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1. Kto si, čo robíš, čo ťa najviac zaujíma práve v týchto dňoch ?
Nazdar, volám sa Tono ale vystupujem pod menom Vrana a venujem sa rôznym veciam od hrania v kapele, cez nákup, predaj, zbieranie a občas aj vydávanie hudobných nosičov. Mimo toho veľa pracujem, tak ako väčšina spoluobyvateľstva. V dňoch kedy píšem tieto odpovede som pomerne dosť zaneprázdnený vybavovaním objednávok a balením balíkov. Konkrétne teraz ma zaujíma zvuk gitarových zosilňovačov Laney Supergroup a Laney Klipp s ktorými Black Sabbath nahrali svoje prvé albumy. Veľmi rád by som si na nich niekedy zahral, haha.
2. Vrana, si známy z mnohých kapiel v vďaka aktivitám v UG, ktorým sa dlhé roky venuješ. Mohol by si to trochu zosumarizovať?
Hrám okolo 20 rokov v Radiation a k tomu už štvrtým rokom v Hrob, v obidvoch na basu. S Radiation sme na konci 2024 vydali druhý album “Reactor Collapse” a k tomu sporadicky koncertujeme.. Debutový album od Hrob s názvom “Brána Chladu” vyjde v apríli tento rok a tam koncertujeme ešte sporadickejšie. Toľko k aktívnym kapelám. Predtým som hral v Goatcraft na gitaru (v začiatkoch na basu) a tiež v Demolizer na gitaru. V úplnom praveku som spieval v kapelách Mänsklig Ladugård a Sixism. Mimo kapiel mám malé vydavateľstvo s názvom Atomic Vision Productions, kde vydávam tituly hlavne svojim vlastným kapelám a venujem sa tiež reedíciám starých metalových nahrávok z tejto zabudnutej časti Európy.
3. Kedy a ako si sa dostal k metalu a aký si mal nástup - hneď do extrémných žánrov alebo si postupne pritvrdzoval?
Ja som ročník ‘86, čo znamená že som sa vzdelával tak nejak od stredu vývoja čo sa týka “tvrdšej” muziky, čo je pekne nahovno. V začiatkoch som musel zákonite počúvať tie najznámejšie kapely s ich najhoršími albumami [mám tým na mysli druhú polovicu 90’s a začiatok ‘00 rokov] aby som sa postupne dostal k tomu ozajstnému jadru. V tej dobe boli všetci odkázaní na nahrávky od druhých, väčšinou starších kamošov a bolo toho málo. Ja som začínal na slovenskom punku ako veľa iných. Ešte trochu skôr som ale doma našiel kazetu “Volanie Divočiny” od Tublatanky, ktorú som neskôr poznal naspamäť a potom som v telke so zatajeným dychom sledoval v seriáli Bigbít Plastikov a DG307.. Do toho som spoznával aj grunge kapely ako Nirvana, Pearl Jam a L7, keďže počas mojich ZŠ čias bolo ich zlaté obdobie. Taký väčší zlom nastal s objavom albumov od českých kapiel Törr [“Institut Klinické Smrti”] a Krabathor [“Lies”]. Toto ma totálne dostalo a v podstate kedykoľvek sa mi naskytla príležitosť si rozšíriť obzory v tomto smere, snažil som sa zháňať kazetové nahrávky prípadne napalované CD. Inak som sa na veľa rokov ponoril do HC/punk scény, chodil som na koncerty a začal som spievať v kapele, o tom ale napíšem nižšie.
4. Ako rýchlo po tom ako si začal počúvať metal si vzal do ruky nástroj a začal hrať - pamätáš si konkrétny impulz alebo moment, vďaka ktorému si sa rozhodol nebyť len poslucháč ale hudobník?
To si už nespomínam ale ako píšem vyššie ja som bol najprv HC / punk fagan a začal som tým čo bolo najjednoduchšie a to je spev. Dal som sa dokopy s kamošmi a začali sme spolu skúšať na improvizovanej výbave. Neskôr keď sa to ustálilo tak z toho vznikli Mänsklig Ladugård. Počas takmer ročnej pauzy keď si náš basák Zack liečil porezanú ruku som z kapely odišiel a začal spievať v metalovej kapele s názvom Sixism. Keďže sme nemali basáka, tak som začal popri speve aj hrať na basu. Vydali sme jedno demo na kazete a rozdali pár kusov kamošom. A vlastne ešte so Zackom sme založili taký mikro label s názvom Randall records, ktorý ale fungoval viacmenej ako distribúcia kaziet, CD, kníh a zinov.
5. V druhej polovici 90s sa v Bratislave stretávala metalová komunita v krčme U Matúša. Bol si súčasťou tejto komunity, alebo si do metalového podhubia vstúpil v inej dobe s inými ľudmi a v inej časti mesta?
Nie, na to som bol príliš mladý. Áno jasné že si toto legendárne miesto pamätám, aj som tam zopár krát bol so staršími kamošmi a aj som sa tam fajnovo zgrcal zo zelenej, haha. Parádne to tam žilo. Ja som chodil von v mestskej časti Rača kde som aj vyrastal a neskôr sme začali chodiť do Stoky, Propeleru, Orient baru alebo do hociakej menej známej krčmy, ale hlavne niekde kde nám naliali.
