Present yourself to the readers
Hello, I’m Piehoo from Kontagion. The band started in 2007 in Bydgoszcz, Poland, as a studio side project in the beginning. In the fall of 2008 it transformed into a regular band, and of course the lineup changed through the years. The music style has evolved from cyber metal, through groove and industrial metal. Currently we’re close to the industrial with items of post metal. We still develop our music, and we do our best to explore the music matter in the future.
Who composes ?...
We dropped marking the individual composers some time ago and now we sign as the band. However, some riffs or melodies or arrangements on one instrument start from the single person, but the riff or melody isn’t everything in the song, right? A band sound doesn’t end on guitar, right? Moreover, we increasingly jam together in the rehearsal room basing on the motives that appear suddenly. For example, our video song “82” is the jam’s result.
Who writes the texts ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?
I remember all of us wrote some lyrics, for the latest album as well. In the past, we focused mainly on the mood that fit to the music, the lyrics were about the war, near future threats etc. Later we decided to bring more personal issues to the lyrics. We try our lyrics to by universal and sincere. For example, “82” is both personal and social one. It was mine, actually. I compared today corporate employees with the communist working leaders from the 50s. But really it is about the fear of my generation about the financial future and retirement.
Why the name KONTAGION ?
The word is strong, simple, and introduces a kind of anxiety. An English original one is “contagion”, but it has already been occupied by some techno project, so we changed “C” into “K”, and… Ready.
What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?
Well, my personal musical tastes are not equal to the influences I incorporate into Kontagion’s music. But maybe it is? For example, I love Aerosmith, but I don’t find it in our music. On the other hand, “The End of Every World” is based on U2 and mid-80s Killing Joke. The bridge riff from “Slice of Life” is a rip off from a Mercyful Fate song. The middle part of “[S.O.B.E.R.] pt 2” from our previous album is strongly influenced by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. As you can see, I love classic rock, but not only. Recently, I’m into post metal and sludge. I search for the perfect symbiosis of heaviness and atmospheric space.
What's your best live memory ? And why ?
In 2001 I invaded the Small Stage of Polish Woodstock Festival (currently Pol And Rock Festival), and I sang a hardcore punk song a’capella. After the lyrics I played a solo on a balloon – losing the air with compressed vent. A several hundred people applauded. Well, with Kontagion I think it was Metal Ending of the Year 2017. The audience consisted of traditional heavy metal fans basically, but they felt our music well. A special thanks to Chainsaw band! Also a gig in Gostynin town in 2013 was a good one – we experienced a very positive feedback from the Godflesh fans then. I must say, our latest gig in Bydgoszcz was great. And a special thanks to Deathinition band!
In studio, what was the atmosphere for the album KONTAGION ?...etc.…
Actually it wasn’t much fun. It was stress. Personally, I had no trouble with my lines, I like recording, even if some mistakes appear. I think, Sfenson had the hardest part, because he was the engineer. He was fighting against the guitar sound for example and at some point, he was totally frustrated. But finally, the tracks had been ready. And then the mixes started… We felt almost like Def Leppard working on “Hysteria” album. Fortunately, any of us didn’t lost his arm.
