Interview with Peter Wiwczarek of Vader
December 3rd 2007 by Dave Schalek

Are you pleased with “Impressions In Blood”, and how have you reacted to the metal community’s response to the album?
Well, it’s been some time since we recorded the album, and we’re almost done with the promotion. It’s been almost two years, but it was something both fresh and refreshed for Vader. Prior to that, we had recorded a mini-album called “The Art Of War”, which, we could say, was a fresh start for Vader. It was a fresh sound. As for the extreme part of the metal community, we’re very pleased because the reaction has been more than satisfactory. That’s important to us because we’re artists; we do music, we do art, and the reactions to it, the emotions are important. There is no art without a reaction.

Otherwise, what’s the point?
Yeah, yeah, it’s good to know that after so many years that we still have a reaction from fans and new generations of fans. So, we’re pretty much satisfied, but we still have saved something for the next album.

Some of our younger readers may not realize that the band began while the Iron Curtain was still up. What did death metal mean to you as a kid growing up in that situation? How has death metal’s relevance changed for you over the years?
It’s good for the kids to know. When we started, we came to the U.S. for the first time with Deicide and Suffocation in ’93, a pretty good start, ha ha! So, we were like a band from an exotic country. People didn’t really know who we were, just a band from another country. No one knew that there was anything in the Eastern countries. We were breaking through at that time. Now, we are a death metal band pretty much known throughout the world, but metal has certainly changed in the meantime. I remember in the beginning, when we first started in ’83 we were an extreme band, but similar to the NWOBHM style such as Saxon, Motorhead, and Judas Priest. These bands were an enormous influence. Then, “Show No Mercy” came out and changed everything, especially the speed. We started to play faster and everything was different. A few years after that album was released, there was a Slayer influence in Vader. We had Doc in the band and, since that time, we started to create Vader like the band is today with this kind of style. That was something fresh and new for Doc, and we started to play faster. Also, I started singing in English. Before that, we had another singer singing in Polish. That was also the time that we started to invade the world with demo tapes.

Yeah, I remember those days.
Those were good days. The metal scene was more passionate than it seems today, especially in Poland, where there wasn’t much available. Sometimes we had to travel for hours just to tape some demo. It was hard, but the passion was there. Today, though, even in Poland, even if maybe Slayer were playing, people would get lazy and say, “Oh, I don’t want to go, it’s too far,” etc. There doesn’t seem to be much passion.
Metal became a big business and maybe something has changed in the minds of the younger generation. They’re still coming to shows, but they’d rather come to spectacular shows and festivals with big bands and thousands of people. I feel something waning, you know? When we started, the bands were sort of like a brotherhood. Maybe something will change in the future, but, to me, that’s the biggest difference. Metal has become more commercial with the younger generation.

Art forms seem to go up and down in terms of popularity and so forth…
Yes, but metal is metal and is probably not going to change too much. It’s become a style which, like rock n’ roll, rules the music, you know? Ha ha! 90% of the music out there seems to be some form of rock n’ roll.

Would you say that death metal is a healthy art form, or is it stagnating in your opinion?
You know, I’m too busy to follow it all. So, we do what we do and transform our emotions into music. Of course, though, something is happening. We see new bands coming up and there are some new styles, but, something is still going on, which is good. It’s not for me to decide what is good and what isn’t. History is going to do that. It’s all about what you feel.
Today, though, too many kids want to be famous. They want to be stars like what they see on TV. MTV, you know, poisons minds, ha ha!

Yeah, I agree!
In the beginning, though, MTV was different. I think that hard rock and heavy metal made them famous. Then they started to forget about it, the roots so to speak. But, you know, there are two of us sitting here into the extreme wings of metal, so I think that it’s going to be alright, ha ha!

The response to the new DVD has been very positive. Can you tell us a little about how the project was put together?
I’m happy that the response has been positive. But, I know how the plans were supposed to be for the DVD, and it was supposed to be way better. We wanted to create something extraordinary. We chose a regular venue to record it, and we wanted to record it from the point of view of the fans without thousands of fucking cameras because you lose something from the show, you know, the metal. We wanted to keep that spirit and we failed. The problem was that we were on tour and couldn’t remain in control. Second, we wanted to have shots from behind the scenes and backstage and show what’s going on in black and white when you, the fan in the mosh pit, can’t see us. We wanted to show our life behind that. That failed as well, and we were pissed off because it was very important to us. We also wanted to put in some very old shots from the ‘80s and ‘90s. But, we may be keeping that for the upcoming album and something special for next year.

There’s more for Vader to do, you said.
Yeah.

So, you have mixed feelings about the film?
Yeah, it was supposed to be way better, something different. Now, it’s just a pretty regular DVD. Next time, we’ll hold more of everything in hand. As artists, we don’t just want to put out a routine DVD.

Lastly, what are you currently listening to?
Oh, man, that’s hard to say now. Of course, I’m a metalhead, so a big percentage of what I listen to is metal. Metal for me is still a lot of the old stuff, what was fun for me in the beginning. But, every now and then, if I get something flashy, I’ll listen to something different, even pop music. Depends on mood. If I want to relax, I don’t put on Suffocation, things like that. I’ll play a soundtrack, that sort of thing, sometimes some blues. There’s so much that I like to listen to, but not everything, though, I hate hip hop. There’s so much out there, though, that I try to take a lot for inspiration.

Thank you for your time.
Thank you.