by Marek Kadzielawa

SBB is a legendary progressive rock band from Poland. The band is still very active, and continues to make great records. Their latest, "Blue Trance," once again takes the band into the unknown territories of musical imagery. The band continues to intrigue and move forward musically. Such genuine artistry can only be admired.

SBB is a truly international act. Jozef Skrzek(vocals, keyboards, bass) lives in Poland, Anthimos Apostolis(guitar) moves between Greece and Poland, and Gabor Nemeth(drums) lives in Hungary. Despite the distances in between those countries, they make it work. SBB is very consistent, releases an album every two years, and tours regularly to promote the new release. The individual players are very active on their own. When SBB is having a down time, each player pursues a variety of solo projects.

"Blue Trance" is a third record made by Skrzek, Apostolis, and Gabor line up. And yet, the album is very different from the previous two, assuring the trio is still trying to get to know each other, and see where they can take the music. The album is very representative of the band, and a great addition to their already impressive catalog.

Jozef Skrzek talks about the making of the new album, and the different approach the band took this time around.

The new album is a third record featuring the same line up. It appears as the combination of the three of you is moving in the right direction.
Jozef Skrzek: It’s very surprising that it is working so well considering the fact that we live so far away from each other. It’s like we’re chained together despite not living close to each other. But when we do hear the calling, we get together and come up with common themes. We create a great atmosphere to move forward, despite the fact that each member has their own projects they are involved with. Gabor is involved with his drumming school in Budapest. He has his own studio, and he plays with lots of different musicians. He often plays in Romania. Anthimos has his own trio, and he is always doing something with other Greek musicians. I do a lot of things here too. But, regardless of what we do aside from SBB, this band is able to function properly. It’s a trio of independent musicians who are very mature, and when they need to get together to accomplish something, they get together, and get it done. That’s how “Blue Trance” was created.



