{"id":70194,"date":"2022-03-23T08:16:50","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T13:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=70194"},"modified":"2022-03-23T08:52:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T13:52:26","slug":"interview-with-sebastian-stodolak-of-scream-maker-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2022\/interview-with-sebastian-stodolak-of-scream-maker-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian Stodolak of Scream Maker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Does life imitate art, or does art imitate life? Since time immemorial, artists have been the voice of society \u2013 expressing its hopes, woes and sentiments as well as commenting upon reality. Sometimes these universal themes circulating within the realms of art suddenly turn out to be more accurate than the artist would have predicted in their wildest dreams… Hardrock Haven caught up with Sebastian Stodolak, the lead singer of the Polish band Scream Maker, in late January. We discussed the group\u2019s past and current shenanigans, recent line-up changes and new approach to music promotion, but little did we know then that the theme behind the group\u2019s new album BloodKing <\/em>is more of an ominous prediction of the near future than anything… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven:  Why did it take you so long to record BloodKing and what was the band up to during that time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: So, first of all, we\u2019re lazy [laughs]. But to be honest, we were quite consumed with other things, like having tours all around the world \u2013 especially in China, where we had four tours since we\u2019ve released the previous album. Also, we were consumed with our Ronnie James Dio tribute concert. And actually, when we were bound to record the album, the pandemic happened and it just slowed things down. So basically, that\u2019s one set of reasons. But other than that, we decided to record the new material ourselves… I mean, to record the instruments ourselves. It was, of course, less expensive \u2013 actually, it was for free \u2013 but it took us longer. Once you decided to record the album on your own, you don\u2019t have to rent a studio, so basically you\u2019re not forced to compress the recording time into the studio\u2019s time span. When we were recording the previous albums, we were renting a studio for one week or two weeks and working everyday \u2013 and now it looks like, \u201cOkay, Johnny [Jasiek Radosz], when do you have time for recording the vocals?\u201d And he says, \u201cOh, but this week I\u2019m pretty busy. Maybe next week…?,\u201d and so on. So also the work ethic was different this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And as you\u2019ve mentioned the COVID pandemic, obviously, what kind of impact does the ongoing pandemic have on the band\u2019s activity, the new album release and promotion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: The pandemic actually didn\u2019t hurt us in terms of our material well-being as much as it did it for the other bands, because we all live out of different sources of income than music and music is just passion and professionalized hobby for us rather than a source of income. That\u2019s the first thing. Obviously, we couldn\u2019t have as many concerts as we would like to. During lockdowns, it was impossible and during the pauses between lockdowns, it was quite limited. Also, the approach of the clubs changed when it comes to booking the shows… Fewer clubs are willing to book a show; they prefer rather to focus on, say, having a disco party than a music band playing \u2013 even more so with rock band, a heavy metal band especially. So that\u2019s the other thing that changed during the pandemic. The business model of the clubs is less friendly towards younger or smaller bands which don\u2019t have much recognition. And in terms of recording [the new album], well… maybe it gave us a bit more time and there was no hurry because nobody was waiting for shows [laughs]. So we could work a bit longer on lyrics and the arrangements, and eventually we\u2019ve put fifteen tracks on the new album, including the intro \u2013 so that\u2019s over an hour of music and that\u2019s a lot. That somehow shows that maybe the pandemic was kind of a moment of relax for the band that allowed us to work harder and in greater detail on new music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Right. And speaking about these pauses between lockdowns, when you could play limited gigs in Poland under several restrictions, how much of a nuisance it actually was?