TESSERAKT – Interview with whole band

TESSERAKT is one of the brighter shining stars of the Polish progressive music scene. A scene still which is still undervalued, but continuously proving that in this country of the Vistula river, there are people who know what their musical instruments are for and how to use them. I invite you to an interview with (from the left) Tomasz Zawadzki (drums), Adrian Małek (violin), Tomasz Kowal (bass) and Paweł Mucha (guitars).

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Hi there. So, the holidays are over and it's time to get back to work. How's business with company known as Tesserakt?

– Paweł Mucha: Warmest greetings. It's fine. We're working hard on our new material while trying to earn some money at the same time. It's not an easy task to bring business and playing in a band together if you want to take both things seriously… But we manage.

– Tomasz Zawadzki: Hello. It's really hard to call these holidays real holidays since we gave two concerts and had regular rehearsals.

Maybe to start I'll ask how you manage to connect the project which is Tesserakt with your private lives and jobs? This question may be cliche but, what I mean to say is, the kind of music you present is not the sort which MTV or RMF* will repeat hourly – and in a band you have to invest both time and money.

– Paweł Mucha: Both working and playing in a band have to coexist. Thanks to our jobs we can co-finance the band's activity and it's definitely not a piece of cake. We provide the money for the equipment, and what's more, we deliver that equipment to the concerts and also to the studio. From time to time, it can be really hard, with little time for rehearsals, and there are some financial gaps which make some of our ideas unaccomplishable for the time being, and it's a problem finding time for days off. As for myself, I have a job which I honestly like, so I don't feel mentally drained when I grab my guitar in the evening.

– Tomasz Kowal: Work is very important. It allows us to invest as well as develop musically. In some cases, our manager gives us a helping hand, our manager – the guy we can always count on, who does a really great job. I personally spend every free moment I have with my instrument.

Music – I had the pleasure of reviewing your debut album, an excellent work, where did you draw your inspiration from? The ideas in it are extremely varied, starting from jazz, british prog-rock, through thrash, ending with some hints of going towards the heavier genre of metal.

– Paweł Mucha: Thanks for your kind words. There is no one in the band that would be regarded as the main composer. We create the music together. Everyone listens to different artists – you might think, for example, that reggae and pop are incompatible with prog-metal and fusion. When we create music we don't dwell on who listens to what, often our intial assumptions are abandoned for complete extemporizing, bizarre ideas and, generally speaking, chaos.

As for inspiration, when it comes to me, I mostly listen to progressive music with a hint of jazz approaching fusion, and sometimes I listen to metal. I used to listen to a lot of classical rock with Black Sabbath and Led Zappelin leading the way. I listened with rapt attention to the guitar virtuosos, Stevie Vai, Joe Satriani and Mark Redula.

– Tomasz Kowal: I draw inspiration from everything that sorrounds me, music is everywhere, however not everyone is able to “notice” it.

– Tomasz Zawadzki: Each of us listens to something different and that's why we end up with such musical chaos, what we play is a bit like whittering on about nothing.

What are your favourite and your least liked songs in your works so far?

– Paweł Mucha: For me, Battle Royale and Mist are the best songs on the album. Battle Royale because it's the first song we created with the full team, and Mist because of the Rush-like atmosphere I tried to maintain in it. There's no song I like the least. Playing each one brings me great pleasure, that's why we created them at the first place.

– Adrian Małek: Any time I play the album, I start with Mist.

– Tomasz Zawadzki: And I'll answer the other way around, Inferno is the song I like the least.

– Tomasz Kowal: I treat all the songs equally, in each one there is something I enjoy.

Where did you get the idea of making the debut freely available for download on your website? It's a rather unusual move to make.

– Paweł Mucha: We wanted to show that you don't have to get all tense to make some good music and show it to the people. Besides, we're completely independent and we can do as we please with our works, so why not make them available for free?

– Adrian Małek: The idea was conceived long before recording the album. On the other hand, we've had good conditions to do so, it can be said that StudioAnalog is Tesserakt's annex recording studio. We can go in and start recording any time we want without being stressed about the time, money or the lack of an agreement with the contractors.

– Tomasz Zawadzki: I made it a principle to “Learn to give in order to get”. Apart from that, it's also a great way to promote ourselves.

In the meantime you've recorded two other pieces (also available on the website), one of which is dedicated to “The Witcher” PC game's fan group – Ifrit Creative Group. How did this partnership come into existance?

– Adrian Małek : Disclaimer – for now, only one of the two songs is available ;). Along with Kuba, we had started working with Ifrit, initially using them as a recording studio, getting partial soundtracks ready for their projects. After some time, “The Unknown” fell into their hands. The material really pleased them, at first there was the idea of using it in its entirety in their projects, but once everybody started thinking about things more calmly, we reached the conlusion that the material didn't fit in stylistically with the climate and time frame of the Witcher adventures. Then we agreed to write a song for the sole purpose of a trailer promoting their, at the time, largest project. Now we cooperate in many areas and it's a very nice and beneficial cooperation indeed, based on mutual help and promotion.

This, as well as adding the whole album to the re-edition of the computer game “The Witcher” is a brilliant promotional move. Your manager's abilities are enviable!

-Adrian Małek: The idea of adding “The Unknown” to the re-edition was suggested by the Ifrit Creative Group. They thought that the record was really good and that it would surely make the re-edition more appealing, so they presented it to CdProjekt. Soon after, we received a positive response and the pieces from “The Unknown” were put out with both the Polish and international re-edition.

– Paweł Mucha: If it was not for Kuba, we would not have moved forward so quickly. Apart from being the manager, he is also a great friend and that is the most important thing.

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At present you are working on a new album. Any progress? Or maybe some juicy details? 😉

– Paweł Mucha: The ideas for the record are surfacing day by day. We already had a few things that we were still working on, we have a couple of finished songs which we've decided to change and we continue to be enthusiastic about the work. We are also still working on the right sound, atmosphere and in general, on everything. We are changing our equipment, our way of playing, and we are constantly evolving. The only thing I can say about the new album is that it will be different from the first one, better and continue our progression.

– Tomasz Zawadzki: In my opinion the new album will differ a lot from the previous one, but it will definitely be better.

Last thing: concerts, as we know, are the best way to promote yourselves, from rural festivals to supporting headline performances. This is why new bands are often more interested in live performances than recording albums. How is it for you? And when will I see you in Warsaw?

– Paweł Mucha: We like to give concerts as much as recording stuff in a studio. They both involve different emotions connected with creating and showing the results. They also have one common denominator, all of us – carrying the equipment 🙂 It's hard to say when we'll be playing in Warsaw, we are trying to give concerts anywhere organizers are interested in our music.

– Tomasz Kowal: As far as concerts are concerned, it's hard to get through with this kind of music. So far we have given a couple of performances, after which people usually say that we play pieces that are hard to repeat. But not to worry, our manager has everything under control 🙂

I wish you a lot of success. Today's world is dominated by pop and electronics and we need as many such initiatives as possible of music that is as creative and out of the ordinary! Any last words for the metalcentre readers?

– Paweł Mucha: Many thanks. See you at our concerts.

– Tomasz Zawadzki: Kindest regards to all readers and also to all the fans of our music.

* A popular Polish radio station.