6. Pamätám si, že U Matúša časť ľudí riešila UG ziny, kazetové vydavateľstvá, organizovali sa veľké výpravy na chaty a koncerty v rámci aj mimo BA a vzniklo tam pár kapiel, ktore fungovali na prelome 90s/00s, tiež priateľstvá s mikro scénami v iných mestách - pamätám na výrazné black-metalovo-alkoholické priateľstvo s Bánovcami nad Bebravou. Teda pomerne aktívna mikro scéna popri skoro každodennej konzumácii alkoholu, ktorý bol neoodeliteľnou súčasťou diania (dokonca existoval tlačený zin Alkáčik, ktorý mapoval alko udalosti tejto komunity). Ako to vyzeralo u teba a v tvojej partii - bolo to niečo podobné, alebo úplne odlišné a v akom pomere tam bola aktivita pre hudobnú scénu podporená konzumáciou jedov - na čo všetko ste sa zameriavali v rannom období vy, s ktorými kapelami a scénami ste nadviazali vzťahy a aké akcie, vydavateľstvá a ziny ste riešili?
Jasné bolo to v inej dobe, s inými luďmi a na iných miestach, ale princíp je podobný a to že s luďmi v rámci tej komunity nadväzuješ kontakty a občas z toho vznikne super akcia. Popravde už si moc nespomínam na konkrétne družby, ale mali sme a aj stále máme kamošov v iných mestách ako Malacky, Trenčín, Košice a podobne. Vďaka týmto kontaktom sme tam aj hrávali naše prvé koncerty. Metalové fanziny už žiaľ boli viacmenej mŕtve v časoch keď som hral v kapele, resp. chodil po krčmách.
7. Kto bol pri založení Radiation a ako vzniklo prvé rovnomenné demo? Kde ste ho nahrávali, ako vyšlo a kam sa až dostalo?
Pri založení Radiation bola trojica Mrož, Jano a ja. V začiatkoch sme chvíľu v tejto zostave hrali pod pôvodným názvom Stone Liver, ale to bol asi len necelý rok. Songy sme drtili nejaké dva roky kým sme sa odvážili ísť nahrávať. Voľba padla na malé domáce štúdio punkovej kapely Kaktus v BA na Trnávke v záhradkárskej kolónii.. Na deme je samozrejme hrozne počuť našu neskúsenosť, je to celé veľmi nepresné a divoké. Ale odráža to vtedajšie schopnosti, podmienky a vybavenie ktoré sme v tej dobe mali, prípadne nemali. Vtedajší bubeník a gitarista z Beton sa tú nahrávku potom pokúšali zachrániť, lebo ten chalan v štúdiu to nevedel zvukovo sfinalizovať.. Vydal som to ja na mojom labeli Randall records v spolupráci s Biosfere records Tomáša “Lichtleho” z Betonu. Dostalo sa to poväčšine okrem SR iba do Čiech a možno zopár okolitých krajín.
8. V roku 2011 Radiation prispel na 4-way-splitko United Metal Massacre s ďaľšou domácou kapelou Oldblood, japoncami Abigail a peruáncami R.I.P. Ako došlo k tomuto spojeniu - poznali sa kapely navzájom alebo vás dal dokopy label, na ktorom vyšla kazeta?
Kapely na tento split som dával dohromady ja. Poľský label Kampf records ktorý to vydával, nám vopred odsúhlasil že na to vyčlení prachy a všetku organizáciu nechal potom na nás. Komunikácia so všetkými kapelami bola bezproblémová, akurát potom sa vydanie trochu natiahlo kvôli labelu, ale vyšlo to a to je podstatné.
9. V roku 2013 vyšlo EP Platinum Overdose, po ktorom nasledoval prvý dlhohrajúci debut The Gift of Doom na nemeckom labeli Witches Brew. Ako sa etabloval Radiation v tejto dobe na domácej a zahraničnej scéne - kde všade sa vám podarilo koncertovať a aký ohlas ste zaznamenali od thrashovej komunity?
Na podporu “The Gift of Doom” sme na jeseň 2018 vyrazili na turné s kapelami z Chile - Deathly Scythe a Ejecutor, v rámci ktorého sme si zahrali v ČR, Nemecku a Taliansku. Turné malo celkom dobrú odozvu a tuším najlepšie koncerty boli v nemeckých mestách Erfurt a Kassel. Pamätám si že v tom druhom menovanom prišlo veľa mladých miestnych metalistov, ktorí tam headbangovali ako diví.. To bola naozaj bomba.
10. Ak sa nemýlim, Radiation bola jedna z prvých domácich retro-thrashových kapiel. Ako došlo k tomu, že ste sa našli v thrash-metale, ktorý bol u nás v 90s trochu v úzadi popri boome death a black metalu? Čo viedlo mladých metalistov v ranných 2000s k vybočeniu z black/death tradície predchádzajúcej dekády a návrat k ešte staršiemu pôvodnému žánru thrash metal?