After such a serious concept as “Iron Curtain” was, “Blue Trance” takes a serious left turn. Whereas “Iron Curtain” pointed a finger at a system, “Blue Trance” is more like a look inside a human soul.
Yes, I completely agree. The memory of the communist system and all of its oddities is more like a scar to anyone who’s lived through that. And that’s probably how it’s gonna stay, it doesn’t seem to go away. For example things like the massacre in Katyn is still vital, and the recent crash of the Polish plane at the same site, with the president and the majority of the government present. There is still so much left over from the World War II. It’s difficult to get through it. All of those things definitely left a lot of baggage on our consciousness. Poland is trying to brings itself up after years and years of oppression, and economical halt. “Iron Curtain” was a memory of that time, and the experiences that are still deep down inside of me. I’m still located in the same area, where I’ve always been. I’m very close to it all, and because of it, I feel the dynamics of the situation at all times. “Iron Curtain” dealt with that subject, but only for a bit, as the album progressed, we were already moving into other themes. The new album deals with more of a humane subjects such as fate, happiness, or memory. All of it continuously inspires us, and fills us with new ways of expression.
On the other hand, the use of color red in “Red Joe,” and the entire rhythm structure is very reminiscent of the time you portrayed in "Iron Curtain,” and that’s the only connection I can spot between the two.
“Red Joe” is an old track from the 80s. It was done right after the Marshall Law in Poland, and we were just sitting in the park in Silesia. The area can be compared to Central Park. It was a place where musicians and artist from different backgrounds could meet, and create art. Every big name from the area was there. A lot of the material that originated there is very reflective of the time. “Red Joe” is like you say a touch of the times in which not everything was possible. And as I’m thinking about it, I hope it will be a last song dealing with the subject. I don’t really like to go back to the times and themes that have a history of holding us back, I’d rather concentrate on topics dealing with happiness and beauty.
The album opens with and "Etiuda Trance", and ends with "Coda Trance." I’m under impression the two songs are like two bordering points of the record.
That was the idea that came out of the classical training I received. At one point I was heavily involved in studying classical music. All of this was very influential on how I see music and art. Even as young as a child I had a variety of artistic interests. Be it painting, or music. And the classical aspect of the music is always present in my mindset. And when I do play classical music pieces, I'm more of an interpreter rather than someone who would just play it note by note. I like to play with sounds, and arrangements. Let's say I add synthesizers to the classical pieces played on an organ, and right there the sound is very rich and expanded. In case of "Etiuda Tance" and "Coda Trance," you'll find a lot of those ideas and concepts connecting with those two pieces. Some may even call it symphonic rock.
Generally, the new album gives an impression of extremely positive vibrations, not only lyrically, but musically as well. What impressions do you walk away with as you listen to the record?
I was very lucky to get my wife, Alina, to be part of the creation process for the new record. She's been involved in writing songs with me for years, but even more so on this album. Alina tends to be shy at times, but she writes lyrics, or poetry every now and then. We got to the point, where the music for the record was recorded, and there were only a few vocal and lyrical ideas, some even recorded. My wife and I decided to go to go on a vacation in a very secluded area, in the Polish mountains. And there we worked on the lyrics, and the phrasing of those lyrics. The music was already written and recorded, so we had to fit the words to go with what was already there. We were very successful at that. I felt we spent the time very creatively, and it took us a little bit over a week to complete the lyrical and vocal side of the record. A lot of the themes, are very complementary to a man-woman relationship, even in a working sense. I would be the one who would mention something here and there, or sang a verse. But it was Alina who came up with a huge chunk of the lyrics, and made many loose ideas into songs I can sing.
Was there anything different in the way this album was completed, as opposed the last two records?
I think the lyrics were approached differently this time around, as I just explained. On the last record we've used several writers in the lyrical department. Musically, it was very similar. We met in Budapest in Gabor's studio, and that's where the first themes were being worked on. Then, we met in the studio in Poland, some 800 kilometers later, and there we played with different sounds, which this time around are driven by a piano. That was the new element. Once I found out the studio included a great sounding piano, I wanted to go there and try it out. The Hammond sound is common in our music, and that's still present, but the piano definitely dominated, and it shows up in a lot of songs on the album. I was having a great time playing that piano, and adding new sounds into our music. Then like I said, the trip with Alina to work on the lyrics, and vocals. And finally, the recording of the vocals in Warsaw which completed the process. I added the Moog sounds which really is like a closing instrument that defines our sound. So I let the Minimoog go crazy for a while, and before you know it, we were done. You could say the record was completed in four installments. With the previous album, we only did in two installments, and this time it was four, but I think it was very effective.
There was a reason for the last question, and I can say it now. I've noticed that every one of the last three records has its own personality, and certain sensitivity that's very distinctive.
I'm sure it does. "The Rock" was so different from the other two. It was an album that allowed us to show we're still strong, but still evolving and progressing. It's a record that gave us a lot of character because we were comparing ourselves to rocks, and rocks are able to stand for thousands of years. "Iron Curtain" was a way to get in touch with the past, but at the same time it was a very transitional record. We've added a lot of new elements into our sound. And "Blue Trance" gives us much more color, it's like the album is steered towards the fall season, which also very colorful. It has an almost painting quality to it. It's a very open and fresh record. I mean, as we recorded the record we were filled with different moods, and melancholies. But all of it added to the harmony of the band and incidentally the album. We have a drummer, who is very direct when it comes to the timing, and he holds it all together. Our guitar player, who is always a very mischievous player. He will come up with the most odd sounds, and he throws them in the least expected parts of the song, but it all makes complete sense at the end. The way Anthimos (Apostolis) plays is unlike anyone I've ever heard. It's like he's trying to discover new guitar sounds at all times. What's so great about it all, is that we still continue to open up musically.
I really enjoy the order in which the songs are placed on the record. At first, "Human's Fate" takes the center stage, but "Happiness Placed On Your Hand," and "Valley Full of Streams" are the true hidden pearls of the album. Was the order of the songs intentional, or coincidental?
You really have to have a feel for the record to pick up on that. For some time I've been involved in some very dramatic presentations on my own. I play some very big shows. At times it was difficult to get those shows going because of the weather and the flooding in Poland, but we finally did it. And I felt, it was a very similar process to get this record going. We went left and right trying to figure out the proper order. We were looking at songs with different tempos, dramatic sounds, and so on. What really made it work was the experience of our approach. You could mix it up the way you mix up playing cards to play poker. And that's what we selected out of it.
How are the new songs doing on stage?
We opened our recent shows with "Coda Trance," and I really loved how the opening riff worked on stage. Another song we did was "Time of Remembrance," and that went great too. We did many shows around the All Saints Day in November, so the song was very timely, and often dedicated to the people who are no longer with us. We did play "Red Joe," and that's a song you can really stretch out, and improvise a lot. We did a bunch of shows opening for Deep Purple, so our time was limited, but I think we did good. When we do headlining shows, we will tend to add more new material.

Links:
http://www.skrzek.com/skrzek/strona.php?i=6
http://www.sbb.pl/sbb/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZjGk7RUk1w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV3bTlX2uAw&feature=related
Read an Interview with SBB conducted by 69 Faces of Rock in 2009.
Read an interview with SBB conducted by Mark Kadzielawa for Daily Vault in 2008:
http://dailyvault.com/article.php5?id=137