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: So, the first set of shows that we played during the pandemic was in August and September 2020. It was the end of the summer and it was right before the second lockdown [in Poland]. We\u2019ve managed to play an outdoor Dio tribute concert during that time \u2013 we did it, but it was funny when it comes to these obligations to wear masks that clubs required the audience to obey. People were really wearing those masks for the first two or maybe three songs, but after they drank a little beer and after they just relaxed a bit, all masks usually went down and nobody cared about that anymore. There was no control, nobody checked it and nobody cared. But it would be really strange if people were able to keep the masks throughout the whole heavy metal show, I\u2019d say. I mean, it\u2019s emotionally incoherent attitude. It\u2019s impossible psychologically. So naturally, they all got their masks down and this image is a memory of those times. And like I said, we had no problem with sanitary officials and no police control during the shows. I consider it to be a good thing, because \u2013 you know, art and music, and playing live, are also important for health. Not only physical health is important, but also having contact with each other and having a lifestyle you\u2019re into is probably even more important than just staying alive for one more day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: True. And obviously, Scream Maker used to be an all male band, since 2019 female guitarist Ada Kaczanowska joined the band. With her leaving just recently and the new guitarist joining in, how do you think such changes influences the dynamic within the band?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Well, to be honest, the position of a second guitar player in our band is always a revolving-door kind of thing… in constant rotation since ever. But the rest of the line-up is stable, so the drums, the bass, Michal [Wrona] as the guitarist, me as the singer… that doesn\u2019t change. We\u2019re still searching for the right second guitarist and I hope that Bartek [Ziolkowski] who joined our band is this right one. And according to all indications, it is really so… but given our previous experience, I will just wait with expressing my final judgment. When it comes to Ada, we played with her for two years and actually had invited her into the band. Before Scream Maker, she\u2019s never been in a band situation, so it was a new experience for her and as you said, we\u2019ve never had a girl in our band, so that was also a new experience for us. And it was quite cool. We got along quite well together, even though we didn\u2019t play that many shows together and we didn\u2019t spend that much time together due to the pandemic. We didn\u2019t have a lot of rehearsals and so on and so forth and maybe it contributed to not creating too much of a bond between us… Now she decided to go back to her, say, own music as she\u2019s never composed a lot of her own material and she wanted to do it now, so she wanted to have more time for her to focus on that task. And you know, we wish her all the best and I can\u2019t wait to hear her songs. Let\u2019s see what the girl could do. I mean, she\u2019s a cool girl and a great guitarist, so I\u2019m sure it will be something worth listening to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely. And what should we know about Ada\u2019s replacement in Scream Maker, Bartek Ziolkowski?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: I have, like, thousands of musicians among my Facebook friends and I really can\u2019t tell where I got to know every single one of them. He was one of those guys I\u2019ve just had among my friends and he was one of those guys that were constantly posting some videos of them playing the guitar on their Facebook profiles, so I knew that he plays very well and that he didn\u2019t have a band. So, when Ada decided to leave Scream Maker, Bartek was my first choice. I just dropped him a line asking whether he wanted to try [it], to check out the material and see if he likes it \u2013 and he liked it, especially the material for the new album. So that\u2019s how he joined the band. And he\u2019s a music teacher, he teaches guitar playing, so could we ask for anyone better? The first show that we played, a DIO tribute show in Cracow, he performed two or three songs with us, looked good onstage and was having fun. He\u2019s not one of those guys who just hold their guitar and keep on standing and not moving and looking at their fingers… He\u2019s not one of them \u2013 he\u2019s just having fun as if he had thousand years of experience with live shows. That\u2019s all we know about him so far and time will tell \u2013 as always with people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Exactly, but at least for now, the future looks pretty bright. And what was the songwriting and recording process like when it comes to the new album?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Of course, all the riffs are written by Michal [Wrona], all the lyrics are written by me and the process… ha! Some of these songs were quite old \u2013 we had them in our vault of unpublished songs for a long time. Some of them were new, and some are recycled from what we did in the past and were not very pleased with, so we worked on them. So, basically this is not like we spent one month composing songs and then five years recording them [laughs]. This process was much longer and much more dispersed over time. But when it came to recording \u2013 and that\u2019s an interesting thing \u2013 we had a short break \u2018cause our drummer had some other things to do and we hired Jakub Mikulski to play the drums on the recording. He used to play with us for half a year… it was 2012, I guess, or maybe 2013…? I don\u2019t remember exactly, as it was quite a long time ago. Anyway, he used to play with us back in the day. He\u2019s a professional drummer and a session musician, living out of his drums, so he did it perfectly, but then Tomek [Sobieszek] came back and things