No predsa láska k tejto muzike ! V začiatkoch keď Mrož a Janči zakladali Stone Liver (predchodca Radiation, ako som spomínal), tak naozaj bola scéna presýtená množstvom priemerných brutal death, moderných death/black metalových a prípadne doom metalových kapiel so ženským spevom a pod. Bola tu snaha robiť niečo odlišné a týmto spôsobom hrdo ukázať zdvihnutý prostredník zaužívaným pravidlám v scéne. Čisto thrash metalové akcie vtedy neexistovali, lebo by to nemalo šancu na úspech. Hrávali sme preto väčšinou na HC/punk akciách alebo death metalových koncertoch, prípadne sme občas nejakú akciu zorganizovali sami. Toto sa vlastne dodnes moc nezmenilo, haha.
11. V akom období by si povedal, že si slovenský UG začalo všímať (a rešpektovať) zahraničie? Ako a vďaka čomu sa podarilo dostať scénu z domácich krčiem a kulturákov do sveta?
Toto neviem povedať, nie som dobrý na tieto historické a štatistické veci, haha. Myslím že ako v 90s tak aj 00 rokoch sa podarilo občas nejakej tunajšej kapele vykuknúť a dostať sa pod zahraničný label, príklad za všetkých je napr. Dementor. Dnes už je to zase o niečo jednoduchšie a vďaka sociálnym sieťam a internetu je komunikácia ľahšia, takže dnes to nie je až také výnimočné získať dohodu so zahraničným vydavateľom. Ale určite to nikomu nepadne len tak z neba a treba pre to tiež niečo urobiť.
(Goatcraft)
12. Viem že si istý čas pôsobil v death/blackových Goatcraft, s ktorými si sa dostal na šnúru v Chile. Ako došlo k tejto spolupráci a aké pamätné historky si zažil v Chile?
Áno je to tak, v Goatcraft som hral cca 12 rokov. K spomínanému turné “Reaping Chile 2019” pomohli dve veci. Začalo to tým, že som sa zoznámil s ľuďmi z kapely Deathly Scythe, ktorej dvaja hlavní členovia sa rozhodli presťahovať z chilského Santiaga do Berlína. Keďže v podobnom období vydali Radiation aj DS čerstvé veci (my náš album “The Gift of Doom” a DS svoje MLP “Celestial Darkness”), tak mi napadlo že by sme to mohli využiť ako zámienku pre spoločné turné na jeseň 2018. Mali sme dokonca aj spoločného vydavateľa Life Eternal z Nemecka, takže to ešte viac dávalo zmysel. DS na turné dotiahli aj dlhohrajúcu kapelu z ich rodného mesta - Ejecutor a všetci sme sa počas tohto dvojtýždňového záťahu skamošili.
Druhá vec bolo to, že Demolator zariadil aby sme s Goatcraft ešte koncom leta 2018 podporili niektoré zastávky z miniturné inej kapely z Chile - Wrathprayer a zorganizoval pre nich tiež koncert v Bratislave.
Prešiel rok a s Goatcraft sme mali na stole ponuku na koncert v ich rodnom meste Rancagua spolu s kultovými americkými kapelami Sadistic Intent a Black Witchery, ďalej Arcada (Peru), domácimi Orion, Atomicide a ďalšími. Využili sme to a začali sme vybavovať ďalšie koncerty, pričom Ejecutor nám tiež pomohli s časťou z nich a hlavne nám poskytli zázemie v Santiagu na začiatku a aj na konci turné. Proste totálny UG proces a výsledkom bol nezabudnuteľný výlet a turné v jednom ! Zažili sme toho hrozne veľa a samozrejme aj som toho veľa pozabúdal. Spomínam si napríklad ako sme medzi zastávkami turné doslova každú voľnú minútu využili s Demolatorom na spanie aby sme sa vyhli totálnej vyčerpanosti ! To bol totálny extrém. Počas dní voľna sme odcestovali na juh krajiny niekam do blízkosti mesta Puerto Montt kde bola oproti Santiagu strašná zima. Prenajali sme si malú chatku, kde sa nekúrilo snáď od vpádu španielskych kolonizátorov a v noci aby sme nezamrzli tak sme sa striedali jeden po druhom pri peci a prikurovali drevom. Ale okrem týchto bojových príhod sme zažili množstvo srandy, zožrali sme kilá grilovaných hovädzích steakov, vypili hektolitre piva a vína s miestnymi maniakmi a k tomu počúvali ukrutné množstvá chilského metalu. Skvelé zážitky !
13. V nedávnom rozhovore s Demolatorom z Goatcraft, ten spomenul, že si v Chile údajne skoro vyvolal roztržku pretože si šiel na párty ku znepriatelenej kapele. O čo vlastne šlo, prečo tam bol konflikt a aké diplomatické skills si musel použiť, aby si to vyriešil?
Vzťahy v rozsiahlej chilskej metalovej scéne bývajú niekedy trochu dramatické a je tam veľmi veľa rivality a závisti. Keď si k tomu pripočítaš aj ich latino temperament, tak si vieš predstaviť ako to v tejto komunite niekedy vrie. Ja som bol hlavne šťastný že tam môžem byť, takže som si svoj čas rozdelil medzi viacerých známych s ktorými som sa dovtedy poznal iba cez e-maily. Žiaľ zhodou okolností naši hostitelia z kapely Ejecutor boli na nože s frontmanom kapely Communion a počas mojej návštevy u neho nastala taká menšia aféra, tak som bol nútený nadránom moje posedenie uňho pri platniach ukončiť a švihať rýchlo taxíkom za ostatnými z kapely na párty u gitaristu Horacia z Ejecutor. Diplomatické skills už moc nehrali rolu, ale bral som to tak, že Ejecutor cítili zodpovednosť za mňa ako hosťa (Santiago je veľmi nebezpečné v niektorých štvrtiach), takže absolútne som nemohol nikomu nič zazlievať. Ale samozrejme utriaslo sa to a pred našim odchodom zo Santiaga som stihol Deathmessiaha z Communion navštíviť ešte raz (v jeho legendárnom obchode Templo - ktorý si môžeš predstaviť ako Chilskú verziu Helvete shopu v nórskom Osle). Inak, ak si chcete užiť trochu chilského metalu, budete mať možnosť - Ejecutor odohrajú svoju slovenskú premiéru 11. júna tohto roka na Pink Whale v Bratislave.
