Interview Amuse To Death

Amuse To Death fuses swing with extreme metal, creating a unique sound. In this interview, they discuss their innovative approach, the creative process, and upcoming projects.

1. Your band uniquely blends swing elements with extreme metal sub-genres. What inspired this innovative fusion, and how did you come up with the idea?

   The band started when I was approached by Marc Dzierzon, who had been the drummer for several established metal acts (Dew-Scented, Almanac, etc.) at the time and wanted to form a new band. He knew me because he had recorded drums on my Shaped In Dreams album. I guess he liked the music and/or my approach, so he contacted me to see if I would be interested in starting a new band with him. Initially, I declined because I was in the middle of my French horn studies and had just spent all my savings on producing and releasing my album. At that time, I was still pursuing a career as an orchestral horn player, so I freaked out, thinking this would make me neglect my studies, and I stepped back. However, I recommended Tom to Marc. Eventually, they got in touch and laid the foundations of what would later become this band. When I found out, I thought, "Wait a minute, you’re missing an opportunity to work with two awesome musicians here." So I rethought the situation, got back to them, asked if I could still join, and I did. Marc’s initial idea was to play thrash metal, so I started writing some thrashy stuff. Marc added drums to those, and we sent them to Tom. That was our initial workflow. As far as I remember, Tom was like, "Yeah, this is not bad, but it’s lacking something special," so we did more demos. Then, at one point, I wrote something more progressive, quite classically influenced but still somewhat thrashy. I remember Marc’s reaction: "Dude, this is sick, it’s really symphonic," or something along those lines. So we sent it to Tom as a GuitarPro file. Tom sent the same file back, but with the "swing-feel" function turned on, and the result was incredible! I was envious that I hadn’t thought of it myself, as it was a genius move. It changed everything instantly; I started having so many ideas about the concept, the sound, and everything else. It just came together instantly, and I’m very thankful to Tom for having that idea and not settling for the more standard stuff we were sending him before. That’s how we came up with the swing elements. We were just trying to develop a fun and fresh musical concept for the band. /Martin

2. The French horn is an unusual choice for metal music. How did you decide to incorporate it into your sound, and what role does it play in your compositions?

   As I mentioned earlier, once the swing element came into play, many other elements of our sound followed naturally, including the horn. The horn is, strictly speaking, my main instrument, and I had already experimented with using it in a metal/band context in the past. In this case, it checks multiple boxes for us: as a brass instrument, it immediately connects with the swing aesthetic, and it also introduces an element that can become a sort of trademark for the band, helping to set us apart sonically from others. /Martin

3. Can you tell us more about the character Al and his story? How does his journey with substance abuse and mental illness influence your music and lyrics?

   As things began to take shape, more and more ideas started emerging for the music and what surrounds it. When Carmen wrote the lyrics for "Blacktoothgrin" and we decided to merge our music with rubberhose cartoons, we came up with the idea of having this mentally ill main character, who hears voices in his head and has this alternate universe with all these characters in his mind. It fit well with the rest of what we had, like many of the unusual things in our music. It makes sense that it’s all part of a fantasy world because it deviates from the norm in many ways. You’ll see what I mean as more of our songs come out; it will get weirder and weirder. :D /Martin

4. Carmen, as the main lyricist and clean vocalist, how do you approach writing lyrics that fit within such a diverse musical landscape?

   The first lyrics I wrote were for "Blacktoothgrin." At that time, it was just a demo, and we still didn’t know what direction to take. However, both Martin and Tom liked the theme I chose, which, in this case, was drug abuse. We then decided to create a recurring character and describe the world through his eyes. Each song describes a different situation, alternating between his moments of lucidity and strange visions. Martin and I collaborate on writing the lyrics, and my inspiration comes not only from fictional sources (books, movies) and real stories but often from extravagant dreams I have. /Carmen

5. Tom, your background with bands like Obscura and Belphegor is well-known. How has your experience with these bands influenced your work with Amuse To Death?

