Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.54 01/06)
excerpts from an interview with Mariusz Duda (Vocals, Bass)
First we recorded 5-track demo. We did it mainly to get an idea about the listeners' response. As it was really positive, we decided to make it into an album by adding four new tracks and mixing all the pieces again. The "Out of myself" LP saw the light of the day towards the end of 2003 in Poland and we sent it to the people who were interested in such music all over the world. It also reached Ken Golden of Laser's Edge. He liked it so much that he decided to release that material worldwide. Initially, it was to happen in April 2004 but the world premiere was delayed until September.
With the new album "Second Life Syndrome" you've switched to InsideOut. What were the reasons for the label change?
We want to keep progressing. Right now Inside Out is the best choice for a band who play the kind of music we do. Our priority was to reach the greatest possible number of listeners mainly through distribution and promotion. Inside Out is a perfect choice and a chance for us to become known. And it's an honour to find ourselves next to such splendid artists.
Is there something like a concept behind "Second Life Syndrome" or what kind of emotions, feelings, lyrics or stories holds the album together?
"Second Life Syndrome" is the second part of the trilogy, it starts AFTER the events from "Out of myself" and ends BEFORE the third part of it. On "Out of myself," the hero was trying to find his place in a normal world. He didn't succeed, so he retreated to his isolation. However, he managed to find some inner peace. On the second album, he is determined to do something with his life. He decides to change it. "Second Life Syndrome" has two threads; the first is about transformation of the hero into a self-confident person; the second one is about getting rid of memories that stand in the way of the transformation. In the last track on the album, called "Before," the hero cuts himself off completely from the past and erases his memories. But he also asks himself a question if he has reached the place he wanted to get to and if this is what he really wanted. Well, we'll probably find out about it on the third album. Our trilogy is a story in three parts about a lonely man in quest for his own self. It's written in the form of pages from a diary.
When you play live your music tends to be a little bit heavier, move powerful. Does this fact also lead to the slightly different approach on "Second Life Syndrome", which sounds darker and more heavy?
Yes, you ‘re right. One of the assumptions was to make an album which will sound different than "Out of myself," but which will also underline and complement our style. From the very beginning we wanted the album to be heavier, darker, as you said - a bit more like Riverside live. In general, we wanted it to be more of a rock album; with more overdriven guitars, natural keyboard sounds like Hammond and piano, a little bit different vocal melodic lines. I gave up playing the acoustic guitar on this album to compound the effect.
Even though Riverside is still a "new" band, I've read only positive reviews and opinions about the band. Were you surprised by the positive feedback so far and did this cause also pressure for the second album?
If an album is successful, it automatically whets the appetite for another one. We realized that and there's no denying that in our case, and especially in mine, the pressure was intrinsic to working on the second album. Fortunately, at the beginning, I made a few assumptions and wrote them down on several slips of paper. We could stick to them in the moments of doubt and thus we managed to hold out to the end.
What was the purpose behind releasing the Mini CD "Voices in my head" between the two regular longplayers?
"Out of myself" was released in Poland towards the end of 2003, while Laser's Edge released it 10 months later. Because our second album is planned for the autumn of 2005, we decided to record a few tracks - five new pieces with three live versions of the songs from our debut album - for those who can't wait for the new LP.
You've played a small European tour this year and also took part at the 2004 edition of the "Progpower" Festival. How did your gigs went overall and what were the difference concerning your audience in different countries?
Progpower – first show abroad and OOM European Tour - it was a great experience to us. We became more “live world band” (laugh). The audience is great both in Poland and abroad – i think this is because of this kind of music. “Progressive audience” – there are great, very musical people.
On some of your gigs you've played "Radioactive toy" by Porcupine Tree. Did you receive any feedback from Steven Wilson so far, what he thinks about your music?
We wanted to show that we are new generation band that’s why we choose this cover – cover of a band with a new approach to progressive music. I don’t know if Steven heard our music already. Anyway – I’m sending regards to him.
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2005