14. Chile ma ako krajina fascinuje svojou vzdialenosťou a plánujem v blízkej budúcnosti spoznať krajinu a scénu aj prostredníctvom rozhovorov s kapelami a ľuďmi z toho prostredia. Máš tip u akých kapiel začať?
To budeš mať čo robiť ! Pre rozšírenie obzoru určite by som odporučil začať počúvaním nahrávok od starých kapiel ako napríklad ATOMIC AGGRESSOR, PENTAGRAM, BELIAL, SADISM, DEATH YELL, APOSTASY, AMMIT, TOTTEN KORPS a potom by som pokračoval novšími bandami ako CHAINSAW resp. COMMUNION, FORCE OF DARKNESS, EJECUTOR, DEATHLY SCYTHE, HORDA, BLOOD RITES, VOMIT, WRATHPRAYER, HELLAVENGER, PHANTASMAGORE, NECROLATRÍA, INVOCATION.. je toho vážne plno, toto sú akurát také vypichnuté veci ktoré sa ku mne dostali a počúvam ich. Som si istý že tie kapely budú na tvoje ponuky na rozhovor určite srdečne reagovať.
Čo sa týka prírody tak Chile je fascinujúca rozľahlá krajina, ktorá sa ťahá od suchej púšte v oblasti Atacama na severe až po ľadovcové polia na juhu ktoré siahajú až k Antarktíde !! Neuveriteľné niečo. Určite sa tam chcem niekedy v živote ešte vrátiť.
15. V posledných rokoch registrujem kapelu Hrob, ktorej skladba Blatové noci vyšla aj na JDØS kompilačke Jablká & Doom Vol.4. Ako a prečo došlo ku vzniku Hrob - mal si potrebu tvoriť odlišné veci ako pre Radiation, atď alebo skôr potrebu tvoriť veci s inými ľuďmi? Alebo je to spontánna reakcia na retro OSDM vlnu, ktorú je momentálne cítiť naprieč svetovým UG?
Hrob vznikol ešte pred mojim príchodom a založili ho Michal s Kikom. Dostal som sa k nim tak, že Michal prišiel raz k nám do nášho brlohu Temple of Horror (R.I.P.) a pustil mi pracovné nahrávky prvých songov, ktoré ma totálne odrovnali. O nejakú dobu som kývol na to, že si skúsim s nimi zahrať na skúške po odchode bubeníka a basáčky. Áno, jeden z dôvodov je, že ma po rokoch baví robiť odlišnú muziku a zároveň mi to absolútne štýlovo sedí. Neviem, či vznik kapely mal byť reakciou na svetovú old school death metal vlnu, ale myslím že možno to Michala s Kikom posmelilo v pretavení ich predstavy do skutočnosti.
(Hrob)
16. Aké plány máš s Hrobom v roku 2026?
Hlavný plán je vydať album ako spomínam vyššie. Release date je 27. apríla a vyjde to na formátoch LP, MC aj CD. Názov albumu je “Brána Chladu” a je celý naspievaný v slovenčine. Následne nás čaká release party v Bratislave v Žalári 1. mája, kapely sú ešte v jednaní. Nejaké ďalšie koncerty máme už tiež dohodnuté: 28. marec v Brne na Sibiři a 8. - 9. mája v poľskej Wroclawi na skvelom festivale Death is not the End. Mimo tohto by bolo asi fajn spraviť aj nejakú mini šnúru na podporu albumu, o tom je ale ešte skoro hovoriť.
17. Späť k Radiation - v novembri 2024 vyšiel po siedmych rokoch zatiaľ posledný album Reactor Collapse. Čo spôsobilo túto dlhšiu medzeru - pandémia, iné kapely a projekty alebo jednoducho ste nemali potrebu sa ponáhľať?
Bolo v tom viacero faktorov a určite sa na tom podielali aj tie ktoré si vymenoval.. My sme songy na tento album nahrali ešte v apríli 2022 a potom sa to natiahlo s mixovaním takmer na tri roky. Nebolo to o tom že by sme sa nemali potrebu ponáhľať. Skôr v jednom momente sme už boli natoľko znechutení z rôznych verzií mixov, že sme sami nedostatočne tlačili na to, aby sa album dostal do finálnej fázy.. Každopádne podarilo sa a výsledok máte možnosť počuť.
18. Ako vzniká materiál k novému thrashovému albumu - ponúka thrash nevyčerpateľnú studňu riffov a hudobných postupov, alebo si treba dávať pozor či tu už náhodou nebolo niečo zahraté niekým iným?
