"ATRAPA" - Words of Metal Wisdom
This is an Atrapa Q&A with Maciej, founding member of this heavy metal band from Poznan, Poland. He has some interesting things to say about the band and the metal scene in Poland. Check it out.
ATRAPA - Polish Metal - Play it Loud
Hello Michael.
Sorry, that I’m so late.
I pasted your e-mail with questions
and my answers.
Enjoy!
1.
Band Bio
a)
My adventure with music started around the age of 12. I started listening to
the charts of program 3 on Polish radio. Later (1983-1985) my friends from
school brought the first recordings of punk rock bands such as GBH, Black Flag.
At that time, there were several programs on Polish radio broadcasting alternative
and punk rock music. The music was recorded on cassettes. Along with punk
broadcasts, programs about metal music appeared. It was the first time I heard
the band Slayer. Since then, I'm a metalhead, now I'm 50.
b)
One of my best friends played guitar – I brought him new metal music, he showed
me how to play guitar. I listened to a lot of metal punk hard core bands, but
my metal root is only one – Slayer. Besides Slayer my inspiration was/is
SOD/MOD (Stormtroopers Of Death/Method Of Destruction and from Polish bands
Flapjack, Acid Drinkers, Welcome Idiots.
c)
After a Welcome Idiots live performance (were only close friends of the band)
me and a few guys who knew each other from ground school and the same estate
made an appointment for rehearsal. I was late, tried to use double gain (in my
amplifier and distortion apart) I smoked two speakers and my equipment said:
“no way.” We didn’t meet many times, but can’t surrender. I looked for people
who wanted to play in internet, and after over a year or two formed ATRAPA,
first squad. I remember a funny situation when comes first time our vocalist
and I wasn’t at rehearsal because I was sick with mumps then.
d)
Our plan was simply – prepare a few songs and start playing alive. When we were
almost ready, our second guitarist and first drummer left the band. We also
lost our rehearsal place. Ok, we moved to another place, we found a second
drummer. We polished material and then comes live performances. It was amazing.
To play for people. But as always shit must happen – our drummer informs us
that he decided to stop with playing. Ok, we found a third drummer and from
this moment all things go much faster. As the first of our drummers to play a
double kick, I changed my guitar tuning to drop C and that was that! It made
all the songs heavier and so much better. We played together several dozen
concerts.
e)
In retrospect, we took it too late to record the album. The whole process took
us quite a long time. The number of concerts was much smaller. When the album
came out our bassist couldn't play with us anymore. We have collected positive
reviews both in Polish music magazines and on internet portals dealing with
metal music. Most of the CDs were sent out and distributed for free. I will
mention that we financed the release of the album with our own money.
f)
We have a plan to record not published songs from old repertoire and probably
two or three new songs. This recording we would like to make by ourselves. We
will see.
2.
Metal scene in Poland is very rich in bands – these who took a spectacular
success in the world like Behemoth, Vader or Decapitated and a lot of not so
famous but very good bands. In my city are three mostly known bands – Turbo,
Acid Drinkers and Wolf Spider. Poland has many more underrated metal bands,
believe me. The scene is very strong.
2)
Metal scene in Poland and Poznan - live
venues?
Now only
live streams.
3)
Your activism, re: Protest Song.
Focus/causes/state of affairs
We promote
whole album "Atrapa Czlowieka" (Human Dummy), special "Protest
Song" with a very strong and still actual lyrics.
For those who do not know the band, what is your
origin?
ATRAPA was
created thanks to my stubbornness and commitment to the willingness to play
metal and hard core music. I was looking for musicians on the Internet.
Who are the band members and their backgrounds?
The
vocalist Tomasz Gola comes from Poznan, bassist Mateusz Zak from Wielun,
drummer Marcin Popiwczuk from Tuplice, guitarist Michal Bukala from Radom,
myself from Poznan. All played earlier in other bands or had solo projects.
What does ATRAPA mean, or stand for?
ATRAPA
means Dummy, something that imitates, pretends to be something it is not.
Does your city have a strong metal/music scene?
Yes,
Poznan has strong metal scene, maybe not the strongest in Poland but still
strong.
Have you toured Poland/Europe or are you a
recording band?
We
toured Poland in years 2008 – 2011 very intensive, later not so much. Last
performance was in July 2020, I celebrated this way my 50 birthday. By the way
we recorded video material for a production video clip. Now we are focus more
on recording material for the second album.
What are your plans for 2021, when Covid restrictions
are loosened?
We
hope, just like all the music world. We are full of hope.
Any shout outs for current and perspective fans?
Familiarize
yourself with the music of Atrapa and the lyrics that are very important and
up-to-date. Support us on your social media. We appreciate any support and we
return the same.
Do you have a final message?
a)_ about metal music
b)_ the band ATRAPA
c) _your
causes/interests
a)
Try to find pure metal music flowing straight from musicians’ hearts
b)
Discover ATRAPA music and lyrics
c) Supporting bands
playing/people listening to good music and we expect the same.
Best
greetings,
Maciej
ATRAPA
Thanks Maciej for giving us more insight into your band ATRAPA and the scene in your City and Country in general. Rock Modo for iggyice.us.
Buy the Digital Album on Bandcamp.com
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