stabilized. Also, Przemek Nalazek, who played with us for some time, did two tracks on the new album… So, a lot of musicians that are not in the band anymore contributed to the recording and that\u2019s an interesting thing about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Do you think it had any impact on the music itself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Well, you can tell the difference between the drumming of Przemek and the drumming of Jakub, so for sure. They did the arrangement for the drums \u2013 of course, with our guidance, \u2018cause Jasiek and Michal had their own vision of how drum lines should be composed for each specific song… but it was their playing, their skills and their technique. So, that\u2019s the difference. And actually, people are noticing that we have this different approach to drumming on the new album, especially on the songs recorded by Jakub. It\u2019s more complex drumming… like, you know, there are those shredders among guitarists, so Jakub is a kind of a shredder among drummers [laughs]. He\u2019s very, very technical. His favorite drummer is Mike Mangini from Dream Theater, so that tells a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Yeah, absolutely. And when listening to the album, it\u2019s obvious that the band\u2019s core style haven\u2019t changed that much, but on the other hand, there\u2019s been much development between Back Against the World<\/em>  [2016] and BloodKing<\/em>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: I think so. Of course, we\u2019re still a heavy metal band \u2013 we\u2019re not a death metal band, or thrash metal [band]. But I think the variety of music on the new album is much greater than on Back Against the World <\/em>or our first album. For sure, half of the songs on the new record are much heavier and darker than any of the songs on the previous albums. And I\u2019m not talking only about the fast tracks like \u201cBloodking\u201d or \u201cEnd of the World\u201d, but also slower ones \u2013 for example, \u201cTears of Rage\u201d or \u201cCandle in the Wind\u201d, which is one of the saddest songs I\u2019ve ever written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So could you say more not only about this particular song, but the whole album, taking us through it track by track?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first track, \u201cInvitation,\u201d is an instrumental intro \u2013 just introducing a listener to the album, with no lyrics and a very short length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMirror, Mirror\u201d is a single and you can watch a music video to it on our YouTube channel [see below]. The song lyric-wise speaks about digital dictatorship… You know, these science-fiction writers used the theme where the Artificial Intelligence takes over the world and people are slaves, like in \u201cMatrix,\u201d or it\u2019s aliens taking over the world… But in my vision, it\u2019s not the AI or aliens or computers that are the threat to humanity, it\u2019s other people that could use technologies against others. Especially I\u2019m talking about people in power \u2013 the political power \u2013 who are able to use various inventions and innovations against the citizens. So, when you take China as an example \u2013 it\u2019s a perfect one. You have a total control of the information flow there, and that\u2019s a very dangerous thing. In China, they can make you disappear in an instant \u2013 physically, but also in terms of public appearance, which is basically in the Internet right now. So, that\u2019s it when it comes to the lyrics of \u201cMirror, Mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next one is \u201cBloodking\u201d, a title track. The thing is, the whole album has a general theme of power and of abuse of power and while maybe not all songs are focused on that, the majority of them are. And \u201cBloodking\u201d is exactly about that. It actually refers to that Lord Acton quote, \u201cPower tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.\u201d So, this titular Bloodking is a universal figure who symbolizes the inner self of every ruler, whether it\u2019s a dictator of an authoritarian regime or even a democratic government. They all have this Bloodking inside that tends to reveal himself under favorable circumstances. Of course, it\u2019s easier for Bloodking to rule, when you have no rule of law, so there are more Bloodkings in Africa than in Europe right now, but it takes a fitting occasion only for Bloodking to come out and rule in Europe, and every politician and every government could reveal the Bloodking that resides in them. The pandemic is a perfect study of it \u2013 in an instant, the liberties and freedom were taken away from people and the explanation was that it was all for their good. Well, maybe it was, but still it was very scary when you could be banned from leaving your home because some politician says so. That\u2019s pretty scary for me. So that\u2019s the track\u2019s main theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Our Fight is Over\u201d starts with a quotation from Macbeth<\/em>, a character\u2019s comment upon the futility of human life. Everybody knows Macbeth<\/em>, so I won\u2019t dwell on that, but it\u2019s basically this \u2013 you strive for getting into power and ruling other people throughout your entire life so as to fulfill your ambition as a politician. And then, in the end, maybe when you\u2019re dying and you see the futility of this endeavor, you ask yourself, \u201cWhat was it for? What was the point?