Here’s a short story of ANCHORS AWEIGH, a young hardcore punk / metal pack of friends hailing from Warsaw area of Poland. They have already played a couple of cool gigs and are currently readying their debut release. The interview below gives an insight into their camp, their past and hopes for the future. Don’t forget to give ’em a like if you appreciate what you see and hear.
Hey guys! How are you? How’s the winter been treating you?
Hi, we’re fine now. We played a few shows last couple of months and now we’re taking a break to focus on the music. We’re planning to record 4 or 5 songs, so when summer comes we’ll be good to go again!
Cool! We’ll go back to the songs in a while, but please shoot me a quick introduction of the band and tell me how did it all start for you guys?
It all started over half a year ago, when Bart (guitarist) wrote to me and proposed to be a singer in his new hardcore project. He said he has a bassist, drummer, send demo versions of songs that I really liked. Soon after we met, I presented my vocals. Everyone liked it in its entirety and decided to form a band. Each of us played before in other projects, so we had experience in composing and playing gigs. We quickly created a name, band logo and we played the first concert (with LIFERUINER – it was a great experience!). Then everything moved quickly, further offers for gigs, new songs – we’re still working on our music. We don’t want to make typical hardcore – we want various elements of the general sense of rock music in it. It has to be a reflection of our musical inspiration. We want to make this band big. I do not want to be like a typical hardcore band – each of us is an individualist with a great perception of music and we want to create a truly unique band with great sound and message.
The band consists of:
Bartek ‘Bart’ Adameczek – guitar
Przemek ‘Stanis’ Stański – bass
Damian ‘Leon’ Dobrzeniecki – drums
Daniel ‘Dan’ Prasuła – vocals
Why do I have this feeling that you’re a bit longer with us? Did you have a second approach to this project, or something? [smiles] I bet you’ve been promoting this name for a long before you actually started playing! No, but seriously, I thought that, as a band, you’re like 5 years-old.
Anyway, forget my numbness, and tell me what other bands have you been in up to now?
Maybe the fact that there were and there are still bands with the same name (or similar) as ours [smiles]. Generally we all participated in underground music scene in Poland before, so maybe you associate us from other bands? Guys formed a band called HOLD YOUR HORSES, Stanis played in MURATOR and EL MURATOR, Bart created lots of music projects and I was singer and guitarist in HEROES GET REMEMBERED.
Alright, fair enough [smiles]. How did you guys evolve as a band since you formed ANCHORS AWEIGH? I know it’s been only half a year or so, but how do you feel about this pack now?
I think we are on the good way to be what I call “real band” that means: group of good fellows with the same perception of music, same goal, having a really good time playin’ music together (also meeting privately), composing, performing live etc.. I know it sounds childishly, but it’s true [smiles]. I’ve got so much music experience that it’s safe to say that we are such a band – every rehearsal is unique and it’s not only about playing songs but also discussing our ideas (new songs, promotion etc.) and of course playing pranks [laughs].
ps. I’m always fair and honest [laughs]
[smiles] Alright, fellows. Do you all live in the same city now?
I live in Otwock, but most of the time I spend in Warsaw (rest of the guys live here too).
How often do you rehearse?
We try to meet twice a week, but sometimes we can’t due to work. Rehearsals last about 2 hours, but they are all filled up with a hard work on composing and playing old stuff.
So how much “old stuff” and “new stuff” have you produced so far? Let’s discuss your initial discography.
[laughs] Not so many [laughs]. It’s about 7 full songs and 3-4 in progress (almost done). So our discography is minimal [big smile], but it’s very good!
Any plans to record those diamonds and send them to the world? [smiles]
[smiles] Yes, certainly! Right now we’ve almost finished recording a single “Unscreamed Words”. Then we want to record 3 od 4 more. We’re certainly making a video to one of those songs this Spring. The bassist works in film industry so luckily we got this covered! Generally we’re focused on composing – we want to make about 12-14 songs, choose the best ones and release EP or LP this year (I hope so). Of course there are some live performances on YouTube, so you can check out how people react to our songs.
Yeah, man. Write some hit songs and hit the road, huh? How many gigs have you played so far?
6 gigs: first with LIFERUINER, second one with THE JOE DOE’S BURIAL and the third one on our friend’s birthday (it was great!). We played with DEATH ROW, HARD TO BREATHE, OI! BRYGADA, ASTRID LINDGREN and PANICA. Apart from polish bands we played with THIS DEAFENING WHISPER. At the moment we’re taking a break so we don’t press too much on playing shows.
How did you like LIFERUINER? Have you been into these guys before?
They are really nice guys privately and they gave incredible show in Warsaw! We knew about them before but we saw them for the first time live.
Yup, the BLINK-182 cover nailed it, right? [smiles]
You performed at Przychodnia squat. How do you like new punk spot in Warsaw?
[laughs] I’m really fond of BLINK-182 so for me this cover was great. Generally it is a really funny thing because we played at squat for the first time! It was something new for us but impressions were very good. Przychodnia is really well organized place with good location in Warsaw so I think there will be much more events soon (hardcore punk shows of course [smiles]).
Have you attended shows at Elba back when it was still open?
As far as I remember Stanis has been there a couple of times but as I said before: Przychodnia concert with THE JOHN DOE’S BURIAL was our first squat gig. But as a hardcore band we expect to play there and in other squats a lot. [smiles].
Ok, tell me more about the gig with THIS DEAFENING WHISPER. How did they tap you for this gig?
Our friend from a band NONGORE HELL asked if we were interested in playing on this gig. We couldn’t say no [smiles].
Alright, guys. Tell me, how do you feel the Polish melodic punk scene is at the moment? What local bands would you recommend to IDIOTEQ readers?
In my opinion, polish melodic punk scene is getting better. There are more bands which represent really good, world level and can be easily compared with bands from abroad. They are much more well prepared technically as it was before. They want to look, play and sound professionally. As regards melodic punk bands in Poland I can recommend MAYPOLE or CF98. From hardcore/metalcore scene I think HARD TO BREATHE, THERE IS NO TOMORROW or SAILOR’S GRAVE. These bands have great songs and their live performances are on high level!
Is there anything else we should keep our eyes peeled on coming up?
There’s a lot going on really. You can say too much even [laughs]. The bands are getting their music recorded really well. The video is getting cheap so you can see the live performances and pro-level videos on their youtube channels. 5 different shows every weekend in Warsaw… That’s a lot of stuff. Support the scene, support the bands , go to the shows. A facebook ‘like’ won’t do, put your back into it!
