Interview with Piotr Grudzinski of Riverside

I had the chance to chat with Riverside guitarist Piotr Grudziński about their new album, their upcoming DVD and other such matters, so here it is!

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PA: First I’d just like to thank you for taking time out of your day to answer some questions for us!

PG: mmhmm, okay.

PA: I suppose my first question would be, could you tell us a little bit about what you’ve been doing since the record’s been finished?

PG: Right now we’re promoting the record at the moment with shows mostly. Two weeks ago we recorded our first DVD in Poland, we think we’ll release it around November or December - it depends on how the work on the DVD will go. In summer time we have to play some festivals in Europe, and in September we’re off to play three shows in North America: One show in Atlanta, one show in New Jersey and one in Canada. So these are the plans for now and the near future.

PA: The live DVD you just recorded, any hints as to what that might be like?

PG: I think we’ll wait a bit before giving out all the tracks because we need to think about if every song we played on this show will be on the DVD. So mostly we think that the DVD is kind of… I think we want the DVD to do the rough part of the trilogy. I mean, there are songs from all three albums and we want to do this DVD with songs from each CD. So it’s not promoting Rapid Eye Movement, but the trilogy as a whole piece. But we’ll wait for the whole tracklist.

PA: Being that it was a concept ordeal, can you give us a loose synopsis of the trilogy?

PG: Well, I think Mariusz would be the best person to describe the story from the trilogy… But more or less it is the story about looking for ourselves… I think about looking for the sense of life sometimes – of course, I’m not going into details because Mariusz wanted to write this story not really strait. He wanted it to be more for people’s imaginations, so this story is not strait from the beginning to the end. I think everyone can create their own story to those lyrics. But mostly it is about looking for the sense of life. Something like that [he laughs], I’m not really into the lyrics stuff.

PA: You guys played the Baja Prog festival not too long ago, could you give us a bit of insight into that?

PG: Well, it was a really great vacation for us, we spent almost a week in Mexico and it was our first time there. So we were very impressed about the whole trip. We don’t really play shows in the United States often so it was our second trip to North America and sometimes we have a little bit of problems with equipment because the equipment the festival offered us was mostly not the equipment we wanted to have from them. But still wanted to play the show – so we were really nervous before the show. I think it wasn’t our best show but it also wasn’t the worst in our career. People were really really positive about our music… so I think they like it! And what can I say – it was really cool.

PA: For the new album – a couple of members on our site are wondering why the title track for Rapid Eye Movement wasn’t on the actual album. Why was that?

PG: That’s a really difficult story because Rapid Eye Movement, the song, was composed after the CD recording and that was because InsideOut wanted us to give them something that wasn’t on the Polish release of Rapid Eye Movement. So we needed to record another track for InsideOut to have for their release, and I think it was after the Dream Theater tour we entered the studio for a few days and record the Rapid Eye Movement song. We had some ideas for the song before but there was too little time to finish it. So that’s why it’s not on the main Rapid Eye Movement CD, but just on the extra CD as a bonus track.

PA: So, speaking of which, what was it like to tour with Dream Theater?

PG: [He chuckles] At first, it was a really big surprise that they wanted us on tour, because we didn’t think that such a big band as Dream Theater would invite us. So when the proposition came to us from InsideOut and they told us that Mike Portnoy wanted to have us on tour it was a really great moment and we were thinking about the proposition because we were end of the Rapid Eye Movement recording session and we needed to make some really quick decision about the recordings and other things.

So we decided to join the tour, but not from the beginning because the first show was in the UK, I think, so we joined them after 4 or 5 shows they did already in Europe. The first show was in Poland, actually, and we thought it would be a good show for us and for Dream Theater to play in our home country. But it wasn’t really a good idea, I don’t think, because the first show was really the worst show with Dream Theater. Our sound engineer was not prepared to work on stuff like Dream Theater – and the show really was not that good from the sound.

But the whole tour was a really good experience, and I think we were afraid too… because sometimes when there’s young bands playing with a really big name, like Dream Theater, they don’t click well with the crew and the band. But with us it was different. Everyone from the crew and everyone from the band was really realy tight and really helpful. So we learned a lot with how to work on stage, how the crew should work on stage… it was a really big experience for us.

PA: After recording Second Life Syndrome, which was very well received, did you find there was a lot of pressure recording Rapid Eye Movement?

PG: Oh, the pressure. We’ve had pressure since Out Of Myself I think, really. Out Of Myself was our debut album and it was very good – people like it very much. But of course it was our first album and we knew with our next one we needed to be even better. So with Second Life Syndrome there was a lot of pressure before the CD. After the CD the reviews were really good, and even on Progarchives we have a really good rating for Second Life Syndrome.

So it’s pretty obvious that the pressure was really big before Rapid Eye Movement. And of course I know that Rapid Eye Movement doesn’t have as good a rating as Second Life Syndrome on Progarchives… but I think we recorded quite a good CD, maybe not the same good as Second Life Syndrome. But I guess the rating is just a personal rating. We wanted to record something like Out Of Myself and Second Life Syndrome together plus something new. But now the pressure is greater because the trilogy is over and we want to do something in the Riverside style, but also something new. So I think now we have really big pressure.

PA: For your artwork, you’ve been working with Travis Smith who you met through your record label. Now that the trilogy is finished do you think you’re going to keep working with him?

PG: I don’t know. I know we’d like Travis to prepare the graphics for the DVD, for sure, because it is the end of some part of our career and the DVD is connected to the trilogy so we want Travis to end the story with us. But I think with the changing of something in our career, we’d like to change something with artwork. So I think with the new CD we will try to do something different and with a different designer. But we really don’t speak about that too much – so it’s an unknown thing for now.

