{"id":47625,"date":"2015-01-01T09:28:55","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T14:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=47625"},"modified":"2015-01-26T16:34:41","modified_gmt":"2015-01-26T21:34:41","slug":"interview-with-przemyslaw-przytulo-of-wicked-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/interview-with-przemyslaw-przytulo-of-wicked-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Przemyslaw Przytulo of Wicked Side"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Welcome to the wicked side, folks \u2013 let\u2019s hope you will enjoy the ride! Having punched the heavy metal aficionados straight in the face with their EP Welcome To The Wicked Side three years ago, the Polish four-piece Wicked Side return with a follow-up to this that is their self-titled debut album. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven caught up with the band\u2019s bassist\/singer Przemyslaw Przytulo not only to discuss the band\u2019s newly released record in detail, but also to dwell upon some other issues, from clich\u00e9s in heavy metal to risks and benefits of cover versions. <\/p>\n

\"WickedSide01\"<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: For a start, please introduce yourselves and tell us about the circumstances that led to the band\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: We are Wicked Side, a heavy metal band from Bialystok, a city in north-eastern part of Poland. To be honest, I wanted to form a band even before I picked up the bass. I started writing songs at around the age of 12, but those were disco\/dance tunes as I was heavily inspired by Eurodance back then. At the same time, I started to listen to some rock and metal music, mainly to what was on the radio \u2013 Metallica, The Offspring, Rammstein etc. After a while, it changed my outlook on music \u2013 I wanted to play metal! I wanted to be like James Hetfield, to play the guitar and sing. But then I bought Iron Maiden’s Brave New World and I fell in love with the bass guitar. It was in secondary school (ages 16-19 in Poland) that I joined my first band. We played together for a few months, managed to play one gig, and disbanded as everyone went their own separate ways. Later I tried to form my own group, however without much success. During my university years I met Maciej Rusiniak, a skilled guitarist with whom I quickly found a common ground, and decided to start a project. I had already some songs written and, with the help of my good mate Grzegorz Lemanski, we recorded an instrumental demo in 2006 consisting of four original songs and one cover. Unfortunately, we couldn’t complete the line-up, so the project never became a band. A year and a half later I got in touch with my schoolmate from the primary school regarding playing some music together, just to kill some time. He brought his friend, a drummer Tomasz Marciuk, and I brought Maciej, and thus in early 2009 we had a four-piece band. Initially, we played only Slayer cover songs, but me and Maciej wanted to also play our own stuff. In the meantime, my schoolmate left the band, and with the arrival of Pawe\u0142 Serwatka who filled the vacancy Wicked Side was born (although at that time we didn’t have a name yet, we decided on one a couple of months later). It was May 2009.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: The phrase \u2018Wicked Side\u2019 became the band name and the title of both the album and one of the songs. It also appears in the band\u2019s lyrics. What\u2019s the meaning behind it?<\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: Before I get to the meaning, let me tell about the process of selecting the name. There had to be some criteria met: the name should be chanted easily (that is 3 or 4 syllables), there shouldn’t be any band with that name around, and it should sound good. I shortlisted 10 ideas, presented them to the guys and asked to pick three best ones. And Wicked Side appeared on everyone’s list.
\nAs for the meaning, there’s no simple, straightforward answer. The whole idea is that the name can be interpreted in numerous ways, mainly because of multiple meanings each of these words have. Let me give you two possibilities. The first and, let’s say, the official one, with wicked as funny or enjoyable in a way that is slightly bad or unkind refers to that side of one’s nature that makes one do things that can be slightly immoral or bad for you, but in an attractive way; mischievous but not malicious. You know, all that sex, drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll is about! (laughs) And as such can be found in quite a few of our lyrics. The other possibility is a tongue-in-cheek one. If you take wicked as very informal word extremely good, and side as ‘team’ (mainly sports team, but in this case let’s extend it to a musical group) you get that we are a bloody good band ;)
\nAs for the title of both the song and the album it was all preconceived. Being inspired by Iron Maiden I always wanted my band to have a song named after the band, and the first album to be the eponymous one. However, I must admit I got carried away a bit, as there is also a song called “Something Wicked” on the album, and I have some ideas for more ‘wicked’ songs. One is already written and will most likely feature on our second album.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Although your inspirations seem to be pretty obvious, which bands would you pick as particularly influential towards the sound of Wicked Side?<\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: As I am the main composer I would pick all the bands that influenced me the most, i.e. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Iced Earth and Aria (\u0410\u0440\u0438\u044f). But as I love music and discovering new artists from around the world, the inspirations are virtually endless and I could go for hours just enumerating the bands I like. Apart from metal I listen to many other genres; I’m particularly fond of \u201870s\/\u201980s Disco, e.g. Modern Talking. It\u2019s one of my favorite bands ever, as I love the melodies \u2013 they may be simple yet alluring. Other stuff I listen to is Classic Rock and Hard Rock, singer-songwriter ballad stuff of Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave. I even like to give modern Pop a spin every now and then. I just think there’s so much great music regardless of genres. And it all has some influence over the music I make.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Wicked Side is a Polish band. Which Polish rock\/metal band you think is worth to be recommended to our readers and why?<\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: Night Mistress, no doubt about it. They’re the best Polish heavy metal band at the moment: they’ve recorded two great albums, they’ve got a brilliant vocalist and more than capable musicians, but most of all they’re all great people. I’ve known them for a couple of years now, we’ve played a few shows together, and I think they simply have what it takes and thoroughly deserve it.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Even though you\u2019re Polish, you sing in English. What are the reasons for this and why do you think more and more bands from non-English-speaking countries go for it now?<\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: I have no idea. It just happened that way. When I started writing lyrics at the age of 12 it was already in English. It somehow came naturally. I think it is difficult to write good lyrics in Polish, although I’ve never tried it, and I don’t think I ever will (however, I translated some lyrics into Polish and it came out quite alright). I’ve always loved foreign languages; I’m a qualified teacher of English as a Foreign Language, I can communicate in Russian and Spanish, I learned some German in school, and Latin at the uni, and I still want more. I love the possibilities English language offers \u2013 the sheer number of words, the variety of shades and subtleties of meanings, the puns and word plays… I find it easier to convey my thoughts in English \u2013 when writing I don’t first think in Polish and then translate into English. Besides, there’s a saying \u201cWhy does a dog lick his balls? Because it can\u201d (laughs).
\nAs for the second part of the question, I think otherwise. I think more and more bands tend to sing in their native languages. But bands singing in English do it because it’s easier to reach wider audience as English has become lingua franca and it’s widely used across the globe.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Is there any difference music-wise between the newly released full-length debut album and a 2011 EP Welcome To The Wicked Side<\/em>? Were the songs previously released on an EP re-recorded for the purpose of releasing an album? <\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: There’s no real difference as by the time we released our EP most of the songs that ended up on the album had been already written. To be honest, the album was planned to be recorded in 2012, but because of the line-up changes we had to postpone it until the following year. Moreover, the EP was meant to be a sort of a preview of the full album, hence the title, and we intended to re-record these songs anyway, not being happy with the quality of the sound on the EP regardless. So, four out of five songs from the EP were re-recorded for this album, and the remaining one will be re-recorded for our second album.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: What do you think are the highlights and the drawbacks of your debut album? Any favorites?<\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: It’s easy now to say what should have been done differently given the experience and knowledge we gained in the process. However, I’m happy with the final outcome \u2013 production-wise we made a huge step forward in comparison with the EP, although I’m under no illusion there’s still plenty of room for improvement. One of the reasons it took so long to finish the album was the vocals. I recorded them three times as I wasn’t happy with the previous results. But before the third attempt we changed the approach as well as the mic, and eventually it did the trick.
\nAs for the individual songs it’s hard for me to pick some favorites as I like all of them \u2013 otherwise I wouldn’t put them on the album! However, if I had to single out something I’d go for \u201cAlone In The Dark\u201d as it’s dark and sinister unlike the remaining tunes, \u201cWicked Side\u201d for its hard rock feel that works great live, and \u201cDo Or Die,\u201d a powerful yet melodic tune which we plan to record a video to. <\/p>\n

