Introducing: Zwukovski
Posted on 19th Jul 11 by Mike McGrath Bryan | 
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Before his slot on tomorrow night’s Drop-d gig at the Roundy, noise maestro Juraj Mriška, aka Zwukovski, opens up to Drop-d in a very frank, very honest interview, taking in human nature, the evolution of music, and the intersection between.
You started in Slovakia with ANAL STENCH, before going solo, as well as doing time in sludge bands like Iweriu. Is it strange to look back on how things have progressed?
No man, everything makes perfect sense to me. I started to play noise on toy keyboards in a noisecore band and now playing noise in my solo project, and with Iweriu as well. I’m using better gear, writing probably more sophisticated tunes, but still having the same fun. I was always looking for emotion in music, doesn’t matter what style it is. My solo project, Zwukovski, is very personal, like a diary. When I’m listening to my old tunes, I know exactly what I felt at that time. Music is healing me, the process of writing is best cure, it’s better to put all anger or depressions into music, than hang myself or kick someone’s ass.
But back to your question if it is strange to look back on how things have progressed? To be honest with you, I’m quite skeptical about progress in music in general. There were key periods in music, music revolutions, times when something important happened, changed the point of view and that’s for me, link from classical music, bebop, punk, techno to noise, but sound art is to me step back to the roots to tribal music.
Influences, musical and non-musical?
Main influence is life. I’m trying to make a soundtrack to my life. I’m living on this planet, so things around me are affecting me. To be honest, I don’t care about the political situation in Libya or how many people died in the last earthquake. It is sad, what is happening, and if I was able to help, I would, but obviously, can’t do anything about it. What is bothering me is the not very healthy relationships between the people I was personally dealing with. I’m a professional social worker, so this topic was very close to me all the time anyway.
It’s no wonder that people are escaping from this reality through drugs, religion or just replacing reality with virtual reality etc. I’m escaping through art . I love reading works from Sartre, Camus, Nietzsche, the Marquis de Sade, Boris Vian, Breton, Kafka, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Comte de Leautreamont, Charles Baudelaire etc. From Musical influences, have to mention the Cure, Joy Division, Neurosis, NIN, Diamanda Gallas, Suicide, Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, The Exploited, Jesus and Mary Chain, Cranes, Plastikman, Merzbow, Sunn, Swans, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Einstuerzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, Test Dept, Laibach, J.S. Bach, Richard Wagner, and Marek Brezovsky, a Slovakian pianist and composer who died in 1994, age 20 from a heroin overdose.
How, in your opinion, does music in Cork and Ireland compare to where you’ve been?
I find the local scene very interesting. I love bands like, [r]evolution of a sun, Stanton’s Grave, I’ll Eat Your Face, People of the Monolith, Slugbait, El Bastardo etc., projects like Wolflinge, Safe, Vomit Nest, First Blood Part 2, The Quiet Club… lots of different things happening here. My home town is a bit boring, teenagers just taking cheap amphetamines and doing nothing. There was a good scene there years ago, we had a few good punk rock bands, dirty rockers and some indie heads as well, but they are not playing any more. I was the only sound artist in my home town, and when I had a CD lounge aroud 2002, the girl at the bar just turned off electricity in whole bar during my set cause she got a headache from my music. There were a few legendary gigs and parties when I was grinding pieces of metal on the stage and using this kind of gear, or when my friends from the Day Tripper Band (dirty rock and roll like The Stooges or this kind of stuff) played a gig on my friend’s birthday party, in a pub where 3/4 of people were on acid. That was pretty wild too but that’s all over.
I heard something about hip hop projects there and some people probably doing some stuff on the laptops at home as well but they are not performing live ’cause people have no interest to go out to see some live music.
What are people to expect from a performance of yours?
People who’ve seen me before, know that every performance is different, depending on my mood. I am improvising on stage a lot. I prefer to play as loud as I can, ’cause you just need to feel this music properly. You need to feel physical pain during my set. I am not playing happy music if i am happy, I am just enjoying my happiness and don’t need to write songs at all. Well it’s probably not easy listening sometimes, but I don’t care, there is still the option for people to leave the room.
Best moment in the band’s lifetime so far?
I met someone because I’m in the band, that was very nice. It’s a shame that it turned into one of the most depressing experiences I’ve had in the last few years. We (Iweriu) are going to the studio soon, so looking forward to that. I need to say a lot.
What have you got in store for 2011?
Going into the studio with Iweriu soon. I am still writing new stuff for Iweriu and for my solo project as well. I have lots of tunes which I was still working on when I was cleaning my computer, I found lots of stuff which i even don’t remember writing. It is quite typical for me, I can write stuff quite quickly, but always have problem finishing it. Instead of that, I’m writing new stuff and new stuff again, putting bits and pieces together, changing samples etc. I might do some collaboration with a violin player, we will see how it will go, if I will be able to do it . I’m not making plans in general, I just want to be, day by day, better and better.
Tags: Drop-D, Slovakia, The Roundy, Zwukovski