   It's simple: that was then, this is now. I had experiences with those bands that shaped how I approach (or don’t approach) things now on a personal and business level. Musically, there is little connection, as I try to approach every project with a clean slate and see what the current objective and possibilities are, rather than being locked into a certain pattern from the past. Since Amuse To Death has a completely different objective than other projects, that’s what we focus on. /Tom

6. The interplay of harsh and clean vocals is a significant aspect of your music. How do you balance these contrasting vocal styles to enhance your songs?

   Up until now, our workflow has been to send Carmen the instrumental demos first. She would then write her clean vocal lines wherever she felt they fit, and after that, we’d decide where to fill in the harsh vocals. Usually, the music tells you where each particular vocal style fits best. /Martin

7. Your debut release, "Phantasmagoria," features guest appearances from artists like Alex Kerski and Mikołaj Suchanek. How did these collaborations come about, and what did they bring to the album?

   Originally, we were searching for a female vocalist who could handle both types of vocals. That turned out to be quite difficult, but after finding Carmen, we loved her approach and her singing so much that we changed our plans and decided to go with her. We were still looking for another female harsh vocalist, tried a few, but it just didn’t work for one reason or another. So, at one point, we decided to move on and start recording the EP with a session vocalist. Even though "Phantasmagoria" is only coming out now, in 2024, we recorded most of it around 2021, which is another story. Alex is a close friend of Tom's and an accomplished and very versatile vocalist, so he was a natural choice for the job. Since then, I’ve started doing harsh vocals myself, so I’ll probably handle those in the future. 

   As for Mikołaj, the last song on our EP has many instrumental solos, probably over 10 throughout the entire song. We already had French horn, fretless guitar, fretless bass, and regular guitar, but we still wanted something else. After trying a saxophonist for a solo, which didn’t work out, I thought of reaching out to Mikołaj, whom I know from music university. He’s just an absolute behemoth of a musician, one of the best I’ve ever met. He did his bachelor’s in classical and his master’s in jazz piano, but he’s also a fan of stuff like Opeth, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Queen, but also Hip Hop, Soul, Funk, etc., and he just absorbs everything. So, you send him any kind of backing track, and he nails it. That was the case with our song, too. His keytar solos are killer, and they added a really cool and fresh vibe to the song. /Martin

8. Thematic concepts and storytelling are central to your music. How do you develop these narratives, and what messages do you hope to convey to your listeners?

   I think it all comes down to painting a complete picture, conveying ideas and emotions as exhaustively as possible. If you have a solid concept with a lot of elements existing around the main subject, you can build an entire environment where the listener can immerse themselves. It’s like the Gesamtkunstwerk of Richard Wagner or the vast fantasy world of Tolkien. All the extra context and content, where the story you’re telling at the moment is just a small piece of the whole, makes everything more organic, authentic, and believable. It ties everything together and also makes it easier to continue and do more in the future. We are trying to convey what a soundtrack to a surrealistic and grotesque story, where the main character, a sensitive human soul, struggles to fit into the structures and demands of contemporary society, would sound like. /Martin

9. With members from various successful bands, how do you manage the collaborative process of songwriting and recording? What are some of the challenges and rewards?

   I guess if you have the desire and motivation to be part of an endeavor like this, you can always find some energy and time to dedicate to it. For me, it’s just a matter of managing mental and physical resources. /Martin

10. Looking ahead, what are your plans for promoting "Phantasmagoria"? Are there any upcoming tours or projects that fans can look forward to?

    No tours are planned for now, for reasons stated above. Inherently, we do want to release more music; we already have a lot of material and even some pre-production demos of full songs. This is also a question of funding. Even though we are quite self-sufficient with recording and producing everything ourselves, for those of us who do music for a living and depend on it, it’s still very taxing to spend time on unpaid work. So we will likely look for some sort of funding. If we made some money back from selling our music, that would also help, of course. So if you like what we do, consider sharing, spreading the word, streaming, and/or purchasing our music. Thanks! /Martin

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