1. Hail, first of all, tell us why you play Black Metal and what the band's name means to you?
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Ah this is a long story! But to summarize, this is my open gate to a wild journey within and without.
Something I’ve never spoken about, and only a few knew the story, I have been very lucky to have met Quorthon in person several times when I was kid (France and Sweden is not far apart). I will always remember how he strongly believed in his artistic vision, a real example of what music identity is, definitely a great musician who never gave up on his own very personal direction, not even a ounce. I had learned a lot from him,and I will always be thankful to have spawned the flame in me. The band’s name describes my own fight to transcend everything, in a nutshell…
2. You started in 2019, your first album "That which is Not" in 2023 and such a success! What made you wait so long to create a band and such a - in my opinion - perfect album?
Thank you very much. I generally work for bands and solo artists, as a session guitar player and sometimes composer, it’s often a lot of work. I had a precise concept in mind but couldn’t really find the time. One night during a conversation with Matt Thompson (King Diamond), he asked me to send one track from the demo. A few days later, he sent me a video with him playing on the track, this was impressive and really motivating, so it definitely was the time to do something ASAP. As you might already guess, Matt was busy with his artistic responsibilities, and I contacted David Sikora, excellent drummer from the band Krigsgrav, who worked on the tracks quite fast and in a perfect way.
3. There are two of you! My question: is this enough or are you thinking about enlarging the band ?
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Trust me, in this business, less is more! I have always loved minimalistic formations like Darkthrone, Satyricon, for instance. The work goes fast, not having to rely on a lot of people, no time wasted in waiting forever . I believe that the following albums will keep this way of working.
4. It's a pity you don't give concerts. Are you involved in other bands?
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This was a real hell to find a serious and dedicated bass player in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, able understand the structures of the songs, reliable, and definitely not taking all this as a hobby… The band is supposed to be a ‘Power Trio’, and the keyboard parts when any are performed by a sampler synchronised with the drummer. Hopefully Discorporate will hit the stage someday.
5. You live in the USA, you come from Europe. May I ask why you live in Texas?
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My wife is Texan.
6. Back to music. What was the sound like on your album? Was there a lot of interest and how were the reviews, interviews and sales of the album?
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Not sure if you ask me about the recording process, but I’ll say it anyway (haha) : this album has been mixed and mastered by JT Longoria, producer for King Diamond, Absu, and many more. I still thank him today for having understood my vision for this album. The beginning was quite painful to be honest. Not getting answers from labels in time, I decided to start to run everything on my own publishing company. It was a lot of exhausting work. Slowly, reviews were starting to happen, this was encouraging to see that they were very positive, besides the fact that I knew how the album would be sometimes received (as an “alien”, unfortunately…), which had the band sell quite a good amount of albums. Now, and this is my weakness for now, many people in Europe wanted the physical copy of the album and some merch, but the shipping rate is too high, even with the best companies. So they were getting the digital version instead. I am currently looking for a distribution in Europe.
7. I like this style, like from 1995/96. Did your interest and growing up at that time influenced it?
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Definitely, and I don’t think it could even go in a different way. Many albums released today are very linear and abstract in my opinion. I simply cannot imagine a track without a theme, short hints to introduce another part coming later in a song, bridges, the list is long! I definitely owe this a lot to Mercyful Fate/King Diamond, Voivod, and Coroner.
8. I must admit that there are quite few groups from the USA playing Black Metal, hhmm I can't compare with the scene from Norway or South America. Is Death Metal still on top in the US along with crap like Metallica and Slayer?
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You know, I am the annoying guy when it comes to such question (haha), because my world is constantly about listening to my numerous old albums, anything new I listen to is coming from the bands I already knew, and the rest of the time I am deeply involved into making music. it’s just me, once you find your “dynamo”, you stick to it. But yes, a lot of Death Metal bands are around Texas. This is maybe not as exciting as it was back in the years I would say, but some bands are able to have a real identity and stand out, like I the band Obelus, for instance, in Dallas.
9. What inspires you (you) to write texts that say - what do they talk about? and where do you absorb the power and spirit of darkness?
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In this first album, I explored the Vedic world, seen from a dark perspective. My experiences and work are personal, but Raja Yoga has always been important to me ( not the average ‘mom’s yoga’…). “There”, anything good or bad happening depends on you, and this is how I actually see the universe working. The album title, “That Which Is Not”, is the meaning of the name Shiva, the third phase of existence, which is destruction. This was a real and deep symbolic journey to me. All along the album, I am telling the story about a man transcending this dual material life, which is having us encounter its basic mechanisms of good and evil (this “God Vs Satan” situation…), realized that he literally dwells in a cosmic prison, will escape the principle of reincarnation, and becomes his own awaken being on another plane (Hence the song Cosmic Fugitive, starting the album). There is a lot of symbolism in my description, of course. I am not religious, only a seeker. On this note, the sigil on the album cover has been created by Nornagest of Enthroned, depicting the Shiva symbol into the chaos star. I was amazed when I saw it for the first time, as it was describing everything this album was about. This long sailing on this cosmic ocean, no matter where it brings us. Now this is said, there is another meaning about all this in the album, quite hidden, but this also was to describe the need to break any “artistic dogmas”.. Metal is supposed to be about freedom, reflecting your own true self, and using sounds and notes in order to extract all this. So you’ll understand that copying the other, and this for the reason that “it will work great for what record labels are demanding” is total bullshit. Your band is your own identity and entity. This first album was my strong statement.
10. Finally, thank you for your time, I'm waiting for the new album and for now I will listen to these at night, walking through dark streets, thick forests and around cemeteries. Continue to follow the path of the left hand, lead us along it, away from the light and closer to the darkness, towards the gates of hell. Hail Discorporate. Your message to fans!
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Thank you very much for this interview. I have a lot of respect for the Metal Heads from Poland, great scene and very passionate fans, and hopefully we will see you around!
