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RIVERSIDE interview by Damjan

Ok, Riverside is a progressive rock band, but it can hardly fall into your average Yes/ELP copycat slot. Their sound heads for some other territories labelled as "prog" only for the lack of better term... Just recently they released "Second Life Syndrome", a second (obviously, huh?) chapter in the trilogy, and also their second album in total... So, here's what they think about it, about prog rock and music in general...     

Most of the critics consider prog rock to be long time dead and buried… But, your unexpected success, coupled with Spock’s Beard breaking into mainstream charts, proves them wrong, at least to a certain extent… So, would you say that, maybe, people want to listen to prog, but are simply tired of all the Yes/Crimson/ELP replicas and copycats? So, in a way, maybe we could say that “retro prog” is dead and buried, but the new one comes to life?

People are tired mostly with copycats and replicas of Marillion. They are tired with neoprogressive rock, whose original principle was to glorify the music of the '70s. I think that ELP played in a modern way could be quite interesting (laughs). But we're not talking about that kind of progressive rock because it's long dead and gone. However, the term "progressive rock" itself is doing pretty good these days and I'm only waiting for the journalists to start coming up with new labels for it. I think that because of bands such as Tool, Radiohead or Porcupine Tree, there is some hope that something can be done in a new way. Some kind of accidental new progressive rock was born, the bands do not admit to playing this sort of music, it's the listeners and journalists who label them progressive and put them in one category. This new music is about using contrasts. Bands evolve and enrich their sound scope. I guess a good example here would be Anathema or Opeth – metal bands who, from album to album, started recording more variegated music, which people have been calling progressive rock. Something's changing, see, it's not so bad. I think that Riverside also has a new approach towards this sort of music, only that we're doing it our own way.

It’s a hard task to play prog and come out of the shadow of bands like Yes, Crimson, ELP or Genesis… Were you intentionally trying to avoid any similarities with their music? I’m asking because your version of prog really sounds like… from the other world. It has almost nothing to do with the seventies and the first generation of prog bands…

Riverside is the music of contrast. Come to think of it, there are elements of symphonic rock, artrock, sometimes even the unfortunate neoprogressive rock (laughs), progmetal and God only knows what else in our music. Most of all, we're concentrating on emotions, moods, melodies and good arrangements, and I think that the latter is what takes people to our music. We definitely don't want to copy or imitate anybody, as we're too old to do that and we simply have too many inspirations. I believe we're on a good way to defining our own style; I guess our latest release also proves that. And I hope that soon labels will stop putting promotion stickers with names of other bands on our CDs (laughs).

It’s really odd to see a new band starting its career with – a trilogy! Weren’t you afraid it might turn out to be too ambitious, maybe even too optimistic project?

We don’t think about that. We’re just composing and creating a story. We’re just playing music. We have an idea for this trilogy and want to realize this project in spite of what people think about that. So far it’s been really ok, because most of our listeners like both our albums.

I’d say that the addition of Michał Łapaj really enriched the band’s sound. Would you agree?

Yes. Michał has got a more rock approach towards music than our first keyboardist. He grew up listening to Deep Purple and ELP. Thanks to him, our second album doesn't sound like "Out Of Myself II." The sound is different. We wanted it to be darker, heavier, more in rock style, with more live instruments like the Hammonds or the piano. Thanks to Michał we achieved the desired result.

“Second Life Syndrome” is a bit darker than “Out Of Myself”... Is that a direction you plan to maintain in future, or does it simply reflect the darker nature of the lyrics on “Second Life Syndrome”?

Mainly because of the lyrics the second part of the trilogy required a more "austere" approach, more blackness, bitterness, more aggression in music. We gave up the idea of clear sound, we gave up catchy melodies. But we want to express three musically different ways of reflecting the loneliness of the main hero and his struggle with himself, which is why I think that the third album will be definitely different from the debut and the second part, but – of course - will be in the same Riverside style. We will surely keep proportions between heavy and mellow playing and we will do everything to maintain a good level of the whole trilogy.

Are you satisfied with the way that songs from “Second Life Syndrome” come out live on stage?

Yes, we are. Our tracks emanate energy and power on stage. Especially the ones from our second album. I think we are a live band. We enjoy performing, we love being in touch with the audience.

Can you tell us something about the “Voices In My Head” EP? Will it be released outside of Poland?

"Voices In My Head" shows yet another face of Riverside. It's a quiet acoustic flirt with electronics. In contrast to "Second Life Syndrome." Why did we record it? Well, "Out Of Myself" was released in Poland towards the end of 2003. Laser's Edge released it ten months later. We really cared about releasing "Second Life Syndrome" at the same time in Poland and abroad, so we knew that the Polish audience would have to wait longer for our new music. So we decided to surprise them. I had a few ideas, we also had some live material, so we entered a studio and after we heard the outcome of our recordings, we decided to make a minialbum comprising five new tracks and three live versions of songs from our debut. The minialbum was initially meant just for the members of our fan club, but there was such a big interest in it that we also released it officially, unfortunately, only in Poland. Perhaps one day we'll also release it in the world? I don't know. Anyway, I think it would be great material for a bonus disc to "Out Of Myself."

Was it hard for you, as a Polish band, to break on the wider, European scene?

It seems to me that these days, with the multitude of diversified music, where you actually come from is not important anymore. Of course it is definitely easier to succeed in a rich European country where there is more emphasis on culture, like, say, in Great Britain or Sweden. In order to be successful, you have to fulfil several conditions. Your music must be convincing, you have to chance upon a certain gap, a certain place and time, and you also need some luck. I think it all worked in our case. Naturally, at some point, music is not enough. You have to have a support for promotion. We already owe a lot to Inside Out. Thanks to their possibilities we're reaching places in which we haven't been known.

Do you like the new generation of prog, bands such as Spock’s Beard, The Flower Kings, Arena, etc?

I admit I’m not particularly interested in listening to that kind of music. I prefer other sounds.

How do you feel about the new albums of old legends like Yes and King Crimson?

"Power to Believe" (by King Crimson) is quite a good album and I like it. About Yes – their last album that I enjoyed was "Talk". I admit I don’t know their later releases, I just kind of didn't feel like listening to them.

Where do you see Riverside in the next few years? Are there some special goals you hope to achieve, both on musical and/or commercial level?

Finishing the trilogy is a priority for us. Naturally, by the time we release another album we will also try to play lots of concerts both in Poland and abroad. About our goals, well, it will be an honour for me, for us, if Riverside is ever talked about as one of the bands who have a significant influence on the direction that this particular kind of rock music follows. Who knows what the future brings...