Myslím že keď chytí Mroža tvorivá chvíľa, tak si zapíše nápad a postupne to doma kombinuje až dovtedy kým nám ostatným pošle pracovné verzie celých songov, ktoré potom na skúškach už len veľmi minimálne dotvárame. Určite je počuť že čerpáme aj z iných hudobných štýlov, hlavne z heavy metalu, prípadne starého black metalu alebo hardcore/punku. Myslím že o nejakej prehnanej originalite sa pri podobných žánroch nemá zmysel príliš baviť, vymyslené už bolo asi všetko.
19. Pri témach Radiation mám vždy asociáciu na mojich obľúbencov Carnivore ("Into the Reactor!!") - ktoré kapely a filmy zaoberajúce sa termonukleárnou tématikov odporúčaš?
Kapely - Discharge (nr.1 navždy), Sodom, Nuclear Assault, Voivod, Toxic Holocaust, Nuclear, Radiation (haha). Filmy - The Day After [1983], Threads [1984], Mad Max [1979] a Mad Max: The Road Warrior [1981] sú klasikami. Z novších vecí seriál Chernobyl [2019].
20. Ako sa ťa dotkli crossover kapely, ktoré začali do thrashu dávať HC elementy - je to niečo čo ťa bavilo alebo vôbec?
Podľa mňa pôvodný thrash bol vlastne vetva hardcoru a to ja totálne zbožňujem. Úplne prvé veci od kapiel ako Cryptic Slaughter, DRI, Corrosion of Conformity, Agnostic Front, Siege .. to je absolútna bomba a hudobný výbuch tínedžerského hnevu a frustrácie. Ak myslíš neskoršie spájanie metalu a HC v 90-tych rokoch, tak to už ide mimo môjho vkusu a je niečím čo naozaj nemusím.
21. Pri rýchlom spomenutí, moje top thrash albumy boli Slayer - South of Heaven, Kreator - Extreme Aggression, Sacred Reich - American Way, Carnivore - Retaliation, Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence ... Ako by si ich zoradil podľa tvojej obľúbenosti, a ktoré okrem nich by si vypichol?
U mňa by to bolo určite takto: Kreator - Extreme Aggression, Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence, Slayer - South of Heaven, Carnivore - Retaliation. Sacred Reich som nikdy nepočúval. Ja by som mimo množstva iných vypichol určite Pleasure to Kill od Kreator, Sentence of Death od Destruction a Illusions od Sadus.
20. Čo počúvaš, pozeráš a čítaš v týchto dňoch?
Dokola točím posledný Stangarigel, všetko od Inverloch, tiež prvý album od Venator a dlhodobo “Far Away from the Sun” od Sacramentum, to je úplne nezemský kult. Mimo metalu Cocteau Twins a Einleitungszeit. Nepozerám dokopy nič ale stále vo mne rezonuje The Substance [2024] - to je pre mňa absolútny filmový top za posledných XX rokov. Momentálne čítam Historie Smrti od Michaela Kerrigana a Revoltikon od Bruna z Hypnos/Krabathor.
17. Je niekto s kým by si si rád prečítal rozhovor na JDØS?
Už viackrát spomínaný Jan Obluda alias Zombie Mustang from Hell. To sa Ti však asi nepodarí.
18 Motto alebo odkaz na záver.
Motto žiadne, pretože si neviem vybrať. Ďakujem Ti za záujem a sorry za neskoré zaslanie odpovedí !
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Links:
https://radiationslovakia.bandcamp.com/album/reactor-collapse
https://www.facebook.com/radiationslovakia
https://www.youtube.com/@NuclearBeer
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1. Who are you, what do you do, and what interests you the most these days?
Hi, my name is Tono, but I go by the name Vrana, and I’m involved in various things — from playing in a band to buying, selling, collecting, and occasionally even releasing music formats. Besides that I work a lot, like most of the population.
These days, while I’m writing these answers, I’m quite busy dealing with orders and packing parcels. At the moment I’m particularly interested in the sound of Laney Supergroup and Laney Klipp guitar amplifiers, which Black Sabbath used to record their first albums. I’d really love to play through them one day, haha.
2. Vrana, you’re known from many bands and also for your long-term involvement in the underground scene. Could you summarize it a bit?
I’ve been playing in Radiation for about 20 years, and for the last four years also in Hrob, in both bands on bass. With Radiation we released our second album “Reactor Collapse” at the end of 2024, and we play live occasionally. The debut album of Hrob, titled “Brána Chladu”, will be released in April this year, and with that band we play live even more sporadically.
That’s it as far as the active bands go. Before that I played guitar in Goatcraft (in the beginning on bass) and also guitar in Demolizer. In the very early days I sang in bands called Mänsklig Ladugård and Sixism.
Outside of bands I run a small label called Atomic Vision Productions, where I mainly release titles by my own bands, and I also work on reissues of old metal recordings from this forgotten part of Europe.
3. When and how did you get into metal? Did you jump straight into extreme genres or did you gradually get heavier?
I was born in 1986, which means I kind of grew up starting from the middle of the development of “heavier” music, which is pretty shitty in a way. In the beginning I inevitably had to listen to the most famous bands and their worst albums — I mean the second half of the 90s and the early 2000s — before I gradually got to the real core of things.
