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| Interview by Burt Wolf with Sebastian, bassist & vocalist for UZIEL! Interview done 3-22-07 |
| UZIEL HAS BEEN AROUND FOR A FEW YEARS NOW, BUT CAN YOU GIVE A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BAND UP TO THIS POINT? ANY PREVIOUS BANDS MEMBERS WERE IN BEFORE? As our official history says, the band was started by Lukasz Schubert who plays the guitar & Derek Bugla, keys in the year 2000. They met & they played together but since there were no other band members but themselves, they had to postpone their dreams about fame, money & ready to everything nude women at the backstage. In 2003 the band was joined by Piotr Kulesza, guitar & me. You ask for what we have been done before UZIEL, well, Darek & Piotrek had not done much musically, so there's nothing to tell. As for Lukasz & me, we had been members of CORTEGE, the old school Death Metal band & we had commited two materials & a lot of gigs with this band. In 2002 Lukasz decided to leave the band & I recorded one more material with CORTEGE in 2004. Unfortunately, last year the band was put to it's grave, but let us hope we rise again! So this is the line up which recorded UZIEL's first material "AN EMPTY SHELL" in 2004 & "LONG PERISHED REBELS" in 2006. We are responsabel for many gigs we have played so far. WHY WAS THE NAME UZIEL CHOSEN AS THE BANDS NAME? It was the name of a demon taken from a movie, but I don't really know & in fact I don't care. It sounds great, doesn't it? WHO OR WHAT HAS HAD SOME INFLUENCE ON YOU & YOUR MUSIC STYLE? Most music is written by our guitarists & they listen to different kinds of music both Metal & other, let's say, non Metal stuff. It is hard to indicate one particular band we are influenced by. Of course it doesn't mean we are the most original band in the world. In our music you can find lots of influences, some say they can hear BEHEMOTH, others find DEATH or CHILDREN OF BODOM & CYNIC. We take what we like & try to put the pieces together in our unique way. |
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| HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE SOUNDS OF UZIEL TO SOMEONE WHO HAS YET TO HEAR YOU? We call it melodic Death Black, but recently we have discovered that our new songs are closer to Death Metal. We never tried to clasify our music. I don't know if it is right or wrong, we like it that way. YOUR SECOND RELEASE "LONG PERISHED REBLES" HAS BEEN OUT FOR A LITTLE BIT NOW. HOW WELL HAS IT BEEN DOING IN THE UNDERGROUND? |
| Yes, we recorded the stuff in January 2006, but due to some obstacles we managed to release it only in summer 2006. Since that time we have sold or sent out over 300 copies & we had to print additional copies, 80 if I remember correctly. The reviews are unbelievable! Our first material wasn't doing very well, but "LONG PERISHED REBELS" showed our different face. As a matter of fact, while recording, we felt that we were doing something special! Don't get me wrong, I don't claim that we recorded another "COVENANT", "WILDHONEY" or "DON'T BREAK THE OATH". "LONG PERISHED REBELS" is a very good stuff with fast & catchy tracks which are doing very well during gigs. We are very proud of it. CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE COVER ARTWORK A BIT & IT'S MEANING? As a matter of fact, we had a different cover prepared, a picture similar to the one on our first material, but I discovered someone had already used it. Then my brother went to hospital. After he came back he brought me a disc with his lungs & I thought to myself "why not?". I asked my bro if he had a problem with putting his lungs on the cover, but he was very enthusiastic about that idea. Piotrek, our guitarist, processed the picture a little bit & that is the story. As for the meaning, well, we called the stuff "LONG PERISHED REBELS" & the abbreviation is LPR, as one of a right wing political party in Poland. Most people loathe the party, but in a way they are in Polish government because the leading party needed some support for their equally idiotic actions. You can interpret the cover as you wish, I wanted to show that those who govern in Poland now are not really rebels, but pack of simpleheads who want to force us into the middle ages again! The cover shows how they are rotten inside & the title suggests that the real rebels are no more but the thing of the past... WHAT IS SOME OF THE LYRICAL CONTENT IN YOUR SONGS? WHO WRITES THE MAJORITY OF YOUR MUSIC? As I said before, most of the music is written by both guitarists. They bring the songs to the rehearsals & we all put them together. Usually we need three weeks to make a song, but the more we play it the more we change it. Sometimes our songs need months before we decide that this is it! As for the lyrics, I am the responsable one. I write about different things & I do not limit myself. As for the music there are things we would not accept, but lyrics is another cup of tea. First of all, lyrics are for me, so it is a kind of dialogue with myself (does that mean I am schizophrenic? he, he, he!) What is important, you won't find a lyric written by me which is about nothing. I won't sound original, if I say that the lyrics can mean something different depending on who reads them... In fact, if you read reviews you can draw the same conclusion, can't you? HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU GUYS HAVE PROGRESSED SINCE YOUR FIRST CD "AN EMPTY SHELL" TO YOUR NEWEST RELEASE? It was a giant leap, in fact "AN EMPTY SHELL" was recorded at home & the sound isn't very well, though the songs themselves aren't bad. After the reviews we recieved after the first material we were sure we had to find a real studio. When the time came we decided to visit NO FEAR RECORDS (previously p.w.m.ch.s) which is our friends studio. So the sound had to change & it did. As for the songs themselves, they are more brutal, the keys are hidden in the background & they enter to enforce the sinister atmosphere. I would say that the guitars & the vocals do the greatest job here. You've got to listen to both materials & you understand what I am talking about. HAS THERE BEEN ANY LABELS SHOWING INTEREST IN UZIEL? IF SO, WHO? Well, the stuff is too short (less than 30 minutes), so we just wanted to show that we exist. We wanted to avoid working with an underground label which would photocopy covers & decorate CDRs with a permanent marker. We earned some money during our gigs & we did it more professionally than a small label. I don't know which copy you have, but apart from the printed covers & the professional print on the CD we did some multimedia as an additional material where you can find our history, pictures, 4 live videos, "AN EMPTY SHELL" in mp3 section & more. As I said above, today we don't have any copies because they're sold & we are waiting for additional 80 copies. As for the labels, we are preparing to record two new songs to send them out to labels & ask if they are interested in releasing stuff like this because we are planning to record a full length album in winter 2007/2008. If there are no labels interested we will release it ourselves, no problem. |
