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Thy Disease: Concepts about this inflicted world
Interview with vocalist Psycho of Thy Disease by Vera in March 2008
Poland has always been a huge supplier of extreme metal bands. Through the years they established their diverse image of death/black bands (Think about Vader, Behemoth and so many more) and smooth progressive stuff like Riverside and Quidam. One of the bands I got to know in 2006 was Thy Disease, being on tour with my long term friends Darzamat. They appeared to be in the scene for quite a long time and their albums were worth checking out. I did a review for the excellent ‘Rat Age’ and wanted to know what’s going on in Poland by now. Vocalist Psycho explained it all for us…
The band was founded in 1999. Can you tell a bit more about these early days and a short history of Thy Disease?
Hell-o everyone. Basically Thy Disease started as Yanuary’s project. I was the first person he invited to the band (at that time I was a member of a band called Infernal Maze). At the end of 1999 we recorded our first demo called ‘Art Of Decadence’ – me and Yanuary were still the only band members. The demo became quite popular and we started to look for other musicians to start playing live gigs. In 2001 we signed a three album deal with Metal Mind Productions. We released for them ‘Devilish Act Of Creation’ in 2001, ‘Cold skin Obsession’ in 2002 and ‘Neurotic World Of Guilt’ in 2004. The next album ‘Rat Age’ was originally released in 2006 by Empire Records, but recently has been re-released by MMP again – so here we are in the present.
What can be seen as influences for Thy Disease? Which music made you decide to form a band?
You have to know that however young we were when we formed Thy Disease, it wasn’t our first band. I started career as a metal vocalist when I was 16, and at this time I was listening to Metallica, Sepultura, Samael, Morbid Angel and many more… If you ask about music which had a direct impact on Thy Disease, I don’t know if it’s possible to answer this question. There are just so many influences… We are open to every possible style, including electronic stuff and movie sound tracks.
 You are from Krakow, one of the most beautiful cities of Poland to me, because of its cultural heritage. How was it to grow up there? Did you have enough possibilities to see bands and later on, play live?
I think we are lucky to be from Krakow. It’s a very artistic place too and there are many bands playing metal. Most of my friends, who are from there, play some kind of music, so it’s quite easy to find members to form a band. Krakow is also one of the biggest Polish cities, so there are many opportunities to watch concerts and to play them.
‘Rat Age’ is your fourth album. It has an exciting science fiction story in the lyrics. Can you tell a bit more about this concept?
Generally speaking it’s a s-f story which is about confrontation between global corporation-organization called Syndicate and it’s messianic adversaries. It is set in post nuclear scenery. Some people may think that the ‘Rat Age’ world is something like a distant future, but my intention was to make it more parallel to the presence, and to make people think what may happen in the near future.
And it will be continued on the next album ‘Anshur-Za’ isn’t it?
Not exactly. I mean, we’ve decided to stick to the Syndicate concept, and some other elements of ‘Rat Age’, but ‘Anshur-Za’ will be something new. It will be the same world, but a different, unrelated story. I don’t want here to explain everything about the new album, because I like it when people have a chance to think and interpret for them selves.
So I guess science fiction is one of your interests… what can we see as other interests for you besides music?
It’s not really true that I’m hugely interested in s-f. I mean, I’ve read books, and I’ve seen some classical movies, so I have some images and clichés in the back of my head. So I suppose when I was writing ‘Rat Age’, some things came out naturally. My main interests apart from music are history, political science, sociology and modern warfare. I’m deeply concerned with current world situation so I was just wondering about possible black scenarios, and that’s how ‘Rat Age’ concept came to me first. I didn’t want to write openly about politics – I just decided to experiment with some more attractive form.
 Since keyboards have an important function in your music, next to the melodic guitar leads, and next to vocals/lyrics, I guess song writing is a real band effort or am I wrong?
Yes, but there are two people who are really responsible for making the music in Thy Disease. Yanuary is the main songwriter in the band, but as the keyboards play such an important role in our music, he has to work closely with Cube. Obviously Cloud is a guy responsible for the drum arrangements, and I also can have my say, what I think about the songs hehe.
