LH: Hi there! You’re debut album has just been released, and I’ve noticed fairly mixed reactions; some people love the album, other reviews haven’t been quite so positive. Has the album got the kind of reaction you had expected?

Mike: Hi, well, nothing can get only good or bad opinions. It’s rather natural for everything, some love guns, some love blades, some love Britney, some hate her, an so on. If you take a closer look on that thing you will find that it’s always better to talk about you, whether it’s good or bad, then get ambivalent reactions. It’s basically the basis of all marketing procedures. That would be all for the introduction. And as for our case, I’d say we have gathered more positive feedback then negative so far and considering that fact we achieved some of our goals. To be totally honest we hadn’t had any set expectations before we actually got some feedback from our label and fans. I think that next few weeks, maybe months will get the answer for this and more questions.

LH: There are some fairly obvious influences that come across in your music, with Children of Bodom being the one that really stands out. There also seems to be a very classical feel, to the guitar playing in particular, and I was wondering how much inspiration you take from the classical genre, and from genres outside of metal?

Mike: Yeah, some people classified our music style close to Children Of Bodom, basically because of common threat of melodies and guitar work. We both play heavy and melodic type of metal, but with different ideas and concepts. Besides guys from Finland aren’t our biggest influence. You mentioned classical feel and you are right. Classical music has always had huge impression on my playing as well as on my compositions. Plus I’ve been studying musicology for five years now and I’ve got familiar with plenty of superior music. I especially like baroque, classical and romantic period in history of music. Anyway, classical music has influenced my guitar work a way further then anything else. Beside metal and classical I also listen to wide list of music genres, from jazz to some of disco stuff. I just listen to what I think is worth to be listened. If my heart beats faster to some type of music, I won’t resist. I think it’s really important to have your eyes open if you really think of being decent musician.

LH: I understand that Mike, you’re the chief songwriter in the band and the other member don’t usually take part in writing songs. I was wondering how the rest of the band feel about this arrangement and if you think this could ever change and become a more democratic process?

Mike: Luckily they agreed to work this way. It’s based on simple idea of concept of music. For me it’s pointless to match some parts together and see what comes out of this. I prefer to run, call it “classical” procedure of composition. I have an idea, some sort of train of thoughts and I just write it down. I play it again and again and I have another idea, and next one and suddenly I have whole song written and ready for getting some arrangements. I basically bring whole songs with all tracks written down. It works with Made Of Hate. But sometimes I let guys come with their ideas and if they are fine with my idea I may use them, but it’s not sure thing. Maybe I’m a bit of dictator, but music is one of rare things which I take serious. When it comes to shitty things I’m more democratic.

LH: Listening to the lyrics on the album they all seem to be of quite a personal nature, and there sounds to be a lot of anger there particularly with songs like ‘eye for an eye’. Is it mostly personal experiences that inspire you lyrically, or are there any other things you draw influence from?

Mike: You are right, except “Fallout”, which is a story drew from video game, and “My Last Breath” which is a little poem or story about romantic passing away, the rest of the lyrics is, in fact, very personal. I just believe that only things you lived through can give you right impact of emotions which you can easily speak out or sing out. I basically take some events from my life and I try to describe them or express. Different side of this is the emotions are mostly negative, because as for me, it’s really easier to scream out some bad f through feelings, then for example talk about love or something. So in Made Of Hate’s lyrics you can find such subjects like hatred, desire for revenge, but also emotions that may occur when you enter the adult world, addiction, etc…someone wise said once that it’s up to you what will you find in a poem, so maybe that’s the right way.

LH: You managed to get the album recorded in under a week, which seems pretty good going! I’m guessing the process went incredibly smoothly for it to be done in such a short length of time. I was kind of going on the assumption that you had the studio booked for longer but felt that you had achieved what you wanted after this time, but were there any other pressures, or reasons why you got the album done so quickly?

Mike: First of all, thanks. We were actually surprised by the tempo of the recording, but it needs to be pointed out, that it was smooth and really great going process. In fact we had much more time in the studio, personally I thought we would spend there three weeks, maybe more. But it appeared pointless considering or good preparation and non-problem recording session from the top till the end. We had no pressure, this is just how we roll. We used to do everything as best as we can so it couldn’t be different when it cam to put the tracks down in the studio.

LH: Are you completely happy with the end result, or do you think there are bits you’re not so happy with that you could have done better with a little more time?