\u201d So this is this moment when the truth just reveals itself to you and you see how stupid, poor and nonsensical your struggle for power was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnd of the World\u201d is one of those songs that are not directly related to the main theme of the album. It\u2019s just about those inner demons that tend to torture everyone of us from time to time… Some people just don\u2019t see the light at the end of the tunnel, so they decide to do very stupid or radical things, like \u2013 for example \u2013 end their lives. So, it\u2019s a song about the inner struggle that everybody has lived through \u2013 hopefully, live through. From time to time, it\u2019s an inevitable part of our life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next one is \u201cScream Maker,\u201d a total opposite of the previous track. The song was written to cheer us up, to make us believe in ourselves and that the better day could come. The power is in us and if we just get together, we could have really bright future ahead of us. And that\u2019s Michal\u2019s favorite track \u2013 his absolute favorite. He wanted to have this track with a title which is the same as the band name, \u2018cause every respected heavy metal band has one song like that and he kept saying we need to have it. \u201cOkay,\u201d I\u2019d say. \u201cWhy not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHitting the Wall\u201d… I guess it\u2019s also about inner struggles and breaking something to build something new. I\u2019m hoping that breaking something would lead us to develop a new approach to life or a new kind of life… Maybe this belief\u2019s deceptive, maybe it\u2019s not like that and maybe people cannot build on the destruction. But the song is exactly about that \u2013 destroying something that wasn\u2019t you and you\u2019ve been building this throughout the years, whether it was a relationship or personal life, or professional life, or something else and trying to build something new and [wondering] if it\u2019s maybe better to stick to what you\u2019ve got and try to fix it instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJoin the Mob\u201d… While we\u2019re showing the bad sides of the political power [on the album] and this inner feature of corruption that\u2019s ingrained in the very concept of political power, on the other hand we try to show we\u2019re not puppets \u2013 not helpless puppets. We can rebel against the abuse of power and we should do it. We\u2019re slaves as long as we agree to be them. Once we unite, once we say loudly \u201cNo,\u201d there\u2019s a chance that the dictator, the ruler… the abuser will be defeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDie In Me\u201d… [laughs] That\u2019s one of those songs that true heavy metal bands should not sing and I remember [Ronnie James] Dio saying that he didn\u2019t like to sing about love. So [\u201cDie In Me\u201d] is probably about love, but in a Dio-esque way. You know, maybe in Rainbow it was different, but in the DIO band he never sang about love as something positive. It was always presented as something very disappointing. So I guess that this is it. This is a sad song about love, a really dark one, I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Well, Dio would be proud then! So onto the next one, \u201cPowerlust\u201d…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: With this one, we\u2019re coming back to the main theme of the album, and while I was talking about \u201cJoin the Mob\u201d being about rebellion, \u201cPowerlust\u201d depicts the moment when the rebellion begins and when you have this coward in power trying to escape the mob that is going after him and trying to hunt him down… and actually, his time will come and he will be punished. So this song is about all those guys that wanted to rule the others, but others just came after them eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTears of Rage\u201d… ha! [laughs] You can interpret this song in many ways, but my interpretation and something I had in mind when I was writing the lyrics \u2013 which I don\u2019t know if I still feel in the exact same way \u2013 was the series of choices that we\u2019re making in our lives, \u2018cause life consists of choices obviously. And those choices are defining us. So every choice that you make, it kind of limits the other possible choices. So if you make a mistake, that probably limits you even more. And this song is about a series of choices that are mistakes and it\u2019s about building your own hell \u2013 your own prison \u2013 that you can\u2019t escape. It\u2019s about a series of self-enforced bad decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPetrifier\u201d… Since I guess 2017 or 2018, during our shows we play a cover of \u201cNo Surrender\u201d by Judas Priest off their last album Firepower<\/em>. And this \u201cPetrifier\u201d song is composed in the same manner \u2013 it\u2019s short, energetic expression of feelings of people subdued by the power of this [titular] bad guy. They\u2019re just telling him, \u201cYou\u2019ve just petrified us. You\u2019ve just made us your slaves. What can we do? Your power is