Interview: St. Anacletus – Guitar; St. Sixtus – Vocal
Hello mates! Thanks a lot for your time today! I want to talk about the new record, first off, what do you guys think separates “Nailed” from other records?
St. Anacletus: It is another chapter of us exploring our ways of playing extreme music. One and half chapter cause we recorded “Nailed” LP and “Resurrected Meat” EP at one session and then mixed them different ways. We wanted them to be as raw and live sounding as possible and as intense as possible. And I guess we kinda achieved that.
How do you feel about your new album? Have you received any feedbacks? From fans for example? Have you played new songs live already?
St. Anacletus: I am totally happy and proud of it! It came out exactly how I wanted it so I am still in my enthusiastic phaze after the release (laugh). And those songs are awesome to play live, we played a lot of them and they kick ass live. I must say – and it is quite unbelievable – we have overwhelming awesome feedback about the album from the critics and fans. So I would like to thank You all! Awesome!
You progress your sound with each album! Please, tell me more about the new album and where did the recording take place?
St. Anacletus: We recorded in JNS Studio with Paweł Janos Grabowski – as we did with previous albums as well. This time we invited also Haldor Grunberg. With Janos we know each other so well and we recorded together so many times – also before HOSTIA – that we needed someone who will break the comfort zone between us and Janos and will be the guardian of the sound we wanted to achieve. I had a vision for both EP and LP – I wanted them different but both more rude and raw comparing to our previous releases. We wanted the sound to be the factor that adds more brutality to the songs themselves. And that worked perfectly. I am totally happy with the final results!
Would you say that your music can be characterized, as a whole, as very satirical?
St. Sixtus: The music itself is not, but the lyrics and especially the titles, yes. I don’t know if that defines HOSTIA as a satirical band. In my opinion, not, because the topics discussed are not really cheerful. ???? I’m not a fan of taking metal too seriously. It’s comical to me. I believe, however, that it is easier to reach the listeners with certain problems or topics by using irony and satire.
What inspired the lyrics on Nailed? The lyrics in your songs then, they are not about specific people, they are about situations?
St. Sixtus: I developed a certain thematic pattern on our albums. Some of the lyrics criticize the catholic sect, others are based on real monsters, serial killers and degenerates. Thanks to this, I can symbolically show that we don’t need to invent fictitious hell and demons, it’s all already on earth. Monsters walk among us. On each album, I also dedicate one number as a tribute to a character from one of the classic horror slashers that I’m a fan of.
Have you some negative memories with church? In childhood… for example. Has this experience affected the way you create your music or attitude in any way?
St. Sixtus: My mother had long ago a stage of religious fanaticism. Fortunately, it passed, but the scar on my psyche remains. I personally don’t have a problem with faith, people believe in all sorts of crap. I despise religious organizations like the church. One big hypocrisy. They manipulate simple people and rob them of the rest of their money and dignity. Burn your local church!
If you could change some things in Poland. What would that be?
St. Sixtus: The main reason why I moved from Poland to the Czech Republic is the worst possible collaboration: an incompetent backward government and the church mafia. Both organizations divide society and are above the law. Fuck them, with a knife.
“Polish black metal Makes me sleepy”…???? Simple queston: How often and why?????
St. Sixtus: Usually when I suffer from insomnia.???? I highly recommend the mixture – Polish black metal + weed. I mean here is the more atmospheric melancholic kind of black metal. It’s absolutely not an insult. Although I think that there is an excess of this genre on the Polish scene due to fashion. One band copies the other, they are not characteristic and simply boring. Of course we also have black metal diamonds.
What can you tell me about your personal view on Polish metal scene? Is it different now than years ago? Are you still following the underground scene?
St. Anacletus: We have many friends in great bands around Poland, and it’s always great pleasure to meet or play with them, so I am trying to check what are they doing every time they are releasing sth. I don’t attend to shows very often nowadays, mostly because I just have no time not because I would not like to see some of them playing. However there are many great bands and I hope no one will hang me for mentioning only couple of them cause we would have to make a separate interview about them (laugh). So – ANTIGAMA, TERRORDOME, FRONTSIDE, DROWN MY DAY, MENTOR, GRIEVING, HATE, JAD, SZNUR, cause I guess you all know BEHEMOTH, VADER and DECAPITATED (laugh).
Polish bands are successful all over the world. Which things, do you think, a Band should sacrifice in order to succeed?
St. Anacletus: Your soul (laugh)!
St. Sixtus: Yup, soul and MONEY!
Looking far into the future, what are some of the things that you’d like to achieve with the band?
St. Sixtus: It would be nice to make noise at the biggest festivals in this world and explore a bit of the world with HOSTIA. But the most important thing is that playing in this band gives us a lot of joy and I hope that it will not change.
Thanks a lot for answering the questions. The last words are yours!
St. Sixtus: Thank you for your interest in our small band. We greatly appreciate the support! And to all stray souls, accept the HOSTIA into your hearts. Hell awaits.
ALL