Continued…
Hardrock Haven: The sound on Wicked Side is traditional heavy metal with flavors of classic thrash and perhaps speed. Weren’t you tempted to go for something modern, to experiment more with your sound and the arrangements?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: No, not at all. We’re all firm followers of the old-school. We’re not fond of the modern over-produced, over-compressed, sterile, digital sound. Of course, we take advantage of the available technology, but ultimately we try to stay close to our live sound. We wanted the album to sound simple, direct, with a kind of in-your-face feeling, and I think we achieved just that.
Hardrock Haven: Are you satisfied with the overall effect of your work in the studio? Is there anything you think needs to be improved on?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: As I’ve already said I’m happy with the outcome, but there are still room for improvement – things can be done quicker, better, more efficiently. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t feel some things could have been done better – that’s the downside of being a perfectionist. I’ll start with myself by saying that definitely vocals need to be improved, but I’m working on it – I take singing lessons and the progress is clearly visible. Generally speaking, I think everyone needs to aim to constantly improve himself not only as an instrumentalist and a musician, but as a human being as well.
Hardrock Haven: Your album is comprised of ten authorial songs plus a cover of Donna Summer’s disco classic “Hot Stuff.” What’s prompted the choice of this particular cover? Was there anything challenging about it?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: The cover is just a bonus track for the first issue of this album. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly why we decided to include it on the album. We wanted to show that we’re not dead serious about being all true metal, so we opted for a cover of a non-metal song. It’s nothing original and many bands have done that, but I haven’t heard of anyone playing “Hot Stuff” so we first included it in our concert set list, and as people seemed to respond well it ended up as a bonus on the album. We already have more ideas for covers of disco and pop hits. Besides, covers can attract more attention to a band than original songs. For instance, I first heard Russian heavy metal legends Aria in a cover of Manowar’s “Return of the Warlord.” And I liked it to an extent that I got interested in the band’s own stuff. To be honest, I love listening to covers, particularly when they are renditions of the originals with the artist’s own twist.
Hardrock Haven: The concept of the album’s cover artwork is relatively simple. How do you interpret it?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: I don’t have to interpret anything as I am the author of the cover concept. So, there are two meanings behind the artwork. First of all, it reflects the music – heavy, powerful, in-your-face. Second, it symbolizes us being on the verge of breaking out from the darkness of being an unknown, underground band. Obviously, one can have different ideas to what the cover art means.
Hardrock Haven: Do you think album covers matter these days, with so many people going for mp3 files rather than the albums in their entirety?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: For me the cover is an integral part of an album. It should reflect the music, give a hint to the potential listener of what to expect musically, the genre at the very least. And even with mp3s there comes an album cover, so I guess it matters not only to me. Besides, artists still have plenty of work. So, if album covers didn’t matter we would just have artist photos instead of artworks.
Hardrock Haven: Certain image always played an important role in metal, also in the case of bands you cite as particularly influential towards your own. And how important is it to you? What do you think of the “image over substance” risk?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: Image is important only to the extent that a metal band should look like a metal band, and not like a bunch of random people with instruments. I don’t think that in heavy metal there is such risk of image over substance, however, the more extreme the music the most often the bands focus too much on their image, the more controversial the better… probably due to the fact that if it was only music they wouldn’t be able to stand out from the rest.
Hardrock Haven: Heavy metal is and has always been mostly about clichés and repetitiveness in terms of music, lyrics and even image. Do you see them as an inherent part of the genre… or perhaps, rather try to steer clear of them?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: You can point out certain cliches and repetitiveness in every genre – even jazz relies heavily on standards from the 20’s or 30’s. Heavy metal has always been about certain topics and certain forms of expression. Unlike some other genres, however, it allows for incorporating elements of rock, classical music, folk, and other whilst maintaining its integrity. Nonetheless, I don’t see anything bad about repetitiveness. Some notable bands like AC/DC or Motorhead are highly repetitive, but that’s what people expect from them. I think it comes with the package, when you decide to play certain genre of music there are also certain requirements, certain “industry standards” that you have to meet, whether you like it or not. One must be wary, though, not to go over the top.
Hardrock Haven: Now let’s move on to the topic of concerts. Do you prefer playing live to working in studio? Why?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: Of course we prefer playing live! Playing concerts is the basis of every band’s life. Now, what I’m going to say is probably repetitive and a cliché, but it’s all about the interaction between the band and the audience, the energy, the adrenaline… Playing live is like a drug, a highly addictive one – once you start you can’t get enough of it. At the same time concerts are what separates good bands from the great ones – nowadays anyone can sound awesome on the album, but as rock and roll has always been about live performances, it’s more important how you sound and look on stage.
Hardrock Haven: Is there any gig of Wicked Side you think was particularly important for the band, a kind of a breakthrough moment? Is there any you remember particularly fondly?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: I think we’re yet to experience a breakthrough, however, there were several important gigs, e.g. our debut show, the concert we played in September 2011 in our hometown – one of the first we organized ourselves, or the show we played last year at Brutal East Festival. It’s the biggest metal fest in our region albeit oriented more towards the extreme music (hence the name). As for the memories, there are quite a few of them. For instance Alytus (Lithuania) – looking at the venue we didn’t expect much, but the show turned out great and the audience was numerous and enjoyed it just as much as we did.
Hardrock Haven: What can you say about the general atmosphere and audience at your gigs?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: Well, it varies from show to show. However, the audience tend to consist of young people who come to have a good time and thus respond well to our music, particularly as we try to play primarily energetic, fast songs live. Although, on several occasions we had a hard time, particularly when we played as a sidekick on a larger event or when the focus was on a different type of music. Nevertheless, there is always at least a couple of people who come up to us afterwards and say they liked the concert and our music.
Hardrock Haven: During your gigs, you happen to cover classics by Slayer, Metallica or the Russian Ария. Why do you include covers in your repertoire and do you focus on reflecting the originals or, perhaps, adding your own flavors to them?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: There are two reasons for including covers. First, we like the songs and we like to play them. Second, people seem to like them as well. And sometimes, particularly when the audience is rather reserved, it’s good to throw them a cover, a song that they know well – it most often gets them going. As for the manner in which we tend to play other artists’ songs … well, it depends really. With Rock and Metal songs we tend to stick to the original more, while with pop songs (like Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” on our album) we add our own twist to them. This is so much fun, it allows us literally to reinvent the song.
Hardrock Haven: What are the band’s current plans related to the album’s promotion?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: We don’t plan on any big campaign. We’ll definitely send out a few copies to get the album reviewed, maybe we’ll also send it to some labels. We also plan to record a video to “Do or Die” in Spring, and maybe another one in Summer/Autumn, but we’ll see about that. On top of that, we intend to play as many gigs as possible as we believe it to be the best and most efficient form of promotion for a rock band.
Hardrock Haven: Thanks for the interview, is there anything you’d like to add?
Przemyslaw Przytulo: Thanks for taking your time and reading the interview. Now go and check out our band if you haven’t done it yet!
Visit the band online: http://www.wickedside.org/ – https://www.facebook.com/wickedside/
To read Wicked Side’s self-titled CD review click here.
