After recently interviewing the song Implosion of Pain (and soon, hopefully, reviewing the full album) I had the wonderful opportunity of getting to do an e-mail interview with the one man band guy himself, Damy Mojitodka! Click "read more" to see the full interview. |
SWblog: When and why did you start playing music?
Da my: I got my first guitar from my uncle when I was 9-10 y.o.; it was an acoustic one but at the time I was really focused on listening to Metallica, Iron Maiden etc. so I built a paper guitar adding two A3 sheets together and cutting them in ESP explorer shape form; I drew strings, fretboards, etc. then I played it in front of my father while he was dining (Metallica tape was playing at high volume in my stereo) so he looked at me saying "You should need a real one" and a few months later for my 11th birthday I got my 1st Ibanex electric guitar, a nice green RX series. I probably picked up that instrument because I was totally hit by the album "Ride The Lightning" and when I saw Kirk Hammet playing his awesome Gibson Flying V, having long hair etc. I said to myself "that's what I'd like to do for the rest of my laugh" hahaha.
SWblog: What's your favorite band? - Who do you admire as a musician?
Dam y: Actually there's a huge amount of bands / artists who I like to listen to; first of all I have to say that being a composer I mainly listen to very different genres (from 80's pop to celtic music, from extreme metal to psycho trance, etc). Actually - as an example - I'm in a "summer mood" which means listening to lots of metal core stuff or Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler's solo works, Toto, Dance hits, etc.
Metallica was the reason I picked up guitar so they're still in my artist list even though I don't like their latest release; other artists who I like are Michael Jackson, Madonna, Steve Lukather, Toto, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Bond Quartet, Era, Loreena Mc Kennitt, Combicrist, Infected Mushroom, Rise Against, Scar Simmetry, In Flames, Soilwork, Stone (Finnish thrash metal band), Rammstein, Opeth, Aborted, Otep, Swallow The Sun, Anathema and more. ☺
SWblog: What are some of your fondest musical memories?
Da my: There are several memories that I keep in my music life. Some of them are surely our first live gig in 2005 (at the time we had also a singer/keyboarder and we performed also a song from Children of Bodom who really hit us all at the time), our first experiences with studio recording, the mini tour in Slovakia in January 2009 and the Russian tour during March 2015 *_*
SWblog: What do you like most about being a musician?
Dam y: There are three main things which I like about being a musician:
1 - writing music is the best therapy to forget bad moments and stop thinking about bullshit;
2 - music gave me the chance to meet and stay in touch with several people/artist etc. I was a reviewer / interviewer before running my band and sometimes I also organized concerts and these points help you a lot to view / analyze this world from different points of views ☺
3 - music and my actually session musicians are the family thanks to PULVIS ET UMBRA succeed to play in 3 different countries between March and May and we're actually waiting confirmation to play again outside Italy.
SWblog: What do you like least? (about being a musician)
D amy : The fact that lots of people let me waste several times during the past year; I'm always one who invested time and money in this project and I could surely save a lot of cash if those people acted in a more honest way since the beginning…. Anyway, that's life, we always have to learn from our mistakes.
SWblog: What song are you most proud of? Why?
Dam y: "Wrath And Sorrow" (taken from the first album "Reaching The End") has it's own special meaning for me because it was the first extreme metal song I wrote. Then "Psicostasia", the first official instrumental song from PULVIS ET UMBRA. I like the few Egyptian atmosphere on it; then at last I'm surely proud of the main riff of "Implosion Of Pain", the arpeggio from "Lullabye", the ending solo taken in "Til It Keeps Me Awake" and the catchy chorus of "Looking Through The Eyes".
SWblog: People have this image that being a musician is a "non-stop party", what are your views on that?
Da my: Well, that 90% fake. I mean, of course you can have a party during tour when you drinking and spend time with fans, etc. but people cannot imagine the work behind practice and booking everything to plan a tour. It could take several months just to play a tour of 8-10 days.
Writing songs (especially being a one man band) takes a huge amount of time and I'm speaking as an underground act, 'cause I have a primary job due that I can't live off of music. Rehearsing and recording stuff plus instruments and amp maintenance has it's own additional time. Even if you sign with a label and work with the press office, you must always keep your eyes open because you trust people who you never meet in real life and it could be a huge scam. Last but not least, passion must be of course the main strength which delivers yourself.
I think it could be the same for a webzine; I mean, bands always thought that reviewers are always ready to interview or review new bands, but only being inside that world you realize the amount of previous work still on the way to be done - amounts of reviews to close, etc.