I am a bit confused about your record deals. Albums came out on Metal Mind Productions, but in October 2005 you inked a new deal with Empire Records. ‘Rat Age’ was released, but now it is re-released by Metal Mind. Can you clear up my confusion about this?
To be honest with you I’m also a bit confused about that (laughs). The ‘Rat Age’ re-release came to us as a total surprise and nobody even bothered to ask us before it happened. Well, that’s just the nature of the business… But on the other hand, I don’t have a reason to complain, because I think MMP has a wider distribution than Empire Records, so I hope that more people will have a chance to become familiar with ‘Rat Age’.
Until the end of last year you toured as co-headliner at the Metalfilia 2007. What about this experience?
Metalfilia was just like any other tour and the main difference was that it was very international. We had bands from three different continents, representing sometimes very distant styles. But from my point of view, this diversity was very interesting. All together there were seven bands – quite a lot for a tour. But once again it was cool. I didn’t know at least half of them before Metalfilia, but I have to say they all surprised me in a very positive way – both with the music and on the personal level.
 You toured a lot in Poland, but which foreign soil was conquered until now?
We played one tour in Russia in 2006, we went to Ukraine, and we also played single gigs in Czech Republic, Netherlands, France and Belgium (where we had a pleasure to meet).
What was an absolute highlight on touring until now?
It’s got to be Russia and Ukraine, not only because these are distant and exotic destinations, even for us. The crowds there are just amazing. People are very spontaneous, friendly and enthusiastic about the music. It’s a real pleasure to play there. There are a lot of fans in the East, and maybe they don’t have as many chances to see concerts, as a bit spoiled audience in Western Europe. I also think that they respect Polish metal music a lot.
You are a four piece band but live, bass duties are in the hands of Waran. Are you looking for a permanent bassist or is this situation quite satisfying since Yanuary also plays bass (in studio)?
We just think that the less people you have in the band, the better haha. Seriously, we got used to our line-up and we are comfortable with it. I don’t see a reason why we should change it now. Look at some more famous bands than us like Satyricon – they also just take some session musicians for the concerts - and it work’s well for them.
The artwork of ‘Rat Age’ was done by Jacek Wisniewski. Can you tell a bit more about this artist?
Well I don’t know too much about him, I’m sure you can find all the info about him on his web site. The thing is, if you are at Empire Records, than for sure he will be the one who will be working on the artwork for you. I think he is a very talented guy, but the problem with him is, that he makes so many covers for different bands. Some people are saying that it is very easy to recognize his style and that his work sometimes lack originality. We were aware of this problem, so we gave him ‘Rat Age’ lyrics and told about album’s concept. At the end, I think he did a brilliant job and managed to really catch the spirit of ‘Rat Age’ concept.
The new album is recorded by now. Did you return to Zed Studio or another one?
Yes, we are working in Zed Studio again. We like this place a lot and we just love to work with Tomek, so I don’t see any reason why we should look for some new place. It’s very important to feel comfortable during the recording session and that’s how it feels when we are working there.
 And maybe you can lift up a tip of the veil about ‘Anshur-Za’?
Ok, musically it will be typical for Thy Disease’s mixture of death metal and electronics. It will be maybe a bit heavier than the previous album. Lyrically it will also be a concept. Anshur-Za is a story set in the world of Rat Age, but it’s not going to be a continuation. There will be 10 brand new songs, one cover and we will record also one bonus track. I don’t want to lift the veil more about this subject hehe just wait and see (laughs).
Is there any news about the plans for an upcoming tour in Russia?
Because the recording session is dragging so much, we had to postpone our plans to play a Russian tour in Spring. But don’t worry – we will get there later.
Or other tour plans (for Europe??)
As I said above, the main thing now is to finish the album. We’ve already had to refuse some offers because of that. We are going to play at some festivals in summer. As soon as we finish the album we will think of some new gigs to promote it.
And to occlude what are the plans for the near future?
The main plan is to find a new record label. Our deals with the previous ones are finished and we hope we will be able to sign a good, new one. We would like to visit as many places on the globe as possible!
That’s a great endeavour and I am sure we’ll meet again somewhere along the road!
Thank you for the interview and many hails to the metal fans in Belgium! I hope we will be able to play for you again!
Geplaatst door Vera op dinsdag 01 april 2008 - 13:46:50
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