more glam accents, but they're at least in a way similar to us.
So that's the only way we are trying to look for gigs, and that's how it is. But in general, I'd say that the Polish scene is getting better and better again, and it's nice to see. And we have nothing to be ashamed of in terms of bands like ours and bigger ones as well.
Mick: Playing the independent game is difficult in 2026, especially with the streaming services not necessarily fair to the independent artist. How is your experience with the difficulty of getting your music out there beyond just the general scene?
Farf: Well, we are not in any scene to start with. That's the first issue already. Then I'd say that it's a struggle. It's a huge struggle because I think that the biggest curse is that people don't want to listen to it; if they listen, they like it. But to browse through thousands of bands and decide that “I want to listen to Hypnosaur today”, I think it's something that doesn't happen a lot. So either we have to go through media and journalists with reviews, et cetera, or by playing gigs and trying to do everything DIY-style. We do all the promotion ourselves because we don't have any backing in the industry. There's no label or PR Agent or whatever. So basically it's a struggle, and we are doing it for us, basically, most of all.
Then if someone wants to hop in and ride with us, it's cool, but we are not, you know, trying to do anything because it doesn't make any sense anyway. Also, we won't pay because I've had offers like, I don't know, " We can pay 4,000 euros to play Masters of Rock in the Czech Republic. But 4,000 euros is almost the cost of a recording session for the whole album, and even more.
Farf: Well, we are not in any scene to start with. That's the first issue already. Then I'd say that it's a struggle. It's a huge struggle because I think that the biggest curse is that people don't want to listen to it; if they listen, they like it. But to browse through thousands of bands and decide that “I want to listen to Hypnosaur today”, I think it's something that doesn't happen a lot. So either we have to go through media and journalists with reviews, et cetera, or by playing gigs and trying to do everything DIY-style. We do all the promotion ourselves because we don't have any backing in the industry. There's no label or PR Agent or whatever. So basically it's a struggle, and we are doing it for us, basically, most of all.
Then if someone wants to hop in and ride with us, it's cool, but we are not, you know, trying to do anything because it doesn't make any sense anyway. Also, we won't pay because I've had offers like, I don't know, " We can pay 4,000 euros to play Masters of Rock in the Czech Republic. But 4,000 euros is almost the cost of a recording session for the whole album, and even more.
Mick: Yeah, that's it. I feel your pain. I've been writing blogs for 17 years, and it's not really gone anywhere. Yeah. I just keep doing it because I love doing it.
Bartosz: Same, same. It's our expensive coffee.
Farf: Some people go fishing, some people buy expensive bikes, and we have a band, basically. The expenses are similar, basically. So that's fair.
Mick: That's absolutely fair. One thing I've always loved asking people is, like, do you remember the first album, single, CD, vinyl, you bought with your own money? Like you actually earned money and then you went out and bought a specific album.
Farf: Yeah, I do, actually. So my first CD was Eminem when I was 12. And my first vinyl, it wasn't that long ago, actually, because it was like 12 years ago when I started collecting vinyl. So I told myself before that, and it was a few years before that, that if I'm going to start collecting vinyl, the first one would be Appetite for Destruction (Guns ‘n’ Roses), and I did it.
Bartosz: Yeah, like when I started earning money, buying albums wasn't a thing anymore. I mean, of course I bought some. I have some, mainly vinyls, not that many actually, but some. I cannot really say it was my own earned money. Of course, I remember the albums I asked my parents for when I was a kid. Bands like Linkin Park, System of a Down, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit. You know, the bands that were very popular when I was young, so in the early 2000s. So these were probably the first ones that I said, “Hey, Mom, can I get this one?”
Michał: The first album that I bought, I won't be very original. I'm quite sure it was Nirvana's In Utero.
Marcin: For me, it was The Offspring's Americana.
Mick: Nice one. I always love getting a little insight into people's minds, where their heads go when they actually have money, and it's like, oh, I can spend it on stuff I used to buy.
Bartosz: What was your first album?
Mick: Mine?... New Found Glory, All Downhill From Here.
Bartosz: Maybe when I was a teenager already, I had my own money that wasn't really earned unless you earned it by good behaviour to your parents. So if that's earning, then for sure. First, it started with a record I didn't ask for because I didn't know the band, and it was like a coincidence that my dad bought me Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II by Helloween. I loved it so much that I started buying other Helloween albums. So maybe these are the ones that I remember. Okay, I had my own money. I was really buying those albums because I just wanted them. So Helloween stuff for sure.