Back then everyone relied on recordings from other people, usually older friends, and there simply wasn’t much of it around. Like many others, I started with Slovak punk. Even a bit earlier, though, I found a cassette of “Volanie Divočiny” by Tublatanka at home, which I later knew by heart. Then I watched the TV series Bigbít almost holding my breath, where bands like The Plastic People of the Universe and DG 307 appeared.
At the same time I was discovering grunge bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and L7, since that was their golden era during my elementary school years. A bigger turning point came when I discovered albums by Czech bands Törr (“Institut Klinické Smrti”) and Krabathor (“Lies”). That totally blew my mind, and whenever I had the chance to expand my horizons in that direction, I tried to hunt down cassette recordings or burned CDs.
Otherwise I immersed myself in the hardcore/punk scene for many years — going to concerts and eventually starting to sing in a band. But I’ll talk about that a bit later.
4. How soon after you started listening to metal did you pick up an instrument and start playing? Do you remember a specific impulse or moment that made you decide not to be just a listener but a musician?
I don’t really remember that anymore, but as I mentioned above, I first came from the HC/punk kid background and started with the easiest thing, which was singing. I got together with some friends and we started rehearsing using improvised equipment. Later, when things stabilized a bit, the band Mänsklig Ladugård emerged from that.
During a nearly year-long break, when our bassist Zack was recovering from a cut hand, I left the band and started singing in a metal band called Sixism. Since we didn’t have a bass player, I began playing bass while singing. We released one demo on cassette and handed out a few copies to friends.
At the same time, Zack and I started a kind of micro-label called Randall Records, which mostly functioned as a distribution point for tapes, CDs, books, and zines.
5. In the second half of the 90s the metal community in Bratislava used to gather in the pub U Matúša. Were you part of that community, or did you enter the metal underground at a different time, with different people and in another part of the city?
No, I was too young for that. Of course I remember this legendary place, and I went there a few times with older friends. I even threw up nicely there once after drinking too much green liquor, haha. The place was really lively.
I mostly hung out in the Rača district, where I grew up, and later we started going to Stoka, Propeler, Orient Bar, or basically any less-known pub — as long as they would serve us drinks.
6. I remember that at U Matúša some people were involved in underground zines, cassette labels, big trips to cabins and concerts both inside and outside Bratislava, and a few bands were formed there around the turn of the 90s/00s. There were also friendships with micro-scenes in other towns — I remember a strong black-metal-and-alcohol friendship with people from Bánovce nad Bebravou. So there was quite an active micro-scene alongside almost daily alcohol consumption, which was an inseparable part of it (there was even a printed zine called Alkáčik documenting the drinking adventures of this community). What did it look like for you and your circle? Was it something similar, or completely different? How much of your activity around the scene was accompanied by “consuming poisons”? What were you focusing on in those early days — which bands and scenes did you connect with, and what events, labels, or zines were you involved in?
Sure, it was a different time, with different people and different places, but the principle was similar — you build contacts with people within that community and sometimes something great comes out of it.
To be honest, I don’t remember many specific alliances anymore, but we had — and still have — friends in other cities like Malacky, Trenčín, Košice, and so on. Thanks to these contacts we also played our first concerts there.
Unfortunately, metal fanzines were already more or less dead by the time I was actively playing in bands and hanging around pubs.
7. Who was involved in the founding of Radiation, and how did the first self-titled demo come about? Where did you record it, how was it released, and how far did it spread?
Radiation was founded by Mrož, Jano, and me. In the beginning we played for a short time under the original name Stone Liver, but that lasted maybe less than a year.
We rehearsed the songs for about two years before we finally dared to go and record them. We chose a small home studio run by the punk band Kaktus in Bratislava, in the Trnávka gardening colony.
You can clearly hear our inexperience on the demo — it’s very sloppy and wild. But it reflects the abilities, conditions, and equipment we had — or didn’t have — at that time.
Later the drummer and guitarist from Beton tried to rescue the recording a bit, because the guy in the studio couldn’t really finish the sound properly. I released it myself on my label Randall Records, in cooperation with Biosfere Records, run by Tomáš “Lichtle” from Beton.
Apart from Slovakia it mostly reached the Czech Republic, and maybe a few nearby countries.
8. In 2011 Radiation contributed to the four-way split United Metal Massacre together with another local band Oldblood, the Japanese band Abigail, and the Peruvian band R.I.P. How did this connection come about? Did the bands already know each other, or were you brought together by the label that released the cassette?
I was actually the one who put the bands together for that split. The Polish label Kampf Records, which released it, approved the budget in advance and then left the whole organization to us.
Communication with all the bands was smooth. The only issue was that the release got a bit delayed because of the label, but in the end it came out, and that’s what matters.
9. In 2013 the EP Platinum Overdose was released, followed by the first full-length debut The Gift of Doom on the German label Witches Brew. How did Radiation establish itself during this period on the local and international scene? Where did you manage to play, and what kind of response did you receive from the thrash community?
To support The Gift of Doom, we went on tour in the autumn of 2018 with the Chilean bands Deathly Scythe and Ejecutor. During that tour we played in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy. The tour had a pretty good response, and I think the best shows were in the German cities of Erfurt and Kassel.
I remember that in Kassel a lot of young local metalheads showed up and were headbanging like crazy. That was really awesome.