stronger than us. We can\u2019t do anything. We are doomed\u201d And that nicely contrasts with the happy melody of the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCandle in the Wind\u201d is the one that I\u2019ve told you about before… one of the saddest songs I\u2019ve ever written. Some time ago, I\u2019ve met a friend that I knew for a very short time. When I met her \u2013 this girl named Magda \u2013 she was just recovering from cancer and she was on her way to full recovery. Then she was about 28 or 27, something like that. She was about to finish her PhD in Polish Philology and she was very happy about that. I was actually one of the first people that she met after she started to recover. I drank a beer with her or so once, and then we weren\u2019t in touch anymore. I didn\u2019t know what happened because I just had her number and her e-mail address \u2013 nothing else. She didn\u2019t have a Facebook [profile] like many other people suffering from cancer… they just erase all their social media, so she didn\u2019t have social media at all. I didn\u2019t have a contact with her for a long time \u2013 for months \u2013 but was thinking about her from time to time, thinking how she is doing. And I remember once going back home from somewhere \u2013 I don\u2019t remember from where… I only remember I was preparing to record a cover version of Deep Purple\u2019s \u201cLove Conquers All\u201d for a friend, which you can find in the Internet by the way. It was December 2019, I guess. I remember I was listening to this song and a thought just popped up about Magda. I started to search her name in Google engine and I\u2019ve just limited the search results to the last month \u2013 and I found out that she\u2019s dead and she died of cancer. And this was the day before her funeral, so I went to her funeral and when I saw an urn with her ashes there… that was really striking for me. I knew her as a young woman, who was very cheerful and happy and very intelligent \u2013 and who was just coming back to life after a very bad disease, and the second or the third time I met her, I \u2018met\u2019 her in this urn… So it was really difficult for one to digest. And the song is about her \u2013 that she was just taken too early from this Earth. A lot of people deserve to be taken earlier, not people like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely. So do you think writing songs like this one can actually be a cathartic experience \u2013 can be therapeutic in a way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: I don\u2019t believe that [laughs]. I don\u2019t believe that. Maybe for a while, but that doesn\u2019t work in a long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Yeah… So that was a very sad story indeed. The title of the next song on the album is \u201cBrand New Start,\u201d which somehow sounds a bit more optimistic…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Right. That\u2019s the optimistic song. And well, there\u2019s something philosophical about that \u2013 that you have to eradicate all of the evil from your life \u2013 or at least you have to try. Whether you succeed or not, that\u2019s the other story, but you have to try. And now we\u2019re just trying to have this brand new start, a little bit every day. That\u2019s the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Right. And the very last track is \u201cToo Late\u201d…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: It is, unless it\u2019s too late for it [laughs]. When it\u2019s too late, it\u2019s too late and there\u2019s nothing to say about that then \u2013 so we\u2019d better start early [laughs].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Recently you posted on social media that in spite of poor financial gain, artists should see potential in streaming when it comes to promotion. Is your attitide and the band\u2019s attitude really that positive when it comes to Spotify and other similar platforms all the bands are complaining about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Yeah, and I\u2019m going to defend it. Every artist complaining about streaming is an artist that\u2019s already earned his position and a lot of money out of music. I\u2019ve never met a young musician saying, \u201cWell, this fucking Spotify just ruins me financially…\u201d Never. I follow a lot of musicians on Facebook or Instagram and I see all that complaining coming from the stars… my idols, people that I admire. That\u2019s just self-serving \u2013 they want to preserve the position. And well, I\u2019m not saying that streaming is all perfect, because, you know, there are no perfect things in life… but compared to the \u201890s or the early 2000s, when you had this huge problem with piracy, this problem is no more thanks to streaming service. Of course, you have all these intermediaries between the artists and the streaming services that are taking the revenue, but I guess they\u2019ll vanish with time \u2018cause they\u2019re totally useless. You know, with technology that allows an artist to place their work directly on streaming services, they won\u2019t need the service of the intermediaries. And intermediaries are really shitty thing… You know how long it takes just to break a deal with a company that places your music on streaming services…? One year! Twelve months… You have to tell them twelve months in advance before it expires and that\u2019s an unusual thing for business to have a twelve-month expiry date. So that\u2019s the symbol of how dysfunctional it is. But it will change with technology, I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Definitely. And speaking about social media, recently it was revealed you\u2019re going to utilize TikTok as yet another promotional tool for the band. What\u2019s your experience with TikTok so far and do you think it works for a heavy metal band Scream Maker?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: I guess we\u2019ll have to put a lot more effort into this TikTok thing, \u2018cause we managed to upload only one video [laughs], so I cannot really tell whether it works or not. But observing the evolution of the Internet, social media is the only way… Maybe it\u2019s not like TikTok is the only way, but the only way is to follow the new trends and use them as tools for promotion. And just try to get as much as you can out of them, \u2018cause Facebook is losing its utility for the band in [terms of] promotion, for example. Back in the day, it was very easy to invite a lot of people to your concert via Facebook. These days, you have a limit of 500 for each event and you can\u2019t even choose people from the respective city, so you have to spam people in order to invite them and that makes them annoyed and irresponsive. So Facebook is not good for bands anymore, I guess \u2013 you have to pay to be visible. I really dream of a day when somebody offers us, musicians, a really viable platform for sharing our music with fans. Again, like MySpace back in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Oh yeah, it was probably the best social media out there back in the day… So, yet about TikTok \u2013 as it\u2019s mostly a teenagers\u2019 thing, and some young adults perhaps, do you think it can contribute to more kids listening to rock and metal if used properly by the rock and metal bands?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Well, I think there\u2019s something more to that. The music tastes of the current young generation are defined by something else than this bottom-up marketing of metal bands. That\u2019s general culture that defines what people are listening to. And these days, metal or rock music is kind of marginalized. Well, I\u2019m sitting in a bar right now, talking to you, and looking at something called the Music Box on some TV music channel. And there\u2019s no rock song during the whole hour of our interview, even though there was a lot of different styles rotating in this program. Rock was not there and metal was not there. That\u2019s not our culture anymore. So we\u2019re the elite \u2013 people who are listening to rock and metal are the elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Scream Maker. Photo credits [band photo and Sebastian’s photo] – Mateusz Zelnik<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: There\u2019s something very true about that! [laughs] And yet another thing that simply wasn\u2019t around the last time we talked are YouTube reactions to songs and albums. Do you think they will replace traditional music reviews altogether?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: That might be the case, actually. And they could replace it, because traditional reviews are not scalable, I guess. People are not sharing [them]. Actually, I\u2019ve never seen any of my Facebook friends sharing a music review. Never [laughs]. Like, I cannot really remember any case like that. But I remember a lot of people sharing YouTube reactions. So that\u2019s the sign of the times. And actually, what\u2019s wrong about that…? You can see whether the reaction is sincere or not. That\u2019s painted in people\u2019s faces. You can see if it\u2019s just a fake smile or not. And when you read the review written by some guy you don\u2019t know, then you cannot trust it. Because you know, all the music magazines… they publish the reviews of albums sent by record labels they\u2019re co-operating with, or the promoters they\u2019re co-operating with. So it\u2019s not something you can trust. Do you think that, for example, if you have a Metal Hammer <\/em>issue and you read the reviews there… are these reviews all honest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Well, everyone knows the truth…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Influencers are the way now, not the traditional reviewers. People are not reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Exactly, so what do you \u2013 especially as you\u2019re a journalist yourself \u2013 think is the future of music journalism and do you think bands like Scream Maker still need us scribes, especially that you can promote yourself independently from any media now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Well… [longer pause] I can tell you that when we published a video right now, there were like twenty five music outlets from all around the world, posting the news about this release. And there were three Twitter influencers who are not connected to music at all but I know them personally, so they just shared the video on their Twitter feed. And when I looked at the statistics on YouTube, those three people had in total much higher reach than those twenty five music outlets. That says a lot. And it\u2019s not that the music journalism will vanish… it will transform. Like, for example, into these reaction guys or influencers using these various new inventions on social platforms and new channels. But traditional music journalism, I guess, it will vanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Probably yes, so this makes us the last of a dying breed…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: But now onto something else \u2013 as you\u2019ve mentioned, alongside the regular band activity, you continue on organizing annual Ronnie James Dio tribute gigs. As it\u2019s been already more than seven years since we met on the very first Dio tribute back in 2014, what would you say were the highlights and lowlights of the whole venture so far?