Rockezine.com interview with Dementia on Sep 05, 2002

with Dyszel on Sep 05, 2002

The Polish dark metal band Dementia is a newcomer in the Polish metal scene. The band recently released their first demo, Marzenia Zapomnianego Czasu (in English: Dreams Of Forgotten Time), an album that contains five very atmospheric and diverse metal songs that combine death metal with gothic dark metal. Reason enough to ask Dementia some questions about the difficulties of starting out as a new metal band.
		First of all, I must admit that your demo, Marzenia Zapomnianego Czasu positively surprised me. Could you describe the music on this demo in your own words? Thanks for the compliment. The music recorded on this demo represents our style. However, we must admit that these songs have been composed some time ago and therefore they reflect how we were playing more or less two years ago. It is hard to describe them in a few words. All we can say is that playing such stuff gives us a lot of satisfaction and that is truly the most important thing for us. The fact that many other people enjoy what we play, makes us even greater "metal maniacs". We like dynamics and expression; these are the most important features of our style. Music must constantly run forwards and surprise the listener with its arrangements. We`re doing our best to reach this effect.
		How are the reactions from people who have heard your album? Access to this CD is quite restricted at the moment. It`s due to the fact that we were unable to release Dreams Of Forgotten Time through a professional recording company. However, we try all that is possible to distribute it through the internet, radio, during concerts, etc. The reactions of the audience are positive, which is proven by the huge frequency of our gigs and the e-mails we receive.
		When did you guys decide to form Dementia and do any of the members have any experience with playing in a band, before you decided to start this band? Everything began about three years ago. We decided to form a band and treat it as seriously as possible. After a few months the band stabilized and we started composing our first songs. In this period of three years, we created enough stuff to record at least one album. All Dementia`s members are total metal freaks. The drummer and the guitarists already had some experience with playing in other bands when we formed Dementia. But only after they joined this band their attitude towards playing changed radically. Thanks to that we could record a demo like Dreams Of Forgotten Time.
		As a beginning band it must be difficult to gain status, how do you guys try to promote yourself? We would say that it is extremely hard to achieve anything in our Polish metal scene. The music market is overcrowded and the mass media does not support extreme music. Only a few radio stations have enough courage to play metal songs, but it happens very rarely. Thanks to them we can promote our band. Besides that, we try to play concerts as often as possible. We also have our own website and we are very grateful to you for all your interest. We find these interviews very helpful and we treat them as a very important part of our promotion.
		Recording an album with a very tight budget must be difficult; nevertheless I think your album has a very good sound quality. Could you describe briefly how you guys handled the recording and production of the album? Well, if we had had a bigger budget, the album might sound better, surely it would be more extensive. We have financed the recording of the demo ourselves, as well as the whole production. It was our first time in a professional studio and we can say that the final result satisfies us 99 percent. We did everything possible to make the album sound at least correct. If we managed to reach an even better result -like you said, "the album has a very good sound quality"- then that is a great compliment for us.
		Now that you have recorded your first album with Dementia, will you do things differently when you start the recording of your next album? Songs that we have recently composed would surely need a different means of studio realization. However, we are almost certain that we will use the same studio in the future. At the moment we try to concentrate on the promotion of Dreams Of Forgotten Time, hoping that we will find a professional recording company, which would guarantee us a fully professional realization of the follower of Dreams Of Forgotten Time.
		Many original and very good bands have come from Poland in the past like Vader, Behemoth and Lux Occulta. How much has their international reputation influenced your music? We wouldn`t say that their international reputation has in any way influenced our music. Vader and Behemoth, they are "old bands". We admire their professionalism and we try to learn from them. They have surely influenced our attitude towards playing, but not the music itself.
		What bands have influenced your musical style the most and what kind of bands do you guys like? Every member of Dementia listens to different music and puts something new into our songs. We find it difficult to define our own style. It is the listener who decides if he likes our music or not. He will be the one to judge whether our songs bear any resemblance to other bands or not. We hope that you understand that it`s difficult for us to classify our own style. We don`t want to copy anyone`s ideas or patterns.
		Could you tell us a bit more about the Polish metal scene and what kind of metal and bands are popular right now in Poland? The Polish metal scene is crowded like a station in Amsterdam. There is an elite group of bands that have been playing here for such a long time, like Vader, Behemoth and Lux Occulta, as you said before. Actually there is one dominant style here in Poland, especially in Cracow where we live, which has become increasingly popular in the last few years. It is so-called "technical death metal", which refers to the very beginning of Vader with their characteristic style. Personally, we think that this kind of metal is not too attractive, because bands are copying each other and they all sound almost identical. Besides those bands, there are many other bands, which represent different styles like heavy, gothic, black, thrash, and there is of course Dementia.
		Only one of the songs on the album has English lyrics, why did you guys decide to sing most of your songs in Polish? As we said before, these songs were composed some time ago. They originally had Polish lyrics and during nearly two years of playing them, they have become something special for us and for the people who know them. If we had translated the lyrics into English, they would have probably lost that special atmosphere. However, all the new songs have English lyrics and that situation will not change. If anyone proposes us a record deal that would include the Dreams Of Forgotten Time demo, we will surely change the lyrics and release the songs in English.
		Would it be possible to briefly describe what those Polish lyrics are about? I know that the album title, Marzenia Zapomnianego Czasu, in English translates to Dreams Of Forgotten Time but that’s it! Describing every song would take a lot of time and space. Each of the lyrics is about something else and we leave the interpretation to the listeners.
		What are Dementia’s plans for the future? Most of all we would like to release an album, through… Yes, that you already know... hehe. We are going to play a lot of concerts, really a lot of them, because it brings us the greatest pleasure, just like sex. We still want to promote our band but not only in Poland, which we simply cannot call "the land of great opportunities"… hehe. We are determined to play and we will surely do everything to be noticed. So far that`s all our plans.
		I know you guys have played a few live gigs. How have your experiences been with these concerts and how have the reactions of the crowd been so far? As we wrote above, playing gigs is a remarkable experience for a musician. There are times that everything goes okay, our stuff arrives on time and we enjoy the gig. But sometimes, you know, shit happens; there are problems, nerves and stress. But every time after all the unpleasant shit, we have great fun and joy.
		Thank you for this interview! I wish you good luck with the future of Dementia. Is there anything you want to add to this interview? It was our pleasure, thank you once again. Visit our website, http://www.dementiapl.republika.pl (the English version will soon be ready!), listen to Dementia, wait for concerts in Holland and for our CDs to be sold in your shops. A special greeting goes to Antoine Mahler for his support!
(Frank van de Voorde)