PA: I guess the music’s more important, eh?

PG: Yeah, of course.

PA: After your self produced debut you signed to Inside Out and started to share producing credits with Magda and Robert [Srzedniccy], what was that like and how did it effect your music?

PG: Y’know, they live in our hometown, Warszawa, and we’ve known each other fifteen years… and Robert was a member from a hard rock band in Warszawa, a heavy rock band and he was quite famous 10 or 12 years ago. So we started with them on Out Of Myself with just mixing, and we wanted Robert to help with production also. But it’s really good cooperation, we understand each other, so that’s why we wanted to work with him again on Second Life Syndrome and then on Rapid Eye Movement.

They’re really good producers, I think. But we also needed the studio they have because it wasn’t very expensive. So we had two really good producers and a not very expensive studio. Our budget for the CDs was quite so big, so we need to think about the prices. But when we have more money in the future for recording we might want to work with somebody new, I might think, just like with Travis Smith’s artwork – I think it would be good with we change the producers and the place we’re recording. But we’re not thinking about that too much right now – we’re focusing on the DVD, which we’re also producing with Robert and Magda in their studio… But I think this subject will come up in the few next months, so we’ll wait for that.

PA: So I’ve got a couple questions from some forum members at our website, the first one is from member Bhikkhu:
"The progressive scene in Poland seems to be very fertile lately. Especially with prog Metal bands. Along with yourselves, bands like Indukti, and Osada Vida have been getting a lot of attention. What is your perspective on Prog from Poland at this time?"

PG: I think Riverside was something like a really big kick to the Polish progressive rock and progressive metal scene because since Collage, I don’t know if you remember the band, about 10 or 12 years ago… but since then there’s been nothing in the progressive scene in Poland. Then suddenly bands like Riverside come out of nowhere and prove to Poland that playing progressive music… you can live by playing progressive music… and you can move something and you can change something. Since then I think a lot of progressive bands have tried to come out in Poland, and outside of Poland also.

I think we have quite a good progressive scene and there’s still bands coming out like Indukti, Division By Zero, and Osada Vida are all really good combos, and I think it will grow more and more in the future.

PA: From member Darkmatter:
"Your first three albums were part of a concept trilogy.  How will you approach subsequent albums now that this trilogy is complete?"

PG: We want to change something, but not so much as we could change the Riverside style. I think we’d like to add some new elements maybe. I don’t know! I don’t know exactly to say this, but we want to be a rock band and we thought that if we play some festivals, like this year in Holland or Germany they’re not progressive festivals but rock festivals. And sometimes with the trilogy we have troubles because the songs are too metal for rock festivals. So I think we’d like to do the album like a rock album, not a progressive album.

But we don’t want to run away from progressive music! I think we just need to combine some things into one release. But in this moment it’s really difficult to say what the album will look like, because in fact we have a few ideas for some songs. Not whole songs, but ideas, so that’s why it’s really difficult to predict. It’s a difficult question.

PA: You’ll know when you get there I guess?

PG: Yeah.

PA: From member E-Dub:
"I noticed that Nick Barrett commented on them during an interview on one of their DVD's (Maybe And Now Everybody To The Stage) and how much he likes them. Any chance there may be a collaboration in the future?”

PG: That’s a really difficult question because it depends on a proposition - and as you know there’s nothing like a proposition to do something together – but we’re not really fans of music like Pendragon or Arena are playing, that kind of new post-progressive rock that play like Marillion or Genesis. But to be honest I’m not really a big fan of Progressive rock in all its forms. For me Pink Floyd is a really great band, but I was never a really big fan of Genesis or King Crimson or Yes. Some pieces of the music… but not a big fan – Just Pink Floyd was the really big band for me.

But to me cooperation is something where you can create something new. So we’re not going to say no. If that proposition came or something from other people then maybe a collaboration would be possible in the future, but right now I just don’t know.

PA: From member Plankowner:
"when are they planning to release their albums on LP?"

PG: Y’know we’ve thought about that with the trilogy because the demand for LPs is coming back. I think a limited edition of the CD on an LP would be a really good thing to do. We might do something like that in the future, we’d probably start with the whole trilogy in a box – it would be the whole thing, I hope. And then maybe the new album also. But there’s no more details at this moment on this subject [he laughs]

PA: That would be pretty cool!

PG: Yeah! I think so! But it depends, especially with the rights because the first album was released by Laser’s Edge and the next were with InsideOut, and for now it’s a problem to have all three CDs as a release in a box. So we need to hope that one company will have the rights for all the CDs I think.

PA: This is my last question for you, and that is: What was the last CD you listened to?

PG: The last one I listened to was the latest album from Opeth, Watershed. But I don’t want to say anymore because I don’t really have an opinion on it yet because I’ve only heard it two times. It’s quite a bit different from their last CDs, but still I like the style of playing. And we’re going to play with Opeth for the festival in Holland this July and I’m really, really looking forward to this. I think it will be a cool festival!


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Thanks again to Piotr, and all the best to Riverside in the future!


and of course thanks to the guys at InsideOut (as well as M@x and Easy Livin' here at PA) for arranging the interview!



Edited by King By-Tor - June 02 2008 at 16:06

Holy crap they're coming to Canada!! Please let it be Toronto and not Vancouver. No offense Mike of course. Excellent interview once again King By-Tor.

Edited by sinkadotentree - June 03 2008 at 10:37