To continuing to read the interview click the link below:
\n<\/p>\n

Continued…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"WickedSide03\"Hardrock Haven: The sound on Wicked Side is traditional heavy metal with flavors of classic thrash and perhaps speed. Weren\u2019t you tempted to go for something modern, to experiment more with your sound and the arrangements?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: As I’ve already said I’m happy with the outcome, but there are still room for improvement \u2013 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 \u2013 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 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Your album is comprised of ten authorial songs plus a cover of Donna Summer\u2019s disco classic \u201cHot Stuff.\u201d What\u2019s prompted the choice of this particular cover? Was there anything challenging about it?<\/p>\n

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 \u201cHot Stuff\u201d 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 \u201cReturn of the Warlord.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: The concept of the album\u2019s cover artwork is relatively simple. How do you interpret it? <\/p>\n

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 \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cimage over substance\u201d risk?<\/p>\n

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\u2026 probably due to the fact that if it was only music they wouldn’t be able to stand out from the rest.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Heavy metal is and has always been mostly about clich\u00e9s and repetitiveness in terms of music, lyrics and even image. Do you see them as an inherent part of the genre\u2026 or perhaps, rather try to steer clear of them? <\/p>\n

Przemyslaw Przytulo: You can point out certain cliches and repetitiveness in every genre \u2013 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 \u201cindustry standards\u201d that you have to meet, whether you like it or not. One must be wary, though, not to go over the top.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Now let\u2019s move on to the topic of concerts. Do you prefer playing live to working in studio? Why?<\/p>\n

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 clich\u00e9, but it’s all about the interaction between the band and the audience, the energy, the adrenaline\u2026 Playing live is like a drug, a highly addictive one \u2013 once you start you can’t get enough of it. At the same time concerts are what separates good bands from the great ones \u2013 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. <\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 one of the first we organized ourselves, or the show we played last year at Brutal East Festival. It\u2019s 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) \u2013 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. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: What can you say about the general atmosphere and audience at your gigs? <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: During your gigs, you happen to cover classics by Slayer, Metallica or the Russian \u0410\u0440\u0438\u044f. Why do you include covers in your repertoire and do you focus on reflecting the originals or, perhaps, adding your own flavors to them?<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 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 \u201cHot Stuff\u201d on our album) we add our own twist to them. This is so much fun, it allows us literally to reinvent the song. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: What are the band\u2019s current plans related to the album\u2019s promotion?<\/p>\n

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 \u201cDo or Die\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Thanks for the interview, is there anything you\u2019d like to add?<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

Visit the band online: http:\/\/www.wickedside.org\/<\/a> \u2013 https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wickedside\/<\/a><\/p>\n

To read Wicked Side’s self-titled CD review click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Senior Columnist — Welcome to the wicked side, folks \u2013 let\u2019s hope you will enjoy the ride! Having punched the heavy metal aficionados straight in the face with their EP Welcome […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":47627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12393],"tags":[203,10480,10481,10453],"class_list":{"0":"post-47625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcint2015","8":"tag-interview","9":"tag-przemyslaw-przytulo","10":"tag-welcome-to-the-wicked-side","11":"tag-wicked-side"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}