interview with Votum
Tell us a brief introduction of who you are? Votum is often labeled as a progressive-experimental rock/metal band from Poland and one of the creators of the ‘new wave of polish prog’, but caring little for such description our main interest in music is focused on creating dark and heart-grasping atmosphere. Having our strong metal roots we do not shy away from heavy guitars coupled with grooving drums. Currently we have 3 LP albums on the market (“Time must have a stop”, “Metafiction”, “Harvest moon”) and we are working on our new CD which will be released in 2015.
Where are you from? Poland, Warsaw.
How did you meet? Votum had plenty of changes in the lineup. From the first team there is only one person remaining: Adam Kaczmarek (guitars) who started the band. I had met Adam Kaczmarek in a military bunker where we had our fist rehearsals. Let’s just say that there are limited amount of places to practice for bands in Poland and sooner or later everyone knows everyone.
What is your name?/Who plays what?/How old are you? Current lineup consists of: Adam Kaczmarek (guitars), Zbigniew Szatkowski (keyboards), Bartosz Turkowski (bass), Adam Łukaszek (drums), Piotr Lniany (guitars), Bartosz Sobieraj (vocals). This order of names also reflects the time spent in Votum. Adam Kaczmarek started the band and Bartosz Sobieraj – our newest member – fills our previous vocalist’s place. We are all in our late 20s or early 30s.
Explain to those who have not heard you your music? Music is not to be explained. It was created not to be put in boxes with labels on them. Our vision of music takes us different places, we have different musical backgrounds (from jazz, ambient electronica, doom to funk, classic rock and extreme genres of metal). What we create is a mix of all of our ambitions and an experiment with form. We really wish that what people call “progressive music” really moved forward and escaped from the clutches of the sound of the 80s. So we try to put a fresh spin on what people think “progressive” should sound like. If you like good stories, atmosphere, melodies and heavy guitars then you will surely find something interesting in what we do. Check us out on www.facebook.com/votumpage or visit our website www.votumband.pl or better yet drop by to see us live. It’s a completely new experience.
Where was you first gig?/Where were off last gig? Votum is a touring band and we played hundreds of shows in a lot of places and it’s difficult to recall which was the first one. We can pretty well remember what we played in our new lineup (with Bartosz Sobieraj as lead vocal). We just finished our European tour having played in France, Poland, England, Scotland, Germany and Holland and the next gig we have scheduled is in Baarlo in the Netherlands as part of the Progpower Europe 2015 festival lineup.
Who writes the songs?/Who does the music? We all write the music, typically the vocalist writes the lyrics, but as a band we are a democracy.
How old were you when you started with music? Quite young. Mostly before or during high school. Bartosz Turkowski our glorious bassist started later: just a couple of years ago, but he is an extremely talented individual with gargantuan zeal and conviction and grown up to be one of the most interesting bass players around praised and for his skill and critically acclaimed for his lines on our albums.
How often do you practice? Often. 3 big rehearsals a week for 5 hours and everyday home practice with studio work. We believe in the sentence “honor thy tools and keep them holy”.
When did you start off band? Votum existed in some form from 2003 (with a demo album and a single), but we date the beginning of the band at 2007, when the style of the band changed, we added keyboards to the lineup and we released “Time must have a stop”.
Do you always the same songs live or vary it? We change the songs we play live to suit every type of audience. We have a strong dynamic sets, we have delicate, mood-oriented sets. We shift and change depending on the reaction of the crowd.
