Answered Mrož.
Translated by Markéta, thank you!
Ave RADIATION! I am just sitting by the fireplace in my cottage in the Jizera Mountains. Your new album “The Gift of Doom” is screaming from my player and I mix the album with older albums by VENOM, MOTORHEAD, CELTIC FROST, HELLHAMMER and I keep telling myself that your music should have been released 20 years ago when I was a young guy full of energy. Your album feels like it has a “rejuvenating effect”! Thank you for that but I just ask myself how is your album accepted by the new and young generation of fans? Are there any? I am asking because some of my younger friends told me: “Dude, this music is for old men!” and then they went and update their Facebook profile picture.
Hello Jakub. Damn, I really envy your great nice times in your cottage. Of course, there is a young generation of fans who do not spend their free time online and they go to concerts and they like this music for “old men”. I can only guess what they think about “The Gift of Doom”, however the critics are mostly old warriors, ha ha. I do not know so much the younger ones and we are no longer “the young guys from Bratislava” any more as they used to write about us, ha ha. But my opinion is that everyone should listen what they want.
I was excited and satisfied about your previous album “Plutonium Overdose” but this year’s album “The Gift of Doom” absolutely crushed me. Normally I do not hesitate to listen any music which cuts and burns but this time I think that you must have recorded this album just for me. I am literally fascinated y the sound. Where and how did you recorded? The new album is even more “mouldy and rusty” that the previous one. Were you able to have any comments about the final sound?
Thank you. To be honest the sound and music are not for everybody. So you should be glad that you belong to the “group of people who were chosen to like this” and you feel good about the sound of the album, ha ha. The album was recorded by our friend Bibo from Vomitor Sound (he is also a member of ABORTION band) as well as the album “Plutonium Overdose”. The sound sounds old and dirty so we achieved what we wanted.
How RADIATION compose new albums? How the composing process goes? Who is the author of your music?
The author of music is me (Mrož) but the adaptations and changes of some passages are done by other members of the band and usually it is even desirable to change some things together. The process is not really interesting – when I have an idea I write it in the Guitar Pro (it is a program where you can put tabs, drums and so on) and I gradually add some passages and instruments. When I am happy about it after a while I send it to my colleagues so they can tell me how they like it and they can practise it at home. Then we work on it together in the rehearsal room and in the end the song is absolutely different than it was at the beginning, ha ha.
Who is the author of your lyrics and what are they about? Where do you find your inspiration? You often mention radioactivity in your songs and other related things. Are you interested in this issue deeper? What about Chernobyl, have you been there?
I am also the author of the lyrics, Mrož. They are (unexpectedly) about a nuclear apocalypse, dark future, sci-fi and so on. I find the inspiration in movies, definitely. But also PC games or my wild fantasy. It is not even necessary to be deeper interested in the issue of radiation. I have of course red The brochures like “Anti-atomic protection of the population” or “Behaviour of the population in infested area” which were released at the beginning of the 60s but in a case of emergency I do not think this would be really helpful. Of course, we have visited Chernobyl among other things we shot our cover picture for the album “The Gift of Doom” there. Very interesting experience, I would recommend it to anyone.
You have always had a great covers for your albums. Do you take an extra care about your covers? Who is the author of your new cover on the album “The Gift of Doom”?
Yes, the cover is very good and that is very important for us. We want the people who buy our CDs to receive more than just music. The cover, as well as for “Plutonium Overdose” was done by our friend Peter “Šuhaj” Ličko. As a based he has some of our requirements and sketches on the level of handless chimpanzee. Both covers are done in a classic way – with a brush on a canvas. We do not really like the digital covers.
“The Gift of Doom” was released on a CD and digitaly by German label Witches Brew. Why did you chose this label? I think that your music would look great on vinyl, have you thought about it yet?
Ann Brew from Witches Brew is our personal favourite. From the time she has been doing this she released a tons of great bands. We tried to reach her because she previously heard us play live so she knew what maniacs are we, ha. It worked out well and we are very grateful. Vinyl should be done in 2018 in cooperation with 2 Slovak labels. But we will inform fans about the releasing date.
Thrash/death metal are so extreme styles that there is not so many fans who would listen to it. So the bands have to go abroad to be known. Are you planning any concerts outside your country? Do you try to reach abroad labels? Do you want to and ty to be known on the international level?
Yes we plan some abroad concerts and as you can see we cooperate with foreign labels. But I would not say that we push the effort to be more abroad known. We just do what we like. There are many bands similar to our abroad and they do not need any other foreign bands. On the other hand the least thing you can do is to write an e-mail and send a promo.
How does the Slovak underground look like now? Is it live? Do people go on concerts? From Pilsen, where I live, it is far away but when I can go to Slovakia, “your people” seem more “hones and real” to me, they more enjoy the music and so on. Do you feel it the same?
Sometimes they go on concerts, sometimes they do not. Obviously, some bands have more people on their concerts then others. It depends on the promo. It happens that organizers are disappointed how few people had come, but sometimes even I do not know that there was a concert happening. And about enjoying music – I do not know. I think that we are not that different. In the contrast of South America we can all be ashamed.
Are there any albums which have caught your attention recently from the Czech Republic, Slovakia or other countries? I want to know what music musicians listen to. Do you have the same music taste within your band? Do you go on concerts together or do you listen to the same music in a car?
We listen to similar music and we have never had a problem in a car. I do not want to speak for the others but great music for this year was Pagan Altar. In case of Slovak scene I would say Malokarpatan. And we all agree on that.
All the members of RADIATION are active in the great band DEMOLIZER. I would like to know if there is a big difference to compose for one or the other band? How DEMOLIZER work? You were great in Písek but I do not hear about you very often.
I do not compose music in DEMOLIZER, I am just a help for the base – basically I am just a fan with a base in his hand. The main comments come from Demolator and Vrana. I think they do a pretty good job. Dmolator also plays with members of RADIATION Vrana and Janči in a black/death band GOATCRAFT. And Janči also is a member of crust band RIGHT TO KILL.
What are RADIATION´s plans for the next few months? Do you want to visit the Czech Republic?
There is not much yet, the year has just started. In February we have a concert in Budapest and we are talking about releasing “The Gift of Doom” on vinyl or cassette edition and we would like to go on a tour to support our album in the second half of the year. But we will inform you soon about that. We also want to release some merch for the new album. Of course, we want to go to the Czech Republic and if we cannot go as a band, we would go as fans to some event.
I have just finished all my beer and your album has played in my player for 50th time. Above Ještěd Mountain are clouds and it is snowing. I have to end this. I would like to thank you for the time you spend with my questions and I wish you personally and to the whole band many successes, peace and concert halls full of fans. Thank you so much for this interview, I wish you luck!
Thank you so much for the space for our band here. These questions were not the “copy/paste” questions and the author had to think about them. Thanks.
