How are you guys? Please introduce yourself and the band?
Hello, this is Tektur, I do the vocals since fall of 2009. Misiek plays guitar since the band started in 2003, he's the sole founding member left. Lewy plays lead guitar since 2010 and both Beton on bass and Lukass on drums joined in 2011.
What kind of music do you play and why do you play it? Is there something that makes it special for you?
It's simple - we love playing metal and mixing its genres. Surely, the
main ingredient of our sound is thrash metal - the melodic kind - mixed
with many influences from other genres like melodic death, heavy or sludge
metal. It's special, because we're always trying to expand the sound and
not be labeled as a band that plays just one genre. It's hard on the
reviewers, though :)
Can you lay out the history of the Neuronia? Where you have started in terms of sound and style and where are you now?
To cut a long story short and not bore the readers, a lot changed since
the beginning in the winter of 2003. At the start, there was a jam-duo
playing rock music, then in 2005-06 it evolved to a trio playing
alternative rock and then again into a quartet playing dark, but simple
doom/death metal with thrash and rock influences, and you can hear that on
the first album. The second one, in 2009, was already more melodic, but
very eclectical and not too simplistic. We've had a few line-up changes
since 2009 and when the time came to put out our next EP in 2012, we were
playing melodic thrash with lots of heavy and melodic death metal
influences. That hasn't changed a lot since the last three years and the
new album sounds similar, only better! :)
How do you look back on the early days and your first steps with the band? Are you still able to enjoy those early tracks?
I haven't been there in the very early days of the band, but I have been
around since the recording of the second album. We have played the very
early tracks a lot of times and I must say that although it's not
completely my cup of tea, but I enjoyed playing them. We still play one
track from the debut album and it's great.
You have only one band member from the early days left. How did this have an effect on the progression of the band and the style? How does then collaboration of the band members work? Democratic, dictatorial?
Though Misiek is a leader and founding member, he's not a dictator. We've
had some bumps along the way, but now we have adopted a more democratic
stance, especially when we're discussing new arrangements. As far as
musical influences go, Misiek used to be the only one who actually composed
the riffs for the first two albums, but now Lewy and Beton bring their
riffs too and it adds not only to the complexity, but also to the
eclecticism of our music.
Your latest release Under the Same Sky had been three years in the making. Why did it take longer than the other ones? What has changed with it?
The third album is a bit of a make-or-break situation, so we had to ensure
that everything goes perfect. We practically stopped playing live to
perfect and polish the album, and that's also why it took us so long to
write and record. What has changed? The creative process is now a lot more
pluralistic and democratic, everyone has their say and that's probably why
we rate the new album as the best piece of work since the band's inception.
Can you elaborate a bit on the album title and the cover artwork? How do these work together and what do you try to express through these? Has the title a positive or rather a negative connotation?
The title has a positive connotation and the cover artwork bears the same
message - we all live under the same sky, the same laws apply to us all and
we should make it work and live together despite our differences. I'm a
realist and I know things don't work out like that for the most of the
time, but maybe someday it will.
Interesting track titles. They open a wide array of interpretation, but maybe you could enlighten us: what does your music deal with? I imagine the track Forest Fury deals with tree-hugging gone horribly wrong.
Hahaha, no, that's an instrumental homage to all the "forest boys" -
partisans who fought the occupant in Poland during World War II. A lot of
Polish soldiers went into hiding after the fall of Warsaw and continued the
struggle, mostly hiding in forests and small villages. They fought the
occupant and sabotaged his efforts, e.g. derailing transport trains heading
for the Eastern Front.Most of the other tracks deal with things happening
around us: agressive nationalism, terrorism, waging war, a government that
is deaf to people's needs, unemployment, betrayal... and the feelings they
breed: hate, fear, sadness, agression.
Do you prefer direct or rather metaphorical texts and for what reason?
As an ex-punkrocker and thrash metal fan, I always preferred to speak more
directly through my lyrics and I hope it shows. I've grown up on
politically and socially engaged music which was very direct in its
message. Hiding your message behind metaphors is good for literature or
cinema, or progressive rock/metal maybe, but not for metal. Remember
"Breakin' the Law"?
Why do you use English and not Polish for the texts?
Very simple - it's easier to write and sing in English, for me it's a lot
easier to formulate my thoughts in this language. Funny, but true.
Most of your releases have been spread by yourself? Do you prefer it this way or have you not found the proper label, yet?
It has more to do with the situation on the Polish musical market. We have
great underground labels, but they mostly deal with more extreme genres and
I realize that our music is perhaps not extreme and dark enough for them.
On the other hand, there are bigger labels dealing in metal, but they're
mostly interested in names that are already big and not in the upcoming
talent. Some of the labels are also shifting their focus to less heavy
music. We've decided to put out the album ourselves, as we did not want to
end up with a "distribution" deal, where we would have to pay for the
production of the "minimum amount" of CDs.
How can someone get in touch with you and where can someone find your music?
You can get in touch with us through our Facebook page
(http://www.fb.com/Neuronia) or e-mail (neuronia@o2.pl).As for our music, you can find most of our beforehand
releases on BandCamp (http://www.neuronia.bandcamp.com).
What would be the future plans for Neuronia?
Right now we're focusing on releasing the album and playing gigs to
promote it (probably spring/summer 2016). Currently, we don't really look
any further - we're hoping that the new album fares well and that's what we
are looking forward to right now. If the people abroad like it too, maybe
we'll have a chance to venture outside of Poland with our shows.
Closing comments if you like
Thanks for taking your time to interview us. To all the readers: keep your
local scene alive by supporting your local bands and going to concerts!
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