Katrzyna Rogalska and Magda Lakowska talked to Przemek Myszor (Myslovitz guitarist and keyboard player).

Kasia Rogalska: Myslovitz is currently preparing new material for a new album. It's been a long time. Is it difficult to pull yourself together again or do you have lots of energy to work on new ideas?

Przemek Myszor: Well rather lots of energy. We don't have to pull ourselves together. When you play your "old" music for a long time, you have enough of it at some point and you want to do new things. We were waiting impatiently to start working on new songs. We didn't plan that it will take so much time. The truth is the last premiere material was the"Korova Milky Bar" album, which was recorded at the same time as "Skalary" (2001/2002). Since then we had "Korova" in English released. This period made us less tolerant for the old songs. Now we really want to record this album. We are full of energy.

Magda Laskowska: And what are the dates? When can we expect the new album?

PM: We're not sure yet. There is the deadline though - we want it to be out before December 4th. Everything is taking more time and we go into the studio in July. We had given the first date up in April because we had two moths off after the "West" tours. We only started working in February.

KR: Did the last CD "Skalary, mieczyki i neonki" influence the new material, if so, how much?

PM: Many people were urging us to follow the path from "Skalary" but the new album will be with normal songs. Perhaps with some psychedelic elements but certainly it won't be another "Skalary". Though for some the "Skalary"'s defect was that whole album was psychedelic and not just one song. If you like it you like it if you don't there's nothing for you on the album. This is 40 minutes of psychedelic drive. I can't tell you exactly what the new album will be like because we are still working on it. We have 10 songs ready that were completely transformed, twice sometimes. In what direction everything will go now I don't know. I know one thing; there will be songs. Perhaps there will be one or two more psychedelic numbers but actually short psychedelic elements appear in many of our songs.

KR: The fans can read the news about your work on your official website. There is the band's blog (internet diary). The website is being developed now. Do you consider it an important means of contact with your fans?

PM: Artur (vocals) is definitely the most active one when talking about fans contact. I did't write a thing yet. I've been trying to start for a month now but I simply have no time. Fortunately, Artur writes all the band's news there for us.

KR: You said you don't see a way to connect the "normal" songs with the songs from "Skalary". But at the concerts, two songs appear regularly that are 10 years old: "Good Day My Angel" and "Moving Revolution". How do you manage to make them sound so modern?

PM: Those are the psychedelic ones. All the songs with improvisation are the main line of change all the time. I won't say that at every concert but actually... yes, at every concert we play it differently. Once in a while, everyone in the band changes the idea for their instrument. Thanks to that, the song just evolves. It's the same melody, the same lyrics and usually similar structure but once in a while, I play totally something else. They are opening songs. It happens that people come to the concert and expect "Peggy Brown" and other old numbers while it's "Skalary" tour.

KR: It happens that they chant demanding the biggest hits, right?
PM: Yes. It happens at every concert that some part of the audience is dissatisfied. Some even leave. But the ones I see from the stage (up to the middle of the room) always have lots of fun. From the beginning of the tour, we try to inform everyone that these concerts will be unusual, special.

ML: So why don't you add some "lighter" elements?

PM: We have already. At the very beginning, we played only "Skalary" and maybe "Good Day My Angel". Now we added a few other songs but I don't agree with it. I believe that if it's the "Skalary" tour we should play this specific material. We will play it only on those concerts and won't come back to them anymore. This is a separate chapter. I think it's great when a band releases an atypical album. For example like when Pink Floyd released "The Wall" - and of course we're not Pink Floyd and "Skalary" is not "The Wall" - they didn't play any of their older songs like "Wish you were here" at concerts. They only played "The Wall" material. It's the same thing with "Skalary" - this "Skalary" material doesn't match songs like "Peggy Brown". We don't play it anyway. We added some cool quick songs because it is also better for us to jump a little in the concert.

KR: How much control do you have over what's going on during the concert on the stage? Aren't you afraid that Artur Rojek or Wojtek Powaga will vandalize the equipment (what happened before anyway)?

PM: As long as they don't vandalize MY equipment - I don't mind - let them vandalize whatever they want... (laughter)

ML: Your behavior on stage (especially of Artur's and Wojtek's) went through a metamorphosis - they moves with so much energy. Is there a person who takes care of your stage image?

PM: No, there's no such person who'd take care of our wardrobe or any other elements of our stage presence. It all comes naturally from us. Wojtek opened himself some time ago. So did Arthur. Though they’re always playing "Mickey", "Good Day My Angel" or "Moving Revolution" can hurt themselves. It was like that from the beginning. Those things just come. We are natural. We used to say, "Let's dress in black short-sleeves shirts" and for some time we did but later we just got bored.

KR: I watched your concert promoting "Milosc w czasach popkultury". I noticed that you have much more equipment on the stage now especially by Artur and Wojtek.

PM: Some equipment we got on recording "Skalary" when we brought a lot of it to the studio. Actually, nothing changes only with Jacek and Lala. Wojtek widens his delay-echo-effects all the time and Artur got a electric piano that stands next to him at concerts. I have two new electric pianos myself. "Skalary" forced us to get some new instruments. That was the plan. Now all those instruments will be used on a new album but we will play totally something else on them.

ML: On March 26th your first album’s (“Myslovitz”), reedition will appear in music stores...

PM: (interrupting the question) I got a message today that we will go to court over that album. It's being released totally without us. I mean without our knowledge and this will be hashed out in court. The company that’s doing that was the album's publisher but it has no right to release it now. Especially that some new songs are added. We don't need it at all. Especially that we plan to release a box set of the singles as it's the band's 10th anniversary. We don't need to release the first album now – no one asked us and no one informed us about it. We didn't agree to the remastering either.

KR: During the Fryderyki (Polish music industry awards) ceremony you got your hands on a European Breakthrough Award at last. It was a first such award. It's quite original. Do you think this award will change anything for the band?

PM: As every award, it's nice. But if it changes anything it's hard to say. It's an enigmatic award. We got it but I still don't really understand what for and why. I've heard that our album is the best selling album in Europe from countries that were accepted to the European Union last year and that doesn't mean it's been selling well. (laughter)

KR: I even tried to get the information on how the "Korova" sales were, but I didn't succeed.

PM: I tried too and nothing. It's very difficult to collect such information from Europe. Try at EMI.

KR: The fact that we met today is thanks to the other project you're involved in – Delons. Delons’ debut album: "Wersja z napisami" will be out on March 26th. Will the Myslovitz fans find Delons' music interesting?

PM: Delons' music comes from the same roots, which is guitar alternative music. But we want it to be very different from Myslovitz. But I think that if someone likes Myslovitz he will like Delons too. It's a matter of sensivity. It's like if you listen to Radiohead you listen to Grandaddy although they play totally different music. The "Hula Hop" song that was on "Project SI 031' compilation before will be on Delons album. We didn't manage to record it all over again so it's just remastered. The first single will be "40 Minut" and you can listen to it on the website and on the radio from time to time.
It's an extra load for me because it's a new project and a new album but the songs are worth it. The melodies and lyric from Marek Jalowiecki (the vocalist, lyrics and music writer in Delons - KR) is different from everything that was in our industry so far.

KR & ML: Thank you for the interview and see you in Stodola on April 14th.

PM: See you there.