Tell us about Energy Level Low and how you started this project ? Is this your only or first band ? How long has it existed ?

HELL-o to everyone in here. It is a great pleasure to meet you over this digital space. Energy Level Low is my only project right now . You ask me about the first band . It was "Bad Side Of Social Existence" and we had been playing back into 2001-2003 . It was short but the very intensive period of time. Due to the music, it was kind of the mixture between Converge, Dilinger Escape Plan , Unsane anyway math-core/noise-core genre . A lot of gigs, 2 demos and....the band split-up, because band's co-former (Art-O - guitars) migrated to US. (he is guitar player for "Shaping The Random ; now ). I've started Energy Level Low after that and I'm still upgrading my equipment and trying to record the best music I can .The music is , in my opinion , the best stream of information/emotion flux so I'm not going to give up , just the opposite . I'm going to spread the sound as long as I can.

The lyrics samples and titles suggest that a mixture of politics and depression are themes which are explored in the lyrics of this EP - is this correct ?

This is 100 % correct. I'm trying to cope with my own, personal demons, but cannot keep eyes shut due to the situation and the bunch of disorders of the modern society . The tunes are about my personal struggle against my weakness and the sober observation of all the events and political "issues". The interesting thing is that these two spheres cover each other very often. There is a load of problems to be written about , a lot of pain to scream-out so , from the lyrical point of view I've got a long way to go ahead . The same situation from the "musical" perspective.

You are based in Poland - apart from being just "another" former USSR / CCCP country, there has been massive economic migration by Poles in the past 10 years - do you have any personal experience of this ?

Yes, exactly, but in the majority of cases, these acts of migration are so silly that I do not know what should I do, laugh to death or put the tears on it. Let me explain it in that way. I was in London for a month about 2 years ago. The funny thing is that I'm afraid of flying so I've chosen the coach. The coach crossed the whole Europe and had been stopped just before the tunnel by some kind of security service or something. I was the only person who was not going to work down there the rest of travelers had been going back to work. The driver asked "is there someone who does speak English?" and there was no answer. What is my point? People who migrated to the foreign countries (UK, Germany , Italy , France ,etc) do not know how to even communicate with the native society . They are creating some kind of spiritual and social "ghettos" down there. I know that there are exceptions, not all of the Poles who had decided to migrate ,behave like that ,but the saddest truth is that the Poles are cheating each other abroad . The egocentric nature of that people is keeping me scarred. On the other hand I'd love to move to UK ,due to the fact ,that there is much more easier to deal with the music , to get the new hardware , to find people who can form the live line-up ,but I know that ,right now, the UK seems to be over-populated because of the wave of migration.

The music of Energy Level Low is a great mix of NIN styled keys, Black / Industrial keys, ministry samples and vocals that go from Black metal Screams to Death metal gutteral growls to Korn-esque clean sections. The sound is very "mature" and tasteful - tell us about your musical background and influences ?

I'm into the great big spectrum of musical genres. A lot of industrial / Industrial-rock-metal music (Cyanotic , Ministry , Filter , Nine Inch Nails Crossbreed , Gravity Kills , Cyber Axis or 16Volt) on the other hand Hard-Core / Noise / Math-core bands (Daughters , Psyopus , Today Is The Day ,Ion Dissonance , The Sawtooth Grin , Will Haven , Unsane) Extreme Grind-Core (eg. The Last Days Of Humanity),but also the softer kind of stuff . A little bit more mainstream-like (Apartment 26 , Earthtone 9 , Kill II This ore One Minute Silence ) and the big load of dirty , obscure and gloomy Black Metal .

How did you hear about Death To Music productions ? How do you feel about releasing music for free download ? Is this the future ? Is it democratisation of the music world or the last resort of musicians who fail to fit into the trend-led record companies ?

I heard about DTM thanks to my friend who showed the great "The Bombs of Enduring Freedom". You know, I'm not into making cash on the music. I'd like to block all the streams of money who government is taking from us. The thing is, if I sell music I need to pay the politics for the fact that I earned on my work ,so ...I prefer to release the tunes for free download. It is democratisation of the music, I agree. The trend-led record companies are the piece of...you know what. Just take a look at the band "Lost Prophets". I remember the first album by them "The Fake Sound of Progress". Yes, it was soft, it was a kind of "nu-tone" sound but it had its spirit. I've checked them some time ago and ....that's not a progress. That's the strange transformation into another clone of "Panic! At The Disco" so I don't give a f*ck about the trend-led record companies. There are the underground labels out there, but these labels have no opportunity to compete with majors, so, the Net-Label (or Net-(anti)Label ;) ) seems to be the only reasonable alternative nowadays .

As you are a one-man project, you dont play live - how do you feel about this ? Is it enough for you to concentrate on the creative studio work ?

The studio work is the root. It is the act of creation, but...I'd love to play live .The problem is that there is no individuals who would like to play the stuff like that. The scene in Poland is divided. We have two groups of musicians. The "old-school attitude ones" who do not accept nothing more than the classic line-up (you know, guitars, drum section , bass , vocals and keys) or ,the second one, these cyber-gothic freaks who love to put the tempo on sequencer , 4/4 beat , some kind of lead and ....dance around the laptop . It is sick , there is nothing in between so ,as I mentioned before, I think if I would be living in UK, Germany, Norway of Netherlands I had no problems with creating the real band ,but here...no chance for that , for now . We had some bands ,the best to mention Decigram. They were (or rather had been playing) the mixture of Ministry/Melvins/Quicksand sound. No one was able to understand, why on earth the PC is on the scene "Is that karaoke or what"? We have strong,really strong extreme metal scene . I think that is a reason too. Majority of the metalheads is the "oldschool to the bone".

Eastern Europe is being gripped by a massive economic crisis - what effects are you seeing of this ? Do people now feel betrayed by the promises of capitalist "democracy"?

From my point of view the crisis is the cover story to hide something. The 9/11 case. The N.I.N.J.A. system had been created in US about 70's I believe. Banks failed and been re-established, so I'm not even about to blame that system for the crisis. I know that situation in western-Europe is almost critical but here ,in Poland I do not see any symptoms of crisis . On the other hand we've got permanent crisis in here so, you know, it could be a reason of my blindness. People are betrayed by the leaders. Poland is suffering from the disease called "stupidity" of our pro-church, anti-progress, pro-theirs own asses bastards who don't give a damn about the people. We should be on the first place, but here in that strange country, the fetus is more important than the starving child . The death of the pope (and the anniversary of that fact) is the most important event of the social/political life. The saddest thing is: there is no alternative .One more time.2 groups: Post-Communists or Pro-Catholics freaks. Nothing in the middle (and all of them are just stupid, cheating ego-centric pieces of crap)

It looks as though there are a few previous releases - will you be making some of these available to hear ?or perhaps a compilation of the best ?

I'm working right now on the new tracks ,but I'd love to release the album with the previous stuff and if DTM would give me that possibility I'll do it for sure . That's not kind of "best of" You know . Just another release containing tracks I'd recorded during last three years.

What is the future for Energy Level Low ? Do you have another release planned ? Are you working on any new material for this great project ?

Thank You for your kind words. Sure, I'm recording and writing all the time and the new stuff is on it's way . I think that the brand new full CD will be available this year.

Any last words for the Death To Music downloaders ?

All the best for all of you, Keep it up and support underground scene . Support the struggle against the slavery and lies the governments feed you with. Support DTM activity and ....have a real great day. Please check The Energy Level Low's track and give me a feedback.

Best Regards -303