When you have been into this Weirdo Shrine of mine for a longer while, you know that we are all into this together. As the great and late Bill Hicks once said: “it is a choice between fear and love, if we choose love we can explore space together, both inner and outer, not a single individual excluded”. I sincerely believe in this statement, and I know The Howling Eye does too.
Just lay yourself down and put on List Do Borykan, first track Space Dwellers Episode 1 will do the rest. On the continuation of the album The Howling Eye will prove themselves to be a fun loving and versatile band, that loves to explore, rock out, space out, and have fun at the same time. The longer tracks like Brothers or the completely instrumental Caverns definitely open up new chapters of the galaxy to the listener, with its deeply spacey psych blues approach. The shorter tracks like Medival show a jumpier, shoutier side of the band, that you might even scream along on a festival field if only you knew how, because what language are they even singing?!
And there is of course the triptych called Space Dwellers, which returns for two more “episodes” to gradually turn your brain to mush by being weird and free (especially when shaking their bodies in the space disco of part 3!). In these moments of light heartedness and positivity the band nudges to contemporaries like King Gizzard and The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, while at the same time never fully committing to any genre or style.
The Howling Eye explores space deeply, but keeps the journey light. It makes for a highly entertaining and versatile trip that interchanges the cerebral with the physical. If we ever colonise other planets together, I know a good soundtrack…
It is a good thing that I sought contact with The Howling Eye through the internet, because how on earth would a live interview take place when the members live all scattered over Europe? Poland is their home base though, from which they invent their plans to take over the world…I talked to Jan Chojnowski (guitars and synths) to find out more.
How are you? How was the pandemic period for you as a musician?
We’re fine! The pandemic fucked up our plans really bad, but we managed to get back on our feet. We were forced to take a semi hiatus of sorts because essentially we ended up living four different lifestyles in three different countries. Eventually, dealing with separation, grief and longing became one of the main themes of List Do Borykan.
Can you introduce yourself, how did you start your career, etc?
It all started in 2016, when Cebula (drums, vox), Miłosz (bass) and Jan (guitar, keys), three high school friends, embarked on a quest to find their own musical style, starting from slow and heavy psychedelia. Fast forward three years and we had absorbed a number of exotic influences, ranging from jazz and funk to post rock and garage rock. We were also joined by Johnny on percussions. With three albums released and a fair share of gigs played, we felt we were ready to start something new. We were to move to the UK and start gigging and writing a new album there. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, some of us had to return to Poland and the production of List Do Borykan stretched into (then seemingly) infinity. The reality of making an album remotely and living in different places started slowly seeping into the lyrics themselves, and so the final concept was born.
What can you tell me about your musical backgrounds?
Each of us comes from a different one. Jan was a blues player, Cebula was a punk and Miłosz was more of a grunge person. It took a bit of refinement and compromise, but ultimately we ended up playing heavy psych. This is how it was in the beginning, though. Nowadays each of us tries a number of different things. Miłosz, for example, plays bass in an indie pop band and Jan is working on some ambient stuff. We are always learning, so even theearly drafts and demos of List Do Borykan that we laid down in 2020 sound nothing like the final product.
What does a regular day in your lives look like?
Recently it’s mostly work and studying, trying to carve out as much time for music and our passions as we can. Also, it’s the festival season, so it means more work, but also more fun. We all aim to make a living out of music or audio jobs, but we’re not quite there yet.
What is the best thing about List Do Borykan?
The themes that make it relatable. We decided to make a concept album to tell a greater story that everyone can resonate with. Everyone has had these experiences, at least to some extent, whether is a miserable job for shitty pay with no perspectives for change (Medival), missing your friends and being unable to see them (Brothers), or struggling with self-expression in a world that kills genuine emotion and human interaction (Space Dwellers, Episode 2). We knew it’s all a bit preachy, so we decided to dial it up to 11 into a full-blown mystical cosmic saga.
What does the title mean, what does it stand for?
It’s a play on words in Polish which is tricky to translate. ‘Borykanie’ is a noun that means ‘struggling [with something]’, but it also sounds similar to words describing nations or peoples (Rzymianie = Romans, Mohikanie = Mohicans, etc.). So ‘List Do Borykan’ could be translated as ‘Epistle to the Borykans’, as it is a message to everyone who is facing the same struggles as we are and have been.
Where do you live and how does it affect your music?
Miłosz and Jan in Gdansk, Poland, Cebula in Hamburg, Germany, and Johnny in Spain. It makes touring a logistical nightmare. Moreover, by the time the recording started the songs from the album were still more like sketches, really. Some songs were just recently played for the first time since being recorded. We can only get so many rehearsals and it feels very different from playing stuff we wrote 6 years ago, but we manage. We have a lot of ideas to get the upcoming gigs as intense as possible, so buckle up!
Who are some contemporary musical heroes of yours?
King Gizzard. Every album they make is just so vibrant, diverse and unpredictable, yet it’s all solid and doesn’t stray into the gimmicky territory. All Them Witches know the best way to tell a story and set the mood. And man, Elder is just pure energy. Weedpecker and Causa Sui are excellent at stacking layers of psychedelic goodness. Also, Dixie Dave.
Can you tell me about how you went about composing and recording songs?
We jam. Like, a lot. We never bring finished songs to rehearsals. It usually starts with a single idea, like a riff or melody, and then we try and improvise the rest. There isn’t any rule or method, really. Sometimes there is some greater meaning behind the composition and sometimes it is just how the music flows. Once we know the vibe we are going for, then we work on the lyrics and details. All of us have education in sound engineering, so theprocess of writing and recording sort of merges into one. We record a lot by ourselves lately, List Do Borykan is, like, 80% home recorded, or something like that. We had one main session in 2020 when we recorded most of therhythm tracks, but the rest was just overdubbed at home. Before that, we would usually go to a studio for a couple of days and the relentless flow of time would make us comply and finish the album no matter what. Now we had no deadline, so the recording process just kept going. In the end, though, it gave us time to think about what we really wanted that album to be, so it was to our benefit.
What are your immediate and long term future plans?
Spreading our cosmic message across all channels and playing as many gigs as possible. We’re planning a tour by the end of 2023. Mostly Poland and neighboring countries (Germany, Czechia), but who knows, we’re open to anything. After that, publishing more stuff and touring more.
What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do after reading this interview?
Listen to the album! (Also, listen to more stuff from Galactic Smokehouse and Interstellar Smoke Records. Recent releases highly recommended.) Drink some water. Go for a walk. Check up on Your friends.
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