10. If I’m not mistaken, Radiation was one of the first local retro-thrash bands. How did it happen that you found yourselves in thrash metal, which in the 90s was somewhat in the background here compared to the boom of death and black metal? What led young metalheads in the early 2000s to step away from the black/death tradition of the previous decade and return to the even older original genre of thrash metal?
Well, simply the love for this music! In the early days when Mrož and Janči founded Stone Liver (the predecessor of Radiation, as I mentioned earlier), the scene was really saturated with many average brutal death, modern death/black metal, or doom metal bands with female vocals and similar stuff.
There was an effort to do something different and proudly show a raised middle finger to the established rules of the scene. Pure thrash metal shows didn’t really exist back then because they wouldn’t have had much chance of success. So we mostly played HC/punk gigs or death metal shows, and occasionally we organized our own events. Actually, this hasn’t changed much to this day, haha.
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11. In which period would you say the Slovak underground started being noticed (and respected) abroad? How did the scene manage to get from local pubs and cultural centers out into the wider world?
I honestly can’t say — I’m not very good with historical or statistical questions like that, haha. I think that both in the 90s and the 2000s, some local bands occasionally managed to break out and sign with foreign labels. A good example would be Dementor.
Today it’s a bit easier, thanks to social media and the internet, which make communication simpler. So nowadays it’s not that unusual to get a deal with a foreign label. But of course nothing just falls from the sky — you still have to put in some work.
12. I know you spent some time playing in the death/black band Goatcraft, with whom you even toured in Chile. How did this collaboration happen, and what memorable stories did you experience there?
Yes, that’s right — I played in Goatcraft for about 12 years. Two things helped make the “Reaping Chile 2019” tour happen. It started when I got to know the people from Deathly Scythe, whose two main members decided to move from Santiago, Chile to Berlin. Around the same time both Radiation and Deathly Scythe had fresh releases — we had our album The Gift of Doom and they had their MLP Celestial Darkness.
So I thought we could use that as an excuse for a joint tour in autumn 2018. We even had the same label, Life Eternal from Germany, so it made even more sense. Deathly Scythe also brought along a long-running band from their hometown, Ejecutor, and during those two weeks on the road we all became friends.
The second factor was that Demolator arranged for us with Goatcraft to support several stops on a mini-tour by another Chilean band, Wrathprayer, in late summer 2018, and he also organized a show for them in Bratislava.
A year later, Goatcraft received an offer to play a show in their hometown Rancagua, together with cult American bands Sadistic Intent and Black Witchery, as well as Arcada from Peru and local bands Orion, Atomicide, and others. We took the opportunity and started arranging additional concerts. Ejecutor also helped us with some of them and, most importantly, provided us with a base in Santiago at both the beginning and the end of the tour.
It was a totally underground process, and the result was an unforgettable trip and tour in one. We experienced a lot — and of course I’ve already forgotten plenty of it. I remember, for example, how Demolator and I used every free minute between shows to sleep, just to avoid total exhaustion. That was really extreme.
During our days off we traveled south, somewhere near Puerto Montt, where it was freezing compared to Santiago. We rented a small cabin that probably hadn’t been heated since the Spanish colonial invasion, and at night we took turns keeping the stove going with firewood so we wouldn’t freeze.
But besides these battle stories we also had a lot of fun — we ate kilos of grilled beef steaks, drank hectoliters of beer and wine with the local maniacs, and listened to huge amounts of Chilean metal.
(Demolizer)
13. In a recent interview with Demolator from Goatcraft, he mentioned that you almost caused a dispute in Chile because you went to a party hosted by a rival band. What actually happened, why was there a conflict, and what diplomatic skills did you have to use to sort it out?
Relationships within the extensive Chilean metal scene can sometimes be a bit dramatic, with a lot of rivalry and jealousy involved. If you add the Latino temperament on top of that, you can imagine how things can occasionally get heated in that community.
I was just happy to be there, so I divided my time between several acquaintances whom I had previously only known through emails. Unfortunately, by coincidence, our hosts from the band Ejecutor were at odds with the frontman of the band Communion. During my visit to his place, a small situation developed, so in the early morning I had to abruptly end our record-listening session and quickly take a taxi to rejoin the rest of the band at a party hosted by Horacio, the guitarist of Ejecutor.
At that point, diplomatic skills didn’t really matter anymore. I understood that Ejecutor felt responsible for me as their guest—especially since Santiago can be quite dangerous in certain neighborhoods—so I couldn’t really blame anyone. In the end it all settled down, and before we left Santiago I managed to visit Deathmessiah from Communion once more in his legendary shop Templo—which you could imagine as the Chilean equivalent of the Helvete store in Oslo.
By the way, if you’d like to experience some Chilean metal live, you’ll have the chance: Ejecutor will play their Slovak premiere on June 11 this year at Pink Whale.
14. Chile fascinates me as a country because of its remoteness, and in the near future I plan to explore both the country and its scene through interviews with bands and people from there. Do you have any tips on which bands to start with?
You’ll definitely have your hands full! To broaden your horizons, I would recommend starting with recordings by older bands such as Atomic Aggressor, Pentagram Chile, Belial, Sadism, Death Yell, Apostasy, Ammut and Totten Korps.
