THY DISEASE
Interview with Cube (synths)
Q>>
Hi guys! Well, the first thing I have to do is congratulate you for the killer
new album that you released a couple of months ago... How did the media and
the fans react so far?
A>> The grades are very high and the opinions of fans are generous either,
but the strange thing is that the least enthusiastic country is Poland. I mean,
the reviews are quite good here also, but nobody here is quite as interested
in us here as they are all over Europe. It's a shame, because we can't get rid
of the feeling that there are still many people in our home country who haven't
had the opportunity to get to know our stuff.
Q>> I heard
some more keyboard sounds/effects on "Cold Skin Obsession"... Is it
possible that you're going to evolve towards a more atmospheric genre in the
future?
A>> If the aim of your question is to make sure whether or not we are
going to make our music less aggressive and brutal the answer is very simple:
NO (sorry for the capital letters but I couldn't have done without them). I,
as a keyboardist, am quite furious with all the sweetness of keyboard sound
on Black Metal albums and that's why my sound is rough, cold and synthetic.
Some people often consider that a step towards techno or something like this
yet it is definitely not. I always wanted the keyboards to sound as aggressive
as other instruments and that's the path I'll always be trying to explore in
Thy Disease.
Q>> Your
music may be compared with Behemoth, Morbid Angel, Vader and lots of other big
bands. Do you think you're missing out on something compared to them? Do you
believe in fate or do you believe in "you always get what you deserve"?
A>> The only thing we're missing is their budget. If we had theirs, you
definitely wouldn't have to ask this question. The other thing is that we weren't
given what we now have (and it's still not much) because we were lucky, but
because we deserve it. Our future achievements will definitely confirm that
we deserve even more and we won't hesitate about attaining that. But I think
it's a weird question, because fate is not necessarily luck and thus the possession
of what we do deserve might as well be a part of our fate…
Q>> How does
Thy Disease come up with a song? Do you have a typical way to compose or do
you work all together and see what comes out of jamming and stuff?
A>> We're not a Jazz band so we don't jam. All the compositions are mine
and Yannuary's. We're both different musical individuals and this is, in my
opinion, what gives Thy Disease its uniqueness. If we did it separately, I don't
think it would be worth as much. The funny thing is that the composition of
"Cold Skin Obsession" took us not longer than 2 months. We compose
stuff rapidly and that is also how we record it. There is no space for unnecessary
hesitations in our music. If we do start composing, then we're sure that the
stuff we have in our heads is thought through. We don't write music ad hoc.
Q>> Do you
get involved in the recording and mixing process of the album or do you leave
the sound engineers to their job?
A>> We get involved. As a matter of fact our producer is also a good friend
of ours (he is a guitarist in my second band, Delight), which makes our work
very comfortable and light. We always know what sound we want and our producer
does everything he can to satisfy us.
Q>> What
do you think of nowadays' Polish Metal scene? Is it still the same as it was
ten years ago or did things change on one level or another?
A>> As for the Metal scene, we have a lot of very significant and talented
bands still in the underground, like: Atrophia Red Sun, Retribution and many
others. But I belive their time will come soon, just as ours came. The important
fact is that Polish bands are beginning to step out of the shadow of Vader,
which used to cover our entire scene once. People are thinking more and more
independently about their music and that's a step towards a very powerful Metal
scene.
Q>> Not all
fans appreciate Extreme Metal as you guys play it. Do you think it's only because
the music is so violent? I heard many people just don't like the vocals in both
Death and Black Metal... What do people say to you when they don't like what
you play?
A>> That's none of my business. We play for those who can appreciate it
and don't give a damn about those who hate us, scorn us or are jealous of us.
Fuck them. We have an awful lot of friends who don't like Black/Death Metal,
but to them it's just a matter of likes and dislikes. They don't create general
theses about our music; they simply have other tastes.
Q>> How is
the average Polish Metal fan? Are they supportive of the bands coming from their
own country or do they prefer all those big bands coming from the West?
A>> I think they respect their "national teams" as well as the
abroad ones. The problem is with the concerts. People prefer to watch foreign
bands to Polish ones and that's why Polish bands don't appear as often as they
could, so they're not paid well.
Q>> You covered
the "The Last Of The Mohicans" soundtrack... It's pretty original.
I personally like it very much. How did that idea come up?
A>> We are very keen on film soundtracs, so one day we decided to record
a cover of one and we chose "The last of the Mochicans", as we all
liked it very much. It was a bit tiring for me, because I had to arrange the
entire harmony basing myself only on our five instruments, but in the end the
result was quite OK.
Q>> You also
covered "Without Judgement" and did it pretty well... Again, why that
choice?
A>> I wouldn't call it a cover. I'd rather say "a tribute".
When you play a cover, the song becomes your own in a sense; you rearrange it
and add your own ideas freely, like we did with Madonna or "The Last of
the Mochicans". We didn't want to do the same with Death. We played it
with very little "flavors" of our own, because we just wanted to show
that Chuck influenced us to a great extent and that we owe him a lot. You see,
we all grew up listnening to Death and although Thy Disease plays very differently
now, we once looked up to this band.
Q>> If there's
something you wanna add, feel free...
A>> I'd like to greet all those in your country, who happened to meet
with our music and all those who still may do it. We thank you for your support,
and I hope we'll be able to present you our music live someday. Thanks for the
interview.
RNO