ANTIGAMA
INFORMATION
By: Julian Gulyas
Riding the rising tide of greater international recognition, the Polish and wider Eastern European grindcore scene has been producing killer bands by the bucket-load! At the forefront of this movement is Warsaw’s ANTIGAMA who will be releasing their fourth album and Relapse debut, Resonance, shortly as well as a split with ROT as part of the Relapse Slimewave series. Long-time fan reeee-porter Julian Gulyas had a chat with guitarist Sebastian Rokicki to get the scoop on these much-anticipated new releases!
Resound: For those unfortunate enough to be unfamiliar with your band, please give a brief description of the ANTIGAMA sound.
Sebastian Rokicki: “It’s strange, fast and heavy. It’s old school riffs mixed with spacey psychotic passages and cold atmosphere. Definitely something weird and totally fucked up.”
Resound: Krzysztof (Bentkowski)’s drumming on Resonance is unlike anything I’ve heard on a grind album before. There’s extremely varied percussive use (do I hear cowbells?), and the blast beats are almost machine-like in their precision. Tell me a bit about the drums on this album.
Rokicki: “Krzysztof is a very creative musician. He’s very open to all kinds of musical
styles and always mixes them up his own way. On Resonance his drumming is very
complex, eccentric and varied; utilizing lots of different percussive instruments. It sounds original and works great together with my riffs on the album. He’s got a pretty big drum kit so he loves to use all his gizmos instead of only having them. He’s a crazy guy for sure – I love his style, he’s one of a kind.”
Resound: Resonance seems far more straightforward than your last album Zeroland. What influenced you while writing Resonance?
Rokicki: “It’s definitely the most straightforward album of ours. The inspirations are always the same, you know: weed. It’s just that the album came out without cold calculations like ‘how to make it sound this time?’ We’ve never speculated about it, we just did our thing like we’ve always done. I think we’ve been working hard to create something you can now call the ‘ANTIGAMA sound’.
Resound: Tell me a bit about the lyrical themes on this album. Is ‘Order’ about your recent sign to Relapse?
Rokicki: “It is a song about a mental hospital. The lyrical themes on Resonance deal
with personal experiences and emotions. Lots of bizarre lines, disordered visions an
deranged poetry.”
Resound: The Polish grindcore scene appears to have been booming in the past few years. Are your surroundings influential to your music? And can we look forward to another release from HERMAN RAREBELL (A side project which includes members of ANTIGAMA & THIRD DEGREE)?
Rokicki: “I don’t think we’re influenced by anybody from here except Penderecki (a Polish composer). I’m not an expert in the Polish grindcore scene, because I don’t listen to a lot of grindcore these days. I love to play this kind of music. Of course I still listen to my old school favorites sometimes, but dealing with it all day long would be a suicide. There are a few very well known good Polish bands and a few good acts still crawling in the deep underground. There are good labels and good magazines, everything seems to pretty strong I think. Yeah, HERMAN RAREBELL will be reborn for sure! We have some plans.”
Resound: For the most part, the ANTIGAMA line-up has stayed solid over the years. Would you say that you four work well together? Do you ever see adding a second
guitarist or full-time Noise/Electronics
performer?
Rokicki: “We’re doing very well together and I don’t think we need to have a second guitar player. Of course, anything can happen in the future but at the moment it’s OK. For sure, sometimes there are ‘wars’ between us but they are very creative and helpful. Also there are some plans to make noise at our shows but Lucas (Myszkowski, vocalist) will do it without any helping hand. He loves it.”
Resound: Tell us a bit about your upcoming entry in Relapse’s SLIMEWAVE series. Are you excited to be sharing a split with legendary Brazilian grinders ROT? Were these tracks recorded in the same session as Resonance?
Rokicki: “I’m happy this EP comes out soon. It’s just the next great experience to put something out at the new label with a different and respected band on the other side of the wax. These tracks were recorded especially for this release a year before we recorded Resonance.
Resound: Are you planning any live dates? With Relapse’s help, could a U.S. tour be in the near future?
Rokicki: “I really hope so. I think we’ll be working on a European tour after our full-length album is released. Nothing is sure at the moment. A tour in US would be awesome and I hope to come to the States soon.”
Resound: ANTIGAMA has always been a very ‘progressive’ band, never sticking to any formulas. What are some of your influences outside of the grindcore realm?
Rokicki: “Too many to mention. I can speak only for myself. I’m addicted to movie soundtracks, especially old Italian dark stuff from the 70’s like Goblin, Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai and many other masters. That’s my main inspiration, and I enjoy collecting all those strange things. Of course I listen to different music too, but it’s all changing like in a kaleidoscope. It all depends on my mood, it can be old school metal, Italian disco, jazz or industrial.”
Resound: Finally, since you’ve ‘hit the big time’ with Relapse, how do you see things changing for yourself and for ANTIGAMA as a whole?
Rokicki: “I’m happy about the band’s future direction and I’m waiting impatiently for our new record. The support from Relapse has been awesome so far, so we’re very happy about all the good things going on with ANTIGAMA. The future is open, we’re coming!”
|
|
|