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: I can tell only about the highlights. I don\u2019t see any lowlights and any downsides of hosting and organizing this kind of tribute. Meeting a lot of new people and making a lot of new friends is just really uplifting… Especially when we do the final concert every year on the Sopot beach and it\u2019s for free and acoustic, after we finish all these electric club tributes. So many people from all around the country are coming there, so it\u2019s all about friendship. I guess to manage to build a Dio community here in Poland is a big task, but it\u2019s really loyal [community]. And these are real people listening to real music and putting real emotion into it. Knowing the songs, knowing the lyrics… In Cracow [in January 2022], I saw a young girl standing in a front row, dancing and singing the lyrics… After a show I asked her, \u201cHow come such a young girl knows the lyrics to all the songs, also the Rainbow songs and so on…?\u201d And she was like, \u201cWell, it\u2019s just that I found this music years ago and I loved it, and I\u2019m now the doctor \u2013 the surgeon \u2013 treating people. So this music gives me some space just to rest and to have some escape from my very difficult profession.\u201d So people like that are building this community and that\u2019s very good and that fills me with hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Right, and what do you plan for 2022 when it comes to the Dio tribute? Anything you can reveal so far, or maybe we have to wait…?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: The Dio schedule is disrupted by the pandemic. We used to play in May, but then the pandemic made us switch to September… now we played a Dio show in January… [laughs] So I hope we\u2019ll be able to organize a Dio tribute this year, but I can\u2019t tell what time of the year [laughs]. It also depends a lot on the Omicron thing and the development of the pandemic, which you can\u2019t really predict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Unfortunately. So if everything goes well \u2013 this year, but also thinking about the future, is there anyone you dreamt to invite for the Dio tribute but haven\u2019t shared the stage with yet? Just a reminder for the readers that the past guests included Alessandro Del Vecchio, David Reece or Dino Jelusick…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: There\u2019s a lot of people I\u2019d like to see performing at my Dio gig. What about David Readman singing Dio…? What about Jorn Lande singing Dio…? I guess it\u2019s possible. Everything is possible. And maybe Dino again, \u2018cause now he\u2019s Dino from Whitesnake [laughs], so there\u2019s quite an another thing than Dino from Animal Drive… [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely! [laughs] There\u2019s much more prestige after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: And he\u2019s really one of the best guys I\u2019ve met in business. I mean, Alessandro, Dino and David are a perfect match for us \u2013 they\u2019re friends with us still and they\u2019re co-operative and friendly towards us and the initiative of the Dio tribute. I\u2019m still in contact with all of them. And one of the best thing about music is the real friendship coming out of it… You know, musicians tend to use the word \u2018friendship\u2019 a lot and there were times when I doubted whether it\u2019s sincere, but I guess it is. Much more than in any other profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: From my perspective, I\u2019d probably agree with you on that. And in general, what are Scream Maker\u2019s plans for 2022 and is there anything else any of you is up to artistically beyond the band schedule?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sebastian Stodolak: As usual, our main plan and goal is to conquer the world. Probably we will fail again [laughs], but we don\u2019t really care [laughs]. It\u2019s all about trying, right…? We want to play as many shows as we can and maybe start working on the new album… although now we\u2019re focused on the promoting the newly released one. And when it comes to that and touring, we\u2019re open to any show opportunity, any festival opportunity… we could go anywhere where there\u2019s a welcoming heavy metal audience… even at the other end of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Visit Scream Maker online: Official Website<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Watch the video to “Mirror, Mirror”, the first single off Scream Maker’s new album Bloodking:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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