SWblog: What can people expect to see at your live performances?
Da my: Just to spend a good time! I was always being pissed to see metal bands who act like liscio ballad orchestra, know what I mean? Hahaha. We like to see people have fun during our live sets, making chorus, singing with us or just jumping/headbangin. That's the coolest reward that an artist can receive.
SWblog: What are you immediate career goals? (1-3 years out)
Da my: Actually, I'm writing stuff for two new EP's and we're awaiting confirmation for new live gigs between 2015 and 2016. Then we 'll see hehehe ☺
SWblog: What advice do you have for young musicians that are just getting started?
Da my: As per personal experience, I'd like to share them only a couple of tips;
1 - Be sure you're running a band with the right people who have your same passion and risk in investing money, this will let save lots of time. Beware about having close friendships in the band because if bad times should come, the band will have it.
2 - Read carefully each deal or sort of stuff sent by a label or promoter due to helping avoid scams. Better to work with some indecent and underground staff who knows you personally, which is a main trusting point for cooperation.
SWblog: Any crazy stories from performing?
Da my: Oh yes, haha, even if crazy situations / stories are more related to after shows :°D
Anyway, I'm reminded of a couple of situations during the Russian tour; the first one happened at HELLBLOCK in Velikie Luki, a blonde drunken guy kept coming up to the stage asking to speak at the microphone then the 3rd time he really pissed me off and I'd pull (the microphone) away, then he was kicked out of the club - staff let him enter again at the end of the show.
Second story happened in Vologda - last show of the Russian tour - we played as headliner in a cool festival and the venue was full of a crowd who jumped with us even if they had never heard about the song we were performing. That was absolutely stunning and I'm still in touch via VK with some of them. ☺
SWblog: What are some things that you enjoy doing in your free time?
Damy: I like to talk with foreign people to keep my English trained, hang out at pub with friends, biking, shopping, movies, cartoons, picnics, driving, traveling, listening to music, singing aloud while driving, chill out on the sofa, reading, etc….nothing much different from what everyone else on this planet does haha :-D
Thank You very much for this interview, was once again cool to talk with you <3
Rocking hugs from Italy, Damy.
Once again, a huge thanks to Damy for taking the time to answer some questions! It was great to learn more about the mind behind the music!
Check out the PULVIS ET UMBRA links below.
Interested in promoting your music? Da my: I got my first guitar from my uncle when I was 9-10 y.o.; it was an acoustic one but at the time I was really focused on listening to Metallica, Iron Maiden etc. so I built a paper guitar adding two A3 sheets together and cutting them in ESP explorer shape form; I drew strings, fretboards, etc. then I played it in front of my father while he was dining (Metallica tape was playing at high volume in my stereo) so he looked at me saying "You should need a real one" and a few months later for my 11th birthday I got my 1st Ibanex electric guitar, a nice green RX series. I probably picked up that instrument because I was totally hit by the album "Ride The Lightning" and when I saw Kirk Hammet playing his awesome Gibson Flying V, having long hair etc. I said to myself "that's what I'd like to do for the rest of my laugh" hahaha.
SWblog: What's your favorite band? - Who do you admire as a musician?
Dam y: Actually there's a huge amount of bands / artists who I like to listen to; first of all I have to say that being a composer I mainly listen to very different genres (from 80's pop to celtic music, from extreme metal to psycho trance, etc). Actually - as an example - I'm in a "summer mood" which means listening to lots of metal core stuff or Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler's solo works, Toto, Dance hits, etc.
Metallica was the reason I picked up guitar so they're still in my artist list even though I don't like their latest release; other artists who I like are Michael Jackson, Madonna, Steve Lukather, Toto, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Bond Quartet, Era, Loreena Mc Kennitt, Combicrist, Infected Mushroom, Rise Against, Scar Simmetry, In Flames, Soilwork, Stone (Finnish thrash metal band), Rammstein, Opeth, Aborted, Otep, Swallow The Sun, Anathema and more. ☺
SWblog: What are some of your fondest musical memories?
Da my: There are several memories that I keep in my music life. Some of them are surely our first live gig in 2005 (at the time we had also a singer/keyboarder and we performed also a song from Children of Bodom who really hit us all at the time), our first experiences with studio recording, the mini tour in Slovakia in January 2009 and the Russian tour during March 2015 *_*
SWblog: What do you like most about being a musician?