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| WHAT ABOUT THE STYRICON TRIBUTE RELEASE YOUR ON? A month ago we recorded SATYRICON's track "K.I.N.G." for the tribute which will be released in the autumn or winter 2007 by METAL JEERS PROD. What is interesting, this is the first song recorded with a live drummer. Since the beginning of UZIEL we have been playing with a drum machine. In summer 2006 we were joined by a drummer with whom we hoped to continue our work. We played three gigs, recorded the cover song mentioned & we had to say farewell to Wojtek because there were some problems which crossed out our future cooperation. As for the cover song itself, we didn't try to sound like SATYRICON & we did the song as if it was UZIEL's new track. We are satisfied with our work & waiting to see how the other bands will do their covers. |
| DO YOU GUYS PLAY OUT A LOT? WHERE ARE SOME OF THE PLACES YOU'VE PLAYED? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU'VE SHARED THE STAGE WITH? Yes, you can say we play out a lot, as an underground band, of course. It is pointless to enumerate the places we played because you don't know any of them. I can only say that we play both in Poland & in Czech Republic because we live a stones throw away from the border. The bands, hmmm... there are many, let's see: DENEB, MOULDED FLESH, DIFFERENT WORLD, THE ODOURS, DECLINE, CRAYVEN, PRO-CREATION, CRAWLING DEATH, G.O.R.E., EMBRIONAL & many many more. You can check them on our website if curious. ARE THERE ANY BAND STORIES OR LIVE STORIES THAT STAND OUT FOR ANY REASON YOU COULD SHARE WITH US? There are many such stories, but they need a book, not a few lines we have here, maybe when we are famous I'll tell you all the stories & believe me we will die laughing. But there were also sad stories like the one last year after our gig someone stole a laptop, we played drums from! Fortunately, the police coaght the thief & we got our computer back. WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF THE BAND DO WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE BAND? As for me, I like reading books & watchning movies. I also write to some magazines, you know, reviews, interviews, reports from gigs. I like cycling & walking in the mountains. Lukasz is renewing his house where he is going to live with his wife when he gets married in September. Piotr has just started his work, but I don't really know what he does & Darek runs his own firm. We also like making our own wines, drink beer & go to concerts. ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO HAVE YOU CURRENTLY BEEN LISTENING TO? I know that Lukasz listens to Classical music from time to time & things like MORTIS, Piotrek is into Metal I think & Darek, hmmm, I don't know what he listens to... As for me, I prefer Metal, I have quite a collection of CDs I am proud of. Sometimes I play Leonard Cohen or DEPECHE MODE. i also like soundtracks, yeah I listen to lots of music. WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? I love watching romantic comedies, did I really say that? Gosh, am I one of those...? WHAT WAS THE FIRST ALBUM YOU EVER BOUGHT? WHAT WAS THE FIRST CONCERT YOU EVER WENT TO? AC/DC's "BACK IN BLACK", when I heard the bells in "Hell's Bells" I knew that something was going to change my life. Yeah, Angus Young & Co are responsible for the way i developed, he he he... The first gig was in 1993, it was Metal mania Festival & the headliner was DEATH! During that festival I also saw CANNIBAL CORPSE, CARCASS, MESSIAH, THERION & some more... |
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| WHO ARE SOME OF THE BETTER BANDS & LABELS WE SHOULD KEEP A WATCH ON FROM POLAND? Bands, gee so many of them here, let me focus on my friends' bands, I would say that DENEB, MOULDED FLESH or THE ODOURS are hordes worth mentioning because they make a piece of good music. Of course there are many more bands which should be recomended & described carefully, but you can do it by visiting their sites, look in LINKS section of our site. |
| WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF LIFE IN POLAND? I assure you we have electricity & we know that we are in the third millenium, he he he... WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE NEXT FROM UZIEL? Music, music & more music! As I said we have just recorded SATYRICON cover & soon we are going to visit a studio to record brand new tracks which will be available on our website & sent out to labels which would be interested in releasing our debut album. I think we will be ready by the end of the year. During that time we will be gigging as much as possible so as you can see we are hardworking bastards who don't know the word "rest"! WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT IT'S OVER? As a matter of fact it took me two days to do it. I did it when I was back from work & when I was done I read a book. THANX FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DO THIS INTERVIEW. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE. THANX! Thank you for giving us this opportunity to present UZIEL in your magazine. We would also like to invite all of you to visit our website or befriend us on myspace. I would encourage you to buy our new stuff, but as was said above we have sold out. We are ready for any kinds of cooperation so if you have an interesting idea just write us. That's all, I think, stay Metal!!! - SEBASTIAN. |
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| ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS COURTESY OF UZIEL INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |