Interviews: Catharsis

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Death Metal band, Catharsis from Poland. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?

Adam: Initially, the band was called Cenotaph. After a few months, we discovered the same name of a death metal band from Mexico. Very quickly I came up with an idea to change the name to CATHARSIS. What is the meaning of this word? The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. Music can give you Catharsis as well. It's a perfect wordplay.

2.Why did you want to play this genre? 

Adam: I started listening to metal music in 1987. Two years later I heard Death "Leprosy" and Morbid Angel "Altars of Madness". It was a shock. Nobody played like that. At this point, I started to think about a band that would play extreme music, but enriched technically . And so, at the beginning of the nineties, I founded this band, proposing my friend Daniel Petryczkiewicz to join me.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed? 

Kate: The original line up in the 90s was formed by Adam and his friends at the time, so I guess the guys knew one another pretty well before they started playing music together. That line up didn't survive very long though. When I joined Catharsis in 2011, the band was reformed and reactivated, with Adam Mamok on vocals & bass and Tomasz Świerz as a guitarist. There was an attempt to get the previous drummer Artur „Panza” Pudło back in the band, but that didn't work. Since then we have been working with session drummers and our last studio album was recorded with Daray, who did a totally fantastic and outstanding drum performance. Kajetan Pawliszyn joined Catharsis in 2016, replacing Tomasz, so technically the current line up has been playing together for five years now. So, responding to your question, we didn't know one another before we started playing together, but I think that right now, we're in better terms than we have ever been before. Especially after the „Human Failures” recording session, when we were living together during our stay in Warsaw and we finally had a chance to spend some time together 24/7 and do fun stuff like hang out, go to the movies or have a drinking – listening to music evening.

4. Each band member favourite band? 

Kate: There is hell lot of bands I like and respect and it's probably impossible to name a favorite one, so I'll pick the band that inspired me to start playing the guitar when I was 15 – and that was Megadeth. Yeah, I know, they have nothing to do with death metal, but I think that Dave Mustaine's riffing style and his approach to composing music is something that has influenced me a lot, even though I try to „translate it” into another genre. As for extreme metal bands, whom I like both personally and respect musically, my - alright, let's use that word - „favorite” ones would be Marduk and Krisiun.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs? 

Kate: Life itself is the best inspiration for any artistic activity. And somehow it turns out that you create the best things when you're upset, angry or depressed. When we were composing the „Human Failures” album though, it was a very active period in my life, when I had a lot of things going on and lots of creative energy to let out. My input to the album would be the heaviness and experimenting with darker vibes, sort of getting Catharsis out from the technical death metal comfort zone. Right now, however, I feel like the stuff for the next album is going to be even darker and more ferocious.

6. Where was your last gig? 

Kate: We headlined a small festival in Poland named „Mad Fest” before we entered the studio to focus on the recording session for „Human Failures”. I remember there was a terrible delay with the running order that night and we had to wait for our set until midnight. So basically after the show, we just packed our stuff and came back home. I wish I had a better story to share, but since then the pandemic has been keeping us all at home, there's no chance to get back on stage anytime soon.

7. Where would you like to act? 

Kate: Well everybody would probably name all those big festivals like Hellfest or Wacken, but I'd like to give a shoutout to some smaller fests organized by amazing people, with a genuine family atmosphere and great choice of bands. I have to mention Vienna Metal Meeting, Gothoom Festival, Eindhoven Metal Meeting or Black Silesia Festival in Poland. It would be great to play there once it's possible again.

8. Whom would you like to feature with? 

Kate: We have a special guest doing vocals in chorus of the song „Made Of Blood” on this new album – Ross Dolan from Immolation. It's a huge honour for us and would be a dream come true to share the stage someday and have a chance to perform this song live with him.

9. Whom not? 

Kate: Well I don't know... I don't spend much time thinking about the stuff that's not interesting for me.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that? 

Kate: I used to, but it was even before I started my first metal band. I was in a music school, where I studied first – in a piano class and then – classical guitar. We had to perform at school annual concerts or participate in classical music contests and it has always been very stressful to me. Whenever I was supposed to go on stage or enter the room for my semester exam, my hands were ice cold and I felt like I'm going to forget the whole piece after I have played the first note. But later on, when I was a teenager, I always used to take my walkman with me and listened to my favorite music before I had to play for other people, to distract my mind from all the pressure and stress that I felt. I used to think „hey, if my favorite bands can do it, so do I” and somehow it worked.

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

Kate: I wouldn't say „bands”, I'd say the person from the music world, who has inspired me the most was the mentioned above frontman of Megadeth, Dave Mustaine. He was through a lot in his life, but never gave up, no matter how many knives in his back he got from the people he trusted and obstacles he had to overcome. I'm also a huge fan of his songwriting, cause he could come up both with agressive thrash metal riffing and great melodic parts, which gives a pretty much wide spectrum of diverse music written throughout years of Megadeth career. Being able to meet him and finding out how well-spoken and intelligent person he is, was one of the brigthest moments of my music life.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for? 

Kate: First of all I don't think the word „fans” is suitable in our case. You can talk about fans in reference to bands like Slayer or Black Sabbath. As for Catharsis, it's just people who support our music. Speaking of weird requests though... You don't need to be in a band to get tons of them on social media. But we also get some nice ones, like people asking if there is going to be a reissue of „Bitter Disdain” and... we're actually working on it!

13. What do you think of your fans? 

Kate: As above, we do appreciate all signs of support we get from many places in the world. It's great to hear, that our previous album „Rhyming Life And Death” reached countries like Iran or India for example. It's also a huge compliment to hear from people who supported the band back in the 90s that they dig the new stuff as well. We also have many wonderful friends among bands, who helped us in various ways, which I value a lot and will never forget.

14. What do you think of our site?

Kate: You guys are doing some great job promoting metal bands of many genres. Thank you for having us!