• I THINK THAT THEIR NAME SAYS IT ALL. PROGRESSIVE, MELODIC AND AT THE SAME TIME POETIC DEATH METAL. LET THEIR MUSIC TRAVELS YOU TO THE DEPEST SECRETS OF YOUR SOULS. DEFINETELY, THOSE MAD "ARABS" FROM POLAND KNOW WHO TO COMPOSE MUSIC...

1.TELL US IN A FEW WORDS THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY. WHICH IS TODAY'S LINE UP?

• JERZY: April Ethereal AD 2002 is Jan - guitars, Jerzy - drums, Adrian - vocals, Marek - bass... We're actually rehearsing with our new drummer,but it's too early to mention his name. Well, we started to play in 1996 in Tunis with my brother as a duo. It wasn't really a serious band, we did it for fun. The band was called Leon and we recorded some demotapes that we decided not to promote, because it was just for fun. In 1999, when we moved back to Poland, we recorded two demotapes, still as a duo, called "Leviathan" and "Silva". The first one was a little bit promoted, but not very much - we got some reviews of it, that's all. The second one was better, and we got a lot more of feedback to this demo. In 2000 we decided to change the band's name to April Ethereal, because the old name wasn't really appropriate for a metal band and we got all sort of problems with it. In october 2000 we recorded our first demo as April Ethereal called "Advent" and in 2001 Adrian joined the band on vocals and we were finally able to play live - with a drum machine. We  did our first show in Gdansk (PL) on "The Night of Unholy Metal" festival and we met Thomas from Conquer Records, who said that he really like our music. Later on, we signed a record deal with Conquer Records and we released "Advent" as our official debut album. Then we played a lot of shows in Poland and in Europe promoting our debut album. In march 2002 Marek (bass) and Marcin (drums) joined the band, we rehearsed for 4 months our new songs and in july 2002 we entered Green Studio in Krakow (PL) in order to record our second album "Al Azif". After the recording session, Marcin (drums) left the band and we found a new drummer. Now we're awaiting the end of the mastering process of "Al Azif"... That's all the story.

2.YOUR FIRST NAME WAS "LEON". HAVE YOU RELEASED ANY MATERIAL UNDER THIS NAME? CAN YOU DESRCIBE HOW LEON'S MUSIC SOUNDED?

• JERZY: Leon was a symphonic black metal band. At the very beginning we played a sort of evil harcore/punk, but later on we played black metal.We released two demo tapes as Leon: "Leviathan" and "Silva". I think "Silva" was the real beginning of our musical style, that evolved throughout the years...

3.WHY HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR BAND'S NAME TO APRIL ETHEREAL? WHAT DOES THIS NAME MEAN TO YOU?

• JERZY: We changed the name because of problems with intolerant people in the polish underground. People couldn't understand that a metal band could be named Leon. We decided to change the name in order to promote better our music. I think that April Ethereal is a good name for us, because it reflects our musical style: mystic, melodic, beautiful. We took the name from an Opeth song from the "My Arms Your Hearse" album.

4.HOW HAS INFLUENCED YOUR STAY TO TUNIS AS PERSONS AND AS ARTISTS? WHY DID YOU GO THERE?

• JERZY: We lived in Tunis for 10 years because our parents worked there. I think that our stay in Tunisia influenced us a lot and you'll be able to hear that on our new album "Al Azif". We use arabian musical scales, some rhythm ideas come from arabian music.

5.BOTH YOUR ALBUMS ARE CONCEPT. WHAT'S THAT THING THAT MAKES YOU EXPRESS YOUR IDEAS THROUGH CONCEPT ALBUMS?

• JERZY: It comes out naturally. On "Advent" Jan wanted to tell a story, and that's why it was a concept album. With our demo "Silva" it was the same story. On the new "Al Azif" Adrian wrote lyrics influenced by ancient mythologies and by H.P. Lovecraft novels. It's a concept album again, but this time each song tells a separate story. I think that a concept album takes the listener to another reality. When you listen to non-conceptual albums, you can say - this song is sad, this one is not... When you listen to a concept album all the songs create a unique atmosphere.

6.YOUR STORIES DEAL WITH INNER CHANGES OF HUMAN THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. IN THE FIRST ALBUM WE SEE THE MAGNIFICANCE OF NATURE - A  POSITIVE CHANGE, BUT IN THE OTHER ALBUM WE FIND THE DESTROYAL OF HUMAN BEINGS IN THE CIVILIZED COMMUNITIES. THERE IS AN ANTITHESIS. WAS THIS MADE ON PURPOSE?

• JERZY: On each release we told another story. We don't follow a unique idea, a unique vision of the world, we just tell stories about human beings. Life makes that some events are a positive change for us, and some are not.

7.ADRIAN IS A NEW MEMBER OF THE BAND. HAS HE PLAYED TO ANY OTHER BANDS PREVIOUSLY BEFORE JOINING APRIL ETHEREAL?

• JERZY: Yes, he played in Stonegate and in Valpurgia, but it was 10 years ago and since then he was just the editor of an underground fanzine.

8.YOUR MUSIC IS VERY PROGRESSIVE. HOWEVER IT'S VERY  INTERESTING AS WELL. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOU TO COMPOSE TECHNICAL MUSIC AND KEEP IT INTERESTING?

• JERZY: It comes out naturally. We're writing complex and long songs, so we can't make them boring. It's not difficult, we just take our ideas and we're making songs based on those ideas. The more ideas we got, the more complex the song is. We're not trying to make technical music on  purpose, we just want it to be interesting - we want to surprise the listener.<

9.IN MY REVIEW I WROTE THAT YOU REMINDED ME A LOT OF OPETH. DO YOU AGREE? WHICH OTHER BANDS DO WE FIND  AMONG YOUR INFLUENCES?

• JERZY: I don't agree. It's because of our name probably that people think we're a polish verion of Opeth. The only thing that April Ethereal  and Opeth music has in common is the use of acoustical guitars and the complex song structure. We listen to a lot of bands, like Anathema, My Dying Bride, Lux Occulta, The Opposition, Green Carnation, October Tide, Katatonia, Yattering... And everything can be an influence for us, bu I think we're not aware of it.

10.YOU'LL RELEASE A NEW ALBUM UNDER THE TITLE "AL  AZIF". TELL US SOME THINGS ABOUT IT. WILL IT BE A  CONCEPT AS WELL?

• JERZY: Yeah, it will be a concept based on H.P. Lovecraft novels... But the whole album won't tell a unique story. Each song will be tell separate story. The music on "Al Azif" will be slower, but the songs will be even more progressive and complex. The shorter track on this album has 8 minutes, the longer - 15 minutes. I think that our new songs are more interesting and better than those from "Advent".

11.MANY METAL MUSICIANS ACCUSE POP STARS FOR THEIR LIFE STYLE, YET WE SEE SUCH BEHAVIOURS IN THE METAL  SCENE AS WELL (BANDS PAYING TO MAKE A COVER FOR SUCCESFUL MAGAZINES, HAVING A GOOD REVIEW, METAL  LABELS PROMOTING SPECIFIC BANDS AND GENRES EACH  EPOCH,ETC).IS IT MAYBE AFTER ALL TRUE THAT THE METAL INDUSTRY DOESN'T DIFFER FROM THE POP? WHICH ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?

• JERZY: I think the metal industry is the same that pop industry, but it's smaller. Bands don't sell millions of CDs, don't play in front of hundreds of thousands of people... It's like a mini-pop industry. But metal music is far better than pop music, and that's the difference!

12.DOES THE FACT THAT SOME PEOPLE WILL JUDGE YOUR CD ONLY BY HOW IT SELLS AND NOT BY ITS ARTISTIC VALUE ANNOY YOU? DOES IT MAKE YOU AGREE?

• JERZY: I know that our music is too complex and too progressive to be sold in millions of copies. It's not easy listening music, so I don’t expect to sell millions of copies of our album. I would like our CD to be  judged only by its artistic values. If someone, without listening to our music, says that we're a shitty band just because we don't sell millions of copies of our album, i'll answer "fuck off" - I don't make music for this kind of people.

13.IF YOU HAD THE MONEY TO MAKE A PROPER VIDEOCLIP, HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE? DESCRIBE IT...

• JERZY: Well I think you'll see it by yourself, as we want to make a videoclip for a song from "Al Azif". The video will probably be included as a CD-ROM track on our album.

14.IF YOUR MUSIC WAS A PAINTING WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?

• JERZY: No idea, maybe something like the paintings of Beksinski or Salvador Dali...

15.IF SOMEDAY YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHICH WOULD YOUR BIGGEST QUESTION BE?

• JERZY: If he new that someday men will play music.

16.WHICH IS MAN'S BIGGEST TEMPTATION?

• JERZY: To become a God.

17.WHICH DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST AND WHICH THE WORST PART OF YOUR MUSIC? WHERE DO YOU NEED IMPROVEMENT?

• JERZY: Best part: atmosphere and song construction. Worst par? I don't know. But I know that one day we will record songs with growl and with clean vocals...

18.IF TIME TRAVEL WAS POSSIBLE, WHICH HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY? WHAT WOULD YOU MISS THE MOST FROM OUR TIME?

• JERZY: XVIII century, because it was the century of philosophers. I would miss the most electricity.

19.WHAT PROLOGUE AND TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO HAVE?

• JERZY: Prologue: some of your thoughts about our music. Title: "The madness of the ancient Arab".

20.THANK YOU!HAVE I FORGOT TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?

• JERZY: No, the interview was long and interesting. We invite all of you to check out our new album "Al Azif" and to visit our official website for further informations about April Ethereal, gigs, tours, etc...
•                        BAND CONTACT:
•                        Jerzy - [email protected]
•                        Jan - [email protected]
•                        Mail: Jerzy Rajkow-Krzywicki, P.O. Box 53,
•                        02-498 Warszawa 125, Poland
•                        www.aprilethereal.com