Mick: This is my question that I end every interview on. What is the hardest thing you've had to overcome professionally or personally?
Marcin: Making friends with each other.
Bartosz, I know maybe one of the biggest challenges that I think we managed to overcome is finding the people you want to be in a band with. Because I've had many bands before, and it was always the same problem. These bands couldn't last just because I didn't like these people enough to spend time together, meet every week or so. And here we are around 10 years after starting this band, maybe nine. And we are still in the same line up, and I don't think this is changing anytime soon.
Mick: That's good, that's really good.
Farf: Actually, he's right. I think that was the biggest achievement we had.
Michał: Yeah, especially, like, for example, I'm the only one with kids here. So I'm the guy who has the least time, and they have to put up with it. And many times it could be an issue, but in the end it wasn't. So we managed to go over the fact that I don't have so much time or that I'm not available every time.
Marcin: We know!
Farf: Well, it's a strange thing that he came today. I wasn't expecting that until an hour ago, to be honest.
Mick: Well, that is all I have for you guys. Thanks so much for spending time with me.
Bartosz: Same, same. It's our expensive coffee.
Farf: Some people go fishing, some people buy expensive bikes, and we have a band, basically. The expenses are similar, basically. So that's fair.
Mick: That's absolutely fair. One thing I've always loved asking people is, like, do you remember the first album, single, CD, vinyl, you bought with your own money? Like you actually earned money and then you went out and bought a specific album.
Farf: Yeah, I do, actually. So my first CD was Eminem when I was 12. And my first vinyl, it wasn't that long ago, actually, because it was like 12 years ago when I started collecting vinyl. So I told myself before that, and it was a few years before that, that if I'm going to start collecting vinyl, the first one would be Appetite for Destruction (Guns ‘n’ Roses), and I did it.
Bartosz: Yeah, like when I started earning money, buying albums wasn't a thing anymore. I mean, of course I bought some. I have some, mainly vinyls, not that many actually, but some. I cannot really say it was my own earned money. Of course, I remember the albums I asked my parents for when I was a kid. Bands like Linkin Park, System of a Down, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit. You know, the bands that were very popular when I was young, so in the early 2000s. So these were probably the first ones that I said, “Hey, Mom, can I get this one?”
Michał: The first album that I bought, I won't be very original. I'm quite sure it was Nirvana's In Utero.
Marcin: For me, it was The Offspring's Americana.
Mick: Nice one. I always love getting a little insight into people's minds, where their heads go when they actually have money, and it's like, oh, I can spend it on stuff I used to buy.
Bartosz: What was your first album?
Mick: Mine?... New Found Glory, All Downhill From Here.
Bartosz: Maybe when I was a teenager already, I had my own money that wasn't really earned unless you earned it by good behaviour to your parents. So if that's earning, then for sure. First, it started with a record I didn't ask for because I didn't know the band, and it was like a coincidence that my dad bought me Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II by Helloween. I loved it so much that I started buying other Helloween albums. So maybe these are the ones that I remember. Okay, I had my own money. I was really buying those albums because I just wanted them. So Helloween stuff for sure.
Mick: This is my question that I end every interview on. What is the hardest thing you've had to overcome professionally or personally?
Marcin: Making friends with each other.
Bartosz, I know maybe one of the biggest challenges that I think we managed to overcome is finding the people you want to be in a band with. Because I've had many bands before, and it was always the same problem. These bands couldn't last just because I didn't like these people enough to spend time together, meet every week or so. And here we are around 10 years after starting this band, maybe nine. And we are still in the same line up, and I don't think this is changing anytime soon.
Mick: That's good, that's really good.
Farf: Actually, he's right. I think that was the biggest achievement we had.
Michał: Yeah, especially, like, for example, I'm the only one with kids here. So I'm the guy who has the least time, and they have to put up with it. And many times it could be an issue, but in the end it wasn't. So we managed to go over the fact that I don't have so much time or that I'm not available every time.
Marcin: We know!
Farf: Well, it's a strange thing that he came today. I wasn't expecting that until an hour ago, to be honest.
Mick: Well, that is all I have for you guys. Thanks so much for spending time with me.
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