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What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

We are just a bunch of friends forming a 5 piece music band (some would say ‘post-rock’ band).
After graduating high school our paths diverged, so under the pretext of forming a band we just wanted to maintain our friendship.
So to sum up, we could say that foundation to our activities as a band was friendship. I think however that in near future you might see new incarnation of SPOIWO. that in near.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

Our latest release is also our debut album ”Salute Solitude”. Some good PR first. We released it in 2015 and it was met with really good reception. One of the biggest internet post-rock community voted it the best debut album in 2015, some other media had similar feelings about our debut album, so it’s nice. This first album is, I like to compare things, it’s like first relationship or love in way,very pure, very personal, coming right from the guts. You act first,you think later, you might make some mistakes, but in the end you are deeply involved, you want to make it work.The same applied for this album. We were really polishing it, trying different producers to get the right mix and master, changing things, and it took us like 2-3 years,but finally we forced ourselves to settle with what we have and it’s great. Salute Solitude if you take the title literally is, in a way, a tribute to loneliness, to solitude. There are so many shades of it. It can be creative source, it can be your midnight deamon or your only company while you climb in the mountains. Whatever it is, you have to embrace it.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

We’ve been doing music for quite a lot of time, so our influences shift over time obviously. The deeper you dig the more extreme stimulus you need. I try to keep myself on a lead so I won’t drift too far away. Currently I am trying to discover a right balance between complex musical means and accessible musical form. The band that meets these demands is definitely Son Lux – pop songs, wicked, unusual structure and approach to music. I highly recommend that one. I really admire the simplicity and elegance of Alt J songs. There are some bands that are still rotating in my head, just for listeners pleasure; Zeal and Ardor, Yellow days, 65 days of static, Syny, Bąkowski, Jon Hopkins or immortal Sigur Ros. When it comes to non-music influences I must admit that I current political, environmental and intellectual situation pushes me towards dystopies . Not only to see if what they foreseen is right but to predict problems and solutions for upcoming future issues.

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

We can talk about our sound in context of our album “Salute Solitude”. This album, this sound – it takes you on journey in a way. I feel myself like I am rewinding through different moments in my life: joy, sorrow, awe, all kind of really.
Landscapes and pace are changing.
There is even a moment where I feel we are in the middle of some pagan ritual, so each time it happens I feel like, oh fuck this, it’s wild dance time, can you guys maybe contiue without me, so I can just rave for a bit. So basically our special hero power is that we can evoke a huge range of feelings and drag you into this journey. On technical side, our setup isn’t something groundbreaking. Two synths are quite unusual and Piter generates some really his own unique sound textures, but in the end it’s more like, not what gear we have, but what we manage to bring out of it.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

Albums: M83 – Hurry up, we’re dreaming and Slowdive – Souvlaki and movie: K-PAX. Hurry up, we’re dreaming because it has all the music moods I like. Ranging from 80s epic pop songs to an small ambient forms and epic monumental hymns, all of this on one record. Souvlaki is one of all time favourite. Perfect music to chill out and travel into dreams and old memories. K-PAX, because I can relate to Prot, main character and the way he sees world and life.

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Do you prefer studio or performing live and why? What should the audience expect from you of your live appearance at 2018’s SpaceFest?

Studio is like spending night in five star hotel, everything is as it should be: sound, monitors – all good, but you can’t start fire there, you can’t go wild. It is boring in a way. Stage is where you can burn with all your passion, connect with people, look into their eyes and start their inner fire. So for me it is all about performing live, maybe levels won’t be right and someone will be talking loudly during your silent moments, but it’s happening, right here, right now, it is raw and real, either you are into it or not, but sound gets in your face anyway. What should audience expect from us? Balls to the walls, body experience, going for it, fire and blood on stage, real emotions, raw and powerful sound.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

There were many, but one is very special for me.
That was in may 2010. One of our very first gigs. Day before my 24 birthday. After we finished our gig. My band members decide to give me a unique birthday gift and they started to play cover of my beloved U2, song “Sunday bloody Sunday”.
Fun fact: each of us switched his instrument, so I took the bass guitar, Piotr took the drums
and some English guy from the audience took the mic and he actually remembered the lyrics quite well (even though he was really drunk as fuck). I had a lot of fun that day.

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

Tough choice. Disembrace which opens our album, we use there violin bow on distorted detuned guitar connected with dense synth pad. It has very dystopian and eerie feel, it would suit Blade Runner well I feel, it has some vangelis vibe in it. In the end, I would go with SKIN, especially connected with music video we have. Go and watch it. Why? Because I feel it hits like train, I’ve heard so many times and it still gives me shivers when I hear it. On technical side, levels go red there, radio people ask us to send different version when they get it, because it sounds huge, dirty, raw. Michał Miegoń was doing mix and master for SKIN and at that time he was starting his career (one of many:)) as producer and this guy often does things really his own way. So, the end result is surely, not how you mix and master by the book, but it works great. It is really unique.

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

Right now we are completely focused on a new album. And we assume this will be something quite different than Salute Solitude. Our goal is to make it in the 2019.
There will be also some personal changes as well and that force us to make some changes in our setup. We want to make new album ASAP and start new chapter in our band’s life.

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

I don’t really know, what question I would like to hear, but there is a thought I willgladly share. Often in my life music or certain songs are soundtrack to rather meaningful moments in my life or they are just simply there when I need them. They wake me up in the morning, they heal me when it’s needed, they replace coffee in the morning sometimes, they pump me up. I wonder how people connect with our music? When you listen to some SPOIWO songs? While you go to work in the morning, while you drive at night, jog in the gym or you make love? I am really curious.

Photo credits: Maciej Majchrowicz (1st one)

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

Recommended listening:

Connect with SPOIWO:

https://www.facebook.com/Spoiwo/

https://spoiwo.bandcamp.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/SPOIWO

https://www.instagram.com/spoiwoband/