Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.56 07/06)
excerpts from an interview with Damian Bydlinski (Vocals, Guitars)
It took us 3 months to record and to mix the album. However, the process of composing the material took a little longer time - we started right at the end of our previous session with the "Tales from artichoke wood" album. So, we can say that it all took about 7 months. We are very satisfied with the results as far as we concern the rough conditions we’ve been through during realization of the three past projects. I would say that regarding to realties we had to cope with when releasing this album we have made quite a satisfying production.
Can you give a little bit more information about the conceptual background and the lyrics of “SPAM”?
I think that basically speaking SPAM album is a kind of rock & jazz & progressive music tale which expresses a strong political and social message as far as lyrics are concerned. Actually, the lyrics from all of our albums reflect my agnostic and liberal attitude towards the world. Obviously, these are only my personal opinions and in now way should be compared with any ideology nor should they be assigned to the rest of the band’s team. As far as music is concerned – it is being created upon the impact of the moment. I am a self-taught musician, what makes my work difficult sometimes. However, it can also help, since I feel free from some of the restraints that professional musicians could have.
All the music and lyrics are done by you. How important and how big is the input of the other musicians of Lizard or is everything strictly planned when entering the studio?
It is correct, all music is composed by me, but it is very far way from composing to realization of the recording. When working at studio everyone involved adds his best to the project and so together we are able to produce quite a good album. This simple model of work has been accepted by all of us and it works 100% properly as far as for now. But, let’s stop joking – we could not work in a different way with Lizard project. The violinist and the drummer are usually much occupied with other projects and we have got very little time during the year to do some rehearsals and literally no time for discussing things. I guess that as for now other musicians trust me and accept my musical ideas.
Do you think you could sell more albums, if you choose to sing in English or is it more important for you to keep your own identity and originality?
We are talking about two totally different issues. Of course, one thing is that it could be extremely nice to sell lots of records and to earn some reasonable money out of our albums. But the other thing is that such attitude has got nothing in common with Lizard’s idea of music nor with the message our music is to bring to the listeners. I believe that a possible language barrier has no effect on the perception of our albums since the impact of Lizard is based on the music itself. Anyway, Polish is the language which in the best way expresses the atmosphere of my lyrics.
How important is it for you to being signed to a prestigious label as Metal Mind Productions?
The fact that we drove an attention of such a reasonable label as MMR is proves that big labels are interested in launching off-stream and non-commercial music. Personally I think that MMR are the only Polish label that produces an interesting music. Without this label Polish progressive rock scene - but not only this scene; they also launched many classical rock albums - would die. Since the past couple of years they have became the only label promoting music alternative to pop.
Does it bother you, that your often compared to King Crimson and some people even talking about Lizard being just a clone?
Of course, any comparison to the masters tickles my vanity – that’s it. I do not think this should be a reason of any despair. I would surely worry if my music would be compared to country style. Yes, this would make me think over my ideas, I guess… And now, to be serious, KC has indisputably influenced our music. But in the same way our music was influence by YES, ELP or The Beatles, either. The idea of comparison occurred on the occasion of our Psychopulse album, but I do not intend to dispute it. This is a simple fact – I wanted the album to be that way, so I produced it that way. It is totally „crimson” and I am very proud of it! And if one may find our albums, either "Tales…" or "SPAM", to be clones of KC’s style – either he/she is dull or shows poor orientation in music.
Looking back to the history of Lizard, there was a long album break of seven years between your debut album and the release of “Psychopuls”. What happened during that time, were your musical activities layed on ice?
Absolutely not. We released "Noc Zywych Jaszczurów / Night of the Living Lizards" in 1999, so there was no break at all! For 4 years from the release of our first album we played many concerts, both in Poland and abroad. We played as a support group for ELP – this was really great time! Unfortunately, we had problems with finding the label to release our new material. So I produced the concert album by myself with my money and with a great support from internet progressive society. Unfortunately that was all we could afford those times.... Luckily enough we saw the MMR’s star shining up on our horizon and this totally changed our situation.
Any chance of releasing a Live DVD in the near future?
We’ve planned releasing of a DVD Life album for over the year. Unfortunately, our musicians engaged in other projects successfully disturb these plans.
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2006