Then I would move on to newer bands like Chainsaw / Communion, Force of Darkness, Ejecutor, Deathly Scythe, Horda, Blood Rites, Vomit, Wrathprayer, Hellavenger, Phantasmagore, Necrolatría and Invocation. There are really many more—these are just some that came my way and that I enjoy listening to. I’m sure these bands would respond warmly to interview requests.
As for nature, Chile is a fascinating and vast country stretching from the dry Atacama Desert in the north all the way down to the southern glacial fields that reach toward Antarctica. Truly incredible. I definitely want to return there again someday.
15. In recent years I’ve noticed the band Hrob, whose song “Blatové noci” also appeared on the JDØS compilation Jablká & Doom Vol. 4. How and why did Hrob come into existence? Did you feel the need to create something different from Radiation, or rather to work with different people? Or was it more a spontaneous reaction to the current retro OSDM wave spreading across the global underground?
Hrob actually existed before I joined; it was founded by Michal and Kiko. I got involved when Michal once came to our den, Temple of Horror (R.I.P.), and played me the demo recordings of the first songs, which completely blew me away. Some time later I agreed to try playing with them at rehearsal after their drummer and bassist had left.
Yes, one of the reasons is that after many years I enjoy making different music, and stylistically it suits me perfectly. I’m not sure whether the band’s creation was meant as a reaction to the worldwide old-school death metal wave, but perhaps it encouraged Michal and Kiko to turn their vision into reality.
16. What plans do you have with Hrob in 2026?
The main plan is to release the album I mentioned earlier. The release date is April 27, and it will come out on LP, cassette and CD. The album is titled Brána Chladu and the lyrics are entirely in Slovak.
After that we’ll have a release party in Bratislava at Žalár on May 1; the supporting bands are still being finalized. We already have some additional shows booked as well: March 28 in Brno at Sibiř, and May 8–9 in Wrocław at the excellent festival Death Is Not the End.
Beyond that, it would be great to organize a small tour in support of the album, but it’s still a bit early to talk about that.
17. Back to Radiation — in November 2024 you released your latest album Reactor Collapse after a seven-year gap. What caused this longer break — the pandemic, other bands and projects, or simply no need to rush?
There were several factors involved, and the ones you mentioned certainly played a role as well. We actually recorded the songs for this album back in April 2022, and then the mixing process dragged on for almost three years. It wasn’t that we didn’t feel the need to hurry. At some point we just became so fed up with the different mix versions that we ourselves didn’t push hard enough to get the album into its final stage. In any case, we eventually managed it — and now you can hear the result.
18. How does material for a new thrash album come together? Does thrash offer an endless well of riffs and musical ideas, or do you have to watch out so you don’t accidentally play something that someone else has already done?
I think when Mrož gets a creative moment, he writes down an idea and gradually works on it at home, combining things until he sends the rest of us demo versions of entire songs. Then at rehearsals we usually only make very minor adjustments. You can definitely hear that we also draw from other styles, mainly heavy metal, sometimes old black metal or hardcore/punk. I don’t think it makes much sense to talk about excessive originality in genres like this — everything has probably already been invented.
19. When it comes to Radiation’s themes, I always associate them with one of my favorite bands, Carnivore (“Into the Reactor!!”). Which bands and films dealing with thermonuclear themes would you recommend?
Bands — Discharge (number one forever), Sodom, Nuclear Assault, Voivod, Toxic Holocaust, Nuclear, Radiation (haha).
Films — The Day After, Threads, Mad Max and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior are classics. Among newer things, the series Chernobyl.
20. How did crossover bands that started mixing hardcore elements into thrash affect you? Was that something you enjoyed or not really?
In my opinion, early thrash was basically a branch of hardcore, and I absolutely love that. The very first releases from bands like Cryptic Slaughter, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Corrosion of Conformity, Agnostic Front, and Siege — that’s an absolute blast and a musical explosion of teenage anger and frustration.
If you mean the later fusion of metal and hardcore in the 1990s, that’s already outside my taste and something I really don’t care for.
21. Off the top of my head, my favorite thrash albums would be South of Heaven by Slayer, Extreme Aggression by Kreator, The American Way by Sacred Reich, Retaliation by Carnivore and Epidemic of Violence by Demolition Hammer. How would you rank them according to your own preference, and which others would you highlight?
For me it would definitely be: Kreator – Extreme Aggression, Demolition Hammer – Epidemic of Violence, Slayer – South of Heaven, Carnivore – Retaliation. I’ve actually never listened to Sacred Reich.
Outside of those, I would definitely highlight Pleasure to Kill by Kreator, Sentence of Death by Destruction, and Illusions by Sadus.
22. What are you listening to, watching, and reading these days?
I keep spinning the latest album by Stangarigel, everything by Inverloch, also the debut album by Venator, and for a long time now Far Away from the Sun by Sacramentum — that’s an absolutely otherworldly cult. Outside of metal, Cocteau Twins and Einleitungszeit.
I hardly watch anything, but The Substance still resonates strongly with me — for me it’s an absolute cinematic highlight of the past decades. Right now I’m reading Historie smrti by Michael Kerrigan and Revoltikon by Bruno Kovařík.
23. Is there someone you’d like to see interviewed on JDØS?
The already-mentioned Jan Obluda, also known as Zombie Mustang from Hell. But you probably won’t manage that.
24. A motto or final message?
No motto, because I can’t choose one. Thanks for your interest — and sorry for sending the answers so late!