Dam y: There are three main things which I like about being a musician:
1 - writing music is the best therapy to forget bad moments and stop thinking about bullshit;
2 - music gave me the chance to meet and stay in touch with several people/artist etc. I was a reviewer / interviewer before running my band and sometimes I also organized concerts and these points help you a lot to view / analyze this world from different points of views ☺
3 - music and my actually session musicians are the family thanks to PULVIS ET UMBRA succeed to play in 3 different countries between March and May and we're actually waiting confirmation to play again outside Italy.
SWblog: What do you like least? (about being a musician)
D amy : The fact that lots of people let me waste several times during the past year; I'm always one who invested time and money in this project and I could surely save a lot of cash if those people acted in a more honest way since the beginning…. Anyway, that's life, we always have to learn from our mistakes.
SWblog: What song are you most proud of? Why?
Dam y: "Wrath And Sorrow" (taken from the first album "Reaching The End") has it's own special meaning for me because it was the first extreme metal song I wrote. Then "Psicostasia", the first official instrumental song from PULVIS ET UMBRA. I like the few Egyptian atmosphere on it; then at last I'm surely proud of the main riff of "Implosion Of Pain", the arpeggio from "Lullabye", the ending solo taken in "Til It Keeps Me Awake" and the catchy chorus of "Looking Through The Eyes".
SWblog: People have this image that being a musician is a "non-stop party", what are your views on that?
Da my: Well, that 90% fake. I mean, of course you can have a party during tour when you drinking and spend time with fans, etc. but people cannot imagine the work behind practice and booking everything to plan a tour. It could take several months just to play a tour of 8-10 days.
Writing songs (especially being a one man band) takes a huge amount of time and I'm speaking as an underground act, 'cause I have a primary job due that I can't live off of music. Rehearsing and recording stuff plus instruments and amp maintenance has it's own additional time. Even if you sign with a label and work with the press office, you must always keep your eyes open because you trust people who you never meet in real life and it could be a huge scam. Last but not least, passion must be of course the main strength which delivers yourself.
I think it could be the same for a webzine; I mean, bands always thought that reviewers are always ready to interview or review new bands, but only being inside that world you realize the amount of previous work still on the way to be done - amounts of reviews to close, etc.
SWblog: What can people expect to see at your live performances?
Da my: Just to spend a good time! I was always being pissed to see metal bands who act like liscio ballad orchestra, know what I mean? Hahaha. We like to see people have fun during our live sets, making chorus, singing with us or just jumping/headbangin. That's the coolest reward that an artist can receive.
SWblog: What are you immediate career goals? (1-3 years out)
Da my: Actually, I'm writing stuff for two new EP's and we're awaiting confirmation for new live gigs between 2015 and 2016. Then we 'll see hehehe ☺
SWblog: What advice do you have for young musicians that are just getting started?
Da my: As per personal experience, I'd like to share them only a couple of tips;
1 - Be sure you're running a band with the right people who have your same passion and risk in investing money, this will let save lots of time. Beware about having close friendships in the band because if bad times should come, the band will have it.
2 - Read carefully each deal or sort of stuff sent by a label or promoter due to helping avoid scams. Better to work with some indecent and underground staff who knows you personally, which is a main trusting point for cooperation.
SWblog: Any crazy stories from performing?
Da my: Oh yes, haha, even if crazy situations / stories are more related to after shows :°D
Anyway, I'm reminded of a couple of situations during the Russian tour; the first one happened at HELLBLOCK in Velikie Luki, a blonde drunken guy kept coming up to the stage asking to speak at the microphone then the 3rd time he really pissed me off and I'd pull (the microphone) away, then he was kicked out of the club - staff let him enter again at the end of the show.
Second story happened in Vologda - last show of the Russian tour - we played as headliner in a cool festival and the venue was full of a crowd who jumped with us even if they had never heard about the song we were performing. That was absolutely stunning and I'm still in touch via VK with some of them. ☺
SWblog: What are some things that you enjoy doing in your free time?
Damy: I like to talk with foreign people to keep my English trained, hang out at pub with friends, biking, shopping, movies, cartoons, picnics, driving, traveling, listening to music, singing aloud while driving, chill out on the sofa, reading, etc….nothing much different from what everyone else on this planet does haha :-D
Thank You very much for this interview, was once again cool to talk with you <3
Rocking hugs from Italy, Damy.
Once again, a huge thanks to Damy for taking the time to answer some questions! It was great to learn more about the mind behind the music!
Check out the PULVIS ET UMBRA links below.