Mike: I used to say that only regret is that we didn’t make a decent tourism trip in nearby areas. We actually went out only to visit ruins of old castle and few times we went out for a proper dinner. But it’s a side. Musically we are happy with the final result.

LH: Finding the right producer can make a lot of difference with recording an album. Did the producer Zed give you much advice during the recording process or did you have more of a set idea of what you wanted from the recording that allowed him to take more of a back seat in the process?

Mike: Yes, Zed gave us a lot of advices and it was not only a pleasure to collaborate with him, but also very good lesson for each one of us. We had some sort of ultimate idea, but whole session and his experience slightly changed our goals and visions. In fact we squeezed what we could out of our guitars and amplifiers. Thanks to him you can listen our abilities and juicy sound. There is no flavour improvement. That’s why we are looking forward for the next session with Zed.

LH: I must say that the artwork for the album is very deceptive, and was expecting this to be a hardcore album until I actually listened to it and was pleasantly surprised. I was hoping you could explain what the cover is all about?

Mike: Well, when we were looking for the album cover we already had an album title, which is “Bullet In Your Head” and that sounds really aggressive. Coma, who made for example Sonic Syndicate’s logo and covers, previously made our logo. Then he also made the cover ideas. The image you are looking on holding our album is basically the explanation of “bullet...” lyrics. And as far as we like some of hardcore elements we felt this cover would work for us. And from the second side, we like to match different styles together so matching hardcore-like image with non-hardcore music is cool of some sort.

LH: So now your first album is out of the way, have you begun work on the next album yet? What should fans expect from the next album?

Mike: Indeed, we have slowly started to write new stuff and play it, but it’s really too early to talk about it since we are still in the promotion of “Bullet In Your Head” album. But I think I can assure our fans that next disk will contain another impact of twisted solos and heavy bottom rhythms. For sure you will find melodies and our trade mark instrumental parts. Plus I believe next album will sound stronger.

LH: You’re signed to AFM Records. I was wondering what kind of things were important to you when searching for a record deal, and how you came to sign with AFM over any other company?

Mike: When we decided to look for a label all we knew was “let’s get the fuck out of Poland”, so our goal was international label with all that international promotion, etc. Something that polish labels can’t give bands. Besides Entering huge label is a ultimate goal for every band, or at least for most of them. In fact we are first polish metal band, who released debut album outside of Poland. But to tell the truth AFM was one of the very first big labels that answered our call and since the very beginning we found we like each other and we understand what we want and possibly can get. After few sleepless nights and weeks of uncertainty we got in and our dream had came real.

LH: Did you have the album ready to put out before you landed the deal, or had you signed to AFM Records before you went into the studio?

Mike: No, we recorded “Bullet In Your Head” by ourselves and then we sent the disk to people from labels. We actually sent no more the five packages.

From the outside, Poland appears to be a fairly good country for metal, as you have bands like Vader and Behemoth, and a few new bands seem to be surfacing as well and you get some bigger touring bands passing through. How do you feel about the scene over there?

Mike: Originally, polish metal scene is really extreme, mostly black and death metal acts we have here. Personally I’m more into progressive rock or metal then black or death, so I don’t pay too much attention to mentioned genres. But recently I’ve noticed that people demand melodic type of metal, so there is also a place for us in Polish metal scene. As for the celebrities I think it’s really great for big bands that they include Poland to their tour plans. Thanks to that I could see Dream Theater, Trivium and many more bands in past few years. At the end, I think Polish metal scene is indeed quite well and it seems to get better every year.

LH: Finally do you have any plans to do any festivals and/or tours across Europe in 2008? Any chance of a visit to the UK? ;)

Mike: Well, if only people check out our music and they start to demand us playing on festivals, etc we will surely pack out things and hit the road. As for the UK, well recently we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from Brits, especially because Bruce Dickinson played us on his Rock Show at BBC and that gave us huge impact of interest. I think everything is on the right path to get our asses to the UK and play some great shows. It’s only a matter of time.

LH: That’s all the questions I’ve got for you. Thanks for the interview and I’d like to wish you all the best with Made of Hate.

Mike: Thank you very much for the interview, review and interest in Made Of Hate. We really appreciate that and we are looking forward to repay you one the shows. See you then. Rock on.

http://www.myspace.com/madeofhateofficial
Bruce Dickenson's Rockshowhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/6music_aod.shtml?6music/6m_rockshow

Interviewed by Luci Herbert

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